Monday, September 27, 2010

[Characters] CJ Carella's Witchcraft: Fred and George Smith

I wrote these characters up for a Witchcraft game my friend MW ran a number of years ago for the CMT. I ran George and another in our group, BC , ran Fred. Yes, they are modeled after the Weasley twins.

I remember running George as a professor that made students cry (and thereby gained a reputation at Miskatonic U) while BC ran Fred as a hippy. It was comical, because their disadvantages caused some pretty funny situations.


Frederick Russell Smith and George Winston Smith are identical twins. Born only 13 minutes apart (Fred is the elder) in the early 1970s, their parents, Richard and Emily Smith, were prominent members of a powerful Sacramento Rosicrucian Shrine. Before their birth, Richard cast several potent invocations on his unborn children seeking to augment their latent Gifts. His plan was to raise powerful Rosicrucian magicians, all for the glory of the Shrine.

Unfortunately, his plans were spoiled by his children themselves. A side effect of the invocations was the in vitro awakening of their Sight, allowing the brothers to mindtalk even before they were born. They developed a close relationship at that early point in their lives and remain close to the present. Both boys were strongly adverse to being controlled, either by each other or their parents. But rather than face the direct focus of their parents' considerable will, they chose to bide their time, waiting for the opportunity to strike out on their own. Despite the controlling nature of their parents, they both had happy childhoods.

Awakened to the Gift early on brought the brothers their past life experiences. In each case, George's past life was closely connected to Fred's past life and visa versa. In their oldest past lives, they were both monks at the same monastery, during the same years, in 10th century Britain. Then they were both artists together in 15th century China. Finally, Fred was a Union officer in the Civil War, while George was his orderly. Both brothers have only one word to say about this phenomenon: "Weird."

Their father trained them to create protective and powerful magical vessels in the form of rings (prompting the brothers to call each other "Sauron"). This training has given each of them excellent experience in similar but different invocations. Frederick was trained to create powerful symbols of protection, while George learned to consecrate magical vessels.

After years of extensive magical and mundane education, the boys at last saw their chance to break free from their parents and the Rosicrucians. They graduated from college and escaped to the East Coast, never to return. Their parents' Shrine Leader immediately cursed them as a result. Their accursed states are opposite of each other (George's affects electronic devices and Fred's affect mechanical devices) and woven together in some way, making them difficult to remove.

Fred and George went on to graduate school, where Fred earned a doctorate in History and George earned a doctorate in Myth and Folklore. While he was a graduate student, Fred learned more about the Combine and developed his obsession with various conspiracy theories. George spent his time learning about various myths that may have bearing on their curse.

After receiving their doctoral degrees, the brothers moved to Arkham and they share a small house. George gained employment as an associate professor at Miskatonic U in the Humanities Department and managed to get Fred a similar job in the History Department.

The brothers are identical twins, both tall and thin, but are (currently) easy to tell apart. Fred has long hair and George wears glasses (though he has contacts). Neither is particularly athletic. George prefers suits, while Fred like to dress casually. Personality-wise, the brothers also differ, with George the serious one, stiff and formal, and Fred the practical joker. Fred is a Luddite who can use computers but refuses to, while George is a frustrated internet junkie who can't get a fix because his accursed state crashes his computer. While they may bicker on occasion, they maintain a close friendship and are genuinely concerned for each other's well-being.


George Winston Smith, Age: 26, Human (Caucasian), Male, 5'10", 140 lbs, Short Brown Hair, Blue Eyes.

Gifted Association: Solitaire Concept: Seeker of Knowledge

Strength: 1 Dexterity: 2 Constitution: 2 Intelligence: 2 Perception: 2 Willpower: 7

Life Points: 22 Endurance Points: 35 Speed: 8 Essence Pool: 76

Qualities:
Solitaire Association (+1 on all Tasks involving one specific Gifted Art (Consecration))
The Gift (5 pts, pg 86)
Artistic Talent (Metalworking) (3 pts, pg 74)
Old Soul 1 (4 pts, pg 87)
Increased Essence Pool 8 (8 pts, pg 87)

Drawbacks:
Impared Eyesight (Correctable) (-1 pts, pg 72)
Indebted 2 (-2 pts, pg 73)
Cruel 1 (-1 pts, pg 77)
Honorable 2 (-2 pts, pg 79)
Accursed 1+3=4 (Electrical devices will not work properly for character, all at inconvenient/embarrassing moments, i.e. computers will freeze or crash, phones/fax machines will have excessive static and disconnect, TVs will black out, microwaves will overheat food or beep meaninglessly, & etc.; major inconvenience, extremely complex to remove) (-4 pts, pg 84)

