Gotham Nights

Preamble

The following is an amalgamation of reimagined Batman lore, the premise of Fox's "Fastlane," and material from many of my pdf publications (Werewolves Bite, Tempus, and the Wushu Guide to Wyrd-Fu). Use of the first two is not intended as a challenge to existing copyrights. Where I reference my own works, I will attempt to include enough information to make this material usable on its own.

If you like spoilers, check out the Actual Play report.

In Media Res - One of my favorite things about "Fastlane" was that they always stared an episode with an action sequence, regardless of chronological order. Then, they'd cut to the title sequence and resume the show "X hours earlier." To recreate that, I started each session with an action sequence, but cut away in the middle. As we played through the preceding scenes, the players earned dice every time they did something that helped set up the opener. These dice went into a communal Held Pool they could draw from to resolve the opener or anything thereafter, even if it meant exceeding the dice pool limit.

Premise

Gotham City, 1925. The Batman has turned fear against those who prey on the fearful. Now, Gotham PD wants will do the same. They've created a deep cover unit called the Night Shift; its personnel don't exist and its funding comes solely from what it can loot from the criminals and kingpins it shuts down. What they seize, they keep. What they keep, they use.

The Night Captain communicates only via mission briefs that the team finds on a desk in the candy store. Their HQ is a derelict theater in one of Gotham's most forsaken districts. No one has ever seen the Cap' enter or leave.

Their mission is to take down criminals too powerful, to clever, or two well-connected for traditional law enforcement to touch. Their tools are violence, blackmail, and intimidation. They are criminals in everyone's eyes but their own.

The Night Shift

The Detective - A hard-boiled cop in search of redemption.
Veteran Cop (5) Twin Revolvers (4) Pals in City Hall (3)
Veangeful (1) Can't stand to let guilty men go free.

The Rumrunner - An undercover cop who works the speakeasies.
Drive Like a Maniac (5) Tommygun Terror (4) Bootlegger (3)
Likes the Ladies (1) Never hits a woman.

The Grifter - A convicted felon working off his debt to society.
Con Artist (5) Fights Dirty (4) High Society Connections (3)
Adrenaline Junkie (1) the bigger the risk, the bigger the thrill.

Villains

The Fifth Column
A German spy, a magic ninja, and an aryan from the future.

The Society for Creative Vandalism
Brining magic back to Gotham... by any means necessary.

The D'Angelo Crime Family
Occult types need booze and hookers, too.

The First Church
Some of Gotham's richest and most powerful cannibals.

The Houngans
Two crimelords who rule by terror... and zombies.

The Mad Hatter
Same old Jervis Tetch. All new technology.

The Joker
Less slapstick, more psychopath.

Mission Briefs

Zombies!
Take down the Houngans' empire of evil.

Werewolves!
Stop a turf war that's consuming Little Moscow.

Change Places!
Terrorize a serial kidnapper & rescue his victims.

Cannibals!
Infiltrate Gotham's most influential congregation.

Nazis!
Only a lunatic knows who robbed the candy store.

Heaven
Stake out the "Crazy Don" and become part of the family.

Hell
The SCV's ultimate stunt goes horribly, horribly wrong...

Appendix

Dustech
The version I used differed from the Tempus version in several ways.

Walking the Path
A character advancement scheme I used to introduce Hoodoo.