[Western Crossover] A Chaotic Citizen's Survival Guide to Gotham

[Returning to two updates per week before September.]

[If you're interested, check out my upcoming Western Crossover story, "[Western Crossover] Insectology Research Notes" (related to 084).]

Before You Read:

1. Tabletop roleplaying plus American comics, with a small amount of other Western film, TV, and fiction mixed in (borrowing their main settings).

2. Dice play a major role in determining character traits and the direction of the story. So don't be surprised by bizarre premises, since the most bizarre ones are usually the dice's doing.

3. This is not a rules-strict tabletop campaign. Any over-the-top stats are house rules or my own additions. They're all troublemakers anyway, so let's not nitpick this stuff!

Also known as "A Landmark-Hopping Guide to the Superhero Universe," "A Player Who Absolutely Doesn't Want to Play CoJ vs. Dice That Always Want to Go CoJ," and "How to Survive a World of Wildly Mixed Settings."

Evans, a folklorist with 40 Appearance, 90 Strength, 90 Intelligence, but only 40 Willpower, is an absolute menace of a player character. He unexpectedly arrives in Gotham, a city full of remarkable people, only to discover that he's in Arkham Asylum.

E: What's going on?

KP: Think about what you did during character creation just now.

Then Evans remembers that he rolled a critical failure on Luck and a critical success on Intelligence at the start, and promptly went temporarily insane right in front of Batman.

E: ...So what did I do?

KP: You charged over shouting, "Long live the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster!" and started preaching to him.

It doesn't take long for the KP to realize that he may already be the most wholesome character in the campaign.

As everyone knows, tabletop games usually have more than one player. Evans's campaign, the one he keeps running (and canceling), has four total weirdos, counting him.

Player One: Evans, a folklorist and party-wipe engine. A highly intuitive player who somehow survives his way into becoming a legendary investigator. Luck 90, but his actual luck is a mystery.

Player Two: Vincent, a human bear with 99 Size and 99 Strength. Nature's child, and a classic high-combat-power character who rarely gets to show it.

Player Three: Christine, well-versed in dramatic scenes from famous playwrights like Shakespeare and Ibsen, and a master fanfic writer.

Player Four: Simon, seemingly an ordinary hacker who works with machines, be like: Wait, you come from Cassandra?

KP: ...

KP: Ripping off the disguise.jpg

KP: Actually, I'm running CoJ! (innocent) Which of you do you want to be your cat? I want to watch a melodramatic love story! (rubbing hands together)

Everyone: ...?

KP: (secret roll) (nods with satisfaction) See? The Dice God agrees!

They soon stop worrying about that problem.

Because the world itself is developing in an equally bizarre way.

At some point, the world began to "fracture." Entire regions suddenly vanished on a physical level, and Gotham, where they were now, had become an island.

Luckily, they had a way to reach other places.

But...

E: KP, care to explain what you mean by:

The Joker, Owlman, and Batman splitting the city three ways?

Why are there vampires running amok in Bludhaven?

What do you mean Superman fell into Siberia?

Why does this Green Lantern have white hair?

KP: Everyone, it's time to save the world!

[The Keeper is now online.]

[Beginning the recording of the correct history.]

Term explanation: CoJ means Call of Japan. Traditional CoC focuses on deduction and investigation, while CoJ focuses on emotional stories. The "cats" are the romantic characters assigned to each player.

(But don't worry, I won't write romance, so everyone will end up as friends, haha.)

Reader Advisory:

1. Third-person narration. Evans, the main viewpoint character, really is a good person, but he's also a menace. () Note that his character sheet says he has facial burns and disfigurement, as well as blindness in one eye, so his Appearance is 40. In most scenes, he appears with his face covered. Without the disfigurement, his Appearance would be 85+.

2. No guarantees that the other players are good people.

3. There are some bizarre blood relations, but they're almost entirely the result of dice rolls.

4. Primarily Lovecraftian horror and DC, with lots of tabletop roleplaying elements and in-jokes (especially from famous actual-play transcripts). It's comedic, chaotic, and has a bit of everything. Basically, it's completely unhinged.

5. Contains plenty of wild speculation, ships, and crack pairings, but aside from explicitly canon couples (does DC even have those? ()), there are no actual romantic pairings.

6. There may also be some extremely nerve-wracking, stomach-churning, bizarre developments and fairly Lovecraftian descriptions. The author really can't help it: the dice rolls are so weird, and I can't find a way to make them work.

Coming soon: "[Western Crossover] Insectology Research Notes." Check it out if you're interested (~￣▽￣)~

Limbus Company x DC, a short story (under 100,000 words), starring Gregor.

Maybe a free story, purely out of love for bugs, teehee. ()

Gregor often felt like his life had already hit rock bottom.

But he never imagined it could get worse.

For instance, just now, he accidentally opened a door on the bus and fell into a gloomy city.

Well, maybe it wasn't all that bad. This place seemed a lot better than the City, at least.

And Dante would always find a way to pull him back.

But the first problem in front of him was this: how could he find work when his insect limbs were once again becoming difficult to control?

Batman discovers a new arrival in his city: a German man with insect limbs.

At first, he thinks the man is the product of some new experiment by an organization. Later, he realizes the situation may be more complicated than that.

Dante: Gregor, wait there. I'll come get you...

Content Warnings:

1. Third-person narration. The protagonist is Gregor, Sinner 084, based on The Metamorphosis. Contains insects, transformation, and psychological trauma. The author loves bugs and dark humor, and is also a Kafka fan. There may be characterization drawn from the original work, as well as references and alterations related to the author's other works. A lethal dose of apple jokes is on the way.

2. Based on the author's headcanon, Mirror technology can still be used to a certain extent in the story, meaning people can take on the identities of other selves (because I love a lot of the characters).

Blurb archived on 2025.6.23

Theme: May everyone be treated with kindness.