Quote from: SpikeBut why bother? I mean, didn't the Greeks WIN Marathon?

In the history we know, sure, but would they have won without those smuggled firearms? (Incidentally, this is a little reference to Roadmarks by Zelazny...)

I'll let the players change things, depending on what they do and how things work out.

My own homebrew setting starts out as an alternate history. Alfred IV sits on the throne of England; Burgundy is in a de facto state of war with her liege, France; and Hunnish and American Indian nations are engaged in a near constant state of war in North America. There's a good possibility that England could become an ally of the Massachusets in a war with a pair of Hunnish kingdoms and the Chesapeake Confederacy. How that possible war turns out may depend on what the players do. They may even prevent it entirely.

I let my players change things, if it's logical that it would follow from their actions. I always start out adhering closely to the history as written, but if the PCs do something wild, I go with it.

In my current game, due to the PCs actions in the Quasi-War with France, the US Navy is taking far more forceful actions in the First Barbary War than actually happened. One of the PCs has a hat-on for the Brits as they stopped his half-fitted-out brig on its way from Philadelphia to Washington and snatched three seamen. He is, I think, determined to force a war between the US and Britain before 1812, and is well on his way to getting that done. Some of his actions:

He caught a British spy and killed another one in a fight in Philadelphia.

He has nearly convinced the Administration that the Brits are behind the Barbary depredations on Americans. He may, in fact, be right.

He refused to salute the British admiral of a squadron near Gibraltar.

When they took a small Algerian port to use as a base - he doesn't trust Port Mahon or Gibraltar - they installed a puppet Bashar to rule it. The British orchestrated and funded a coup d'etat and the new Bashar threw the Americans out. The group, under his leadership, took it back by organizing and supplying a popular revolt at night, during which the PC's ships blew up the fort, entered the harbor, and destroyed a careened British frigate with mortar vessels borrowed from the Spanish. They intend to claim they thought it was an Algerine vessel, but they knew it was British. The mob didn't help things by killing the British consul and looting his home.

I have no idea how far they are going to take this. The PCs are fabulously famous right now - like Decatur was in real life - and public opinion seems to be behind them. It's only a generation after the War of Independence, after all. They've already changed history, and seem determined to change it again.

-mice

FM, What year is it in the campaign?

The British may be too focused on France to want a war with the United States. If so the player could get involved in the intrigue surrounding the British agreement to (modified) American terms.

Quote from: mythusmageFM, What year is it in the campaign?

The British may be too focused on France to want a war with the United States. If so the player could get involved in the intrigue surrounding the British agreement to (modified) American terms.

It's 1803, and the British do not want war with the US, as you note. It would be a terrible distraction at this point. I like the idea of getting the PCs involved in working out a modus vivendi with the British - it would be a lot of fun.

-mice

Quote from: flyingmiceIt's 1803, and the British do not want war with the US, as you note. It would be a terrible distraction at this point. I like the idea of getting the PCs involved in working out a modus vivendi with the British - it would be a lot of fun.

-mice

More along the lines of one PC interfering with an agreement.

The crew and their ship being hunted down by combined British and American forces. Taking refuge in the Dutch East Indies and founding their own nation. A British/American alliance against the new country. A Holland/French alliance in support of the new nation. I'm sure you can see where this is going.

Quote from: mythusmageMore along the lines of one PC interfering with an agreement.

The crew and their ship being hunted down by combined British and American forces. Taking refuge in the Dutch East Indies and founding their own nation. A British/American alliance against the new country. A Holland/French alliance in support of the new nation. I'm sure you can see where this is going.

Gad you're diabolical! Are you sure you aren't one of my players?

I love it!

-mice

Insofar as I live on the west coast, and we haven't invented large scale teleportation yet, I'm fairly sure I'm not one of your players.

My RPG moderation philosophy can be distilled down to, "How do I make life more interesting for the players?"