Everyone's takes on the "iconic" characters.

[simonmark6]

I don't know about other people, but one of the things that made a real impact on me when I first discovered Twilight 2000 at University was the impact the flavour characters had on my imagination. I quickly pictured a group of disprit characters trying to survive in a chaotic environment. Up until then, PCs had tended to be like game pieces, they had personalities and histories but never really seemed real.

I realise that some of this was because TW2K was the first game set in the "real world", or GDW's take on the near future at least. This made PCs and situations seem more real to me.

Anyway, the purpose of this thread is to see if others have already, or would like to stat out and expand on the back stories of the "iconic characters" (to steal a D&D term). I would be interested in seeing people's takes on these characters and how they would have to alter the rules to create such PCs. A backstory would also be interesting.

As far as I can see, there are 10 characters mentioned in the V2 rulebooks:

The narrator, Monk, a mechanic with a high initiative
Carson, the Major's driver, described as a demon behind the wheel
Gordon, a female engineer
Jones, the Welsh sniper/interpreter
Wood, the medic, described as being a pre med student, presumably a term of Undergrad Uni with a chem/biol major and then conscription
Griffith, the master scrounger
Bobbi Lee, who needs no introduction...
Sgt Anderson, the ancient Vietnam Vet
Alvarez, no info
The Major, leader of the band

I'll kick off with my countryman, Jones the sniper:

Name: Gethin Jones aka "Jones the sniper"
Nationality: Welsh
Gender: Male
Service Branch: Infantry
Age: 33
Weight: 76kg
Throw Range: 20m
Initiative: 4
Rank: Corporal
Rads: 28
Load: 30kg

Strength: 5
Mechanic 1/6
Rifle 9/14
Unarmed MA: 3/8
Thrown weapon: 1/6
Autogun: 0/5
Grenade launcher: 1/6

Constitution: 5
Swimming: 1

Agility: 6
Ground Vehicle, Wheeled: 3/9
Stealth: 2/8

Education: 5
Computer: 1/6
Electronics: 1/6

Charisma: 4
Welsh: 10/14
English: 10/14
German: 4/8
Polish: 2/6
Instruction: 1/5
Leadership: 1/5
Persuasion: 1/5

Intelligence: 6
Farming: 5/11
Tracking: 2/8
Observation: 4/10

Signiature Weapons or Kit:
L42 rifle
HK-69 grenade launcher

Backstory
Gethin was born on a small hill farm in Mid-Wales near the market town of Llandeilo. His father was a tennant farmer who worked in a valley's pit in order to supplement the farm's meagre earnings. Gethin's father was determined his son wouldn't follow him underground and encouraged him to do well at school. Unfortunately, Gethin wasn't academically gifted and preferred the outdoor life. He was, however, reasonably gifted at languages and passed his O level in German.

At the age of sixteen he left school and joined his father on the farm. This was supposed to be a stop-gap measure until he had enough qualifications via night school to go to University.

Then the miner's strike left Gethin's father without a regular income and once the strike was over, the farm had been repossessed by the owner. This broke Gethin's father's heart and he died soon after. Gethin was left without a job or a home and decided to join the Army whilst he decided what to do with his life.

He joined the Royal Regiment of Wales and found that he really enjoyed the life. His outdoors skills meant that he was more adept at fieldcraft than his urbanite peers and he was directed toward the unit's sniper/scout unit. Gethin recieved training in stealth, reconnaisence and communications (electronics). His knowledge of German made him a popular companion when he was stationed in Germany and he realised the benefits of knowing local languages. A long standing girlfriend also spoke Polish and he picked this up just befor ethe war started.

During the war he served with the RRW through the early years and the siege of Warsaw. He was loaned out to another unit as a sniper/scout during the Baltic push and was separated from his unit. He met Monk shortly after and was absorbed into the group.

If anyone is interested in a different take on Jones, or trying their hand at any of the other characters, I'd love to see them here.

[leonpoi]

Cool. when you're finished I can use them as a reoccurring group that the pcs can meet, first somewhere near kalisz, later in krakow, etc. nice idea.

[simonmark6]

So, here's Alvarez, the guy only mentioned once. He's effectively a chipher so I've made him a Texan with a term in a factory and then conscription into the infantry. He'll be pretty much a generic grunt.

Name: Hector Alvarez
Nationality: USA
Gender: Male
Service Branch: Infantry
Age: 25
Weight: 92kg
Throw Range: 32m
Initiative: 3
Rank: Private
Rads: 18
Load: 45kg

Strength: 8
Armed MA 3/10
Mechanic 1/9
Rifle 4/12
Unarmed MA: 5/13
Thrown weapon: 1/9
Autogun: 0/8
Grenade launcher: 1/9

Constitution: 7
Swimming: 3/10
Small Watercraft: 2/9

Agility: 5
Ground Vehicle, Wheeled: 3/8
Electronics: 1/6
Machinist: 2/7
Tactical Missile: 0/5

Education: 4


Charisma: 4
Spanish: 10/14
English: 10/14
German: 4/8

Intelligence: 4


Signiature Weapons or Kit:
M16

Backstory
Hector was born on Texas' Atlantic Coast and grew up sailing small boats and roaming around the town he lived in. His education could be described at best as modest and he graduated and started work in a local factory. When the war started he was contented to stay in his job, but the factory produced a non-essential product and couldn't easily be re-tooled to a military use. This meant that Hector was put into the draft and ended up as a conscript being shipped to Europe.

He has served conscientiously enough even though he hasn't distinguished himself. Hector is content to follow the others and look after his buddies.

[Webstral]

I'm enjoying reading your takes on the characters. I'm totally with you about a fascination with the game being tied in to the characters. I often imagine specific characters in specific settings as I write. Good work so far!

Webstral

[simonmark6]

Thanks, I appreciate that. It's funny how what is essentially a gear head's wet dream can generate such dynamic characters. I've been playing RPGs for years, but my favourite characters are mainly from TK2.

I'll get some others up later but if anyone else wants to chip in, feel free. I've started with the easiest ones in my opinion, Monk, Sgt. Anderson and Bobbi-Lee are much more controversial.

[jester]

My online chat campaign a couple years ago, most of the NPCs where characters from the game. I also had some of them from the boxcover of the 1st Ed. Some lasted a while, others were there for breifly.

As I have posted a bit again, I made Bobby Lee with her Ranger patch into the only daughter with FIVE older brothers from Tennesee, their father worked at Dixie Gunworks.

I even included Cutler the traitor from Operation "Reset." And he was still a traitor who set the PCs up.

Alvarez, wasn't he the one who was killed that they base City of the Angles on?