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)

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.