An alternate Gotham..

[Dasquian Belargic]

I know, our Gotham hasn't even really started out yet, but hear me out!

The alternate DC universe which we have started to create here at Fans is cool. I think it has a lot of potential to be excellent, as an exploration of how the origins of different characters may have panned out in what is effectively the Nolanverse.

HOWEVER, I also realise that this was not what I personally found exciting about the prospect of writing in the DC universe. This is just something that's personal to me, and I am not knocking what we've started to create by any means... but I recently saw this posted on Tumblr.


CHILDREN OF THE BAT { a television series focusing on the sidekicks of Bruce Wayne }

Bruce Wayne’s time as the Batman has ended, the only thing left of his legacy are the children he’s trained to carry on in his place. Now it’s up to them to pick up the shattered pieces of the Batman & protect the people of Gotham as they discover their places in the team, their city, & the world. In the absence of their leader they struggle to deal with being raised as soldiers in a world where they should have been children. As their lives come crashing down around them they learn that the only way to survive the job & life in general is to lean on each other when they can’t stand on their own.

opening credits: Some Nights | Fun
closing credits: Kings & Queens | 30 Seconds to Mars

THIS is what I really wanted to roleplay. A story focused just on the Batfam. With a handful of characters, tightly linked together. Since we're putting out in the open what would make us RP more frequently, for me this is it. I want to do DC threads that are more firmly rooted in the comics. Nightwing and Batgirl and Red Hood and Red Robin fighting against classic Batman villains.

Would anyone be interested in trying this? I know it's a lot to ask, given that we have the Nolan-inspired stuff going on and still in its early days, but we could use this 'Gotham' tag as a way of identifying the 'Children of the Bat' threads.

[Captain Untouchable]

Does this mean that you personally aren't interested in the current setting any more?

[Dasquian Belargic]

No, I still think that's an interesting setting.

This would be a much more... tightly focused story, essentially about a handful of characters from the Bat family, instead of having a much larger cast that is spread across a number of different DC properties.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I think that if you want to write stories like that you should go for it. I'm not personally going to commit or get excited about another scenario because I really hate the disappointment when things stop getting replied to or don't get off the ground. Like... you owe me posts, missy. you. owe. me. :shakefist :)

[Dragon]

I could see chipping in Clayface or Deadshot as recurring/one-off villains.

[Dasquian Belargic]

^ Sweet.

I would probably be interested in writing Dick Grayson/Nightwing (or perhaps even Dick as Batman in the wake of Bruce's death.)

[Captain Untouchable]

As long as it doesn't end up bleeding interest away from the other DC stuff, I'm onboard.

If this is in the wake of Bruce's death, I'd probably be interested in playing Jason Todd. It could be pretty interesting to play Jason and Dick as polar opposites: Jason advocating a less theatrical, more brutal approach to crimefighting, versus Dick picking up the mantle of Batman.

[Dasquian Belargic]

That'd definitely be a great starting point for character conflict.

[Captain Untouchable]

tl;dr Edit:

I get that you want to focus on the Bat Family... does that mean you want to set this in a universe where only the Bat Family exists, or will it be a Bat Family that has a full DC universe as a backdrop? Are we looking at a Dick Grayson who was once part of the Teen Titans? A Batman who was once part of the Justice League? A Tim Drake who was once a member of Young Justice / Teen Titans / whoever?

Are we going to pick a canon continuity to base things on (pre-Flashpoint, New 52, a cartoon, etc), or are we going to mix and match from scratch?

[Dasquian Belargic]

Are we looking at a Dick Grayson who was once part of the Teen Titans? A Batman who was once part of the Justice League? A Tim Drake who was once a member of Young Justice / Teen Titans / whoever?

Yes, but I would prefer if these were periphery/backstory things at most. So we wouldn't be role-playing out the Teen Titans, etc.


Are we going to pick a canon continuity to base things on (pre-Flashpoint, New 52, a cartoon, etc), or are we going to mix and match from scratch?

How about New 52 as a starting framework? Maybe with a little pre-52 flavour thrown in there, if someone wanted to write as Stephanie Brown, for example.

[Captain Untouchable]

Yeah - I wasn't expecting we'd actually roleplay that stuff, but it might be interesting to see Dick or Tim wrestling with the question of whether or not they should join the League, etc.

Might it be easier to use the pre-52 / pre-Flashpoint continuity as a basis instead? New 52 is still evolving and changing, which would make it hard for us to stay on top of it. They're already killing off Damian, and who knows what else might end up happening between now and whenever... it's hard to base stuff on stuff that is still happening. The pre-Flashpoint stuff however is set in stone: there's a lot of it, but at least there isn't going to be anything new that might derail us.

I guess it hinges on whether someone comes along wanting to play Batgirl-Babs or Oracle-Babs... that's pretty much the majorest (I know that's not a word) difference between the two.

[Dasquian Belargic]

I wasn't meaning that we'd follow New 52 as it evolves, just use the current incarnations of the Bat family in the New 52 as a starting point and go from there. From the point at which we start role-playing, the story would diverge. For example, and this is just an off the top of my head example, say that Bruce dies in Death of the Family, everyone else survives... aaaand roleplay!

Barbara was crippled in New 52 (in her backstory) so she could theoretically have remained in the chair, if someone wanted to be Oracle :)

[General John Heller]

I guess it depends on how young you/we want the characters to be.

The New 52 made the Bat Family a lot younger / newer, and their maths is kind of iffy as a result. Dick was still Robin when Barbara was shot, and since she's been in a wheelchair for three years, Dick's career as Nightwing can't have lasted any longer than that. It also means that both Jason Todd and Tim Drake had their careers as Robin within that three year span, so either Jason Todd was Robin at around 17/18, or he's not old enough to drink in most states.

If we want to write a group of teens and twenty-somethings who are utterly overwhelmed by the burden of filling the void left by Batman - if Dick is reluctant to become Batman because he "only just" became Nightwing, and if Jason is against the idea because "How are you any more qualified to do it than I am?", and so on - then those ages probably work out okay. If however you/we want Dick, Jason and co to be a little more seasoned and a little older, the pre-Flashpoint stuff might be better.

I'm cool with either, although if we're writing New 52 versions of the characters I'm less certain about who I'd want to be.

[Dasquian Belargic]

On second thoughts n/m this idea.

[Captain Untouchable]

Don't give up on your idea. I seem to be the problem here, so just ignore me and I'll fuck off.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

No, I still think that's an interesting setting.

This would be a much more... tightly focused story, essentially about a handful of characters from the Bat family, instead of having a much larger cast that is spread across a number of different DC properties.
The 'current' one can't be that interesting if you're abandoning it. :p

[Dasquian Belargic]

I'm not doing any DC-based RPing for now :)