Traitor Game XIV: Legion...



Traitor Game XIV: Legion:  In This Game-- Batman DIES!!! is the full title for this game. It was hosted by Schornforce and in many ways was intended to be an homage to all the Traitor Games that had come before it.

The basic storyline of this complex Traitor Game had Batman kidnap various past Traitor Game participants in order to enact a questionable plan. Being Batman, he wasn't one to let the captives in on too many details. Murder soon abounded and a few prisoners were released once Batman had narrowed down the potential characters to three in the extracted group. He had also determined that a member of his own Legion, who had been assisting him in his plans was a traitor, seeking to undermine Batman's machinations. The assembled players were to also determine which Legion member was the culprit in question.

Throughout the game, Batman's sanity seemed highly suspect and references were made to a higher force at work. While the Batcave was the main locale for this game, a special cave used for battles was manipulated, most often by magic to resemble locales from past Traitor Games.

History


The storyline was inspired by the running gag that as far back as Traitor Game I, Batman had been killed in every Traitor Game. The only exceptions were Traitor Game IV and Traitor Game V. In previous games, there were a couple small segments acting as teasers leading up to this game. The first such teaser was in Traitor Game IX where Batman had returned to the Batcave after dying yet again and proceeded to input plans into the Batputer. Another teaser occurred in Traitor Game XII which had Bat-Mite break Iago out of the Vault. Bat-Mite also was shown as a prisoner earlier in that game, played by The Purple Skull in that instance.

This game also had teaser images which were used to hint at the upcoming Legion. One debuted at the end of Traitor Game XII and the other, at the end of the Awards Show.



The game was initially to tie into two other important pieces of Traitor Game history. The DVDs distributed by Darth Jubba the Sith Hutt were initially produced by the main antagonist of this game. Unfortunately, it may not have been mentioned due to the host's forgetfulness.

The other tie in involved the infamous portrayal of Jimmy Kudo in Traitor Games IV and V. The explanation that was to be used was that Conan (aka Jimmy) was purposefully acting as annoying as possible to ensure he would die. He willingly took the place of Batman in those games, but could not continue doing so since he would then be in danger of inheriting Batman's 'curse.' Unfortunately, this idea could not be used, as the player who had portrayed Jimmy Kudo/Conan Edogawa had returned for Traitor Game XIV and the host did not wish to upset the player unneccessarily.

In the end, Wesley Crusher took Conan/Jimmy's place and Jimmy/Conan was left a small cameo in Wesley's epilogue.

Interestingly, this game also had a sort of future continuity tie-in where Albus Dumbledore appears in his time/dimensional travels which he started at the end of Traitor Game XI and ended in Traitor Game XV. Dumbledore commented that he was seeking Severus Snape, implying he had arrived from around mid-Game XV when he left the Time Trapper's dimension to find his fallen friend.

Legion


Batman's Legion had seven members, each with a reason for being chosen.


 * Batman- The leader with the master plan


 * Anyanka- It seemed she was chosen due to Batman's cry for vengeance


 * Darth Vader- The Dark Lord of Sith was chosen since he could sense a mysterious presence when he'd killed Batman in Traitor Game VI


 * Jafar- His great magic power was an asset, but he seemed to be untrustworthy


 * Iago- Was chosen to help keep an eye on Jafar


 * Kenny McCormick- Had experienced multiple deaths, similarly to Batman and probably served as moral support


 * Bat-Mite- Undoubtedly the most powerful of the group and utterly devoted to Batman's whims

The Legion had a traitor in their midst in addition to the game traitors. This Legion Traitor was voted upon by the active players-- anyone could vote, regardless of whether the player had a role (traitor, agent, etc.) The Legion Traitor recruited the game's traitors also known as the League of Assassins and helped them out minimally.

The Legion seems haphazard, but made for a very interesting dynamic and seemed to further the appearance that Batman had become dangerously unbalanced due to his repeated deaths.

The Prisoners and other NPCs
It should be noted that this game, aside from the Awards Show, probably had the highest amount of NPCs-- most of whom were past Traitor Game characters who had returned. Some, in Batman's prison, others, for the final battle at the end.

Many of the prisoners, while not active in the actual game, had important roles to fulfill. The additional roles for this game were an Interrogator, an information guru, and a recapper.

The prisoners not established to be there from the beginning were later established to have been held prisoner by alternate universe Batmen who were working with the Batman hosting the game in his attempt to halt the Traitor Games. When Emperor Joker was revealed as the "Final Boss", the players & NPC prisoners were set free. Unfortunately, Joker called in a "ringer" in the form of Kefka--exiling most of the players & last minute NPCs to the "Fright Club" setting, where they fought killer clowns conjured by Kefka. These prisoners, including Rogue, Ms. Marvel, Hoss Delgado, the Hulk, Danielle Moonstar, and Anita Blake, found themselves in the setting of the game during the final battle, and helped defeat the secondary antagonists.

