Batman's home city is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not Gotham City, New Jersey

[Mark Rand]

The campaigh is set in the Champions Universe, using the Dark Champions: The Animated Series rules.

The Waynes watched the 1930s Zorro at the Gateway Theater, located on Sixth Street, before Dr. and Mrs. Wayne were murdered.

 

The Batmobile is based on the Lamborghini Diablo.

 

Wayne Enterprises is located on Pittsburgh's North Shore, near the Alcoa Building.

 

Wayne Manor is located on Millionaire's Row, Fifth Avenue between Devonshire Street and Shady Avenue.

Doctor Arcane's house is on the same street.

 

Batgirl is Barbara Gordon, Bruce's live-in secretary and, according to some, lover. A fourth-generation circus performer, her parents, both aerialists, died when their rigging broke and the net buckled under their weight. (Due to the flu, Barbara wasn't performing the night it happened.) She stayed with the circus until it went bankrupt. She was fifteen at the time.

 

Batman and Batgirl work with the authorities, who understand their "creature of the night" style. They occasionally work with Doctor Arcane and his friends, who usually deal with supernatural threats

 

They also work with a highly-dedicated three woman support team that most people think work only with Doctor Arcane. These women are a nurse practitioner, a DOSPA liaison who is a former CIA black bag jobs expert, and an electronics engineer who also knows cars and is a highly-trained ninja that would rather work on equipment than fight crime.

 

Batman and Batgirl are now looking for other heroes to join them in their fight. (These, of course, will be the PCs.)

[CSgeekHero]

Re: Batman's home city is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not Gotham City, New Jersey

 

I think it would work better if Wayne Manor is located out somewhere in Fox Chapel.

 

That's just me, I could be wrong.

[OddHat]

Re: Batman's home city is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not Gotham City, New Jersey

 

Well, at least this time there are no Bionic-Ninja-Slayer-Jedi.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman's home city is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not Gotham City, New Jersey

 

I think it would work better if Wayne Manor is located out somewhere in Fox Chapel.

 

That's just me, I could be wrong.

I did consider that, but I wasn't sure if Fox Chapel was wealthy enough.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman's home city is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not Gotham City, New Jersey

 

I forgot to mention Alfred before. He's there, too.

[gamerz123]

Re: Batman's home city is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not Gotham City, New Jersey

 

Millionaire's Row (to my recollection) doesn't provide really good locations for a Bat Cave.

 

My suggestion is to take up half of Mt. Washington with the Wayne Estate (That way you get a nice big cliff overlooking the city skyline, plenty of locations to place an exit for the Batmobile, and you're right near Station Square which you could scale up a few notches to be truly unafordable. ) Could probably do something really cool with the Incline.

 

Does Alferd speak with a proper British accent? Or does he speak in "proper Pittsburgheese?"

 

"Hey! Bruce! Barb! Yunz better stop drinking Iron City and go Daowntaown. Looks like the Joker's doing somthin' at the Stiller's Game!"

 

--translated into Standard Alfred -- "Master Wayne, may I suggest that you and Ms. Gordon take a look at the city center. It appears that the Joker has some grievance with the professional rugby players."

 

I'm guessing that the color scheme is black-and-gold?

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman's home city is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not Gotham City, New Jersey

 

Millionaire's Row (to my recollection) doesn't provide really good locations for a Bat Cave.

 

My suggestion is to take up half of Mt. Washington with the Wayne Estate (That way you get a nice big cliff overlooking the city skyline, plenty of locations to place an exit for the Batmobile, and you're right near Station Square which you could scale up a few notches to be truly unafordable. ) Could probably do something really cool with the Incline.

 

Does Alferd speak with a proper British accent? Or does he speak in "proper Pittsburgheese?"

 

"Hey! Bruce! Barb! Yunz better stop drinking Iron City and go Daowntaown. Looks like the Joker's doing somthin' at the Stiller's Game!"

