Gaming in the Universe of… Super Spies

Spy movies reviewed by the family:
Quantum of Solace
Get Smart
The World is Not Enough

Victory Games published the James Bond RP in the mid-80′s.  When I think of gaming with super spies this is the one I remember.  Although out of print, I have found copies still for sale at online RPG stores.  I also found the basic game available as a pdf.  There is a Savage World conversion of the Victory Games Bond RPG.  Top Secret, the super spy game from TSR ceased production in 1992 before TSR was bought out by Wizards of the Coast.  Sadly I could not find any RPGs based off of The Wild, Wild West; The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; Get Smart; Jason Bourne, or any other spy genre.  I’ve heard rumors that Evil DM Productions has a Savage Worlds spy genre scheduled for this summer.

Spies as a concept are timeless.  Your side/country/kingdom is always wanting to know what the opposing forces are up to.  Going back to the Bible (whether you accept it as historically arcurate or as an example of literature), we find that Joshua sent spies to scope out the tactical situation for the upcoming battle with Jericho.

So how to include spies in your adventure, aside from running a spy game that is?  One way that I’ve always wanted to try.  If one of your players is becoming dissatisfied with their character, you could take them aside and tell them that they are a spy for the opposition.  Between you and the player start dropping subtle clues that not everything is kosher.  Don’t think this works? Star Trek Deep Space Nine went for a few episodes in which Doctor Bashir had been replaced by a Changeling.  It might be a way for the player to become interested in the character again.

Agent Barret, Stargate SG-1′s reccurring CIA Agent is proof positive that I could easily add spies to my ongoing Stagate campaign.  Natasha Romanov, the Black Widow and Nick Fury are recurring characters in the Marvel universe and could be dropped into any superhero campaign. 

Another method of incorporating spies into your campaign is to have your PCs infiltrate the opposition for a game or two.  It might be fun to see if the PCs can pull off an infiltration.

Savage Worlds stats for not one but two super spies for you to use.

James Bond: Legendary
Race: Human
Attributes: Agility d10, Smarts d12, Spirit d8, Strength d10, Vigor d10
Skills: Boating d6, Climbing d8, Driving d10, Fighting d12, Gambling d12, Guts d10, Intimidation d10, Investigation d10, Knowledge (about whatever the scenario is) d10, Lockpicking d10, Notice d10, Persuasion d10, Piloting d8, Shooting d12+2, Stealth d10, Streetwise d10, Survival d10, Swimming d6, Taunt d10, Throwing d8, Tracking d10
Charisma: 30; Pace: 6; Parry: 8; Toughness: 7;
Hindrances:  Arrogant, Overconfident, Heroic, Quirk – Womanizer
Edges: Charismatic, Alertness, Very Attractive, Marksman, Level Headed, Steady Hands, Harder to Kill, Nerves of Steel, Trademark Weapon (Walter PPK), Connections
Gear: Walter PPK, Hi-Tech Aston Martin (with the usual refinements), whatever Q has given him for thmission at hand

Maxwell Smart: Veteran
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d8, Spirit d10, Strength d8, Vigor d8
Skills: Driving d8, Fighting d8, Investigation d6, Notice d6, Shooting d6,
Charisma: 10; Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 6;
Hindrances:  Overconfident, Clueless, All Thumbs, Quirk – catch phrases “Sorry ’bout that Cheif” – “Missed it by that much” – “That’s the second biggest …. I’ve ever seen”
Edges: Great Luck
Gear: Shoe Phone, Hi Tech Swiss Army Pocketknife

Day 77 of being a cancer survivor

This morning Mrs. VS woke up at 4:30 with a severe ear ache.  She was in tears when I woke up at 6:00.  Called the Oncologist per their instructions.  Got permission to get Mrs. VS to ER (apparently the oncologist wants be kept appraised of Mrs. VS’s medical condition).

The ER doc took one look into Mrs. VS’s ear and concluded she had an ear infection, probably brought on because she already had a cold when she sarted Chemo.  We have another chemo appointment this Friday and we’ll be keeping an eye on her ear.

