Bertie Wooster as a Cthulhu character

[Desdichado]

I'm crossposting this same question in a lot of places, because I'm getting some fun discussion and the more ideas, the better.

I'm not trying to be too strict about it, but the somewhat useless, hopeless, spineless man about town a la Bertie Wooster is the inspiration for my latest Call of Cthulhu character. I rolled his stats in order, and it worked out fairly well (although his INT and EDU were probably a lot better than they should be if I were actually Bertie Wooster---that's to compensate for the fact that no one else in the group elected to be Jeeves.)

Anyway, like I said, not to strictly stick to a canon interpretation of old Bertram, just an "inspired by" kind of character. How would you roleplay such a bally chap yourselves? Keep in mind that my Sanity (again, rolled organically) is only 35... not real good. I've kinda summed the character up by the following quote: "Pull yourself together, man! Stiff upper lip and all that, what? I will admit that this fishy fellow is barmy enough, but the only time I've ever known true terror was as a lad at Eton playing soggy biscuit."

 

[Gilladian]

Unfortunately, in the stories Bertie has one redeeming feature that an adventuring character may lack - an endless supply of money.

Just be sure that his ideas are always either impractical due to complexity, have plenty of room for the DM to twist them to suit his needs, or are so simple even a 2 year old would think of and dismiss them.

Also, Bertie never saw "bad" in anyone. He often wondered, futilely, what a person's motivations were, but he never recognized evil or wickedness. Having him impute generous motives to even the least helpful people would be a good start. Then have him take one or two NPC's in irrational dislike (usually the most powerful people whom offending would be badddddd).

His way of expressing dislike, however, is avoidance and ignorance. He may also use his apparent stupidity to hide behind when he doesn't want to do things.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Who is Bertie Wooster?

 

[Mallus]

Hobo, did you read Alan Moore's latest League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (the extra-metafiction edition that came with 3D glasses)? One vignette is a Jeeves/Mythos mash-up, in which Bertie is suitably clueless and Jeeves is re-imagined as either a part-time member or at least contact of the current League. A weekend in the country is almost spoiled by the Fungi from Yuggoth...

 

[ExploderWizard]

ROFL. Awesome character, a winning idea. You should talk to the GM about letting ol Bertie have access to the kind of wealth to which he is accustomed, with a few restrictions.

The money cannot be used for any meaningful adventuring purpose-gear, bribes, ect.

The money must be spent on frivolous things for himself and cannot really benefit another character.

I think with these restrictions it wouldn't be overpowered at all considering his severe limitations in this kind of campaign.

 

[Desdichado]

I've heard of that LXG, but have not read it; I've only read the "Plain Jane" version.

I rolled up my Wealth, and frankly, I rolled pretty high there too. Stat wise, I'm a pretty good analog for ole Bertie, with the exception of, like I said, a pretty high EDU and INT. My Credit Rating is through the roof. I'm a decent fast talker and very good shotgun shot (I never knew Bertie to be a huntsman, but I had so many dang skill points to spend, I had to do something with them) and crazy Dodge.

I'm thinking when I Dodge, I'll play it up like it's accidental (brilliant idea courtesy of barsoomcore) "What? What? What just happened, dash it all?" instead of me being all crazy martial arts dodging.

Also, I won't be the only fairly wealthy chap in the game; another player rolled up a silent movie star, who's a bit worried about the rumors of some "talking picture", since his voice is kinda weak and effeminate and he's known as a man's man on the silver screen. In fact, that guy's even wealthier than me, so we envision him cruising around LA in his Dusenburg whilst tipsy.

I think as notable character ticks I can borrow from Bertie (like I said, he wouldn't really be a viable Cthulhu character as is, just a major point of inspiration) I'll take the following:
1) Big fan of either overly complex plans with too many things that could go wrong, or overly simplistic ones that nobody would take seriously to begin with.

2) Falls in love with a new girl every week or two. Then immediately is desperate to get out of the hasty engagement he finds himself in.

3) Can't be bothered with details; dumps tasks off on the rest of the party.

4) Sleeps in 'til noon, lunches at the local gentleman's club, plays cricket or something all afternoon, goes dancing all night. Avoids work at any cost, even though he's highly educated (Balliol college, don't you know) and could practice as a competent medical doctor. He just can't be arsed to actually do anything productive, though, even when he does have a handful of useful skills.

5) Deathly afraid of his great aunt Agatha.

 

[The_Gneech]

Scream For Jeeves, anyone?

-The Gneech

 

[Desdichado]

Oh, and just because:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3x-AUEvwLk]YouTube - J&W Theme[/ame]

 

[Pickles JG]

Who is Bertie Wooster?

What ho! - GFGI.

He is well educated - Eton & Oxford don't you know & is not that stupid just very, very unworldly.

The soggy biscuit thing is far too crude for BWW. True terror is more having to face Aunt Agatha at breakfast after becoming engaged to Honoria Glossop (again).

Cant you be wealthy as a perk thing in Cthullhu. Bertie is pretty flush & buys his way out of trouble.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

Bertie without Jeeves. That sounds bad for Call of Cthuhlu. I see Bertie reading the wrong book and summoning up some unspeakable horror. It would then fall on Jeeves to get him out of that mess, but without Jeeves then Bertie would just be lunch.