 

--translated into Standard Alfred -- "Master Wayne, may I suggest that you and Ms. Gordon take a look at the city center. It appears that the Joker has some grievance with the professional rugby players."

 

I'm guessing that the color scheme is black-and-gold?

Actually, Wayne Manor is in the wealthiest part of Fox Chapel, not Millionaire's Row. Alfred speaks with a proper British accent.

[CSgeekHero]

Re: Batman's home city is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not Gotham City, New Jersey

 

That's cool.

 

Which neighborhood would be the equivalent of The Narrows?

 

You could put the old Arkham in Lawrenceville. I'm originally from there and know that there are plenty of nuts to fill it.

[MisterVimes]

Re: Batman's home city is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not Gotham City, New Jersey

 

Millionaire's Row (to my recollection) doesn't provide really good locations for a Bat Cave.

 

It's more of a Bat add-on.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman's home city is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not Gotham City, New Jersey

 

That's cool.

 

Which neighborhood would be the equivalent of The Narrows?

 

You could put the old Arkham in Lawrenceville. I'm originally from there and know that there are plenty of nuts to fill it.

There are several islands in the Ohio River that can serve as Pittsburgh's version of The Narrows and both Western Psyc and the Mayview State Hospital would be Pittsburgh's version of Arkham.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman's home city is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not Gotham City, New Jersey

 

I just remembered that much of Southwestern Pennsylvania has underground coal mines and that the mineral rights for the whole area were sold sometime in the 1900s (or before) by developers. So, what do we do for a Batcave?

 

Simple. The Batcave isn't a cave at all. It's in a pocket universe about the size of a city neighborhood. According to Doctor Arcane, who helped set it up, "There are universes where people have, for some reason or other, died out. A group, known as the Gatherers, have taken neighborhoods from many such universes and put it in pocket universes. If you like, I can link your house to one."

 

"How do we get there from here and get our vehicles out?" Batgirl asked from her seat, beside Batman, on the sofa in Doctor Arcane's living room.

 

"We set it so that only the people and vehicles you two want to enter the pocket universe can do so. It might also be a good idea to set up three vehicle gates, one for land vehicles, a second for sea vehicles, and the third for aircraft. Each could also exit in a different part of town."

 

"Interesting," Batman said. "You said that all life had dies out, right?"

 

"Correct," Doctor Arcane replied.

 

"What happened to the bodies?"

 

"In some realities, they are in a stasis field and can be cremated after you drop the field by touching them. In other realities, the bodies have been condenced into a handfull of small crystals."

 

"What do we do with the clothes they were wearing?" Batman asked.

 

"Keep them," Doctor Arcane replied. "You might find some of them usable as disguises."

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman's home city is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not Gotham City, New Jersey

 

A few notes about Barbara "Batgirl" Gordon.

 

Her years in the circus have made her a skilled tumbler and gymnast. While there, she was on the aerial rings, the flyer in the aerial cradle, a teeterboard artist, and a flyer on the flying trapeze.

 

After the circus closed, she learned martial arts, Tae Kwon Do and Krav Maga. (She uses the later more than the former.) In combat, if possible, she'll attack from surprise.

 

She is a skilled computer hacker.

 

As Batgirl, her favorite method of transportation is a motorcycle that looks like the Kawasaki Ninja. As Barbara, she drives a Ford Mustang and rides a Honda Goldwing.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman's home city is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not Gotham City, New Jersey

 

When I started considering Batman's support team, I envisioned something other than a DOSPA liaison, an engineer, and a nurse practitioner. Instead I envisioned liaisons from the DOSPA, the FBI, Homeland Security, and PRIMUS, an engineer, a nurse practitioner and a physician.

 

The DOSPA liaison, an African-American gentleman with a law degree, is the team's official liaison to the federal government. The others are there simply because their agencies don't completely trust the DOSPA.

 

The FBI's liaison is, in the agency's opinion, a troublemaker. Unlike a lot of his fellow agents, he's more interested in making arrests than his career.

