Basic Information
"That fop with the English Accent." This fairly rare Western Character is an upper-crust second (or later) son of an English lord with no prospect of inheriting the title (or estate). He's been sent off to the Americas to get him out of the way. Usually given a small allowance (the "remittance"), not sufficient to support him in the way he is accustomed. Unfortunately, he also has an aversion to "working in trade" ingrained from his upbringing, and he's not used to manual labor.
Often combined with other Western Character Tropes:
* Allows for a different version of the City Slicker, more "civilized", more condescending, and generally just as incompetent.
* Could also be a drunken wastrel with no visible means of support (except for that allowance).
* Might be the Meek Townsman, clearly perturbed and paranoid about his own money, but powerless to do anything to ensure his own safety.
* Often allied to the Cattle Baron (may be the money-man or at least represent "the money", or be the "manager").
* In Canadian versions of the The Wild West, might be the local "Mountie" (a fairly common job for them).
Sources
Game and Story Use
- Good starting point for a Fish Out Of Water PC, especially one with a high charisma who serves as The Face for the party.
- May also just serve as a way for the GM to justify a single English accent in a Wild West setting, so that his NPCs don't all blend together into a mish-mash conglomeration of southern drawls and frontier slang.
- The Remittance Man is not found only in a Western setting; he also turns up in Africa, in Asian colonial ports and on South Sea islands. Anyplace where there's plenty of cheap trade gin and little chance of embarrassing his family and friends back home.
- If he's located in a remote British Colony, it's possible he might have a low-level management position in a British company, or perhaps even a colonial government office; but probably the only people he has authority over are natives.
- In such a situation, he might "go native" himself, or at least be considered to have gone native by his more respectable peers.