Onwards with the character a day challenge for Inferno. This time it’s a character from Conan Doyle’s The Lost World.
Lord John Roxton, House Aries
The character: Lord John Roxton is a sportsman, explorer, dedicated opponent of slavery and all round hero. Throughout The Lost World he takes the lead when feats of daring are required, and the narrator has an enormous man-crush on him.
“”…a sportin’ risk, young fellah, that’s the salt of existence. Then it’s worth livin’ again. We’re all gettin’ a deal too soft and dull and comfy. Give me the great waste lands and the wide spaces, with a gun in my fist and somethin’ to look for that’s worth findin’. I’ve tried war and steeplechasin’ and aeroplanes, but this huntin’ of beasts that look like a lobster-supper dream is a brand-new sensation.” – Lord Roxton, on the hunting of dinosaurs.
House Choice: Without a doubt, Lord Roxton belongs in that home of heroes, House Aries. Let’s see how he shapes up.
Qualities
Lord John is an impetuous, and easily bored man. Focus 2. Likewise it’s not clear he has much time for science or indeed social events. We’ll put both Genius and Influence to 2. That leaves four points for Prowess, which might be an underestimate for the vigourous lord, still, rather than sacrifice a point elsewhere, we’ll go for Prowess 4.
Skills
Profession is a skill to reflect things a character specialises in, but aren’t covered elsewhere. I think three points of Profession: Hunter will get Lord Roxton off to a good start. Under genius we’ll take two points of observation.
As one of life’s natural leaders, we’ll give Lord Roxton three points in leadership, and two points of persuade. He’s bound to have picked up some social skills along the way. That leaves eight points for Prowess skills. We’ll go for three each in Athletics and Scout, and two in ride/pilot to reflect his passing interest in aeroplanes. No skulduggery for our upstanding Lord though.
Talents and Reputations
We’ll start off Lord Roxton’s selection of talents with Crack Shot at level 3, making him a world class marksman. To reflect his boundless confidence we’ll also give him ‘I’d stake my life on it’ from the House Aries list. This grants him a bonus to any challenge once a session, provided he makes it death defying (which means failure could be fatal).
As a last talent we’ll take ‘Rousing Speech’ which gives him +1 card leading others into action.
For reputations we’ll put two points into ‘The sporting lord’, Lord Roxton is something of a celebrity. To reflect his earlier adventures in the Amazon we’ll also add his description as “The Flail of the Lord”, a name given to him by the Indigenous Brazilians he freed from slavery.
Secrets and scandals
During the course of The Lost World Lord Roxton’s past catches up with him, with disastrous consequences. So we’ll give him a secret “Target of a blood feud”. to allow something similar to happen in our game. That gives us one extra point for skills, talents or reputations, which we’ll use to boost his scout skill to 4.
Where he fits in
With his high athletics skill and exceptional marksmanship Lord Roxton will be a useful man of action for any party. Where he really excels though is in the wilderness, where his profession and scout skills come into their own.
He’s a reasonably capable social character. Leadership 3 is always useful to have on hand, and his reputations should come in handy in a wide range of situations.