If you want to add an unusual race to your game, this supplement looks at 'gargoyles'. Now, a gargoyle is an ornamental water-spout commonly found on mediaeval buildings such as cathedrals, so I think they are really talking about 'grotesques', the stone carvings that depict anything from winged horrors to caricatures of local personalities - but be that as it may, what would it be like if such statues came to life and walked among us?

The first part of the book takes you through all the elements of creating a gargoyle character, complete with all the necessary game mechanics. There's a vast array of feats, most of which alas require you to be a gargoyle to take them (some could prove entertaining additions for members of other species...), also expert and master classes for aspiring legends of the gargoyle world.

So, now we can generate gargoyles, what to do with them? Firstly, there's the need to decide how they came to be - magic, perhaps, or alien visitors from another world. Are they inherently hostile or if greeting with kindness would they reciprocate? Have they always been here (hence the myths and legends) or have they only just arrived in our midst? Are they a part of normal society or interacting covertly with us?

Once you've decided these, you can start to think about how they will fit into your campaign. There's some quite detailed discussion that ought to spawn a few ideas as to directions in which to take your game. Most are predicated on gargoyles as NPCs, interacting in various ways with player-character human beings - but it could prove amusing to turn it on its head and have the players play gargoyles attempting to integrate with the world (or spy upon it, invade...). Many other supplements are drawn in, particularly the World of Fire campaign setting which is ideally suited to adding this kind of weirdness. There's a whole organisation set up to keep gargoyles and humans apart, the Stonecutters (why cannot I get the episode of The Simpsons out of my head?) with their own agenda and structure: your characters may be part of it or working against it, or just run in to them once they have discovered that gargoyles are real. Plenty of scope for fun here... and the book rounds out with some NPC gargoyles all ready to get embroiled.

It's a fun, off-the-wall concept which could make for an entertaining campaign.

Return to Stone Sentinels page.

Reviewed: 24 February 2015