Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > GURPS

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 05-13-2021, 07:13 AM   #5551
malloyd
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Default Re: New Reality Seeds

Quote:
Originally Posted by TGLS View Post
So what happened to the Orthodox Christians, the Muslims and the Chinese? I could buy that Africa got colonized largely on schedule (along with South East Asia), but Russia, Ottoman Empire and China would seem to be a tougher nut to crack.
I don't see any strong reason they can't continue on more or less as they were in the 18th and early 19th centuries - independent actors somewhat (or considerably) lagging behind Europe. But if you want something different, it's not like there's a shortage of 19th century charismatic religious movements in them you could declare more successful too, and use to blow them apart. Islamic ones include the Faraizi, Darqawiyya, Babist, Barelvi and Ahmadiyya. For China the obvious one is the Taiping Rebellion, but there is lots of stuff related to the White Lotus cults around (historically the Tiandihui becomes the Triads, but it's not really criminal until well into the 19th century), Xiantiandao might work too, and there are a fair number Chinese Salvational sects reviving Mohist ideas that are close enough to monotheistic. In India, in addition to Sikhism and some of the Sant movement(s) adjacent it, monotheistic movements with charismatic elements include the Vedanta school (Swaminarayan is probably the most successful proponent of that for the period, founding his branch in 1801), Arya Samaj (1875) and a variety of saguna bhakti sects, focused mostly on Krishna, though you could probably find one to elevate any other god(ess) you prefer if you'd like a different one.
__________________
--
MA Lloyd
malloyd is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-13-2021, 08:05 AM   #5552
Micah Davis
 
Join Date: Apr 2020
Default Re: New Reality Seeds

Quote:
Originally Posted by tshiggins View Post
Egad. This is an absolutely fascinating horror-show.
It's a world in which Evangelical true-believers are actually mostly right.

Man, I'd lock it down with the most strict quarantine possible.
Templar’s religiosity would certainly seem that way on its surface. Though it’s worth stating that, in America, the movement it empowered is actually the left wing Abolitionists and the social gospel. The MIB are really hunting dangerous traitors who consort with demons and wealth and influence are held in much greater suspicion across the world because of it.

The kernel behind the setting was using the moral restrictions of the faith advantages and asking what kind of world they would build. Then I included sponsored black magic because the world needs conflict to be fun for adventurers.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TGLS View Post
So what happened to the Orthodox Christians, the Muslims and the Chinese? I could buy that Africa got colonized largely on schedule (along with South East Asia), but Russia, Ottoman Empire and China would seem to be a tougher nut to crack.
Russia is either doddering on as an incredibly reactionary and backward Tsarist empire that can barely function or it has undergone a revolutionary cleansing of some sort. The specifics here are kind of open, but one imagines they don’t have a tight allegiance to either bloc.

Contrastingly, you’ll have to decide if the non-Christian nations have the powers. Blessed is a huge political edge and if not they probably got rolled by either the Christians or the Devil. Even if they did, then they’re probably in a position similar to their real life one, entering into the industrial revolution late.

Lloyd has some good thoughts on monotheistic movements that you might empower as well.
Micah Davis is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-13-2021, 10:03 AM   #5553
tshiggins
 
tshiggins's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Denver, Colorado
Default Re: New Reality Seeds

Quote:
Originally Posted by Micah Davis View Post

(SNIP)

Russia is either doddering on as an incredibly reactionary and backward Tsarist empire that can barely function or it has undergone a revolutionary cleansing of some sort. The specifics here are kind of open, but one imagines they don’t have a tight allegiance to either bloc.
You could have a Russian Empire profoundly influenced by the Imiaslavie movement in the Orthodox Church.

That movement holds that the name of God had to exist prior to creation. In keeping with Plato's teachings of the nature of the Pure Forms, that means the name of God is God.

Those who know the true name of God have access to the Pure Form of God, and may perform miracles.

It was considered heretical in the Greek Orthodox church, and the monasteries that taught it, located in Greece, were stormed by Tsarist troops just before WWI. The monks were taken prisoner, and most were defrocked and then dispersed throughout Russia.

