Basic Information
The Agent Scully is an investigator who has Scully Syndrome. The Scully is the skeptic taken to extremes. They won't believe in the supernatural, regardless of how much proof is dangled before their eyes.
Generally, the Agent Scully is used as a foil or challenge for a decidedly less skeptical character (either an Agent Mulder, or just someone who's seen one specific supernatural phenomena first hand) to have to deal with. Sometimes they are also a teammate or sidekick of the Agent Mulder. In other cases, they just act as a Corrupt Bureaucrat or other hurdle for other characters to overcome.
Related Tropes
See Also:
Sources
Game and Story Use
- Often paired up with an Agent Mulder character who believes in everything. This then typically results in humor, arguments, sexual tension, or all of the above.
- It's very hard to play this character in a setting where everyone knows there's monsters and magic.
- I've had some recent experience with someone playing a delusional character elf that refused to believe in magic, but even accepting that the character was insane, it still was a poor match to the fantasy genre. She did a great job of playing it, but it still made in-character conversations about tactics, dangers, and treasure really difficult. Eventually, after a party member was literally turned to stone before this PCs eyes, the player decided to buy off the flaw. She exchanged it for a new-found obsessive fascination with magic, which is a fun transformation to see.
Building This Character
Level:
- The Scully can come at a variety of power levels, depending on the needs of the story.
- The sidekick and clueless deputy versions tend to be low-level, or at least narrowly built.
- A lone Agent Scully, or one heading an investigation, is probably medium- to high-level.
Attributes:
- The focus of the Agent Scully is usually on Mental Traits and investigative skills.
- However, you have some flexibility in terms of character creation. See variants, below.
Skills:
- Forensics and Evidence Collection.
- Police Procedures in general
- Interviewing or Interrogation or Intimidation
- Possibly Tracking or Shadowing
- Probably marksmanship or unarmed combat
- Some hard science - typically one field of expertise, such as Biology or Physics, the study of which taught them to be skeptical about things you can't prove.
Variants:
- The Scully can be very charismatic, or a real jerk. Adjust Social Traits and investigative skills to match.
- They might have very high Physical Traits, or be a clumsy buffoon - see also Clueless Deputy.
- The Scully may be a part of the very Conspiracy they are constantly saying doesn't exist. In this case, you'll need levels of Deception, Persuasion, and Bureaucracy, possibly even Forgery, Disguise or Sleight of Hand to cover up. See also MIB for more ideas.