Yesterday was Batman Day, a day I am reliably informed, that is celebrated around the world. To coincide with the World's Greatest Detective's 81st birthday Monolith Edition announced that they are working on a Roleplaying Game of Batman Gotham City Chronicles.

Batman Gotham City Chronicles // Monolith Edition

So far Monolith Edition has only thrown us some teasers to whet our appetites but this is what we do know. You can play as the city's well-known vigilantes and criminals, but also your own creations, or face the tough calls and grind as a Gotham City Police Department officer, who have much to be pitied for in a city like Gotham City.

Gotham City, Playground to the Rich & Batlike

The game will be coming to Kickstarter and split across multiple books, five are so far listed and Monolith Edition have detailed them as

- Gotham's Heroes by François Verstraete - A fully adapted D20 System Rulebook
- Gotham City Guide by Xavier Fournier and Alex Nikolavitch, helped by François Hercouët, editor for the French publisher of DC Comics. A mighty reference tome, detailed and exhaustive, an insight into the City and the world of the Bat.
- Gotham's Chronicles by Nicolas Texier, Olivier Caïra and Mahyar Shakeri - A book of scenarios to test your resolve.
- And, in order to provide the broadest roleplay experience possible, the remaining 2 books will be Campaign settings revealed during the Kickstarter campaign.

I'm not sure what size the books are going to be, while I'm a fan of source material for RPGs, in general, I can't help but feel that the scenarios could have been folded into the rulebook at the very least. Having a GM book with all of that content means that players could pick up to City Guide to get a feel for the world as envisioned in the comic books if they are only aware of it from modern visual media. Additional campaign settings are always handy and I'm glad they're planning on two right off the bat. I wonder if they are planned around comic storylines like the Knightfall series or are they planning new stories of their own devising.

Ahead of the Curve

Stunning sketches aside information is light, apparently, you can use miniatures from the Gotham City Chronicles to play your RPG with, it's safe to say most people know my feelings on miniatures in RPGs and how wrong it is. Its early days, super early, and so I'll hold fire until we hear more from Monolith about the RPG and how it will work, Gotham is a fascinating backdrop and more so than other DC cities, it has a real character and feel that is entirely its own. Whether or not it succeeds we'll see down the line.

"If I Weren't Insane: I Couldn't Be So Brilliant!” - Joker