A Bat-ty Campaign Idea

[Mark Rand]

The Waynes didn't have a son, they had a daughter. Barbara Wayne grew up and became Batgirl. She's easier to get along with than Batman, but still maintains the "Creature of the Night" image Batman does.

Her parents had a maid and butler as servants. Their daughter, Marie, is Barbara's housekeeper and knows her employer's secret identity. Since they grew up together, they're also good friends. (They're like Abbey Spencer and Marie in the Judge Parker comic strip.)

She has good relations with the various law enforcement agencies, and they accept the fact that she likes to e thought of as an urban myth.

Lady Arcane is one Batgirl's friends.They created a link between Barbara's Batcave and Lady Arcane's house that passes through a pocket reality that's centered around a Japanese garden that Barbara likes to meditate in.

Lady Arcane's house also serves as the address for Batgirl's support staff and any liaisons she might have. (Batgirl's support staff doesn't include Marie, who doesn't have access to the pocket reality and the liaison(s) don't have access to the Barcave.)

Batgirl's costume looks like Cassandra Cain's.

Batgirl has decided to create a team to help her protect Gotham City.

What Batcave is better, the old Wayne Manor one or the new one?

Since Batgirl likes the stealthy approach, what kind of sports car should her Batmobile be based on?

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: A Bat-ty Campaign Idea

 

Not a bad idea. The batmobile would probably be built around a Corvette or something similarly sleek and powerful, but with additional features like complete bulletproofing (including headlights), a full sensor suite so she can drive blind without the headlights, an On-Star-like link to Marie back in the Batcave, and so forth.

 

Barbara Wayne would also have a normal car (wth marie as the chauffer) as she ran Wayne Enterprises and maintains an active social life. Were it not for her obsession with crimefighting, she would be the most eligikble bachelorette in Gotham City, and even with that a lot fo wealthy and powerful men desire her(and, in a supreme act of underestimation, her fortune). She doesn;t put on a "dumb girl" act, though -- anyone who deals with her in a business matter knows she;s extremely sharp and can look through you like she had X-ray vision into your soul. Barbara Wayne may eventually get a steady boyfirend, from whom she'll keep her Batgirl identity secret unbtil the last possible moment.

 

She trained externisevly in kung=fu, jodu, aikido, kenjutsu, ninjustsu, svaate, and caporeia. There is very little she can;lt do in terms of martial arts. And her costume is bulletproof latex that looks like black leather, with a cape that looks like coth but can also double as armor.

 

The Joker would be a woman too, but just as insane and murderous as her DC Universe counterpart. She commits crimes and laucnhes vast schemes that make sense only to herself, but which can unleash untold destruction if alowed to come to fruition. Physically the Joker is not a match for Batgirl, but she usually lets her minions let the fists fly for her.

 

One other thing -- Barbara has trained herself to require only three hours of sleep a day. She usually gets them in between six and nine ion the morning. Those three hours, though, are usuaully filled with intense nightmares of the death of her parents or whatever villain is plaguing her existence at the moment.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: A Bat-ty Campaign Idea

 

I just thought of something else -- Batgirl would be involved in a lust-hate relationship with the notorious burglar Catman. they're both gorgeous and wildly attractive, but Catman has a tendency to break the law in spectacular ways for his own profit and Batgirl has had to throw him in jail more than once. Catman hasn't decided whether he wants to take Batgirl into the sack or put her in a coffin....

[Mark Rand]

Re: A Bat-ty Campaign Idea

 

As you no doubt have figured out, we're not in the DC universe. This is an Elseworlds campaign. It's mainly the DCU, with parts of the Champions and Marvel universes, as well as ideas of my own.

From the CU, we're taking the DOSPA, PRIMUS, UNTIL, VIPER and, probably DEMON. The DOSPA, as I see it, is mainly an information clearinghouse for various federal agencies. PRIMUS and UNTIL stay the way they are.VIPER is simply an international criminal cartel with some snake cult aspects. I'm still deciding what to do with DEMON.

