Appendix: Immortals
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"He is immortal, and he is not alone."
- Dawson
These are simply the author's interpretations of the immortals
from the movie and series. If you disagree with part or all of it,
change it.
Connor MacLeod
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"I am Connor MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod. I was born in 1518
in the village of Glenfinnan on the shores of Loch Shiel.
And I am immortal."
- Connor Mac Leod, 1985
Played by: Christopher Lambert
Nature: Reluctant Immortal
Demeanor: Autist
Born: 1518
Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 4, Stamina 4, Charisma 4,
Manipulation 4, Appearance 3, Perception 4,
Intelligence 4, Wits 4
Abilities: Alertness 3, Awareness 4, Athletics 3, Brawl 3, Dodge 4,
Intimidation 3, Intuition 3, Leadership 1, Streetwise 2,
Subterfuge 4, Drive 1, Etiquette 3, Firearms 2, Melee 6,
Stealth 4, Survival 3, Bureaucracy 2, Computer 1, Finance 3,
Investigation 2, Law 3, Linguistics 3, Medicine 2, Occult 1,
Politics 2, Science 2.
Backgrounds: Allies 1, Arcane 2, Contacts 2, Resources 5
Quickening: 7 Willpower: 7
Weapon: Katana (difficulty 6, Str+5=8 dice)
Ramirez
^^^^^^^
"I am Juan Sanchez Villa Lobos Ramirez, chief metallurgist to King
Charles V of Spain. And I am at your service."
- Ramirez, 1541
Played by: Sean Connery
Nature: Mentor
Demeanor: Gallant
Born: 896 BC
Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 3, Stamina 4, Charisma 5,
Manipulation 4, Appearance 3, Perception 5,
Intelligence 5, Wits 4
Abilities: Acting 3, Alertness 4, Awareness 5, Athletics 2, Brawl 3,
Dodge 3, Empathy 2, Intimidation 3, Intuition 4,
Streetwise 3, Subterfuge 4, Etiquette 4, Leadership 4,
Melee 7, Music 3, Repair 2, Stealth 3, Survival 5
Finance 4, Investigation 5, Law 4, Linguistics 6,
Medicine 4, Occult 3, Politics 4, Science 3
Backgrounds: Arcane 3, Resources 5
Quickening: 6 Willpower: 9
Weapon: Katana (difficulty 6, Str+5=8 dice)
The Kurgan
^^^^^^^^^^
"The Kurgans were an ancient people from the steppes of Russia.
For amusement they tossed children into pits with hungry dogs
to fight for meat. Ah, the Kurgan... he is the strongest of
all the immortals. He is the perfect warrior."
- Ramirez, 1541
Played by: Clancy Brown
Nature: Deviant
Demeanor: Bravo
Born: ?
Attributes: Strength 5, Dexterity 4, Stamina 5, Charisma 2,
Manipulation 4, Appearance 2, Perception 4,
Intelligence 3, Wits 4
Abilities: Alertness 3, Awareness 4, Athletics 3, Brawl 7, Dodge 5,
Intimidation 6, Leadership 4, Streetwise 5, Subterfuge 2,
Drive 4, Firearms 5, Melee 8, Repair 4, Stealth 2,
Survival 6, Computer 1, Finance 3, Investigation 2, Law 3,
Linguistics 5, Medicine 2, Occult 4, Politics 3, Science 2.
Backgrounds: Arcane 3, Contacts 2, Fame 1, Resources 3
Quickening: 8 Willpower: 8
Weapon: Two Handed Sword (difficulty 7, Str+6=11 dice)
Duncan MacLeod
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"I am Duncan MacLeod born 400 years ago in the Highlands of Scotland.
I am immortal, and I am not alone."
- Duncan
Played by: Adrian Paul
Nature: Judge
Demeanor: Reluctant Immortal
Born: circa 1590
Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 5, Stamina 4, Charisma 4,
Manipulation 3, Appearance 4, Perception 4,
Intelligence 3, Wits 4.
Abilities: Acting 2, Alertness 1, Awareness 3, Athletics 4, Brawl 6,
Dodge 3, Intimidation 2, Intuition 2, Leadership 2,
Streetwise 2, Subterfuge 3, Drive 3, Etiquette 1, Firearms 3,
Melee 6, Repair 1, Stealth 3, Survival 4, Computer 2,
Finance 2, Investigation 3, Law 1, Linguistics 4, Medicine 1,
Occult 1, Politics 1, Science 1
Backgrounds: Allies 2, Arcane 2, Contacts 1, Mentor 4, Resources 4
Quickening: 5 Willpower: 8
Weapon: Katana (difficulty 6, Str+5=8 dice)
Richie Ryan
^^^^^^^^^^^
"You're one of us now."
- Duncan
Played by: Stan Kirsch
Born: circa 1973
Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 3, Stamina 4, Charisma 3,
Manipulation 2, Appearance 3, Perception 4,
Intelligence 3, Wits 2.
Abilities: Acting 2, Alertness 1, Athletics 2, Brawl 2, Dodge 2,
Streetwise 3, Subterfuge 1, Drive 4, Firearms 1, Melee 3,
Repair 2, Security 3, Stealth 1,Computer 1, Finance 1,
Investigation 1, Law 2.
Backgrounds: Contacts 2, Mentor 3, Resources 2
Quickening: 2 Willpower: 6
Weapon: Saber (difficulty 6, Str+4=7 dice)
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Last Words
^^^^^^^^^^
"Now it ends."
