Val Char Cost Roll Notes 13 STR 3 12- Lift 150 kg; 2 1/2d6 HTH damage [3] 13 DEX 9 12- OCV: 4/DCV: 4 15 CON 10 12- 13 BODY 6 12- 15 INT 5 12- PER Roll 12- 12 EGO 4 11- ECV: 4 13 PRE 3 12- PRE Attack: 2 1/2d6 12 COM 1 11- 5 PD 2 Total: 5 PD (0 rPD) 4 ED 1 Total: 4 ED (0 rED) 3 SPD 7 Phases: 4, 8, 12 6 REC 0 30 END 0 28 STUN 0 Total Characteristics Cost: 51 Movement: Running: 6"/12" Leaping: 2 1/2"/5" Swimming: 2"/4" Cost Powers & Skills Talents 6 Combat Luck (3 PD/3 ED) Skills 5 +1 with HTH Combat 3 Acting 12- 2 AK: Central Europe 11- 3 Breakfall 12- 3 Concealment 12- 3 Conversation 12- 5 KS: Lycanthropy Lore 14- 2 KS: General Occultism 11- 2 Language: German (fluent conversation) 1 Language: Hungarian (basic conversation) 2 Language: Romany (fluent conversation) 6 SS: Astronomy 15- 3 Stealth 12- 2 Survival (Arctic/Subarctic Forests, Temperate/Subtropical Forests) 12- 1 WF: Handguns Total Powers & Skills Cost: 49 Total Cost: 100 75+ Disadvantages 15 Hunted: Various Occultists 8- (Mo Pow, Harshly Punish) 5 Money: Poor 15 Psychological Limitation: Sucker For A Sob Story (Common, Strong) 20 Psychological Limitation: Wretched About His Condition, Seeks Freedom To Die (Common, Total) 10 Unluck: 2d6 -40 General Wretchedness Penalty Total Disadvantage Points: 100
Background: Larry Talbot was born in Wales in 1902, but moved to California to work at an observatory in 1923 and had little contact with his family. In 1941 he received word that his twin brother had died, and returned to Wales for the first time in decades to attend the funeral and visit his father. While there, he met a lovely antiques dealer named Gwen, and then a gypsy fortune-teller named Bela who was also secretly a werewolf. Later, Larry was attacked by Bela in his furry form and bitten, though he killed the creature with his silver-handled cane. The curse of lycanthropy was passed to Larry, who transformed into a savage beast under the next full moon. When he tried to attack Gwen, his father killed him with the same silver cane.
Unfortunately for Larry, his tragic story did not end there. When a group of grave robbers dug up his body in 1943, he was awakened from the strange hibernation he had actually entered and discovered he was actually unable to die. He sought out help from various doctors, most of whom refused to believe him, and then occultists and other assorted quacks. He sought help from the well-known scientist Ludwig Von Frankenstein, but by the time he found the doctor’s clinic the doctor had already died and instead Larry found himself battling his creation, the notorious Monster. Both were trapped when Castle Frankenstein collapsed, and both were once again revived by the even more insane Dr. Niemann, who wanted both bodies to perform some unlikely brain transplants. Talbot escaped this time, and tried again to find someone to help free him from his curse in Dr. Edelmann, but soon found himself in conflict with both the Monster and Count Dracula. Dracula and the Monster both apparently died again, but when Talbot learned that the bodies had been shipped to America and apparently been resurrected yet again, he traveled there to stop Dracula’s reign of terror.
Talbot continues to travel the world today in search of some possible cure for his horrifying condition. He tries to find ways to trap himself somewhere when the moon is full to keep from preying on innocents, though that is not always possible.
Roleplaying Notes: Before his terrible transformation, Larry Talbot was a big, happy, affable man with a great deal to live for and not much in the way of responsibilities or troubles. His father was charming but emotionally reserved, and his mother died when both Larry and his older brother were quite young. He’s not much of an inventor, but he has great skill with repairing existing mechanical devices, and enjoys passing time working with his hands. Larry was quite popular with the ladies, and his combination of innocent flirtatiousness, genuine emotional openness and burly build was frequently irresistible even though he was not particularly handsome. It certainly didn’t hurt that he was independently wealthy outside of his lucrative work. When Larry heard of his brother’s death, he did his family duty and returned to Wales, where his life took its exceedingly tragic turn.
After his encounter with Bela the gypsy werewolf and subsequent first “death” at the hands of his own father, Larry at first became greatly depressed and angry. He threw himself into the task of finding a cure for his condition, even though it usually promised only a peaceful death. He became accustomed to people not believing his fantastic tales, and so sought social contact with those whose own experiences were supernatural; he has a natural tendency now to bond with others who are considered “monsters” or social outcasts, whether due to cultural differences like Maleva or more obvious monstrous tendencies like the Monster. His encounters with these beings over the last five years have also given him a new sense of purpose in his life; while he continues to search tirelessly for a cure for his condition (and therefore to protect others from his deadly alter ego), he passes the time between full moons as a sort of traveling monster hunter, helping both the innocent victims of supernatural evil as well as those unfortunates like himself trapped in circumstances beyond their control. His first reaction to a “monster” of any sort will be to try to understand it and make common cause, but he isn’t naïve; if a creature is truly evil, he will oppose it to his last breath.
As the Wolf Man, Larry has no actual control over his own behavior, though occasionally he will, for example, choose not to kill somebody Larry feels strongly for, or conversely seek out to kill someone Larry is antipathetic towards. The Wolf Man is animalistic, prone to rage and violence. It hungers for blood and flesh, but more for satiation than need for sustenance (it doesn’t normally eat his entire kill, for example.) It’s got a solid sense of self-preservation, running before superior numbers, but when truly angered will fight an opponent to the death.
Darren Watts' Return to Hero All Stars.