@ReverbGamers Master List Number 16

#16: Who was the most memorable foe you've ever come up against in a game? How did you beat him/her/it? Or did you?

All my players. OK. Just kidding--sort of.

As a player, that would have to be the Knights of the Golden Circle.

Veronica likes to pretend it never happened, but for a brief time, she took the reigns of our long-running Deadlands (classic) game. For our campaign, I mostly ignored the canon and built the game around the characters' backgrounds. But at one point, I needed a break, and Vern volunteered (she may have been voluntold here--who remembers these things?) to take the game for a bit.

Unlike me, Veronica has not only love, but skill, when it comes to history. She came up with a fictionalized version of a real secret society, which was the Knights of the Golden Circle (KGC). She spun a killer yarn around them, from which sprang my character, Ethan, whom I would be playing for her run. Further, her character, "Black Widow" Beth Hickson--a Texas Ranger of some regard--was captured by these folk.

Ethan started out as a mole inside the KGC--he was actually there to destroy it. Beth accidentally foiled his plan by almost getting killed. Ethan made his turn early and saved her life, but stayed undercover in order to get Beth back to her band.

The scene where Beth was returned was pretty cool. I didn't initially have a character, so Veronica had me play my favorite NPC, "One Eye" Hank Ketchum, The Texas Ranger. In the scene, we were faced off with members of the KGC holding Beth. Vern had me make Ethan, but she didn't tell me when he'd be coming in. Well, during the exchange, it started to go pear-shaped, and I was handed his sheet. Veronica said "go," and I was playing Ethan, who happened to be standing over Beth. We took out the KGC goons and we had Beth.

While Beth was back, she didn't fare well in the conflict. And, after convincing Beth's band he wasn't really with the KGC, Ethan took the lead of the band to take on and destroy the KGC's foothold in the Great Maze.

I guess the reason they were so memorable is because Vern is damn good at coming up with these back stories. If she ever sheds her "natural" fear of improvising at the table--the root of her GM phobia--I may get more play time in the future.