Val CHA Cost Roll Notes 13 STR 3 12- Lift 151.6 kg; 2 1/2d6 [3] 13 DEX 9 12- OCV: 4/DCV: 4 13 CON 6 12- 11 BODY 2 11- 13 INT 3 12- PER Roll 12- 11 EGO 2 11- ECV: 4 13 PRE 3 12- PRE Attack: 2 1/2d6 12 COM 1 11- 3 PD 0 Total: 3 PD (0 rPD) 3 ED 0 Total: 3 ED (0 rED) 3 SPD 7 Phases: 4, 8, 12 6 REC 0 26 END 0 25 STUN 0 TotalTotal Characteristics Cost: 36 Movement: Running: 6"/12" Leaping: 2"/4" Swimming: 2"/4" Cost Powers & Skills 3 "Safe Sex Is Making Sure The Dame Ain't Packing Heat": Life Support (Immunity: All STDs) Perks 3 Movie Studio Passes: Access 10 Dave Donovan: Contact: LAPD Homicide Detective (Contact has access to major institutions, Contact has extremely useful Skills or resources, Contact has significant Contacts of his own) 14- 1 Private Eye License: Fringe Benefit: License to practice a profession 2 Fringe Benefit: Concealed Weapon Permit (where appropriate) 2 "I've Heard You're The Best In Town": Reputation: Topnotch private eye (City of Los Angeles) 11-, +2/+2d6 1 "Is It True What They Say About You, Mr. Turner?": Reputation: Stud (Women) 11-, +1/+1d6 Skills 3 Acting 12- 3 CK: Los Angeles 12- 3 Combat Driving 12- 5 Deduction 13- 3 Fast Draw 12- 2 Gambling (Other Golf) 12- 3 Interrogation 12- 3 KS: Denizens of Hollywood 12- 3 KS: Hollywood Gossip 12- 3 KS: How To Pleasure a Woman 12- 3 PS: Detective 12- 7 Seduction 14- 3 Shadowing 12- 3 Streetwise 12- 0 TF: Small Motorized Ground Vehicles 1 WF: Handguns 70 Total Powers & Skills Cost 106 Total Character Cost 50+ Disadvantages 15 DNPC: "Sometimes, a client is more trouble than they're worth." Client of the week 8- (Incompetent) 15 Hunted: "Funny how you always seem to be right on hand for a murder." Police 11- (Mo Pow, NCI, Watching) 15 Psychological Limitation: "I could see she was very gifted." Lecherous (Very Common, Moderate) 10 Vulnerability: 1 1/2 x STUN "I saw stars, and then blackness." Blows to the head (Common) 1 Experience 106 Total Disadvantage Points
Background/History: Note: This version was put together using the seventeen stories in Roscoes In The Night, recently published by Adventure House. Since these stories span Dan's entire career, this is a composite version rather than a particular one, and may be missing vital information presented in others of the 300+ Turner stories.
Little is known of Dan Turner's past. His first recorded cases as a detective working in Hollywood are in 1934, but he'd clearly been in the detective business for a year or two before that, as he'd already accumulated enemies. Dan had a very busy career from 1934 to 1950, the last recorded of his adventures; almost all of his cases involved murder. They also almost all involved beautiful women, who Dan was not in the least shy about having sex with.
Personality/Motivation: Dan Turner comes off as a standard hard-boiled dick of his time period. He was macho, somewhat cynical, not given to displaying emotions other than anger or lust, and not overly respectful of authority. His stated goal in life was to accumulate enough money so that he could retire early and comfortably.
Dan also had a raging libido, and had sex with any attractive woman who wasn't married, underage, or actively trying to kill him. Dan's rough but persuasive courting attracted many women, but they quickly realized he wasn't a good marriage prospect, so he didn't have any long-term entanglements.
Dan was also casually racist; while he wouldn't go out of his way to oppress or insult minorities, he would see nothing wrong with prejudging people based on skin color or national origin. On the other hand, Dan had a love of justice and a hatred of crime.
Like many men of his time, Dan Turner smoked heavily, drank more Vat 69 whiskey than was good for him, and gambled at golf.
Quote: "I don't know how long I remained in Dreamland; but when the time came for me to open my glims, the Navarre quail was stretched out on the floor alongside me. Her midnight hair was clotted with ketchup where the bullet had dug its tunnel, and she was as dead as Coney Island in a blackout."
Dan used a lot of tough-guy slang, although he could turn it off at will when speaking to a client who needed a more cultured approach. When playing him, use a lot of terms like "doll," "roscoe" and "gams."
Powers/Tactics: Dan Turner was a healthy man with two good fists, but he wasn't overly trained in combat. It was usually a struggle for him to overcome one healthy and aggressive opponent in hand-to-hand combat. Dan had somewhat better luck with his .32 automatic (generally kept in a shoulder holster, with a backup in the car,) but still vastly preferred to get the drop on opponents.
Despite his tough-guy attitudes, Dan was actually quick-witted, and solved most of his cases by spotting the discrepancies in suspects' stories. A favorite Turner tactic was getting the real killer to go along with a plan that would railroad another suspect, only to have it turned around at the last moment.
Dan was also given to using his sex appeal to pump female witnesses, or to intimidate them. (In at least one case, he threatened to rape a woman if she didn't tell him the truth.)
Other than being distracted by women, Dan's biggest weakness was being whacked on the head. He spends a lot of time unconscious in the stories.
Campaign Use: Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective, is a low-powered pulp character. By switching out a few of his area-specific skills, he can be transported to any major American city of the time period. As is, he makes a good Contact in the Los Angeles area, especially with his ability to get on movie studio property, which may be difficult for other characters. He'd only Hunt player characters if he was paid to, and only within the state of California.
With a little updating of Dan's speech patterns and fashions, he'll work will into the 1970s. After that point, however, attitudes towards sex and women change in a way that makes Dan's usual behavior dangerous and liable to get him slapped with lawsuits.
With his promiscuous ways, Dan might well have sired children over the years. A fun role for him in a modern setting might be as a player character's grandfather, still as lecherous as ever in retirement.
If you need to make Dan more physically dangerous, give him Brawling as a martial art, and a couple of Combat Skill Levels. It shouldn't be necessary to make him weaker.
Important People: Dave Donaldson was a detective on the Homicide Bureau of the Los Angeles Police Department (possibly the head of that bureau by the end of his career.) Before making detective, Dave had spent time on the Chinatown beat, and was familiar with the crime and criminals of that area.
While a fairly competent police officer, Dave had the bad habit of immediately fixing on the most obvious person as the killer. Even if that person happened to be Dan Turner himself, as it often did. While the two men would describe themselves as friends, they weren't afraid to slap each other around if the circumstances seemed to require it.
Appearance: Dan Turner was a Caucasian male of indeterminate age; probably in his late twenties in 1934 and aging extremely well. He stood a bit over six feet tall and weighed 190 pounds. In most of the illustrations, Dan has straight black hair combed back with some sort of cream. He was ruggedly handsome, but not in a way movie cameras liked. Dan habitually dressed like a hard-boiled private eye, trenchcoat, fedora and all, but unlike most of them his clothing was not cheap, since he needed to impress well-off clients.
(Dan Turner created by Robert Leslie Bellem , character sheet created by Scott Jamison)