batman in ravenloft?

[jules]

How would you handle batman and his friends /enemies in ravenloft?
would you make his enemies into dark lords?
If so what would be the effects of power checks on the villains?

[Rock of the Fraternity]

I'd stat him out as:

LN human Monk 5 / Rogue 5 / Vigilante (Complete Adventurer) 10, for starters.

[thekristhomas]

Toben the Many is already quite like the Joker

Desmond la Rouche (probly spelt wrong) the half golem is quite like Two Face

Mr ? is a bit like Clayface (but maybe any clay golem)

I've actually already used Scarface in Ravenloft, he's Maligno's older "brother"

Man-bat is clearly a werebat

If I think of more I'll let you know

[The Lesser Evil]

Toben the Many is already quite like the Joker

Desmond la Rouche (probly spelt wrong) the half golem is quite like Two Face

Mr ? is a bit like Clayface (but maybe any clay golem)

I've actually already used Scarface in Ravenloft, he's Maligno's older "brother"

Man-bat is clearly a werebat

If I think of more I'll let you know

Mr. ? is a wax golem, so you might consider a wax golem for Clayface as well. A doppelganger flesh golem (see Children of the Night: The Created and/or Shadow of the Knife) could be appropriate too. If you wanted to make Clayface something of a tragic figure like in the Animated Series, you make him the victim of a soul transplantation like in VR's Guide to the Created.

An adventure featuring Vjorn Horstman (developer of the Primal Serum; written up in Children of the Night: Werebeasts) seems like a natural for creating a man-bat like scenario. Your Kirk Langstrom stand-in could be a (possibly former?) subordinate of Horstman. Or if Not!-Kirk discovered the serum independently, he could be a target for interrogation by Horstman's goons.

In Champions of Darkness, there is a young, quasi-heretical cleric of the Lawgiver who has taken to administering justice in the lawless streets of Kantora. Her name is Marynia Teslenko, and she is the closest equivalent to Batman I can think of in Ravenloft. She is an enemy of Malken, whom killed her sister and feels a bit like Joker in character.

[Drinnik Shoehorn]

There's the crazy vampire Druid lady in Children of the Night; Vampires for Ivy.

[The Giamarga]

So villains aside, what about the good guys? And where to set it? There's already a great detective, Alanik Ray . And he was born to a well to do family iiirc. But there the fit ends.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Alanik Ray is more like Sherlock Holmes than Batman, in my opinion.
Except without the abuse of nasty narcotics...

Hmmm. If anywhere, I'd dunk Ravenloft-Batman down in Nova Vaasa. There's already a malformed criminal overlord ruining the place, and the cities are pestilent plague-pits after sundown. What better place for a Dark Knight?

[Manofevil]

Of course, if we wanted to start from scratch, we could use this map from the No Man's Land series to lay out the areas of the city ruled by Batman's enemies who are all Darklords and Batman could serve as a sort of anti-darklord who's primary purpose is to rescue victims from, thwart, frustrate, and otherwise torment the city's Darklords.


That could be Batman's curse. He is forever doomed to battle the city's Darklords and must constantly lose his friends and allies (more to retirement than death) If we wanted to borrow a little from Batman: Arkham City, we could give Ra's Al Ghul a sort or Underdark domain in which he has used the Lazarus Pit too many times, is dieing, and constantly tries to lure Batman into becoming his heir. Of course, all of this would have to be victorianized, maybe even medevalized.

[ScS of the Fraternity]

