Moose O’Rourke

“This case had more angles than my client had curves”

Moose O’Rourke stands on the high side of six-feet-something. He’s got a moose’s head and antlers, and he’s freakishly muscular. He wears gray suits, conservative ties, and he’s a private investigator.

He doesn’t talk much about his background, other than suggesting he grew up in a tough neighborhood and that he had to tangle with gangs frequently. Whatever the truth, he has an eye for detail and a nose that can sniff out BS. Despite his singular and intimidating appearance, he has a core of kindness he uses to reassure his clients.

Moose O’Rourke lives like a hard-boiled detective in a neo-noir story. Cases come in, mysterious clients flirt and betray, bad guys do bad things, and O’Rourke walks the line in shutting them down. He’s a good resource for a hero who needs to dig into the details of a mystery, without doing the legwork themselves.

Using Moose O’Rourke

Moose is a side character who can make appearances in many kinds of story. He drags his quirky noir genre with him. He’s a Sam Spade type, but with antlers who’s built like a linebacker. As a character, his motivation is to set things right at the edge of the law.

Plots

Help Moose O’Rourke solve a mystery
Go to O’Rourke to get a question answered
Keep one of O’Rourke’s clients out of trouble

Dialogue

“So many guns, so little coffee. You boys sure don’t know how to get on a fellow’s good side.”
“She was the sort of woman to give a man lip, and she did it in the most direct way possible”
“God’s biggest sin was never giving heart and money to the same people”

Comic Book Panels

The door to a bad-guy bar opens, revealing a larger-than-life silhouette. Moose O’Rourke enters the bar, turning his head so his antlers don’t get caught on the doorframe. The bartender and various shady patrons look on, nervously.

Moose O’Rourke is talking to a showgirl who knows something he needs. While she changes offscreen, giving him information, he’s looking away to be polite. The moll tosses a slip his way, which drapes itself over one antler.

Moose O’Rourke is in the middle of a gunfight. He’s blazing away with a service revolver. Someone tries to sneak up behind him, and he just twists his head, knocking the guy out upon impact with an antler.

Variations

Origin

Moose O’Rourke could be anything from an All-American student to an actual gang member in his youth. Either way, he’s not specifically stated to be an alien, experiment, or anything other than a human-moose hybrid.
Instead of being a random mutant, he could have a more specific origin that ties in with his current PI activities, or attracts the interests of the heroes.