So, there's this city on the Eastern seaboard, call it Notham City. It's a big, brawling city with lots of industry and business, great gothic architecture, and a big crime problem.
Fortunately, the city is blessed with an abundance of crimefighters and vigilantes. There's the Clown Detective, who brings his twisted insights to every case, along with his balloon animals and squirting flower. There's Black'n'White, who can switch from thinking like an honest man to getting in the criminal's head as easily as flipping a coin. There's the Puzzlemaster, who uses his enormous knowledge of trivia and logic to unravel the most baffling crimes. And Shabazz, who came from distant lands with his beloved daughter, and now protects his adopted hometown with the ferocity of a mystical tiger.
Unfortunately, facing all these heroes and more is a huge and complex underworld of dozens of gangs and syndicates. And behind them all is the Night Mayor, the Big Bat, Dracula, the Shadowman -- he has a thousand names, but no one knows his face. Some say he's a myth or urban legend, but he's real all right, and he is the true master of Notham.
Keeping it street/Nolan-level is good, but on a wider note... Would this make Superman a corrupt alien fascist and Darkseid the cool, edgy, anti-hero. Lex Luthor a'la Tony Stark could be fun. Sinestro as the Rebel who has purified his Holy Golden Powers from the sickening, corrupt, Lovecraftian Green Lanterns?
Of course, the Bat has many minions and top disciples. The Red Birds and Wing Girls are the most elite.
Crimson Arrow, a violent Communist?
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"My vehicle interior is a cross-work of reptilian origin, while the backseats contain a screen for viewing films, which happens to be within a model by Chevrolet."
Hey listen buddy. Sit down. Heard you've been digging into the shadowman. Well look I don't knwo if he is or not. But the police don't like people talking that way. Why should you care? Must be from out of town.
Well everyone knows the head of the department Gordon is crooked but no one can prove it. That cares anyway.. DA is just as bad. They'll put the low level crooks in the slammer but never touch the gov types.
See I remember back in the day we had good honest cops working there. Until James 'Big Jim' Gordon shows up.. Transfered in from out of town with a record that looked spotless. Gordon blackmailed his way up through the ranks. Got all the clean cops put out or made them dirty as he is. He'd put down those heroes if he could get support from city hall. Luckly mayor never go for it. They ever get a mayor on their payroll? It's over. Anyway..
You heard of Black'n'White right? He's the way he is thanks to Gordon. Double crossed him you see wanted to much take for being the DA and looking the other way. Gordon made him half and half.. But back fired. Made him a good guy. Why he goes out every night andgoes after him.
Also if you're smart you'll be careful around his daughter to. She looks all sweetness and light. But I heard things.. don't buy that Librarian bit for a bit.
So Clark or whatever your name is.. you go back home. Hate to see you fished out of the river.
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"I took The Authority and I stripped out all the plots, logic, character and sanity;" and "It’s an absolute distillation of the superhero genre. No plot lines, characters, emotions, nothing whatsoever. It’s people posing in the street for no good reason. It is people getting kicked, and then exploding. It is a pure comic book, and I will fight anyone who says otherwise. And afterwards, they will explode." -Warren Ellis on NEXTWAVE.
Keeping it street/Nolan-level is good, but on a wider note... Would this make Superman a corrupt alien fascist and Darkseid the cool, edgy, anti-hero. Lex Luthor a'la Tony Stark could be fun. Sinestro as the Rebel who has purified his Holy Golden Powers from the sickening, corrupt, Lovecraftian Green Lanterns?
Of course, the Bat has many minions and top disciples. The Red Birds and Wing Girls are the most elite.
Crimson Arrow, a violent Communist?
Not to post twice but this is pretty good stuff.
If you go Lex Luthor as a good guy, you have to check out 'Red Son.' Which is the best take on Luthor I've ever read.
Darksied.. instead of the despot.. warrior king? Somebody who seems like he should be from a time in the past. Searching always for the Life Equation for which to improve the lives of all creatures. He has is own world he runs but is ever present to aid against the blasted 'Last Son of Krypton.'
Sinestro.. Hmm if you're going Lovecraftian Oa is near the ceter of the universe. The GL's are the forms stolen from beings across the galaxy all to serve the twisted desires of the people of Oa. The GL corp as Nyarlathotep.. Sinestro while trapped in the hell discovered an impurity. A bit of something good unnoticed.. which he formed his Yellow ring and power source from. Now he fights to free others and to prevent to twisted and alien plans of the people of Oa and their Green Latern corps.
The Red Birds and Wing Girls . You could go with them as just the charcters. They are the shadow's trusted assassins. Those who cross him die.. even in places one would consider secure.
Don't know enough about GL to make him anything..
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"I took The Authority and I stripped out all the plots, logic, character and sanity;" and "It’s an absolute distillation of the superhero genre. No plot lines, characters, emotions, nothing whatsoever. It’s people posing in the street for no good reason. It is people getting kicked, and then exploding. It is a pure comic book, and I will fight anyone who says otherwise. And afterwards, they will explode." -Warren Ellis on NEXTWAVE.
Last edited by TheFourthman; 06-07-2009 at 11:41 PM..
One of the most enigmatic figures in Notham is the "Cat Lady". Rumors swirl about her constantly - is she merely what she presents herself as, a conservationist, working mostly with endangered felines? Does she use the skills gained as an unruly youth to aid Black'n'White and the Clown Detective in their fight to clean up the city? Or is she, as the darker rumors have it, in bed with the Big Bat, whether figuratively or literally, or both?
The Question basically becomes Rorshach in full. Only way more so. Also Lesbian.
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"My vehicle interior is a cross-work of reptilian origin, while the backseats contain a screen for viewing films, which happens to be within a model by Chevrolet."
I really think the most crucial decision to make with these "inverted universes" is not who to invert but who should remain the same.
If you just flip everybody's switch from evil to good or good to evil, then it becomes a silly exercise that's not really useful. Anybody playing in the universe or reading about it can just go down a checklist from A to B, much like the posters in this thread, moving the counters from one side to another.
The thrill comes when you aren't sure. What if Captain Gordon is still a heroic cop (though not promoted quite so high) who serves as the Clown's best friend and ally in the police? Maybe they have a closer relationship than Batman and Gordon ever did in the regular universe.
What if the Penguin is still a crook at heart, but one has has adapted to the criminal Bat by becoming a daytime player? Just as the Bat rules the night, so the Penguin is determined to dominate crimes carried out in public view, in the harsh light of day.
Stuff like that.
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"As the size of an explosion increases, the number of social situations it is incapable of solving approaches zero" - Vaarsuvius, OotS #696
This seems a pretty good idea, if only because you can easily create teams based on 'reverse' baddies. Which means you should probably generate the Bat Family as bad guys and leave most of the reverse baddies uncovered, so players can come up with ideas for them.
And perhaps, as the heroes aren't actually doing anything wrong, a corrupt psychologist starts coming up with false profiles and mental diseases. For public safety, heroes are being shifted to this new asylum.. will they be able to escape?
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Blogness Monster- RPGs, LARPs, and other stuff I wrote about recently.
Also, there should always be more villains than heroes.
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"My vehicle interior is a cross-work of reptilian origin, while the backseats contain a screen for viewing films, which happens to be within a model by Chevrolet."
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