Download his character sheet and Enhanced backstory
Introduction: A Two-Fisted Answer to Cosmic Horror
Two-Headed Serpent, the globetrotting pulp campaign for Call of Cthulhu 7th edition and the Pulp Cthulhu expansion, captures all the cliffhanger energy of old Amazing Tales-style adventure serials with fedoras, fisticuffs, and foes best dealt with by a straight left hand. A campaign built on action and derring-do needs an investigator who can go toe-to-toe with whatever the Mythos throws at them, and there are few better candidates than a veteran of the 369th Infantry Regiment, the legendary Harlem Hellfighters.
The 369th fought two wars at once: one in the trenches of France, and one against the racism of the country they were fighting for. Constituted in 1913 as the 15th New York National Guard Regiment, the unit shipped to France with cast-off gear and was initially assigned manual labour rather than combat duty. General Pershing eventually placed the 369th under French command, and the French already used to fielding their own colonial troops equipped them properly and gave them genuine respect. The regiment went on to spend 191 days on the front line, longer than any comparable American unit, and paid for it with heavier casualties than any other regiment. Some 171 of its men earned the French Croix de Guerre, the unit never lost a man taken prisoner, and it was among the first Allied regiments to reach the Rhine. The Germans facing them had their own name for the 369th: Höllenkämpfer – Hellfighters.
This is where we meet Henri “Hurricane” Dawson, Harlem Hellfighter and Pulp Cthulhu hero, who carries all of that history into every room he enters. Having survived gas attacks, artillery barrages, and hand-to-hand combat in the dark with nothing but a broken rifle and a knife, Henri knows the people in charge aren’t always worth listening to, and that the official story is rarely the whole story. He’s not the type to wait for orders when something’s moving in the darkness and every so often he gets a very specific look in his eye when someone tries to tell him there’s nothing to worry about.
The Soldier’s War Chest: More Than Just a Rifle
Henri didn’t leave the army entirely empty-handed. His kit reflects a man who came home from one war and never quite stopped expecting another:
- A Lewis gun, kept hidden in his apartment, not exactly legal for a civilian to own, but Henri isn’t in the habit of asking permission.
- A drum of 96 rounds of .303 ammunition to feed it.
- His military-issue .45 pistol, standard sidearm and constant companion.
- A trench knife, for when things get close and ugly.
With this arsenal, Henri isn’t just an investigator – he’s a one-man front line.
Skills That Make a War Veteran a Mythos Hunter
Henri is built as a two-fisted archetype, using Strength as his core characteristic, and his occupation skills are all about firepower, intimidation, and staying alive long enough to use them.
1. Firearms (Machine Gun) (70%) – A Warzone in a Drum
This isn’t the submachine gun skill of Tommy-gun gangsters, this is the heavy machine gun skill of the trenches. With 70% in this skill, Henry can unleash a volley of seven bullets from his Lewis gun on a single target. Even an ordinary hit lands half of them rounded down three bullets at 2d6+4 damage each is already 18 points minimum. An extreme success lands all seven, and half of those do impaling damage so the minimum possible total damage is 90 from a single trigger pull. It’s an illegal, hard-to-maintain relic of a war that’s supposed to be over but in Henry’s hands, it’s an argument nothing wants to have twice.
2. Fighting (Brawl) (70%) – A Freight Train with Fists
Henri’s damage bonus of 1D6, paired with his Rapid Attack talent, makes him a genuinely terrifying close-combat opponent. He can pair this with a trench knife he carries.
3. Intimidate (60%) – The Look in His Eye
Henri doesn’t need to raise his voice. Survivors of the trenches carry something in their bearing that makes people listen and Henri knows exactly how to use it.
4. Dodge (70%) – Still Standing
Even a Pulp hero’s hit points run out eventually. Henri’s Dodge keeps him moving when the bullets or worse start flying.
5. Spot Hidden (45%) – A Soldier’s Instincts
Years of night patrols taught Henri to notice what others miss: movement in the dark, a shape that shouldn’t be there, the silence before something goes wrong.
Personal Skills: Rounding Out the Investigator
Henri’s personal skills fill in the rest of the picture, turning a soldier into a survivor:
- Stealth (42%) – Moving quietly through the trenches at night wasn’t optional; it kept him alive.
- Outdoor Survival (40%) – He can start a fire and find food far from base.
- Climb (50%) – Useful for getting over walls, fences, and whatever else stands between Henri and trouble.
- Credit Rating (30%) – A steady wage, since even Pulp heroes need to eat, and machine gun ammunition doesn’t buy itself.
- Track and Navigate (40% each) – Not an expert, but with Luck to lean on, Henry can usually find the way.
- First Aid and Mechanical Repair (20% each) – He’s no doctor and no mechanic, but he knows enough to get by.
Why a Veteran Shines in The Two-Headed Serpent
1. Pulp Adventure Demands a Fighter
Two-Headed Serpent is built on action, not just investigation. A hero who can genuinely win a fight and keep winning it, changes the shape of every scene he’s in.
2. A Man Who’s Already Seen the Worst
Henri has already survived gas attacks and hand-to-hand combat in total darkness. The horrors of the Mythos are new, but the fear of not making it home isn’t.
3. He Doesn’t Wait for Permission
Henri learned the hard way that the people in charge don’t always deserve to be trusted. When something needs doing in the dark, he’s not going to wait for someone else’s say-so.
Henri’s Backstory: A Soldier Still Fighting for Respect
Henri was born and raised in Harlem, in a tenement on 135th Street, in a community filled with jazz, church hymns, and the hum of streetcars. He signed up for the army to prove something after years of hearing that “coloured men ain’t fit to fight,” he wanted to show the world what Black soldiers could do. He also just wanted to see the world, even if it meant a one-way ticket to hell.
Henri is a tall, broad man with a chiselled jaw and a close-cropped beard. He’s fiercely loyal to friends and anyone who proves themselves a good soul but for everyone else, there’s a simmering hostility, a hangover from the war he never quite left behind. Raised in a Harlem soul church, Henry knows killing is wrong and tries to be a good man, getting to church whenever he can to recharge his spirit. His body carries the evidence of everything he’s survived bullet wounds, shrapnel, and scars from barbed wire.
His family means everything to him: his father Ezekiel Dawson, a Pullman railway porter; his mother Ruth Dawson, a seamstress and church choir leader; and his sister Josephine, a college student. A meaningful place for Henri is the hospital in Armentières, France (note: the source transcript said “Armines” please confirm this spelling before publishing), where he met his late wife. He still carries her pocket watch, containing her photograph and a locket of her hair.
And of course, Henry has already had his own encounter with the strange. On night patrol during the war, he heard movement in what the men had started calling the haunted house a place people went into and never came back out of. He went in anyway, saw a ghoulish creature waiting for him, took aim, and fired.
Final Thoughts: Why You Should Play a Veteran in Call of Cthulhu
Henri’s occupation isn’t just tough, it’s built for exactly this kind of campaign. Veterans are:
- Battle-hardened, already familiar with fear, violence, and survival.
- Formidable in a fight, with skills that hold up against anything the Mythos can throw at them.
- Distrustful of authority, willing to act without waiting for orders.
- Carrying real history, giving every encounter weight beyond the dice.
In The Two-Headed Serpent, where pulp adventure meets cosmic horror head-on, a veteran like Henry isn’t just a character — he’s the fist that meets the darkness halfway.
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