oscar I'd say you're partially right. The way
grotsnik wrote the character up is based on Flashman, from discussions grot & I had. Flashman is basically an "unlikely" hero, his heroics only came about because he was trying to avoid danger and he had the persona to fool his audience.
The way I've been trying to construct Kleinmann is along the lines of a Henry Simmerson in Sharpe, whereas Maug himself is like Sean Bean's Sharpe, or Sweet William. It's the difference between a gentleman officer (whose knowledge of fighting and warfare is that of the armchair, but who has obviously been schooled in pistols and sabers) and a braggart. Kleinmann *can* fight, it's just that he'd rather *not* fight. He's angling for an easy life spent in the gentleman's club and he wants a few tall tales to tell that will amuse his drinking buddies, to get to that stage, he'll shoot anyone / everyone in the back to ensure nobody finds out the truth of his life.
Basically, he likes the
idea of becoming famous for his heroics, but when danger is at hand, he's going to let others risk their lives first, and then shoot them in the back if they succeed, and claim the glory for himself. It's not that he wants the expedition to fail, but if it is to succeed and earn him fame, he either has to do something incredibly heroic (which is not his bread and butter) or he has to make sure the others meet with an unfortunate accident during their descent, leaving him the only survivor who escapes to tell the tale of the devilish beast which ate the rest of the expedition, which he managed only to escape with his wits and his pistol (which would of course be a lie).
The way I tried to write the train choice up was an example of this: We had three choices: hide, fight (dishonourably), flee.
If we'd hidden, then Maug would've been the hero and saved the train. If we'd fled, we'd have been captured and beaten/nearly killed, which might've had more severe consequences. The choice we made was a fair one, but because Kleinmann isn't the best fighter, he got the drop on the first two opponents, but when the half-ogre bandit chief came round, he has no real recourse for that.
Kleinmann is also not a genius, so he doesn't fully "get" what this whole thing is all about. The scientific aspects are beyond him, but he'll go along for the ride and the Professor's enthusiasm is hopefully infectious. If we'd taken a scientific character, he'd be here for some reason. Kleinmann is here for utterly personal reasons, which also means that he has no real idea what he's doing here yet (because nobody even knows if he'll find some great beast to slay, or if the passage to the earth will actually be real or just a myth). Because of this, I've been trying to string the narrative together update-update in a way that gives us reasons to be doing something, if not completing our overarching goals.
If for example, we'd taken the option to go home and do nothing when the Professor gave us time to prepare for the meeting, I'd planned to write in a spy from Caladon contacting the character, asking him to be a mole for them, for a sum of wealth and assistance in winning our bet. That would've given us clearer reasons, had we accepted that. But I think as the narrative goes on (and I do enjoy writing it), that we'll get into the swing more. Of course, Kleinmann might be killed, in which case we can take on the role of another character, or roll up a member of the team from Caladon and play differently. We'll have to wait and see.
