History TabletopGame / GURPSAlternateEarths

* VastBureaucracy: The principles of mercantilism and a bewildering network of laws has retarded technological and industrial progress – tariffs are required at the border of almost every province or city, and motorcars are still toys for the rich.

* TechnologyPorn

* ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld: You bet.

* SteamPunk

* CoolTrain: ''[[GratuitousGerman blitzbahnen]]''
* TheFifties: Even about twenty years later, the world is still much like this. (UsefulNotes/WorldWarII was avoided, the war which brought down the SovietUnion was shorter and more one-sided, thus less upsetting for the world.)

* ForScience

* ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld

* ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld

* CoolPlane: the Republican Alliance's most important weapon, jet planes - mostly because they are the first planes in the setting.

* GoodRepublicEvilEmpire: Played broadly straight with the Republican Alliance being firmly represented as the good guys. That said some of the monarchies - Britain and Louisiana - are presented as not ''that'' bad and conversely the American Commownwealth is a HolierThanThou quasi-theocracy.

* WeAreStrugglingTogether: Austria is a bit of a mess.

The scenario "Centrum" inspired @/MaxSinister's Literature/ChaosTimeline.

* BalkanizeMe: The US (which takes over western Canada instead) and China

* StrawFeminist: To Southrons, every Yankee woman is a man-hating harridan.

* BalkanizeMe: China (not by the Romans, though)

* CoolTrain: ''[[GratuitousGerman kugelbahnen]]''
* CrapsackWorld

* ThoseWackyNazis

* WellIntentionedExtremist: They genuinely want to [[WhiteMansBurden civilize other timelines]] and prevent them from having an apocalyptic war like their own timeline had. It's just that they believe pretty strongly that end justifies means... and they don't care much if others disagree with their views on civilization.

* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: Better than those pesky humans.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: They genuinely [[WhiteMansBurden want to civilize other timelines]] and prevent them from having an apocalyptic war like their own timeline had. It's just that they believe pretty strongly that end justifies means... and they don't care much if others disagree with their views on civilization.

* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: And without those pesky humans.

* TheRival: Centrum for Homeline

* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs

* SouthernBelle

Ming China doesn't scrap it's [[CoolShip treasure fleet]] after the 15th century voyages of Zheng He, and starts to, almost accidentally, expand - first into Vietnam, India, and Arabia, then Africa, and later into Europe when [[SirFrancisDrake the lackeys]] of their bandit [[ElizabethI queens]] and kings start to become a nuisance... and there's no end, it seems...

* BalkanizeMe: North America, (still) Germany

* CyberPunk

* HighTechLowCulture: Less accentuated than the norm, but in this world of scientific wonders, colonialism is still a reality and both women and non-white races tend to be treated like second-class citizens.

* TheSoundOfMartialMusic: The Hapsburg Empire dissolves on schedule, except that it also includes Russia, and Russia does ''not'' suffer the October Revolution.

* TheGloryThatWasRome: More glorious than ever!

* EvilOverlord: The Caliph of [[{{India}} Hind]]; he only [[TheStarscream betrayed the other caliphates]] and allied with the Jamahariya to gain power.

* PenalColony: [[TheOtherRainForest Oregon Country]] (which has hosted such luminaries as Jeremy Bentham and [[GeorgeOrwell Eric Blair]]) is where the British Empire sends its troublemakers.

Ming China doesn't scrap its [[CoolShip treasure fleet]] after the 15th century voyages of Zheng He, and starts to almost accidentally expand - first into Vietnam, India, and Arabia, then Africa, and later into Europe when [[SirFrancisDrake the lackeys]] of their bandit [[ElizabethI queens]] and kings start to become a nuisance... and there's no end, it seems...

* {{Pirate}}: Everyone's doing it. Except for the Scandinavians (no surprise), the [[LongList Moors, Chinese, Malay, Yanomami, Hanse Germans, Gujerati and Nihonese]] are also into it.

