Lloyd Greystoke
From Sinanju
| Bruce Campbell as Lloyd Greystoke | |
| Lloyd Greystoke | |
|---|---|
| Played by | Sinanju |
| Statistics | |
| Goes By | Man-Ape |
| Status | Alive |
| Race | Human |
| Gender | Male |
| Age | 40 |
| Primary Occupation | Private Eye |
| Special Abilities | He's a Man-Ape. A Man-Ape! |
Lloyd Greystoke (Series: Gumshoe Gorilla)
Contents |
Background Story
Lloyd Greystoke was born in Campaign City. Lloyd can't remember when he wasn't obsessed with films and television and didn't want to be an actor. His family moved to Chicago when he was in middle school and he met several new friends, two of whom had the directing bug. From the day they met, Lloyd, John and Edgar were inseparable. They made a number of extremely low-budget films that they made available on the internet. Lloyd also acted in school plays and musicals and auditioned repeatedly for commercials.
When they graduated from high school, the trio had a decision to make: College--or a pilgrimage to Hollywood? They all had enough money for a year of college--or enough, pooled together, to fund a low-budget but real film. It took only moments for them to make the decision. All they needed now was...everything else.
The next year was a series of often painful lessons. Everything takes longer and costs more. Verbal contracts aren't worth the paper they're printed on. Few friendships can endure months of unpaid labor. Union rules are expensive--but ignoring them costs even more. Don't borrow production costs from guys named Vinnie. Lloyd acquired a wide variety of skills by necessity during that year--carpentry, wiring, film editing, sound editing, pyrotechnic special effects, whatever needed doing.
But eighteen months later "Unholy Appetites" premiered on a single screen in Chicago. It wasn't exactly a blockbuster, but it got some favorable comments and ran for two weeks. It also gave the three of them something to show around when they finally decided to go to Hollywood.
Lloyd, Edgar and John took a cheap apartment in Los Angeles. All of them held down a variety of odd jobs. Lloyd took acting lessons when he could afford them and auditioned constantly. Edgar and John got gopher jobs on small pictures. Lloyd landed a few commercials, even a couple of sitcom walk-on roles. Edgar and John wound up directing an entire film (unofficially) when the assigned director blew off the project.
On the strength of their directing work Edgar and John got funding for an independent film, a bigger-budget remake of "Unholy Appetites." They hired Lloyd to star in it. It was a big cult hit and moderately successful overall, and brought a lot of attention to its directors and its star. The three of them eventually made two sequels, both starring Lloyd, also cult favorites.
Along the way Lloyd fell for one of the extras, a woman as acid-tongued as he. Theirs was a passionate, on-again, off-again relationship from their first date thru their marriage, subsequent divorce, and the uneasy truce that endures to this day.
Edgar and John were offered other directing jobs. Lloyd appeared in a number of films, mostly in small parts--but some of them were small parts in major releases. Over the next few years they all became established professionals in their respective professions. Lloyd became a familiar face on television, guest starring on sitcoms and dramas. It didn't make him a star but it was steady work.
In 1996 Lloyd was cast in the lead of a television series, "Gumshoe Gorilla" about a smart-mouthed private eye unhappily saddled with a spirit totem (the gorilla). It was a mid-season replacement with 13 episodes, and did well enough that another full season was ordered. The second season did badly, though, and the show was almost certain to be cancelled.
Then one morning Lloyd woke up to find that he had become a man-ape. There was no dramatic disaster, no emergency to trigger his transformation--he just went to sleep a man and woke a man-ape. Lloyd panicked, called in sick to the set, and phoned his doctor, demanding to see him. The doctor saw him, did a number of tests, confirmed that he possessed the metagene--but had no immediate advice. After his initial panic subsided, Lloyd shrugged his shoulders and went to his make-up call the next day, where the make-up girl panicked. And then the director, and the producers and the cast and crew. Once everyone had had time to calm down, they all threw up their hands, decided that the show was going to be cancelled anyway so what the hell--and rewrote the episode being filmed to take into account the hero's transformation into a man-ape.
That Kafka-esque twist to the show seemed to open a lot of creative doors. Morale on the set improved greatly. The writers had great fun writing Lloyd's interactions with the other characters in his new form. The show immediately climbed in the ratings, becoming a big hit by the end of the season ("800 lb. Gorilla" was a phrase that got used a lot). The show ran four more seasons, winning critical acclaim and a number of awards, before the network cancelled it in 2001.
Lloyd had mixed feelings about that. He was tired of the grueling schedule required by the show, which included doing his own stunts, given his unique appearance, but it had been a great ride and he feared that it might be the high point of his career. He was soon convinced of it. There was very little call for a man-ape in more traditional tv fare. Lloyd made the rounds of talk shows, emceed a couple of awards shows, and did a few commercials?but then the work dried up. Lloyd was grateful that he'd listened to his agent.
He'd invested his salary wisely and the combination of investments and residuals allowed him to retire in modest comfort. There was talk of a series of tv movie sequels to the series, but nothing came of them. Lloyd wrote an autobiography, "The Not-So-Naked Ape", which was a modest success. He retained a sizeable cult following and attended a few conventions, but his career was basically over. So too was his marriage.