 

Christine Hunter, the Homaland Security liaison, is the only female on the liaison team. She's a former CIA agent, with expertese in "black-bag jobs" and was forced to transfer to Homeland Security after a high-ranking official, that didn't like her, told a friend on the Senate Intelligence Committee about her. Three days later, while she was on assignment in Europe, the high-ranking official was struck down by a hit and run driver that, after a high-speed police chase, rammed a tree at 70-miles per hour in a stolen car. The senator, on the other hand, was arrested on possession of controlled substances with intent to distribute.

 

PRIMUS's liaison is a former member of Delta Force.

 

The engineer, Keiko, is the daughter of a wealthy Pittsburgh area family. (Her father is one of Bruce's vice-presidents.) Her mother, who doesn't have to work anymore, is a well-respected gymnastics coach who owns her own school. (She also taught ninjitsu to her daughter.) In the cave, Keiko designs, builds, and maintains all of the team's equipment. For fun, she drives a candy-apple red Lamborghini Diablo in races sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America.

 

(Since she has an armored costume that she and Alfred designed [based on Bruce's costume] Batman keeps trying to become Shadowcat, the identity he came up for her, but she's not interested in fighting crime, just working on equipment. Of course, this hasn't stopped her from putting it on and sparring with either, Bruce, Barbara, or Christine.)

 

The nurse practitioner and physician are respectivly, the wives of the PRIMUS and DOSPA liaisons. They are highly skilled at what they do and, since they believe in Bruce's cause, refuse to accept any money from him.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman's home city is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not Gotham City, New Jersey

 

A few notes about Pittsburgh in the campaign.

 

Three Rivers Stadium was not imploded on 10/17/03, like it was in real life. Instead, some armored hood used sound waves to turn Heinz Field and PNC Park to rubble. He then informed the Pirates that they were to buy Three Rivers Stadium, as is, from the Stadium Authority for the balance due on the stadium. He also told the Steelers and the Pitt Panthers that they were to rent the stadium from the Pirates. If they refused, any stadium they played in would receive the same treatment Heinz Field and PNC Park did. However, it would occur during a game.

 

The teams agreed. They didn't want to be responsible for the deaths of the fans. Three Rivers Stadium was renamed Heinz Field.

 

PNC bought the naming rights to a car track in Cranberry Township. PNC Financial Corporation Speedway is a 2.5-mile oval with a 3.29-mile internal road course. There are two-tier grandstands along all sides of the oval. The front side also has skyboxes. Condo towers are in the four corners. Each provides an excellent view of the track and are used like skyboxes. The owners hope to attract CART, the IRL, NASCAR, Formula One and other pro serieses.

 

More to come.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman's home city is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not Gotham City, New Jersey

 

Continuing from the above.

 

PRIMUS finally caught up with the armored crook that destroyed PNC Park and the original Heinz Field. When they ordered him to surrender, he activated his armor's self destruct, blowing both it and himself into a lot of little pieces.

 

Bruce owns Washington County Speedway, in the Peters Township/Southpoint area. It has a dragstrip, a half-mile oval with a figure-eight track inside, and a 2.66-mile road course.

 

He also bought the old Buhl Planetarium building from the city, brought it up to code, had the Zeiss projector and it is, once again, much to the displeasure of the Carnegie Science Center's officials, open to the public.

 

Both Washington County Speedway and the Steel Cities Region of the Sports Car Club of America have pace cars. The track's is a Chevy Corvette and the region's is a Ford Mustang.

 

Many places in the city now either ban cell phone use completely or refuse to wait on customers talking on them.

[Scifi_Toughguy]

Re: Batman's home city is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not Gotham City, New Jersey

 

Good gravy! I wish I could be playing in this universe. Instead I'm stuck trying to come up with my own. C'est la vie! Great stuff!

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman's home city is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not Gotham City, New Jersey

 

Good gravy! I wish I could be playing in this universe. Instead I'm stuck trying to come up with my own. C'est la vie! Great stuff!

