Gargoyles are, in real life, fairly elaborate statues that perch on the edge of buildings. Their role is two-fold; firstly to show off the skill of the craftsman and therefore the wealth of the building owner but also to help channel rain water away from the wall.
Last year a rather odd looking Xenomorph gargoyle was discovered projecting from Paisley Abbey in Scotland.
Time travel, sadly, is not in evidence here. Although the Abbey was built around 1245 and that would have been a strange time to carve gargoyles like this the building had renovations in the 1990s. Many of the original gargoyles had to be replaced.
So while we get can move on from the fact that a 13th century Abbey wasn’t invoking the Xenomorph protection in real life we can still wander about the technique in a roleplaying game.
If you’re running a sci-fi or alternative modern game – should buildings still have gargoyles and what does it mean if they do? In a fantasy game what would it mean if a church of a friendly god just so happened to have demonic gargoyles or gargoyles that just so happen to look a lot like an ancient dragon menance?
How do you even handle the issue of gargoyes and players? Are these one of those features that if you mention them at all the players will latch on to them as being important and if you don’t mention them the players will feel cheated?
