DP Tool Club 17/CD_ASCQ_17_101194.iso/vrac/high_wod.zip/HTG-FORW.TXT

Text File | 1994-06-29 | 15KB | 250 lines

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                      Highlander: The Gathering    </

                            Second Edition

              />   By Hank Driskill and John Gavigan
             /<
     O[\\\\\\(O):::<============================================-
             \<
              \>        `There can be only one'

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     Prologue
     ^^^^^^^^

        "No one has ever known we were among you... Until now..."
                                                        - Ramirez

        "Sit down, lad, and listen. I know that you have many
   questions about what has happened to you, and, probably about me as
   well...
        "Aye, I know all about what happened - the car crash, and how
   you were pronounced dead by the paramedics... Multiple internal
   injuries, eh? Yeah, nasty. And the worst thing is lying there,
   listening to them try to revive you, and eventually give up...
        "And, next day, your wounds are gone, as if they were never
   there, and you're walking around as if nothing happened. You did the
   smart thing, running away like that... If you'd stayed, they'd never
   have left you alone, running tests and such stuff. As it is, you are
   officially dead. 'Tis better that way, son, both for you and those
   you knew... You see, we're not like them. You were, but you're not
   anymore. Yes, I know you don't understand! Just listen, and be still!
   This is hard enough to explain without you interrupting every second
   minute!
        "Before you 'died', you were just like any other man... You
   could be wounded, you grew older every year, you needed to go see the
   doctor when you were sick. Just like any normal person. Except for one
   thing.  You had inside you a spark of life bigger and brighter that
   anyone else's. All that's changed now - when you 'died', that spark
   burst into flame, and it's power and strength cured your wounds, and
   brought you back to life. I know it sounds weird, but just trust me,
   ok? Who else you gonna listen to?
        "The Quickening is the name given to that flame that burns
   inside of you. It could be described as your life force. Every living
   thing has this force inside of them, and it ties them together, heals
   their wounds, keeps them alive. However, it can be extinguished all
   too easily. When a man's life force dies, he dies with it. When you
   were wounded in the car crash, your life force was pushed down to no
   more than a tiny spark. Then it exploded, and grew, until it was
   bigger than any mortal man's. A million times more powerful. So
   powerful that it can heal wounds that would kill any mortal man. So
   powerful, it could bring you back from the very brink of death.
        "Aye, I said 'mortal man', son. Why? For the simple reason
   that you are not mortal anymore, son. Neither am I. The same thing
   happened to me as happened to you - I was killed and reawoke
   again.. Here, take this sword, and draw it across my arm. Go on! Do
   it! Good and deep! Don't worry about me...
        "Now see this wound? What would you normally do if you got a
   wound like this? Go to the hospital or some such thing, and get
   stitches and a massive bandage. Am I right? Well, watch... Already,
   the blood's stopped flowing. In a few minutes, it'll begin to heal,
   and before the end of the day, you'd never know I'd been hurt at all.
   Why? It's the Quickening! The same thing would happen if I got shot,
   or if I was burnt. It works the same way with you as well!  Your
   Quickening healed the wounds you sustained in the car crash...
        "I don't know why it happens. It just does... I'm not an
   expert - I'm just like you - I was living a normal life, until I was
   killed in battle against a raiding party of Vikings. Aye, Vikings,
   son... No, I'm not from Scandinavia, I'm from Ireland. I was born at a
   place called Brugh na Boinne, near the Hill of Tara, in the Kingdom of
   Midhe, in Ireland. I was taught all this, just as I am teaching you,
   by a man called Liam Mac Dara... He was well over three thousand years
   old by the time I met him.
        "Now? He's dead... Aye, I know I said we're immortal, but
   there is one way we can die - If your head is removed from your body,
   you'll die. Now, listen carefully, because this is the most important
   part. You asked me why I carry a sword. I'll tell you. When one
   immortal kills another, by beheading his opponent, the defeated
   immortal's Quickening flows into the victor, and he become more
   powerful. All the dead immortal's strength, power, knowledge and
   experience transfers itself into the one who beheaded him. That's what
   happened to Liam Mac Dara. He was killed in France, by a German
   immortal, who I killed two hundred years ago.
        "Why'd I kill him? Well, partly to avenge Liam's death, but
   there is also another reason. There is a legend, passed down from
   mouth to mouth over the ages which tells of a time when all living
   immortals will feel drawn to a particular place, to fight for the
   Prize. We must fight until only two immortals remain. Then, they shall
   duel for the Prize.
        "I don't know precisely what it is... Some say that the winner
   of the Prize would become a God. Some say it would mean the end of the
   world. One thing that is certain - the winner of the Prize would have
   all of the immortal Quickening that ever existed, and would be
   powerful beyond belief. He would have all the strength, knowledge and
   experience of every immortal that ever lived. So, down through the
   ages, immortals have been fighting each other, looking forward to the
   day of the Gathering, when a few of us shall remain, and we'll come
   together in one place to fight each other for the Prize. The time of
   the Gathering draws near, and you must prepare yourself to fight other
   immortals, many of whom will have hundreds of years experience.
