GURPS Infinite Worlds Covers

So I had the misfortune of picking one of the few settings that got expanded on after Infinite Worlds was published. <sigh, turns 6 upside down>

Welcome to Brittanica-9!

It's called GURPS *Infinite* Worlds. ;) However, this thread is limited to what Steve Jackson Games has outlined. Your take is welcome in the Oneshot Scenarios thread.
 
It's called GURPS *Infinite* Worlds. ;) However, this thread is limited to what Steve Jackson Games has outlined. Your take is welcome in the Oneshot Scenarios thread.

Yeah that was my intention, it never even entered my head as a possibility that SJ Games would make a supplement about it, it breaks with their whole organization for 4e overall, and seems more like 3e. I could have picked literally any other world mentioned and I would have been clear. I was originally going to go for one of the Romes but decided at the last second to go for Brittanica-6.
 
Well you can try one of the other Brittanicas maybe?

I'm actually going to try mapping out Reich-1, although knowing my luck Steve Jackson himself scratched out a full timeline on a bar napkin in 2009, got posted online on a Hungarian fansite in 2011 and was dug up on archive.org after the fansite hosting it went down in 2014. But more importantly I feel that Reich-1 has unexplored potential, namely the Soviets aren't mentioned, and the UK's empire is decolonizing against its will while the USA is making the Allies to liberate Europe, it's a three way cold war in a way. Also I like the idea that the Third Reich can't get rid of guerrillas in the Highlands of Scotland.

I just wish that it was in Quantum 6 not Quantum 4 because I can totally see Centrum/Infinity shenanigans
 
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I'm actually going to try mapping out Reich-1, although knowing my luck Steve Jackson himself scratched out a full timeline on a bar napkin in 2009, got posted online on a Hungarian fansite in 2011 and was dug up on archive.org after the fansite hosting it went down in 2014. But more importantly I feel that Reich-1 has unexplored potential, namely the Soviets aren't mentioned, and the UK's empire is decolonizing against its will while the USA is making the Allies to liberate Europe, it's a three way cold war in a way. Also I like the idea that the Third Reich can't get rid of guerrillas in the Highlands of Scotland.
You can find info for Reich-1 on Page 34 of GURPS Alternate Earths, page 143 of Infinite Worlds, and page 19 of Weird War, I think.
 

spendabuck

Banned
Well, such a map wouldn't be for this thread, right? It would be a fanmade scenario instead of an official GURPS setting.
Sorry, I wasn't aware it was fanmade; I don't have access to the GURPS scenarios, but I think that some of them are really interesting.
 
Reich-1
Reich-1
Local Year: 1952

Prominent Leaders:

President Peter J. Marshall (US President)
Fuhrer Heinrich Himmler (President of Greater Germany)
Premier Vladimir Luzenkho (Premier of the Soviet Union)


In the early days of Infinity exploration, there was one world that they were sure they would find if only because of Hollywood movies almost insisted on it. A world where the Third Reich won World War II. None were initially found in Quantum-5 and many historians working for Infinity started to believe that only in Homeline and near echoes did the Third Reich actually last as long as 1945, the discovery of Reich-1 in Quantum-4 refuted that theory, if only just. Upon it's first discovery in Local Year 1947, Hitler was alive and the Nazi Party was still in power in Europe. The Third Reich and it's allies occupied the UK, France, everywhere besides Ireland and Sweden and the weakened Soviet Union. While the Soviets were the first to break the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the Germans rather than going on the offensive let the Russians attack. In this world Himmler was well informed of Stalin's officer purges, and following the public execution of Zhukov by the KGB advised the Fuhrer to defend rather than attack. The Wehrmacht agreed that attacking Stalin was foolish, but if they dug in and let Stalin bloody himself against Greater Germany they could force terms on Russia allowing them to consolidate in the Western Front. While Infinity can't get records on precisely how the Soviets advance failed so completely, General Rommel was appointed Chief of Staff for the Wehrmacht as it was his panzers that outflanked and obliterated the Soviet armies. Dunkirk two years earlier poised the British Isles to be ripe for the taking. Operation: Sealion was a success, and in a few short months saw the British Isles fall to a foreign landing force for the first time since 1066. It was here in 1944 that the Third Reich reached it's apex; master from Toulouse to Warsaw, Copenhagen to Marseilles. It would not last...

