|
Post by Rigil Kent on Sept 29, 2012 19:18:55 GMT -6
Age: 33 (born in 2043.) Born in the slums, he and his twin sister, [NAME?], had a difficult upbringing and were, as all siblings, often at one another's throats. As is so often the case, they united immediately against perceived outside threats but otherwise had very little in common. For much of his youth, John ran with a local street gang - the Steel Vipers - but when several of his best friends died during a rumble that was both unnecessary and overly risky, he turned his back on them and walked away. His instinctive curiosity ( Curious disad) and refusal to let things lie led to him eventually discovering the individuals responsible for his friend's death. John struggled with the choice at hand - take bloody revenge or find another way to bring them to justice. He chose the latter and began working with local law enforcement ( Contact Group) which culminated in a bloody firefight between a couple of street judges and the gang leaders. Before the dust fully settled from this mess, the Second American Civil began, and John, who at the time both strongly believed in the Independent cause and wanted to get away from the place where he had lost good friends, joined the military at once, but rather than spending any significant time on the front, he was parked mostly in Intelligence. By the end of the war, he was greatly disillusioned with the Independents and had come to the conclusion that both sides of the war sucked. His final taste of the war came at the Battle of Texarcana where the Independents were crushed. John would like to say that he was a Big Damned Hero there, but the truth of the matter was that he was more focused on staying alive than anything else. His entire command unit was wiped out during the siege, and he himself was badly injured but somehow managed to survive only to end up captured as a POW. As a verified "Browncoat," he then spent several years in a federal prison (Social Stigma: Criminal Record disad) but was released in 2069 when the current presidential administration bowed to pressure brought on by then Senator Palmer to release all such prisoners in an attempt to heal the wounds caused by the War. The years between 2069 and 2076 are currently left open for GM use. What he was doing during this time depends upon the needs of the campaign. This might be an excellent time for him to be recruited by CTU (providing he's actually a member.) ( Secret: undercover CTU agent, total rejection) By 2076, he had returned to OKC and ended up reuniting with what was left of his family. Shortly thereafter, he got involved in the Ugliness. And then, the campaign begins... FYI, I'm leaning toward using the "Investigator" template in Action.
|
|
|
Post by Rigil Kent on Sept 29, 2012 20:12:46 GMT -6
Also, @ LabRat - let me know if there's something you think I need to tweak with my character history to bring him more in line with yours. I tried to leave a whole lot of empty space there where John isn't around so "Jane" can develop independently...
|
|
|
Post by LabRat on Sept 29, 2012 21:43:35 GMT -6
Surprisingly we are on the same page with a lot of the details here. I have to make some minor modifications and everything should fit rather nicely. Let me work on some stuff and I make a character post tomorrow
|
|
|
Post by Rigil Kent on Sept 29, 2012 23:09:10 GMT -6
Hmm. Just occurred to me that I might actually need Duty (CTU) if I'm a covert spook ...
|
|
|
Post by LabRat on Sept 30, 2012 11:38:58 GMT -6
What are you thinking in terms of our parents. Were they ever around? Also if you would prefer me asking these questions in a PM so it doesn't flood your thread then let me know.
|
|
|
Post by Rigil Kent on Sept 30, 2012 17:16:45 GMT -6
Re: The parents. I hadn't really given it a whole lot of thought, really. I was leaning toward them having both died ... maybe we were raised by our grand-parents? If so, we should swap the genders for them in terms of who gets along with who - so John and Grandma are like peas in a pod whereas Cass and Grampa have very similar personalities.
|
|
|
Post by Gigermann on Oct 3, 2012 11:05:16 GMT -6
He'll be assigned to CTU-New Tulsa Curtis is Chief of Staff at CTU-San Angeles, but he recently transferred from DoFO at CTU-New Tulsa He should totally have "that guy" at CTU as an "enemy"—you know, the one that is trying to get him fired because you're better than him, or you know his secret, or whatever
|
|
|
Post by Rigil Kent on Oct 3, 2012 11:50:24 GMT -6
I could swap around "Hamilton Riggs" (listed in Foes) to be "that guy."
ETA: Wait. Do you mean have the rotating enemy thing like we discussed many moons back with Dependent (current girlfriend) for a "Playa" ?
