155 points
Age 37; Human; 6’2″; 190
ST 10 [0]; DX 12 [40]; IQ 12 [40]; HT 11 [10].
Damage 1d-2/1d; BL 20 lbs.; HP 10 [0]; Will 12 [0]; Per 12 [0]; FP 11 [0].
Basic Speed 6 [0]; Basic Move 6 [0]; Block 7 (DX); Dodge 9; Parry 9 (DX).
Social Background
TL: 8 [0].
CF: American
Languages: ASL (Native) [3]; English (Native) [0]; Spanish (Accented) [4].
Advantages
Charisma 2 [10]; Extra Basic Speed (+0.25) (Affects Speed) [5]; Fit [5]; Smooth Operator 2 [30].
Perks: Style Familiarity (T’ai Chi) [1].
Disadvantages
Addiction (Tobacco) (Cheap) (Highly addictive; Legal) [-5]; Charitable (12 or less) [-15]; Chummy [-5]; Honesty (12 or less) [-10]; Odious Personal Habit (“Dirty Hippy”) [-5]; Pacifism (Reluctant Killer) [-5]; Reputation (Actor whose career imploded after a statutory rape charge) -1 (All the time; Almost everyone) [-5]; Unluckiness [-10]; Workaholic [-5].
Quirks: Considers himself an atheist, but deep down, he really isn’t.; Easily flustered when dealing with Young Women (15-22 years old) due to The Incident.; Has been working on his Great American Novel for 10 years. And it still kind of sucks.; Incompetence (Writing); Is constantly trying to stop smoking. [-5].
Skills
Acting-15 (IQ+3) [4]; Animal Handling (Equines)-11 (IQ-1) [1]; Armoury/TL8 (Small Arms)-11 (IQ-1) [1]; Autohypnosis-10 (Will-2) [1]; Bicycling-12 (DX+0) [1]; Boating/TL8 (Sailboat)-11 (DX-1) [1]; Body Language (Human)-11 (Per-1) [1]; Bow-11 (DX-1) [1]; Brawling-12 (DX+0) [1]; Breath Control-10 (HT-1) [2]; Broadsword Art-11 (DX-1) [1]; Carousing-13 (HT+2) [1]; Carpentry-12 (IQ+0) [1]; Climbing-11 (DX-1) [1]; Cooking-11 (IQ-1) [1]; Detect Lies-12 (Per+0) [1]; Diplomacy-13 (IQ+1) [2]; Disguise/TL8 (Human)-11 (IQ-1) [1]; Driving/TL8 (Automobile)-11 (DX-1) [1]; Driving/TL8 (Construction Equipment)-11 (DX-1) [1]; Driving/TL8 (Motorcycle)-11 (DX-1) [1]; Electronics Operation/TL8 (Surveillance)-11 (IQ-1) [1]; Electronics Repair/TL8 (Surveillance)-11 (IQ-1) [1]; Fast-Draw/TL8 (Ammo)-12 (DX+0) [1]; Fast-Talk-13 (IQ+1) [1]; First Aid/TL8 (Human)-12 (IQ+0) [1]; Fishing-12 (Per+0) [1]; Forced Entry-12 (DX+0) [1]; Gambling-11 (IQ-1) [1]; Gesture-12 (IQ+0) [1]; Gunner/TL8 (Machine Gun)-12 (DX+0) [1]; Guns/TL8 (Pistol)-12 (DX+0) [1]; Guns/TL8 (Rifle)-12 (DX+0) [1]; Guns/TL8 (Shotgun)-12 (DX+0) [1]; Hiking-10 (HT-1) [1]; History (United States)-10 (IQ-2) [1]; Judo Art-11 (DX-1) [2]; Knife Art-12 (DX+0) [1]; Knot-Tying-12 (DX+0) [1]; Lasso Art-11 (DX-1) [1]; Law (American Criminal Justice)-10 (IQ-2) [1]; Leadership-15 (IQ+3) [1]; Leatherworking-12 (DX+0) [1]; Lifting-10 (HT-1) [1]; Lip Reading-11 (Per-1) [1]; Meditation-10 (Will-2) [1]; Piloting/TL8 (Helicopter)-11 (DX-1) [1]; Piloting/TL8 (Light Airplane)-11 (DX-1) [1]; Prospecting/TL8-11 (IQ-1) [1]; Psychology (Human)-10 (IQ-2) [1]; Public Speaking-15 (IQ+3) [1]; Religious Ritual (Abrahamic)-10 (IQ-2) [1]; Riding (Equines)-11 (DX-1) [1]; Running-10 (HT-1) [1]; Savoir-Faire (Dojo)-14 (IQ+2) [1]; Savoir-Faire (High Society)-14 (IQ+2) [1]; Savoir-Faire (Police)-14 (IQ+2) [1]; Scrounging-12 (Per+0) [1]; Search-11 (Per-1) [1]; Sex Appeal (Human)-12 (HT+1) [1]; Singing-12 (HT+1) [2]; Spear Art-11 (DX-1) [1]; Staff Art-11 (DX-1) [1]; Stealth-11 (DX-1) [1]; Swimming-12 (HT+1) [2]; Theology (Scientology)-10 (IQ-2) [1]; Throwing-11 (DX-1) [1]; Wrestling Sport-11 (DX-1) [1]; Writing-7 (IQ-5) [1].
