Ripper/Characters

This is a list and short description of all characters appearing in Ripper. Unlike other adventure/mystery games, Ripper does not contain many on-screen texts or subtitles; all clues concerning the characters and their backgrounds are revealed in dialogues, which are easy to miss (especially by players whose English is not their natural language).


 * Jake Quinlan (Scott Cohen): The protagonist of the game, investigative reporter for the Virtual Herald, who is investigating and writing about the Ripper. The Ripper regularly sends messages to Quinlan. He has a remonatic relationship with his colleague, Catherine Powell, and when she is attacked by the Ripper, he starts chasing him. Quinlan seems not to be experienced in cyberspace but learns about it throughout the game, as much as the player.


 * Detective Vince Magnotta (Christopher Walken): A violent and corrupt police officer. Since 15 years ago he has a romantic interest in Dr. Clare Burton, and is mentioned to have showed up uninvited to her wedding with Falconetti. About the same time he had hired Hamilton Wofford to design a virtual training ground for cadets, therefore when he was murdered, he personally took the investigation. Magnotta had arrested Falconetti for the murder of Catherine's mother and is also eager to frame him as the Ripper in order to collect the reward for solving the case. Magnotta also has the bad habit of keeping crime scene evidence as "souvenirs". In the start of the game he destroys Renee Stein's cup (with the word "Salisbury") and then keeps Catherine Powell's WAC. In Act II it is revealed that he replaced 2 experienced officers with new ones to resume investigating the Ripper case.


 * Dr. Clare Burton (Clare Burton): A cyber-surgeon at the Meta-Cognition Center of the Tribeca Center Hospital who specializes in the human brain. 15 years ago she married Falconetti but very soon realized he was not for her. After their divorce, both Falconetti and Magnotta made her life chaotic. Burton had developed a cyber-weapon which was subsequently stolen and used by the Ripper.
 * In the start of the game she is responsible for Catherine's case, but she seems to stall her treatment without any explanations.


 * Joey Falconetti (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0446314/ David Patrick Kelly): A cyber hacker and technician. He has a feud against Magnotta after he disrupted his wedding with Burton 15 years ago. They divorced when Falconetti was arrested, but still has feelings for her. He seems to have a fascination with knives, skeletons and other violent images. He lives in a safehouse with Twig.
 * Quinlan first meets Falconetti in his cyberwell, after the challenge to beat his own high score. After this, he allows Quinlan to meet him in person, and offers his help with healing Catherine. In Act II he is at the meta-cog center persuading Burton to perform an interface with her brain, allowing Quinlan to connect with her and restore her memory.
 * His cyberwell password is CIRCUS MAXIMUS


 * Catherine Powell (Tahnee Welch): A reporter for Virtual Herald and Jake's lover. Without his knowledge, she starts investigating the Ripper case by herself hoping to steal the story from Jake and boost her career. Soap Beatty is one of her primary sources. Her brain activity spikes each day that the Ripper kills. She knew that her mother was killed in the last Ripper Web Runners game.
 * At the beginning of the game she sends a message to Jake's WAC mentioning something she discovered. Then the Ripper notifies Jake that she had to attack Catherine as she came close discovering his identity. She is found by Jake in her apartment and says "Ripper" before falling in coma. For most of the game she is tended at the Meta-Cognition Center of the Tribeca Center Hospital by Dr. Claire Burton. She manages to retrieve a distorted image of her attacker, but requires restoration of her memories, a process which is stalled by Burton as "too dangerous". Jake however investigates into what Powell was on to and homes in on three possible suspects for the Ripper's murders. In Act II Falconetti helps Jake interfacing directly with her brain to transmit beneficial information.
 * Catherine seems to be interested in zodiac and crystals. Her cyberwell password is HOROSCOPE

Other characters

 * Hamilton Wofford (Burgess Meredith): A cyber-architect living with his twin brother Covington in a cottage on the outskirts of NY. He built virtual worlds based on historic locations. 15 years ago he was hired by Magnotta to create a police virtual training center. He was also hired by the Ripper to build a replica of Whitechapel. One of his creations included a cyberspace AI with his knowledge and character. Described by his brother as a da Vinci, he had created some contraptions in his house, in which he hid several vacum tubes. When he was killed, Magnotta personally took the case.
 * His cyberwell password is VULCAN.


 * Covington Wofford (Burgess Meredith): Hamilton's twin brother. He seems to be a senile recluse, socked by his brother's death and distrustful of criminals, policemen and journalists. In ACT I he is seen mainly holding a broom threatingly.


 * Ben Dodds (Ossie Davis): The editor of the Virtual Herald. He is in his office throughout Acts I and II although he is not always helpful to Jake.
 * Soap Beatty (Jimie Walker): A disabled computer hacker who was helping Catherine with her investigation on the Ripper. He also informs Jake about cyberspace.


 * Gambit Nelson (MacIntyre Dixon): A cyberspace enterpreneur found in Cafe Duchamp in Act I. He tells Jake where to find Falconetti.


 * Sgt. Lou Brannon (Steven Randazzo): A honest, desk sergeant at the police station. He seems to know Jake from before, and discuss Magnotta's activities, such as his private collection of evidence or the replacement of experienced officers with new ones.


 * Vivien Santiago (Kira Arne): The flirtatious and somewhat provocative secretary at Tribeca Hospital. She makes advances to Jake hoping to date with him.


 * Vic Farley (Peter Boyden): The patholigist who performs autopsies at the morgue of the Tribeca Center Hospital. He seems to have been friends with Jake. In Act I he is in the morgue performing an autopsy and then describes to Jake how the Ripper's victis had died. In Act 2 Jake learns that he was fired because he "talks too much", and is replaced by Bob Eppels.


 * Twig (David Thornton): A technician who is found at Falconetti's house, seen testing a new cyberspace motion-tracking technology. When threatened, he tells Jake how to contact Falconetti in cyberspace, giving him his WELL password.