As we all know, Gotham City is the county seat of Gotham County, New Jersey. So, where is it? In my universe, it's the southern part of Ocean County. Gotham Bay is Little Egg Harbor. It's about six miles from Gotham City to Beach Haven Inlet. A lighthouse, Beach Haven Inlet Light, marks the inlet. After the Coast Guard called it unusable, The Wayne Foundation provided the money to repair and renovate the lighthouse. Although the lighthouse is operated by the Gotham County Port Authority, The Wayne Foundation provides 60% of the funding for the light and the adjoining Gotham County Maritime Museum.

A mother-daughter team tend the light and live in the old principal keeper's house, which is attached to the tower. The Gotham County Maritime Museum is housed in the house once shared by the first and second assistant keepers. (For those who are interested, the lighthouse has a cluster of 4, 100-watt bulbs, only one of which is lit at one time. They're surrounded by a plastic first-order lens. There's also a diaphonic fog horn, BEEEEooooh, that operates electronically instead of on compressed air, and aircraft and marine radionavagation beacon transmitters.)

As far as Gotham City's layout goes, we're using the current one. The place names, however, aren't going to be the ones DC made up in the 1990s to honor the people who worked on the various Batman compcs. Where possible, the old names have been retained. Otherwise, I made up new ones.

[Mark Rand]

Re: A Bat-ty Campaign Idea

 

Except for Marie, Batgirl's support team is based at the fastness of Lady Arcane, who most people know as Lisa Ward. The house itself is based on the Mobius, from the fourth edition book Mystic Masters, and is located near Gotham University. Here are the people in the house.

April Curtis, R.N., B.S.N., worked in a level one trauma center before getting laid off and becoming the team's nurse. An African-American woman whose braided black hair touches her shoulders, she wears scrubs.

Catherine Ward, Aunt Cathy to most, is the fastness's resident ghost. A plesant woman, she has dark-blonde hair and wears a short-sleeved, light-green evening gown, long white gloves and white shoes. She prefers to enter a room through the door instead of appearing in it and can remain solid for up to 20-minutes a day.

Christine Hunter is the team's liaison with the DOSPA. A fomer CIA operative, specializing in black-bag jobs, she transferred to the DOSPA and was assigned to the liaison pool after an enemy power accused the CIA of stealing top-secret data from his country and a disgruntled former agency executive publically adimtted this to Congress and gave them the agent's name. Fortunately, he only knew the agent's code name, Shadowdancer. Christine is a blue-eyed blonde who prefers wearing dark colors. While in college, she acted in plays. While preparing to portray a fashionably-dressed woman in a play set in 1903 Boston, she learned to to do everyday tasks with gloves on and decided to wear them all the time.

Donna West is Lady Arcane's housekeeper.

Mariko Yamashiro, M.S. is Batgirl's engineer. A Japanese-American woman from a wealthy Atlantic City family, she drives a Lamborghini Diablo in amateur races sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America, drives the pace car at some area tracks, is a former Olympic gymnast and a ninja with mystical abilities. Although she'd rather work on equipment than fight crime, Batgirl can talk her into joining in on a mission. Since they have similar skills, Mariko teams up with Christine on those missions.

Midnight, Lady Arcane's familiar, is a black cat.

Lady Arcane and Batgirl put their heads together and decided who has access to what. While April, Batgirl, Christine, Lady Arcane, Mariko and Midnight have access to the gateway world, only April, Batgirl and Mariko have access to the Batcave. Marie has access to the Batcave, but not the gateway world or Lady Arcane's house.

[Mark Rand]

Re: A Bat-ty Campaign Idea

 

Not a bad idea. The batmobile would probably be built around a Corvette or something similarly sleek and powerful, but with additional features like complete bulletproofing (including headlights), a full sensor suite so she can drive blind without the headlights, an On-Star-like link to Marie back in the Batcave, and so forth.

 

Barbara Wayne would also have a normal car (wth marie as the chauffer) as she ran Wayne Enterprises and maintains an active social life. Were it not for her obsession with crimefighting, she would be the most eligikble bachelorette in Gotham City, and even with that a lot fo wealthy and powerful men desire her(and, in a supreme act of underestimation, her fortune). She doesn;t put on a "dumb girl" act, though -- anyone who deals with her in a business matter knows she;s extremely sharp and can look through you like she had X-ray vision into your soul. Barbara Wayne may eventually get a steady boyfirend, from whom she'll keep her Batgirl identity secret unbtil the last possible moment.