        "How many of us? I don't know... Perhaps one man in a million
   is born an immortal, perhaps even less. We come from every race,
   creed, religion, and region. The Quickening doesn't seem to
   discriminate between black, white, or, indeed, any other skin-color. I
   have fought and killed immortals from Europe, China, and South
   America.
        "I have also fought other creatures.
        "We are not alone in being different from mortal man in this
   world of darkness. There are other supernatural creatures, who you
   shall meet in the course of your life. I have lived among the Garou a
   lot - Werewolves, shapeshifters... Both man and wolf, or a mix of
   both.. Ferocious creatures... There are other shapeshifters as well -
   the Corax, who could be described as were-ravens, the Bagheera,
   werecats, and many others... None are as common as the Garou, though,
   and all are mortal, and age and die naturally, although they are much
   more robust than mortal men, and can heal faster then normal, though
   not as fast as we can. But there are others who can live for as long
   as we can; the Kindred, for instance - Vampires, are they, undead
   creatures who must drink the blood of mortals to survive. They can
   live for many centuries. They do not age, but they can die from normal
   wounds, even though, like the Garou, they heal at an advanced
   rate. There are Magi, who wield Magick, twisting reality with their
   incantations and spells. There are Faeries, ghosts, Spirits and evil,
   horrible things from places other than this Earth of ours. You may
   encounter them, as you travel, and you must be prepared to combat
   them, and cleanse them from the face of the planet. It is truly a
   World of Darkness we live in, with many secrets that are hidden from
   mortal man. Of all these supernatural creatures, we are the least
   common, and, some would say, the most powerful, as all the rest can
   either grow old, or die normally. A two-thousand year old Vampire will
   still die if you burn it, whereas I have heard of an immortal, who,
   accused of being a witch, was burnt at the stake, and survived. Just
   remember that, no matter how badly wounded you are, you will always
   totally recover, without scars or permanent injury, but remember that
   if you are lying unconscious, or unable to move, it can be very easy
   for someone to come along and take your head. There is only one part
   of our bodies which will not heal totally - our neck will retain
   scars, if we are wounded there. This scar of mine was caused by a
   lucky swing by another immortal, who tried to take my head by surprise
   in England, back in the middle ages. Luckily, I managed to jerk my
   head back in time. If I hadn't, I wouldn't be here...
        "Ah, whisht, lad! So many questions! You'll get your answers
   in time... You'll have to learn all you can about this world, and the
   creatures you'll encounter. You'll have to learn how to live without
   drawing attention to yourself. You'll have to learn how to hide your
   immortality from normal people. I'll teach you everything I can, and
   then I'll have to leave you. But the most important thing you'll ever
   learn is how to fight. All immortals fight using swords, although I
   met one who uses an axe. Aye, uses. He's still alive, and is my
   friend. He saved me from a group of Hunters once. The Hunters are a
   group of mortals who wish to kill us all off. They capture immortals
   and behead them, allowing their Quickening to disperse into the ether.
        "You'll have to learn how to use a sword, for that is the only
   way you can defend yourself, and it's the only way you can defeat
   other immortals. You can't cut a man's head off with the barrel of a
   gun, you know. I was given this sword by Liam Mac Dara. It is
   thousands of years old, crafted by blacksmith magicians over five
   thousand years ago. It's a silver Celtic longsword, and is a part of
   me. Get that bundle from over there. Bring it here, lad...
        "This is an English Broadsword, crafted from steel in the
   middle ages. I took it from an immortal I killed in London almost a
   hundred years ago. Take it. It's yours. Make it part of yourself, an
   extension of your body. And extra limb. When you do that, it will
   become part of you to such an extent that your Quickening will embrace
   it as part of you and make it stronger. Feel it's weight. Swing it
   around a bit, get used to the feel of the blade... That's it...
        "Before we start, there is one thing I must tell you. We have
   certain traditions - laws, if you want to call them that... No
   immortal will ever break them, for they are practical, and have a
   sound reason for existing. The Golden Rule is this: We must never
   fight on holy ground. If an immortal is beheaded on holy ground, his
   Quickening will be drawn into the ground, and will be lost
   forever. and holy ground means more than just churches and the
   like. The spiritual places of the Garou, and the sites of Mage's
   magical sites have the same effect. Don't worry, though. You'll be
   able to tell when you are standing on holy ground. Much the same way
   as you'll be able to know other immortals. Remember you were dizzy
   when you first saw me? I call that the Buzz, and it's something
   that'll happen everytime you meet an immortal. You're feeling it right
   now, are you not, except that it's been suppressed because of the
   amount of time we've spent together. Well, if another immortal came
   near us, you'd get another buzz, and you'd know that there was one
   nearby.
        "Well, enough talk! It's time for you to learn something other
   than theory. Come on, let's teach you the art of swordsmanship!
   Without it, you won't last long. Before long, you'll have to face
   immortals with hundreds, even thousands of years experience. To
   survive, you'll have to defeat them in battle. If you don't kill them,
   they'll kill you.  The Prize awaits one of us, and the Gathering draws
   near..."

