Gargoyles RPG alpha version

So, I finally found the strength to translate the game I was blubbering about on G+ for the last two weeks. It's a rough draft and the powers are described only in general terms. I hope to finish it before the third week of July, when I will have to actually use it.

The game is played with sliced branches with A on one side and א on the other. Any comments, ideas or suggestions will be appreciated. Have any cool boons, flaws or sigils in mind? That's uber-cool as well!

I will be using this one with pretty young players, so don't go too crazy :)

Anyhow, without further ado, a copy-paste from Word!

Gargoyles: a Game of Dying Light

In gargoyles you take on the roles of constructs created to defend a world abandoned by its deity and after being hijacked by a cynical imposter. Your powers are considerable, but you are obsessed with defending a specific spot and are rendered nigh helpless by sunlight.

The Truth of Sophia

Thousands of years ago, the world was ruled by mages, the servants of blessed Sophia, the true deity of enlightenment and sunlight. These wise men have created artificial beings called Gargoyles to protect humanity from the Demiurge, the false deity of ignorance and fire. Elaborate sigils adorned the bodies of the gargoyles, granting them direct access to the blessed light of Sophia. For millennia, they were the defenders of the world, hailed as heroes by mages and simpletons alike.

However, despite their considerable prowess and selfless heroism, the gargoyles eventually lost the fight. The demiurge has hijacked the sun and imprisoned humanity in a prison of false light and delusion. The sun is still the source of the gargoyles’ power, because it was created by Sophia, but it also curses them with petrification them, for it was subverted by the demiurge.

Presently, the world is ruled by liars and hypocrites who worship the cheating deity. Those whose hearts are cold and souls are alienated rise to glory, while the good and the noble are disgraced and live in poverty and fear. Dark horrors torment humanity and earn its gratitude while the champions of the light receive nothing but scorn and hate. Even the sun has betrayed its most stalwart defenders.

Will you alienate yourself from this benighted world and flee the mortal coil to join the souls of the righteous in Sophia’s spiritual realm, or carry the burden of the light of truth against all odds in a world of wickedness?

It important to have mortal friends if you hope to make it through the day...

Character Generation

To create a gargoyle follow the below nine steps:

Abilities are your natural talents; divide 12 points (5 top). The abilities are Body, which governs all physical actions, Mind, which governs knowledge and awareness and Spirit, which governs interaction with gods and people. The following powers come naturally to you, and require neither training, nor Sunlight, though they may be boosted by both.

Basic Attacks

Bite: Body +2, one Body damage per success, reduces foe’s Sunlight by one per three successes.
Claws: Body, one Body damage per success, you can use this attack twice per turn.
Tail: Body +4 against each foe within 3 meters, one Body damage, knocks down enemies.

Basic Defenses
Immunity: Fire, disease, hunger, suffocation, poison, most unarmed attacks. Extreme cold slows you, but doesn’t cause damage.
Toughness: Pay one Sunlight point to cancel one point of damage.
Petrifaction: Become a statue. Gain damage resistance equal to Body plus three and return one Ability point per round.

Basic Features
Glide: You can glide a distance ten times longer than the height from which you sprang.
Grotesque: You make people outside your domain experience uneasiness and hostility toward you.

Glorious Demise: When you reach 0 Body you blow up and cause six Body damage to each adjacent creature. Reduce this damage by two for each two meters away from you.

Skills are you’ve learned throughout your life; divide 9 points (3 top). Below are the most common skills, however, feel free to come up with new skills that you feel best represent your character’s unique experience.

Body	Mind	Spirit
Appearance	Academia *	Acting
Archery	Computers *	Animals
Athletics	Craft *	Art *
Driving *	Criminology	Bullying
Endurance	Current Events	Carousing
Firearms	Disguise	Cheating
Iron Stomach	Engineering	Concentration
Legerdemain	Investigate	Empathy
Martial Art *	Lock picking	Etiquette
Melee	Mechanics *	Gambling
Recovery	Medicine	Hosting
Riding	Mysticism *	Negotiations
Seduction	Pharmacy	Religion
Stealth	Puzzle Solving	Resistance
Strength	Theory of War *	Sixth Sense
Survival	Tracking	Socialization
Throwing	Trivia	Streetwise

* If you take more than one point in this skill, choose a sub category like Academia: Law or Art: Painting.

