Warpcore Breach Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 I have an idea to take my Champions campaign time hopping and was wondering what points in history (factual or fictional) might be interesting for the team to change the outcome of. A couple that I have come up with were to stop the "sabotage" of the Hindenburg or to save or arrange to be captured a young Julius Caesar who was on the run at the age of 19 for not divorcing his wife when ordered by Sulla, a political rival of his father's. I know there are dozens of other pivotal moments that would be fun to participate in. Any other ideas from the great fount of knowledge? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barton Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 Re: Historical Nexus Points I have an idea to take my Champions campaign time hopping and was wondering what points in history (factual or fictional) might be interesting for the team to change the outcome of. A couple that I have come up with were to stop the "sabotage" of the Hindenburg or to save or arrange to be captured a young Julius Caesar who was on the run at the age of 19 for not divorcing his wife when ordered by Sulla, a political rival of his father's. I know there are dozens of other pivotal moments that would be fun to participate in. Any other ideas from the great fount of knowledge? The books are called What If? and they are collections of short essays by historians. Goldmine for this kind of thing. The first essay was the Moors winning in Spain... another is Lord Halifax becomming PM in UK 1940, he likely would have made peace with Hitler, the empire lasts until the 1980's... all kinds of what if's but very well researched. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warpcore Breach Posted January 29, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 Re: Historical Nexus Points Hmm, eeeexcellent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Schultz Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 Re: Historical Nexus Points GURPS Time Travel has a list of these sort of nexus points, I think - it's been a while since I've read through it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmadanNaBriona Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 Re: Historical Nexus Points Here is an idea I had for a nexus point a while back (Age of Sail, related to Cpt. William Kidd). Steven Barnes has a couple of alt history books (Lion's Blood was the first) where the nexus point is Carthage defeating Rome, leading to Africa becoming the center of civilization instead of Europe. Africans trade guns to Norse raiders for barbarian slaves taken from Eire, Alba & Gaul, sent to the New World to work on plantations. It's a pretty groovy idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assault Posted January 30, 2007 Report Share Posted January 30, 2007 Re: Historical Nexus Points I tend to stick to simple changes, like Germany being defeated in the German-Polish War of 1939... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimble Posted January 30, 2007 Report Share Posted January 30, 2007 Re: Historical Nexus Points The JFK assassination. 9/11. Pearl Harbor. Sinking of the Lusitania. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted January 30, 2007 Report Share Posted January 30, 2007 Re: Historical Nexus Points Bring a supply of antibiotics to Alexander when he was dying in Babylon. Persuade the Spanish to delay launching their armada against England for a week or two until that storm passes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmadanNaBriona Posted January 30, 2007 Report Share Posted January 30, 2007 Re: Historical Nexus Points Bring a supply of antibiotics to Alexander when he was dying in Babylon. Persuade the Spanish to delay launching their armada against England for a week or two until that storm passes. Run a truckload of guns to the Greeks at Marathon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted January 30, 2007 Report Share Posted January 30, 2007 Re: Historical Nexus Points Run a truckload of guns to the Greeks at Marathon. Weeeelll... I think the ones I suggested would be less likely to throw off the whole technological balance of the world. Besides, the Greeks won at Marathon anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corven_Ren Posted January 30, 2007 Report Share Posted January 30, 2007 Re: Historical Nexus Points Stopping any assassination would be a good plot twist. Such as JFK mentioned above. Other stop the assassination plots could be Lincoln Robert Kennedy Martin Luther King Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmadanNaBriona Posted January 30, 2007 Report Share Posted January 30, 2007 Re: Historical Nexus Points Weeeelll... I think the ones I suggested would be less likely to throw off the whole technological balance of the world. Besides, the Greeks won at Marathon anyway. It's an inside joke of sorts.... If no one takes the bait better I'll explain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wcw43921 Posted January 30, 2007 Report Share Posted January 30, 2007 Re: Historical Nexus Points Stopping any assassination would be a good plot twist. Such as JFK mentioned above. Other stop the assassination plots could be Lincoln Robert Kennedy Martin Luther King Don't forget the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. That started World War One, fer rice cakes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basil Posted January 30, 2007 Report Share Posted January 30, 2007 Re: Historical Nexus Points Mussolini's ill-considered, ill-planned, and ill-led invasion of Greece doesn't happen (supply your own reason); Germany does not have to send a third of the forces ear-marked for Russia into the Balkans nor does it have to delay the invasion for nearly two months; Germany stomps Russia into the dust; continue from there however you wish. Columbus's ships disappear without a trace; Europe has no idea what happened to them. Before anyone else is ready to make a serious attempt, Portugal has a thriving trade around The Cape of Good Hope, and there's no sense following in Columbus's "footsteps." When and why the Atlantic is crossed is left to the GM. The Persians break through the "rear-guard" of Leonidas and the Spartans at Thermopylae in under an hour, race after the retreating main Greek army, and slaughter them nearly to the last man. They then surge into Greece and subjagate it. Roman Emperor Julian managed to hold onto the throne for more than 25 years; by the time he was succeeded by his grandson, jesusism's hold had slipped, and Mithraism was the official religion of the Empire. William the Bastard got his behind handed to him at Hastings. As a variation, he was defeated by Harald Haardraade! