Intrepid Investigators - Part 1

Dramatis Personae Cthuliana

Below are the two of the characters starting out in our new Realms of Cthulhu campaign.

Christian, I have to say, has really outdone himself here - leaving me all sorts of hooks to hand adventures on... Bonus benny for him next time he shows up...



Freiherr und Ritter Jochimm von und zu Höllenstadt-Fürchtberg – Retired German Army Officer/Prussian Aristocrat (Christian)
Ag d10, Sm d6, Sp d8, St d6, Vg d6,
Pace 6, Parry 5, Toughness 5, Sanity 6, Corruption 0
Skills: Fighting d6, Shooting d10, Notice d6, Stealth d6, Intimidate d6, Persuade d6, Drivingd4, Streetwise, d6, Survival d4, Stealth d4
Edges: Well Adjusted, Filthy Rich, Trademark Weapon (Luger)
Hindrances: Vow (major), Quirk (?), Vengeful, Lame
Gear: Clothes, Luger (Range: 12/24/48, ROF 1, Damage: 2d6, AP: 1), Knife (Str+d4), compass,

Jochim is 34 in 1920.

His father, Oberst (Colonel) Freiherr und Ritter Erhard von und zu Holletal-Furchtberg, was commander of the 2nd Prussian Infantry Regiment. He was killed in action on 24 Aug 1914 at the battle of the Marne. A Career Prussian officer from a long line of career Prussian officers. The family comes from nobility stretching back to the 11th century, and was rewarded with (more) extensive estates following the Napoleonic conflict. Erhard was the 1st son. Two of the other 3 are dead, but the second son, Johann, now a Leutnant-General, survived the war.

Jochimm’s mother was Countess Charlotte Maria von Ingolstadt. A somewhat sickly and retiring woman from a family of minor Silesian nobility. Always of a delicate constitution, Charlotte was confined to a hospital in 1908 by Erhard and passed away soon after. The match was a strange one, made mostly to acquire her family's mining interests in Bohemia. Upon the death of her father in 1907, Erhard took possession of the mines, but demolished and then sold the lands immediately after an investigation into the mining complex uncovered some major irregularities with the whole operation. It was shortly after this that Charlotte was confined to the hospital in which she died.

Jochimm had two Brothers and a sister, all older.

His eldest brother Friedrich (b. 1875) was a Major in the 4th Prussian Infantry Regiment. He was killed in action at Passchendale in 1917. He is urvived by his wife Eva, age 42, and his son Hermann, age 18, and daughter Gerda, 16. They all live in Berlin.

His other brother, Karl (b 1881) was a Hauptmann in the Prussian Foot Guards. He was killed in action at Verdun in 1915. He died a bachelor, though rumours persist of several illegitimate children. Karl was the Golden boy of the family, and served for a time as an adjutant to the Kaiser. He was the most widely travelled of the family, except for Jochim, and it was quietly assumed by the family that there are now younger cousins in various European countries, and maybe even in America.

Jochimm’s sister Gisela (b. 1874) married a wealthy American merchant and moved to New York in 1893, much to the extreme chagrin of the family. She still lives quite comfortably in New York with her husband Reginald Miller, an importer/exporter of good repute. They have three children, Donald, 26, Richard, 22, and Vivian, 18. Donald works in the family business (Miller Import / Export), Richard is reading economics at Boston College, and Vivien is finishing her secondary education at a private girl's boarding school in the Hamptons.

Jochim's associates come in three basic flavours. The first being Jochim's school buddies. Jochim went to school at an elite private military academy, which housed many of the children of the nation's elite. These are working their way to high office in post-war Germany...

Hans Markgraf von Schirach is the chief undersecretary to the German ambassador to Great Britain. He is the ambassador's troubleshooter. He is very able, very knowledgeable, and very discreet, with contacts throughout the diplomatic community in London. He has served in the diplomatic corps for 12 years.

Viktor von Kluck is part of the German reparations liasion group formed after the war. He is one of the team responsible for repatriating and helping German colonists in East Africa. He is a veteran of the European theater in the War.

Doktor und Professor Bernhard Hulsen is an elderly Professor of Anthropology and Archaeology who taught for a time at Jochim's school, and was one of Jochim's favourite teachers. Disillusioned with the war and with modern society, he has gone back into the field, and may be found anywhere where there is an ancient site to be dug up.


