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