Jurgi Deathbringer

Last week, I mentioned Jurgi Deathbringer. I think this week, I'll describe him in more detail.

As I said, Jurgi was a Werewolf character. I wrote him when my gaming group tried to use the pack rules for the first time, but chose a pack totem without waiting for me to get home from work. In a fit of anger, I tried to show them how stupid it is to play combat monsters. So I wrote the most min-maxed character I could.

He was an ahroun (the warrior caste) from the Get of Fenris tribe (the most savage, bloodthirsty, and warlike tribe there is, as well as one of the most arrogant). I maxed out his physical stats, gave him the lowest possible intelligence score, and then put all his social points into his appearance. Then I took the flaw "Hideous," which reduced his appearance to zero, resulting in a socially inept monster.

All his skill points went to combat abilities. All his gifts were combat optimised. And I gave him a hatred of every other were-creature that existed. My hope was the other players would see how ridiculous a character like this actually was, and start playing more realistic characters in the future.

My plan backfired.

They loved Jurgi. They thought he was hilarious. I only remember playing him once or twice, and I don't even remember any of the details of those sessions. But after that, he took on a life of his own.

John's character in that game was Howls at Hells, a bizarre character whose most memorable feature was his ongoing rivalry with a mummy. The mummy had once blinded Howls at Hells by replacing his eyes with burning coals. Howls at Hells had left the coals in his eye sockets, so that when it rained, he appeared to be crying thick black tears. Howls at Hells became fond of Jurgi for some reason. Later, when John GMed, he would often use Howls at Hells and Jurgi Deathbringer as NPCs.

Somewhere along the line (I think probably as a result of his name), Jurgi picked up a ludicrious accent that resembled the Muppets' Swedish Chef: Unicorn says I must heal him. Who must I heal?

My most vivid memory of Jurgi is when another character I was running encountered him and Howls at Hells. They had knocked on our door, and when we answered, Jurgi said, "I am Jurgi Deathbringer, Modi of the Get of Fenris." Howls at Hells snapped, "Don't say that, you idiot!" Jurgi answered, "Why not? It's my name." Howls at Hells put his head in his hand, sighed, and without looking up, said, "Look, Jurgi. A weresquirrel." Jurgi said, "Weresquirrel? I must kill it." And off he went...

I don't really know what the point of this is. But it was an interesting story, I thought. So now you're stuck with it.

But there it is, the story of Jurgi Deathbringer. I hope it was at least mildly interesting. But either way, I'll see you again her next time. Until then,

Game on!