[OOC] Gotham City: Shadow of the Bat

[Ruby]

It's gonna be amusing having Red X with the robins when he sides with or against them. I imagined a feud with Damian and a sort of playful-sarcastic-bickering with Kuroko.

@Yvain

Should be a lot of fun, I'm looking forward to seeing that dynamic myself.

[Ruby]

@Ruby
Here's my sheet for the Riddler, all finished with a nice, long history for anyone interested to read.

I'm just saying but you missed a prime opportunity in the characters tab to call Batman 'The Goddamn Batman'.

The Riddler

Name:

Edward Nigma

Age:

Forty eight years old

Alias:

The Riddler

Appearance:

Edward is never seen without his signature green suit, purple tie and patronising grin, unless he's recently been apprehended by Batman, in which case he wears orange asylum overalls and a disgruntled scowl. Getting on a little in years, Nigma now likes to use a question mark cane as well. Some sources suggest it may contain concealed weapons, though Nigma rarely deigns to do something as thuggish as fight someone in hand-to-hand combat.

Skills/Abilities:

- Genius level intellect, particularly when presented with puzzles and riddles.
- Experienced planner and manipulator
- Many contact in the Gotham underworld and Supervillain circles, veteran baddie
- Independently wealthy, having stashed money from legal and illegal deeds for years.

Weaknesses:

- Obsessed with riddles and proving his intellectual superiority
- Compulsively leaves clues for others to figure out his motives, location and actions
- Physically weak and has little skill with personal combat

History:

As a young boy, Edward saw the tests and questions his teachers presented him with as nothing more than puzzles with solutions so obvious, it almost wasn't worth solving them. He did though and was rapidly advanced through different schooling systems and to more and more prestigious establishments. Although young Edward's success meant that he went to better schools on scholarships, his early success greatly frustrated his father, a man who hadn't achieved in his entire life a quarter of what his son had in less than ten years. The man could not accept that his son was gifted or intelligent, instead choosing to believe his son was somehow cheating on every test he took. Whenever Edward brought home a school card full of straight As, his father beat him and demanded that he reveal his method of deception.

His father's actions had a profound affect on Edward. Despite not being able to satisfactorily explain to his father how it was he had passed every test ever presented to him, the attacks quickly drummed a lesson into his mind; the truth must be told. Throughout his childhood, the young man was unflinchingly honest and often received still more trouble for it. We all know that sometimes it is better to lie than to tell the truth, whether it's to protect someone's feelings or to save ourselves answering some unnecessary questions. And so now Edward had two conflicting messages, one saying that lying was wrong and the other that the truth could get you into trouble.

By the time he was thirteen, the young Nigma had come upon a solution. He simply found ways to tell the truth that were not immediately obvious to a listener. He was say one thing while meaning another by shifting his tone or allow the other person to leap to conclusions by not finishing sentences. And yet this still felt a little too much like lying to him so, during a class trip to the carnival, he was delighted by his discovery of riddles. Here was a way to put the truth in front of someone's face and defy them to understand it. It was here that Edward began both an extensive study of the history and mythology of riddles and to amass a vast collection of esoteric facts to serve as props for his riddles.

Edward eventually left both school and his father behind, becoming first an investor, then a banker and finally a security advisor. While the stock market had been an interesting game, it was too chaotic for his tastes, too lacking in carefully constructed rules. In short, it wasn't puzzle like enough for him. That's not to say he didn't make an awful lot of money during his two previous careers though, he made an awful lot of cash that he carefully stashed away in different accounts and funds. But as a secuirty advisor, designing and manning advanced security systems, he felt he might have found his true calling. Edward was able to create puzzles and riddles for intruders (though he personally thought of them as contestants) that lead them one way or the other, depending on whether they guessed right. And watching through his CCTV cameras, Nigma had the time of his life.

It all got stale soon though, for the average thief or burglar isn't particularly interested in solving complex riddles, they'd rather just cut the power to the building, smash a window and grab whatever their desire is. Or, if the puzzles were too complex, simply give up and leave. Edward realised that the fun was going out of his games because his contestants were a) too stupid and b) had the ability to leave whenever they wanted to. If he really wanted full satisfaction, he'd have to create an environment where they couldn't leave and had to apply their full concentration to escape. Maybe he should make some of the traps deadly?