Then he started getting letters. Phone calls. Personal visits. All from people who seemed to have failed to grasp the difference between an actor playing a part and a real detective. They wanted his help because, well, he'd been solving strange crimes for years--they'd watched him do it, hadn't they? And they needed his help. Some of them were so earnest, so desperate, that he was moved to try to help them. His idea of help was sending them to the police or some licensed private eye; they often balked at this and begged his personal assistance.
Quite against his better judgement and as often as not grumbling all the while, Lloyd got involved in a number of bizarre situations. He even managed to find a missing person or two, or otherwise solve the problems of his unwanted "clients"--who were only too happy to crow about Lloyd's amazing detective skills to anyone who'd listen. Mostly, of course, other cranks or tabloid reporters. Lloyd's reputation--as a brilliant detective specializing in solving the really weird cases--spread, and still more nuts began to plague him.
Lloyd steadfastly refused to call himself a detective--he still had no legal credentials, though he was pursuing them--but he still had more "clients" than he knew what to do with. On several occasions, Lloyd uncovered and foiled the plans of a supervillain or supervillain group. The press began to chronicle his new career as a superhero, much to his chagrin. Letters, emails, phone calls continued to pour in asking for his help. After almost two years of this, Lloyd was interviewed by a reporter who'd heard about Lloyd's adventures. The reporter asked Lloyd about a rumor that he was joining the Campaign City Super-Team. Lloyd laughed in his face--but was forced to admit to himself that he was enjoying his new career as a crimefighter. It was exciting and he was bored with retirement, but L.A. and Chicago had plenty of heroes. Campaign City? Not so much.
So Lloyd has moved back to his birthplace (and hung his newly-acquired private investigator's license on his wall) and looks forward to a new challenge.
Personality
Lloyd worked very hard for many years at becoming a successful actor and now works equally hard at his new career of crimefighting. He also plays hard when he's not on the job, often exploring the Campaign City's restaurants and night clubs (usually with a lovely lady in tow), though he can also entertain himself with his extensive and ever-growing collection of films from all over the world. Lloyd still enjoys playacting, even if he's no longer a professional actor. He has an extensive and ever-growing wardrobe, and tends to dress to suit--or set--a mood or play up a situation, and loves playing the classic film noir detective.
Lloyd can be charming when he chooses to be, but being a smartass is more fun. Years of celebrity--and hobnobbing with other celebrities--have inured him to the existence of paparazzi and he accepts it with good grace. It's also taught him that everyone puts his pants on one leg at a time. As a result, he treats commoner and king alike as his equals, which doesn't always sit well with them, and he sometimes has trouble maintaining proper decorum in formal situations. But beneath the brash personality and cutting remarks, Lloyd genuinely wants to help people. Besides, it seems to be his destiny--why else does fate seems to keep dropping people in need of the Man-Ape's help on his doorstep?
Appearance
Before his transformation Lloyd was tall, with black hair, dark brown eyes and a chin that could most charitably be described as "heroic." As the Man-Ape, he retains his human physique, walking fully erect but covered with a hairy black pelt in the typical gorilla-like pattern (bare chest and belly, hands and feet). His features are recognizably his own in spite of the exaggerated browridge, sagittal crest, and protruding ape-like lower jaw and menacing teeth. Lloyd's "costume" consists of a garish pair of Bermuda shorts for decency in warm weather, a classic film noir detective's trench coat or duster and fedora in wet or cold weather.
Powers
Lloyd's ape-like physique includes extremely dense and powerful muscles and bones. He's more than twice as heavy as the average large man, but his strength and flexibility is so much greater by comparison that flinging his bodyweight around is ridiculously easy; making him amazingly agile. This combination of strength and agility allows him to cling to the most precarious of perches, and he makes great use of his speed and agility in his combat style, which is based on the cinematic style he learned as an actor and stunt man. He requires a lot of food to fuel his metabolism, and occasionally misjudges his prodigious strength under stress. Though most people think of him as a classic brick, Lloyd thinks of himself as an investigator...who also happens to be superhumanly tough
Supporting Cast
Knowledge of Other Characters
Romantic Relationships (If Applicable)
Future Plans and Goals
Trivia
I first invented Lloyd Greystoke, the Man-Ape, back in college when my gaming buddies and I were still using a home-brewed superhero system. Before Champions this was. Over the years I've toyed with the idea but never played him. Well, except for a brief stint in the Denver Defenders game once, but nothing ever really happened there.
Back in the day, we envisioned Lloyd as the star of his own comic book. And the gag was that every issue would include an adjective in the title. An adjective that must begin with the letter M. Magnificent. Murderous. Maniacal. Mellow. Mutant. Mangled. Multi-Orgasmic. Whatever. Each adjective would naturally tie into the events portrayed in that issue, and every choice suggests an interesting piece of cover art. It's kinda hypnotic that way. Over the years when I've described this gag to people, they almost invariably start throwing out their own suggestions.
Lloyd's backstory has changed over the years. Now he's quite clearly modeled on Bruce Campbell. So any resemblance between Lloyd's early career and Bruce's is entirely intentional.