In a nutshell, this is how the world works.

Sigils are source of your powers; pick one complex or two simple sigils. Gargoyles are tougher and fiercer than humans, and their bodies are equipped with deadly natural weapons and huge wings. However, their true advantage is their ability to break through the lies the Demiurge and uncover portions of the true and blessed world of Sophia. They do this by the sigils of power. The more complex a sigil is, the greater is its effect on reality.

In the distant past there were two more levels of sigils – esoteric and eldritch, but these have been lost to history.

	Simple	Complex	Complete
Banner	You give strength and courage to allies within your domain	You protect your allies from spells and evil spirits	You heal the wounds of your allies
Candle	You can detect illusions and magical effects	You can sense lies and schemes against you	You can see a person’s history through his eyes
Clock	You always act first in an encounter	You can act twice per round	You can act three times per round
Demon	You can summon a minor demon, who is loyal to the death	You can summon a lesser demon, who is very helpful	You can summon a greater demon, who is very fickle
Eye	You can feel the emotions of living organisms in your domain	You can sense emotions by looking into people’s eyes	You can command people by looking into their eyes
Face	Your hideous visage demoralizes your enemies	You feel your enemies’ hearts with fear and despair	You crush your enemies will to fight or even live
Flame	You can go into a mad rage that bestows you with fearsome destructive powers	Your battle cry terrifies the enemy and strengthens your friends	You know the ancient war song of Sofia When sung, it unleashes solar power
Lion	You can sense through any animal in your domain	You can command any animal in your domain	You confer supernatural powers to animals you command
Mask	You can change your appearance to appear like a different humanoid	You can create completely realistic illusionary sounds	You can create completely realistic illusionary images
Maul	Your natural attacks are particularly destructive	You can breathe fire or dust at your enemies	Your breath petrifies the living and paralyzes monsters
Mountain	You are stronger than any man alive	Your strength impressed even experienced gargoyles	Your body is a paragon of physical perfection
Shadow	The shadows are your spies	You control the size and shape of shadows	Shadows are the lethal extensions of your will
Shield	Your skin is especially hard	Your skin has the durability of steel	Arrows and bullets are like peas for you
Snake	Your teeth produce a deadly toxin	Do you have a poisonous sting at the end of your tail	You can spit poisonous acid at your enemies
Star	You can see a person’s dream if you have a link	You can visit the dream of people you see or linked with	You can invade a person’s dream and harm or torment him
Stone	You can alter the form of any object made ​​of stone	You can control sculptures of humanoids or animals	You can command most minerals, stones and earth
Sun	You are aware of your surroundings during the day and may employ other sigils	You can talk telepathically with those around you during the day	You can move as long as no human sees your movement
Thorns	Sharp spikes grow from your body and head	You can fire spikes at your enemies	You can shoot dozens of spikes in all directions
Wings	Your wings are strong enough to allow real flight	You are agile in your flight and can make flyby attacks	By waving your wings, you can create hurricane-level wind
Wraith	You are undetectable when pressed to a wall	You can merge with walls and sculptures	You can move through walls, rocks and stone objects

Flaws are the curses of the Demiurge. You get three random curses.

Dark Creation: You are particularly sensitive to light. Even a regular flashlight may blind you.
Iconophobia: religious symbols disgust you because they are expressions of the lies of the demiurge. You cannot enter mosques, temples, churches or synagogues. Sacred symbols of Abrahamic faiths cause you to flee.
Material Sensitivity: weapons made of the selected material (usually iron, silver or gold) do double damage.
The Red Fear: You are particularly sensitive to fire. Flames harm you and proximity to open flames causes you to flee.
Sick Love: your soul is linked to the soul of the mage who created you. All body damage caused to the mage's current body is also inflicted on you as well. If the mage’s current body dies, the soul immediately transforms to a new body (person, tree or life).
OCD: You are addicted to small ceremonies, such as arranging all objects according to color or insisting on polite conversation even during the most stressful of times.
Mark of Cain: You bear the mark of your creator on your body. This causes any servant of the demiurge to target you first. Also, you feel, rightly or not, that the whole world is against you.

