Batman: The Animated Adventures

[Mark Rand]

1) The campaign is set in the Champions Universe.

2) We're using the Dark Champions: The Animated Series rules.

3) The campaign takes place between the first and second animated serieses. Basically, After a falling out with Bruce, Dick gave up being Robin and left. Batgirl, Barbara Gordon, is now Batman's regular partner.

4) Gotham County is the southern half of Ocean County, New Jersey.

5) Gotham City, the county seat, is on Little Egg Harbor.

6) The closest lighthouse to Gotham City is at Beach Haven Inlet. Thanks to grants from the Wayne Foundation, it was rebuilt. The old first and second assistant keepers' house is now a maritime museum. The old principal keeper's house, which connects to the light tower, is home to the current keepers.

7) Since we're using the animated timeline, there was neither plague nor earthquake. The "no mans land" Incident never occurred. There is no DEO. However, we do have the DOSPA, PRIMUS, and UNTIL.

More to come.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman: The Animated Adventures

 

Gothamites love sports of all kinds. Besides baseball, basketball, football, hockey, and soccer, the area has two car tracks, two horse tracks, a dog track, and two horse show arenas.

North of Bristol Township are Gotham Motor Speedway, Gotham Downs, the Gotham Kennel Club Greyhound Track, and the Gotham Hunt Club Arena with an outdoor steeplechase course. To the Northewst, near Eagle Air Force Base, are Gotham Park, Gotham Raceway, and the Gotham Horse Show Arena with an external rodeo grounds.

Gotham Motor Speedway is a 2.5-mile Indy-style oval with an internal 3.194-mile road course that has two shunts that reduce the road course's length to 2.7-miles, 2.94-miles, or 2.98-miles, depending on the shunt, or shunts, used. Grandstands surround the exterior of the oval, and the owner, who is interested in profit, doesn't let amateurs race on the track.

Gotham Downs is a throughbred track. It has a 7-furlong (7/8-mile) grass track inside an 8-furlong (1-mile) dirt track. The parade marshal wears English clothes and her white Arabian stallions wear English tack.

The Greyhound track is typical of such tracks. The rabbit lure is nicknamed Silver.

The Gotham Hunt Club Arena has a strick policy against Western clothes and tack.

Gotham Park is the area's standardbred, or harness, track It has a 5/8-mile limestone-surfaced track. The parade marshal wears Western clothes and her mounts, leopard Appalossa (white with black spots all over) mares wear Western tack.

Gotham Raceway is the area's amateur motorsports track. It has a 1/4-mile dragstrip, a 1/2-mile oval with an internal 1/2-mile figure-eight track, and a 2.66-mile road course. Part of the dragstrip is the front straight for the oval and road course and the oval's back straight is part of the road course. The track has a Ford Mustang pace car. It's housed in the same garage as the Chevy Corvette pace car used by the Southern New Jersey Region of the Sports Car Club of America.

The Gotham Horse Show Arena is used by many groups and the owner permits both Western and English clothes and tack.

[Sketchpad]

Re: Batman: The Animated Adventures

 

3) The campaign takes place between the first and second animated serieses. Basically, After a falling out with Bruce, Dick gave up being Robin and left. Batgirl, Barbara Gordon, is now Batman's regular partner.

Wouldn't that be between the 2nd and 3rd? The second was the Adventures of Batman and Robin IIRC

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman: The Animated Adventures

 

Wouldn't that be between the 2nd and 3rd? The second was the Adventures of Batman and Robin IIRC

You're probably right.

Just before the campaign starts, Dick quits as Robin and Barbara switches from the grey Batgirl costume with a gold bat insignia and utility belt and blue gloves and boots to the more traditional black costume with a gold bat insignia, a gold utility belt, and gold boots and gloves.

[CSgeekHero]

Re: Batman: The Animated Adventures

 

Question:

Why not just use Hudson City and just rename stuff to Gotham, Arkham, and so on?

[BlackSword]

Re: Batman: The Animated Adventures

 

You're probably right.

Just before the campaign starts, Dick quits as Robin and Barbara switches from the grey Batgirl costume with a gold bat insignia and utility belt and blue gloves and boots to the more traditional black costume with a gold bat insignia, a gold utility belt, and gold boots and gloves.

