The Consulting Detective

[Silbuster]

In the Scotland Yard list, it is pretty obvious that the consulting detective is none other than Sherlock Holmes. However, Mr Holmes was not the only consulting detective available to the police in the Victorian Period. Contemporary and current literature abound with sleuths and I hope to bring some of these to your attention over the next year, though at a sedate pace.

Holmes himself is allowed three talents. Obvious choices are Iron will, Master of Disguise and Meticulous Planning. However, the one which I always accord him is Martial Arts because in "The Empty House", Holmes defeats Moriarty using the "Japanese system of wrestling" which he refers to as "baritsu". This is actually "bartitsu"; a variant of jiu-jistu taught by E.W. Barton-Wright in the late nineteenth century.

Miss or Mrs Gladden is the pseudonym of the detective in "The Female Detective" by Andrew Forrester published in 1864. In fact, we never know her real name and the police refer to her as 'G'. I'm afraid that she has no fighting skills or weapons at all. Despite which she cooly keeps the company of villains from thieves to murderers without turning a hair. Because her main talents are her wits and a chameleon like ability to blend into the background. Nobody suspects the nondescript woman as she changes her attitudes and speech to suit the expectations of those she is dealing with; going pretty much wherever she wishes in the guise of whomever is convenient.

'G' Pluck 3, FV 0, SV 0, Speed 0, Armour none, weapons none. Must have at least one and up to three of the following talents and mystical powers: Intuitive, Master of Disguise, Part of the Crowd, Clouding Mens' Minds, The Path of Shadows.

No good for fighting; but if there's an objective to be captured...

[strawbuk]

welll considered stuff - thanks!

Also the same could apply to one Irene Adler...

[oabee]

Great character with lots of, er, character

Very IHMN-ish, if I might presume to coin a word....

[Craig]

'IHMN-ish'? Really? 

[strawbuk]

So have found myself a suitable Edwardian Lady to be Irene Adler and she will go in my other wise bog standard Scotland Yard/Great Detective crew. She is very much the Irene from the Robert Downey Jnr films of course... 

Pluck 3, FV 0, SV 1, Speed 0,
Armour - Faraday Bodice 'ooh er, look away now Mildred' ,
Weapon - Derringer,  Parfume d' Sommeil
Talents/Powers;
Erudite Wit,  Clouding Mens' Minds,  Part of the Crowd

Derringer - Cost 2:  
A Pistol only usable when in contact ie range 0.  As a 'concealed' weapon , the target does NOT get usual Speed modifier bonus you get if target of close combat shooting.  

Parfume d' Sommeil:
Irene's own very special brand for dealing with over attentive gentlemen...  Treat as Gas (knockout of course) grenade.    

I was thinking about the Derringer giving you Lightening Draw as it is a concealed /surprise weapon but think  approach above is  simpler.

[wulfgar22]

Great stuff! Like the Derringer and Parfume d' Sommeil!

[strawbuk]

Great stuff! Like the Derringer and Parfume d' Sommeil!

ta

Pondering a complication that as irene is not COMPLETELY straight ...  in any scenario where there is an objective or person of value involved and she is within 12in of that objective and NOT with 12 of Sherly, she must take a pluch roll.  pass it and all is fine. fail and she is tempted by lure of a life of crime and is allowed tobe controled for one turn by an opponent (treat as mesmerism).  irene would be minus 5 points where this applied to a scenario

thinking this might be useful for other circumstances where plunder may figure higher in some charactrers minds than the job in hand or where they have dubious history of back stabbing.

[wulfgar22]

I like it! Sounds like an fun complication. Or you could have her make a Pluck roll and if she fails, instead of being in the control of the other player, she makes straight for the objective of value, tries to grab it and if does she then tries to escape to the nearest table edge.

[Silbuster]

On reflection, one further talent which could be added to Holmes' long list is Intervention. For, as one author has noted, Holmes is the man who never lived and will never die.