The United States, under President Roosevelt was identical to it's Homeline counterpart except for one figure, instead of Cordell Hull, Roosevelt's Secretary of State was a man named Nathaniel Drake Sterling. Sterling was a sympathizer for Germany, and OSS at the time considered he might have spied for the Reich. The difference is that Sterling engineered a deal in December of 1941 that guaranteed the USA would not support a war on Germany. Simply put (and Homeline found this out at Sterling's trial in 1949) Stirling had a meeting with the German Ambassador that revealed the attack on Pearl Harbor. He "tried" to arrange a meeting with the President, staff, and drafted memos but none of them "reached command in time". As he was the black sheet of the Cabinet, and Roosevelt handled foreign policy himself mostly only appointed him to the post to appease Congress, it was believable and that testimony would destroy Roosevelt's administration. In the first cabinet meeting following the attack, he informed the President, if compelled to testify Sterling could say he tried to warn the President, but no one listened; and as much as Stimson argued for it, the Secretary of State couldn't just disappear. In the end, war was inevitable but only if Germany declared war openly to support its ally, Japan... It never came, as Sterling got word to the German Ambassador in time. The War in the Pacific took priority and with only Lend-Lease support the UK was on borrowed time. Churchill in 1949 stated "I shook that devil's hand in 41. If I knew then what I know now I would have strangled him myself." The United States has been at war for nearly a decade, and the strain is showing. Between the French, British and other immigrants the United States and Canada are stretched to their limit. A common thought is that if any war to liberate Europe lasts more than two years, the soldiers will revolt. The much publicized trial of former Secretary of State Nathaniel Sterling, garnered large headlines, but Homeline monitors can't help but notice that most American media coverage is now screened by the Office of Public Information prior to broadcast.

Japan's defeat was inevitable with Germany's stab in the back, in fact Stalin was so worried about American encroachment in Asia that he split forces from German invasion to counter the Americans, only further making the Soviet defeat inevitable in Eastern Europe. By 1944, Japan was down to the home islands. Sakhalin was captured by American marines, and were preparing for an invasion of the home islands in March 1945. While Japan was defeated, so to was another island nation in Europe.

The last 7 years in Reich-1, have shown just how unsuccessful the Nazi attempt to assimilate populations was. Widespread revolts outside Greater Germany are common, and only military occupation is keeping the whole of Europe from revolting. While Stalin may be dead, his successor has seen the Soviets rearm and in 1951, flagrantly violate the 1944 Ukraine-Baltic DMZ agreements. In France and the UK resistance is strong and creating a brotherhood beyond their former alliance. Add to that President Marshall's aggressive blockade of the North Atlantic, and preparation for Operation Liberation, and the "Atlantic Pact" already debating the post-war New World Order, and the name Reich-1 seems to be a misnomer now. Germany has bet everything on Nuclear Weapon development, which the Americans are trailing behind half-convinced that it's a pipe dream, and the Soviets lacking the resources entirely.

Stalin suffered lead poisoning in 1946, as in he happened to fall onto 18 bullets. The Soviet leadership removed him from power, and their military was so anemic, and their industry so sparse that fighting Germany was a pipedream at best. After a string of inept leaders, and the failures to stop the poisoning of the Ukraine and Phase 1 of Generalplan Ost, a man by the name of Luzenkho has become Premier. Not much is known about him that is verifiable by Homeline, but it is known he met with President Marshall in Anchorage in 1948, and that a form of Lend-Lease, where American Industry is rebuilding a new Soviet Union.

