Pulp Krieg: Heroes - Private Investigator
$Revision: 1.9 $
Private Investigator template
Sam Spade, Marlowe, The Continental Op... the archetypal P.I.s, as portrayed in
comics, movies and novels, have a lot in common. They are usually loners, ready
to accept though cases and go to the end of them, betraying the fact that even
if they look and act cynical, their main motivation is usually moral instead of
greed. No Pulp P.I. will consider a case successfully completed if his sense
of justice has not been satisfied.
The classical P.I. usually operates from a not-too-glamorous office, has a car,
a gun, and a small network of friends and ex-customers who may help him
checking license plates, doing background searches and so on.
The main weak point of this character are usually some form of addiction (and in
this case women count as a dangerous substance), his own sense of duty, and the
risk of losing his license.
From a GM point of view this character is pretty useful if s/he wants to run
city-based adventures. A P.I. may easily fit in most urban situations, and he
can provide a good starting point for many adventures (instead of the old
cliché of having a distant cousin or former army buddy call the party for
help).
On the other hand, if you prefer a globetrotting campaign through exotic
locales, this character would have some problem fitting in.
The license
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City of San Francisco
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PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR
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License no.
Name
Surname
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32/007
HENRY
MARTIN |
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Being a licensed Private Investigator is a very weak form of the Authority
Perk. It costs just 1 character point (not factored in the costs listed below),
and gives the character a nifty badge, the right to carry a concealed firearm
and very little else, in terms of actual authority.
The license is granted by the local police force, and it can be revoked quite
easily... in most novels and movies the policemen often try to goad P.I.s by
threatening to revoke it.
Anyone with no crime record could probably ask for a license (unless they are
black, that is... but there is some fictional precedent for an Oriental P.I.). In
practice ex- policemen will be able to get it more easily. Another popular way
to get one is to join a larger agency (like Pinkerton) and then "go solo" after
a few years of hands-on experience.
Fictional detectives often claimed some sort of detective-client relationship
(akin to the one for lawyers and doctors) which allegedly allowed them to keep
investigation details from the police.
While doctors and lawyers do enjoy this kind of protection (forcing them to
surrender details requires a subpoena) nothing similar ever existed for P.I.s,
in reality, so obscuring or keeping information from the police may be
prosecuted (even if apparently the police just preferred roughing up the
detective, at least according to pulp sources).
If the P.I. is actually working for a lawyer, his
findings can fall under the law protecting lawyer-customer relationship, though.
In practice, detectives in movies and novels keep their mouth shut and their
clients out of the picture by integrity and as a form of professional service,
but they will have to face the full consequences in case of problems.
Stats:
| AGI: 0 | APP: 0 | BUI: 0 | CRE: 0 | FIT: 0 |
| INF: 0 | KNO: 1 | PER: 1 | PSY: 1 | WIL: 0 |
| STR: 0 | HEA: 0 | STA: 25 | UD: 4 | AD:3 |
| Skill levels |
| Skill | Level | Attr |
| Business | 1 | +1 |
| Combat Sense | 1 | +1 |
| Dodge | 1 | 0 |
| Drive | 1 | 0 |
| Etiquette | 1 | 0 |
| Forgery | 1 | +1 |
|
| Skill | Level | Attr |
| Hand-to-hand | 1 | 0 |
| Human Perception | 1 | +1 |
| Dodge | 1 | 0 |
| Investigation | 2 | +1 |
| Law | 1 | +1 |
| Notice | 2 | +1 |
|
| Skill | Level | Attr |
| Small Arms | 1 | 0 |
| Stealth | 1 | 0 |
| Survival:Urban | 1 | 0 |
| Streetwise | 2 | 0 |
|
Cost: (Attribute 19)/(Skills 25)
Typical Equipment: Gun, car, camera, flashlight, office.
Typical Perks: Allies, Contacts, Favor, Lucky.
Typical Flaws: Addiction, Code of Honor.
Variations
In order to get a more "dignified" consulting detective, a la Philo
Vance, invest a little more in Grooming, Etiquette and KNO based skills (see
also the Dilettante template. Another
interesting variation could be a detective working for a large Insurance
company. If you want to include arson, sabotage and maritime disaster in his
line of work (downplaying the more standard thefts and blackmailing), add
some specific skills like Tinker, Demolition, Piloting. The result will be a
character better suited to take part in adventures in exotic locales.
Historically, a female P.I. would be a little hard to accept, even if their
existence is pretty normal today. The idea could be interesting, but be sure
that the player understands that most people would not have much faith in the
lady ability to do "a man's job".