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Staff Sergeant Michael "Hooligan" McGurk; WWII scrounger
(c) copyright 2000 Volker Bach
Total Points: 97 Points
Age 25; 5'11"; 174 pounds; a heavy, round-faced Irish
American with unkempt red hair and a three-day stubble,
usually dressed in oil-smeared olive drabs.
ST 12 [20] - thrust 1d-1, swing 1d+2
DX 10 [0] - basic speed 5.5, move 5, dodge
5
IQ 11 [10]
HT 12 [20]
WL 11 [0]
ADVANTAGES: Contacts (various NCOs) [10]; Language
Talent +3 [6]; Manual Dexterity +2 [6];
Military Rank 1 (Staff Sergeant) [5]; Reputation +2
(a damn fine scrounger, all supply and technical staff)
[5]; Wealth (Comfortable) [10].
DISADVANTAGES: Chummy [-5]; Code of Honor (reduced
enlisted man's*) [-5]; Delusion (all officers are
jerks) [-5]; Duty (US Army, 12-) [-10];
Gluttony [-5]; Reputation -2 (difficult and ornery,
all officers of his division) [-5].
*see p.SO50, but Hooligan McGurk does not think
too highly of his uniform and service).
QUIRKS: Uses lots of foreign words; Uncomfortable in formal
dress; Writes or draws obscene graffiti involving officers
in vehicles he repairs; Drinks no hard liquor, but will do
almost anything for cold beer; Admires Bill Mauldin and
Ernie Pyle. [-5]
SKILLS: Administration (US Army)-9/15 [1]; Area
Knowledge (Division area of operations)-13 [4];
Armoury/TL6 (Artillery)-14* [4]; Armoury/TL6
(Smallarms)-13* [2]; Artist-8 [.5];
Bicycling-9 [-]; Driving/TL6 (Automobile)-11
[4]; Driving/TL6 (Truck)-10 [2]; Driving
(Tracked)-8 [.5]; Guns/TL6 (Pistol)-10***
[.5]; Guns/TL6 (Rifle)-11*** [1]; Gunner/TL6
(Machinegun)-9*** [.5], Mechanic/TL6 (Vehicle
Engines)-14* [4]; Merchant-12 [4];
Motorcycle-9 [.5]; Philosophy-10 [2];
Photography-10 [1]; Savoir-Faire (Military)-10
[.5]; Scrounging-15 [8]; Streetwise- 10
[1]; Telegraphy-10** [.5].
*includes +2 for Manual Dexterity
**add +2 for Manual Dexterity when calculating
transmission speed
***includes +1 for IQ 11
LANGUAGES: English (native)-11* [0], Italian-12*
[.5], French-12* [.5], German-12*
[.5], Arabic (Maghreb)-11* [.5], Dutch-12*
[.5], Flemish-12* [.5], Yiddish-12*
[.5].
*includes +3 for Language Talent
EQUIPMENT
Hooligan McGurk wears olive drab fatigues, usually rumpled
and oil-smeared, whenever he can get away with it. He has
scrounged a number of useful uniform pieces from other
nations, Allied and Axis (arrange to taste), and a selection
of personal weapons, but he usually carries a Colt M 1911
pistol (p.B208), having had bad experiences with officers
confiscating nonregulation gear. Only in extreme cases will
he be wearing a tie, shirt, dress uniform or clean shoes.
McGurk always keeps tools handy.
BIOGRAPHY
Michael McGurk was born in Chicago in 1919 as the son of
Bill and Sandra McGurk. His father was a steelworker and
union man who lost his job even before the Great Depression.
Michael knew want and anxiety early, being in and out of
school as he found and lost odd jobs to augment the family
income. In 1935 he was lucky enough to get a steady - if
badly paid - job at a garage repairing trucks and gave up
school for good. This was no great sacrifice for a boy mad
about engines and cars, and Michael grew up to be a fine
mechanic and fitter. He also became a dyed-in-the-wool union
man, proud of his work and disdainful of the upper classes.
In 1939 - then aged 20 - Michael McGurk volunteered to join
the US Army. He now calls this "the daftest f***ing thing I
ever did", but then he earnestly sought to do his duty to
defend his country and defeat Fascism. Drill,
chickenshit‚ regulation and petty-minded, tyrannical
officers thoroughly cured him of that notion in the next two
years. Though he rose to Master Sergeant quickly due to his
intelligence and technical Skills, McGurk devoted most of
his time to "beating the system"‚ and earned the
somewhat puzzling nickname Hooligan.
