Gotham City
My take on Batman's home town
scope is heavily aimed at Gang War
Special Thanx to Silveressa for 'pushing' me into this and editorial help and to Scrasamax, for letting me use some of his Cosmic Era stuff
CULT OF DONE!!!!!!!!!!!
OVERVIEW
Located at the southern tip of NJ, Gotham has been shaped by the fact that it is built on the site of one of the Earth's six Hellgates, most of the strangeness is founded on this to at least some degree. The Hellgate is just what it sounds like, it opens and shuts and shifts position in the city.
Evil eminations cloud the minds of some of it's denizens and warps even the purest of souls.It is currantly located under Axis Chemicals and is only partialy open.
WEIRD POLITICS
During the race riots of the sixties, The State of New Jearsy totally botched it's use of the State Police and Natiaonal Guard. 2/3rds of all the riot related deaths were in Gotham. As a result Gotham County is semi -autonimus and has resisted all atempts by the state to be re-intigrated. Gotham has No state offices or officials of any kind. Residents and buisnesses pay only city taxes. This was all orchastarated by Gen. Immortus.
Gotham County Sheriffs dept.
Due to a county loophole any sheriff outranks any GCPD officer under Capt. The dept. is efficent and corruption free, unfortunatly they mostly have their hands full taking care of the rest of the county, only one deputy is in the city(see ADVENTURERS below) Armed with Mark of the Beast, four shot .666 cal. revolvers, deputies don't screw around.
GCPD
Capt. James Gordan Demoted due to the huge civil unrest, Gordan has been placed in charge of the Downtown Business district. A safe and out of the way post, pacifying those still loyal to the former commisioner. In a bold move, Gordan has been slowly transfering officers he can trust all over the city, acting like a non-corrupt shadow force. This is a very dangorus move, as it leaves him very vulnerable.
Gang Unit The Gang Unit is under 100% control of the Penguin. He uses them as an enforcement arm. They are very sucssesful at taking down the small and just starting gangs due to Penguins info and help. Percived as one of the best parts of GCPD by the public.
MAJOR PLAYERS
Gen. Immortus (an immortal warlord) adopted Gotham in the 60's as his personal 'playground'. When not up to his world conquering ways, he is causing chaos for his own amusement. Hidden in an undersea bunker, he masqurades as Amodas Arkham, the heir to the oldest and most infuential families in the city. Much of the government is under his sway.He is very carefull to hide his puppet-mastery of the city.
The Penguin is one of the very few individuals aware of Immortus and his ways.He has been very careful not to give away to him this knowlage He spins a spider web through the city, with the very real possibility it will be his
Batman is engaged in a years long battle with Ra's Al Ghul to dismantel the League of Assasins and the hero's are tasked with replacing him.
Locations
Wayne Sleep Spa 3 locations in the city provide quick, deep sleep (at this point only for the middle and upper class areas). Great for the busy Gothamite (adventurers always popping in). Despite extensive labratory trials, Its not really as safe as it should be. it is mildly to moderately addictive, causing insomnia and tendancies toward overuse of alcohol and Drugs. Very heavy use will lead to psycotic behavior (at the start of the campain no one has manifested this yet (From Cosmic Era Locations, by permission)
Panic Station 2 Located in the heart of the 2nd worst section of the city, this ultra posh nightclub is named after the nicknameof the local police station. Its theme is Neon Military,barb wire,sandbags and heavily armed mercs. When it opens at 10Pm, the place is buzed by 3 black helicopters and 5 5 faux Batsignail s are rotating. The place to be seen if your young and rich. Homeless and paparotsi line the entrance.
The Pussycat Lounge. The permant home of Josie and the Pussycats(use Metric,Heart, or Adele as soundtrack,depending on your taste) Dark and loud with a mixed crowd of Arstsy types, college students and well to do low lifes. Not so secretly backed by Catwoman (who is a frequent visiter) but she has no hand in running the place
Iceberg Lounge Elegant upscale nightclub of the Penguin, entertainment provided by Jonn Winter(pretty good Frank Sinatra wanna-be) and the Birds(showgirls who moonlight as Penguin's weapons. Guests include Rich and famous(an older crowd than Panc Station 2). In reality it is a true fortress for Penguin. Nuetral ground for all gangs, Memebers of any of Gotham's underworld can be found here
Stagg Hydroponics huge facility providing ultra fresh, healthy and fantastic tasting fruits and vegatables at slightly premium prices that only the poorest of the poor can't afford. Synthetic caffeen like additive is used to make all of it moderatly addictive. Huge expansion plans to go world-wide, 4 trademarked fruits have been artificily created, with fanfare.
MYSTIC LOCATIONS
Coen's Books Foremost collection of esoteric,occult, and spellbooks north of New Orleans. Mr. Coen is old ,cranky and keenly aware of the value of his product. Hidden in a safe with magic wards is one of only two copy's of Hitler's postumus book, Mien Endsieg (My overwhelming victory) along with the only known copy of Rhe Al Azif (the original Arabic Necronomicon).
Olde City Quilts In addition to quilts Rebbeca Hunter,owner is a talated pre-cog who very quietly advertises her services. Make very accurate readings that only tell of misfortune.Very pricey but with her help you can avoid problem.
The Third Eye occult curio shop that has the real stuff. Located in an out of way spot in the Bohimia Ward, it caters to anyone with cash or rare goods to trade. Owner Frank Demis has amassed a huge collection of magical weapons as his personal collection. A robbery here would be VERY bad for the city. Unfortunatly ,many are considering it.
