The War of the Worlds Godzilla 1898! - A Troll Lord Games Victorious rpg - Shifting Powers

 Still upon my mind is our Victorious rpg campaign  after having a beer with a fellow DM today. Would the world powers of the 1890's be actively searching for & exploiting for monsters & Kaiju?! So I dragged out my Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition Monster Manual & Monster Manual & Monster Manual II to think about this end of the campaign. 


So as the evening draws in here, thoughts of what a Martian invasion would mean to an 1897 Earth have been on my mind. A combination of classic AD&D or D&D immediately springs to mind. Imagine if you will for a moment that the Elves, Dwarves, & other mythological creatures of Europe had a foot hold or so on the elite & royal families of Europe. Every once in a while a portal to the Wilderlands of High Fantasy might open perhaps AD&D's Greyhawk. 

So basically you've got monsters & tribes of myth & legend still in the far corners of the globe perhaps even the Amazons, etc. all looking into the modern world of the Nineteenth century  with more then a bit of distain. Why?! Well what if the powers of this world started exploiting the giant Kaiju for their own technological & military benefit. Godzilla would be the latest kaiju  in a string of Earth's immune system from a huge variety of otherworldly & interdimensional threats. 

Thank you Charlton Reading Library site.  

Does this set this world up for an all out early World War? What if Germany knows all about the Kaiju & knows about the Martian invasion by 1880 or so?! This throws everything in  Germany 1880's military machine  into overdrive with fear & panic. Germany begins an age of exploration across the globe in an effort to A. gain as many military resources as possible & B. to expand their own ranks of Kaiju or gain a technological edge. This leads to the possible invasion of the United States in 1897 all part of the  Imperial German plans for the invasion of the United States in  reality. This set up Mexico & Cuba in our Victorious game two years ago. Let's talk about Christopher Tamm of Elf Maids & Ocotopi blog, over the years Chris has been instrumental in killing off several of player's PC & having several of my characters killed off. Chris is completely unaware of this little fact. But every now & then we all need a bit of a boost. Chris has a free download Great Weird War which has been fueling a singular point. 

Does the Martian Invasion of 1897 & the presence of Kaiju bring an early World War I?! Personally yes, the reason for this is that these two pressures set up perfectly for the technological march of HG Wells War in the Air , & even possibly the World Set Free.. 

The War in the Air is a completely alternate history & its one possible timeline that happens as a result of the Martian invasion. Both of these Wellsian peusdo historical events bring about Well's Shape of Things to Come.  This was an alternative  time line visited by the PC's in 2019 but they weren't huge fans of the Well's  one world state. 

And before the fire & pitch forks start Wells was one of the first writers to do an entire shared universe for his fictional creations. But does this set up a full on post invasion war?! Only time will tell as the player's decisions shape the future of this campaign world. The presence of Kaiju excelerates many things including the development of technology & the path of alterative history. 
There was also some talk today about leading the adventurers down into Gary Gygax's EX1 Dungeonland. But once again I had to remind the fellow DM & player of their encounter with the Jabberwocky  from The Dragon issue #54. This thing is a nasty customer. The player's PC's ran from the thing the last time they were in Wonderland. 
And in the aftermath of the invasion there are going to be tons of undead & ghosts to deal with. Fortunely James Mishler has Ghosts The Incorporeal Undead to help generate some really nasty spirits & ghosts from the left over alien & weird radiation.