TEXT: MCU: Gotham
  A series kit for Primetime Adventures
  
  This document is a fan-created work for players of Matt Wilson’s Primetime Adventures. 
  The author is associated with neither the game nor Dog-eared Designs.
  All of this Batman-related stuff is owned by DC Entertainment.
  
  MCU: Gotham
  A series kit for Primetime Adventures
  They didn’t seem too interested in the dungeon crawl game I had brought to the monthly 
  game day. “…Or I have another game where you’re playing cops in Batman’s Gotham City,” 
  I continued. I instantly had a full table. We ran a session of the series that day, complete 
  with a large audience. Next month, some of the players wanted to continue the game, so 
  we did. A few players came and went, but we had a core crew that stuck with the game. By 
  the time we were done, we had completed two seasons of MCU: Gotham.
  PREMISE
  Inside the Gotham City Police Department, 
  there is a task force that deals with some of 
  the city’s worst cases. These are the stories of 
  the Major Crimes Unit.
  MCU: Gotham is a police procedural. While 
  the pursuit of justice for a crime can span 
  episodes, there is an overarching theme to 
  each season, and the character’s interac-
  tions drive most of the stories.
  THE THREE RULES OF  
  MCU: GOTHAM
  One: The Batman does not exist. Batman is 
  an urban legend, a story that criminals tell 
  their children to scare them to sleep. If a 
  civilian claims that Batman saved him, the 
  proper response would be “Sure, and then 
  he and Bigfoot jumped into their UFO and 
  lew off to meet up with the Jersey Devil, 
  right?” Batman does not exist.
  Two: It’s early in Batman’s career. There is 
  no Robin. There is no Bat-Signal on the roof 
  of GCPD. No Ace the Bat-Hound. Very few 
  people have even heard of him yet. Maybe 
  there’s a rumor in the criminal underworld 
  of someone hunting them down. Maybe 
  some street people tell stories of a monster 
  that flies between rooftops. If we see 
  Batman in the show at all, it’s a shadow in 
  the background that moves. While we’re in 
  Gotham and focusing on the cops, we prob-
  ably won’t hear anything about Superman, 
  Wonder Woman, or the Flash.
  Three: There are criminals and then there 
  are Criminals. Freaks get names like The 
  Zodiac Killer. The Unabomber. The Mad 
  Hatter. The Riddler. Mister Freeze. But 
  they’re just criminals with fancy gadgets 
  and dementia, nothing more.
  In addition to the regular 
  line of Batman comics 
  DC has put out over the 
  years, MCU: Gotham is 
  heavily based off of Gotham 
  Central (DC), Powers (Oni), 
  and the movies No Way Out 
  and L.A. Confidential. 
  THE MAJOR CRIMES UNIT
  Here’s how the MCU was structured in the 
  original series with DC regulars in inter-
  esting positions. Your MCU could be com-
  pletely different. 
  The MCU is headed by Lieutenant Jim 
  Gordon, new to the unit. Gordon refused 
  to testify against his former partner, Harvey 
  Bullock, a dirty cop through and through. 
  Harvey Dent, current Head of Internal Affairs, 
  thinks that Gordon is dirty as Bullock. Dent 
  is pressured by the city’s mayor, Oswald 
  Cobblepot, to bring down Gordon. (In the 
  pilot episode, we had Maggie Sawyer in 
  charge of the MCU, but we all wanted Jim 
  Gordon there.)
  