Classy Characters Vol 1: a review

My friend Greywulf has put together this collectionof renders.  I just purchased my set this morning.  I have to stop right here and say that Greywulf you have some talent.  If you frequent his blog you’ve seen his renders adorning various postings.  If not I suggest you go look.  Anyway the 62 images contained in the downloaded 20mg file are very nicely done.  The twelve high resolution images are of a cleric, a fey warlock, a fighter, a nomad, a ranger and her dragon, a rouge, 2 warlords, a wizard, a wounded warrior, a scary looking dude wielding two axes, and Jimmy Neutrons’ robot.  OK it’s not really Jimmy Neutron’s robot but it sure looks like something he’d build.

There are 50 other miscellaneous pictures that Greywulf has included for your use in your blogs, gaming illustrations or any other non-commercial project you can think of.  These pics are worth the price.

The best thing about these is the price, $4.  That’s right; 400 pennies, sixteen quarters, and best of all the proceeds go to help our own Berin Kinsman.

This package comes heartily recommended.  Two pointed ears way, way up.

Goober’s Words of Wisdom: 3-29-09

Pastor Gary continued his sermon series on Jesus’ miracles prior to the passion week.  Today’s sermon was from Matthew 21:29-34, the healing of the blind men.  Goober, Ricky and Mickey figured that Pastor Gary was intending to have actual blind people come visit the church.

So Goober and Mickey were testing out “Blind People Sticks”.  Ricky was supposed to go find a seeing-eye dog.  Ricky was unable to find a seeing-eye dog on short notice so he got a seeing-eye sheep.  Unfortunately, this was One Way Express’ untrained sheep.  The Sheep has the uncanny ability to make something simple something complicated by not doing what it’s supposed to.

Goober and Mickey kept trying to capture the sheep and caused general pandemonium because they forgot to drop their “Blind People Sticks”.  They began chasing the sheep, almost knocking over things and hitting Pastor Gary.  After Pastor Gary managed to calm things down he finally convinced the boys that although blind people were welcome in our church there weren’t going to be any today.  The boys agreed to go chase down the sheep and pen it up before the sermon started.

Game Night 3-27-09: Stargate SG-21

Col Winston and Sgt. Sassy escorted the prisoner they captured in last week’s game out of Scatterpoint across the wastes and to the Stargate.

Meanwhile, Maj. Johnson along with Sergeants Kyle, Emo, Mystery, Steeleflex, and Meeker took the Spiral to Black Shackle to rescue Sister Canondale.  Enroute Sergeant Steeleflex attempted to make the trip on the boarding platform outside the car.  The conductor told Sgt Steeleflex to sit down and politely ordered his party to keep an eye on him.

Major Johnson ordered Steeleflex to sit down.  Just as Steeleflex sat down the team heard the rending sound of the rear door of the car being ripped from its track.  Twelve Malakar marauders spilled onto the train and began demanding money from the passengers.  Sergeant Kyle had the brilliant idea to pull her Zat, put it against the floor and sending a stun pulse through the metal of the car.  Sgt Kyle called for her team to get up off the seats and then fired the Zat against the floor.  She managed to stun the first three quarters of the car but not the Malakar.

Steelflex successfully taunted that Malaker causing them to focus their attention on the team instead of their intended helpless victims.  During the ensuing battle the team discovered three things.  They discovered that Malakar have claws, ineffective against their Kevlar but claws nonetheless.  They discvoered that their P90s don’t deal out quite as much damage against the Malakar as the team is used to.  They also discovered that Zats are completely useless against the Malaker.

The team did manage to finally defeat the invaders and rescued the other passengers.  After the conductor regained consciousness he surveyed the damage to his train.  The team feared the worst having already become a thorn in the side of many of Scatterpoint’s residents.  They were pleasantly surprised when they were given free passes on the conductor’s train.

