I have been reading Dashiell Hammett again. This time Red Harvest. A really great story and always inspires me. I love the ‘Noir’ style and I have this itch to play a cyberpunk game with a hard boiled detective in a Sam Spade or Raymond Chandlers Philip Marlow style.

I am running a solo Lowlife 2090 cyberpunk and sorcery game featuring the characters Weasel and Kid Sinister, I tried to give it that Noir vibe but for some reason, possibly me, it just didn’t seem to work. Maybe City without Number would be a better bet for a campaign based around a hardboiled private dick character. I intend to continue with my Lowlife 2090 adventure, once its finished I may turn my attention to a new City without Number game.

In my head I have two characters, one male one female maybe with a number of sidekicks, a little like J K Rowlinh’s Comoran Strike novels. With that in mind lets create the male protagonist.

Step 1, Attributes.
rolling 3d6 6 times I get – Str: 7, Dex: 16, Con: 10, Int: 9, Wis:13, Cha: 9
I can change one attribute to 14, so Str is now 14.
Final attributes are
Str 14 (+1)
Dex 16 (+1)
Con 10 (0)
Int 9 (0)
Wis 13 (+1)
Cha 9 (0)

Step 2, Background.
I could roll randomly on the background table but I decide my Private Detective was once Corp Security, (muscle for a local corp).
As such he gets a Free Skill, Shoot-0. I also give him the quick skills Notice-0 & Exert-0.

Step 3. Contacts.
I give my detective two acquaintances. Rolling on the example contacts table and Start of the relationship table twice I get

Popular drug dealer – Learned embarrassing facts about them.
Security Officer working for a specific corp – Highly attracted to you.

Step 4. Edges.
I pick Face and Hard to Kill as the two edges for my private dick.

Step 5. Foci.

I give him ‘Deadeye’ so he gains shoot as a bonus skill (now shoot-1)

Step 6. Hit Points.
My private detective rolls 6. He gets 0 Con bonus but +2 from the ‘Hard to Kill’ Edge so HP = 8

Step 7. Attack Bonus
Normal Attack Bonus 0, On Target Attack Bonus +1

Step 8. Saves.
Physical 15+
Evasion 15+
Mental 15+
Luck 15+

Step 8 Starting Gear.
He has the following –
Light Pistol.
3 magazines and 45 cartridges.
Reinforced clothing.
Knife.
Smartphone (basic)
Clothing (fashionable)
$125

Step 9.
Free bonus skill Punch-0
Name Ru Wires
wants revenge against the corp. he once worked for.

And thats my basic character. Ru Wires the Private Detective.