  THE CAST
  This isn’t the actual cast that played in the original series, but something close. Six different 
  cast members you can choose from to get your series started, plus four more concepts for 
  you to flesh out. 
  SARAH ESSEN,  
  DETECTIVE
  Detective Sarah Essen transferred from 
  Homicide well over a month before Jim 
  Gordon was picked to head up MCU, which 
  means that now she’s working directly for 
  the man she’s sleeping with on the down 
  low. As far as she knows, nobody in the 
  MCU knows about the affair. She’s a capable 
  detective, possibly the smartest officer in 
  the room. Her issue deals with her status in 
  the unit. Sarah is the first female detective 
  in the boys-only detective club. Her gender, 
  intelligence, and drive are seen as an attack 
  on the established order.
  Is Jim Gordon still married? 
  Which co-worker really has it 
  out for you?
  Concept: The only female detective in  
  the MCU.
  Issue: Self-Worth
  Impulse: Sarah often takes more risks than 
  neccessary to show that she’s just as 
  good as the others. 
  Edge: “All that and brains, too.”
  Edge: Former Homicide Detective
  Connection: Jim Gordon
  Personal Set: Her small walk-up apartment
  Spotlight Episode: in mid-season after a 
  screen presence 2 episode  
  ELLORY “HURRICANE” HAMILL, 
  DETECTIVE
  This new guy, Gordon, doesn’t appreciate 
  how things are supposed to be done. Some-
  times perps “resist arrest” or “slip and fall” 
  or “he came at me with a knife”. He’s used 
  to working the streets with his fists. Some-
  times he thinks that’s all he’s good at. His 
  wife of five years and three-year old child 
  are the two calm spots in his life. Ellory’s 
  issue manifests in his temper: small things 
  tend to set him off, but he would never hurt 
  his family.
  What caused you to be filled 
  with such rage? What calms 
  you down?
  Concept: Leftover brute from the previous 
  administration; husband.
  Issue: Wrath.
  Impulse: Ellory is prone to angry outbursts 
  and can be downright scary, even to 
  those who know him well.
  Edge: Family Man
  Edge: “Sometimes the blood just doesn’t 
  come out.”
  Connection: “Matches” Malone, criminal 
  informant
  Personal Set: The men’s room on the third 
  floor of HQ with the chipped tiles on 
  the wall and the broken mirror over the 
  filthy ceramic sink
  Spotlight Episode: in late season. If 
  possible, just before Natasha Hamill’s if 
  she is a protagonist
  
  LIAM MCTAVISH,  
  DETECTIVE
  Everyone is dirty, it’s just a matter of how 
  much. Liam has been well compensated 
  for doing all the things you’re supposed to 
  like letting some rules slide here, turning 
  a blind eye there. That’s just how Gotham 
  is, you know? Family life—his actual family, 
  mind you—hasn’t been so good. His wife 
  moved out and, well, there hasn’t been any 
  paperwork filed. Yet. Maybe there is time 
  to change things. His issue as a dirty cop is 
  forefront. He’s trying to get out, but it won’t 
  be easy.
  Which mafia family are 
  you working for? Can you 
  reconcile with your wife? Can 
  you trust her?
  Concept: Cop on the take trying to get out.
  Issue: Divided Loyalties
  Impulse: Liam can be paranoid, and with 
  good reason. He’s keeping secrets and 
  it’s showing.
  Edge: Did a stint in Afghanistan
  Connection: Harvey Bullock, all around 
  good guy who’s got your back no matter 
  what, winds up getting kicked from the 
  GCPD on some trumped up B.S. charge. 
  Can you believe that?
  Connection: Family connections
  Nemesis: Harvey Dent, the two-faced s.o.b. 
  that heads up Internal Affairs
  Personal Set: A photo of his estranged wife
  Spotlight Episode: in early season
  NATASHA HAMILL, 
  FORENSIC TECHNICIAN
  The lead tech in GCPD’s forensics depart-
  ment, Natasha has been with the GCPD for 
  seven years and married for the last five. 
  Nearly two years ago, she was kidnapped 
  by someone the MCU was tracking down; 
  after rescue, Natasha turned to using drugs 
  to cope with the stress. Her issue deals with 
  that dark temptation: She has been clean 
  for exactly six months at the start of the 
  series, but the anniversary of the kidnap-
  ping is coming up.
  Which capital-C Criminal 
  kidnapped you? Is he or she 
  locked up or still on the loose? 
  How did your husband find 
  out about the drug use?
  Concept: Crime Scene Unit Forensic 
  Technician; wife.
  Issue: Temptation—drugs
  Impulse: Natasha can be overly-controlling, 
  trying to keep her life in a regimented 
  order.
  Edge: Six Months Sober
  Edge: Science!
  Connection: Amelia Weston, childhood 
  friend and sponsor
  Nemesis: That capital-C Criminal
  Personal Set: Sobriety Pin
  Spotlight Episode: in late season. If 
  possible, just after Ellory Hamill’s if he is 
  a protagonist
  