Next: Rescuing Sister Cannondale

The Eerie Exploits of Ranger Company X part 1

Introduction for The Eerie Exploits of Ranger Company X, a Risus setting by Hank Harwell – GM notes are in italics

Five encrypted telegrams from Ranger Captain Earl R. Buchanan of Company X were sent out. Four  telegrams went out to Jack Macher, Vic Abruzzo, Gabriel Cooper, and James Freeman.  The decoded message instructed each to meet Ranger Chris DeHartat the Santa Fe Depot in Galveston Texas. Chris received a message telling him to pick up the other four.  After meeting at the depot they are to meet with Detective Charlie Sorenson at the Galveston Police Department, who will brief them on the assignment.

CHRIS DEHART: Chris’ 57 Chevy purred as he drove it down the road.  Chris, however, was fuming.  The telegram he got this morning meant he wouldn’t be able to prevent the upcoming silencing of Astronauts, Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee.  While Chris agreed that the astronauts needed to be “shut up”, as the CIA hack had so eloquently put it.   He did not agree with drastic measures the CIA was obviously thinking about.  He knew the CIA was planning something big to discourage the rumblings within the astronaut corps.  That’s what Chris had hoped to prevent.

Scientists at NASA as well as the astronaut corps were chaffing at the government’s cover up of one of the greatest finds of the 20th century.  Grissom, White, and Chaffee were planning on going public after they successfully returned from their launch.  The three astronauts figured they would have the undivided attention of the nation at that point.  Many of the scientists and other astronauts agreed with them.  Chris knew the CIA was planning something drastic to keep NASA quiet but now he was headed to Galveston and figured he could stop it when he got back.

Still fuming, Chris kept the speedometer at 75.  He knew he wasn’t going to be pulled over for 5 miles over the limit. He also figured that if he did get pulled over by some rook, his Ranger Badge would take care of any problem.  ‘What could be more important than the lives of at least three astronauts’, Chris thought as he drove.

Less than 45 minutes after he’d left Houston, Chris pulled the candy apple red car into the parking lot at the Santa Fe Depot in Galveston.  A little calmer after venting his frustrations through the gas pedal, he walked inside the depot and picked up a copy of Life magazine from the newstand.  Walking over to the lunch counter he sat down on the second stool and opened the magazine, that was the cue for his fellow Rangers from Company X.  Chris knew the names of who he was picking up but aside from his friend Jack he’d never worked with any of the rest them before.  Well he’d find out who the were just as soon as they arrived and acknowledged his signal.

————-

GABRIEL COOPER: The bus ride from Brackettville to Galveston was 8 hours of unadulterated boredom.  Gabriel was seated in the back of the bus, and no one sat near him.  He was wearing civies, blue jeans and a fairly nice white button up shirt, but his hair still had that clean cut soldier look.  He had his guitar out of the case, and he plucked at strings practicing a new song, but without an amplifier, there wasn’t much in the way of sound.  He could still hear it in his mind, but practicing this way caused those sitting near him to glance at him as if there was something wrong with him.

He was used to the stares, but he still didn’t like them.  As a black seminole, he was part of many worlds, and not all of them seemed to get along as well as they should.  Gabriel had hopes of helping to change this with his music, but so far, he hasn’t played for more than a few drunks at the Broken Wheel.  Someday he’d catch a break, but not today.

He was enduring the bus ride to Galveston because of a telegram.  The Rangers thought they could use him for something.  He was off to meet with someone named Chris DeHart(a fellow Ranger according to the telegram), and from there to meet witha Detective of the Galveston Police Department.  Gabriel was sure what this was about, but he was nervous about meeting withthe detective.  His last run in with police was right before he shipped out to VietNam.  He was out withhis buddies, and when one of them got into a fight at whatever hole they were drinking at (he didn’t remember the name of the place), Gabriel finished it.  They had taught him quite a few techniques for getting out of trouble while he was learning to be an advanced scout, but the trouble in the bar didn’t amount to anything compared with the trouble caused by the police when they showed up.

Gabriel was brought out of his memories when the bus bumped up over a curb.  It had arrived. Gabriel packed up his guitar and grabbed his ruck sack (he didn’t own proper luggage and had learned to travel light in the Army). Gabriel made his way to the Santa Fe Depot.

It didn’t take long to spot Chris DeHart. He was already seated at the second stool of the lunch counter flipping through a magazine. Gabriel took a deep breath and moseyed over to him.

