Well, now that Gamehole 2026 is right around the corner, I probably ought to post my Garycon 2026 Rogue's Gallery. I played a lot of great characters this last time around. My game count was:
Traveller - 2
Call of Cthulhu - 2
Empire of the Petal Throne - 1
Riverbank - 1
Shadowdark - 1
DCC - 1
War of the Ring - 1
And not a bad game among any of them. Except War of the Ring, the miniatures game, where I got my butt kicked. But that was just me. Oh, and there was one person at that table who was behaving like a jerk. Even the game master and the people on his team apologized to me for his behavior. He never did. Whatevs, angry nerd.
Here's the TLDR version in two pictures:
Let's go second pic first: War of the Ring miniatures game. This was bad guy vs bad guy, goblins on goblins, warg riders on giant spiders, all the kinky stuff. Besides Wanker McJerkface (pretty sure that was his name) I had a great time getting my butt kicked. For the record, in the photo above, I'm the wargs, the other team is the giant spider. I was able to wax that spider, but lost the battle overall. Took too much time to "form up". Lesson learned.
Okay, so on to the characters, in no particular order:
Geran - 2nd level magic user, Empire of the Petal Throne.
Ksenia Krishko, M.S., Associate Astronomer - Traveller. This was a "hard scifi" Traveller game I really liked. Little action, but lots of problem-solving, which I love in my RPGs.
Romi Cohn - Call of Cthulhu. Funny, I don't remember much about this adventure, which is very odd because it was run by You Too Can Cthulhu, who usually run the most memorable of adventures. I lost sanity and burned a LOT of luck, which means my rolls sucked, which is probably why my brain won't recall the game very well.
Ivan Ragsnub - Half-orc ranger, Shadowdark. My first time playing Shadowdark. Reminded me a lot of old skool AD&D/2e. Shot a lot of arrows at undead. I liked it.
Dick K. Philip - Scoundrel, Wiener Guy, DCC. Very cool murder mystery as a DCC game. All taking place in a large mansion. I really liked this game. Playing a sneaky thug helped, for sure.
Eight Forenti-Massbach - Combat Bot, Rhees Gholnik - Gunner, and Captain Screel - Uplifted Dolphin (in an aqua tank on the bridge). Yes, that's three characters, one game. I loved this one. Essentially we went pirate hunting for a group that had taken a drug-production facility hostage. Gholnik and Screel were on the ship, where we started, in spaaaaaaaace . . . I really enjoyed playing Captain Screel (complete with dolphin squeaks and squeals). Going planetside, I played Eight Forenti-Massbach. Now, I don't play fighter types like this very often at all. But this guy was almost a literal tank. It felt good to lay waste to bad guys, especially when I did it in front of a group of terrified hostages, spraying enemy blood all over the walls . . . and the hostages. I didn't say I was tidy. After that charnel house, we got back on ship, where I reverted back to Gholnik and Screel. Seriously, this game was an absolute blast. I wanted to get into part 2 for Gameholecon, but it conflicts with my You Too Can Cthulhu Black Letter game, so choices had to be made.
Now, on to my two favorite characters in my Garycon 2026 Rogue's Gallery:
Arzach. Yes, THAT Arzach. I played in a Call of Cthulhu game based on one of my all-time favorite movies and magazines, Heavy Metal (or Metal Hurlant). Arzach is the creation of comic genius Moebius. No, he didn't appear directly in the movie, but he appeared many, many times in the pages of the magazine. Other characterd included Den, Barbarella, and Stern. It was a great romp through several universes/realities, all in the chase of the Locnar and accompanied by a great soundtrack that was, at times, too loud for us to talk, but I didn't even care. And why was this done in Call of Cthulhu? Go watch the movie. And pay attention. Say some names from the movie backwards and you'll figure it out.
My favorite: Mr. Edmund St Andrews, a Bachelor Fox, aesthetically-inclined, for Riverbank RPG. I was excited to try this game out before I ever played. It's a "cozy" RPG with little violence, but all kinds of complications one must negotiate, many of them based on the maze that was Edwardian English society. I fell in love with the game and I fell in love with Mr. Edmund St Andrews. After playing the game, I immediately bought it. I've only done this once before (with Vaesen). And I am registered to play it again at Gameholecon. I want to really learn this game, because I want to run it. I don't want to go into all the mechanics, but suffice it to say that no game will ever repeat itself, even if played with the exact same characters in exactly the same setting. There is a winsomeness to the system itself, which appeals to me a great deal. And being able to play an intelligent, socially-saavy, nature loving, race-car driving Fox who loves poetry - how do you top that? I very much look forward to the next time I play Riverbank. I strongly recommend it if you want a breath of fresh air, an escape from dungeon dust, decaying bodies, and terror. I can breathe playing this game. You can, too.
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