[HoE] Loner Character

[Abdullah Oblongota <toadpooka@usa.net>]

I thought of a few ways to deal with this problem that don't necessarily involve
killing ANYTHING.

1) One time, the character rides off into the distance.  On his trip, he crests
a ridge and sees something HORRIBLE.  A big giant abomination devouring a town,
a fight between a settlement and a company of Black Hats, whatever.  Either he
tries to fight the Evil himself, in which case, don't feel bad about killing
him, or he runs back to get help from the posse.  When/if he drags the posse to
the site, not a trace of what he saw remains.  There's no town, no Black Hats,
no trail of broken trees where the Rattler was plowing through the forest.  Have
this sort of thing happen all the time to the character.  Every time he goes out
alone, he sees something important that he can't really do anything about.  If
there are any witnesses, he'll apear to have made it up.  Then, the horrible
Abomination starts coming for him when he's out alone.  He's already seen it eat
a town, but he's safe as long as he's with the posse, right?

2) This one requires a solo adventure.  He rides away one day, but when he
returns to "camp," he finds it torn apart, and the identifiable bodies of his
posse laying about.  Play up the mystery if you want: he finds the camp, but has
to run through the woods to find the remains.  But, being a loner, he just hops
on his bike, maybe grabs some food from his dead friends and rides off.  Now, he
goes through a series of situations where it would be helpful to have certain
party members around.  His bike breaks down, making him wish his junker buddy
was there.  The highway he's driving on goes through a blast zone, but there's
no Doomsayer to cast Tolerance on him.  He runs out of food and tries to barter
for some, but the gunslinger was carrying all the group's bullets.  Then he
reaches some sort of "civilization," but the people there don't accept him.  Now
he really wishes he had some friends (or at least allies) in the world. 
Eventually, he gets attacked by Something, but is out of ammo, has no backup or
supernatural help, and his bike is wrecked, so he can't get away.  He blacks out
to find himself in a rundown factory, with the posse surrounding him.  They
explain that he was kidnapped by a mad junker who was using him to test some new
psychoactive drug he concoted.  In the corner, he can see his bike sitting. 
Based on whether he learned anything from the experience, the evil junker could
have souped up the bike (if the Loner decided he needs help), or junked it for
parts (if he's still acting the same way).

3) Test whether the player is ACTING the loner or just being difficult.  After a
fight, the posse picks up a minor Relic.  They move on, the Loner leaves.  Take
the player aside and explain that he was knocked unconscious by Something.  Tell
him the character will survive, but you've got something for him to do in the
meantime.  A mischevious doppelganger-type thing has replaced the Loner, and it
wants the Relic they've got.  As long as it's there, it might as well have some
fun playing malicious tricks on the posse.  Now the player shouldn't want to
outright kill any other PC's, because any vengeance will be carried out on him. 
But the abomination wants to stick around to cause some havoc anyway.  Now, the
player can't have him ride off into the sunset, because you've given him some
motivation to stay, quite directly, but not so heavy-handed, because it's a fun
way to mess with your fellow players.  If the player is roleplaying the loner,
he should take the doppelganger personality on well.  If not, you know he's
being a loner because it's a cheap way out of having to act in character.

-- 
From Whom It May Concern,
Richard Ranallo, The Man They Couldn't Hang

Your money talks, but my genius walks
Morticians wait with a shovel and a fork
As detectives trace my hands with chalk
Your money talks but my genius walks.
--They Might Be Giants, "You'll Miss Me"