Alternate Earths thread

[wcw43921]

Don't forget Champions 3D for 4th Edition, which had a number of well-detailed alternate universes (such as Fantasy World, Horror World and Nazi World) and more than a dozen one-page write-ups to be fleshed out by the GameMaster (such as Cartoon World, Magic World, Mecha World, Mad Viking World and last--but least--Wimp World.  )

[Ninja-Bear]

Rep to Bubba Smith for beating me to earth n for ninja! I thought before of having a world similar to that where chi is real verified force though rare.

[Ninja-Bear]

I guess DC: TAS could be another one or two depending on how you feel about having powers in a game.

[bubba smith]

earth DC-TAS? that could serve as a world of low-powered super-heroes similar to earth N but with non martial arts heroes similar to"west" world

thanks for the rep ninja-bear

[Cassandra]

earth DC-TAS? that could serve as a world of low-powered super-heroes similar to earth N but with non martial arts heroes similar to"west" world

thanks for the rep ninja-bear

 

I like that a lot.

[assault]

Good catch on San Angelo.

 

TAS world would be interesting as well.

 

Superhero 2044 was the first published superhero RPG. Champions was visibly influenced by it.

http://www.advanceddungeonsandparenting.com/2012/03/from-archives-surprised-by-superhero.html

[Cassandra]

White Oak Earth

 

On June 30, 1862 an errant shell kills Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and Generals Robert E. Lee and James Longstreet.  The CSA is thrown into political confusion and chaos, and the war ends in 1863.  Because fewer people were killed in the war, super humans began to appear 75 years later.

[bubba smith]

i'm afraid I don't see the connection

[Cassandra]

i'm afraid I don't see the connection

 

Yeah. It needs work.

[Cassandra]

Hero Earth

 

A world where every superhero from the Comics exist.  Diana Prince and Steve Trevor are Agents of SHIELD.  The Invaders was part of the Justice Society of America.  The Tick had a rivalry with Spider-Man.  Felicity Hardy knew Linda Turner and carried on the name Black Cat.  Lex Luthor defeated incumbent President Kyle Richmond.  The Champions from the Hero Universe exist along side the X-Men, Squadron Supreme, Justice League, Teen Titans, Justice Society, The Avengers, and The Defenders.

[bubba smith]

the gang's all here

[Cassandra]

Alternate Cold War

 

     Hitler decides not to declare war on the United States after Pearl Harbor.  Roosevelt is forced to concentrate on defeating Japan, and aid to England is cut.  The U-Boats cut off England, Churchill is forced to resign and the new Prime Minister, Lord Halifax concludes a separate peace with Germany.  The Nazis concentrate on the Russians, who are forced to fight without Allies.  The U.S. pushes Japan back to the Home Island by 1944, and launches an invasion on June 6.  The Japanese use biological warfare on the U.S. forces, and the Americans retaliate with poison gas.  The German Atomic Bomb program fails, but the use of radioactive waste material against the Russians.  Stalin becomes increasingly unhinged, and a military coup overthrows him in favor of Marshal Zhukov.  Fighting continues in Japan until the Atomic bomb is used in 1945, and Japan surrenders.  Hitler accepts a cease fire after Zhukov surrenders the  Ukraine.  

 

     The mix of biological and nuclear material cause a great deal of mutations leading to super humans developing a generation after the war.  A four way Cold War between the United States, the British Empire, and Soviet Union, and Nazi Germany starts in the 1950s, and it's only the Death of Hitler and the return of Churchill to power in 1953 that prevents World War Three from breaking out.

[Cassandra]

Hero Earth

 

A world where every superhero from the Comics exist.  Diana Prince and Steve Trevor are Agents of SHIELD.  The Invaders was part of the Justice Society of America.  The Tick had a rivalry with Spider-Man.  Felicity Hardy knew Linda Turner and carried on the name Black Cat.  Lex Luthor defeated incumbent President Kyle Richmond.  The Champions from the Hero Universe exist along side the X-Men, Squadron Supreme, Justice League, Teen Titans, Justice Society, The Avengers, and The Defenders.

 

 

If you want to see who heroes from this Alternate Earth stack up against each other, take a look at my 5th Edition 250 Points Comic Book Characters thread.  So far you'll find Superman, Batman, Black Cat (and Kitten), and Darna (The Filipino super heroine).

[Greywind]

Which one of your 250 point character threads?

[Cassandra]

Which one of your 250 point character threads?

 

The Newest one

[DShomshak]

Many years ago when I first tried to sign onto the forum (and could not tell if I had done so), someone asked for an alternate history in which the Roman Empire fell during the life of Jesus. Various suggestions were made, mostly involving connections to Arthurian legend. Alas, I could not post my own suggestion. This thread reminds me of it, though, so I can finally pass it along. What luck that I still have my old notes! Any resemblance to a well-known Fantasy epic is purely intentional.

 

We have two conditions: The Roman Empire collapsed when it was barely begun, and Jesus was important enough to be remembered 20 centuries later. The collapse isn’t too difficult. Just let Julius and Octavian/Augustus have a few more problems. The nascent empire can tear itself apart in the reign of Tiberius, during the life of Jesus, or in the reign of Caligula if you want Jesus to live longer.