Yup, that would have been the time they switched art. Batman went to a grey suit with a black bat on his chest, no yellow circle. I believe it happened around Ep 85, just after the 3rd Volume of Batman Animated Collected Series.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman: The Animated Adventures

 

Question:

Why not just use Hudson City and just rename stuff to Gotham, Arkham, and so on?

Do you mean moving Batman to Hudson City or using Hudson City as the basis for Gotham City?

[BlackSword]

Re: Batman: The Animated Adventures

 

Question:

Why not just use Hudson City and just rename stuff to Gotham, Arkham, and so on?

WEG put out two sourcebooks for their DC game related to Batman. The first was mostly about the Bat-family and villains, crunchy bits. The second was a smaller book which was titled, "Daily Planet's Guide to Gotham." It had maps and details on the history of Gotham as well as all the major areas in Gotham. Highly recommended for a game based in Gotham. Its out of print, but its around, I found a copy last year.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman: The Animated Adventures

 

WEG put out two sourcebooks for their DC game related to Batman. The first was mostly about the Bat-family and villains' date=' crunchy bits. The second was a smaller book which was titled, "Daily Planet's Guide to Gotham." It had maps and details on the history of Gotham as well as all the major areas in Gotham. Highly recommended for a game based in Gotham. Its out of print, but its around, I found a copy last year.[/quote']

I have both of them. Although they're based on Gotham City in the mainstream DCU, I agree that they can be used for any game set in Gotham City. Now, if I can only find my copy of the Daily Planet's Guide to Gotham.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman: The Animated Adventures

 

I finally found my copy of The Daily Planet Guide to Gotham City, in my basement, under some stuff.

According to it, there are three main universities in Gotham City. They are Gotham State University (aka Gotham City University, aka Gotham University), in the Chelsea/University Town neighborhood, Glendale Institute of Technology, in the Newtown/Otisburg neighborhood, and The University of Gotham, in Sommerset Township.

The Gotham area has two planetariums. Gotham State University's Gotham Planetarium and The University of Gotham's Sommerset Planetarium. The Gotham Planetarium's Star Theatre has the latest in high-tech video projection equipment while the Sommerset Planetarium's Theater of the Stars has Gotham Planetarium's old (and noe refurbished) Zeiss Model II Planetarium Star Projector, a.k.a. George, as well as Gotham Planetarium's 10-inch Siderostat-type refractor telescope.

Recently, the FCC has granted permission for the installation of cell phone jammers in public buildings. Currently, in Gotham, they're installed in the various sanctuaries and chapels of the city's various houses of worship and many theaters and nightclubs. Other places have signs posted saying that people talking on cell phones won't be waited on.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman: The Animated Adventures

 

Gotham City officials, the Southern New Jersey SCCA, and other groups are working together to hold the city's first ever Gotham Vintage Car Grand Prix on a street circuit laid out in Robinson Park. It's being held to benefit a number of charities for disadvantaged youth.

Batman is aware of the mystical side of the world and keeps in touch with occultist Jason Blood, who is host to the demon Etrigan. Jason's fastness is a four-bedroom house near Gotham State University. Like all such dwellings, it's bigger on the inside than the outside.

Living in the house with him and his familiar, Isis, a black cat, are Marie, his housekeeper, and Rose, the mansion's good-natured resident ghost.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman: The Animated Adventures

 

Here are the current Bat vehicles.

The Batmobile, Batman's trusty car

Batgirl's Batcycle, based on the Kawasaki Ninja

The Batskiboat, used in Batman Returns

The Hydrobat, uses a jet of water to provide thrust

The Batsphere, aka, the Batsub, still experimental

The Bat ATV, a snowmobile

The Batjet

The Batcopter, based on the Bell 222-60

[tkdguy]

Re: Batman: The Animated Adventures

 

Here's something you may find useful, Mark.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotham_City

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman: The Animated Adventures

 

Here's something you may find useful, Mark.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotham_City

Thanks for the link. I printed the article out and think it will be useful.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman: The Animated Adventures

 

After much discussion, Batman and Batgirl, realizing that they alone can't stop all crime in Gotham City, have decided to form a small team of novice heroes (the PCs) to help them.

Their first recruit is Keiko Nakamura, the genius daughter of Bruce's vice president of R&D. She's an electronics engineer, gymnast, amateur race car driver, and a ninja. When Batman makes his offer, she tells him that she'd rather design, build, and repair the team's equipment. However, she will, when necessary, join them in the field. Batman accepts this, tells her his identity, and suggests that, as a cover, she become a house guest in Wayne Manor. One of Keiko's first projects is the building of a 5-foot long radio control Batcopter. When asked what kind of vehicle she wants, she replied that a black van would be best. It could carry the RC copter and its equipment.

