The Baron Sarkozy's address book

[subplotkudzu]

So far my efforts for 2010 games have been for the CFalk game "An Invitation...should you choose to accept it", because it is an easier system in a lot of ways, which means I have time for it right now during a busy period at work. To date I have four of the five primary characters in place, and some noodling around secondary characters - the players will be given the equivalent of Jim Phelps' "Tape Scene" well before the session, so they can decide if their secondary character would provide more to the party for this month's problem then their primary - my way of making sure that one of the players get left out of the action while leaving room for the Mission Impossible concept of Guest Stars with specialized talents.

The characters to date are:
Rachel will be playing the team's Cinnamon Carter character, a minor Swiss Noblewoman (rationality munchkinly chosen to give her fluency in French, German and Italian; my wife, I could kiss her) of breathtaking beauty and charm, with a solid education and acting ability. We're still looking either for a name or for some character from history or Victorian Era fiction whom she could be. (anyone with any suggestions of such Swiss characters, please provide them)

Heather is playing Juju, a Phooka with the ability to take the form of a cat. This lets her play both of the Mission Impossible half niches of Cat Burglar and "Big Strong Scary Looking Guy" as CFalk Phookas have exceptional fisticuffs combined with great physique and athletics. Juju is specifically the prepetually lost cat from Connie Willis' "To Say Nothing of the Dog"

Diane is playing an escaped Tunisian slave who happens to be a technological genius. This gives is the all important Ubiquitous Black Engineer.

Jim is playing Charles-Marie David de Mayrena, before he became King Marie I of Sedang. Blessed with an astounding gift for blarney and staggering ability to inspire leadership, he plays the team face man - this could be either the Rollin hand or Jim Phelps role, depending on whther Tom's character ends up as a master of disguise.

I'm still waiting on Tom's character.

Possible secondary characters are Rachel playing a Marie Curie style female scientist with deep skill and dripping with gravitas (to convince the mark that whatever story the team is selling is legitimate), Heather considering a retired spy turned strict Governess and and Jim possibly playing Axel Lidenbrock from Voyage to the Center of the Earth.

So far the team is shaping up nicely.

Comments

[whswhs.livejournal.com]

Sarah Bernhardt was born in 1844, but unfortunately she was French, not Swiss.

It's a bit odd, though, for a noblewoman of any country to appear on the stage. I think her family would disown her. Actresses had their admirers, but they were also still figures of scandal.

What's the campaign year?

[cmdr-zoom.livejournal.com]

Be sure to have a scene where your Ubiquitous Black Engineer is in a crawl space, engineering something.

Makings of a great game

[smalley-smoot.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a great team for the adventure. Wish I lived close enough to play! Have fun with it.

[brianrogers.livejournal.com]

To be clear, Rachel's character has a Good Perform and is therefore a creditable actress, but she has never done so professionally. No I'm not looking for Swiss actresses, but pretty much any Swiss female in the time period from real life or literature (other than Heidi).

The year is 1870, but in the CFalk fluid chronology that doesn't mean too much. I had been hoping for a 16-17 year old Irene Adler, but that didn't catch Rachel's attention.

[(Anonymous)]

The Frankenstein family were Swiss in Mary Shelley's novel. Perhaps Rachel's character is a collateral relative of the unfortunate Modern Prometheus?

[brianrogers.livejournal.com]

naaah, Rachel read an utterly atrocious novel about Elizabeth Frankenstein once and it utterly soured her on the family.

She has settled on being on the daughter of General Guillaume Henri Dufour (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume_Henri_Dufour), Swiss general, bridge designer and a founder of the Red Cross. That seems a plausible enough family for someone in this line of work.