It was a fateful night that he began designing some more lethal riddles because one of the many buildings he was monitoring was being broken into. The thief, or should that be cat-burglar, was very carefully navigating around every single one of the Edward's riddles and traps, using the ceiling, floor, air ducts and whatever else she pleased. It so annoyed Nigma that he was about to trip the alarm himself when he saw another figure, a shadowy giant with pointed ears. Where the thief was going round the puzzles, the newcomer was solving them with almost contemptuous ease. If anything, he seemed to be gaining ground on the feline intruder! Edward could hardly believe his eyes as the two of them waltzed in through his meticulously designed security system without a care in the world, being rude enough to leave without even stealing anything, not that the cat-burglar didn't try.

Now Edward was both incensed and exhilarated. Someone had beaten his traps and without apparent effort, solving puzzles and riddles alike. This was the person to go through his newly designed, lethal maze, the perfect contestant to try it out. And what better way to show that pointy eared fool that he only got through Nigma's system because Nigma wasn't ready than to kill him! So Edward constructed, concealed and baited the trap, leaving out riddles all over Gotham for his foe and taking a hostage to provoke the other's heroic nature. When he finally arrived, the puzzle master was waiting and eager for the games to begin. But it happened again, the newly named Batman seemed completely unimpressed with these new challenges! And what was worse was that he found some small clues that might lead him straight to Nigma!

But Edward couldn't stop. He constructed a new set of traps in his own home, sure this time he would defeat the Bat. When he ended up in Arkham Asylum a week later, it was in a state of shock, confusion and despair. It took many months of rotting in a cell for Nigma to realise what must have happend; Batman must have cheated! The filthy rodent! Well Edward would show him! He'd show them all!

That was around the second year of Batman's dark crusade. Ever since, Nigma has been a constant thorn in the side of the Bat, testing his intellect again and again while convinced that he can never match the mental prowess of the king of questions without cheating. Early on in both their careers, the press labelled Edward 'The Riddler' and it appealed to him. He soon adopted it as his 'supervillain' name and got himself a matching outfit.

@Roosan

MFin>Goddamn

Approved! Very nicely done.

[Ruby]

I prefer the Royal Blue, but I let people use whatever color they want. If I can't read it, I'll just do what I do with Blissy's posts and copy/paste them into notepad.

[Rin]

Anything's better than the demented rantings of modern day Frank, that's for sure. XD

It's gonna be amusing having Red X with the robins when he sides with or against them. I imagined a feud with Damian and a sort of playful-sarcastic-bickering with Kuroko.

@Yvain

Yeees~ Honestly, I don't think this excited for a roleplay to start in a while, really. XD

[Ruby]

Anyone feel like they understand canon decently well and has a good grip on the Batman/Gotham characters, let me know.

I'm putting together a "Combat Ranking" of all the characters, and would like input from as many as I can get it from.

[Blue Demon]

Anyone feel like they understand canon decently well and has a good grip on the Batman/Gotham characters, let me know.

@Ruby

Did you seriously have to ask?

Raises hand

Also, I'm going to PM you once I get home from work with my CS that is for your eyes only. Those who cannot see it will weep in dismay.

[Yvain]

@RubyCurrently in my classes..

@RinI imagined Louise and Logan from bobs burger :p

@propro I think of Red X as a PG version of Red Hood to be fair so I could understand why they wouldn't want him in the comics since he's somilar to Jason personality and moral-wise

[Ruby]

<Snipped quote by Ruby>Did you seriously have to ask?

Raises hand

Also, I'm going to PM you once I get home from work with my CS that is for your eyes only. Those who cannot see it will weep in dismay.

@Blue Demon

lol And one name added to the Ranking Committee.

Can't wait. <3

[Barrett]

@Ruby
For combat ranking, I'd say I've got a pretty good understanding and knowledge of the Batverse.

I'll post Riddler in the characters tab.

[ProPro]

Anyone feel like they understand canon decently well and has a good grip on the Batman/Gotham characters, let me know.

I'm putting together a "Combat Ranking" of all the characters, and would like input from as many as I can get it from.

@Ruby

I consider myself pretty much the super nerd, but that being said I don't think 'd be able to devote the time to analyzing all the different aspects of these characters to help with a ranking system. Like I said, I was already stretched thin even before devoting a character to this RP.

[Ruby]

@Ruby
For combat ranking, I'd say I've got a pretty good understanding and knowledge of the Batverse.

I'll post Riddler in the characters tab.