The rest of the world is in chaos as the Overseas Colonial Empires effectively stopped operating in 1945. India in 1945, in a deal with the United States and UK government in exile in Ottawa saw independence. The Dutch simply withdrew to Australia after Indonesia was liberated, the Atlantic Pact oversaw the creation of a federal government there but little else. The Republic of China still exists but is continuing to fight Communist insurgents, whether or not they have Soviet backing is unproven. Japan is still occupied by the Atlantic Pact (mostly American) armed forces, with final withdraw scheduled for 1955. In Africa, the quick departure of the British and French, and the inability of the Germans to police the territory has created a vaccuum, one that American business is willing to invest in with promises of more capital if Europe is liberated.

Perhaps soon Infinity can rename the world from Reich-1 to something else.

vQ9CpTr.png


OOC: Reich-1 by Infinite Worlds very brief description and the scenario outlined is pretty close. However I am taking a line about "Battles in India" to mean some form of fascist uprising the Germans are trying to support. Unlike in OTL, the Soviet Union is nearly a failed state, only held together by the the authoritarian Luzhenko's regime, and Russian hatred of Germany (Generalplan Ost getting through Phase 1 in the DMZ, Crop devastation by German bioweapons). Germany itself is sort of run by an odd combination of the military leadership and Nazi leadership. Similar to German command in the tail end of World War I... and the General populace is quite concerned by this as well. The Republic of China was allied with the USA against China, but they are more ambivalent about war with Germany. The United States has been at war for so long that it's war-time measures are becoming a bit... too well entrenched, and some Homeline monitors are concerned that the United States could be on the slippery slope towards a technocratic authoritarian state.
 
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Cornwallis
And here's Cornwallis:

cornwallis_by_keperry012-dagn7ip.png


The PoD is that Turgot successfully convinces Louis XVI not to support the American rebels, and to support internal economic reforms. The US never wins its independence, the French Revolution is avoided, the Tories are empowered in Britain, and as a result democracy and nationalism and other revolutionary ideals never take hold in Europe (at least not yet) and technological progress is slower. Russia became more powerful than in OTL and eventually all the other European powers united against it, culminating in the Great War from 1962 to 1976 between Russia and the Quintuple Alliance of Britain, France, Spain, Austria, and Prussia. The war ended with Russian defeat and subsequently a revolution that saw the monarchy replaced with a republic which was in turn replaced with the radical totalitarian Russian Dominate, which is dedicated to overthrowing the Five Thrones of the Quintuple Alliance and spreading revolution throughout the world, including in the Britain's still oppressed and rebellious American colonies.
 
Those are some neat maps! Though Prometheus, for your maps maybe you should put in some form of legend with color coding and names to show who is who in it.
 
Those are some neat maps! Though Prometheus, for your maps maybe you should put in some form of legend with color coding and names to show who is who in it.

I will in future maps. In Reich, the map colors correspond to their OTL counterparts. In Rome-1 it's a bit more complicated but most of them were either numbered or Rome. The brown empire in Central Asia is actually a bit interesting that I forgot to write down. It is in effect a merchant empire along the Silk Road, with mercenary armies. No merchant with a pass will be harassed within that empire. It also allows them to control trade, but I couldn't think of a good name for it, or the Great Leader that founded such a sparse protection rack... I mean empire.

Also I recently read over Centrum, while they do state that a goal is to do global reconstruction, I get the impression (and since there is nothing in the IW book about Geoforming in any world [except maybe Cyrano]) that most of Centrum is in fact still devastated and possibly still being fought over. Their Military Service is still larger than Interworld, and it's quite likely that outside of Australia and "Reconstruction zones" not all of the world is unified under Centrum. At the very least I may wind up doing a 1902 map of Centrum
 
I will in future maps. In Reich, the map colors correspond to their OTL counterparts. In Rome-1 it's a bit more complicated but most of them were either numbered or Rome. The brown empire in Central Asia is actually a bit interesting that I forgot to write down. It is in effect a merchant empire along the Silk Road, with mercenary armies. No merchant with a pass will be harassed within that empire. It also allows them to control trade, but I couldn't think of a good name for it, or the Great Leader that founded such a sparse protection rack... I mean empire.