 

She trained externisevly in kung=fu, jodu, aikido, kenjutsu, ninjustsu, svaate, and caporeia. There is very little she can;lt do in terms of martial arts. And her costume is bulletproof latex that looks like black leather, with a cape that looks like coth but can also double as armor.

 

The Joker would be a woman too, but just as insane and murderous as her DC Universe counterpart. She commits crimes and laucnhes vast schemes that make sense only to herself, but which can unleash untold destruction if alowed to come to fruition. Physically the Joker is not a match for Batgirl, but she usually lets her minions let the fists fly for her.

 

One other thing -- Barbara has trained herself to require only three hours of sleep a day. She usually gets them in between six and nine ion the morning. Those three hours, though, are usuaully filled with intense nightmares of the death of her parents or whatever villain is plaguing her existence at the moment.

I agree with Michael's comments.

As Batgirl's engineer, Mariko might be monitorong the On-Star-like link instead of Marie. With her ninjitsu skills, she'd also be a good sparing partner for Batgirl.

The female Joker is, I think, a crazed former circus clown who wears a jester's costume and knows how to juggle and ride a unicycle. Her weapons include razor-sharp throwing cards, juggling equipment that can be thrown hard at someone or contain either explosives or dangerous gasses.

[Mark Rand]

Re: A Bat-ty Campaign Idea

 

I just thought of something else -- Batgirl would be involved in a lust-hate relationship with the notorious burglar Catman. they're both gorgeous and wildly attractive' date=' but Catman has a tendency to break the law in spectacular ways for his own profit and Batgirl has had to throw him in jail more than once. Catman hasn't decided whether he wants to take Batgirl into the sack or put her in a coffin.... [/quote']

I like this idea, too. His burglaries and costume have a feline motif.

Of course, where there's a Catman, there's a Catwoman. She's a world-class cat burglar currently giving the French police problems. Her garb is typical for a cat burglar, matte-black jumpsuit, jacket, boots, webbing, gloves and ski mask. She takes her name from her feline agility, grace and leaping ability. She can also see in the dark as well as a cat can and her gloves are equipped with short, but sharp, non-retractable claws. While Catwoman does carry a suppressed pistol, it's load isn't lethal. Instead, it fires knockout darts, the same stuff used by special forces soldiers and spys when they want to knock out instead of kill their opponants.

[Mark Rand]

Re: A Bat-ty Campaign Idea

 

I've decided to use the Mayfair versions of Wayne Manor and the Batcave as the basis for my campaign's versions of them. The West End Games version of the Batcave has too many problems with it.

A decision about DEMON has been made and will be posted once I have a copy of the book.

[Mark Rand]

Re: A Bat-ty Campaign Idea

 

Like many big cities, Gotham has tracks and horse arenas. North of the city, and Bristol Township, are Gotham International Speedway, Gotham Downs, Gotham Park and the Gotham Hunt Club Arena.

Gotham International Speedway is a 2.5 Indy-style oval with a 3.194-mile internal road course that has two shortcuts. With shortcut one active, the track is 2.940-miles long. With shortcut two in use, the track is 2.980-miles in length. With both shortcuts in length, the track is 2.700-miles long. Gotham Downs is a throughbred track. It was a 7/8-mile turf track inside the one mile main track. Gotham Park is a greyhound track. The Gotham Hunt Club Arena has an outside steeplechase course on its grounds. A resort hotel and a large shopping mall are near these facilities.

Northwest of the city, near Eagle Air Force Base, are Gotham Raceway and Gotham Motor Sports Park.

Gotham Raceway is a 5/8-mile harness track with an all-weather limestone surface. Gotham Motor Sports Park has a dragstrip, a 1/2-mile oval and a 2.88-mile road course. The drag strip serves as the main straight for both tracks and the oval's backstraight is part of the road course. A hotel and a strip mall (or shopping center) are also near these tracks.

There are plans to hold the first ever Gotham Vintage Car Grand Prix on a 2.33-mile temporary street circuit through the now-reopened Robinson Park.

Gothan International Speedway's pace car is a Pontiac Grand Am. Gotham Motor Sports Park's pace car is a Ford Mustang Cobra. The local region of the Sports Car Club of America's pace car is a Chevy Corvette.

