Highlander HERO

[tkdguy]

It has occurred to me that I neglected to thank various people for giving me the ideas necessary to complete this project. So let me thank the following people:

Gregory Widen, for starting this whole thing.
Davis/Panzer Productions, for expanding the movie into two television series.
All the writers who portrayed Duncan MacLeod and friends in their novels.
All the gamers who did this before I did in their games (AD&D, d20, WoD, GUPRS, HERO, and Legacy: War of Ages).

And of course, a very special thanks to Adrian Paul, Christopher Lambert, Stan Kirsch, Peter Wingfield, Elizabeth Gracen, Jim Byrnes, Roxanne Har, Alexandra Vandernoot, Clancy Brown, Sean Connery, and all the rest of the cast and crew of the movies and TV series for entertaining us.

[TheImperialKhan]

Thought you might like to see this. It's the basics of a Highlander campaign that I was thinking of running.

HighlandeR

The Young Immortals Saga


Basic Campaign Paradigm:

The campaign is to be run in a series of story arcs. Each arc will consist of at least three adventures but no more than ten adventures. Each arc will take place in a separate time period. Actions taken in a previous arc will have an effect on the future of the world, for example if the characters act to assassinate Louis XIV before the conception of Louis XV they will throw the whole French Monarchy into disarray and the fight for the throne could trigger the French Revolution more than a century early.

Characters will come and go as old characters lose their heads in battle and new characters take their place within the group. The Campaign will continue until the time of the Gathering when the Young Immortals will presumably, but not necessarily, meet their ends. On the other hand who knows, it might be one of the Young Immortals that wins The Prize. The Gathering will not take place until the mid 21st century at the earliest.


The Starting Point:

As befitting the name of “The Young Immortals” all the characters will be fairly young, as immortals go. The characters should be between 75 and 150 years old. They must be able to fit into society in Europe so sorry but no Asian, African or Indian characters until the mid 19th century or later. Remember immortals try to avoid drawing attention to themselves, they never hold the throne themselves but will frequently be important if unseen advisors to the mortals in power.


The First Arc:

The first story arc takes place in Florence, Italy in the early 16th century. A very interesting time and place to be…in the old Chinese meaning of the phrase. For this was the time when the Medicis were struggling to regain their power, those power struggles made all of Italy, but particularly Florence, a very dangerous place to be. But in danger there is frequently profit and opportunity.


The Objective:

Simplicity itself really…
Try to keep your head.


In the end there can be only One.

[tkdguy]

Wow! Just when I thought this entire thread was finished. It must be immortal too!

Well, one of my friends thinks it's hard trying to find a way to get a bunch of Immortals together. You figured out one way. I came up with another young Immortals story arc. A group of people die (together or separately) and wake up newly Immortal. They are found by an older Immortal who trains them simultaneously. For an added twist, the teacher loses his head before completing the newbies' training, and they must find a new mentor to complete their training and eventually avenge their old teacher.

If you're interested, check out the Highlander online game. I used to be a player there.

Highlander Online RPG

[tkdguy]

How about this setting for a Highlander campaign?

THE GATHERING IS A LIE!

That's right. The whole "there can be only one" nonsense started in ancient times, when there were only a few immortals. They were once a close-knit group, but they soon became rivals and eventually became enemies. The Gathering was a lie they perpetuated to get their younger counterparts to fight their enemies for them. They also made up all the rules of combat so that they would have some sort of sanctuary. Suppose an immortal found out this was the cas. How would he or she convince the others to lay down their swords? And how would the Watchers react?

[TheImperialKhan]

Intriguing idea, I think that the fact that an immortals quickening can still be taken by beheading would keep them from laying down those swords however.

[Space Cadet]

You know what the creepy thing about your "The Gathering is
a lie" premise is, tkdguy?

The fact that, right now on the FanFiction.net website, there
is a Highlander story in which that very premise is a part
of the story (only it was a mortal with a twisted sense of humor
who started the whole "There can be only one" shebang).
Another plot element involved the bit about Immortals not
being able to have children. The author of this particular tale
put his (or her; I forget which) own spin on the issue, to the
point that, yes, it was indeed possible for Immortals to have
children.

What was really incredible was how the author incorporated
elements of the original Battlestar Galactica, Stargate SG-1,
and the Ryan Administration (from the most recent Tom Clancy
novels) into the story in a way that actually made a strange
sort of sense. AAMOF, the first thing that crossed my mind
was the thought "I can just see someone doing this as an RPG
campaign".

Space Cadet

[tkdguy]

There's been lots of fan fiction with different ideas, including Immortals having children (and not remembering them afterwards), the Gathering being a made-up story, etc. I even read one story where Satan was actually an ancient Egyptian goddess and Methos'mother.

Here's another twist mixing the Highlander and Babylon 5 universes; my two favorite shows ever. Immortals were created by the Vorlons and Shadows as part of their ongoing rivalry. The winner would get the power to lead Earth on the side of either the Vorlons or the Shadows, depending on who won, of course. A friend of mine also suggested that "King Arthur" episode of B5 could have the man actually being Arthur himself, an Immortal suffering from a memory lapse. Maybe I'll write another story.

