Da Chief
Basic Information
Da Chief is a Police Chief, Police Commissioner, Commanding Officer or other Senior Officer who exists just to be the foil to the Cowboy Cop. As such, they are always strict and by-the-book.
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Sources
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Game and Story Use
- I'd say this character is a walking, talking plot device - but the truth is they don't tend walk much of anywhere. They just sit in their office, and call in the main characters whenever something goes wrong.
- If a cop chases after a crazy lead or inconvenient clue, Da Chief tells them You Have 48 Hours.
- If they do something suspect, or get framed for a crime, or if the cop is involved in a really nasty shooting incident, they're told to Turn In Your Badge.
- Sometimes Internal Affairs will get involved. When this happens, Da Chief will usually defend the Cowboy Cop when said cop isn't around. In front of the cop, however, he'll complain and grouse about how much paperwork this has made, and use it as an excuse to yell at the cop some more.
- At the end of the adventure, though, everything is always fixed, and you get a McCloud Speech.
- If you're looking for a more active or sympathetic police chief, see Commissioner Gordon.
Building This Character
- Da Chief is a little strange. Authority Equals Asskicking, so you'd think they'd be a high-level character. Yet, the character almost never actually does anything, so you can get away with stats just barely above a starting character.
- On the other hand, a more interesting character might be a Retired Badass; a guy who used to be a high-level character until he got kicked upstairs and became an NPC. Harold Inskipp from the Stainless Steel Rat novels is like this.
- From most depictions on TV and movies, you'd think their only skill is Bureaucracy or Police Procedures.
- Presumably, their character sheet includes other skills relevant to their Profession, but you'll never see them get used. They aren't detectives, they're just desk jockeys.
- But it's possible that they used to have these skills; they just hasn't used them in a while. Figure what their skills might have been when they were loudmouth beat cops themselves, knock a bit off of the skill level to reflect a lack of practice and the result might still be good enough to surprise the rookies who mistake them for ineffectual lard-butts.
page revision: 5, last edited: 11 Oct 2009 03:58