  KAT O’DONNELL,  
  ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY
  From the well-to-do slice of society, Kat 
  has her eye set on the Governorship. With 
  a large social circle (including old college 
  friend Bruce Wayne), Kat is confident in her 
  chances with attaining her goal. Currently 
  working from the DA’s office, she’s already 
  on her way to the top. Her issue manifests 
  in what steps she will take to get there. 
  Where is your ex in all this? 
  What is your next step in the 
  grand plan: the DA’s office or 
  straight to the Mayor’s office?
  Concept: Divorcee with political ambitions
  Issue: Temptation—power
  Impulse: Kat can be manipulative and 
  dishonest. Her over-confidence can 
  cause her to veer into recklessness.  
  Edge: Assistant District Attorney
  Edge: Knows the right people
  Connection: Bruce Wayne, philanthropist
  Personal Set: Her smartphone 
  Spotlight Episode: early or mid-season
  LIam, Natasha, and Kat all 
  have personal sets that aren’t 
  actual places. Instead of a 
  location, consider using an 
  object that signifies a scene 
  has something to do with 
  the protagonist.
  BRYCE ROSSLAND, 
  EMBEDDED REPORTER
  Bryce Rossland is possibly best known for 
  his four books covering his journalism expe-
  riences around the world. As part of Mayor 
  Cobblepot’s recent reforms of the GCPD, 
  Bryce reports from the front lines of law 
  enforcement in a weekly column, which will 
  sure to be book number five (and hopefully 
  a mini-series). He begins the ride-along just 
  before or just as the series begins. His issue 
  deals with the public perception: he wants 
  to be known as successful and competent. 
  Everything doesn’t have to be about him, 
  but Bryce knows the real story isn’t Gotham, 
  its Bryce’s experience in Gotham.
  How well do you know 
  Gotham, really? What would 
  you do to get the real story?
  Concept: Veteran Reporter here as a 
  publicity stunt
  Issue: Pride
  Impulse: Bryce can be a gloryhound, 
  diminishing the efforts of others.
  Edge: “I’ve reported from Afghanistan and 
  Iraq. Gotham’s a cakewalk.”
  Edge: Ride-along
  Connection: Victoria Vale, reporter for the 
  Gotham Tribune
  Personal Set: 30, a newshound’s bar near 
  the Tribune
  Spotlight Episode: early to mid-season
  