In 1943, a thoroughly disgruntled McGurk was shipped to
Africa to be part of the Allied invasion force. Immersed in
the chaos of a huge and confused operation, working at a
frantic pace in improvised field workshops and dodging the
occasional bomb or landmine he found, much to his surprise,
that he liked it. Unlike many GIs, Hooligan McGurk took an
interest in locals. He had always had an uncanny knack for
languages and within weeks was getting along in French and
Arabic. Later in the war he learned several more languages.
McGurk tries to keep his impressive language skills secret
from his officers, fearing that he would be put to
headquarters work if they were known. He uses them mostly in
his private commercial ventures trading on the local black
market.
Hooligan McGurk is a good soldier to have around.
Notwithstanding his eccentric private feud with authority,
he obeys orders that make sense, and he works very hard at
his job. There are few vehicles or weapons that he can't
either repair or salvage usable parts from. Consummately
skilled at twisting the organisational aspects of the supply
system, and well-connected within his units, he has often
proved a boon to his comrades, getting them needed equipment
quickly and unbureaucratically. His black market skills are
much in demand, too, especially with enlisted men who are
officially barred from acquiring alcohol. He has amassed a
good deal of wealth this way, mostly in the form of jewelry
and easily portable bric-a-brac.
ENCOUNTERED
Hooligan McGurk is generally an easygoing person, though he
has little patience with incompetents or loafers. He feels
bound in comradeship to all enlisted men and will readily
help them or do business with them. Civilians find him
easily approachable and helpful - he has a special soft spot
for kids - and he loves talking to foreigners. Officers (and
MPs) on the other hand will find him surly and difficult. He
is protective of the men under his command and teaches them
well - mechanics from "McGurk's crew" are much in demand,
but often loath to leave even for promotions.
CANONICALITY
Hooligan McGurk adheres to standard GURPS rules.
WHAT IF?
Hooligan McGurk works best as a background NPC, someone for
PCs to know and work with. As a source for rumor, illicit
equipment and quiet, unofficial help he is invaluable.
McGurk could perhaps be played as a PC or party member NPC,
but it would have to be in a rear echelon campaign a la
M*A*S*H. He is not going to go into battle if he can help
it.
While he is written for a realistic or silly campaign set in
WWII in Europe 1944/45, a few changes will fit this
character into almost any modern conflict. Changing the
languages is enough to transfer him to the Pacific theater
or the Korean War, while a Vietnam era McGurk will likely be
a short-timer, better educated and probably have hippie
leanings. For WWI, strike Driving (Tracked), Motorcycle and
Photography and add Teamster and Packing. A modern-day or
near-future McGurk should have Computer Operations and
probably a narrower technical specialisation. A science
fiction version replaces Guns (Rifle) and (Pistol) and
Gunner (Machinegun) with whatever personal weapons are
current, Driving (Automobile), (Truck) and (Tracked) and
Motorcycle with suitably futuristic contragrav craft and
Armory (Artillery) and (Smallarms) with (Beam Weapons) and
(Missiles).
ADVENTURE SEEDS
Brass Incoming!: This time McGurk has gone too far. Perhaps
unknowingly, he doodled a cartoon of a (named) general
officer involved in an unprintable activity on the inside of
a jeep's hood. Unfortunately, this jeep was sent on to HQ
where the incriminating evidence (eventually) came to the
attention of a staff officer with absolutely no sense of
humor. Furious memos are flying and MPs keep turning up
closer and closer to home. McGurk and his friends (the PCs)
will have to track down other such graffiti (by now spread
all over the division) and remove them before the snowdrops
close in.
A Deal's a Deal: The PCs have approached McGurk about some
creature comforts they wanted on the frontline (he can get
almost anything). Short of money or tradable goods, they
promised him to cadge some souvenirs in return.
Unfortunately, their fishing expedition meets stiff
opposition from German elite troops. Even if the PCs don't
bother getting him that Luger pistol they will have their
hands full getting away from that hornet's nest.
Friends Like These: McGurk's little sketches and slogans
have an avid readership among soldiers all over the
division. Unfortunately, the Germans also occasionally read
them, and take them as evidence of someone working for them!
A German agent approaches McGurk in disguise and finds him
talkative and ready to voice his grievances. Only afterwards
does Hooligan realise who he has been chatting with. Now his
comrades will have their hands full getting their hands on
the agent before he reaches the enemy lines, and to stop the
brass finding out about this.
- written by Volker Bach
(volker_bach@public.uni-hamburg.de)
- editted and formatted by andi jones
(andi@angelwerks.com)
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