Tuesday, August 17, 2010

[Dresden Files] Hollywoodland: Dutch Schultz

Dutch Schultz was a thug who burglarized houses in his teens and graduated to higher crimes thereafter. In the late 1920s, he threw in with a gangster named Noe and soon was supplying beer across Prohibition-era New York.

Rivals were dealt with harshly - Joe Rock was kidnapped, brutally tortured and eventually went blind because a gonorrhea-infected bandage was smeared in his eyes, while Jack "Legs" Diamond was shot five times but managed to escape to Europe, prompting Dutch to say "Ain't there nobody that can shoot this guy so he don't bounce back?"

In 1935, after a power-play by Charlie "Lucky" Luciano reduced his empire, Dutch was shot (as most gangsters are) in the Palace Chophouse in Newark, New Jersey, on October 23rd, finally dying 22 hours later on the 24th.

During his last hours, he rambled on, talking about French Canadian bean soup or saying nonsense such as:

"You can play jacks, and girls do that with a soft ball and do tricks with it."
"Oh, Oh, dog Biscuit, and when he is happy he doesn't get snappy."
"A boy has never wept...nor dashed a thousand kim."

And that's where the history ends for Dutch, with few people mourning him and his passing.

But that's not the end of the story because even death couldn't keep this bad man down.

See, he knew it was the end for him. The dogs were gathering around, between the law and rival mob bosses, and he wasn't foxy enough to get away from them all. So he planned an out, figuring someone was going to try to whack him.

He put $7 million in a specially constructed safe and buried it in a hidden location in upstate New York with his bodyguard Bernard "Lulu" Rosencrantz. He found a renegade wizard named Teller willing to do some bad, bad things and bring him back. But he didn't trust Teller not to screw him, so he found another wizard to give him a way out of bondage.

On August 6th, 1936, Teller performed a necromantic ritual to bring Dutch back. It went splendidly and soon Dutch was bound as a Spectre to this necromancer. But Teller foolishly followed Dutch's instructions, including the location where he was to be summoned back and where Dutch had secreted the fetish provided by the other wizard. The fetish and a single bullet later, Dutch was "alive" again and free.

Since Rosencrantz was killed in the shootout that ended Dutch's life (finished off by a bullet from Dutch's .45), no other person knew where the money was. So he himself dug it up and went West, ending up in Hollywood in 1939 under the name Arthur Legend.

And he's got some plans....

Dutch Schultz aka Arthur Legend
High Concept: Undead gangster

Other Aspects: Ruthless and paranoid killer; What's mine is mine, and what's yours will soon be mine, too; No one will control me; Lost humanity; Lead a gang of spectres; Respectable countenance.

Skills:
Athletics: Fair (+2)
Burglary: Fair (+2)
Conviction: Average (+1)
Endurance: Fair (+2)
Fists: Good (+3)
Guns: Great (+4)
Intimidation: Good (+3)
Presence: Average (+1)
Resources: Superb (+5)
Stealth: Fair (+2)
Weapons: Good (+3)
Most other skills default to Mediocre (+0)

Powers:
Human Guise [-0]
Inhuman Strength [-2]
Inhuman Speed [-2]
Supernatural Recovery [-4]
Supernatural Toughness [-4]
The Catch [+0] is that he can't heal from stuff that specifically disrupts ectoplasm (like Ghost Dust)

Total Refresh Cost: -12

Stress
Mental: OOO Physical: OOO (OOOO) Social: OOO

Notes: Based off of Spectre (OW57). Dutch can also Spawn new Spectres under his control, a power very similar to a Master Black Court Vampire (OW86). Unfortunately, he's not actually sure these new Spectres are under his control (paranoia is a wonderful thing), so he's slow to create new ones.

4 comments:

  1. R.A. Wilson Flashbacks! I love the Dresden novels and definitely want the game. Cool post!

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  2. Hey James,

    Thanks for the comment and joining my blog. I've read a few of Robert Anton's books (a long, long time ago) and wonder why the flashback? Is there a book I'm missing to this connection?

    I have some other NPCs in the works for my Dresden campaign and hope to post them soon (actually, as soon as I've gotten some time to figure their stats, mostly).

    ReplyDelete
  3. See "Cosmic Trigger," as well as the "Illuminatus Trilogy." In the latter, Shultz's enigmatic pre-death utterances, are actually him spilling the beans about the whole Conspiracy!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Cool. I'll add those books to my (growing) list of books to read.

    ReplyDelete

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