(The Merge) Gargoyles: Defenders of the Night - (Hiatus)

[jmucchiello]

I watched the intro. I didn't get it. Aside from being Gargoyles, what is the hook? Are they just supers who only work at night due to sun allergies?
Or should I just make an XD who's like "What do you mean I'm a gargoyle? What does that even mean?"

[Bladewind]

Lol.

Sun allergy is putting it mildly. They are basically werewolves tgat turn ti stone in the day. At night they are defenders of their chosen home.

I would want all characters to be actual gargoyles from the same clan.

[Flynnarrel]

How do we condense a full run show like this? The characters and interactions are pretty awesome - a mix of superscience and magic and mysticism.

Gargoyles Protect. They establish a home or territory then instinctively safeguard it from harm, crime, invasion. It's a bone-deep Calling they have. Some have an over-developed sense of justice. And Clan is everything.

[Spectrum]

I can think of four canonical clans:
Scottish Highlands
Arthurian England
Japanese Tokogawa
a recent clan made by mad scientists

A noncanonical clan:
Notre Dame

Throwing out a few ideas of fun clans. I don't know enough about any of them, right now, to do them great justice, but seeing if any would be of interest.
Persian
subSaharan Africa
Egyptian- Mummies Alive! as gargoyles!
Irish- the Fae play a major role in the series, and Druids vs hippy Neopagans
Viking- presented as bad guys in the series
Native American- would need to be a whole lot more specific
Eastern European/ Polish Jewish community- dealing with the Gnomes of Zurich and the Golem

[Bladewind]

Great ideas Spec !

I am doing something here that’s a little different for me... keeping it simple... lol

So at the risk of being politically incorrect... I’d like to keep it to the more European types... Arthurian, Scottish, and the Notre Dame one sounded interesting. Medieval castle dwelling types...

Going to switch this over to recruitment today.

Setting... Don’t worry too much about that. Using Montreal as my mental map, but the city is less important than the story.

Character Names... Angels was suggested, Arthurian characters was suggested indirectly... I had thought of rivers and cities as possibilities.

Clan... mentioned above. If you tie the group to the Manhattan clan, the group from the series, you can be a second or possibly third generation member of the clan. Non canon clans give more leeway of course. If we go the latter, nothing stops you from determining that your character is of the “Lexington” or “Brooklyn” type if you want to have distinctive traits.

Origin... apart from topics also touched on above, these characters were a part of the modern world on their world. I envision the Merge fir them as being cursed (as noted the details can be worked out) and they awakened on the Merged Earth. If needed, I’ll include s human ally that brought you up to speed on whats going on. The Merge happened five years ago, and you awoke about a week ago. The idea is you are still getting used to your new home, but have “accepted” that there is no way home and that you have no way of knowing if there are other gargoyles out there yet. For now, your new home is your castle and you are defending it while yiu get dragged into defending the neighbourhood...

Powers... the biggest deviation from the series. Powers, beyond claws (Gargoyles also have wall-crawling limited to structures that can suport their weight and toughness less than their claw damage), gliding and maybe some night vision, are not required. I introduced the idea to help distinguish the characters and guve players more obvious strengths and niches. Bottom line, I want the game to be a little more than a party of fighters with kits (for an AD&D 2nd ED reference...)

HQ... details to be hashed out. As noted, I’m providing the skeleton for free. Decide what you want... a clock tower, abandoned building, top floor of an apartment building, roof of an office tower...

Images... there are plenty of fan images on deviant art and elsewhere, most that I found are female but there are good ones out there.

Ally... as referenced under origin, there is the possibility that a human ally also transferred over in the Merge. I like this idea and think I will incorporate it as en idea. While the character will be an NPC under GM control, I leave it to the players to inspire who this person is. Male or Female? Occupation? (Leave time in their schedule to check up on the gargoyles while they were in stone slumber..) I am aiming for PL 4 for this character and a non super.

[Bladewind]

How do we condense a full run show like this? The characters and interactions are pretty awesome - a mix of superscience and magic and mysticism.

Gargoyles Protect. They establish a home or territory then instinctively safeguard it from harm, crime, invasion. It's a bone-deep Calling they have. Some have an over-developed sense of justice. And Clan is everything.

Thanks Flynn. I knew I could count on you to make a perfect summary!

Intro post has been updated with slightly more coherent creation guidelines and the post prior to this one was added as well.

I am posting a link to a Gargoyle PC of my own from a different game, to kind of give tone and ideas... she was not made with the creation rules I posted for this game though. If I were to give her powers, they would probably be tech based, I had envisioned a Thor-style hammer with the ability to forge objects (Create) or repair objects (Transform: Damaged to Undamaged)

[kirinke]

Here's my submission. Her name and background can change once we get an idea of what sort of clan we want.