[Mark Rand]

Re: A Bat-ty Campaign Idea

 

The undead do exist. Batgirl knows this and has even fought, and killed, a vampire. (Her CVK isn't against undead.)

She also knows about the Hellmouth in the Gotham City area and the local Slayer and lets her and her allies deal with the undead.

[Bunyip]

Re: A Bat-ty Campaign Idea

 

The thought occurred to me - a long while back, and eventually I'll finish writing the story that came out of it - that 'Barbara' Wayne wouldn't have taken on the mantle of the Bat anyway...

 

Consider: If I recall right, it's held as Batman canon now that, on the night that the 8-year-old Bruce Wayne saw his parents killed, the Waynes had been to see 'The Mask of Zorro'. Would an 8-year-old 'Barbara' want to see a movie like that? No... she badgered her folks into taking her to see 'Pokemon: the Movie' or some tosh like that - next week, maybe, or at another movie house...

 

...and 'Barbara' grew up to be just the kind of idle, ditzy social butterfly that Bruce just pretends to be.

 

Which just means that something else must have provided that impetus...

[Mark Rand]

Re: A Bat-ty Campaign Idea

 

The thought occurred to me - a long while back, and eventually I'll finish writing the story that came out of it - that 'Barbara' Wayne wouldn't have taken on the mantle of the Bat anyway...

 

Consider: If I recall right, it's held as Batman canon now that, on the night that the 8-year-old Bruce Wayne saw his parents killed, the Waynes had been to see 'The Mask of Zorro'. Would an 8-year-old 'Barbara' want to see a movie like that? No... she badgered her folks into taking her to see 'Pokemon: the Movie' or some tosh like that - next week, maybe, or at another movie house...

 

...and 'Barbara' grew up to be just the kind of idle, ditzy social butterfly that Bruce just pretends to be.

 

Which just means that something else must have provided that impetus...

How's this? At that age, Barbara, besides liking Pokemon, found superheros interesting. Her parents told her that Zorro was an old west superhero. She agreed to see The Mask of Zorro, if they agreed to take her to see Pokemon: the Movie the next week. They agreed and the rest is history.

[HeroGM]

Re: A Bat-ty Campaign Idea

 

She could be a "Catherine Zeta-Jones" fan and seen Zorro because she was in it.

[Mark Rand]

Re: A Bat-ty Campaign Idea

 

She could be a "Catherine Zeta-Jones" fan and seen Zorro because she was in it.

Won't work. The film came out in 1998, after her parents died. (They were murdered in 1987.) There was, however, a Zorro TV series in 1990 that might have given her some inspiration. After all, this Zorro used gadgets and his butler was also an inventor.

Source authority, The Internet Movie Database.

[OddHat]

Re: A Bat-ty Campaign Idea

 

The undead do exist. Batgirl knows this and has even fought, and killed, a vampire. (Her CVK isn't against undead.)

She also knows about the Hellmouth in the Gotham City area and the local Slayer and lets her and her allies deal with the undead.

 

Your Televisionverse sounds like a fun setting, but if this were my campaign I'd re-think this. A "hero" would not turn her back on killers because it's the job of someone else to deal with it, and Bat Woman should easilly be a match for Buffyverse vampires.

 

I would buy that, with Comic Book logic, she just doesn't tend to run into them that often, but I'm sure she'd do something about a Sunydale level infestation.

 

Of course Sunydale never made that much sense anyway.

[Mark Rand]

Re: A Bat-ty Campaign Idea

 

Your Televisionverse sounds like a fun setting, but if this were my campaign I'd re-think this. A "hero" would not turn her back on killers because it's the job of someone else to deal with it, and Bat Woman should easilly be a match for Buffyverse vampires.

 

I would buy that, with Comic Book logic, she just doesn't tend to run into them that often, but I'm sure she'd do something about a Sunydale level infestation.

 

Of course Sunydale never made that much sense anyway.

Good point.

Batgirl is quite capable of killing vampires and keeps two stakes in her utility belt. However, she only kills ones she catches feeding. In an average week, that adds up to two vampires.