However, if their teachings are correct, and the monks can actually perform miracles to defeat evil, then you have a monastic order of warrior-monks attempting to cleanse the Russian empire of demonic corruption.

This could be fun, since one of the other doctrines held that one way to understand the all-forgiving nature of God was to commit a terrible sin. If a truly contrite sinner begged forgiveness, it would be granted, and by that forgiveness those who had been the worst sinners gain the greatest understanding of the infinite compassion of God.

So, those saved from demonic corruption become the most engaged and motivated ("fanatic" is such a problematic word...) of the Orthodox warrior-monks.

Adding to all of this, of course, is the fact that the most famous adherent of Imiaslavie thought was a wandering strannik monk named Grigori Rasputin.
__________________
--
MXLP:9 [JD=1, DK=1, DM-M=1, M(FAW)=1, SS=2, Nym=1 (nose coffee), sj=1 (nose cocoa), Maz=1]
"Some days, I just don't know what to think." -Daryl Dixon.

Last edited by tshiggins; 05-14-2021 at 10:03 PM.
tshiggins is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-14-2021, 06:35 PM   #5554
Astromancer
 
Astromancer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
Default Re: New Reality Seeds

Try this one...

France ultimately lost its century long struggle with England because the English Channel let Britain focus mainly on its navy and commerce. France had around four times as many people as Britain, and the French King's revenues dwarfed those of the king of England, but France never could make these advantages count. However, in this Q6 low mana world, France has gained an advantage.

In the Indian Ocean, east of Africa and North of Kerguelen is New France. An island as large as Madagascar with a mild temperate climate. When the island was found in 1719 the Regent Promptly opened the island for settlement consciously copying England's success in America.

In a mere thirty-five years New France has excellent shipyards, rich agriculture, and booming trade. There were bitter objections to the Duke's declaration of full toleration for protestants in New France. But the edict seems to have pulled in thousands of Huguenots including many who left France when the Edict of Nantes was revoked.

The French navy now has a vast advantage in the Indian Ocean. The British Admiralty is determined to take it from them. The King of France has made it clear that he wants the rights of the Protestants respected. If they lose the loyalty of the Huguenots, they could lose New France and there best chance to hold and control all the wealth and trade of the Indies. Meanwhile, the local Bishops are being pressured by the Pope to force the Huguenots to convert in Catholicism.

Basically, swashbuckling intrigue and espionage on a French frontier.
__________________
Per Ardua Per Astra!


Ancora Imparo
Astromancer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-14-2021, 11:40 PM   #5555
Micah Davis
 
Join Date: Apr 2020
Default Re: New Reality Seeds

Debs (Q7, 1985, TL8) is pretty much the only timeline where America went red but communism didn't triumph in a way that qualifies the timeline for a Lenin designation. Diverging in 1876 with the non-emergence of the Mulligan letters and the eventual victory of Blaine to the Presidency without the compromise of '76, a more interventionist and egalitarian United States managed to reform somewhat racially and also get into its own fair share of imperial wars. In Russia, meanwhile, Alexander the Liberator was never assassinated and the conditions in Russia progressed for decades.

Russia never had a Revolution of '05 or '17 while the United States' progressive and populist movements never managed to achieve power, leaving the country groaning beneath monopoly power. Eugene V. Debs' Socialist Labor Party almost came to power after the First World War on the backs of fury at the U.S. entry into the war and exhaustion with the Republican hegemony, but the Jim Crow states threw their house delegations behind the Republican nominee. In the Great Depression, the SLP swept to a dominant position and they went to work against the recalcitrant south and the system of capitalism itself. Eventually it was dragged into the second world war, much as on Homeline. In Debs' present, the SLP leads the Third International, aligned with Maoist China, Republican Spain, red Japan, Vietnam, and Korea, in a Cold War with Britain, France, Germany, Argentina, and a crumbling Tsarist Russia.

