Retired: 3rd Lieutenant Nigel Wilcox

Tonight my friend Jonathan ran the finale game for Man of War III, a Napoleonic-era British Navy role-playing game. It was the culmination of a ten-year arc of three campaigns (Man of War I, II and III), tying up loose story ends and officially retiring the game. It was a very enjoyable game, especially because Jonathan always did a lot of research into historical events, ships, military, etc., to set the tone for the game (truth be told most of the players are history buffs anyhow).

There were ship battles, espionage, trading, diplomacy, blowing up those darn Frenchies and more…

Anyhow, my character is now retired as a result. Nigel was made back in 2006? Something like that. I can remember going over to Jonathan’s house, eating with him, his wife Tracey and one of the other players Mark, trying to figure out what kind of character I could make for the game. We chatted back and forth, and eventually came up with the idea of a highly patriotic Englishman who was in the East India Company. The war with the French roused him so much that he left his position within the company to join his majesty’s navy. He got build up a bit more from there, including a rivalry with his former friend/captain from the East India Company… their animosity was started over a woman, and only got worse when Wilcox joined the navy.

Amazingly enough, Jonathan actually brought that background up into the game, with a month or two’s worth of games (every other week) actually having Wilcox’s rival, Captain Nichols, as an important character for what we were doing at the point. Aaaah, that stank for me :p

But, he went from being an “old” midshipman to being 3rd Lieutenant! Not too bad :)

The various “chickens” I would run after when on shore would generally be him catching up on news, finding side work translating, negotiating better supply rates, etc. Granted, it was a bit hard to develop much side stories when there’s over 10 players involved!

Anyhow, for those so inclined… this is in HERO System 5th edition. For the stats, 6-10 is average, 11-13 is skilled/trained, 14-20 being getting pretty up there with some gifted and dedicated folks. Aaah, stat inflation ;)

Nigel Wilcox

19 Str	20 Dex	18 Con	15 Body	18 Int
11 Ego	18 Pre	12 Com	OCV 7	DCV 7
8 PD	4 ED	4 Spd	7 Recovery	32 Stun
6” Run	2” Swim	3” Leap
Str 13-	Dex 13-	Con 13-	Ego 11-	Per 13-

Disadvantages:

• 10 - Psych. Lim.: Patriotic (common, moderate)
• 5 – Rivalry: Professional (merchant captain, rival is as powerful, seeks to outdo, embarrass or humiliate rival, rival aware of rivalry)

Skills:

• Weapon Element Blades, Empty Hand
• Martial Strike
• Offensive Strike
• Midshipman’s Package
• Military Rank: Midshipman
• Technical Familiarity: Water Vehicles
• Navigation 15-
• Tactics 13-
• Climbing 13-
• Protocol/Etiquette 13-
• Knowledge Skill: Mathematics 14-
• Weapon Familiarity: 17th century firearms
• Weapon Familiarity: Blades
• Gunnery 15-
• Bribery 13-
• Bureaucratics 14-
• Concealment 14-
• Persuasion 14-
• Stealth 13-
• Trading 15-
• Linguist
• English (completely fluent, literate, native)
• French (fluent, conversation)
• Hindi (fluent, conversation)
• Spanish (native level, conversation, literate)
• Arabic (fluent)
• Portuguese (fluent, literate)
• Italian (fluent, literate)
• Russian (fluent)
• Turkish (fluent)
• +2 with Navigation, Tactics, and Signalling
• +1 Overall level
• Riding 13-
• Conversation 13-
• High Society 14-
• Epicurean 15-

Due to money in personal savings, investments, and the prize money for helping seize a 64-gun ship he has £3,142. I’m not sure what the annual pay was for a lieutenant, but I think it was £100 a year?