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Muddy; failed gang-member, now underworld courier and
drifter
(c) copyright 2000 andi jones
Total Points: 9 Points
Age mid-20s; 5'7"; 145 pounds; Muddy's outward appearance is
about what one would expect for a man who is usually
homeless and nearly always without money; he is unwashed and
unkempt, and his clothes are in a sorry state. Under the all
the grime, however, is a good-looking guy, with clear blue
eyes, a narrow nose and a dimpled chin.
ST 10 [0] - thrust 1d-3, swing 1d-1
DX 11 [10] - basic speed 5.25, move 5, dodge
5
IQ 9 [-10]
HT 11 [10]
WL 8 [-8]
ADVANTAGES: Appearance (Attractive) [5]; Charisma +2
[10]; Reputation +1 (for being reliable, among the
criminal element, 10-) [1].
DISADVANTAGES: Combat Paralysis [-15]; Semi-Literate
[-5]; Status -1 [-5]; Weak Will -1
[-]; Wealth (Poor) [-15].
QUIRKS: Exhibits poor hygiene; Does drugs if they're
offered, but never to excess; Lazy; Saving up for a kick-ass
tattoo. [-4]
SKILLS: Area Knowledge (New York's Lower West Side)-12
[6]; Bartender-7 [.5]; Carousing-10
[1]; Fast-Talk-10* [4]; Panhandling-10**
[.5]; Scrounging-10 [2]; Shadowing-9
[2]; Stealth-10 [1]; Streetwise-13
[10]; Survival (Urban)-12 [8].
*skill is +2 if substituted for a reaction
roll
**modified for Appearance (-1) and Charisma
(+2)
LANGUAGES: English (native)-9 [0].
EQUIPMENT
Muddy doesn't always have a place to live, so he tends to
travel light. He's never armed, and at most he might carry
whatever little money he has, a portable radio and an old
nylon backpack.
BIOGRAPHY
Muddy grew up in a text-book example of a broken home; his
father was a drunk who left the family while Muddy was still
a child, and his mother was uneducated and never home,
always working several menial jobs to make ends meet. And
between his older sister's chronic delinquency and his
younger system's chronic asthma demanding their mother's
attention, Muddy was nearly lost in the shuffle. He was,
however, capable of being rather charming, and got by with
the help of friends and neighbours. But despite being
personable, Muddy wasn't very bright; by the time he was 13,
he began having serious problems in school, and dropped out.
By the time he was 16, he had more or less left home,
choosing instead a life on the streets, running with the
gangs.
Muddy made friends easily, but again his charm didn't go far
enough; he was worthless in a fight, and not clever enough
for complex scams. The only useful or marketable skill he
ever had was bartending, but even that he doesn't do very
well. (As well as he can remember it, Muddy thinks his
nickname comes from his first night mixing drinks.)
So for most of the past ten years, Muddy has been living on
the streets of New York, sometimes homeless, occasionally
squatting with friends, every once in a while in his own
place. He gets an occasional gig tending bar, but only when
he absolutely has to. Most of the time, he gets by on
favours from friends who are still in the gangs, and in
exchange he does them "solids", helping out in other ways.
Despite being unfit for a life of violent crime, Muddy is
reliable enough to act as a courier or messenger, and as a
"finder"; his years on the street have made him intimately
familiar with his neighbourhood and the surrounding 'hoods,
and he generally has a good idea where to find people - or
things - when other people need them.
ENCOUNTERED
Wherever he turns up, Muddy is likely to be wearing a filthy
denim jacket and grungy clothes; he usually appears unkempt
and a little rough around the edges. But despite his shabby
appearance, he's easy-going and usually quite friendly. He's
not terribly ambitious, but he's usually willing to help out
if it'll get him another week of spending money, a place to
crash, or some dime-bag for the weekend.
CANONICALITY
Muddy's character is by the book. Note that Weak Will is
listed in both his attributes, and in his Disadvantages,
though the cost is only recorded once.
WHAT IF?
Muddy is a typical low-life, appropriate for a wide range of
urban campaigns of TL6+, although he is written as existing
in modern day. He's the street-tough who's not very tough,
the hoodlum who couldn't keep up with the 'hood. He's not
much of a foe, but he makes an excellent Contact for a cop,
federal agent or vigilante super-hero. (As per p.CI22, Muddy
would probably qualify as a 2-point "connected" Street
contact, with effective skill 15. He's not the sharpest
knife in the drawer, however, and he wouldn't casually rat
out good friends, so his reliability should be "somewhat",
and not likely exceed "usually".)
Cyberpunk/Near Future: The one-and-twenty will have its fair
share of losers, and Muddy could easily be one of them. In a
grim and realistic near future, Muddy could be used
virtually as-is. In a chromed-out booster-gang kind of
sprawl, Muddy's lack of success with the gangs might be due
to lack of heavy metal; change 'Combat Paralysis' to
'Cyber-Rejection' (the -25 point version).
Space: Muddy could just as easily be a drifter in any
dangerous hive of scum and villainy: the Spaceport. Trade in
Manhattan's wharves for launch-pads and its nudie-bars for
alien cantinas, and Muddy is equally at home.
Over-the-Top: A possible twist for a comedic Illuminated
campaign might be the bum-savant, the total loser who knows
and sees all, the shoe-shine guy from "Police Squad". He may
look like an unwashed squatter to you, but for a hot meal or
a night on your sofa, he'll fill you in on the top-secret
NSA-classified details of that "bit of government business"
over on Pier 18, or give you the "real" story about the
Energy Secretary's emergency trip to Bolivia last
month...
ADVENTURE SEEDS
Moral Dilemma: The PCs - maybe vice cops, maybe the newest
vigilantes to take on Gotham's filth - need to know why the
head of the Colosimo family is investing so much cash in the
upcoming District Attorney elections, to the benefit of the
incumbent. Colosimo is known to use a gang called the
Bleecker Nines, and Muddy's typical range is right in their
turf. The PCs need his help, and put him in a bind: he
doesn't want to dis his friends, but he knows the PCs are
after someone bigger, someone genuinely bad. What does he
do? What can the PCs do for him to convince him to help? And
what will the Nines do if they find out?
- written by andi jones (andi@angelwerks.com)
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