——————–

JAMES FREEMAN: James Freeman rode a city bus through Galveston to the Santa Fe Depot.  He was just following the telegram request to go meet Ranger Chris DeHart, but he had a hunch that this could be very important anyway.

The ride on the bus was more facetious than actual.  There were no seats free in the back, and he wasn’t raised to disrespect the older ladies seated there by kicking any of them out; they likely had challenges just to GET a seat because they weren’t white!  Supposed ‘equality’ was a joke… he stood the entire ride holding a strap handhold.  His legs were tired, but he didn’t complain.

He reached his stop.  Other passengers failed to hide relief on their faces to have one less black man among them. Galveston folks were a lot sillier than N’awlins folks; badges weren’t clues enough to them of the good nature of their fellow riders.  James just shook his head and rolled his eyes, then stepped out.

DeHart was easy enough to recognize: not only did he have the regulatory cowboy hat of the Rangers in front of him, but he had many others coming over to him.

——————-

VIC ABRUZZO: Vic spent his time on the short trip down Old Galveston Road thinking, “Rod. Rodrigo Vargas. Rod. How’s it goin’, I’m Rod Vargas. My former associates who keep trying to plug me call me Vic, but you can call me Vargas. Rod Vargas.”

He expected somebody to ask why a guy in Texas with a Spanish name didn’t know that language, so he had memorized a convoluted story about where his forefathers had moved around Europe and New England.  Since he started using this cover, a few people had started talking Spanish to him, but when he said he didn’t know Spanish, nobody grilled him about why.

Vic liked the pickup the Feds had loaned him for the witness protection thing.  A green, two year old Ford with all the bells and whistles.  It was nice, but he’d trade it in a heartbeat for not having to hide.

A healthy level of paranoia stirred in him again, and he pulled off at a gas station.  Vic eyed the few cars that continued towards Galveston.  None of them pulled off behind him or exhibited suspicious behavior.  It should have set his mind at ease.  Instead, he worried that someone might be following who was too good to be spotted.

He comforted himself by thinking of the one familiar thing the Rangers had given him: a six-shooter in his boot. The territory was new to him and he had to adjust to some new rules, but some of the tools were the same for this job as his last job.

The rest of the drive passed with fewer glimpses in his rearview mirror.

Vic strode up to the Rangers gathered at the lunch counter in the Santa Fe Depot. “How’s it goin’? I’m Rod Vargas.”

————————

JACK S. MACHER: “No one should have to ride that far in a bus,” thought Jack, as he watched folks get off in Galveston.  He had gone home for a couple days to be with his Mom and the lawyers as they tried to decide what to do.  Dad would be home soon, was all Mom wanted to hear.  But, she did agree to let Jack have the pickup truck and see to the pile of mail Dad was still receiving.

The telegram was interesting.  He and Dad had played with ciphers while camping in the Grand Canyon when… God… How old was Jack? 12?!  So many places; seemed like it had to be longer ago than that.  But, this? Official, encrypted, addressed to Dad…  Hell, he was surprised the courier had let him sign for it.  And, then to find it was one that Dad had taught him?

So Jack packed a thermos of coffee, a box of Oreos, the M1, and his trusty goalie stick (almost made the varsity team at the private school, twice before he graduated) and drove to Galveston.  By the time he got there he was very thankful for Dad’s Obsessive-Compulsive care for the truck.  Also glad to be in Texas where no one looked twice at the rifle, but instead raised an eyebrow at the hockey stick.

He knew no one would recognize him, not with two inches of hair on his head and a semester of fuzz on his chin. Dad would not have approved, but since he wasn’t home, Jack just hadn’t bothered.  After the drive though, he was considering making a stop in the rest room.  So, knowing that under the hair he looked a lot like his Dad, he hoped the disguise would be successful and scanned the crowds coming and going for Galveston PD.

After a half hour of that, it occurred to him that, A) his Red Sox cap probably stood out like a beacon, and B) a detective probably would not be wearing a uniform. So plan B.

Jack took a seat at the lunch counter, ordered steak and eggs and a bottomless cup of orange juice, and pulled out a large card board sign reading, “J. Macher.”