The Second Group is of Jochim's service friends. Prior to his secondment to East Africa in 1913, Jochim served as a junior officer with the 1st Prussian Foot Guard Regiment from 1903 on.

Oberstleutnant Gregor van Meenen. The son of Dutch immigrants to Germany, van Meenen earned his way into the 1st Regiment of foot guards through sheer merit. He rose from Oberleutnant to Oberstleutnant during the war. He spent much of 1919 seconded to the Freikrops and fighting communist uprisings. With the settling of the situation in Germany, van Meenen has been moved to the Army historical section in Berlin, which is a cover for the General Staff.

Wolf-Heinrich Graf von Helldorf was somewhat damaged by the war, where he served on the Western Front throughout. He has placed his considerable estates in trust, and gone wandering in the Orient searching for inner truth. He may be found anywhere in the East, either looking for inner peace, supporting a warlord (or peasant band) or simply spending his money in an opium den...

The third group is composed of those Jochim met in East Africa.

William Overton is an American big-game hunter and general adventurer who operates out of San Francisco. He is a larger than life figure who never does anything by halves.
Dieter Diebitsch is a former German magnate who owned extensive holdings in German East Africa. He lot all of these during the war, and is currently living on somewhat reduced (though still comfortable) means in Hamburg. He is very knowledgeable on business matters throughout the world.

He has also kept in touch with his faithful sergeant, Otto Schultz.

Baldur Strachwitz is the property manager of Jochim's holdings in Germany. He operates out of Berlin, but oversees the remainder of the family estates. His family has served the von Holletal-Furchtbergs for many years.

Enno Kluge is Jochim's financial manager for his German and European investments. He operates out of Hamburg with the investment firm Kluge and Bierstein..

Jonathan Littlefield is Jochin's overseas investment manager, with the London banking firm of MacDowell, MacTaggart, and Chisholm. He oversees Jochim's American, Asian, and British investments. Jochim is very diversified.



Tom Cranston – labourer – (John)
Ag d8, Sm d4, Sp d6, St d10, Vg d10,
Pace 6, Parry 6, Toughness 8
Skills: Fighting d8, Shooting d8, Notice d6, Stealth d4, Riding d4, Throwing d4, Knowledge ( Farmin’) d10, healing d4, Repair d4, Survival d4,
Edges: Quick, Brawny, Fast Hearler
Hindrances: Illiterate, Loyal, Quirk (Depressed – over the loss of his wife), Heroic
Gear: Work Clothes, Shovel (Str+d6, -1 to hit), Lee Enfield Rifle (Range: 24/48/96, ROF 1, Damage: 2d8, AP: 2)

Tom Cranston is 25 years old (in 1920). He is a fair shot but primarily has done farm labouring and some coal mining.

He joined up in 1914 at the onset of the Great War. Despite bring recruited by a militia cavalry unit (The Saskatchewan Light Horse) he served throughout the war as an infantryman in the 5th Canadian Overseas Battalion (Western Cavalry). He saw action at Ypres, the Somme, Vimy Ridge, Passchendale, Cambrai, Amiens, Arras, Canal du Nord, Valenciennes, and Mons. Despite his experience he never made it past corporal on account of not being able to read.

During leave in England in 1916 after the battles in the Somme he met the love of his life and promised her he would return and marry her after the war. He kept his promise and in March of 1919 the couple wed. A few short months later, however, his wife died in during the influenza epidemic.

Tom remains relatively close to his father-in-law (and mother-in-law) and has worked in the coalmine with him. Tom did not see a future for himself as a coal miner, so he has left to travel, doing odd jobs here and there.

Tom’s parents are both still alive and live on the family farm in Saskatchewan, Canada. Tom’s father, born in Canada, was the son of Scottish immigrants. His mother came from the Ukraine around 1881 as a teenager with her parents.

Tom had four siblings:
An older brother Louis, he will be inheriting the farm from our parents, he is married with two children
An older brother, Chris, he is married with one child,
An older brother, William, he is married with one child
A younger sister, Sarah, she is married and is expecting, her husband Andrew is a farmer as well


....and the rest of the crew...? Well hopefully we'll get some backgrounds from them soon. maybe I'll have to enforce the "no bennies until you have sent me a character background rule..."