Batman: Crime Lord of Gotham City

BACKGROUND: When he was eight years old, Bruce Wayne saw his parents gunned down by the ruthless thug. At first, he vows to dedicate his life to fighting crime--training both his body and his mind.


But as he becomes better and better at everything he does, his attitude begins to change. He begins to think of himself as superior to everyone else. This sense of superiority warps his mind, convincing him that the world owes him anything he wants. When he returns to Gotham City as an adult, he begins to use a secret identity--the Batman--to strike fear in the heart of the innocent and establish himself as ruling crime lord. He ceases to care about his parents and begins to think of the thug that killed them as his real "father."


The family butler, Alfred, at first goes along with this out of loyalty to the Wayne family. But this conflicts with his basic decency, eventually driving him to madness. He begins to leave clues to Batman's activities for the police, writing out the clues in the form of obscure riddles. He often adopts the secret identity of the Riddler to battle Batman's minions.

But Batman's criminal empire grows. He encounters Joe Chill and makes his "father" his second-in-command, arranging for Chill to get cybernetic implants to enhance his physical abilities. Chill takes the identity of Deadshot.

An affair with cat burglar Selena Kyle produces twin girls. When the two reach their teens, they go separate ways. Both adopt the idenity of Huntress, but one of them stays with their dad as an assasin. The other turns to good and fights against her father in the interest of justice.

As for Selena Kyle, her torn loyalties regarding her children leave her with a split personality. Working as Catwoman, she shifts back and forth between fighting for Batman and fighting against him.


As part of a loan sharking operation, Batman has the circus act known as the Flying Graysons killed. But young Dick Grayson survives. As an adult, he adopts the identity of Nightwing and begins to fight crime. Young Tim Drake, who also loses his parents to Batman's violence, joins him using the identity of Robin.


A private detective trailing Batman's operatives is caught and tossed into a chemical vat. But he doesn't die--instead, he's transformed into the Joker. With no memory of his former life, he knows only that Batman's evil must be confronted. He joins the growing number of good guys in the unending battle for justice.


All these heroes assist Commissioner Gordon. Gordon's daughter Barbara also joins in, using the identity of Batgirl to hamper Batman's ability to use his dark imagery to frighten the innocent.


THE PLAYERS: One player will use Batman and his crime syndicate. The other player will handle the heroes. The two players will be respectively referred to as the Hero and the Villain.


The Villain has the following figures in his available pool of characters:

Any ONE version of Batman

Any ONE version of Deadshot

Any ONE version of Huntress

Representing crime lords Batman has brought under his control: Any ONE version each of Two-Face, Bane and Penguin.

Any number of Henchmen, Thugs, Lackeys and Criminals.

Any number of Hand Ninjas.


Representing his gang of personal hitmen: Any ONE version each of Clayface, Lady Shiva and Killer Croc.


The Hero has the the following figures in his available pool:

Any ONE version of Comissioner Gordon

Any ONE version of Riddler

Any ONE version of Huntress

Any ONE version of Nightwing

Any ONE version of Robin

Any ONE version of Batgirl

Any ONE version of Joker (may not use Emperor Joker)

Any number of Gotham PD, SWAT cops and Gotham Undercover.


CATWOMAN: At the beginning of each scenario, roll two dice. If the result is an odd number, Catwoman is available to the Villain. If it is even, she's available to the Hero.


OUT OF TOWN HEROES: At the beginning of each scenario, the Hero may pick any ONE version of one of the following heroes as a guest star for that scenario only. He may use each hero only once, so he'll use all four by the end of the campaign:

Black Lightning

Green Arrow (either Ollie or Connor)

Elongated Man

Atom


FEAT CARDS: Neither player may use Lazarus Pit or ICWO. Otherwise, Feat cards can be freely assigned for each scenario.


BFC CARDS: At the beginning of each scenario, each player rolls 1 die. If the result is a six, that player MUST play a BFC card. (If both players roll a six, both play cards.) The BFC cards may not be cancelled by any means other than the play of the Ordinary Day BFC card.


VICTORY:

Keep a running total of victory points for the first three scenarios. Whoever is ahead in the last scenario will be given an advantage for the final fight. Whoever wins the final scenario wins the campaign.

THE SCENARIOS:

Scenario #1: THE BANK HEIST


Batman and his crew of thugs plan to rob the Gotham City Bank


TEAMS: Both teams build 400 point teams out of their available pool of charcters.


MAP: Use the Bank map


SET-UP: Roll dice to determine first player and choose sides normally.

SCENARIO LENGTH: The scenario runs 10 rounds.


SCENARIO #2: Whack the Witness


A common citizen has the misfortune to witness a crime committed by one of Batman's minions. Now the heroes must protect that witness until the trial is held.

TEAMS: 400 point teams again.


MAP: First player chooses either the Junkyard map or the Construction Site map.


SET-UP: Roll dice for first player and set up normally--with the exception noted below.


SPECIAL: The Hero picks a pog representing an average person (Deli Worker; Paper boy; etc). When setting up, the Hero places this pog in one of the four center squares of the map. The pog's point cost does not have to be counted as part of his team. He then sets up one of his team figures adjacent to the pog. (Instead of in the usual starting area.) All of the rest of his team set up in the normal starting area.

This figure is the pog's bodyguard. The pog moves with the him when he moves (using whatever movement value is lowest between the two characters) and the bodyguard can still attack normally. The pog itself is never given an action.

Until the bodyguard is KO'd, the pog is completely immune to all damage. Once the bodyguard is down, the pog can be attacked normally.

The bodyguard and the pog both have first turn immunity.


If the pog is still around at the end of the scenario, the Hero earns an extra 50 victory points. If the pog is down, the Villain gets the victory points.

LENGTH: 10 rounds.


SCENARIO #3: ASSAULT ON ARKHAM


Batman stages a raid on Arkham Asylum to rescue some of his captured minions.


TEAMS: 400 points again


MAP: Use the Arkham Asylum map. (Alternately, the prison map could be used--the players can agree to let the first player choose.)


SET-UP: Roll dice for first player and set up normally.


LENGTH: 10 rounds


SCENARIO #4: BATTLE IN THE BATCAVE


Commissioner Gordon finally learns of Batman's true identity and launches a raid on the Batcave


TEAMS: 600 points. The Villain must include Batman on his team. The Hero must include Gordon and any version of the Riddler (this is Alfred, who is now working directly against Batman).


MAP: Use the Batcave map that came with the old DC map kit. If that isn't available, players should be able to agree on an alternate map (something that represents Wayne Manor or Wayne Tech headquarters, perhaps.)

SET-UP: Roll dice for first player and set up normally.


SPECIAL: Whichever player is ahead in cumulative victory points gets an extra 20 points added to his build total. In other words, he makes a 620 point team. (He still has a base 6 actions/turn.)

SCENARIO LENGTH: 12 rounds.


FINAL VICTORY: This is it. If the Villian wins this final battle, Batman gains complete behind-the-scenes control of Gotham City. If the Hero wins, Batman's organization is broken and he is hauled off sobbing to Arkham, unable to deal with being defeated.