Sommerset High School is the only high school in Sommerset Township. It's colors are blue and gold. It's nickname is Comets. The Hellmouth is under the stage of its auditorium.

The rest of this is adapted from a posting, by me, from my "Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the CU" thread.

About 19-years ago, a dark-skinned female human Jedi Knight fled the Empire in the Starchild, a freighter equipped for her by a Jedi Master. Inside, besides her astromech droid, R2-Z4, or Zephyr, were her X-wing fighter and personal belongings, including Earth clothes and ID.

After landing, she entered Gotham State University, met and married John Taylor, got her nursing degree, and had a daughter that she trained as she was. Now, as Ann Taylor, R.N., B.S.N., she's Sommerset High School's nurse and the mother of a Slayer and one of her Watchers.

John Taylor, M.S. in library science, a dapper African-American man is Sommerset High School's librarian and, like his wife, one of his daughter's Watchers. Although he has some combat skill, he usually sticks to research and leaves the combat training to his wife.

Ronna Taylor, Gothan's Slayer, is a 17-year old African-American girl with braided black hair that falls to her jaw line.

Zephyr keeps the Starchild well hidden.

Tammy Ward, one of Ronna's friends and team mates, is a redheaded Jewish computerhacker and eighth-generation white witch and Lady Arcane's cousin.

Two high school girls, one blonde and one brunette, and their mothers are decended from the Amazon tribe Gabrielle once led.They provide the group with added combat strength.

Everyone carries stakes and knows how to use crossbows, axes and swords.

While on patrol, everyone dresses in black. The Amazons carry longswords while Ann and Ronna carry their lightsabers. (Ronna's has a green blade while Ann's has a red one.)

[Mark Rand]

Re: A Bat-ty Campaign Idea

 

I forgot to mention a few horse-related items in the post about tracks and horse arenas.

The Gotham Raceway Parade Marshall wears Western clothes and her horses Leopard Appalossa (white with dark spots all over) mares are in Western tack. The Call to Post (actually The Call To Arms from the symphonic arrangement of Tales of Hoffman) is a recording.

Nearthe track is the Gotham Horse Show Arena and Rodeo Grounds. While they prefer the riders to wear Western clothes, English riding clothes are permitted.

At Gotham Downs, the Parade Marshall's white Arabian stallions wear English tack. The Parade Marshall herself wears English riding clothes. Their buglar is referred to as a horn blower. He sounds the Post Parade on a coach horn and, according to some people, looks like a circus ringmaster.

The Gotham Hunt Club Arena owners require English tack on the horses and the riders to wear proper English riding attire.

[Mark Rand]

Re: A Bat-ty Campaign Idea

 

Won't work. The film came out in 1998, after her parents died. (They were murdered in 1987.) There was, however, a Zorro TV series in 1990 that might have given her some inspiration. After all, this Zorro used gadgets and his butler was also an inventor.

Source authority, The Internet Movie Database.

Oops, got the year Barbara's parents were murdered wrong. It was 1988, not 1987.

Although its September 2004 in the real world, it's late June 2005 in the campaign. Henry Hayes became President in January of 2005. Robert Kinsey became Vice President then.

Kinsey often insisted that President Hayes support the wealthy businessmen that got him elected. He refused. In early June, 2005, as Kinsey spoke to a group of wealthy contributors, federal agents arrested him for various crimes. The next day, the House of Representatives began hearings to determine of Kinsey should be impeached.

[Mark Rand]

Re: A Bat-ty Campaign Idea

 

Our Slayer infornation is reasonable, if our universe is the post season seven Buffyverse. But what if it isn't? Here's one version.

Merrick's retired and enjoying his grandchildren.

His Slayer, Keiko Nakahara, didn't burn down her high school, which was in Atlantic City, not Los Angeles. Instead, she dusted the vamps. A fleeing teanager accidently caused the fire.

Her mother, Midori, a nurse, and father, Thomas, an accountant, devorced while she was in high school.

An uncle taught Keiko ninjitsu before she became the Slayer.

After the incident in the high school, they transferred to the only school that would take them, Sommerset High School, in Sommerset Township, a suburb of Gotham City, New Jersey. The school colors ae blue and gold, the nickname is the Comets, and the Hellmouth is under the stage of thge high school auditorium.

