An idea...

[gridlore]

While Kirsten is away at Burning Man, I'm planning on having wild orgies and naked Giants-watching parties getting my websites finally back in working order, and I've had a thought.

The default setting for GURPS 4e is the Infinite Worlds.. endless variations of Earth where history went in a different direction; or some basic physical laws work differently! Everything from a world ruled by a Swedish empire in the modern day to one where the dinosaurs gained intelligence, had a thriving civilization that spread to the stars, and still died out millions of years ago.

To support this, I'm thinking of doing a page of alternates. They'd be grouped by level of change (Drastic, Major, Minor, Barely Noticeable, Odd) and have a few paragraphs of background and effects. Here's an example:

World: Babe-3

Change: In 1920, Boston Red Sox owner Harry Frazee was in desperate financial condition. His girlfriend had embezzled huge sums from him. The owner of the rival New York Yankees, pounced on the near-bankrupt Frazee and bought out the contract of Babe Ruth. Ruth, outraged at the way the deal was handled, declared that as long as he remained a Yankee, they'd never win the World Series. Ruth went on to have a great career with the Yankees, setting all the records we know in our world, but for some reason, the Yankees never made a World Series win after that. Even after Ruth's retirement and death, the curse of the Bambino endures. Yankee stadium is called the "House that Ruth Cursed" On the other hand, the Boston Red Sox have won 28 world titles since the trade.

Effects: Odd. No significant changes to society, except cosmetic ones. The Yankees are the lovable losers, and New Yorkers blame every bad play on the curse..

I'd need some help setting up the form for entering alternates, but I think it would be fun.

Comments

[biomekanic.livejournal.com]

Sounds cool, but my web-fu is weak. Perhaps cmdr_zoom could help you, or he may know someone who can.

[lysana.livejournal.com]

I dunno about only cosmetic changes. I mean, think of the fiscal impact on the city of Boston.

[biomekanic.livejournal.com]

lysana's got a point there, how much tourism would that generate? That's a lot of tax dollars coming into the city. As well, Yankee Stadium is a fairly recognizable cultural landmark (I'm no baseball ban, but I still recognize it). There might be a lot of subtle changes in the culture, enough to slightly weird someone from outside.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

Good point. The Big Dig is probably finsihed in that world.

But unless the game takes place in an around Boston, the change is cosmetic.. you hear people complqaining about how the damn Red Sox are going to win it again, more Red Sox caps than Yankees caps, etc.

[pauldrye.livejournal.com]

naked Giants-watching parties

Thank heavens for that hyphen or this phrase has several meanings that really don't bear thinking about.

It's hard to come up with an alternate history that means much and also has to do with baseball.

Hrm. No Jackie Robinson and the Civil Rights movement is even uglier. Or spread the racism around and have it that both blacks and Jews were banned from playing major league ball. In 1947, Branch Rickey erases both the colour and the religion lines by playing rookies Jackie Robinson and Al Rosen. Since their Homeline third baseman in '47 was the immortal Spider Jorgenson (and it was worse with Billy Cox from '48 through '53), instead of finishing first six times and second three times, they make it nine in a row and challenge the Yankees of that era properly.

[aurictech.livejournal.com]

Here's one that could easily have a measurable impact on history:

Ted Williams is not called back into service as a Marine fighter pilot during the Korean War. John Glenn, who served in Williams' unit in the Homeline, is shot down (because Williams isn't there) and suffers career-ending injuries. While Williams leads the 1952 Red Sox to their first (and only) World Series title since 1918, Glenn never becomes an astronaut, and is never elected to the US Senate. Further repercussions are left as an exercise for the student....

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

Or.. Ted Williams remains in the Corps at the end of Vietnam, and ends up the first American to orbit the Earth.

Of course, my favorite alternate..

October 26th, 2002. In the 7th inning of Game 6 of the World Series, Angels third baseman Troy Glaus grounds into a rally-killing double play. The Giants hold onto their 5-0 lead, and win the Series 4 games to 2.

My reaction (http://www.livejournal.com/users/gridlore/144715.html) to what really happened that day...