Quote from: Koltar;241991If they were the 51st state - that would be pretty cool.

...but it would be a different alt timeline.


And hey - I already know TWO GURPS players that live there.


- Ed C.

Quote from: CavScout;241988I bet when you drop N-word jokes, you follow up the stares with, "but a black friend told me it!"

Quote from: Ian Absentia;242016Or were you just out to be a dumb-ass?

Quote from: Ian Absentia;242016Well, you just sucked the life out of the thread.

Did it occur to you that I might be Jewish?  Did it occur to you that one can treat Israeli politics and the Jewish faith as separate subjects?  Did it occur to you that a comment on the intertwined political fates of the US and Israel might be ironic and not anti-Semitic?  Did it occur to you that the irony was intended to ratchet up the pre-existing irony of the "Ameriwank" alt-history? Did it occur to you that it might all have been in the spirit of a rare moment of fun between Brian and me? Or were you just out to be a dumb-ass?

!i!

Quote from: Age of Fable;241981I like the Medieval America setting on the same page.

• The Patriot was a bionically enhanced Vietnam War veteran who was getting on in years, but had tremendous experience making up for his diminishing power.  He wore a modernized version of the continental soldier uniform, with a domino mask.  Fond of saying "I'm getting too old for this shit."  Originated as one of my own PCs.
  
• Lady Liberty was a young mutant woman whose fire-generation powers activated while she was in the military.  She was equipped with a torch that focused her power to create fire-beams.  A total rip-off of the DC character, down to the Lady Liberty costume.
  
• The Unknown Soldier was a Gulf War veteran who benefited from the most recent versions of the same technology that made The Patriot.  Cocky and headstrong, he doesn't get along with The Patriot, seeing himself as the "New and Improved" version. He doesn't like the super-identity the military gave him, he doesn't understand the reference.  Loosely based on the DC character of the same name.
  
• American Eagle is a Native American with super strength and reflexes.  A former radical who worked with AIM under the guise Tomahawk, he and The Patriot became good friends during the civil rights era (re: Captain America & Falcon). He's loosely based on the Marvel character of the same name.
  

• The Patriot was identical to the character above, except evil.
  
• The White Wizard was a member of the Klu Klux Klan, a powerful public institution in Imperial America.  He had fire generation powers similar to Lady Liberty and wore a Klan uniform.
  
• The Unknown Stormtrooper was identical to the Unknown Soldier above, but do to brain trauma was an ambitionless psychopathic monster.  His uniform was a khaki SS uniform with slightly different insignia, and the same bandages as the original character.
  
• Night Hawk was another Klan superhero, essentially a superhuman assassin who dressed like Snake-Eyes (techno-ninja). On the surface, he's indistinguishable from the latest version of Nighthawk from Squadron Supreme (seen in Supreme Power).
  

Quote from: Skyrock;242045An American empire has to be lead by Emperor Norton I. - no ifs, ands or buts allowed.

Quote from: ColonelHardisson;242050There are a lot (relatively speaking) that deal with such things that occur in other times and places and actually seem more like exercises in speculative thinking rather than thinly-veiled political criticism.

Quote from: ColonelHardisson;242050I'd like to see more well-thought-out alt-history settings about America that carefully explore how certain events or people have influenced history. There are a lot (relatively speaking) that deal with such things that occur in other times and places and actually seem more like exercises in speculative thinking rather than thinly-veiled political criticism.

Quote from: David R;242054Have you got any examples Col ? IMO political criticism is implicit in these alt history endeavours. I could be wrong but I'm trying to think of some examples where this isn't the case.

Quote from: ColonelHardisson;242061Off the top of my head, the ones that leap to mind are actually from games - GURPS Infinite Worlds and Alternate Earths have a number of parallel worlds that don't seem to have a political agenda, and TORG's Orrorsh originates in a world where the timeline split off in Roman Empire times.

In literature, Kirk Mitchell's books about a Rome that never fell don't seem to have much in the way of strong, overt, contemporary political messages. S.M. Stirling's "The Peshawar Lancers" is another one that doesn't seem to have a political agenda.