By Jacob Busby, (c) 1998
REAL NAME: Thomas Hughes
OCCUPATION: Freelance computer consultant
EDUCATION: Bsc. Comp. Science, MA Comp Science (Cardiff University); Ba. Linguistics (Open University – Home study whilst on DSS)
SPECIALTIES: Computer science, mathematics
BACKGROUND: A Welsh computer whizz, Thomas Hughes was “into” computers by his sixth birthday. At eight he had re-written the machine code in his home computer to make it 60% more efficient than the original product. A talent for both languages and mathematics marked Thomas out as special. Thomas’ genius however often left him feeling out-of-sorts with the other students at his school, a trait which continued to plague him throughout his education, limitting his social skills and leaving him with low self-esteem and little confidence.
Following the end of his university education (Thomas did not feel suited to the realms of academia) Thomas sought gainful employment, but had difficulty holding down a regular job. Whilst his genius was evident, his inability to communicate with other people often left him unpopular and/or unnoticed. Thomas spent four years on the dole, using his time to study a linguistics course at the Open University. Ultimately Thomas went back to his computer-based roots and became a freelance computer consultant, working from home, often translating successfully computer packages from one language to another.
Thomas first contact with Delta Green came when he accidentally stumbled onto a well-hidden node and noticed that the CPU usage to traffic ratio was two hundred times higher than normal. Investigating further he found that someone had written an algorithm to transfer power discharges from the Central Florida Power Station, massaging the figures to disguise them as statistical noise. Thomas, who was touting for some freelance work at the time, sent the details in an e-mail to the Central Plant manager, in the hope that the manager would be grateful for his insight and employ him. However the manager was a Mi-Go cultist who was using the electrical power to maintain a number of “brain jars” at a central repositry. A Delta Green Op saw to it that the manager “committed suicide” by jumping into the hydro-electric turbines but whilst the DG agent was trashing the computer system he found the e-mail and decided that Thomas might be a useful ally.
Thomas was contacted by a GCHQ DG Friendly and employed to watch the Web for signs of unusual activity, for which he received a not immodest wage. As far as he is aware Thomas (or “Fred JK”, as he is known on the ‘net) is working for the British Government delivering data which to GCHQ which will, in turn, be passed on to Special Branch.
GM Use
Thomas is a good character to kick off a scenario. He can find information almost anywhere, from anonymous e-mails, to unusual web-sites to interesting news stories, to odd power spikes an anamolies in data processes, all of which is eventually filtered and reported to A-Cell. Physically, socially and spiritually weak, Thomas is unlikely to get involved with Delta Green first hand, meaning that other cells might have to investigate any anomalies Thomas picks up on.
The PC’s should never meet Thomas (or at least they should never know they have met him) Delta Green has copies of his psychological profile from his school records and realise that he could be a potential leak, therefore any data derived from Thomas is likely to have come through half a dozen servers and three or four encryption routines, masking his presence to all but a select few DG agents. One possibility for using Thomas is to run him as a little light relief; using laughter to contrast against the darkness. His social skills (including such great chat-up lines as “You don’t sweat much for a fat girl” and “I’m glad you haven’t died young to stay pretty”) could be played for humour. In such circumstances the PCs meeting with Thomas might be played for irony, especially if before meeting him the PCs receive several missions from their Case Officer who states that “This came from one of our best sources.”
CONTACT INFORMATION: ITDCJB@hants.gov.uk
STATS FOR SIMULATION EXERCISES:
Thomas Hughes (“Fred JK”), age 25
Race: Caucasian
Education: U.S. Bsc. Comp. Science, MA Comp Science (Cardiff University); Ba. Linguistics (Open University – Home study whilst on DSS)
Occupation: Freelance computer consultant
STR 8 CON 8 SIZ 13 DEX 11
APP 7 INT 18 POW 6 EDU 17
HP 11 MP 6 SAN 30
Idea 90% Luck 30% Know 85%
Damage Bonus: none
Skills: Computer use 93%, Maths 62%, Electronics 45%, Find Obscure Trivia 87%, Read Detective Novels 65%.
Thomas is shy and recieves a -20% penalty to all skills involving social intercouse. Thomas has taken to a nocturnal lifestyle, finding it easier to work at night than during the day.
Languages: English (own) 85%, Welsh 63%, French 47%, German 35%, Urdu 23%, Italian 17%, Spanish 12%
Attacks: None above base skill.
Appearance: Thomas is somewhat skinny and slightly above average in height. He has thick, black (uncombed) hair and a bushy moustache and beard where he does not shave. His green eyes are normally overshadowed by his glasses (the right arm of which is fixed with blue sellotape) which he wears for his astigmatism. He has a strong Welsh accent.
Note: It is unlikely that the players should ever meet Thomas, as he is somewhat reclusive and Delta Green is not particularly anxious to give away his location.
