Once again continuing with this month’s RPG Blog Carnival theme of Superheroes in RPGs, here’s another variant campaign idea. This one doesn’t even have any superheroes in it, at least not directly.

At some point in the past, I mentioned on The Dire Cafe that the song “Behind Blue Eyes” by The Who always reminded me of the Batman. And because all shows in the CSI franchise use Who songs as their theme songs, I suggested it should be the theme for CSI: Gotham. It would be about cops and crime scene investigators dealing with collateral damage and side issues not directly related to superheroes and villains. A guy robbing liquor stores is doing so because he was laid off, and he was laid off because the company’s profits tanked, and they tanked because the Penguin stole the experimental prototype whatchamcallit they were counting on to float the next quater’s bottom line. Or in among the victim’s of the Joker’s laughing toxin is another victim, who was killed by someone else trying to hide the murder among the mass victims.

You never see superheroes or supervillains directly; Batman is an urban legend, and his name is never uttered. All of the superheroic stuff is implied, which makes it amusing. It’s just a police procedural, as realistic as possible, with an unusual background. It could be a lot of fun.

While this is yet another game I’ll probably never run, some folks have taken the idea and run with it, and are putting together a collaborative project.

Photo: Gotham City as seen in Batman Begins.

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