Also I recently read over Centrum, while they do state that a goal is to do global reconstruction, I get the impression (and since there is nothing in the IW book about Geoforming in any world [except maybe Cyrano]) that most of Centrum is in fact still devastated and possibly still being fought over. Their Military Service is still larger than Interworld, and it's quite likely that outside of Australia and "Reconstruction zones" not all of the world is unified under Centrum. At the very least I may wind up doing a 1902 map of Centrum
They have the resources of their empire (due to being able to resources from other worlds) to use to reconstruct their world and have been finished for decades at the very least by the current era. Centrum has won and been in power for decades by now. The only way you can make your claims be true is to do your map while Centrum is still expanding from Australia, like during the time when they're still rebuilding the world.
 
They have the resources of their empire (due to being able to resources from other worlds) to use to reconstruct their world and have been finished for decades at the very least by the current era. Centrum has won and been in power for decades by now. The only way you can make your claims be true is to do your map while Centrum is still expanding from Australia, like during the time when they're still rebuilding the world.
Except that parachronics has only been possible for 80 years for Centrum and they are still high TL8 or a very low TL9. Nothing in that tech level really has terraforming. So how did Centrum rebuild precisely? Even assuming a boom of colonists to other worlds, how much could Centrum's population have rebounded in ideal circumstances?
 
Except that parachronics has only been possible for 80 years for Centrum and they are still high TL8 or a very low TL9. Nothing in that tech level really has terraforming. So how did Centrum rebuild precisely? Even assuming a boom of colonists to other worlds, how much could Centrum's population have rebounded in ideal circumstances?
Presumably they rebuilt cities. And cleaned up messes by dumping them onto other, empty worldlines. Demolishing old or damaged buildings isn't some new fangled piece of technology you know.

I don't genuinely understand what terraforming has to do with anything? Most of dead from the Last War die of a bioplague that went out of control, IIRC. And it's not like cities that have been nuked can't be rebuilt. Look at Hiroshima & Nagasaki. I don't remember them being radioactive craters in the ground currently.

Centrum's population is small.

To Destruction
In 1902, it all went to hell. Opinions are still split on how a bid for full independence by a few provincial magnates could have spiraled so thoroughly out of control. The atomic destruction of London and a few dozen other cities paled in comparison with the tailored bioweapons unleashed against Asiatic peoples by an imperial pretender. After ravaging China and India, the plagues mutated, turned back west, finished off the global economy, and depopulated much of Eurasia.

The only region left unscathed was the southern continent of Terraustralis (much more densely populated than our Australia), where a military-technical cabal, “the Centrum,” took control. They used their isolation to withdraw from the conflict, and imposed draconian social controls to stop the spread of disease and maintain food distribution. By 1913, once their scientists had devised protections against the bioweapons, they ventured out into a shattered world. They were appalled at what they saw: two-thirds of the Earth’s population was dead, and pestilence ran rampant among the survivors, killing one in every two children. Nuclear and bioweapons had shattered the ecosystem, especially in the fragile tropics; famines and desertification threatened to starve anyone who the plagues did not carry off. Technology was dropping back to pre-industrial levels everywhere, leading to filth and decay and warlord feudalism of the worst kind.

The Centrum resolved to rebuild, and to prevent future wars, by imposing a single, rational culture under a single authority. The Centrum knew that disunity caused the war, and nearly destroyed mankind. Therefore, it would bring unity: every surviving human would speak English, go to the same schools, get enough food, and become an equal part of the Centrum. Most of Earth’s surviving inhabitants, starving and disease-ridden, were happy to accept the alternative the Centrum offered – just as well, since they had no choice.
To Other Worlds
Linda Minott was the first Centran scientist to investigate anomalies in exotic experiments with high energy densities (known since the previous century). Her papers were published in 1908 and languished for a time, but the potential was clear. By 1922, Centran scientists had built their first conveyor and gone exploring. Parachronics gave the Centrum access to the untapped resources of Earths where humanity had never evolved – and, in the early years, the opportunity to buy or steal goods from many parallel cultures. The Centrum became as wealthy in its own way as Infinity Unlimited – wealthier, because it had fewer scruples – but it poured its wealth back into global reconstruction.