Gaming in the Universe of: Eagle Eye

VS Database review for Eagle Eye

This is your standard Hollywood action flick with one notable exception.  The ’villan’ is a self-aware computer intent on remolding the United States government into one that it believes will be more in line with its programming.

The notion is a scary thought and one that has been explored in movies such as a Wargames and the Terminator.  Unlike Wargames in which Joshua is only playing a game initiated by Broderick’s hacker character or Terminator in which the computer is struggling for its own survival, Aria is doing what she thinks is ‘right’ for the preservation of her country.

This plot point can be dropped into any game with a technological base.  Your PCs get activated by the computer and are run through the hoops much the same way Shia LaBeouf’s character chases across the country.  An added twist is that the PCs never find out that their sponsor is in fact a computer.  It might be a fun campaign to see how long the PCs go before they start to question what it is that they’re doing.

To add this plot-point to a fantasy (read I don’t want some lawyer from WotC issuing  me a cease and desist) setting replace the computer with some enchanted object put in place by he wizard protector of the community .  The wizard’s spell takes on a life of it’s own.  It’s up to the PCs to find a way to break the spell.  The enchanted object really should to be something normally inanimate to play as then it becomes part of the challenge to find out where this thing is really vulnerable.

To use this plot point in a non-fantasy low tech setting, the DM should do some research to see if there is some sort of mythology that could be substituted.  For example if I was trying to fit this into a Pirates scenario, I might play Aria off as Kraken or or some other sea-beastie that the locals have trained to protect them.  However the Kraken has reverted to its true nature and has turned on its captors threatening the lives of all those close by.

Day 73 of Being a Cancer Survivor

I received an e-mail today asking why there weren’t daily updates regarding Mrs. VS.  The simple answer is that most days the update would read.  Mrs. VS got up, fixed herself breakfast.  After kids and husband left she sat down and folded laundry / played computer / cried.  She got tired and napped until kids came home / husband came home / dog woke her up.  Went to bed after supper and was rudely awakened when thoughtless husband came to bed two hours later.  Post like that would tend to get monotonous and repetitive after awhile.  I’ll be updating weekly unless there’s Earth-Shattering news….  Today qualifies as Earth Shattering.

First status in Mrs VS’s own words….

Being that I have both chemo and cold it is hard to tell what symptoms are from what. I just feel cruddy. Obviously the cold has me feeling congested and occasionally hacking up yucky stuff. I’ve also faced headache, and earaches. At first I faced some sore throat too. Other symptoms I have had are constipation, nausea, unsteadiness on my feet, some disorientation/confusion. My vision has been a little weird and nothing tastes right. Not even water. My jaw and teeth seem to have tightened, flossing has become difficult. Although I haven’t lost any hair yet my head does feel wierd, my hair seems coarser and my head itches frequently. I have also noticed I have become very sun sensitive. I walked the dog once and that is all it took to get a sunburn. I need to make sure I use sunscreen even on cloudy days. Tired is another thing I feel alot. Some of my meds even cause drowsiness. Anyway, the treatment for chemo seems to be to get plenty of liquid and plenty of rest. The way to beat a cold is to drink plenty of liquid and get plenty of rest. It seems the course for me right now is to get plenty of liquid and plenty of rest.

Today when I came home from my bar run, Mrs. VS was feeling VERY depressed.  She was considering leaving us and going away because she was feeling useless.  She doesn’t think she’s being much help with the Can Company.  She knows she’s not being much help with the puppet team.  She can’t help me out with open game night when she’s feeling sick.  She was just feeling useless.

I spent the better part of the afternoon talking with her and trying to figure out what we could do to help her feel less useless.  Mrs. VS confided in me that she had been asked by a co-worker to come to the co-worker’s church and help out with their deaf ministry, Mrs. VS is an interpreter for the Deaf by trade.  She politely turned them down thinking that because I’m involved with the Children’s programs at our own church, she wouldn’t be able to attend a different church on regular basis without causing some problems.

