Character: Mary Mallon (Typhoid Mary)

[Tornado]

Mary Mallon (AKA “Typhoid Maryâ€):
Val	CHA	Cost	Roll	Notes
12	STR	2	11-	Lift 120 kg; 2d6 HTH Damage
10	DEX	0	11-	OCV:  3/DCV:  3
10	CON	0	11-
10	BODY	0	11-
8	INT	-2	11-	PER Roll 11-
10	EGO	0	11-	ECV:  3
10	PRE	0	11-	PRE Attack:  2d6
10	COM	0	11-
2	PD	0		Total:  PD ( rPD)
2	ED	0		Total:  ED ( rED)
2	SPD	0		Phases:  6, 12
4	REC	0		
20	END	0		
20	STUN	0		
Total Characteristics Cost:  0

Movement:	Running:	6"/12"
Swimming:	2"/4"

Cost	Powers & Skills									END
5	Typhoid Carrier: 1d6 Transform: Healthy Human to Typhoid Victim, Cumulative	0
(up to 96; +1 1/4), 0 END (+1/2), Persistent (+1/2) (16 Active Points); Always On
(-1/2), Target Must Ingest Food of Mary’s Or Otherwise Be Infected (-1),
Limited Target Group: Human (-1/2)
[Notes: Recovers like any normal disease; proper treatment, careful medical care
and so forth]
1	Immunity: Typhoid Fever
6	Total Powers Cost

Skills
2	AK: New York 11-
1	AK: Ireland 8-
0	Climbing 8-
0	Concealment 8-
0	Conversation 8-
0	Deduction 8-
0	Language (Irish)
4	Language (English; fluent)
6	PS: Cooking 15-
0	Shadowing 8-
3	Stealth 11-
0	TF: Horses
14	Total Skills Cost
20	Total Powers & Skills Cost
20	Total Character Cost

0+	Disadvantages
20	Physical Limitation: Typhoid Carrier (Common, Greatly)
0	Psychological Limitation: Easily Provoked (Common, Total)
0	Experience
20	Total Disadvantage Points

 

Background/History:

See Wikipedia

 

Personality/Motivation:

Typhoid Mary is not a terrible person; she is simply easily provoked and oblivious to her condition. She is more of a victim than a villian, and really could not believe she was responsible for Typhoid fever infections.

 

Powers/Tactics:

Typhoid Mary is completely oblivious to her condition. She refuses to believe that she is infected; she showed no symptoms of the disease and never seemed to contract it herself, so she does not believe she is responsible. Over the course of her career, fourty seven cases of Typhoid Fever were accounted to her and, of those, only three deaths.

 

Designer's Notes:

Typhoid Mary may not be entirely appropriate to a typical fantasy campaign. She is incredibly low powered and is a historical figure which may not fit in to the campaign setting. However, the carrier power build is applicable to any character.

 

Typhoid Mary is a very simple adventure seed and can last a while if played with ingenuity. She may not be brilliant mind, but until her first quarantine she was an unknown, and even afterwards she was not distinctive; she worked as a cook again, infecting more people.

 

(character sheet based off historical accounts of Mary Mallon and created by Elijah Davis)

[Curufea]

Re: Character: Mary Mallon (Typhoid Mary)

 

Might also want to add what the effects and symptoms of Typhoid Fever are-

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoid

[gojira]

Re: Character: Mary Mallon (Typhoid Mary)

 

Great job. I think if a number of famous people could be written up like this and made available, it would be a great boon to Hero fandom.

 

Per a program on the History Channel I saw:

 

Mary Mallon changed in appearance over her life. The second time she was apprehended, the doctor recognized her by her handwriting, not her face. She was overweight and dishevled. She had probably lost two or three points of COM by this time.

 

She should also likely have a Psych Lim Cannot Believe She Has Typhoid, so strong was her belief. Considering that this lim basically ruined her life (she returned to cooking where she re-infected people and was then quarantined again), I think it's pretty limiting.

 

I think Easily Provoked isn't enough for Mary. While the TV program made no specific mention of it, what they described sounded like battered victims syndrome. She would respond very negatively to any request, and further attempts would provoke a physical, violent reaction. You should at least note this in the descriptived text, and provide more than 0 points to back it up.

[tomd1969]

Re: Character: Mary Mallon (Typhoid Mary)

 

I think I might even give her a couple of more points of Ego, as well. She was an incredibly strong woman, who defied health officials for for quite some time before finally being convinced (by force) to be quarantined at North Brother Island.

[Barton]

Re: Character: Mary Mallon (Typhoid Mary)

 

Also she was legally prohibited to be a cook after her first discovery by the authorities. She ignored this, became a cook again and infected more people. Maybe in game terms she should ignore authority figures?

[Badger]

Re: Character: Mary Mallon (Typhoid Mary)

 

Well, after reading how typhoid is passed on. Me thinks it proves that sanitation and personal hygiene werent quite up to the level that it is today.

 

 

I do have to mention that I like seeing "regular" people in hero terms.

 

 

* "Regular"- as in real life

[Sociotard]

Re: Character: Mary Mallon (Typhoid Mary)

 

Well, after reading how typhoid is passed on. Me thinks it proves that sanitation and personal hygiene werent quite up to the level that it is today.

 

 

I do have to mention that I like seeing "regular" people in hero terms.

 

 

* "Regular"- as in real life

Doesn't hero put out an e-magazine that regularly features such characters? you might check it out.

 

I agree with you though. One of my favorite characters I ever generated was Orrin Porter Rockwell. I even posted him on the boards.

[Sociotard]

Re: Character: Mary Mallon (Typhoid Mary)

 

Doesn't hero put out an e-magazine that regularly features such characters? you might check it out.

 

I agree with you though. One of my favorite characters I ever generated was Orrin Porter Rockwell. I even posted him on the boards.

As for Typhoid mary, I'm not sure that her typhoid infection is written up accuratley. Don't the rules say that you can't transform a person into something that could kill them?