But at my back I always hear...

Boons are the gifts of Sophia. Choose two. You can increase this number by picking up to two additional flaws or increasing your alienation by one. We recommend that you don’t select too many shortcomings. If you’re scared of light, iron, fire, holy places, in love with a tree and cannot rest unless immersed in mud, you might find this game a tad frustrating...
 

Relic (3-5): You have a powerful ancient artifact blessed by Sophia. Consult with your GM before picking this boon.
Cult (1-3): You are considered a guru, prophet or god by a small group of people who live in or near your domain.
Blessed (1-4): Thanks to a special connection with Sophia, you have an increased ability to affect reality. Bless points work the same way as karma and are purchased on 1:2 basis. However, they may not be used to buy off alienation points.
Accepted (1-5): You have powerful friends among mortals, who will help you with information and non-violent actions.
Second Chance (3): The spirit of the mage who created you has remained behind to look after its favorite creation. When your body is destroyed, it will sacrifice itself to save you. You can use this power only once.
Eternal Bond (5): The spirit of the wizard who created you stayed in the world to advise and help you. It will never leave you, will never let you down. Unlike the previous boon, this mage is a visible ghost you can interact with, not a metaphysical presence.

The Essence of the character is described by two values ​​- karma and sunlight. Sunlight is used to fuel sigils, boost checks and absorb damage. You cannot have more sunlight points than you have Body. Karma allows re-rolling any test once. Three points of karma can be used to remove one alienation point. A character with zero karma finds life very frustrating and full of annoying little accidents. You start with one point of Karma.

Each sunset, a character renews all karma points used to re-roll tests and gains 0 to 5 points of Sunlight, depending on weather conditions. To gain any sunlight points, the character must be fully immersed in sunlight, even a towel can cause a character to gain no sunlight points during that day. On the other hand, even a single beam of light causes a gargoyle to immediately petrify for the reminder of the day.

Alienation measures your mutual disgust from this world. It weakens the ties between your spiritual soul and your material body. The more alienation points you have, the more unbearable is your longing to Sophia’s blessed realm.

Alienation is represented by red stamps on the character sheet. Five stamps and you turn into a statue forever. Alienation has one advantage - an alienated character begins to notice the lies of the Demiurge and see the world as it is, which protects it from enchantments and illusions.

You're ready. Go forth and conquer!

Conflict Resolution

When success is not certain, roll ability + skill (total) and count your successes. If you passed the required number, you succeed. In case of a draw the defender wins. Usually, one success is marginal, two is normal and three is full.

You may burn sunlight points to increase your total. In game terms, this represent appealing to Sophia to directly intervene in your behalf. A character left without sunlight immediately petrifies and remains a statue until exposed to the sun and the moon (in that order).

The roll is done by scattering an amount of black runes (you) and white runes (Sofia) equal to your total. A rune that lands face up (א) adds one success. A rune that lands face down (A) removes one success. A rune that lands on its side grants two successes which don’t count toward determining the test type.

Because Sophia helps those who help themselves and hates parasites, it is important to check who is responsible for the test - you or Sophia. Check what kind of rune earned the most successes and whether the test was easy or challenging. Then, consult the below table to determine your fate.

	Gargoyle	Sun
Success	Nothing	1 Woe
Failure	Nothing	3 Woe
Success + *	3 Weal	Nothing
Failure+	Nothing	1 Woe

* Difficulty is greater than 7.

Woe points may be used by the Demiurge to reduce your total, while Weal points may used by Sophia to raise your total. Five Woe points may be used by the Demiurge to buy you one alienation point. It’s up for the GM to decide when and how to use each character’s Weal and Woe points.

If you have only Sophia successes, the amount of woe points gained from this test is doubled.

Experience 

 XP is used to improve the character’s traits ​​and to purchase new sigils at the below prices:
 

Attribute: Current X 2

Talent: Current
Sigil: current X 5

Advantage: Current X 3
Karma: 5 per point