The Grifter
Finally! The face man! Sophie as a boy!
There is something in the American collective psyche that just waits to be suckered, cheated and scammed out of every last penny. It's the idea that wealth is potentially out there for everyone. You just need to work hard, throw away timidity and be ready when opportunity knocks.
Johnny Gabrowski will swear that it's true. And you will believe him. Johnny's a grifter.
Johnny grew up the son of a grifter. Of course dad didn't call himself that. No, he was a preacher for a small but thriving church in Big Timber, Montana. Dad preached brimstone and sweet forgiveness, he did a bit of faith healing, some home visits. He never paid for a thing in his adult life.
Johnny was a smart kid, and quickly saw what his father was doing. Dad wanted Johnny to follow in his footsteps, but the young man thought it was too confining. He wanted to see the world. He also did not want to live his life handcuffed to conservative Christianity. Y'see by 16 Johnny was pretty sure that he was gay, and staying in Big Timber pretty much meant keeping that a deep secret.
He travelled through the Midwest doing short cons, often with a religious flavor. He did the Spanish prisoner, collecting money for missionaries jailed in godless China, he 'made rain', and even on one occasion sold the long-lost (and never made) Russian icon ”Abraham's Hospitality”. No one could resist that handsome, earnest face. Life was good.
Johnny hung around university campuses for a few years, just for fun. People were fun, and it was easy to take a bit of their money. Not all of it though. He'd always part ways with people on amicable terms.
Johnny considered enrolling, but couldn't really find something he'd like to study.
It was a chance encounter with a guy in a bar in Hopewell, Maryland that lead to Johnny's encounter with the darkness on the edge of town (to use Vance Burke's Springsteenism). This guy claimed to be part of a group of chosen ones, 'wolves among the sheep'.
At first Johnny was pretty sure that the guy (”George, no last name”) was hitting on him in a new and creepy way, but as he got George talking, he realized that there was something to it. George was part of some creepy sect or cult. Religious people, even creepy ones, were people Johnny knew how to deal with. George seemed to have a fair amount of money (”the right of the predator”), and by God, Johnny would take him for every penny.
It did not take Johnny long to convince George that he was prime material for his cult of serial killer wannabees. A few stories about beating up whores and torturing animals, and it was as good as done. George was a creep and there was more like him at home. This could be a Ponzi scheme for the truly deserving.
He met with the other cult members. Scary people all, and luckily entirely wrapped up in their idea of being a superior sub-species of humanity. Johnny had no problem suggesting a field trip, a 'great culling' in Reno, Nevada (”a hive of weakness”). Then they did something they had never done before. They introduced a newcomer to the High Lord.
The High Lord was a creature. A machine-corpse thing with a face full of knifes and surrounded by rotting concubines dancing on rusted cog wheels. It beckoned to Johnny. It wanted to kiss him with its impaled lips. The roar of its distant engine was an imperative refklected in the eyes of all the cultists. They grabbed for Johnny to offer him up as a plaything for the High Lord.
He ran. He jumped on a Grayhound bus. Then, after he stopped shaking and biting his nails to the quick, Johnny got angry. These were sick FUCKS. Monsters in a real way, and these monsters thought that he was another meal.
When Johnny got off the bus he made an anonymous phone call. Later he read that a suspected terrorist cell had been apprehended.
When Vance Burke contacted Johnny, Vance was surprised to find Johnny to be completely ready and on the ball.
Johnny is a man in his mid to late twenties. He has an easy smile and a face that is handsome and honest. He's also a driven man. That anger from the night in the Grayhound bus has not left him, and he is often the driving force behind carrying on with the job, even when things look desperately bleak.
ROLES
Grifter: d10
Hacker: d6
Hitter: d4
Mastermind: d4
Thief: d8
ATTRIBUTES
Agility: d8
Alertness: d8
Intelligence: d10
Strength: d6
Vitality: d6
Willpower: d10
Distinctions: Honest face, Ready to go too far, Stay on target.
Specialities: Religious societies (Grifter), Runner (Thief)
Talents:
Slip of the Tongue
You use the Mark’s words against him like a judo master.
Role: Grifter
Activation: You’re rolling your Grifter die in a Face Action that involves speaking to the Mark or Supporting Character, and the Fixer gives you one or more Opportunities.
Effect: You may ask the Fixer a question about the character you’re rolling against, which the Fixer must answer truthfully. The Fixer may answer vaguely, especially if the question requests finely detailed information (“What’s his Swiss bank account number?”).
Wanna Buy a Watch?
You’re good at crude, street-level cons. Inelegant, but petty criminals pull this stuff for a reason-it works.
Role: Grifter
Activation: You’re pulling a basic scam on someone: false-injury, 3-card-monte, pig-in-a-poke type cons. Pulling the functional equivalent as part of a more elaborate Job on a Mark counts.
Effect: You gain an extra d6 on the roll, assuming you’re targeting an allegedly sophisticated and savvy Mark not in a street setting. If it is a straight-up street con, it’s a d8 rather than d6.