  JULIANA CHRISTINOPOLI, 
  FBI LIAISON
  With Gotham City on the state line, the 
  MCU has to coordinate with the FBI when-
  ever dealing with crime that could cross the 
  river. Agent Christinopoli has held this posi-
  tion for almost two years. 
  DAVID MOORE,  
  DETECTIVE
  Freshly transferred from Metropolis. Gosh, 
  does it ever stop raining here?
  THOMAS DIDYMUS, 
  INTERNAL AFFAIRS
  Thomas works directly under Harvey Dent, 
  helping to clean house in the “newer, more 
  gentler” GCPD. 
  STACY BLACK, GCPD LIAISON 
  TO THE MAYOR’S OFFICE
  She works for Hizzoner Mister Mayor Cob-
  blepot. The money is good, the working 
  conditions aren’t, and she knows she was 
  hired more for her looks than anything else.
  GETTING STARTED
  There are detectives in your cast or the 
  reporter is in your cast: Put one or two in 
  an unmarked police car with the embed-
  ded reporter in the back seat (even if Bryce 
  Rossland isn’t a protagonist). It’s Bryce’s 
  first day as a ride-along and everything is 
  being recorded. Allow for a line or two of 
  banter as the players find their characters. 
  Suddenly, an explosion from the storefronts 
  ahead! Dark greenish clouds of gas pour out 
  of the building as a van pulls up and masked 
  gunmen rush out, heading into the smoke! 
  There are no detectives in your cast: Well, 
  that’s odd, but okay. Two members of 
  the cast most likely to be going to coffee 
  together or coming back from an off-site 
  meeting together are walking by One Police 
  Plaza, back to the HQ. Allow for a line or two 
  of banter as the player find their characters. 
  Up on the steps, the police commissioner is 
  giving an impromptu news conference to a 
  gaggle of reporters. Suddenly, gunshots are 
  heard! A van pulls up and masked gunmen 
  rush out, firing at the commissioner and 
  uniformed police officers! 
  For either scenario, possible conflicts could 
  include looking competent (yourself or the 
  GCPD) in front of the reporters, the overall 
  impression of the GCPD in the public (i.e., 
  “If I fail, it looks I used excessive force to take 
  these guys down.”), your protagonist’s rela-
  tionship with the GCPD.
  KEEP GOING
  Stuck for a scene? With Primetime Adven-
  tures’ emphasis on creating interesting 
  characters, just putting those protagonists 
  next to each other should provide fodder 
  for the next scene. 
  MCU: Gotham at heart is a police proce-
  dural: Move detectives to a crime scene. 
  Have the Forensic Technician discover 
  something important in the evidence. 
  Have the people that report to the DA, 
  Internal Affairs, FBI Chief, or the Mayor 
  be called in and get yelled at because 
  progress hasn’t been made on their  
  boss’ agendas. 
  But life isn’t all about the actual investiga-
  tion: It’s the end of shift and some of the 
  cast are heading out to drink the day away. 
  There is a secret rendezvous in the evi-
  dence room. Someone shows up and needs 
  help. Someone shows up to collect a debt. 
  Someone shows up to send a message. 
  Someone stole our undercover car. Sexist 
  remarks in the locker room. Showing off 
  at the target range. Called in to go over  
  your testimony. 
  If all else fails, ask yourself which two char-
  acters would most hate to be stuck in an ele-
  vator with each other. You know what to do.
  
  CRIMINALS
  Adapting Criminals from the Batman lore to MCU: Gotham is surprisingly easy for the 
  majority of Batman’s villains. Most of Batman’s Rogues Gallery is full of normal people with 
  twists. The Riddler is just this guy. The Joker is just this guy. Killer Moth is just this guy in a 
  stupid suit. Here is a look at some of the more colorful people from the Batman comics for 
  your own MCU: Gotham game.
  THE PENGUIN
  Oswald Cobblepot is a short, obese, toad 
  of a man from a family of old money. His 
  connections with the criminal underworld 
  didn’t stop him from becoming Gotham’s 
  mayor. Now, he uses his position to avenge 
  slights against him and settle old grudges, 
  but he’s clever, always keeping his hands 
  clean. He doesn’t see himself as Mayor of 
  Gotham. He sees himself as king.
  CLAYFACE
  That cosmetics company that horribly 
  scarred Mark Hagan was run by one of 
  Gotham’s many mafia families and now 
  Clayface is out for revenge. In order to alle-
  viate the constant pain from the “accident”, 
  he coats his body with a special type of cos-
  metic mud, which just turns out to be toxic. 
  CALENDAR MAN
  A serial killer that tied deaths to holidays 
  (but not always on holidays), forcing the 
  victims to ingest a lethal dose of poison. 
  Victims included a woman with the last 
  name of Nieujahr, found with confetti in her 
  stomach for New Years Day; three members 
  of the King family, for Three Kings Day; and 
  so on.  
  KILLER CROC
  Jordan “Killer” Croc is a wrestler in an under-
  ground fight club. He’s a huge guy with a skin 
  condition that makes him shed dead layers 
  of skin off, as if he’s constantly sunburned. 
  His teeth are filed to points (although that’s 
  really a prosthesis). “The win-nar and still 
  champ-y-ohn… KILLLLLLLLLLLLLER CROC!” 
  He has anger management issues. (Killer 
  Croc is played by Brock Lesnar.)
  DEADSHOT
  All members of the GCPD’s SWAT unit have 
  nicknames. Floyd Lawton’s is “Deadshot”. 
  He pulls in side jobs that aren’t exactly legal, 
  like murder-for-hire. With his knowledge 
  of police procedures and close quarters 
  combat, Deadshot is a deadly foe. 
  THE JOKER
  You really don’t need to change the Joker 
  at all. He would completely fit within a  
  Batman-less Gotham. 
  CATWOMAN
  You don’t need to change Selina Kyle, either. 
  She’s a world-class cat burglar that works 
  for herself.
  TWO-FACE
  During the first season, we keep Harvey Dent 
  as Harvey Dent, head of Internal Affairs. A 
  duplicitous and smug s.o.b., he is convinced 
  that Jim Gordon is a dirty cop and is egged 
  on by the mayor’s office to remove the only 
  good cop from the GCPD. After the accident 
  that creates Two-Face, he wouldn’t need 
  many changes from traditional Batman lore.
  POISON IVY
  Similar to Calendar Man, Pamela Isley is a 
  poisoner. Take away the magical man-eating 
  plants and focus on the plant-based poisons 
  and ecowarrior ethos. She is an Earth-first 
  fanatic and willing to destroy anyone that 
  harms the living earth. The city is a blight, 
  an affront to nature. Eventually she will 
  work her way up to ridding the world of 
  the cesspit that is Gotham. She is secretly 
  backed by Ra’s Al Ghul. 
  
