Punisher in Gotham - Ep 3 - Who still lurks in the shadows? (World building episode)
Welcome back, folks.
This episode of Evil Dungeon Master Solo Quest took a different turn. No bullets fired, no fists flying. Instead, we pulled out the GameMaster’s Apprentice cards and cracked open the streets of Gotham to ask a few big questions. No, the big questions.
Where is everyone?
See, when you're doing a solo RPG, especially one like my Punisher in Gotham arc, you’ve got to build the world around your character. And when that world is Gotham but without the Bat, things get real weird real fast.
So this wasn’t an actual play session. This was groundwork. The scaffolding. The bloody fingerprints on the walls. The kind of stuff that makes the next episode hit harder because now we know who’s lurking in the shadows... or who isn’t.
What's the Setup?
I asked questions. A lot of them. Stuff like:
Is Bruce Wayne even alive?
Did certain villains still rise to power without Batman there to push them?
Is anyone filling the vacuum?
You’d be surprised at the answers. Or maybe not, depending on how much you believe Gotham shapes its monsters or whether Batman creates them. I leaned on the GMA cards for this one, treating them as my dice, my GM, my random spark. Let the cards decide, right?
No Spoilers, But...
Some names came up. Big ones. Some are out there, sharpening knives and whispering threats. Others? Missing, irrelevant, or just never became who you expected them to be. That’s the fun part.
When Batman’s off the board, everything changes. The mob doesn’t fear the dark anymore. The freaks either take over or stay buried. Frank Castle is walking into a powder keg that never had a Bat to defuse it.
A Living Gotham
This wasn’t just about checking a list of villains. It’s about creating threads. Leads. Mystery. Now when Frank stumbles across a body in the sewers or hears rumors about a string of botanical deaths, we know there’s something behind it. Doesn’t mean he knows, but we do.
That’s the joy of solo play. You're GM and player at once, reacting in real-time to the story you're building with whatever tools you’ve got. This time, the cards led. Next time, Frank takes over.
What’s Next?
Next episode, we’re back in Monk’s Diner. Frank meets Poppy. She’s got answers about the body he found, but she’s also got her own secrets. And now that we’ve peeked behind Gotham’s curtain, we know some of those secrets might trace back to people you thought you’d never see again.
Or maybe they're just ghosts.
Either way, this world’s coming alive.
Keep it original. Keep it old school.
—Vince
