The Batman Writer's Guide: A Useful Tool for GMs

I stumbled upon the Batman Writer's Guide after seeing it on Berin Kinsman's Uncle Bear Blog, and having been a fan of the show, I figured it might be interesting to read through the document. Wow, I am glad I did. This document, called a "writer's bible" by the authors, has amazing insight into what the people behind the series wanted and demanded of the writers of the show. While it is over a hundred pages long, it is a quick read due to the numerous pieces of artwork from the show, the heavy formatting that keeps each page to a few paragraphs, and nearly the entire second half is all art from the series, which creates an excellent visual reference for the series and really captures the feel.

Now, you may ask why I thought this would be good for our blog. I initially had second thoughts as well. Following my read through, it suddenly came to me that this is the sort of "guidebook," or bible, a GM should have. Most of us probably do something similar for our campaigns, but this document lays it out clearly and cleverly in a way that I feel many GMs could really learn from and would certainly make our games better. Here are a few highlights:

• The short passage early on about the structure of each episode alone is well worth the read, and it showcases how many of our own games could be improved to increase player enthusiasm for campaigns. The small details on pacing, and the use of cliffhangers should help remind GMs about keeping player involvement and interest at a maximum.
• The cast overviews are excellent, and I fully believe a player could run these characters using just the data provided in these short write-ups. Each character is detailed to express their motivations, connection to Batman, and really their purpose for actually being on the show (if only all of our NPCs were this well written up). I think this is probably one of the best things about this document. It stresses the keys that make up each character and does not dwell on stats as so many GMs will do when creating characters.
• The main villain write-ups are excellent examples for all of us to follow. They are detailed enough that you know who they are, why they do what they do, and what they want to accomplish. These should be the model for our villains that we try to emulate in our games. Your players will appreciate strong and well thought out villains like these.
• The short list of quick episode synopses is a great way to prepare your campaign. They are not connected from episode to episode here, but in your own campaign you should connect them. Doing a plan like this for your campaign would help provide focus and drive to the campaign and the short synopses here are just enough to work for a GM.