Bertie Wooster as a Cthulhu character

[Desdichado]

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).

Yeah, well, that's our group for you.

Besides, as I said, this is more an inspired by Bertie Wooster than actually Bertie Wooster. Heck, the characters of Jack and Algy (particularly Algy) from The Importance of Being Earnest are right up the same alley too. Between Hugh Laurie's Bertie and Rupert Everett's Algernon, I've got plenty of reference material to riff on.

 

[shilsen]

Bertie Wooster vs. Cthulhu? Brilliant concept, Hobo!

I was going to suggest some common habits from the books that you could use, but your list below is more than substantial enough, I think.

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.

About the only thing I would think of adding at this point is to play him (and I'm not sure how you would do that mechanically, since I've never played CoC) as someone who is insanely lucky. Not at avoiding scrapes, which he invariably seems to get into, but at escaping from them once involved (kinda like he does with women). In the books, that escape is usually (though not always) achieved by Jeeves ex machina, but since Jeeves won't be present, emphasizing his sheer luck might do instead. You already mentioned that you're planning to play up his Dodge ability as mostly accidental, and I'd do the same for most of his abilities. Bertie doesn't shoot some insane cultist's eye out with amazing accuracy. What he does is grab at a gun, squeeze the trigger with eyes closed, miss completely, and have the bullet ricochet off the silver teapot Aunt Agatha gave him and take out the cultist. Possibly leading to Bertie passing out at the sight, not due to the blood, but due to the damage done to the teapot.

 

[TerraDave]

My sometime CoC GM is a big fan of Bertie (and his last D&D pc was a "bertie"...though only occasionally like BW). So I get a sense of deja-vu from all of this. But maybe just by association.

EDIT: Well that, and the fact that dilletante is a typical starting profesion. But can you also get a gentlemen's gentlemen?

 

[Desdichado]

About the only thing I would think of adding at this point is to play him (and I'm not sure how you would do that mechanically, since I've never played CoC) as someone who is insanely lucky. Not at avoiding scrapes, which he invariably seems to get into, but at escaping from them once involved (kinda like he does with women). In the books, that escape is usually (though not always) achieved by Jeeves ex machina, but since Jeeves won't be present, emphasizing his sheer luck might do instead. You already mentioned that you're planning to play up his Dodge ability as mostly accidental, and I'd do the same for most of his abilities. Bertie doesn't shoot some insane cultist's eye out with amazing accuracy. What he does is grab at a gun, squeeze the trigger with eyes closed, miss completely, and have the bullet ricochet off the silver teapot Aunt Agatha gave him and take out the cultist. Possibly leading to Bertie passing out at the sight, not due to the blood, but due to the damage done to the teapot.

Yes, yes! This is pure brilliance.

My sometime CoC GM is a big fan of Bertie (and his last D&D pc was a "bertie"...though only occasionally like BW). So I get a sense of deja-vu from all of this. But maybe just by association.

EDIT: Well that, and the fact that dilletante is a typical starting profesion. But can you also get a gentlemen's gentlemen?

Delittante is the profession I'm using, indeed.

I hadn't thought about having a gentleman's gentleman actually. I'm not familiar enough with the rules to know if there's an equivalent to cohorts or hirelings or anything like that.

Hmm...

EDIT: Here's some dialogue an rpg.netter gave me that's too brilliant not to pass along.

"Look at this Jeeves - some sort of old Arab poetry book I bought for a song. Wonders of the orient, what?"

"Best to set that aside sir."

"What? This lovely collector's item?"

"The ravings of the mad Arab are best avoided sir. Especially while on a voyage by sea."

"Ridiculous Jeeves. Positively blithering."

"As you say sir. As you say."

 

[Dragonbait]

How odd. I played this exact character in a Cthulhu game several years back. it worked out quite well and he survived intact, both physically and mentally before the game ended prematurely. Although I did have a Jeeves with me.

What, ho!

EDIT: Here's some dialogue an rpg.netter gave me that's too brilliant not to pass along.

"Look at this Jeeves - some sort of old Arab poetry book I bought for a song. Wonders of the orient, what?"

"Best to set that aside sir."

"What? This lovely collector's item?"

"The ravings of the mad Arab are best avoided sir. Especially while on a voyage by sea."

"Ridiculous Jeeves. Positively blithering."

"As you say sir. As you say."

ROFLOLBBQOMFG

 

[Remus Lupin]

Can any CoC character be considered "viable" in the strict sense? Bertie vs. Cthulhu, however, may just be a stroke of genius!

 

[blargney the second]

Awesome idea! I'd be inclined to play Wooster as the cohort of Jeeves, who has the Leadership feat.
-blarg

 

[Desdichado]

Can any CoC character be considered "viable" in the strict sense? Bertie vs. Cthulhu, however, may just be a stroke of genius!

We sure hope so... Cthulhu has "one shot" mode where if one or two character survive with their sanity intact, then that's a tremendous victory. It also has "campaign" mode where character continuity is supposed to work OK. Granted, the GM hasn't run this system much, so he may mess it up on occasion, but he's insistent that our characters should not be disposable.

Awesome idea! I'd be inclined to play Wooster as the cohort of Jeeves, who has the Leadership feat.
-blarg

BRP doesn't have cohorts or feats, though.

Not D&D.

 

[Mark Hope]

Go for it. I played a character based on exactly this concept in a Cthulhu by Gaslight campaign a few years back. Viscount Reginald Tomlinson-Bentley (of the Winchester Tomlinson-Bentleys, you understand...). He had his own gentleman's gentleman (actually called Jeeves, iirc, who was frighteningly competent). Reggie was a hoot and a real joy to play. Blundered from mystery to mythos, quite oblivious of his predicament and convinced that a fat wad of sterling could solve any problem ("Pay the man, and damn his impudence!") until a run-in with Vibur the rat-god sort of ruined things for him. Great stuff.