- Kurgan
John:
I loved Highlander from the first time I saw it - It remains one
of my favorite films to this day. Everything about it appealed to me,
from the story to the music. When I discovered Hank's rules for
running a Highlander character in the World of Darkness one night
while browsing through the now-defunct soda.berkeley.edu Storyteller
ftp site, I pounced on them immediately. The prospect of playing an
immortal in the World of Darkness had never occurred to me, but I was
sold from the start. Using Hank's rules, I ran an immortal in a
friend's Storyteller Chronicle, in a fairly large group with
Vampires, Garou and Magi player characters.
Diarmuid Mac Aonghusa, as I called the character, was an Irish
immortal, and kin to the Garou Fianna tribe. The other players,
exasperated with the, in their opinion, unpronounceable name I chose
for the character, dubbed him "DeDannan", after the ancient
Celtic race, the Tuatha De Dannan, and referred to him as "The
Celt". The first time DeDannan fought another immortal, one of the
major deficiencies of both the Storyteller system and Hank's rules
became quickly apparent - the lack of rules for Storytelling detailed
sword-duels. I designed a crude system of sword-fighting rules, and
later adopted the rules for Glaive duelling from the Werewolf Players
Guide.
As time went by, other small deficiencies cropped up, and
various ideas occurred to me. I've never really been happy simply
as a player of role-playing games; I've always preferred designing
games to actually playing or GMing...
Eventually, as my ideas mounted up, I gave in to temptation,
and embark on a revision of Hank's rules. Not a complete
re-writing, but some additions, and a fair bit of editing. To my
relief, Hank liked the ideas I had, and we made it a joint
effort. Thus, Highlander: The Gathering Second Edition was born.
Unlike Hank, I'm not exactly a Highlander fanatic. I've
never really been that impressed by the series, preferring the film
both for it's mood and atmosphere, and because I like both
Christopher Lambert and the character of Connor Mac Leod more than I
do Adrian Paul or Duncan. However, I am fanatical about the film, and
I've seen it more times than I can count.
My credentials as far as game design go are slightly
better. As well as being a manic roleplayer and a World of Darkness
fanatic, I'm also a freelance game designer, and I've been
involved in the development of the Storyteller series, particularly
Werewolf: The Apocalypse.
Just to reiterate - while these rules are copyright of us,
their authors, we do not dispute the ownership of the rights to the
Highlander film and series by the writers and producers of the
respective productions. This is not an official Highlander roleplaying
game. We do believe that Epitaph studios are currently developing the
Official Highlander roleplaying game. The Storytelling roleplaying
system and the World of Darkness setting were developed by and are
copyright of White Wolf Inc. By copyrighting these rules, we do not
dispute the ownership of any of these trademarks. We simply wish to
see that our efforts in putting together these rules aren't
exploited by anyone else.
Just one last thing - Always remember that, although there are
plenty of "rule"s to be found in these pages, there really is
only one important rule to be considered when you are using the
Storyteller system, no matter whether you're playing a Werewolf, an
Immortal or a Mage - There are no rules. What is contained in these
pages are mine and Hank's ideas - our suggestions for playing an
immortal in the World of Darkness. Admittedly, I'd like to think
that I'm a good enough game designer to have put together something
that will suit and appeal to most people, but I doubt if I'm that
good...
At the moment, my email address of csc086@cent1.lancs.ac.uk is
looking as though it might change, so, if you have any comments on
these rules, Hank would be the best person to send them to.
Don't lose your head,
John
Hank:
Wow. When I sat down to write the first edition Highlander
rules, my hope was that someone out on the net would eventually read
them, and maybe even like what they read...
I've had over 300 people personally request the Highlander
rules, independent of who knows how many have gotten them off the ftp
sites or mosaic pages they live on now. Like I said, Wow... thanks!
I gave my credentials in the first edition rules, so this is
just a recap. I started roleplaying when my dad bought D&D the week
it came out, in the mid-70's (I was 8). I've since played
and/or gamemastered in over a hundred campaigns, lasting from a few
weeks to several years. I've always been a Highlander fan, and
between Duncan's katana and the movie poster on the wall most
people who enter my home guess that pretty quickly...
A lot has changed the past nine months, since the first
edition came out. I'm finishing my PhD this summer, and in
September 1994 I begin work at Digital Domain in Venice, CA, doing
computer effects for Jim Cameron (y'know, the T2/Aliens/Abyss guy.
He owns the company) and others. My life is changing so
quickly... I'd just like to thank John for having so many things to
contribute that it warranted a new version, and my wife (of almost
five years now... and she still likes me... another Wow!) for putting
up with me staying up nights to bounce e-mail ideas and editing/layout
ideas with this guy in the UK...
For awhile still, people can reach me at driskill@cs.utah.edu.
This address will forward to my DD account in September... as before,
my only "payment" for these rules is that you send us mail, and
tell us what you think: good or bad, ideas help. Who knows, we may
make you write the third edition...{center smiley here}.
PS: To subscribe to the Highlander mailing list, send mail to
listserv@psuvm.psu.edu with a message body that says simply sub
highla-l yourname@yoursite. Likewise, you can subscribe to the
vampire mailing list, vampire-l, by sending mail to
listserv@wizards.com, the same way. There is also a werewolf-l and
mage-l, at the same address. For more info on the Highlander mailing
list, contact the list admin, Debbie_Douglass@DL5000.bc.edu.
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