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NPCs You Didn’t Know You Needed: Suburban Doctor

Ever had to get a bullet out of your thigh in a hurry but don't know any mob doctors in town? Trying to figure out if the zombie scratch your buddy just got is as infective as a zombie bite? Trying to decide if you're suffering from exposure to anthrax or a gypsy curse and don't want to get the CDC involved? You might need Doctor James Reed.

Description: It isn't hard to find Dr. Reed, he lives and works in the same converted five bedroom brick home on a main street in the suburbs. A beautifully painted sign on the front lawn says that the house is in fact a doctor's office and lists the hours. (Including a note that suggests there are special hours for special patients with no further explanation.) Knowing that Dr. Reed is the man to see is another matter. In a mundane setting, (like Spycraft or a basic World of Darkness game,) it may be a matter of rumor. People in the know understand that Dr. Reed has taken his oath very seriously, and won't turn a sick or injured person away, even if they're putting him in personal or legal danger. He doesn't ask questions often, which is vital. In a setting where stranger things are true (as in Supernatural, or Trail of Cthulhu,) Dr. Reed has just enough occult paraphernalia in his office to make a character suspect he knows more than he's letting on, and rumors in the occult world say he's the place to go if your werewolf buddy is bleeding out.

Background: Dr. James Reed started life as a natural healer, an overly sensitive child who could not stand the look of suffering on another's face. Becoming a doctor seemed a natural choice and he worked hard to get through med school early. Med school was rough on Reed, but his hope was that if he could just get out into the real world, things would be better. He was wrong. The real world exposed him to the politics and corruption behind medicine. Though he became harder, he was still too sensitive to fight back, and so he packed up his bag and started working with programs like Doctors Without Borders. (In a supernatural setting, it was working in the more dangerous parts of the world that he developed his expertise in xenobiology and thaumacology.) When he finally returned to his home, he went into private practice with a feeling that he would turn away no one, insurance, legality, or condition be damned.