Gao Tso
This is the weirdest backstory I’ve ever written. It was a lot of fun to write, but probably not the best example. This character was made for a GURPS super heroes game, and I think I tried a little too hard to be over the top.
Gao Tso was born in Shenzhao China in 1978. His parents had lived in the small fishing village all their lives, as had their parents before them.  Once Gao learned that there was a world beyond the nets and sampans, he knew he could never stay in the small village and set off for Tokyo at the age of 14.
At that point, Gao knew only one trade – fishmongering. The Yakuza-controlled docks and harbors had no place for a small chinese boy. When it became clear that Gao’s racial handicap prevented him from being allowed to sell fish, he left and followed one of the only customers who had paid him notice. The man led him to an american owned restaurant near the middle of the city. Gao slipped in the back and began performing menial tasks as though he worked there. Since Big Jim, the owner, thought all asians looked alike, he never noticed Gao’s unconventional and abrupt employment. Within months Gao began helping with the actual preparation of food and was getting noticed for his talent. He even began studying the deadly art of fugu preparation.
Although he had a steady income in a major city, Gao Tso still was not happy. He loved his work, but wanted more recognition and glamor. One afternoon in late April, Big Jim invited Gao to his office to offer a promotion to the restaurant’s head chef. The previous chef, Shinzaki Teriyaki, had taken a sabbatical to compete on a new reality based TV show. Gao had never heard of Iron Chef before, but he was intrigued. Jim told him it turned cooking into a spectator sport, wherein chefs are given a set of foods and challenged to improvise a meal on live TV, with fabulous cash prizes. Intrigued, Gao did not accept the promotion and Big Jim lost his two best chefs in one afternoon. The restaurant went under and Big Jim hanged himself after spending what little money remained on a taiwanese ‘ladyboy’ prostitute binge.
What Gao Tso had not realized when he left was that the show he was banking everything on was very Japan-centric. Several gaijin, often Americans, gain popularity on the show but only for their freakish appeal. Gao Tso was not japanese and could not appeal with the freak show that was your average american chef, so he did not go far in the world of competitive cooking. Having tasted Iron Chef, Gao Tso knew he could no longer palate an ordinary kitchen. With Iron Chef Japan all but closed to non japanese participants, Gau went with his next best option, Iron Chef America.
Tragically, in spite of his work for Americans, Gau Tso had failed to pick up enough English to successfully book a flight over the phone. His demand for “Iron-u Che-fu!” was misheard as “Chichen Itza, por favor” and he was promptly sent to Mexico. He has since corrected the error and now speaks fluent English, as well as passable Spanish, but for the time being Gau Tso was stuck in Mexico. Due to China’s strict passport regulations, Gau could not just get on another plane to America. He had to either stay in Mexico or return home. He chose the former, but conceded that he would have to put his dreams on the back burner and go back to ordinary kitchen work.
Less than a year later Gao found himself working as a chef at a resort for fat, rich, white folks, and their greasy and whiny fat white kids, when he met the fattest, richest, whitest man who was also a little bit greasy. The man introduced himself as Barry and was absolutely delighted with the authenticate flavor of that afternoon’s spicy flavor pork. Barry was a publicist/agent from Hollywood and Gau told Barry his story. Barry was fascinated. Now, Barry couldn’t circumvent chinese travel restrictions to get Gau Tso onto Iron Chef America, but he did have connections with the TV and Movie industry, and put Gau in contact with the producer of Mexico’s next big television hit, Cocinero Hierro: Sabado Grande Fantastico, or Iron Chef Mexico as it was known to its American viewers.
Gao Tso’s dreams were coming true at last. CH: SGF was just like Iron Chef, well, mostly. None of the chefs had assistants. They had to gather ingredients and do the basic cooking themselves. And it was full contact. And all chefs wore Lucha masks. Stabbings were infrequent, but they did boost ratings. Gau avoided fights most of the time, preferring to sneak off with key ingredients while other chefs engaged in melee. Gao was successful on the show due to his exemplary cooking. He was nicknamed “El Gato,” as a play on his own name and due to his fondness for fish, which was discovered during episode 319, when Gao Tso both invented and consumed the world’s first fish taco.
