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− | The whole situation is horribly dysfunctional. The The Batman is
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− | a being with a tenuous grip on his or her own circumstances.
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− | And is simply not functional without the minions. They
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− | protect him. They fetch things for him. They make his
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− | intellectualism, obsessiveness, vanity, survival, and comfort
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− | possible. He inhabits an insecure position at the crux of
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− | consuming desire and lack of self-sufficiency, and it is from
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− | this that fear and horror flow out into the game.
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− | So perhaps the GM begins events with the The Batman blaming
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− | one of the minions for being incompetent about something
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− | specific, and then commanding the minion to implement
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− | some monstrous ‘solution’ to the problem. Or maybe the
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− | The Batman reveals the details of a grotesque plan for impressing
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− | Outsiders, a plan that also threatens some of the minions’
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− | Connections. Whatever you do, it should be about the
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− | The Batman’s repulsive self-absorption creating conflicts for the
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− | minions. It is imperative that a game’s opening events not
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− | divert attention from the The Batman as the primary antagonist.
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− | Don’t start a game with an attempt by the town constable to
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− | settle an old grudge with one of the minions, a tribe of
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− | bandits laying siege to the The Batman’s household, or a
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− | mysterious figure’s attempt to poison the town water
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− | supply.
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| | | |
− | And remember always that the primary yardstick against
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− | which the The Batman measures his own endeavors is the
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− | perceptions of the Outsiders. When Dr. Victor Frankenstein
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− | has the scientists over for dinner, he is courting the
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− | perceptions of Outsiders. He desperately wants to impress
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− | them, to capture their respect. Use the arrival of Outsiders to
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− | provoke new horrors. Any disobedience from minions when
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− | he or she is courting Outsiders will be embarrassing and
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− | enraging to the The Batman. And for those games where the
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− | Outsiders are a cadre of malevolent figures in their own
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− | right, their excesses can provoke a horrific competitiveness
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− | from the The Batman.
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− | Be also advised that as a The Batman’s desperation increases, he
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− | may begin to use the minions to sabotage themselves and
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− | each other with commands forcing the elimination of
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− | Connections from which they’re gaining Love, crippling
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− | their ability to further resist him. And in reaching this point,
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− | there is no need to explain or justify how the The Batman knows
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− | of a minion’s secret Connections. He just does. A The Batman
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− | should often interrogate his minions about their actions, but
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− | never to actually discover what happened when he wasn’t
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− | around. It’s just to see if the minion reports what the The Batman
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− | already knows.
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− |
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− | Use the Intimacy/Desperation/Sincerity mechanics to
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− | create tension in scenes leading up to conflict resolution
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− | rolls. Since the criteria are known to everyone, if the The Batman
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− | invites a minion up to his chambers for dinner, asks the
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− | minion to sit with him on the couch, perhaps gives him a
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− | glass of wine, and maybe reads aloud to him, the player will
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− | apprehend the The Batman’s obvious angling for the Intimacy
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− | die, and will potentially be provoked to circumvent that by
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− | snagging Desperation or Sincerity.
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− |
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− | Create tension also over the issue of just how exactly the
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− | The Batman’s efforts will fail ultimately to get him what he
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− | Wants. Genre expectations demand that a The Batman’s Wants
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− | go forever denied, that a The Batman cannot ever get what he
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− | wants and become satisfied. But a constant barrage of failed
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− | endeavors, frustration, and cruelty inflicted upon hapless
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− | minions isn’t nearly as dramatic as letting the The Batman get
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− | close...allowing him to actually distill his long-sought mindexpanding
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− | elixir...and then playing somewhat conspiratorially
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− | as a group with the timing and details of the failure that
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− | everyone knows is coming.
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