The Dry Spell Private Vampire Night club- Located in worst section of Gotham, its decor is a bright victorian with The Hepcats playing smooth jazz. The vampires of Gotham are actually pretty good citizans being very low key and not very murderous. The owner, Rodderic, run's every thing vampire in Gotham. Nobody is killed or turned without his permission.Encourages the others to mostly only hunt werewolves (who they see as undisiplaned,which they are)
CYBERSPACE
A very strong firewall (enforced by Powers Industry) surounds Gotham County(due to general world unrest). For a price Powers will drop and look the other way
VR gaming(heavily influanced by Azeroth, Cosmic Era Locations, Thanx Scarasamax!)
True VR is in an early stage of development, as such 99% is in Cyberlounges of mixed quality through out the city.Very few private sets are in use.
Powers Gaming
Mysantia Dark Cthulu sword and scorcery Swamp moon fantasy setting.
Castle Dark Thinly disgised sex fetish romp, set in 18th century London, some players actually hunt the werewolves and Ripper's instead of visiting the Hellfire(sex)Club
Wayne Entertainment
Cupcake Land mildly popular family setting, several gangs use for VR meetings and furries hide in private rooms
Das Boot World War 2 naval gaming(origanaly titled 7th fleet but the North Atlantic sea war are the only games supported
Major Gangs(In order of power)
Gang note Unless otherwise noted, assume all gangs participate in general organized crime rackets(gambling, prostitution, drug dealing, arms sales etc).
NorthAm Hydra Controls 60% of city in a slowly unravelling truce with Bane. North Am Hydra had fallen on bad times so it consolidated all operations to Gotham 2 years ago. By bringing all their remaining assets and money to Gotham, they quickly gained the uper hand. Now due to the Penquins machinations, They are preparing all out war to gain total control of the city
Bane- a strong #2, his gang is made up mostly of Corto Maltese revolutionary's in Gotham to benifit from Bane's brilliant training and strategic thinking. Not nearly as big as NorthAm Hydra, he makes up for it with his generalship and better trained fighters.Overseas the other half of Gothams Underworld. The Russians are loyal subordinates(see below).Very Powerful
Penguin- Very few realize just how powerful he is. He hides his power and maintains the Black Spider's gang as a surrogate(see below) In reality Black Spider is under total control. Very Powerful
Black Mask The king of extortion,Black Mask 's pwer lies in an intellagence network that rivals the Penguin. The differance being while the Penguin's network is broader and much larger,Black Mask has very,very detailed info on the combat strengths of most of the other gangs. Pays tribute to both Hydra and Bane he is probably a very close 2nd to Penguin in preparedness and also like Penguin ,has hidden his true power Very Powerful
Minor Gangs
The Russians powerful
the Chineses runs it like a buiseness,chaffing under it's close ties to NorthAm Hydra. Only allied to Hydra due to hostage daughter of leader. would rebel at first chance. Probobly the least violent of any crime family, keeps China town much freer from street crime than most of the rest of the city. Very Popular with the ethnic chinese
Hanoi Ten average Ten Martial artists who will resort to firearms(on par w/ hero level) Compleat control of small area of China town. one of the few gangs that does not pay tribute to either Hydra or Bane.Survives by ultra violence and combat skills of the 10 Lacks the money or resorces to expand , being fenced in by Chineses gang. Very poor relations with every gang except Maroni, Likely to be one of the first to fall unless they ally under Maroni average power(local only)
Salvatore Maroni Last vestige of the three mafia families that used to control Gotham. Maroni has been very careful to conserve power for coming war. He is on very good terms with nearly all the other gangs by doing just about anything any of them have asked. Has plans to be kingmaker at end of struggle.Vert powerful contacts with police and government. Revinue is low due to placating other gangs and giving up territory. average over all power, but a dark horse to control city.
A.I.M. Renagades weak
Black Spider Gang Front for Penguins heavy mussle. well financed and equipt, but pure muscel, controls no territory and provides no revinue. General perception is that they are mercs'.A growing thought amung the underground is that Black Spider works for the GCPD Gang Unit as an illeagle leathal enfocement arm.This suits Penguin just fine.powerful (combat only)
CORPRATIONS (roughly in order of $ and power)
WayneTech
Powers Industries
LexCorp 2
Stagg Enterprises
Axis Chemicals
Queen Consolidated East
Kord Enterprises
SUPER VILLIAN GROUPS
Sportsmaster
GENERIC VILLIANS
(to solve the revolving door prison problem inherant with supers games , I have added generic villians. They are reproducable in some way)
Clones
Aqua Lad (limited super strength)
Black Cat
Kraven the Hunter
Tech based
Scarecrow
Paste Pot Pete
weak Iron Man(can't fly)
Dimentionaly displaced
Hit-Girl
Brain-washed ex-military
Catman(warlord,underboss, )
Trained by Task Master
Green Arrow
Batman
Black Canary
Capt. America
Lone Adventurers
Winter Steele Tough biker chick, always looking to swing her chain in a good brawl. Drinking buddy of Catwoman
Roachmill heavily armed exterminator
Dr. Thirteen Paranormal investigator
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? Responses (4)
Setting took total direction change when I read Scarasamax's Cosmic Era stuff. It turned in a very cyperpunk way. With the mystic connection will now work for Shadowrun type games.
This has a great note-book feel, and I like the alternate history.
I wonder what kind of strength you would need to fire a .66 cal revolver.
Nice. I like the idea of friendly vampires.
There is a lot of stuff thrown together here. Good stuff, and often cleverly written, but not well developed. I agree with Val, it really has a notebook feel. More like notes on a post.
