This article contains content for Schattenkrieg, Nevermet Press’ alternate World War II pulp setting. Our content is community driven so we want feedback from you. Please leave a comment here, write about it on your own blog, or contact the Lead Designer, Michael Brewer, if you would like to contribute directly.
Operation Barbarossa via Wikipedia
I know the title of this article sounds like an oxymoron; how can one accurately change history? If you change it, then by definition it would not be accurate, correct? Yes, if you’re trying to pass off the re-imagining as truth. What I’m after is a fictional history based upon conceivable alternate outcomes of major events.
Schattenkrieg is set in an alternate Earth history during World War II. I wanted to extend the war and while supers and aliens are integral to the story, I didn’t want to simply hand wave the reasons behind the alternate outcome. This is particularly important since supers and aliens are fairly rare. I did a lot of research on plausible decisions that could have changed the direction of the war. In fact, I found that there is quite a passionate group of people who debate such things.
With Schattenkrieg, I took a handful of operations that I considered instrumental in determining the course of war and changed them. In many cases I gave reasonable explanations for the new direction, but then set it in a pulpy context.
For instance, Operation Barbarossa was the German offensive that opened up the Eastern Front when Hitler decided to attack the Soviet Union. Before that operation, there was a non-aggression pact between the Germans and the Soviets, but both sides knew it wouldn’t last. If not for a few critical events, the Germans would have succeeded in eliminating the USSR from fielding any resistance.
.jpg "German Soldiers with destroyed Soviet tank via Wikipedia")
German Soldiers with destroyed Soviet tank via Wikipedia
The primary reason the Third Reich failed in its conquest was because the poor weather kept its supply lines from reaching the embattled Wehrmacht. The poor roads and harsh winter took a massive toll on German troops which allowed the Soviets to mount successful counter-offensives. But what if the weather had been slightly kinder? The Germans may have been able to pull it off.
So in Schattenkrieg, the Germans used an alien device that ensured a climate conducive to their blitzkrieg tactics. A plausible reason (better weather) wrapped in a pulp context (alien device). I plan on detailing several important events that provide the true history as well how it is different in Schattenkrieg.
Written by Michael Brewer
Edited by Cassey Toi
As a writer of historical fiction games, I approve of this topic
Great points. It is very important when re-imagining historical fiction to take into account the affects of the pulp/magic/fantastic and how they will affect daily life, overall society, and historical events.
For example, when working on a 2350 BCE Table top RPG campaign, I had to figure out how to not change the full past (King Sargon will eventually win and King Lugalagizi will fall), but still incorporate the mythic creatures and gods. In the case of the Akkadians versus the Sumerians, It was easy to make MARDUK, their god, an epic stone giant warrior who killed the god-mother Tiamat. The Stone Giant Diety made an easy sway towards Sargon’s Army advance.
I strongly encourage folks to take a good interest in historical-fiction as game settings. There has yet to be a world created with the rich history, mythology and rich background as our own world.
.-= Dr.Nik´s last blog ..sponng: I often wonder that as I scan 1000s of crap resumes MRT @halfb8ked @smerrill : resume email: "NakedRaveDJ" Where is the common sense? =-.
@Dr.Nik: I personally dig playing out “What if” possibilities.
Very cool. With the Nazi obsession with all things occult, insinuating an alien device into the setting is still stretching the bounds of believability, but perhaps less so than within other, less delusional civilizations. I’m saying that in the history of western civilization, the Nazis are one of the best candidates for finding and mastering an alien device. I think this is one of the primary reasons Nazis are so morbidly fascinating–they were really into some bizarre stuff. And as you know, that’s fuel for imaginative exploitation.