 

Now for Jesus himself. Since comic-book universes have real supernatural forces, the Crucifixion still happens eventually and Christianity spreads: That’s a Divine Plan. It could take a different form, though. So here’s a scenario for an alternate Christianity, bringing in the Arthurian suggestions other people made.

 

In 33 AD, an empire that’s already crumbling strands Pontius Pilate in a three-way power struggle with Herod and the Judean religious establishment. Pilate decides not to give in to the bloody natives: If they see him back down now, his authority vanishes. He pardons the popular street preacher who has everyone in a tizzy. And anyway, the Romans often tolerated foreign religions so long as they dis not oppose the Roman state, and Jesus had said to “Render unto Caesar what is due to Caesar.”

 

Curious, Pilate talks more to Jesus. He likes what he hears. Pilate gives Jesus a secretary to write down his actual words. Several years later, however, Pilate faces rebellion within his own ranks from underlings who think he listens too much to the Judean preacher. The Crucifixion happens through a cabal of Pharisees and Roman rebels.

 

Pilate, Joseph of Arimathea and a group of Jesus’ other disciples, both Roman and Judean, sail west all the way to Britain with the Holy Grail. Joseph plants his staff on Glastonbury Tor and it blooms as a hawthorn tree. Beneath the white flowers of the miraculous tree, Pilate declares, “I came from across the great sea to create a new kingdom. Here shall I abide, and my heirs, to the end of the world.” In the coming decades, Pontius Pilate lays the groundwork for the first Christian kingdom, with the Grail and the Tree as tokens of his divine right.

 

Back east, the Apostle Peter takes the Spear of Destiny to Rome and founds another church, though with opposition from the rump Roman government. When Peter heals the charismatic and well-meaning young Emperor Gaius of a terrible fever, though, Gaius converts and makes Christianity the official religion of Rome. He is remembered as Saint Gaius and revered for his commitment to justice, good government and the welfare of the poor. No one remembers his the nickname he gained from a childhood spent in military camps: Caligula.

 

The rest of Europe and the Near East breaks up into petty states ruled by Roman governors, invading barbarian chiefs, or former tributary kings such as Herod. The nascent Christian churches face less systematic persecution than in our history, but more competition locally from kings who make Mithraism, the cult of Isis, or other late Classical faiths their state religion. Further east, the Parthian empire expands for lack of serious opposition.

 

Worst of all, a false prophet arises: Simon Magus, the Proto-Heretic, who twists the teachings of Jesus for his own vile cult of sorcery and personality. The Apostles balk Simon in Europe and the Near East, but the Parthian court welcomes him. Simon’s Gnosticism becomes the state religion of Parthia, and he becomes the power behind the Parthian throne.

 

Six centuries later, Pilate’s descendant Arthur inherits a kingdom in turmoil from the machinations of Simonist sorcerers. Arthur proves equal to the task once his knights recover the Holy Grail, the sacred emblem of harmony and fellowship. As a war-leader, Arthur defeats several enemies on the European mainland. His campaigns take him all the way to Rome, where he pulls the Spear of Destiny from the stone where Peter drove it centuries before, thus proving himself the true King of the West. Many pagan kingdoms convert -- and some of the faerie-folk, too. Arthur’s dynasty marries into elven and merfolk royalty. At the end of the 7th century, the multi-species Holy Alliance crushes the decadent Parthian Empire with the help of a new player, the prophet Mohammed, who was guided by Gabriel to a third sacred relic, the Crown of Thorns. For a short time, East and West are united. It doesn’t last, but the world remembers this as a Golden Age.

 

The early primacy of Britain gives this history’s Europe a stronger pull to the Atlantic than to the Mediterranean. Maritime trade among the British Isles, Scandinavia, Gaul and Hispania eventually leads to the discovery of Iceland, Greenland, and the New World. The Native Americans fare a little better than in our history. As long as the Grail is available, peaceful assimilation is possible, and works both ways. The Iroquois Confederation unites with European coastal colonies to form the United States of Avalon -- as the Arthurian British call our North America -- as a melting pot of cultures and races, human and otherwise. On the other hand, first contact with the Aztecs leads to a transatlantic crusade -- and Old World diseases still devastate the native populations.

 

At the start of the 21st century, however, the world is again in dire straits. Simon’s wizard-cult has seized power through much of the Middle East. Some say that Simon himself has returned as the Dark Lord of the new empire. The Grail, Spear, and Crown are all lost. The White Tree of Britain is dead, poisoned by a Simonist sorcerer, and the line of Pilate and Arthur was overthrown long ago. The churches of Joseph, Peter, and Mohammed bicker while the faerie races recall old grievances against Humanity. Simon has empowered thirty champions through dread sorcery and swathed them in ebon cloaks clasped with one of the silver coins paid to Judas. The Coinwraiths ride unhindered throughout the world, spreading terror and destruction.

 

In this alternate Earth of swords and sorcery, heroes from two worlds must unite to stop the Shadow of Simon from overspreading the world. They must unite the Free Peoples of the West to turn back the armies from the East and recover the Spear, Grail, and Crown -- uniting the emblems of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- to end Simon’s power forever. And finally they must restore the Heir of Arthur -- one of this world’s superheroes (would it be too heavy-handed to call him the Ranger?) -- to his rightful throne, to bring peace and justice once more.

 

At least, that’s one way you could do it. There’s no shortage of other possibilities!

 

Dean Shomshak