The Cast of the Orient Express

Dramatis Personae:

Capt. Edmund Blackadder comes from one of the more colorful families in Britan, with roots extending all the way back to King Richard IV. His oldest know ancestor, Edmund, Duke of Edinburgh and son of Richard IV, was for a time Archbishop of Canterbury. Narrowly escaping death at the hands of a witchsmeller, Edmund, Duke of Edinburgh met an untimely death at the hands of the Seven Most Evil Men In The World (after gathering them together in an attempt to become king).

In 1558, another Blackadder was born, one who was destined for a Lordship. Lord Blackadder, was known for his ability to maintain a high standard of living, despite his father have squandered the family fortune on Wine, Women and Amateur Dramatics. A known friend of Queen Elizabeth I, Lord Blackadder for a time served as Minister in charge of Religious Genocide and Lord High Executioner. After becoming lost at sea, returning to the court, and surviving an encounter with the baby-eating Bishop of Bath and Wells (to whom he owed a great sum of money), Lord Blackadder met his demise at the hands of the german Prince Ludwig.

1760 saw the birth of Edmund Blackadder, who was to become butler to the Prince of Wales. It seemed that, as the Blackadder family tree grew, it grew more cunning. Rumor around town was that the Prince was an utter dolt, and his affairs were mainly held together by Blackadder, who exploited his position under the prince to his own financial gain. Unreliable reports indicate that Blackadder was responsible for the death of the Scarlet Pimpernel, as well as the death of the Prince himself, allowing Blackadder take his place under the mad King George III.

Captain Blackadder seems to have fallen out of the tree that was so cunningly built up by his ancestors. 1917 saw him on the Western Front, having joined the army as a cheap way to travel and shag women from around the world. He first got his exposure to spy-hunting after helping to root out a spy from one of the british hospitals. No reliable accounts exist on how Capt. Blackadder survived "The Big Push", but most people close to the source say that hist survival was most likely the result of a cunning plan, or a very sturdy table under which he hid. He accepted a position in the British Military Intelligence agency following the Great War, believing firmly that with such a big war behind him, there could be nothing worse in the immediate future.

Keeper Note:

Duane had a real difficult time at first coming up with a character for this campaign. Originally, he wanted to do some or of blind deaf mute antiquarian, or some such. One of the reasons i nixed that idea was that this campaign was going to be hard enough as it was without characters taking on multiple disabilities. As it was, Blackadder (yes, a direct rip off of *that* Blackadder) has been a resounding success, not only getting into constant quarrels with Tommy, but William as well. Needless to say, we had to bring Baldrick in as an NPC for some (much needed at times) comic relief.

Bored upper class dilletante...

Keeper Note:

Keeper Note:

Caroline is in her early thirties. She is a mostly typical Southern Belle, born and raised in Savannah, Georgia; educated in Europe. She has a degree in Natural History and is quite knowledgable in regards to agriculture and botany. She is also proficient with handguns. As to appearance, imagine Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind. She has a sense of humour - with her family, she has too - and has that wonderful southern belle way of looking, acting and talking like a very feminine woman while thinking like a man. Instead of the original missing brother bit, we could say that she met the others while simply doing a lot of the traveling that she often does. She had never been on the Orient Express and decided to have that experience. Her family is very wealthy, her father having made his fortune in cotton, coffee and lumber. She married young, to an amiable young man whom she divorced after ten years. They are friends to this day. She has no children. She is extremely attached to her maid/secretary Betty.

Keeper Note:

Another good character from Maggie. Having a female player in the group is wonderful, as oftentimes she's the only one who knows how to deal with people other than with a gun or a fist. Not only skillful at diplomacy, she's a crack lockpicker (for some reason, Maggie is the only person who picks up this skill, even though they always seem to need it), and good at a couple languages. Being a rich southern belle, it made sense for her to have her own servant, Betty, along.

The year of Tommy Gunn's father's birth "Will Carrie Gunn" is not known. However it is though he was born in the south, the child of "Mr. and Mrs. Long Gunn". Before Tommy's birth Will moved to Chicago. Will met and married Martha Shean, who everyone called Ma. Ma elected to be the first hyphenated last name married woman in Illinois being know as "Ma Shean-Gunn". Will and Ma had three kids, "Tommy Gunn", "Phellet Gunn" and "Zhot Gunn" the youngest and only daughter. Tommy's parents were gun runners. They bought guns legally in the US and smuggled them to Canada. During the first world war, Tommy's dad served and was wounded. The family elected to settle down in the south. Will Gunn continued his business but concentrated on legal transactions. Tommy became part of the business when he finished school. Tommy was educated in Charleston and studied anthropology and ancient history. After school Tommy traveled extensively for the family business though out Europe, and South America. When not traveling, Tommy likes to spend time with his nephews, Zix Gunn and Ahar Gunn.

Keeper Note:

This was Dave's first foray into the mind-rending world of Cthulhu, and has gotten the gist of it pretty well. Tommy, true to his Chicago heritage, is a shoot first and ask questions much, much later kind of character, and through him, Dave is learning how that tactic in Cthulhu will get you. As of this writing, he's already lost one arm, and a healthy portion of his sanity. I love the fact also that Tommy has taken a very American-centric attitude, always starting verbal exchanges with Blackadder. Quite in character, and a nice bit of role-playing.

Keeper Note:

Very little is known of Private Baldrick, Blackadder's servant. Historical reports show that a creature named Baldrick was in service to most every Blackadder who took the name Edmund. The oldest report shows that Edmund, Duke of Edinburgh had an associate named Baldrick. While Blackadders tree grew tall, Baldricks tree grew upside down, as the oldest reports of Baldrick show a much more intelligent person.

Speculation is that there have been not many Baldricks but one, who has existed since before time and has not bathed since.

Keeper Note:

where would Blackadder be without his trusty Baldrick? Naturally, i had to make Baldrick as inept and as stupid as possible...any assignment the characters give him, he always misinterperets, or it just goes horribly wrong. But hey, you ask for an idiot, you get an idiot. In fact, i made a new skill just for him: Comprehend. Any time someone gives Baldrick a task to do that has more than one or two steps to it, or requires thinking on his part, he must roll his Comprehend skill to even understand what's being said. Of course, turnips turn up a lot when he's around.

Betty (NPC)

Betty is a little older than Caroline. Her mother and father served the Bouvier family for many years before they were tragically killed in a buggy accident on their half day off. Betty was shipped back to England where her family was, was educated there until the age of twelve or so, when she came back to the Bouvier family as maid-servant to Caroline. She is just like Higgins, indispensable to Caroline, anticipating her needs and acting as her maid, secretary, and all-around girl Friday.