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted January 30, 2007 Report Share Posted January 30, 2007 Re: Historical Nexus Points It's an inside joke of sorts.... If no one takes the bait better I'll explain I want to say that is from Roadmarks, but I dont think he was running guns to the greeks. I think he wanted to supply the other side. Of course I may be wrong and I apologize if I am. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmadanNaBriona Posted January 30, 2007 Report Share Posted January 30, 2007 Re: Historical Nexus Points I want to say that is from Roadmarks, but I dont think he was running guns to the greeks. I think he wanted to supply the other side. Of course I may be wrong and I apologize if I am. CES That's the one. Red was looking for OUR offramp, the one where he was from. Where the Greeks Won at Marathon. The Road Cops kept stopping his attempts to aid the Greeks to "reopen" our exit, as it were. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimble Posted January 30, 2007 Report Share Posted January 30, 2007 Re: Historical Nexus Points Stopping any assassination would be a good plot twist. Such as JFK mentioned above. Other stop the assassination plots could be Lincoln Robert Kennedy Martin Luther King Don't forget Arch-Duke Ferdinand, this assassination kicked off The Great War. Also, how about making sure Hitler does better in art school! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pariah Posted January 30, 2007 Report Share Posted January 30, 2007 Re: Historical Nexus Points The Viking colony established in North America ~1000 AD survives and thrives, and by the time Christopher Columbus is born, the entire Western Hemisphere is colonized and speaking Norse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karmakaze Posted January 30, 2007 Report Share Posted January 30, 2007 Re: Historical Nexus Points A cowpox/smallpox related illness (or measles-relates, if you prefer) sweeps the Americas a couple of hundred years before European colonization gets going. As a result, the local population isn't decimated just as the expansionist push comes though. Alternately, a group of diseases indigenous to the Americas carries a high fatality rate among Europeans (who'd had no previous exposure). Several of the first colonization attempts collapse and one or two small plague events sweep European ports as the diseases are carried back by traders or fleeing colonists. The Bering Strait passage opens up one (or more) times after the original migration, allowing additional migration wave(s) to come through Alaska/Canada, bringing with them, among other things, gunpowder technology from China. Also' date=' how about making sure Hitler does better in art school![/quote'] Or for that matter, making sure Castro got the job in American Pro Baseball (even if it does fail the Snopes test: http://www.snopes.com/sports/baseball/castro.asp ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supreme Serpent Posted January 30, 2007 Report Share Posted January 30, 2007 Re: Historical Nexus Points Either of the Berlin standoffs or the Cuban Missile Crisis go hot. A more French-friendly Czar comes to power, Napoleon doesn't invade Russia. The post-WWI influenza epidemic is more deadly. Martin Luther has an accident on his way to nail his protests. The Bolsheviks suffer a series of serious reversals in 1917-1919. Russia devolves (continues) in chaos and fractures in the 1920s. Turks take Vienna (either time). Turks convert to Eastern Orthodox and merge with Byzantines. Library of Alexandria doesn't burn. Amelia Earhardt doesn't disappear. She goes on to form a volunteer force of women pilots that serve in China fighting the Japanese, the "Furies". Women's Lib and other social upheavals of the 1960's are advanced a few years. Howard Hughes doesn't go bonkers. Franklin Roosevelt doesn't get polio, political career takes off earlier. Becomes President in 1928, in time for the Great Depression to destroy his chances of re-election. Huey Long not assassinated. Chinese exploration fleets continue, China does not turn inward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warpcore Breach Posted January 30, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2007 Re: Historical Nexus Points WOW! Beautiful! You guys rock! All this source info will keep the Hands of Justice hoppin till the batteries in the T.A.R.D.I.S. run dry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimble Posted January 30, 2007 Report Share Posted January 30, 2007 Re: Historical Nexus Points Nikola Tesla gets psychotherapy and is not so adverse to touching, afraid of birds, etc...He ends up marrying Westinghouse's daughter and has major backing for his company and experiments. Grimble Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pariah Posted January 30, 2007 Report Share Posted January 30, 2007 Re: Historical Nexus Points The Tunguska Event, instead of being an icy comet crashing to Earth, is actually a rocky and/or metallic meteor instead. Widespread destruction is accompanied by tons of dust and debris in the air, triggering climate changes. Or, the Tunguska Event happens 50 years later, in 1958, and is mistaken by both the Soviets and the West as a nuclear blast. One thing leads to another..... (Yes, I just watched the episode of Cosmos relating to the Tunguska Event.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjamma4 Posted January 30, 2007 Report Share Posted January 30, 2007 Re: Historical Nexus Points Sarah Conner is killed before conceiving her son John Conner. Without John Conner, humanity is not saved from Cyberdyne Systems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
death tribble Posted January 30, 2007 Report Share Posted January 30, 2007 Re: Historical Nexus Points There is a book called The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson which takes as its start that the Black Death wiped out most of Europe. This leaves all sorts of discoveries to India, China and the Mongols. Including discovering America. Hitler dies in World War 1. That would be easier to arrange. He was a soldier fighting there. Edward VIII does not abdicate or never meets Wallis Simpson. Bonnie Prince Charlie defeats the English and takes the throne. Henry VIII has a son by his first wife Katherine of Aragon. During the Civil War the European Powers get involved on one side or the other. Communism does not fall and the Berlin Wall is still up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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