(Unlike the Batcopter, which is based on the Bell 222-60, the copter used in Airwolf, the RC Batcopter is based on the Bell 427. It's longer body is needed to hold three video camaras [normal light, IR, and UV], their equipment, a digital compression system, and a microwave transmitter on the 300 gigahertz band.)

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman: The Animated Adventures

 

I think it's likely that Batman has at least one safe house/auxiliary Batcave in the Gotham area.

I'm thinking of having the new team operate out of it. The support team, an engineer and either a doctor or a nurse would also be based there, along with whatever liaison, if any, is assigned to the team. Any vehicles there would look normal instead of, like the Batmobile, being distinctive.

Comment is invited.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman: The Animated Adventures

 

One of the charities supported by the Gotham Vintage Car Grand Prix is the Serendipity Ranch, which uses horses to help disadvantaged and special needs children and adults.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman: The Animated Adventures

 

"Good evening, Batman, Batgirl," Marie, said as she let the two heroes into Jason Blood's house. "Please follow me."

"Certainly," Batman said. They followed her into the manson's library.

"I'll be just outside," Marie said. Batman nodded. Inside, were Jason and Rose, a stunning woman, wearing an evening gown and long gloves.

"Good evening Jason," Batman said, shaking hands with the occult expert. Batgirl also shook hands with him. "Rose, you're looking well."

"One advantage of being a ghost," she said with a smile.

'True," Batman said.

"Batman, Batgirl, I've been in contact with the federal government. The DOSPA, Homeland Security, and PRIMUS are interested in providing liaisons tothe two of you, as well as any other heroes that join you. The wives of the DOSPA and PRIMUS liaisons are interested in working with you, too. One's a physician and the other's a nurse."

"As I understand it, only the DOSPA provides liaisons," Batgirl said.

"They provide the official lisison," Jason said. "However, other agencies provide liaisons, too."

"Probably because they don't completely trust each other," Rose said.

"Probably true," Jason admitted. "Would you like to meet them?"

"Yes," Batman said.

"Marie." When she entered, Jason said, "Please bring our guests here."

"Certainly, sir," she said before leaving.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman: The Animated Adventures

 

Marie left and quickly returned with an African-American couple and three others, a blonde woman, a dark-haired man and a dark-haired woman. Once introductions were made and everyone seated, Marie left again and David Canter, Esq., the African-American man, said, "Batman, Batgirl, I represent the DOSPA. Being a lawyer specializing in metahuman law, I won't go with you on cases. I'll simply be relaying information to and from my agency."

"I see," Batman said.

"I'm next," David's wife, Angela, a trauma surgeon, said. "I was laid off after the hospital system I worked for closed the hospital I worked at because it was loosing money. While I was looking for a new job, David was posted here."

"I'm sorry," Batgirl said.

"No matter," Angela said. "Their loss is somebody else's gain."

 

To be continued.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman: The Animated Adventures

 

The blonde, Agent Christine Hunter of Homeland Security, spoke next. "I started out planning to become an actress. Throughout high school and college, I acted on stage and learned various styles of dance. We had three plays during my last year in college. In the first, which was set in Boston in 1902, I was cast as a fashionably-dressed woman. In the notes I was given in stated that she did everything, including sewing and eating, with gloves on. I had to act like I'd always worn them. To me, that meant learning how do do things gloved that I usually did ungloved."

"You had to wear gloves all the time?" Batman asked.

"Yeah," Christine replied. "Fortunately my mother, who was a fashion model before becoming a hair stylist and opening her own shop, helped me begin to learn. She took two pair of unlined, elbow-length, black leather gloves from a drawer, put one on and gave the other pair to me. Once I put them on, the lessons started. Before I forget, the pair of gloves I'm wearing is the one mother lent me."

She paused, then continued. "I stayed gloved throughout the run of the play. During the run, were started on our second play. It was set in the 1960s and took place on an airliner. I was a stewardess."

"Wrist-length white gloves," Batgirl said.

"Right," Christine said. "Of course, I wore wrist-length black gloves off stage. In our last play, I portrayed a princess at a formal ball. Her gloves were white and reached the middle of her upper arms."

