One I'm playing with now for In Harm's Way: Adams is re-elected instead of Jefferson, the Navy is not cut back to a minimum, and the 12 74s authorized by congress in 1799 are actually built instead of the materials only being gathered, stockpiled, and lost to rot, pilferage, and gvernment waste. The US starts the War of 1812 with a much stronger Navy, and the British find the blockade of the US impossible. OTOH, the US doesn't buy the Louisiana territories from Napoleon.

-clash

Here's another one: Ferdinand VII of Spain accepts the liberal Constitution of 1812, and further reforms defuse the independentist movement in Latin America.

The Spanish Empire remains united, until the Carlist civil war erupts in the 1830s. What side will the viceroys take?

What if...the Schlieffan Plan had worked, France was knocked out in the opening months of the Great War, no stalemate on the Western Front?

Italy does not enter the war against the Central Powers.

The Great War ends in a negotiated peace, with Germany the undisputed leader of Europe. (Which isn't to say that there aren't grievances.)

No Russian Revolution, but continued political ferment throughout Europe.

Basically an excuse to hold off the great social upheavals of the 20th century while continuing a fair amount of the scientific and technological progress. It's an open question to me what effect this all might have had on colonialism in Asia and Africa, as well as the impact on Turkey and China.

Quote from: Elliot WilenBasically an excuse to hold off the great social upheavals of the 20th century while continuing a fair amount of the scientific and technological progress. It's an open question to me what effect this all might have had on colonialism in Asia and Africa, as well as the impact on Turkey and China.

I've noticed that most alternate histories are about keeping around some anachronistic elements past when they are due, like confederate slavery or pirates or social upheaval or such.  

For what it's worth, my Vinland Campaign was like this -- it had the Icelandic colony in the New World flourish, so we had adventures much like in the Icelandic family/historical sagas set in 1392 around the Hudson river valley.  

I liked Craig Neumeier's Shikaku-Mon from GURPS Alternate Earths as an interesting branch.  Basically, it diverges with the survival of Juan of Aragon, son of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile.  But the thrust of it is to sabotage the Enlightenment and replace it with an unsavory sort of cultural imperialism.  The result is an odd sort of cyberpunk.

Oh, yeah, I remember you making that observation. Good call. But in this case it also depends on the degree to which the social upheavals of the 20th century were "necessary" versus the degree to which they were aberrations. Given that many of those upheavals were the result of protracted warfare among the Great Powers and that, after a period of relative peace in the latter half other 20th century, we now have a high degree of economic consensus in the developed world, I think it's possible we could have skipped over fascism and communism and gone straight to a multipolar developed world in ongoing conflict with third-world independence movements--somewhat like the path we've been travelling for the last decade or so, including ongoing Balkan unrest, I have no doubt. Except that Germany, Italy, and Russia would still have constitutional monarchs.

Given the similarity to the modern day I'm not sure there'd be much inherent interest to the setting, but it would provide an excuse for altering a lot of the color to give a familiar-but-different feel.

Anything involving the survival of the Roman Empire (in some form) into the 'modern era' always strikes me as seriously cool.
:wolf:
(I liked the bit in C.J. Carella's GURPS book on Rome in which Rome and China and China are two modern superpowers...)

Also, a world in which the Reformation never took place (or was far less successful -- maybe limited to only Northern Germany and the Nordic countries) would be interesting.
:pope:

Vikings surviving in the New World is always a good one.  (Newfoundland would certainly be far more interesting if the colonies there had survived.  I still like it, though.)
:viking:

Quote from: AkrasiaAnything involving the survival of the Roman Empire (in some form) into the 'modern era' always strikes me as seriously cool.

I certainly think that the eclipse of the Byzantine state wasn't a given until at least the 11th century (Manzikert), more likely the 13th (Fourth Crusade), so with a little luck it could have made it straight into the early modern era and changed the future dynamics of Mediterranean/Balkan politics and culture somewhat, possibly even speeding up the rise to power of an "Orthodox" civilization in Eastern Europe.

Quote from: GRIMThe US revolt doesn't happen, instead the US gains representation in Parliament.  Thus British power is maintained.  This forms the model for acceptence of the other (white) colonies and the transformation of Parliament to becoming a Commonwealth Parliament. The game would be set in the 50's and 60's where a more technologically advanced Empire starts to deal with civil rights movements from the black and asian colonies who are also seeking representation or independence.

