Hey, /co/, /tg/ here.
I hate using real locations in my World of Darkness games and I stumbled on a map of Gotham. I was half asleep at the time, but it sounded like a good idea to set my Werewolf: the Forsaken game in Gotham City without Batman. I'll probably have Bruce Wayne and Wayne Enterprises, but if he actually shows up, it's most likely to be closer to the Daredevil Netflix series.
I know a bit about Gotham, and I can think of a lot of really good ideas to use (Crocodile man in the sewers, spooky history, Court of Owls, clown themed gang), but I'm far from a comic book reader. What are some good facts about Gotham that I could use as plot hooks in a game about spirit hunting Werewolves?
What is the city itself like, outside of the hustle and bustle of Crime Alley and Arkham and the business district? Is there a Wiki with information about locations? I found one, but it wasn't very detailed.
>>78200582
Anyone have a more readable version of that map?
I've got this too big to post version from the Nolan movies. http://vgy.me/H1c5kd.png
Bump?
There was a group of demons exiled from Hell and sealed under Arkham Asylum.
You could probably talk about the earthquake (See Batman: Cataclysm and No Man's Land). Another neighborhood, The Cauldron, is basically controlled by the Irish mob but I'm not sure where exactly it is on the map.
>>78201488
Oh shit, that actually works really well with Werewolf 2e.
There are Formless monster Spirits called Idigam, who were trapped on the moon, and came back with the moon landing. Maybe one was trapped under Arkham.
Or an Angel of the God-Machine, which is like a Demon.
Or, like, one of the twelve different types of Demon, but that's boring.
>>78201561
I might have an Earthquake be a major shake up in some plotline, and then have the characters help things recover from it. Although I have no idea how I'd deal with handling the aftermath of a huge catastrophe.
>>78201627
Maybe have it already be set after the earthquake. Do the whole "awoke something under the surface" angle. Or that the state of Gotham after the quake left it open to supernatural predators, and they never left.
>>78200582
Occultism and worship of Crime seems prevalent among high society in Gotham, that should help.
Secret societies, masks, the main one's called The Court of Owls, they're pretty much in control of the city's government/workings.
Oh, you also got a small precinct of cops who investigate supernatural affairs off the books, they also happen to have a man imbued with God's Vengeance working among them.
>>78200582
East End is Catwoman's territory.
Penguin usually owns the docks.
Croc runs the sewers.
Dr. Phosphorus lives deep under Gotham
Joker is likely to hideout in an abandoned toy factory
There's an issue that has Black Mask laying out a map of the city and who owns what, who hides out where, etc. but I can't recall which issue it was exactly. I want to say it was maybe from War Games? Not sure, but it's something to check out.
>>78200756
There used to be a high resolution version but I can't find it anymore, maybe later I'll check my copy of No Man's Land and see if I can't scan that.
Anyway let me try to describe some parts of Gotham. There's the Dixon Docks and shipping district that used to be primarily mob run, as it was owned by the Falcone family, but now Black Mask and the Japanese gang run stuff there.
There's Amusement Mile which is just a big amusement park that is usually abandoned and controlled by the Joker's gang, and near there there's the industrial district which includes the Ace Chemicals refinery where the Joker was "born" and several other steel plants.
Off the coast is Blackgate Isle where the prison is, it's usually depicted as being pretty highly secure.
On the other side there's the Bowery where Crime Alley is, this is the place with all the low-level scum. Penguin usually controls this but it's not an important neighborhood.
To the north is Park Row, where the courthouse is and some older architecture is.
There's an area called East End that is really crime ridden but home to good people and small businesses.
To the south across the Sprang Bridge you have the center of the city including Robinson Park (basically Central Park), Grand Avenue (Broadway), Gotham Square (Times Square) and Gotham Village (Greenwich Village), also the Iceburg Lounge where the Penguin is headquartered. These areas are fought over by Penguin and Black Mask. South of that is Diamond District with lots of good looking newer towers including Wayne Tower. Further South we have Chinatown and Old Gotham with lots of Chinese and Gothic architecture respectively. Old Gotham is where the academies, the police headquarters, and the clocktower where Oracle is based are.
South is Burnside which is an old district that's being taken over by college students. Also the Cauldron, once the Irish mob's territory but now Two-Face's.
cont
>>78200582
DC multiverse says this is totally a thing already. so don't feel bad about it at all.
Might want to incorporate some of the actual Canon DC versions of this.
I,Vampire. Gotham overrun by vampires.
Gotham by gaslight. Victorian gotham, no actual supernatural iirc.
Nightmare Gotham.
http://infinitecrisis.wikia.com/wiki/Nightmare_Universe
Earth-1191. bats is a vampire.
Earth-43 post 52.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_%26_Dracula_trilogy#Earth-43
Gods and monsters has batman as a manbat/vampire.
Batman is a vampire, or manbat in a number of alt earths really.
>>78202026
>DC multiverse says this is totally a thing already. so don't feel bad about it at all.
What is?
>>78201923
Somewhere South is Robbinsville which is very old and Italian. Mob run but peaceful since nobody really cares.
South across the Robert Kane Memorial Bridge is Archie Goodwin International Airport, and West of that is Miller Harbor, the middle of which contains the Statue of Justice, and West of that is a small island called Tricorner based on Sandy Hook.
To the west across the Westward River is the mainland of Kane County where Slaughter Swamp is, full of spooky shit like Solomon Grundy. Go way, way North to the hills and Gotham Heights where Wayne Manor and the Miagani caves and cape are. The caves are where the Batcave is and go all over the city and connect to the sewers.
West of the Heights is Arkham Asylum situated in the hills.
Now keep in mind that all these places are depicted wildly differently and in different locations by different writers so the closest thing to canon is the No Man's Land map.
Oh, and many times Gotham has been depicted as being across a bay from Metropolis, with the Statue of Justice sometimes in the middle.
>>78200582
I thought it was pretty cool that Lego Batman 2 tried to stay consistent with official maps like these.
>>78202500
I didn't even notice that till the very end of the game. It's kind of a shame that Batman 3 lacked that level of detail, it seems the Batman 2 team did LEGO Marvel instead. Dat X-Mansion, man.
"Gotham" has been a nickname for New York forever. Imagine New York at the peak of the '70s-80s crime wave.