In 1934, after a few early mishaps, the Centrum officially adopted the Lockridge Protocols, a strict hands-off policy toward inhabited timelines (almost all of which were technologically primitive, anyway), and concentrated on mining and colonizing the empty worlds. It had more than enough to do on its own Earth: curing the war plagues, halting the famines, deposing the local warlords, and generally forestalling a descent into barbarism.

After completing the reclamation of its Earth, Centrum (which dropped the “the” in 1958 after formally completing global reunification) has reconsidered its attitude toward other timelines. Some wanted to spread the benefits of their civilization, bringing superior technology and organization to less-developed timelines and saving the advanced ones from suffering their own Last War. Others believed continued expansion was needed for Centrum’s own health, or were simply ambitious for new fields of action. The discovery of Secundus (which Centrum sees as a dangerously disunited near-anarchy) in 2015 awoke deep-rooted fears and silenced the objectors.
 
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A_H_nikky

Banned
And here's Cornwallis:

cornwallis_by_keperry012-dagn7ip.png


The PoD is that Turgot successfully convinces Louis XVI not to support the American rebels, and to support internal economic reforms. The US never wins its independence, the French Revolution is avoided, the Tories are empowered in Britain, and as a result democracy and nationalism and other revolutionary ideals never take hold in Europe (at least not yet) and technological progress is slower. Russia became more powerful than in OTL and eventually all the other European powers united against it, culminating in the Great War from 1962 to 1976 between Russia and the Quintuple Alliance of Britain, France, Spain, Austria, and Prussia. The war ended with Russian defeat and subsequently a revolution that saw the monarchy replaced with a republic which was in turn replaced with the radical totalitarian Russian Dominate, which is dedicated to overthrowing the Five Thrones of the Quintuple Alliance and spreading revolution throughout the world, including in the Britain's still oppressed and rebellious American colonies.
The map isn't showing up for me ?
 
Presumably they rebuilt cities. And cleaned up messes by dumping them onto other, empty worldlines. Demolishing old or damaged buildings isn't some new fangled piece of technology you know.

I don't genuinely understand what terraforming has to do with anything? Most of dead from the Last War die of a bioplague that went out of control, IIRC. And it's not like cities that have been nuked can't be rebuilt. Look at Hiroshima & Nagasaki. I don't remember them being radioactive craters in the ground currently.

Centrum's population is small.

Well we seem to have two different interpretations of the same text. Undoubtedly they are the one major power on the planet, but a few dozen cites nuked, and bioplagues sweeping the planet is nothing to sneeze at. Somehow in 50 years they unified the whole globe? yeah right, even with parachronics I doubt it. Either way, both of our interpretations are valid at the end of the day.
 
Well we seem to have two different interpretations of the same text. Undoubtedly they are the one major power on the planet, but a few dozen cites nuked, and bioplagues sweeping the planet is nothing to sneeze at. Somehow in 50 years they unified the whole globe? yeah right, even with parachronics I doubt it. Either way, both of our interpretations are valid at the end of the day.
Who is going to oppose Centrum? No seriously, who is there to oppose them that actually had the technology and capability to do so? If 3veryone around you is dead or dying, you're the only healthy individual, and you'ge got the technology to build an assault rifle while for them their best tech is the bronze spear, you're going to win your fights a lot more.

You seem to be under the oppression Centrum even had any opponents that could mstch their capabilities. It didn't. They were the only ones with an intact tech base and such while also being healthy at the same time.

I can buy that their Earth still has areas that are desertified or may still need some work to clean up but I can't buy that some post-apoc warlord group had the technology or training or capability to take on Centrum because there is no mention of anything like that. No similar organizations that hid away or anything.
 
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