GURPS Cham plausibility check

The Mongols not only ravage Europe but capture Japan and, following Japanese fishing routes, discover America in 1290. The Mongols conquer Toltec Mexico and the Incas while some Europen refugees settle in Vinland. The Black Death is much worse in Eurasia than OTL (80% toll), but leaves the Americas mostly alone. In 1902 the technology is roughly equivalent to OTL 1730. Mongol-Chinese-Siouan-European hybrid states rule from the Great Plains, and cities along the Mississippi are developing steamboats.
Plausibility (aside from unlikely Black Death mortality)?
 
Plausibility (aside from unlikely Black Death mortality)?
I'm going to say this once, to apply to your Tengri plausibility as well - GURPS's intention with "Alternate Worlds" is to provide interesting settings to adventure in. Plausibility takes a distant second to that concern. Now some settings are probably more plausible than others - someone more familiar with GURPS will have to answer that.
 
The Mongols not only ravage Europe but capture Japan and, following Japanese fishing routes, discover America in 1290. The Mongols conquer Toltec Mexico and the Incas while some Europen refugees settle in Vinland. The Black Death is much worse in Eurasia than OTL (80% toll), but leaves the Americas mostly alone. In 1902 the technology is roughly equivalent to OTL 1730. Mongol-Chinese-Siouan-European hybrid states rule from the Great Plains, and cities along the Mississippi are developing steamboats.
Plausibility (aside from unlikely Black Death mortality)?

The Japanese fished near North America? I thought they didn't even get past Hokkaido until the 17th or 18th centuries.

That aside, no, this is not plausible for the Mongols to conquer Mexico at any time period, because they have no clue where they are or how to deal with the locals, something that they did have with much (but I'm not sure if all) of the other places that they conquered.
 
I am specifically excluding ASB ones (except one Napoleonic one that has dopplegangers concieved after the PoD). A person familiar with GURPS would not be especially good at estimating plausibility, as opposed to one not familiar with GURPS, everything else being equal. But someone familiar with history would be. There are a lot of people a lot more familiar with history on this board than I am. The authors presumably used enough effort to base their world on actual history to make it worth while to discuss the plausibility.
 

whitecrow

Banned
At what time do the Mongols conquer Mexico? Because I am not sure if they would be able to transport the needed troops across the Pacific if they are working with 14th century technology.
 
Knowing the Mongols' luck, they'd get a large fleet to park off the coast of California or Mexico after some epic odyssey, and while they're congratulating eachother on this great human achievement, a hurricane comes out of nowhere and drowns them all. :p
 
At what time do the Mongols conquer Mexico? Because I am not sure if they would be able to transport the needed troops across the Pacific if they are working with 14th century technology.

Yeah, reaching Japan from China is one thing; reaching Mexico from Japan quite another. In the 14th century? Don't think so; the logistics of transporting tens of thousands of troops, plus enough supplies to keep them going, over six thousand miles of ocean would be staggering.
 
Besides, even if they did manage to reach North America from Japan, there are more immediately pleasing places than Mexico on the path down the coast. You'd think they'd prefer to stop in the Pacific Northwest rather than continue on down the coast of California and along the deserts until they finally reach southern Mexico.
 

mojojojo

Gone Fishin'
Besides, even if they did manage to reach North America from Japan, there are more immediately pleasing places than Mexico on the path down the coast. You'd think they'd prefer to stop in the Pacific Northwest rather than continue on down the coast of California and along the deserts until they finally reach southern Mexico.
What would the Pacific Northwest offer them?
 
It's an interesting question. It strikes me as ASB, I'm afraid. I think they might've gotten the idea from a Poul Anderson novel, but his POD happens much later, and it's postnuclear. Some problems:

The steppe was the Mongols' vast sea, which they navigated by horse. That's why they only made that one try at sea. Though, clearly, taking Japan is totally plausible.

The Pacific is no small gap to even look in for such landbound types, especially when they didn't know it anything was on the other side. Especially since they had no experience with ocean navigation yet, quite the jump from the short jump to Japan.

Even if you do grant them that ASB jump, they'd like our Great Plain, which does include Northern Mexico. They'd likelier start setttlement though, in the PNW though because it was far closer to their route, though, and work their way slowly south to Mexico by sea and horse. Did GURPS look at a map atall? Getting to the Incas isn't so likely, then.
 
The steppe was the Mongols' vast sea, which they navigated by horse. That's why they only made that one try at sea. Though, clearly, taking Japan is totally plausible.

Not exactly, the Mongols also made that expedition to Java, they also took the Korean island of Jeju-do, and developed a fleet that defeated the Southern Song navy. The Mongols were always better on land, but given the right circumstances, they probably could have pulled off a few more naval invasions.
 
Okay tom please stop posting all of these its getting annoying, I like GURPS as much as the next guy but its annoying to see it spammed all over the place.
 
Top