Most of the alternates that fascinate me involve the Empire in some form or another.  I'd love to see a game of Ministry of Space or Scarlet Traces for example.

Ministry of Space: Britain pilfers the Peenamunde rocket scientists and prevents the yanks or Russians getting any rocket scientists or technology, the Rocket Group is funded by Nazi gold and Britain gets to Mars with Orion technology by the 2000's.

Scarlet Traces: Wells' martians invade, Britain survives and then pilfers their technology becoming the pre-eminent world power and eventually launching a counter invasion of Mars.

That's just chock full of cool.

A particularly virulent form of yellow fever, small pox or some other nefarious plague of the colonial era sweeps through early 19th century America, leaving only small pockets of survivors. Sensing what could be a once in a lifetime opportunity, a new European alliance forms to re-conquer America defended only by a rag-tag group of survivors. In the south, slaves are emancipated by an ad-hoc government in exchange for their help in defending against foreign invaders. Meanwhile, a number of western states secede and throw their lot in with the new European alliance.

Quote from: hgjsWhat if... when President Truman relieved General MacArthur of command during the Korean War, MacArthur staged a coup.

Um... that actually happened.

Just in secret.

Well my current campaign Hunter campaign takes place in a kind of "What If..." setting.

The action takes place in a version of the US in contemporary times where Nixon did not resign and was in fact reelected. The Americans "won" the Vietnam war, held elections but were mired in a swamp of insurgent activity.

The draft is in full swing with some joining and some taking  vacations in Canada. Spielberg, Lucas etc have not and will never make any of their landmark fiilms. Race relations are esp dodgy. The Black Panthers have been declared a terrorist org (if they were not already) and banned, with members carrying out attacks in some cities in America. There are no Serpicos in the police departments.

In the present day rap music is tethering on the edge of being banned -it's mostly protest music. Most folks listen to a kind of weird blend of disco and techno. The economy is pretty week, so personal computers are around but beyond the reach of the average citizen. Computer hackers/geeks look like the IBM salesmen/women from back in the day

So, not really accurate, credible or plausible Alt History, but it sure is fun playing in this setting.

Regards,
David R

Quote from: AkrasiaAnything involving the survival of the Roman Empire (in some form) into the 'modern era' always strikes me as seriously cool.
:wolf:

One could argue (quite effectively, I should think) that Nazi Germany tried to erect itself as the "modern Roman empire."  But, I presume you'd like something that doesn't have the dark overtones of the Nazi regime...

Quote from: beejazzUm... that actually happened.

Just in secret.

Huh?

S.M. Stirling's "The Peshawar Lancers" has an interesting alt-history. In the 1870s, comets strike the Earth (much as was feared would happen when Halley's Comet was due back), setting up a "nuclear winter." Disraeli, under the advisement of many of Britain's leading minds, including Lord Kelvin, has the British government, royal family, military, industry, and as much of the British population as possible moved to India. Much of the world falls into total chaos, with much of the Earth's population dying off during the long winter, or resorting to cannibalism to survive. The British Empire manages to survive and is the only remaining civilized power left by the early 20th century.

By the early 21st century, the world is a lot different than anything we know. The British Empire is still the top dog, but a French African empire is slowly building itself, even taking control of Sicily and part of southern Italy, with outposts along the northern Mediterranean coast. A Russian empire is also growing, but it's controlled by a thoroughly evil, cannibalistic regime. The Caliphate in Asia Minor is a rival to both the Russians and French, and has designs on British India.

It's a swashbuckling setting. Airships and external combustion engine cars are relatively new and little used, with horses and feet being the primary conveyances. Cavalry is an elite posting for noble scions. Russian spies use specially bred psychic seers to inflict damage on their enemies, knowing the right time and place to hit, and hit hard.

This is a fun, colorful setting. It's too bad Stirling has only written one book set in it. There is a nice section of the book set aside detailing the world and its history. It'd make for a great RPG "steampunk" setting.

Quote from: VellorianOne could argue (quite effectively, I should think) that Nazi Germany tried to erect itself as the "modern Roman empire."  But, I presume you'd like something that doesn't have the dark overtones of the Nazi regime...

My idea: the Roman Empire never fell (not 'resurrected' by some other entity).  That was my 'alternative history' idea: a Rome that lasted until the present age (and onwards!) in some recognisable form.

Of course, various 'What if the Nazis won' (or at least managed not to lose) WW2 alternative histories are cool as well (for a rather dark RPG).  I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the 'Nazi victory' idea yet.