There currently is no deaf ministry at our church and honestly I can’t think of any deaf people in our community.  So I discussed this with the Senior Pastor.  His solution was rather elegant.  Rather than making a big deal about Mrs. VS leaving our church to attend elsewhere, he wants to officially send her out as a missionary from our church to the church with the Deaf Ministry.  She’ll still be part of our church just doing what she does best at a place that actually needs her skills.

Mrs. VS brightened immediately at this suggestion.  I haven’t seen a smile on her face since she started the chemo.  Thanks Pastor Gary for taking what could have been a problem and turning it into something positive.

Unless there is something major, I’ll post again next week Friday.  Check my Twitter Feed or Facebook for listings of new posts.  I know that there are lot of folks that check this blog for updates about Mrs. VS but don’t really care to read about my RPG stuff.

D&D 2e Game Day 3-22-09

One month to the day after we left off our 2e D&D group returned to the game.  The month long hiatus was due to a job schedule change for our DM.

The lawful/good characters, including Nevets, dashed down the stairs that were revealed last session.  Entering the chamber the characters discover members missing from the party before Nevets joined up bound and chained to the walls.  Also in the room are the obviously tortured remains of Nevets party.  Along the wall are various religious symbols including that of his Diety, Jahwei.  Two trolls, three ogres and four drow were fighting over the spoils in the center of the room.

Bawb, the militant wizard dwarf who was rescued in the last room went invisible and began to free the captive PCs.  Sir Gallahad, noticing that his Diety’s symbol had been desecrated charged into the midst of the fighting monsters with a battle cry.  Hawrayn stood back and threw stars from his robe of stars and hit the ogres.  Nevets not having a long-range weapon followed Sir Gallahad and began attacking drow.  After freeing the captives, Bawb cast fireball on the two trolls.  Meanwhile our Kender, Rayne, began stuffing the loot into her coat of many pockets.

After the trolls ignited, Bawb cast another fireball.  The party seeing what was happening made sure the rescued characters were right behind us and we evacuated.  Nevets grabbed all the religious icons and the party made it out just as the trolls erupted in a humongous fireball that consumed everything in the room.

Heading back upstairs, the party took time to heal and go through the treasure retrieved by Rayne.  Nevets received back the bow carried by his party’s archer.  The party entered the next room to discover 10 drow waiting for them and three Pedapelps.  The drow attacked as soon as we entered the room.

Rayne, our Kendar, decided to change clothes in the middle of the battle.  At this point the DMs dice began to fail him.  The DM decided to roll to see if one of the drow had been mesmerized by Rayne’s striptease.  Our female Aquatic Elf asked if the drow fighting her was mesmerized as well.  The DM rolled a critical miss on that and the drow were not only mesmerized but began to fight the fellow drow whenever they came near our females.  Nevets cast enthrall over the drow as the rest of the party battled on.  Nevets was successful.  OOC I asked if Nevets successful enthrallment caused a permanent change in alignment.  The DM and I rolled percentiles and I beat him.  Our female characters now had bodyguards, Drow with permanent changes in alignment.  Apparently the DM had decided that some of the drow in the room were in fact dragon riders.  He asked all of our ladies to roll percentiles, each beat him.  Not only do our ladies have bodyguards but the bodyguards each have dragons.  By this point the DM is pulling out his hair.  Meanwhile the rest of the enthralled drow vacated the room just as Nevets used his new bow and enchanted bow string to deal with the pedipelps.

All of this overshadowed the emergence of a specialized monkey.  The monkey was designed between myself and the DM in an effort to teach one of the players a lesson.  More on the monkey later.  As we shut down for the night, the party was introducing themselves to the new members of our party.

Gaming in the Universe of… Batman

Introduction to gaming with superheroes article with links to various RPGs centering around superheroes

Batman Begins review
The Dark Knight review

Batman, driven to seek justice because of the atrocities he faced as a child.  Bruce Wayne, billionaire, wishes to prevent the tragedy that befell him from happening to others.  Batman protects Gotham City from any and all attacks; crime, natural disaster, unnatural disaster.  During his 70 years of published history, Batman’s character can be consistently summarized by great wealth, physical prowess, deductive reasoning and obsession.