Background
Born in 1976 in Los Angeles, California, John Robert Wayne grew up with the bright lights of Hollywood always in his eyes. From a very early age, he wanted to be an actor and pressured his parents to facilitate this.
In 1985, at the age of 9, “John Cromartie” (he used his mother’s maiden name as his stage name, since he couldn’t go by John Wayne, could he?) got his start in show business as the precocious younger brother of [ACTOR] on the CBS sitcom, “Family Pains” which would run for four seasons despite being roundly (and rightly) accused of CBS attempt to emulate the similarly named Family Ties (NBC) and Growing Pains (ABC). In the third year, he was nominated for an Emmy, but lost out to Michael J. Fox. Finally, in 1989, “Family Pains” was canceled due to low ratings.
Now 13, John was in the difficult place of being too old to be considered a “child” actor, but not yet mature enough to be considered a “real” actor. He spent the next four years making guest appearances on various television shows that principally aired on CBS.
Finally, in 1993, at the age of 17, John got a big break when he landed the lead role in Bobby Wincott surprise hit, “Another Day in Paradise.” By every standard, he should have been considered a break-out star following his excellent portrayal of young con artist, Rudolph “Rudy” Hamilton, but due to Hollywood politics, he was overlooked by all of the major studios and “Another Day in Paradise” received none of the accolades it deserved. John would consider Wincott a close friend for the rest of his life.
Angry but refusing to give up his dream, John spent the next ten years building a quiet reputation as a solid character actor, but he kept failing to get that Big Break. As film opportunities became progressively more difficult to land, Cromartie turned back to television and spent the early 2000s appearing on various niche TV shows, such as “Star Trek: Enterprise,” “Stargate SG-1” and “Farscape” … although in many instances, he was buried under layers of prosthetics and thus unrecognizable. He also starred in a string of low budget movies produced by various film companies, including the now infamous “Zombie Apokalypse” franchise which is, sadly, the role John is most associated with.
John became involved in Habitat for Humanity in 2004 and spent the next three years as one of their celebrity spokesmen.
In 2006, at the age of 30, he was cast by Zack Snyder for the role of Spartan soldier Dilios in the action film. 300, but he broke his left leg while helping one of the Habitat for Humanity houses and was forced to drop out of the project. Snyder, who was still fond of Cromartie, planned on bringing him back to star as Adrian Veidt in the adaptation of “Watchmen” … but an unexpected and unfortunate calamity in John’s life forced Snyder to withdraw the offer. That event would seriously and negatively impact John’s life for some time after.
While working with Habitat for Humanity in 2008, John met a young woman named Ginnifer with whom he very instantly was entranced by. He and Ginnifer went out on several dates, and John thought life was finally turning up. Naturally, it was at this point that he learned Ginnifer was not 18, but rather a very well-developed and mature 15. Even worse, her uncle was a Republican representative of Colorado who was trailing in the polls and needed something to rail against. He chose to make public the “corruption” of his innocent niece by a godless Hollywood actor (which was completely inaccurate, as Ginnifer actually pursued John, not the other way around.) At Representative Walker (R-CO) urging, California opened a criminal investigation into John Cromartie. To John’s surprise, he was charged with statutory rape and spent several weeks in jail. For that entire time, he was one of the main topics of the news as Representative Walker (R-CO) rode this particular mess straight to re-election.
And then, “mysteriously,” all charges were dropped. John’s career was permanently tainted.
Borderline suicidal, John fell into a deep depression and it was only due to Bobby Wincott stepping in and convincing Cromartie to visit his (Wincott’s) Wyoming ranch that John did not suffer an overdose. John spent the next three years at the ranch, but at Wincott’s behest, finally began reaching out for new roles. This led him to “After the End” and his role as “The Postman.”