Thank you. Feel free to borrow from my universe.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman's home city is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not Gotham City, New Jersey

 

After due consideration, the support team will be just the three ladies. It's easier to write stuff for three rather than seven.

 

"I have three ladies who are willing to assist you, Batman," Doctor Arcane said.

 

"Fine," Batman said, keeping his voice level.

 

"Please meet April Curtis, C.R.N.P., Christine Hunter, and Keiko Nishigawa, M.S."

 

"Ladies," Batman and Batgirl said together.

 

"Batman, Batgirl, I'm April," said an African-American woman wearing light green scrubs as she shook their hands. "I worked for a doctor whose office was in the Kenmar until he decided to retire to Florida."

 

"I see," Batman said. "Welcome to our team."

 

"Thank you," April said.

 

"You're welcome," Batman said.

 

"I'm Christine," said a slender blonde wearing a dark skirt-suit, a white blouse, and black leather gloves. She looked at her gloves, and said, "Sorry. I played cat burglar for the CIA enough that wearing gloves when possible has become second nature. When I don't wear them, I'm careful not to leave fingerprints."

 

"No problem," Batman said. "Glad to have you with us."

 

"Thank you," Christine said.

 

"You're welcome," Batman said.

 

"I'm Keiko," said a Japanese-American woman wearing jeans and a tee shirt.

 

"An engineer and a ninja," Batman said.

 

"Yes. I'm more interested in working on equipment than fighting bad guys."

 

"Hopefully, you'll join us on the streets some time," Batman said. "Same goes for you, Christine."

 

"You never know," Keiko said.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman's home city is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not Gotham City, New Jersey

 

"Do you want me to come up with vehicle designs?" Keiko asked.

 

"Yes," Batman replied. "The Batmobile, my vehicle, should look like a normal sports car but have armor, sensors, and a more powerful engine. Any ideas?"

 

"The base vehicle could be a Lamborghini Diablo," Keiko mused.

 

"Nice," Batman said.

 

"What about you, Batgirl?" Keiko asked.

 

"A motorcycle," Batgirl replied. "How about using the Kawasaki Ninja as a basis for it?"

 

"Good idea," Keiko said.

 

"Make one for yourself, too," Batman suggested.

 

"I think I'll stick with a van," Keiko said. "I need it to hold the remote control Batcopter. It'll be about five feet long with a top speed of 10-miles per hour and full of sensors and communications equipment."

 

"I could drive the van while you ride the bike," Christine suggested.

 

"True," Keiko said.

 

"thought of a heroic identity for the few times you join us on the street?" Batman asked.

 

"Shadowcat?" Keiko asked.

 

"It has a nice ring to it," Batman said.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman's home city is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not Gotham City, New Jersey

 

A quick note.

 

Since Batman and Batgirl are just starting out, they don't have the rogues gallery Batman from the comics has. They will, however, have one. It'll be made up of characters from CKC, DC:TAS, and other sources.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman's home city is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not Gotham City, New Jersey

 

"We're in business," Batman said. "Anything else?"

 

"Yes," Doctor Arcane replied. "Vampires, demons, and other such things exist. There are also magical gateways that are formed at a weakening in the barriers between ours and Hell's. There are known as Hellmouths. The nearest is in Cleveland."

 

"Does this mean we don't get vampires here?" Batgirl asked.

 

"No," Doctor Arcane replied. "We get enough that Slayer Central, the Jenny Calendar School near Las Vegas, Nevada has assigned three Slayers here. They're all area girls that attend Peabody High School. They're aided by the families and friends."

 

"You mentioned Watchers," Batman said. "Do they have one?"

 

"Yes," Doctor Arcane replied. "He's the school librarian and the father of one Slayer. His wife's the school nurse."

 

"Convenient," Batman said. "We have to start carrying wooden stakes."

 

"Yeah," Batgirl said as Doctor Arcane's housekeeper, Marie, entered, passed Keiko an envelope, and left.