[Mark Rand]

I saw that episode. Michael York did a wonderful job playing the man who thought he was King Arthur.

[Space Cadet]

The Narn Knights of the Round Table... now there's a scary
thought...

Space Cadet

[tkdguy]

Let's see:
1. King Arthur goes to Narn.
2. The new generation of Round Table knights are Narn.

Sounds scary, except this guy was nowhere in sight when G'kar liberated Narn from the Centauri. He's pathetic.

Maybe if a technomage came to advise him AND Delenn returned Excalibur, then maybe he'd have a chance.

Of course, I could write up a story that he is Immortal with a memory lapse (it happened in the series). Methos or another friend comes looking for him and takes him away before he has a chance to liberate the Narn. Either that or someone takes his head.

[tkdguy]

I just got an update, from a telemaketer, no less. There will be a fifth Highlander movie named The Source, as well as a new TV series called Forever Young. And Adrian Paul and Team Highlander will be in a car race (more like a marathon like the Tour de France) like he has been doing for a few years now.

[sinanju]

How about this setting for a Highlander campaign?

THE GATHERING IS A LIE!

That's right. The whole "there can be only one" nonsense started in ancient times, when there were only a few immortals. They were once a close-knit group, but they soon became rivals and eventually became enemies. The Gathering was a lie they perpetuated to get their younger counterparts to fight their enemies for them. They also made up all the rules of combat so that they would have some sort of sanctuary. Suppose an immortal found out this was the cas. How would he or she convince the others to lay down their swords? And how would the Watchers react?

There's a Highlander fanfic story entitled "It's Just A Game!" that runs with this premise. In the story, Duncan is explaining the Rules to a newbie immortal while Methos listens...and thinks about the real story. The Four Horsemen (Methos, Kronos, Caspian and Silas) used to invent contests by which they would decide who was in charge for the next few years. At one time they decided to have a headhunting game--whoever took the most heads in the next 20 years would be the winner and get to be in charge. They scattered across the continent. Methos and Silas run into one another a few years later, and they meet a newbie immortal. They argue about who gets to fight him, citing the rules of the game (Silas refused to fight in a cemetary for superstitious reasons of his own, among other things); Silas fights the guy, wins, but they have to flee before he beheads the guy. Twenty years later, the Horsemen reunite. Kronos won, and he's in charge for a few decades.

Time passes. Methos runs into a strange immortal decades later, who challenges him. The guy talks about the Game (tm), and how the winner will win the Prize (tm). Methos tries to explain the truth, but the guy is having none of it. He knows the truth because his mentor taught him. Turns out the original guy Silas fought took what he heard of Methos and Silas's argumetn as gospel Truth. He taught his student, who taught his student, who...

By the time centuries had passed, Methos gave up trying to correct everyone. The Game was too well known, too thoroughly entrenched in Immortal lore. It had become a self-fulfilling prophecy. So...the Game, the Rules, all of it is a lie. But Methos isn't about to fess up at THIS late date....

[tkdguy]

So Methos is to blame for all that nonsense? He just made my list! When I see him again...

[Frenchman]

Awesome! Only thing is that the way you have built the Quickening, it aids EVERYTHING on the character sheet all at once (may or may not be what you wanted) and it maxes out at 6 points of aid (not what you wanted) after killing one or two immortals. Maybe replace the +2 Can aid all similtaneously with +1/4 any one thing at a time and use the extra points to buy up the cap

[sinanju]

Personally, I've never believed that immortals can't regenerate lost limbs. I simply don't believe that, and refuse to acknowledge the canon stories that support it. If you can have all your internal organs removed and recover, if you can have your brains blown out and recover (including all your memories and personality, how can you NOT be able to regrow fingers, toes, arms and legs? Besides, anyone who has been fighting with swords for centuries is going to have lost a finger or two at some point.

I'll accept that they may regrow limbs _slowly_. But not at all? Sorry, no sale.

Otherwise I like the write-up. Although....

I think it would be interesting to play Immortals as seen in the original film. Series immortals could be killed, if only briefly. Immortals in the (first) film JUST DON'T DIE. EVER. Except if they're decapitated. Connor never actually died after being spitted on the Kurgan's sword; he lay at death's door for a while, then recovered. They can be machinegunned at pont blank range and fall down for a moment, maybe be stunned, but that's it. They can fall many stories and leap up (with the snap, crackle and pop of bones resetting). Movie immortals were much more killing machines than series immortals.

This has other consequences too. Series immortals can arrange to die publicly, where their deaths can be witnessed. Even if they escape from the morgue later, nobody really doubts they were sincerely dead. Movie immortals can't do that. They never die, they just fall down and are stunned briefly. They're still breathing and clearly alive. That makes it a lot harder to fake your death when you're being actively investigated or hunted.