EVANGELINE PL 8/121
Evangeline is the daughter of Angela and Broadway. She grew up in Avalon, one of the many second generation of gargoyles born from the first clutch rescued by the Princess Katherine. Due to the magical nature of Avalon, Evangeline developed the powers of teleportation, enhanced senses and a few other odds and ends. When she left to learn more about the human world, the Fey gifted her with a Fire-sword token.


ABILITIES
1 STR
8 STA
1 DEX
1 AGL
8 FGT
0 INT
1 AWE
1 PRE
PP 42

DEFENSES
8 DODGE
8 PARRY
8 FORT
8 TOUGH
8 WILL
PP 14

ADVANTAGES
Languages 1, Luck 1, Ranged Attack 7.
PP 9

SOCIAL ADVANTAGES
Teamwork

SKILLS
Expertise: Popular Culture 8 (+8)
Insight 7 (+8)
Perception 7 (+8)
Persuasion 6 (+9)
PP 10

DEVICES
Fire Sword (Easily Removable)
Damage: Damage 8 (DC 23; Penetrating 8, Fire)
PP 10

ATTRIBUTES
08PP Gargoyle Senses: Senses 8 (Analytical: Sight, Analytical: Smell, Analytical: Hearing, Darkvision, Extended: Sight 1: x10, Extended: Hearing 1: x10, Extended: Smell 1: x10)
01PP Immunity: Immunity 1 (Aging; Limited - Half Effect)
03PP Prehensile Tail and Feet: Extra Limbs 3 (3 extra limbs, Advantages: Improved Grab)
02PP Wall Crawling: Movement 1 (Wall-crawling 1: -1 speed rank)
04 Winged Flight: Flight 4 (Speed: 30 miles/hour, 500 feet/round; Wings)
PP 18

POWER ARRAY
Teleport: Teleport 4 (500 feet in a move action, carrying 50 lbs.; Accurate, Change Direction, Change Velocity)
Apportive Attack: Damage 4 (Alternate; DC 19; Increased Range 2: perception)
Teleporting Flurry (Alternate; Shapeable Area: 30 cft., DC 14, Increased Range: ranged, Selective)
PP 18

Offense
Initiative +1
Apportive Attack: Damage 4 (DC 19)
Damage: Damage 8, +8 (DC 23)
Grab, +8 (DC Spec 11)
Throw, +8 (DC 16)
Unarmed, +8 (DC 16)

LANGUAGES
English, Fey

COMPLICATIONS
Motivation: Doing Good and Justice: Evangeline grew up listening to her father and uncle's exploits and was inspired to follow suit, protecting the weak and helpless from those who would hurt them.

Motivation: Gargoyles protect. This need instinctual and bone deep. Once they decide on a territory, they protect it and everything in it from all who would hurt, destroy and despoil it.

Stone Sleep (Involuntary Transformation) All Gargoyles are forced into a stone "hibernation"" during the day- they will become unaware of their surroundings and immobile during this time, and are incredibly vulnerable. As a bonus, they appear to be harmless stone statues.

Bond of Honor - Once given, her word is her bond and she will not break a promise.

Notes:
I kinda did away with the monster complication. In the Merge universe, it'd be easy enough to research and find out that they're good guys.

[Bladewind]

BTW, don't forget, there is some world building to do before fully fleshing out characters.

- where does your clan hail from?
- what are your naming conventions?
- where is your HQ?
- who is the ally that checked up on you? (An idea I will throw out on this one is that your ally is the owner of a nightclub. Give you a HQ at the same time... as well as possibly some contacts to the local police and street communities...)

[kirinke]

Huh. Owner of a nightclub? Why not Lucifer? I assume there's still a 'good' version of him running around.

[Bladewind]

PL too high, lol ! I'm aiming for the ally to be PL 4 !

What are your thoughts on the other questions ?

[kirinke]

Lol. Hrm... How about the Penguin? Lol.

Maybe a retired Montoya?

[jmucchiello]

If you are still doing Manhattan, the Woolworth building, not far from battery park, is sufficiently tall (shy of 800 feet) and gothic.


Not sure why gargoyles are guarding the financial district. But the building works.

[Spectrum]

I really like the idea of being connected to a religious location of some kind with the ally being the religious leader.

Religion can mean a lot of things.

[kirinke]

How about church of St. Vincent?

Or the Trinity Church?

[Spectrum]

St Vincent is gorgeous. I can really see the characters taking their places upon the walls.