There is something in the American collective psyche that just waits to be suckered, cheated and scammed out of every last penny. It's the idea that wealth is potentially out there for everyone. You just need to work hard, throw away timidity and be ready when opportunity knocks.
Johnny Gabrowski will swear that it's true. And you will believe him. Johnny's a grifter.
Johnny grew up the son of a grifter. Of course dad didn't call himself that. No, he was a preacher for a small but thriving church in Big Timber, Montana. Dad preached brimstone and sweet forgiveness, he did a bit of faith healing, some home visits. He never paid for a thing in his adult life.
Johnny was a smart kid, and quickly saw what his father was doing. Dad wanted Johnny to follow in his footsteps, but the young man thought it was too confining. He wanted to see the world. He also did not want to live his life handcuffed to conservative Christianity. Y'see by 16 Johnny was pretty sure that he was gay, and staying in Big Timber pretty much meant keeping that a deep secret.
He travelled through the Midwest doing short cons, often with a religious flavor. He did the Spanish prisoner, collecting money for missionaries jailed in godless China, he 'made rain', and even on one occasion sold the long-lost (and never made) Russian icon ”Abraham's Hospitality”. No one could resist that handsome, earnest face. Life was good.
Johnny hung around university campuses for a few years, just for fun. People were fun, and it was easy to take a bit of their money. Not all of it though. He'd always part ways with people on amicable terms.
Johnny considered enrolling, but couldn't really find something he'd like to study.
It was a chance encounter with a guy in a bar in Hopewell, Maryland that lead to Johnny's encounter with the darkness on the edge of town (to use Vance Burke's Springsteenism). This guy claimed to be part of a group of chosen ones, 'wolves among the sheep'.
At first Johnny was pretty sure that the guy (”George, no last name”) was hitting on him in a new and creepy way, but as he got George talking, he realized that there was something to it. George was part of some creepy sect or cult. Religious people, even creepy ones, were people Johnny knew how to deal with. George seemed to have a fair amount of money (”the right of the predator”), and by God, Johnny would take him for every penny.
It did not take Johnny long to convince George that he was prime material for his cult of serial killer wannabees. A few stories about beating up whores and torturing animals, and it was as good as done. George was a creep and there was more like him at home. This could be a Ponzi scheme for the truly deserving.
He met with the other cult members. Scary people all, and luckily entirely wrapped up in their idea of being a superior sub-species of humanity. Johnny had no problem suggesting a field trip, a 'great culling' in Reno, Nevada (”a hive of weakness”). Then they did something they had never done before. They introduced a newcomer to the High Lord.
The High Lord was a creature. A machine-corpse thing with a face full of knifes and surrounded by rotting concubines dancing on rusted cog wheels. It beckoned to Johnny. It wanted to kiss him with its impaled lips. The roar of its distant engine was an imperative refklected in the eyes of all the cultists. They grabbed for Johnny to offer him up as a plaything for the High Lord.
He ran. He jumped on a Grayhound bus. Then, after he stopped shaking and biting his nails to the quick, Johnny got angry. These were sick FUCKS. Monsters in a real way, and these monsters thought that he was another meal.
When Johnny got off the bus he made an anonymous phone call. Later he read that a suspected terrorist cell had been apprehended.
When Vance Burke contacted Johnny, Vance was surprised to find Johnny to be completely ready and on the ball.
Johnny is a man in his mid to late twenties. He has an easy smile and a face that is handsome and honest. He's also a driven man. That anger from the night in the Grayhound bus has not left him, and he is often the driving force behind carrying on with the job, even when things look desperately bleak.
ROLES
Grifter: d10
Hacker: d6
Hitter: d4
Mastermind: d4
Thief: d8
ATTRIBUTES
Agility: d8
Alertness: d8
Intelligence: d10
Strength: d6
Vitality: d6
Willpower: d10
Distinctions: Honest face, Ready to go too far, Stay on target.
Specialities: Religious societies (Grifter), Runner (Thief)
Talents:
Slip of the Tongue
You use the Mark’s words against him like a judo master.
Role: Grifter
Activation: You’re rolling your Grifter die in a Face Action that involves speaking to the Mark or Supporting Character, and the Fixer gives you one or more Opportunities.
Effect: You may ask the Fixer a question about the character you’re rolling against, which the Fixer must answer truthfully. The Fixer may answer vaguely, especially if the question requests finely detailed information (“What’s his Swiss bank account number?”).
Wanna Buy a Watch?
You’re good at crude, street-level cons. Inelegant, but petty criminals pull this stuff for a reason-it works.
Role: Grifter
Activation: You’re pulling a basic scam on someone: false-injury, 3-card-monte, pig-in-a-poke type cons. Pulling the functional equivalent as part of a more elaborate Job on a Mark counts.
Effect: You gain an extra d6 on the roll, assuming you’re targeting an allegedly sophisticated and savvy Mark not in a street setting. If it is a straight-up street con, it’s a d8 rather than d6.