 

"We got the license for the remote control helicopter's communications gear," Keiko said after opening it.

 

"The 300 gigahertz band?" Christine asked.

 

"No, the 250 gigahertz band," Keiko replied.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman's home city is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not Gotham City, New Jersey

 

"It'll do," Batman said. "Anything else?"

 

"Yes," Doctor Arcane said. "As you remember, I stated that all the buildings in a pocket dimention come from one neighborhood."

 

"Yes," Batgirl said. "Why?"

 

"What I told you was true, 99 per cent of the time," Doctor Arcane said.

 

"And the other 1 per cent?" Keiko asked.

 

"Not everything will be from one neighborhood, but it will be from one planet," Doctor Arcane replied.

 

"Set it up," Batman said.

 

Doctor Arcane did. Within moments, the five, and Alfred, found themselves in front of a hotel.

 

"The Black Diamond Hotel," April read from the sign.

 

"This is the Reading Airport," Batgirl said, pointing to another sign.

 

"Oh, dear," Alfred said, looking at a large structure. "I don't believe that's in Reading, Pennsylvania."

 

"Neither is this airport anymore," Christine said, shaking her head. "We're in the one percent of pocket universes that have places from all over the world.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman's home city is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not Gotham City, New Jersey

 

"A high school and a medical clinic I can understand," Keiko said. "That's the Space Needle!"

 

"So I see," Batgirl said. "Where's the section within the legs? It should be visible from here."

 

"It was added in 1982," Batman said. "The Space Needle itself was built in 1962, just before the Seattle World's Fair."

 

"Oh," Batgirl said.

 

"We have to do a sweep," Christine said. "Keiko, how much of this place could we cover tonight?"

 

"Probably just the hotel," Keiko replied. "You thinking of playing cat burglar?"

 

"Yeah, the two of us."

 

"Let's find out what year this is first," Keiko said. "We could do some of it in disguise."

 

"Hotel maids?" Christine asked.

 

"Yeah, there should be extra uniforms in the linen room," Keiko replied.

 

"Look for newspapers, too," April said. "We need to know what year this is."

 

"Good point," Christine said.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman's home city is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not Gotham City, New Jersey

 

"We could look at the plates on the cars in the parking lot," Batman said.

 

"Should've thought of that," Christine said. "I'll do it. April, Keiko, and Mr. P aren't gloved."

 

"I just remembered something," April said, opening her medical bag. "Thought so."

 

"What?" Christine asked as April dug through her bag.

 

"These," April replied, pulling out pairs of latex gloves. "They're perfect for the medical office, workshop, lab, and searching for evidence. Anyone want a pair?"

 

"Me," Keiko said.

 

"Thought so." April handed her a pair, then asked, "Mr. P.?"

 

"Please," Alfred replied as Batgirl examined the cars on the nearby road.

 

"This is 1964," Batgirl reported from behind a cab as the latex gloves were being pulled on. "I'm going to look inside the passanger compartment." After she did, she announced, "Piles of clothes. There were three stewardesses in the rear, all with the same airline. All are wearing black gloves."

 

"Stewardesses only wore white gloves for publicity and promotion work," Alfred said. "Most airlines permitted them to remove their gloves while the plane was in motion."

 

"Then, why the white gloves in the movies, and why did they keep them on?" April asked.

 

"They were using the publicity shots for reference," Batgirl guessed.

[Scifi_Toughguy]

Re: Batman's home city is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not Gotham City, New Jersey

 

"Yes," Doctor Arcane replied. "Vampires, demons, and other such things exist. There are also magical gateways that are formed at a weakening in the barriers between ours and Hell's. There are known as Hellmouths. The nearest is in Cleveland."

 

 

ROFLOL!!!! Thats great! I'd rep you but I have to spread some around before I do that. Secondly, you tied Batman and Pittsburgh into Buffy??????? I admire your continuity. I dislike the Buffy.