  THE RIDDLER
  Edward Nigma is the smartest man alive 
  and he’s going to prove it. Having already 
  stolen a fortune via wire fraud, he’s still in 
  town because they haven’t recognized his 
  genius. While any incarnation of The Riddler 
  would work well in an MCU: Gotham game, 
  I am particularly fond of the mastermind 
  of deadly traps from the Arkham series of 
  video games.
  RA’S AL GHUL
  Ra’s al Ghul is an eco-terrorist fanatic, but 
  not as direct as Poison Ivy. Where she takes 
  drastict, direct action, Ra’s plays the long 
  game. If we include both her and Ra’s in the 
  show, Ivy is a pawn in Ra’s greater goal: to 
  destroy Gotham to return the world to a 
  perfect environmental utopia. He heads a 
  group of killers—The League of Assassins—
  and charges them to affect change one 
  body at a time.
  FIREBUG
  An arsonist-for-hire working for one of 
  Gotham’s many criminal families. You won’t 
  need much to change him to fit into MCU: 
  Gotham—just as the name and suit have 
  traded hands many times in the Batman 
  comic books, you could give the suit to just 
  about anyone. 
  THE ROYAL FLUSH GANG
  The five members of the Hoyle criminal 
  family uses cards as codenames during 
  their heists: armed car robberies, bank 
  thefts, and other low-level “that’s where 
  the money is” crime. The King and Queen 
  of Diamonds are husband and wife; Jack 
  and Ace of Diamonds are their sons; Ten 
  of Diamonds is Jack’s wife. They wear cus-
  tom-painted hockey goalie masks that 
  feature their playing card.
  Optional Rule: If a Royal Flush Gang mem-
  ber’s card is revealed to resolve a crisis, that 
  card counts for the Producer. The Royal 
  Flush gang cheats at cards.
  THE HUNTRESS
  Another person we don’t need to change 
  much: Helena Bertinelli seeks revenge on 
  the mafia families that ordered her parents’ 
  murder over a decade ago. With her in the 
  show, we have to ask if the criminal scum of 
  Gotham deserve the protection of the law, 
  just like civilians?
  HARLEY QUINN
  Iris Harleen Quinzel, MD, is a respected psy-
  chiatrist at Arkham Asylum. She implants 
  post-hypnotic suggestions in her patients to 
  commit crimes in order to impress the one 
  inmate she is utterly infatuated with…
  words and stuff
  Thomas Deeny
  special thanks to
  primetime adventures
  Matt Wilson
  mcu: gotham players
  Kevin Hayward
  Matt Hydeman
  Joel Minturn
  Kat Minturn
  and all who joined 
  for a session or two
  visit
  denaghdesign.com
  follow
  @denaghdesign
  plus
  +ThomasDeeny
  creative commons info
  attribution-noncommercial- 
  sharealike 4.0 international 
  CC BY-NC-SA
  
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