I'm not so sure that Batman is a hero. He's more like a Darklord.
The heart of the Dark Lord of Gotham is his desire for absolute control. He lost his parents in a moment of utter helplessness, so he has dedicated his entire life to always being in control of everything around him. He sacrificed his youth, his life, his every chance for joy in an all consuming quest for power. For his sacrifice, he has strength, speed, inhuman wisdom, and become the master of fear itself.
The fact that Batman doesn't kill his enemies is not an issue of morals, it's the desire to keep all people within his control. After all, two deaths destroyed his life, so he won't allow any others. He has gathered together a team of vigilantes and assistants, but his harsh obsession with control drives these people away. Every Robin eventually becomes a Nightwing and leaves, or ends up trying to live up to Batman's example and dies like Jason Todd or Damien Wayne.
Batman's damnation was simple; He killed someone. No matter how justified, it was an act of unparalleled darkness according his own morals. As a result, he is cursed. Batman's city is the center of all madness in the world. People will spontaneously become psychotic monsters and commit senseless murders. Batman can solve any mystery, except for the one that plagues his city. His obsession is the font of the evil in Gotham. No matter how much he tries, no matter what good he does, or how many people he saves, Batman cannot stop the madness. The villains will always escape their prison, return to their evil ways, and kill again.
He's trapped inside of Gotham; not by barriers but by his crushing sense of responsibility. He could end the madness, if only he would let go control. The issue is, of course, that Batman doesn't ever quit.
If he had a foil, it is of course the Joker. Mr. J himself is the revenant of Batman's only victim. He is a corpse, forced to live on because Batman will not allow him to die - because that death would mean admitting that he cannot control everything. All of Joker's psychotic antics are aimed at forcing Batman to admit this - either by driving him to commit murder, or forcing him to let go of the control.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

The endless madness could be because of those insanity fleas that hit the Von Aubreckers.
Gotham is a gross cesspool of a city, so flea bites are not uncommon even in the best areas. But one flea in a million is an insanity flea. And Batman, who is the only one who is immune, has no idea...
Every time he brutalizes a madman, he is actually beating up a helpless victim.

[brothersale]

IIRC this idea was touched upon on the mailing list many ages ago, and rather than go for the obvious choice for a darklord as one of batman's many villians, Alfred Pennyworth was chosen.

The basis was that he had attempted to make Bruce his own son, only to drive him into becoming batman. Trying to make him quit he schemes to create more foes for Bruce, so that he final quits and can be the son Alfred wants him to be.

Thats about as much as I can remember, I might have to dig around to see if i can find more details but i don't think is got much further than the general concept.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Interesting...!
If we combine that with the insanity flea idea, Alfred could be using Waynecorp's resources to breed worse varieties while Batman uses it to make gizmos to fight the lunatics.
And thus the Waynes' fortune and assets become tainted where once they inspired cultural advance and philanthropy.

[IrvyneWolfe]

If I were going to have a Batman character in Ravenloft I'd take the technology level of the setting as an excuse to take the character back to formula. Either go Zoro, or the full Edmund Dantes.

A Zoro Batman would work best in a slightly more rustic domain (Nova Vasa comes to mind). Where he struggles against the domain's vicious criminal element trying to avenge his parents deaths, while trying to curb the worst of his fellow nobles' attempts to grind the people of under their boots. Needless to say this Batman wouldn't have a lot of friends and may end up being called a demon by the church of the law giver for undermining the status quo.

Say a Swashbuckler /Avenger, CG type of guy.

If you want to go Edmund Dantes go to the other side of the core. Dementlieu seems ripe for this kind of thing. A young man with his entire life ahead of him runs afoul of the shadow conflict between The Brain and Dominic D'Honaire. In the end he's framed for treason and locked away in the worst prison in Dementlieu. He escapes with the aid of an old soldier turned priest who teaches the boy everything he knows. Before dying in the escape the old man tells the hero where he stashed a fortune. Now free the hero discovers his entire family is dead, either in retailation for his fake treason charge, or through the crushing poverty inherent in the Port-a-lucine underclass (likely a bit of both). He dedicates himself to using the skills and money given to him by the old man to destroy (both literally and figuratively) the people he holds responsible for his downfall. He works subtley from behind the scenes only taking the stage himself when his targets can do nothing to stop him. This is a far less warm and fluffy Ravenloft Batman. He will poison, kill, and manipulate anyone because he feels justified.

This one is more of an Investigator, True Neutral kind of fellow. At least until he fails a few powers checks.

As far as Villains
Joker - Toben the Many
Poison Ivy - The Green Maiden
Killer Croc - Sandovor

[The Lesser Evil]

As a result, he is cursed. Batman's city is the center of all madness in the world. People will spontaneously become psychotic monsters and commit senseless murders.

I would be reluctant to have people "spontaneously" transform into psychotic monsters because that defies the Ravenloft taboo on not forcefully corrupting people. Perhaps the curse was to attract murderers, etc. to the city.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

I've always thought of the Knights of the Shadows as Ravenloft's Batmen (Batpeople?) ... sort of like the Batman Incorporated series.