How is New Tulsa any different from current Tulsa?
|
|
|
Post by Gigermann on Oct 3, 2012 12:06:15 GMT -6
ETA: Wait. Do you mean have the rotating enemy thing like we discussed many moons back with Dependent (current girlfriend) for a "Playa" ? Vaguely remember that conversation. At any rate, just because it's 3×3 doesn't mean you couldn't list more than three, if you want. Whether or not you make any or all of them "official" is up to you, at which point we can discuss "mechanical issues" How is New Tulsa any different from current Tulsa? IIRC, Tulsa got jacked up in the war, and was rebuilt on a new location. Having said that, I thought New Tulsa was the state capitol—apparently that was incorrect; swap New Tulsa for OKC
|
|
|
Post by Rigil Kent on Oct 6, 2012 16:23:42 GMT -6
Revised 3x3
Friends- Curtis Manning - Chief of Staff at CTU-San Angeles, CA. He is the man responsible for recruiting John into the Counter-Terrorist Unit following the War. The two men met while Manning, then a member of the U.S. Army, was serving as part of the security personnel charged with interrogating Independent prisoners captured at Texarcana. Manning sponsored Shepard with CTU and acted as something of a mentor during the years after John's release from prison and the more recent Ugliness. The two men worked together several times, and it was Manning's suggestion that Shepard be given the assignment to the Neighborhood when communication intercepts strongly indicated that a dangerous terror cell was operating out of the region.
- Officer Maria Diaz - John's oldest friend, Maria ran with the Vipers right next to him and the two were considered an item from even before they thought of one another that way. Maria was among those badly injured by the reckless rumble that led to John allying with the local LEOs; seeing the woman he loved in a coma was the last straw for him and Shepard ultimately left OKC believing that Maria would never wake. After she woke, she immediately tried locating John, but no one knew what had happened to him, which led her to believe he had died in the virtual extermination of the Steel Vipers. Exactly what she did during the War she hasn't said, but afterward, she ended up joining the local police department where she earned a (mostly) undeserved reputation as a street judge who is easily recognized by her distinctive black eyes. John's return to OKC has caused her no small amount of consternation ... but frankly bothers her husband of two years even more. For his part, John can't stand her husband and still holds a torch for his old girlfriend. (@ GM: Think Raylan/Winona in season 1 of Justified and you've got the relationship I envision between the two.)
- "Rabbit." - Born Rebecca Dominguez (according to the birth certificate she has), this young lady is just entering her teen years and lives with John in his apartment, prompting many to suspect that she is his daughter. Neither John nor "Rabbit" confirm or deny this, but their is an undeniable father-daughter or big brother-baby sister bond between the two. Quiet and unassuming, Rabbit is frankly more like John's sister than him in terms of personality, but there is just something ... weird about her, whether it's her tendency to finish people's sentences or her scary luck - don't gamble against her. Just ... don't. (@ GM: think of her as a cross between Edward on Bebop, and River on Firefly. Player hasn't decided if Rabbit is John's daughter or just a poor kid he ran into/rescued.)
Foes- Sterling “Jinx” Avery - Gang banger for the Steel Vipers. Although he recruited John into the Vipers, Jinx began to regret that very early on, especially when Shepard started stepping up and assuming something of a leadership position. When John's sister refused his overtures outright, Jinx's dislike of the two Shepards intensified. After the rumble gone wrong, the Vipers were virtually exterminated, nearly to a man, especially when the local LEOs got involved (thanks to John working with them), and Jinx went underground. In recent years, he's resurfaced, now in charge of a new gang also calling itself the Steel Vipers (even though it has absolutely nothing to do with the old group.) Seeing that both of the Shepards are back and are working together has caused him no small amount of anger.
- Hamilton Riggs- local politician running for higher office. A former Independent, Riggs is playing on the lingering resentment toward the federal government to advance his efforts and has "enhanced" his career. John Shepard's reappearance in the Neighborhood has sent into a panic since Shepard knows the truth: Riggs was not a war hero by any stretch of the imagination, but was instead a deserter who had been put on trial and was scheduled for execution. As far as Riggs is aware, Shepard is the only surviving Independent who was present at the court-martial and Riggs is intent on the truth not getting out.
- Julian Salazar - Husband of Maria Diaz, he is an up and coming lawyer who works out of the state's attorney general office and has an excellent record as a prosecutor who focuses on capital crimes and other felonies. A former soldier himself, he is, in pretty much every way that really matters, exactly like John ... which explains why Shepard can't stand him.