If it were in another Quantum, Debs would mostly be interesting for the economic model produced in the local United States and perhaps a mild amount of fear of Lenin-2's ecological disasters recurring. But an advanced timeline in Q7 with an egalitarian, internationalist superpower that speaks English is the ideal timeline for Centrum to establish an outpost. As far as Infinity is concerned, it isn't a question of IF the Third International has been infiltrated, it's a question of how bad it is.

The answer is that Debs' is on the verge of becoming a Zone Green, if the capitalist powers waver. The SLP's politicians are not generally Centrum's agents (Contrary to popular Homeline opinion, Debs' elections are still democratic) but their staff often is, the intelligence services of both France and Britain are riven with Centrum's spies, and Centrum has its fingers in many pies in the capitalist powers. If Centrum gains control even over the Third International, it will absorb billions of new subject peoples. The Patrolmen sent to stop this will need to be exceedingly talented and delicate to extricate this world from Interworld's claws before it's too late.
Micah Davis is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-15-2021, 04:59 AM   #5556
zarawesome
 
Join Date: Mar 2020
Default Re: New Reality Seeds

Grok, or Earth-New Mexico in 2500 States setting: It's 1979, the compound-style religious revivalists are on the rise, and most of them have actual, supernatural abilities. The two big trends in America are neo-Christian groups under the patronage of various angelic beings, and UFO cults sponsored by aliens.

Supernatural abilities mostly are of the "faith healing" and psychic powers variety, but a CIA-sponsored special spy unit is rumored to be able to kill living creatures with a mere glance.
zarawesome is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-15-2021, 11:42 PM   #5557
David Johnston2
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Default Re: New Reality Seeds

Yandere-1. Previously an echo of Homeline, Van Zandt was a matter of great concern to Infinity since it was going to be the first echo to reach the year 1995. It did have a Van Zandt and he was doing parachronic-adjacent research, but that research proved to be the point of divergence when he and one of his lab assistants mysteriously disappeared. Over the following 11 years things have gotten progressively odder. The mana level has increased to Low, the Cabal has begun to take an interest in Yandere-1 and the female population is experiencing a statistical increase in risk of mental instability.

Specifically it is increasingly common for girls and women between the ages of 15 and 35 to develop quirk to 15 point Obsessions associated with love. As a result there's a growing epidemic of stalking, outbursts of jealous rage, self-harm, suicides and abductions although a large percentage of those affect manifest their love-sickness in relatively harmless ways. So far.

Investigating agents need to beware of the local women. While it takes a while for even an acute case to turn violent even a mild case can turn one of them into a stalker, with resulting risks to the Secret.
David Johnston2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-16-2021, 04:50 AM   #5558
Dr. Beckenstein
 
Dr. Beckenstein's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Default Re: New Reality Seeds

Quote:
Originally Posted by David Johnston2 View Post
Specifically it is increasingly common for girls and women between the ages of 15 and 35 to develop quirk to 15 point Obsessions associated with love. As a result there's a growing epidemic of stalking, outbursts of jealous rage, self-harm, suicides and abductions although a large percentage of those affect manifest their love-sickness in relatively harmless ways. So far.
Interesting. Are outtimers affected?
__________________
""The origin of everything good is due to games." - Friedrich August Wilhelm Froebel, creator of the kindergarten.
Dr. Beckenstein is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-16-2021, 07:23 AM   #5559
David Johnston2
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Default Re: New Reality Seeds

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr. Beckenstein View Post
Interesting. Are outtimers affected?
Yes, but Homeline doesn't know that yet. Also the lab assistant who disappeared with Yandere's Van Zandt was never his assistant on Homeline. She didn't get the job because she was in prison for aggravated assault on her ex-boyfriend new girlfriend.
David Johnston2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-17-2021, 01:37 AM   #5560
Inky
 
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: UK
Default Re: New Reality Seeds

Interesting, so she was a yandere anyway... I'm missing something here.
__________________
Looking for online text-based game at a UK-feasible time, anything considered, Roll20 preferred. http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=168443
Inky is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
ideas to share, infinite worlds, infinity unlimited

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 09:16 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.