Good RPG for Batman-style Adventures?

[Conners]

A thought occurred to me: Is there a system that does well for emulating Batman-like characters? Not the one who hangs out with the Justice league and blows up giant robots, but the one who beats thugs with his fists and cunning on the streets of Gotham.

Basically, an RPG with an emphasis on deadly guns, knives, and lead pipes. Gadgets would certainly play a part (even if they aren't as awesome as Batman's), but largely it would need a low-powered feel, where you are just a man/woman (even if a very dangerous one).


So, have any ideas? I'd love to see a campaign about Batman wannabes. I guess you could edit an existing system, but what might the closest thing be?

[Ravens_cry]

Mutants and Masterminds works on a variety of power levels I am told, including the Nolanverse style Batman you seem to be going for.

[Conners]

Partially, I was wondering about a system with indepth stealth mechanics.

[Ravens_cry]

Partially, I was wondering about a system with indepth stealth mechanics.
Unfortunately, I do not know of any to be honest, at least any that are more in-depth than d20. Shadowrun might, it seems like the kind of game that would, but then it might not.

[Man on Fire]

Savage Worlds, Batman is pretty pulpish character and SW is system to emulate pulp adventures.

[Jay R]

Stealth can be modeled very well in Champions. My Robin character had stealth as Invisibility, with the Limitations "Cannot Turn On When Somebody is Watching" (-1/2), and "Not When Directly In Front of Somebody" (-1/2), and "Requires a Skill Roll (Acrobatics)" (-1/2). In practice, this is the ability to leap into the shadows when not being watched, and stay hidden.

Almost all extremely powerful skills are best modeled as powers with limitations. I also modeled his ability to leap onto or off of moving cars safely as a short-distance Teleportation with the Limitations "Must Pass Through Intervening Space" and "Requires a Skill Roll", with the adder for relative velocity.

Many people don't like Champions, because it requires simple arithmetic (adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing). If you can do this easily, or can program in Excel, it's a very flexible system.

I love the system, but usually wind up doing character sheets for a couple of players who don't want to mess with the arithmetic.

[oxybe]

if you want the official Batman RPG experience, you can look up:

http://www.superherorpgs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/batman-rpg-201x300.jpg

from mayfair games. it uses the DC heroes system.

it's a neat little booklet, if anything else.

[Friv]

I could see several ways of doing it out of games that I own:

1) Mutants and Masterminds can handle a street-level feel very well, but it's always going to skew more towards Silver Age Batman than Frank Millar's Batman. Damage just isn't lethal as a rule, and die variability lets average people sometimes land blows on tanks.

2) Savage Worlds does pulp pretty well, and I've enjoyed it when I played it. Stealth is still fairly straightforwards.

3) New World of Darkness, especially its Mirrors and Hunter lines, has good action hero stuff that you can do, and handles fights that feel brutal while actually being fairly forgiving. Also, simple mechanics.

4) Fate can do it, and the Aspect system would give you some nicely narrative stealth systems and in-depth mechanics, since its Combat system can be adapted into damn near anything.

[rkarnes]

Feng Shui (http://www.amazon.com/Feng-Shui-Action-Movie-Roleplaying/dp/1887801766) would work pretty well. Reskinning and reworking the game is easy.

[Conners]

Which game has a good model for fear? Batman is known to terrify criminals.

[Jay R]

Which game has a good model for fear? Batman is known to terrify criminals.

The Presence attack in Champions is exactly what you want.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Spirit of the Century (http://bzr.mausdompteur.de/fate3/fate3.html) is pretty good, just adjust it for more advanced technology if you're going for modern day stuff (which isn't very hard; FATE is narrativist, not simulationist), subtract Fate points, reduce the pyramid size (top level becomes unavailable, only one skill of the second level, two of the third, etc.), or reduce the number of free stunts/add to the cost to buy new stunts if you want to make characters a little weaker. Also, ignore the mini-novel style of background if you want, I never really liked it anyway.

[Knaight]

Hack Chronica Feudalis. Currently, it's about characters in medieval Europe with an optional fantasy tinge (and even then, only barely). However, it can be re skinned really easily. It has an in depth stealth system that is every bit as deep as the combat system, and you get in depth social and chase systems as well. It handles tool use well, including the sort of "tools" that show up in stealth, social situations, and chases. There is no penny counting, which is a useful genre representation, but the way it handles wealth does make it difficult to access expensive things, which means that you'll probably be seeing a lot of lead pipes, knives, cheap guns, and similar. On top of all this, it has a three tiered NPC importance system, handling everything from mooks to major antagonists, and doing so elegantly. This hack gets everything, and it is an easy hack.

[Dsurion]

There's Kensen's Rogue: Clandestine Operations (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=224297) for a more rules-lite, fantasy-style game. It's pretty easy to hack to suit your needs.

[TheOOB]

I played a flamboyant pink befeathered Montaingne(French) masked vigilante hero in 7th Sea once if that counts. He was basically French batman.

[Jack of Spades]

Refluffed Hunters: The Vigil (NWoD) would work decently. It's built for the modern world, which is nice, and has all of the bullet points you've listed. Other than that, I'm sure d20 modern could be fluffed for Batman, but I've never messed with the system personally. Mutants and Masterminds is *made* for super heroes, so there's that. I can't think of any RPG's that have fancy rules for stealth-- "roll concealment" "roll perception" seems to be the norm almost across the board. Fear tends to be the same, although there are exceptions: the Fear system in Deathwatch is kind of nifty, and Werewolf: The Forsaken has a fear-a-like system called lunacy (not sure if it has analogues in the other books) that is pretty solid.

Unfortunately, I can't think of any systems that would work particularly well on the "World's Greatest Detective" front, other than possibly refluffed InSpectres, but that's more of a one-off game as it gives players a bit too much agency for a GM to run a pre-planned campaign off of.

[neonchameleon]

You're basically looking for narrativist pulp I think. Which means that the leading candidates are probably Spirit of the Century (http://bzr.mausdompteur.de/fate3/fate3.html)/Magicless Dresden Files (http://www.dresdenfilesrpg.com/)* and Savage Worlds. With something like a high combat version of Leverage (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/85727/Leverage-Roleplaying-Game) being an interesting option if you want to play up the Matches Malone, Batfamily, and World's Greatest Detective aspects (I believe that Marvel Superheroes is also on the Cortex engine).

* Same basic system. Dresden Files is probably the better written.

[Conners]

On the high-end, I'd like a roleplaying version of Arkham Asylum, more-or-less (but closer to the Cartoon and the movies, in some ways).

Thank you for all your suggestions. Will try some of those out.