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Chasmodai 06-07-04, 06:04 AM

I'm currently playing a CoC/Spycraft hybrid that has elements of Dark Matter thrown into it for good measure. The DM decided that normal CoC wasn't fun enough for our group (a bunch of combat-manic powergamers :D) so he decided that this CoC campaign was going to be a bit different. In his own words: "In normal CoC, you see a balor and run away screaming. In my CoC, you see a balor and shoot it in the face." Of course, he also added that the game wasn't going to be purely combat. It would be investigation-heavy (my favorite kind) and would require a lot of thinking from players. We've played a few sessions, and I've been playing a Texan private eye who's currently the team lead (this is where the Dark Matter part comes in - PCs are part of an organization). Jonathan Riley Harrison was a soldier who fought in Desert Storm, brought up by his dad's war stories. He was a good soldier - not the best, but loyal to the end, coupled with a severe 'never-say'die' attitude. He was a bright young man, full of jokes and laughter, always quick with a quip and a grin. After the war, he became a police officer in New York City and that's when it all started to go downhill. The things he saw on the job saddened him. The horrors of some of the crimes he had to solve and the cruelty some people can inflict on innocents made him begin to question his beliefs. He was a devout Christian, but now, he wasn't so sure any more. A few years on the force, and he had enough. Jonathan quit and started his own business as a private eye. He took to drinking and smoking, and began taking pills, just to stay alert and focussed. When he began to think that things couldn't get any worse, or any better, it did. One day, he received an invitation to a stay at the Waldorff Astoria. Seeing no reason to refuse (it was, after all, the Waldorff Astoria), he accepted and went. There, he was given an offer of a lifetime - $8000 a month, irregular hours and a chance to fix what was wrong with the world. Here, Jonathan's young idealism (long thought dead and buried beneath his cynicism and the drugs) kicked in. Without a thought, he accepted. I play Jonathan (whom everyone else calls Harrison), as a severe, no-nonsense, manipulative man with a hypocritical view of authority (think Spider Jerusalem, only not manic. Just incredibly serious). He doesn't respect others' authority, but demands other people respect his. In a team full of crackpots (a paranoid archaeologist, an ex-FBI agent who has a demon inside him and a Catholic priest), Harrison sees himself as the only stable person around. He takes charge at every turn and risks so that this ungrateful bunch of idiots can go home to their crazy dreams every night. Everything they see and fight, he stares straight in the eye without flinching or faltering (he's got a pretty good will save and has yet to fail a sanity check), and holds his team together, a staunch bastion of humanity's hope (idealistic he gets, sometimes). But recently, Harrison has suffered somewhat of a burnout. He saw some things that made him wonder whether humanity was worth saving and other things that left him devoid of hope (on the inside anyway; he never lets the others see him in moments of weakness). There was an eight-month hiatus, in game. During this time, Harrison spent his hours researching the secrets of the demons and monsters he saw on a regular basis and drinking himself into a stupor. The question I pose to you, gentlemen, is how do I play him from now on? Do I continue on as I always have, or do I make Harrison more eccentric, more manic (again, think Spider Jerusalem)? Or does he become more severe than before, and loses whatever semblance of humor he used to have (like Carl Hanratty, from Catch Me If You Can)? Any suggestions? Harrison's stats are below: Jonathan Riley Harrison/ Private Eye/ Level 6 (Offensive Option) Str 10 BAB: +5 Dex 14 Fort: +2 Con 10 Rflx: + 4 Int 14 Will: +7 Wis 15 Cha 14 Feats: Stone Cold Persuasive Point Blank Shot Precise Shot Perfect Stance Marksman Bullseye Hardcore Important Skills: Diplomacy +17 Bluff +15 Sense Motive +17 Intimidate +15 Listen +11 Spot +11 Knowledge (Forensics): +11 Knowledge (Occult): +11 Knowledge (Streetwise): +11 Thanks in advance!