 

Christine's story will be continued in the next post.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman: The Animated Adventures

 

"Did Homeland Security recruit you out of college?" Batgirl asked.

"No," Christine replied. "The CIA did. They thought I would be a perfect agent. After the basic training, I was given additional training as a seductress and a cat burglar. Everything was fine until I ran afoul of a rival agency. They had a guard outside the door of an apartment I had to break into. Once I shot him with a sleep dart and bound and gagged him, I searched him and found his gun and ID. Leaving them where I'd found them, I found an agent beating up my intended victim with the butt of his pistol. He and his two companions got darted, bound, and gagged, too. Once I had what I wanted, I tripped the alarm as I left and let the police come for them."

"I take it somepeople in Washington were very angry," Batman said.

"Yeah," Christine stated. "They got their pet senator to hold hearings into the matter. He even got a disgruntled former CIA executive to admit that the cat burglar the men encountered might have a CIA agent."

"What happened next?" Batgirl asked.

"Charges and countercharges were thrown back and forth. By the time the dust had cleared, the former CIA executive had been run over by a car driven by kids out dragracing on the city streets and I'd been transferred to Homeland Security and assigned to the liaison pool before coming here because it was thought that my skills could help you."

"Any furthur reprecutions in Washington?" Batgirl asked.

"Oh yeah. Someone put M-80s in the cars bbelonging to the senator and the bigwigs of the agency he was helping. Someone also got into the agency and placed a canister of skunk scent, rigged to go off at 2 pm in the air ducts and set the sprinkler system to trigger at 10 am."

 

To be continued.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman: The Animated Adventures

 

"I'm James Carson," the dark-haired man said. "No relation to the late Johnny Carson. I was with the FBI for five years before transferring to PRIMUS because my supervisors were always taking credit for my arrests."

"I'm Jill Carson," said the woman beside him. "I'm a trauma nurse and I worked with Doctor Carter when we were both at the same hospital. It'll be good working with her again. That is, of course, if you'll agree to let us work either with or for you."

"Thought I recognised you, Jill," Angela said. "It will be good to work with you again."

"We're forming a backup team that'll be working out of a safehouse/auxiliary Batcave in the Gotham area," Batman said. "Do any of you have a problem working with them instead of us?" Nobody did. "Good. We'll be in touch."

[Guest Major Tom]

Re: Batman: The Animated Adventures

 

After much discussion, Batman and Batgirl, realizing that they alone can't stop all crime in Gotham City, have decided to form a small team of novice heroes (the PCs) to help them.

Their first recruit is Keiko Nakamura, the genius daughter of Bruce's vice president of R&D. She's an electronics engineer, gymnast, amateur race car driver, and a ninja. When Batman makes his offer, she tells him that she'd rather design, build, and repair the team's equipment. However, she will, when necessary, join them in the field. Batman accepts this, tells her his identity, and suggests that, as a cover, she become a house guest in Wayne Manor. One of Keiko's first projects is the building of a 5-foot long radio control Batcopter. When asked what kind of vehicle she wants, she replied that a black van would be best. It could carry the RC copter and its equipment.

(Unlike the Batcopter, which is based on the Bell 222-60, the copter used in Airwolf, the RC Batcopter is based on the Bell 427. It's longer body is needed to hold three video camaras [normal light, IR, and UV], their equipment, a digital compression system, and a microwave transmitter on the 300 gigahertz band.)

 

 

I always thought that the Bell 'copter used in Airwolf was a modified

222B. At least, that's what literature I had on the subject said.

 

 

Major Tom

[Mark Rand]

Re: Batman: The Animated Adventures

 

I always thought that the Bell 'copter used in Airwolf was a modified

222B. At least, that's what literature I had on the subject said.

 

 

Major Tom

You're right. I got the two confused. Come to think of it, even unarmed, Airwolf would make one heck of a Batcopter.

[Guest Major Tom]

Re: Batman: The Animated Adventures

 

It sure would, especially with some of the surveillance gear that's available

now. It'd probably make Blue Thunder look like an arthritic buzzard.

 

As far as helicopter-mounted weapons go, I can't picture Bats not arm-

ing the Batcopter at all; in fact, he'd probably have a weapons array similar

to what the Batplane has (at least, what it had in the first Justice League

episode).

 

 

Major Tom