Gao was happy on Cocinero Hierro: Sabado Grande Fantastico. He was settling in to his niche and was perfectly content to stay there and give up on Iron Chef America forever despite Barry’s urging. His decision to stay was reinforced when, on season 6’s live first episode it was announced that the key ingredient would be fugu. The other 5 chefs balked, including current Iron Chef, Paco “The Taco” Hernandez. None of them had been trained in cutting the poison-soaked liver from the deadly fish. This was Gau Tso’s speciality. He prepared a delicious meal and was sure of victory. When it came time for judging, Gau Tso was the only chef to have prepared a full meal – without fugu the other chefs had to settle for appetizers. Paco glared at Tso and the other chefs stood slumped and defeated. Gao’s fugu was served last. Everyone watching on wondered if they’d actually get to see a person die on live TV, but the thought that the fugu was botched never crossed Gao’s mind. The judges bit simultaneously, chewed cautiously, and then dropped dead. All eyes shifted from the dead judges to a very confused Gao Tso. Hernandez cried out, “!Veneno! !Asesino! (poison, assassin),” and he drew a long fish knife.
It was not clear how Gao Tso escaped the wrath of five vengeful chefs and a large studio audience. He found himself miles away, covered in sweat and totally winded. His cell phone rang. It was Barry, “So how do you feel about coming to America now?”
Gao Tso fled across the border. Barry had somehow finagled a chinese passport allowing Gao into the country. What actually happened was that one of the other chefs (likely Paco) poisoned his own dish, knowing the fugu would take several minutes to take effect. Whether that investigation is in progress or it has resolved itself by game start is left up to the GM. All the controversy caused the Food Channel to drop Iron Chef, but it (and Gao Tso) were soon picked up by Fox, who thrives on controversy. Maybe they’ll have Gao prepare fugu on Fear Factor or some such.
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Gao “El Gato” Tso is flamboyant and over the top, especially when recognized as a celebrity. In spite of this, he is actually quite humble inside. He isn’t actually someone living the high life, just someone who desperately wants to. It doesn’t help that Barry encourages him to ham it up on TV, going so far as to insist that Gao does not know English but should instead shriek and grunt as he prepares his food.
As a competitive chef, Gao is rather nimble. He’ll likely have as high a dex stat as I can afford.
Gao speaks fluent chinese, japanese, and english, along with passing spanish. Not sure if this will come up.
Gao learned to knife fight during his time on Mexican tv.
Gao absolutely must have skill in the correct preparation of fugu. I plan on feeding fugu to the PCs, and possibly to NPCs as well. Would fugu cooking be a separate skill or could I somehow specialize cooking to include it? Or would it default to cooking and then I add more points? Because the pufferfish served in America is often cage bred, it isn’t actually poisonous. The poison comes from tetradoxin eaten by the fish and collected by the fish’s liver. Gau only serves authentic fugu and has to buy his fish from street alley vendors (who have rows and rows of pufferfish on the inside of their trenchcoats). As such, Gau should probably have some street savvy skill.
I see Gau fitting into the party in a similar role to the rogue. He’s quick but not especially strong, and he definitely knows where to cut you, ese. His people skills are limited, and his demi-celebrity status will likely both hinder and help him.
In terms of super powers, there are a couple directions you could go. Uber knife fighter stuff could be fun. You could take “El Gato” and give him cat themed powers. I wouldn’t even be surprised if he’s some sort of were-fugu and has a puffy spike ability. Alternatively you could complete his roguish side with invisibility, shapechanging, or other stealth abilities. That last idea would probably blend with El Gato well enough and it would explain how he escaped the wrath of 5 vengeful chefs and one large studio audience. Oh yeah, I think Gao still carries his lucha mask with him. He might have to wear that when his powers are active.
I know you prefer writing a story that’s all your own to building something out of PC’s plot hooks, but if you do go the plot hook route I wouldn’t mind seeing other Iron Chefs come seeking revenge for something or other. Possibly with Yakuza involvement or Paco “The Taco” Hernandez. I was thinking of writing the character off of Iron Chef (and giving him a reason to roll with the PCs instead of being on TV) by killing off Barry and severing his connection to TV, but I’ll leave it to you to decide if that plot should be part of the game.
