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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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