Her Watcher is Rubert Giles. Xander Harris is one of her friends.

Another friend, Willow Carter, is a cute African-American woman with braided black hair that comes to her jaw line. Will is a computer hacker and eighth-generation white witch.

Unknown to anyone but Keiko, her mother, who became the school nurse after the Go Fish incident, is a Jedi Knight who fled the Empire 19-years ago and taught her daughter the ways of the Jedi.

Also unknown to anyone on the team, high school students Buffy Ann Xena Summers and her best friend Cordelia Gabrielle Chase and their mothers, Joyce Summers and Sandra Chase, both of which are gym teachers at the high school, are Amazons and decendents of the Amazon tribe once ruled by Gabrielle.

[Mark Rand]

Re: A Bat-ty Campaign Idea

 

Here are a few items pertaining to the previous post.

Willow's mother, a seventh-generation white witch, teaches chenistry at Sommerset High School and sometimes assists Giles with ritual magic.

White witches are sometimes called guardian witches.

Black is the preferred color for patrols and Slaying.

Everyone on the team always carries at least one stake and knows how to use crossbows and swords.

Xander prefers an axe to a sword.

The Amazons carry regular longswords.

Keiko and Midori both carry their lightsabers at all times. Keiko's saber has a green blade while Midori's has a red one.

[Mark Rand]

Re: A Bat-ty Campaign Idea

 

In a previous post, I mentioned that the impeachement for Vice President Kinsey had begun. For those who are interested, here is a discription of the process. Source authority: American Bar Association website.

Step one: The House Judiciary Committee examines the evidence and determineswhether an official impreachent inquiry is warrented. This is where the proceddings against Kinsey are.

Step two: If the Hudiciary Committee finds the evidence warrents it, they ask the House for permission to proceed.

Step three: If permission is granted, the Jusiciary Committee, usually by conducting hearings, whether to offer articles of impeachment to the full house.

Step four: The House votes separately on each artical, with a simple majority needed to impeach the official.

Step five: Articals of impeachment are then presented to the to the Secretary of the United States Senate for trial.

Step six: The Senate, sitting as a jury, tries the impeachment with the Chief Justice of the United States (Eveyln Baker Long in this campaign) as presiding over the proceedings.

Next, we'll take a close look at Batgirl's Batcave.

[HewhoisMatt]

Re: A Bat-ty Campaign Idea

 

Why don't slayers carry guns, and how come the cops never notice kids with swords and crossbows? For that matter why don't the bad guys use more guns on the slayers, like say a rifle from a rooftop.

[OddHat]

Re: A Bat-ty Campaign Idea

 

Why don't slayers carry guns' date=' and how come the cops never notice kids with swords and crossbows? For that matter why don't the bad guys use more guns on the slayers, like say a rifle from a rooftop.[/quote']

 

Writer's fiat?

 

Besides, when the Slayer is a Ninja Jedi, you just don't see her until she's explaining that these aren't the droids you're looking for.

 

[Mark Rand]

Re: A Bat-ty Campaign Idea

 

I wonder what's better, having only one Slayer on Earth or a bunch of them? What do you think?

There seems to be an understanding between Slayer and vampires that neither side will use anything more advanced than a crossbow. Even though a lightsaber has an energy blade, its still considered a sword.

Lightsabers and stakes can be hidden in pockets and purses. Stakes, lightsabers, axes, disassembled crossbows and crossbows with retractable arms can be carried in a backpack. Swords can be hidden under coats.

[OddHat]

Re: A Bat-ty Campaign Idea

 

I always hated the multiple slayer thing. "One girl in all the world" is much better mythology than "one of many girls in the world." On the other hand, your slayer is in a world full of super-heroes. Multiple slayers make more sense there.

 

Again, the Jossverse never made much sense. It was however often fun to watch.

 

I say let the slayers and vampires have guns. The vamps can't be killed without staking, beheading or burning anyway, but that just means that the slayers need to be good shots. Super-Strength + Swords can be used for foes with armor too tough for bullets. Encourage slayers to use wooden weapons by having the vampires Vulnerable to certain types of wood (Oak or Ash). To keep the slayers alive, give them a minimum of two levels of Combat Luck, and let them buy as much as they'd like.