@Roosan

There's another. Thank you. <3

[Ruby]

<Snipped quote by Ruby>

I consider myself pretty much the super nerd, but that being said I don't think 'd be able to devote the time to analyzing all the different aspects of these characters to help with a ranking system. Like I said, I was already stretched thin even before devoting a character to this RP.

@ProPro

You're fine. The ranking will be more for the use of GMs and Storytellers, and may not even be publicly posted, but I'm sure you'll get a chance to chime in on where Dick ranks on that list.

[Yvain]

What exactly is combat ranking?:)

[Ruby]

Speaking of which...

Q&A time! (As always, fake questions with real answers.)

---

"You've mentioned this role of 'Storyteller' a number of times, now. WTF is it?"

A Storyteller, for this game, will be a player that has additional responsibilities. Whereas they aren't co-GMs in that they don't have to deal with any OOC issues, they do deal with IC issues.

So, for example...Dblade26 wants Damian to put a whoopin' on Condiment King, but doesn't want to write Condiment King himself. Well, he could ask myself, the GM, one of the co-GMs (when we get them), but his first and primary option would be asking the Villains Storyteller.

The Villains Storyteller helps the GMs out by NPCing villains in one-shot posts that push the plot and story forward, and they help the players out by writing villains for the players to write against, should the player not want to write the villain themselves like in our hypothetical situation with Dblade26's Damian.

Obviously, being the Villains Storyteller they'd have the ability to use any villain requested/needed, with the exception of PC Villains.

And any Villain plans/questions/etc discussed with the GMs will get shared with the Villains ST, so they stay in the Villain loop.

@LePouvantail has offered to be our Villains Storyteller, which is very much appreciated, and I happily accepted.

---

"You mentioned you might have a Storyteller for a specific storyline/episode. How's that work?"

For our Night of Owls, we'll have a Storyteller for that arc. One of my long time Guild favorites, @Xtreme, will be filling this role. His role as ST for this episode is rather specific: he's helping me write Talons, because let's be honest, they'll probably be too many Talons in too many scenes for just one person (read: me) to handle.

After the Night of Owls episode wraps, he's done being a Storyteller.

So if during the Night of Owls episode you have a question regarding Talons, or your scene with a Talon, or your character possibly jumping in to help someone else fight a Talon, you'd holler at Xtreme. And if you asked me, I might (depending on if I'm writing your Talon or not) direct you to Xtreme for an answer.

As with the other Storytellers, the GMs will keep Xtreme in the loop on all things Talon related, so he's never in the dark.

---

"How do I know who's the Storyteller of what, exactly?"

I'll list them on the OOC opening post, along with what they're the Storyteller of.

---

Got any real questions? Don't be afraid to ask, you won't look dumb, and I don't judge. But hopefully the fake questions and real answers helped folks understand this RP game management concept.

[Barrett]

@Ruby
I volunteer (as tribute!) as the storyteller for Alfred.

[Ruby]

What exactly is combat ranking?:)

@Yvain

A combat ranking is a numerical ranking, #1 being the most formidable combatant, and so on down, with the last person on the list being the least formidable combatant.

Why do I need it? You don't always need one for a Gotham City game, but there are times they are vital.

Say we have a Jason Todd and a Dick Grayson. The Jason Todd player thinks the Red Hood is the new top ass kicker in the Batfamily outside Batman, and the Nightwing player naturally disagrees. But they're fighting IC, and the fight can't resolve because they can't decide how to resolve it.

Now, see, if the GMs had drafted a Combat Ranking...then this disagreement is quickly solved. One of them will be ranked higher than the other. If one is ranked #2 and the other #3, obviously the character who wins will have barely won, and it'll be closer to a tie than an actual victory.

Now even an OC brand new at vigilantism could beat a Nightwing--they'd just need the perfect storm of events to happen to achieve that victory.

As a GM, I like upsets, and I hate when things feel predetermined. So the Combat Rankings will be a helpful guide for Storytellers and GMs, not a holy writ that determines the outcome of every fight.

[Ruby]

@Ruby
I volunteer (as tribute!) as the storyteller for Alfred.

@Roosan

Done. Thank you very much. <3 Help appreciated.

[Jinny]

@Ruby
I volunteer (as tribute!) as the storyteller for Alfred.

@Roosan

Sassy Alfred is best Alfred <3

[Ruby]

<Snipped quote by Roosan>

Sassy Alfred is best Alfred <3

@Jinny

Best part about Jeremy Irons Alfred, the shade he throws at Bruce.

[Barrett]

@Ruby
Glorious.

@Jinny
That's the way I intend to play him.