Brookwood Residents- Ángela Diaz - widowed mother of Maria, she was more of a mom to John during his formative years than any other woman, and he spent nearly as much time in the Diaz home as he did in his own. Ángela is a former semi-professional boxer (which explains why Maria is so capable of kicking ass) and is in surprisingly good shape for her age. She was surprised to see him return and but promptly slid back into the "pseudo-mom" role for him. Currently, she's still struggling with the loss of her husband who was killed when he had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and was caught in the crossfire between two rival gangs. His death was one of the reasons John gets involved in the Ugliness.
- The D'Agostinos. A married couple, they are the epitome of a generic Hollywood bickering couple who are both quick-witted but devoted to one another. Pick any TV show "ship-tease" couple - Tony & Ziva on NCIS; Castle & Beckett on Castle; Aeryn & John (initially) in Farscape; Trip & T'Pol on Enterprise; Mulder & Scully, etc. - and that's how they come across. They can be any age, though I envisioned them in their 40s or early 50s. John has absolutely no idea what they do (or did) for a living.
- The Preacher - Something of an enigma to John, this mysterious man is something of a hulking brute who it is rumored was once a professional football player thrown out of the league for killing a rival player during a game with an especially brutal play but eventually turned to God. Of course, there are other rumors that he was a professional assassin who worked for the government. And there are other stories that claim he is the results of a terrible cybernetic experiment gone wrong. All that John knows is that he's immense, soft-spoken, and all sorts of scary. (No race in mind.)
|
|
|
Post by Rigil Kent on Oct 19, 2012 14:57:05 GMT -6
Revised Rabbit.
|
|
|
Post by Rigil Kent on Oct 20, 2012 9:56:35 GMT -6
This is my current working character - it can be adjusted as needed. John Shepard
|
|
|
Post by LabRat on Oct 22, 2012 10:00:07 GMT -6
This is my current working character - it can be adjusted as needed. John ShepardAw, you stole my reporter Quirk, you jerk
|
|
|
Post by Rigil Kent on Oct 22, 2012 10:11:59 GMT -6
Heh. Maybe you should keep it as well ... which would imply that the Shepard's both had bad experiences with annoying reporters...
|
|
|
Post by Gigermann on Nov 15, 2012 14:23:29 GMT -6
This is my current working character - it can be adjusted as needed. John ShepardFinally getting around to nitpicking: - Not sure how close you were intending to get to ME Shepard, so I may be out of touch with your "vision"—I'm just making suggestions, here, so feel free to ignore/adjust
- Shep strikes me as an IQ12 guy—15 is quite a lot; I realize this probably came from the template. If you do lower it, you can probably make up for the important IQ-Skills with the point-savings, since your list isn't that long
- I had said I would be limiting Enemy frequency to 6, but I don't think it actually makes sense here anyway—"Saren" isn't after you, you're after him—so a long-term Obsession or Vow makes more sense
- Nightmares again?
- Mentioned Contact Group in the background, but it was removed?
- Thought you were going the Dependent route
- Per 16 is going to be really irritating to GM against
- Probably need Law—could break out GURPS Cops and check the Fed template(s)
|
|
|
Post by Rigil Kent on Feb 6, 2018 7:58:39 GMT -6
Officer Maria Diaz - John's oldest friend, Maria ran with the Vipers right next to him and the two were considered an item from even before they thought of one another that way. Maria was among those badly injured by the reckless rumble that led to John allying with the local LEOs; seeing the woman he loved in a coma was the last straw for him and Shepard ultimately left OKC believing that Maria would never wake. After she woke, she immediately tried locating John, but no one knew what had happened to him, which led her to believe he had died in the virtual extermination of the Steel Vipers. Exactly what she did during the War she hasn't said, but afterward, she ended up joining the local police department where she earned a (mostly) undeserved reputation as a street judge who is easily recognized by her distinctive black eyes. John's return to OKC has caused her no small amount of consternation ... but frankly bothers her husband of two years even more. For his part, John can't stand her husband and still holds a torch for his old girlfriend. (@ GM: Think Raylan/Winona in season 1 of Justified and you've got the relationship I envision between the two.) BTW, I totally envision Detective Ortega (Martha Higareda) from Altered Carbon for this character now that I've watched the show...
|
|
|
Post by Rigil Kent on Feb 6, 2018 13:13:05 GMT -6
Although ... yeah. I like what you did here. Thumbs up!
|
|
|
Post by Gigermann on Feb 6, 2018 13:39:24 GMT -6
I expected that
|
|
|
Post by Rigil Kent on Feb 6, 2018 13:41:09 GMT -6
I think it's safe to say that we can have this character look like you've got her looking but with Ortega's personality?
|
|