An eccentric 9th century Muslim scholar refutes the pagan Greek philosophers using rationalism. In combination with an Arab printing press and an oil-powered Industrial Revolution, the Muslims become the prime power in the world and develop science and technology at a breakneck pace. The first man lands on the moon in 1434, and in the present time (1683 AD), the world has reached an age of progress far beyond that of Homeline. However, a secular, rationalist movement known as the Jamahariya ("Republic") has recently taken over much of Talentis (the New World) in a lightning bid for power, and an apocalyptic war may be at hand.

* AnarchyIsChaos: Averted. The Umma (territory not governed by a caliphate) has no sovereign government (though local government still exists in many places), but is a very peaceful place - and in many ways ''more'' restrictive and orderly than in the Caliphates.
* AwakeningTheSleepingGiant[=/=]SealedBadassInACan: The whole timeline is presented as this with regards to the Infinite Worlds setting. Both Homeline and Centrum are, quite rightly, scared shitless of the prospect that Caliph might learn the Secret.
* BenevolentAI: Sentient computers (called ''djinns'') have to be educated just like humans; consequentially, all are friendly to organic life (and devout Muslims to boot). Of course, that may change in areas under control of the Jamahariya.

* OneNationUnderCopyright: The Rightly Guided Stellar Caliphate is an unusual example; once war between the Jamahariya and the rest of Earth's nations seemed likely, the MegaCorp that controls most space travel seceded as the RGSC in order to ensure the continuity of human civilization in case of an EarthThatWas situation.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: The Jamahariya intend to expand the possibilities of science beyond the limitations imposed by Islamic law and custom (as if nanotechnology, [[SpaceElevator space elevators]], and [=FTL=] travel weren't enough); they do tend to push ForScience to [[ScaleOfScientificSins its limits]], and in the Caliph of Hind they may have made a poor choice of friends.

* GoodRepublicEvilEmpire: Played broadly straight with the Republican Alliance being firmly represented as the good guys. That said some of the monarchies - Britain and Lousiana - are presented as not ''that'' bad and conversely the American Commownwealth is a HolierThanThou quasi-theocracy.

Starts to diverge when [[PrivateMilitaryContractors filibuster]] William Walker succeeds in taking over UsefulNotes/{{Nicaragua}} in 1856; during the UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar, it broke the Union blockade and helped the CSA win recognition from the European powers and ultimately independence. Later, the "Southrons" take over most of Mexico and Central America. The US (which took much of Canada in revenge for British aid to the rebels) is allied with Germany and helps them win UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne. In the present day, the two Americas face off across a border of mines and barbed wire that stretches from the Gulf of California to the Potomac.

* TheFifties: Even about twenty years later, the world is still much like this. (UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo was avoided, the war which brought down the SovietUnion was shorter and more one-sided, thus less upsetting for the world.)

* SpiritualSuccessor: ''[[TabletopGame/InfiniteWorlds GURPS Infinite Worlds]]''.

* UsefulNotes/NazisWithGnarlyWeapons: Gnarlier than ever. In the present, their army has Kevlar armor, tanks with railguns and neutron bomb howitzers.

** They also wiped out those pesky guerrillas in Afghanistan and the Andes by saturation bombardment with neutron bomb howitzers.

!!!Centrum:
A more successful Angevin (Anglo-French) empire gradually takes over all the world. When the empire falls apart, a meritocracy centered on Terraustralis (Australia) rebuilds the empire. And then, they start discovering and conquering other timelines...
* AlternateHistoryWank: The Angevins, and the British Empire in general... until 1902, then it becomes a completely new society.
* TheRival: Centrum for Homeline

* [[UnitedNationsIsASuperpower League of Nations Is a Superpower]]: Due to the power of the World Science Council (established with the aid of JP Morgan's money and Nikola Tesla's inventions), and the war against Stalin's Soviet Union, the League is rapidly developing into a world government.

* [[spoiler:MinovskyPhysics: It is hinted that the laws of physics might differ a bit in this timeline.]]

''GURPSAlternateEarths'' is (as you may have guessed) a ''{{GURPS}}'' sourcebook (well, rather two books, but they're both covered here) about AlternateHistory -- or rather, alternate timelines which the characters may visit in one campaign, or live in from the start. Describes twelve timelines (six in each book) in loving detail.