I'm looking for some information. I've been told you can help.
Bards, Information Brokers. Informants, Intelligence Operatives, Sages...Bartenders.
Every genre and setting have those in the know who are willing to share their knowledge for a price. Some put a numerical value on the knowledge, while others trade for favors or an exchange of information.
I've had lots of these kinds of characters in my various campaigns, with some becoming reoccurring NPCs that the PCs looked forward to visiting and not just for the intel. Solid examples of this type of character include Ipperius Witspear and some versions of Barkley himself. Another particularly strange and fun one is Mr. Carver the Fall Bearer, The Ghost of Rottinghume Manor.
So, who can I point to here? Who do you guys not know about yet. Wait...how about...
Eavesdrop Eddie
Anyone familiar with the game Crimefighters by Dave Cook? Not many I'd wager. Listen here see - it was a Pulp Era RPG written up in an issue of Dragon Magazine by none other than TSR in 1981. My friends and I got a copy of a year later and gave it a whirl. The PC heroes were of the Spirit and Doc Savage variety with 'The Spider - Master of Men' a major influence on the campaign. I ran it as a blend of Pulp, Film Noir, and early Superhero Comic Books. While looking through old files I came across the game for the first time it years and I remembered this fellow, perfect for today's prompt...
Edward 'Eavesdrop Eddie' Eckleman was a struggling, small time Private Eye with a most unusual gift and curse.
Eddie was born with a severe ear infection that threatened to render him deaf before his first birthday. Doctors, from Specialists to Quacks, were all at loss to figure out a cure for the baby's affliction. Finally, the day before his first birthday, the Ecklemans were visited by a Filipino woman who claimed to have been saved from her burning home by Edward's father during the Philippine-American War. She had tracked him down to thank him and 'got word' of his son's malady.
She applied medicinal herbs and oinments to the boy's ears and then released a small swarm of insects into the room which proceeded to bite both of the baby's ears mercilessly. She was shooed away by the parents and then brought directly to the hospital as the child's ears began to swell to horrible size and redness. Hours later the doctors informed the Ecklemans that the infection was completely gone and the boy totally healthy. While the swelling had finally subsided, Edward's ears remained unusually large and have ever since.
From that point forward 'Eavesdrop Eddie', as unkind schoolmates had nicknamed him, found that he possessed an amazing sense of hearing. He could clearly hear the quietest of whispers across the expanse of a theatre, even while the entire crowd made idle chatter. He would winch in discomfort at the unheard sound of a dog whistle. Over time he learned to pick out each instrument in piece of music such that he could tell you the name of instrument's manufacturer if he knew it.
Unfortunately, he can't turn it off. No, Eddie lives all his days and nights jarred by the slightest creak of staircases, the pitter-patter of mice in the walls, and the drip of a leaky faucet two apartments away down the hall. He gets little sleep, commonly gets headaches, and often appears to be a man at his wits end.
Still, he somehow manages a sad smile and a friendly 'How are ya' to everyone he passes. His positivity, which sometimes seems strained to its limits, is nonetheless earnst. He loves music, from Classical to Jazz, and can play the piano remarkably well (one might say he has an ear for it). He likes his Scotch neat, avoids Tea and Coffee ("I got enough trouble sleepin' as it is"), and is especially fond of the company of quiet people. The unnervingly silent presence of the crimefighter 'Phantom Midnight' is something Eddie very much looks forward to.
After overhearing various gangmembers planning a heist while in Little Italy, Eddie became the go-to guy for picking up info on the streets thanks to his incredible auditory abilities. Eventually he decided to put those talents to use as a Private Detective but he isn't necessarily the best at all aspects of the job. He is a friend and invaluable source of intelligence in New York CIty, especially South of 14th Street and his home turf of 'Alphabet City' on the Lower East City.
The character is a gestalt of two late actors, comedians, and singers, the incomparable Eddie Cantor and the great Jimmy Durante.
AD
Barking Alien
BONUS FEATURE: Day 12 of the official RPGaDay 2024 Prompts:
Seriously? And you wonder why I came up with my own prompts.
No clue. As with my last post I've heard good things about the ALIEN and Star Trek Adventures pre-fab campaigns. Are they well supported? Beats me.
Oh my god, I've never heard anyone talk about Crimefighters before. I loved it when I picked up that issue of Dragon when it arrived over here (yes, I'm that old that I got it "off the news stand").
ReplyDeleteIt arrived, when I was 15, right at the dawn of my Elliot Ness and Al Capone period although I never got to play it. I remember it was my favourite part of that issue (honestly I can't remember anything else from it). Sadly, I now only have the game in PDF form.
However, I did filch the idea of "contacts" from Crimefighters, for my own games, something I'd never seen in an RPG before at that time. And Jeff Dee art was always a winner.