Numerous "favorites" from past games showed up to fight an army of famous killer clonws--including Pennywise & Violator. Old favorites such as the Hulk, Captain Universe, Rogue, and Ares fought Kefka, while others like Anita Blake, Ms. Marvel, Hoss Delgado, Rorschach fought the clowns. While Emperor Joker kept a small contingent led by Cologne busy, Emma Frost & Bat-Mite telepathically summoned help in the form of the Phoenix. Jean Grey returned to life in a special cameo to fight both Joker & Kefka, ultimately defeating Kefka with the help of Charon, Captain Universe, and Green Lantern.

In addition to the multitude of prisoners, there were battles in several rounds with avatars chosen by the various Legion members. These avatars were also characters from past Traitor Games, such as Bizarro, Eric Cartman, and Dark Willow.

However, it should be noted that the avatars were merely magical and/or computer generated illusions and the actual characters represented (with the exceptions of Batman and Willow) were not present in the Batcave.

Controversy
Despite the fun of the game, there were two main points of controversy in the gameplay.

The first involved an eliminated agent sharing information with a yet active agent and then proclaiming said information in the game thread to the remaining players. While some felt that was unfair, this had been done in earlier games. Further complicating this situation was the fact that the ousted Traitor player had an unresolved issue from the prior game. This trouble came hot on the heels of an incident from TG XIII, when the player had explicitly requested that nobody spoil an important detail concerning his character. Against his explicit wishes, another player completely ignored the request for the sake of getting the last word in an IC dispute.

The other incident involved a traitor utilizing their powers to bring in an NPC from outside the Batcave to act as a distraction in a kill. This was also seen as unfair. However, the players were not aware of this until the kill choice PMs were posted. Up until then, most of the players assumed the distraction was caused by Joe Acro's having Apocalypse cause a fuss (and it's possible that 'canonically' that is what actually happened).

These incidents brought about a frank discussion of the rules which have hopefully been clarified enough in order to ensure that these controversial incidents will not be repeated in any future games.

Character List (the PCs)



 * OverMaster - Belldandy (Oh My Goddess!)
 * hamboy - Alucard (Hellsing)
 * Joe Acro - Courage the Cowardly Dog w/ a twist! (Cartoon Network)
 * Masterbasset - Popeye and Bluto (King Features Syndicate)
 * Froggy - Rock Howard (King of Fighters)
 * Chris Lang - Cologne (Ranma 1/2)
 * Kevin M. - Grimlock (Transformers cartoon)
 * The Purple Skull - Dick Dastardly, Muttley, and TG Announcer (Wacky Races)
 * Tommy - Elphaba Thropp (Wicked)
 * GoGo Yubari - Kyon (The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi)
 * Superheroic - Hal Jordan (DCU)
 * Indigo Al - Dial 'A' for A.R.C.H.I.E. (Archie comics/Hero dial from DCU)
 * tangentman - Spider-Woman (Marvel)
 * darkkeeperjr - Luke Skywalker (Star Wars)
 * Donald M. - Sam & Max (Sam & Max Freelance Police)
 * Beast Boy Modified - Fearless Ferret (Kim Possible)
 * KamenRaida - Satouru Toujo/ Kamen Rider Tiger (Kamen Rider)
 * Jeremi - Zhang He (Three Kingdoms)
 * Cthulhudrew - Milkman Dan (Red Meat)
 * BYC - Gin Ichimaru (Bleach)
 * Deadpooligan - Rorschach (Watchmen)
 * DoctorDoom - Sylar (Heroes)
 * Crimson King - Megatron (Transformers: Beast Wars)
 * Eternal Torment - Scourge (Marvel)
 * Silver Knight - Lion Force Voltron (Voltron)
 * Knight Lancer - Robocop (Robocop)

Character List (Prominent NPCs)
Aside from the Legion, prominent NPCs included...


 * Schornforce - Alfred Pennyworth (Batman), Squirrel Girl (Great Lakes Avengers) (recap), Jessie, James, Meowth, Wobbuffet (Pokemon), Willow Rosenberg (Buffy)
 * tangentman - Emma Frost (Marvel) (Inquisitor), Tara Maclay (Buffy), Ms. Marvel (Avengers, self-titled comic), Anita Blake (novels), Captain Universe (Madea Simmons) (mash-up of Tyler Perry's character & Marvel's cosmic hero), Faith Lehane.
 * Chris Lang - Goombella (Paper Mario) (information guru), Ukyo Kuonji (Ranma 1/2), Kitty Pryde (variant Marvel),
 * Joe Acro - Dr. Strange (Marvel), Roy Lincoln (variant DC)
 * Deadpooligan - The Question (DC), Taskmaster (Marvel)
 * KamenRaida - Destwilder (Kamen Rider Ryuki)
 * Indigo Al - Raven (Teen Titans)
 * Chris Lang - Rogue (variant Marvel, doesn't show up until the endgame)
 * Overmaster- Evangeline McDowell, Konoka Konoe, Chisame Hasegawa (Mahou Sensei Negima), Ventriloquist/Scarface (Batman), Happosai (Ranma 1/2), Urd and Skuld (Oh My Goddess!)
 * hamboy- Jan and Luke Valentine (Hellsing)
 * Purple Skull- Vandal Savage (DC)