Powers:
Consecration 5 (Jewelry) (10 pts, pg 212)
Essence Channeling 5 (10 pts, pg 86)
Shielding 1 (2 pts, pg 220)
Blessing 1 (2 pts, pg 210)
Mindtalk Strength 1 (3 pts, 233)
Mindtalk Art 1 (2 pts, pg 233)
Mindtalk Art Specialty: Talk to Fred 3 (1 pt, pg 233)

Skills:
Craft (Jewelry) 5 (5 pts, pg 91)
Craft (Jewelry) Specialty: Rings 7 (1 pt, pg 91)
Myth and Legend (Western Civilization) 5 (5 pts, pg 96)
Myth and Legend (Western Civilization) Specialty: British Isles 7 (1 pt, pg 96)
Guns (Handgun) 3 (3 pts, pg 93)
Instruction 3 (3 pts, pg 95)
Magic Theory 3 (3 pts, pg 95)
First Aid 1 (1 pt, pg 93)
Lock Picking (Mechanical) 1 (1 pt, pg 95)
Occult Knowledge 1 (2 pts, pg 96)

Possessions: Several business suits; some casual clothes; leather jacket [D4(2)]; several pairs of eyeglasses & contacts; clip-on sunglasses; complete set of jeweler's tools, materials and equipment; lockpicks; 9mm Makarov pistol [D6x4(12)] & ammunition; several powerful Consecrated rings


Frederick Russell Smith, Age: 26, Human (Caucasian), Male, 5'10", 140 lbs, Long Brown Hair, Blue Eyes.

Gifted Association: Solitaire Concept: Seeker of Knowledge

Strength: 1 Dexterity: 2 Constitution: 1 Intelligence: 3 Perception: 3 Willpower: 6

Life Points: 18 Endurance Points: 32 Speed: 6 Essence Pool: 78

Qualities:
Solitaire Association (+1 on all Tasks involving one specific Gifted Art (Symbol of Protection))
The Gift (5 pts, pg 86)
Artistic Talent (Metalworking) (3 pts, pg 74)
Old Soul 1 (4 pts, pg 87)
Increased Essence Pool 8 (8 pts, pg 87)

Drawbacks:
Clown (-1 pts, pg 75)
Indebted 2 (-2 pts, pg 73)
Honorable 1 (-1 pts, pg 79)
Obsession 2 ("Fight the Conspiracy!",-2 pts, pg 80)
Accursed 1+3=4 (Simple mechanical devices will not work properly for character, all at inconvenient/embarrassing moments, i.e. door knobs will fall apart, door hinges will stick, locks will jam, faucets will break, mechanical clocks and watches will give wrong time, pulleys won't work properly, & etc.; major inconvenience, extremely complex to remove) (-4 pts, pg 84)

Powers:
Symbol of Protection 5 (Jewelry) (10 pts, pg 223)
Essence Channeling 5 (10 pts, pg 86)
Mindtalk Strength 1 (3 pts, 233)
Mindtalk Art 3 (6 pts, pg 233)
Mindtalk Art Specialty: Talk to George 5 (1 pt, pg 233)

Skills:
Craft (Jewelry) 4 (4 pts, pg 91)
Craft (Jewelry) Specialty: Rings 6 (1 pt, pg 91)
Humanities (History) 6 (8 pts, pg 94)
Humanities (History) Specialty: American History 8 (1 pt, pg 94)
Humanities (History) Specialty: Crackpot Conspiracy Theories 8 (1 pt, pg 94)
Instruction 4 (4 pts, pg 95)
Guns (Handgun) 2 (2 pts, pg 93)
Questioning 2 (2 pts, pg 97)
Research/Investigation 1 (1 pt, pg 97)
Driving (Car) 1 (1 pt, pg 92)

Possessions: One old business suit (crumpled); lots o' casual clothes; leather jacket [D4(2)]; sunglasses; complete set of jeweler's tools, materials and equipment; 9mm Makarov pistol [D6x4(12)] & ammunition; small, early 90s automobile; several powerful Symbols of Protection rings; filing cabinets and filing cabinets filled with vital, topical and important information on various Conspiracies.

2 comments:

  1. Always awesome to see some WitchCraft RPG love on the net.

    I might have to snag these guys as NPCs.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, the brothers were fun to play. And I'm sure they'd make great NPCs (a frequent comment to George by grad students was always "I already have a thesis advisor" followed by a quick retreat).

    It was especially funny with their curses - George had to open the car door and Fred had to start the car, then back to George to drive the car while Fred operated the radio (much to the dismay of George).

    Whenever we went to speak with one of our contacts (a wiccan-computer guru) she had George stand far, far away from her computer!

    ReplyDelete

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