                           -----===*===-----

     Foreword
     ^^^^^^^^

        "With my sword and my head held high, Got to pass the test
                             first time..."
                                                - Queen

      Foreword to First Edition by Hank Driskill:

        Ever since the introduction of the World of Darkness, the idea
   of incorporating the immortals from the movie Highlander has seemed not
   only interesting and appropriate, but almost necessary.  The world
   presented in Highlander (there should have been only one) and the
   series closely mimics that of the Storyteller system: a world slightly
   darker and more menacing than our own, with supernatural beings
   wandering among us.  In fact, the movie Highlander is listed as an
   inspiration in the credits for the Storyteller games, so the
   introduction of these characters seems vital.


     Foreword to Second Edition by John Gavigan:

        This is the revised and expanded edition of Hank's original
   Highlander rules, including a combat system designed to support
   complex sword duels. It is designed as a supplement to White Wolf's
   World of Darkness series of games, and is compatible with any of White
   Wolf's World of Darkness Storyteller games.
        These rules are copyright of Hank Driskill and John
   Gavigan. They are in the public domain and may be copied and
   distributed, as long as our names remain here. The use of the
   "Highlander" name and quotes from the film Highlander in these
   rules is not a challenge to the ownership of the rights to the
   Highlander movie, nor of the ownership of the rights to the Highlander
   television series by Rysher Entertainment.
        The pictures in this supplement are from the film Highlander and
  the Highlander TV series, and are reproduced here without the consent
  of the owners of either the film or series. The Storyteller series of
  Roleplaying games is published by White Wolf Inc. and the use of their
  trademarks in these rules is without their permission.


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