Those four traits transcend time and genre.  Denny O’Neil once told one of the Bat-writers (I forget which writer specifically, but he mentioned it in the forward of a collected edition) that Batman was a diamond whose different facets could be reflective of any genre or time.  Following up on this bit of wisdom, one can surmise that Batman can be dropped into any gaming setting; in a fantasy game, Bruce Wayne is the benevolent lord who secretly protects his people in the guise of the Black Knight.   Vampire Batman (one of the “official” worlds of the “new” DC multi-verse) is perfect for any horror setting.  Science Fiction, though usually a staple of Superman, has done many stories of the lone protector.  Is B.A.T.M.A.N. a benevolent overlord piece of computer software? or is it a mechanized servitor designed to protect the public from those who seek to enslave it?  Regardless of the setting you drop him into, one needs only to remember that many of Batman’s enemies are pulled from the trappings of the ‘were’ and horror.  Those genres would be my first choice for continued inspiration for continued exploits in your Batman mythos.

Batman as used in a game that I’d run would be a perfect PC.  He is human, the only thing “super” about him is his technology.  Given billions of dollars and the time to train, anyone could be Batman.  His motivations are entirely human, driven but still human.  As such the Batman archetype is easily dropped into any campaign.  Simply create a filthy rich protector of the village/town/city/sector, give him access to the most advanced technology of your game setting and voila, Batman.

Another benefit of adding Batman to your superhero campaign would be the inspiration he has been for many wannabes; Robin, Nightwing, Bat-girl, the Oracle.  This could definitely be used with a whole group of low-level chracters as they study and train to help protect HIS city.

A completely different take on the character would be play completely against type and run Gotham as pulp-noir or modern crime drama.  CSI Gothamhas been explored in depth at the Dire Cafe.  The idea is that the cops do not acknowledge that Batman exists while at the same time dealing with his villains or the aftermath of his battles.

Of course playing a Batman type character in your own version of the Justice League or Avengers could be just what one of your players is itching to do.

Savage World stats for

Batman/Bruce Wayne Legendary
Race: Human
Attributes: Agility d12, Smarts d10, Spirit d12, Strength d10, Vigor d12
Skills: Climbing d8, Fighting d12+2, Guts d10, Intimidation d10, Investigation d12+2, Knowledge (Criminal Behavior) d10, Knowledge (Electronics) d8, Knowledge (Scientific Method) d10, Lockpicking d10, Notice d12, Persuasion d10, Repair d8, Shooting d8, Stealth d12, Streetwise d12, Survival d10, Taunt d10, Throwing d10, Tracking d12
Charisma: 30; Pace: 6; Parry: 8; Toughness: 7;
Hindrances:  Overconfident, Vow to protect Gotham City heedless of the cost to himself, Vow to NEVER take a life, Loyal, Enemy – The Joker
Edges: Arcane Background (Super Powers), Jack-of-All-Trades, Investigator, Master Fighter, Master Investigator, Connections, Improved Block, Combat Reflexes, Improved Dodge, Harder to Kill, First Strike, Improved Nerves of Steel, Commando, Natural Leader, Charismatic, Filthy Rich, Sidekick
Gear: $100,000,000,000,000+.  Wide area of possible devices on utility belt
Super Powers: • Awareness (3)  • Fear (3) • Fearless (2)  (All other powers are Devices) • Armor (1): +3, Partial • Broadcast (3): • Interface (2): Code Breaker • Lair (5) Escape Pod, Research Lab, Secure Access  • Vehicle (3) AI, Secure Access

Robin III/Tim Drake Novice
Race: Human
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d8, Spirit d6, Strength d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Climbing d6, Fighting d6, Investigation d6, Knowledge (Computers) d18, Lockpicking d6, Notice d6,  Streetwise d6, Survival d6, Throwing d6, Tracking d6
Charisma: 5; Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5;
Hindrances:  Vow to NEVER take a life, Loyal, Enemy – The Joker
Edges: Arcane Background (Super Powers), Investigator, Dodge
Gear: Wide area of possible devices on utility belt
Super Powers: • (All powers are Devices) • Armor (1): +3, Partial • Broadcast (3): • Interface (2)