Old Characters Never Die! — the pencil they’re written in just fades away . . . Welcome to a new ongoing series here at Goodman Games: Classic Character Cameos! We’ve all still got a few of those real classics from back in the day kicking around in a drawer or closest somewhere, those characters that captured our imaginations for whatever reason — whether they be world conquerors or party clowns, endowed by the dice gods with amazing stats, or just the perfect balance of fun-to-play and effective, this is the place to show off those heroes of yesteryear that are still near-and-dear to our hearts. So let us introduce Dieter Zimmerman’s Ryle the Bard! Written with true old school class on a single sheet of college-ruled, Dieter’s bard is from 2nd edition, and utilizes the ‘blade’ kit from the Complete Bard’s Handbook. Ryle looks to me like he’s more inclined to mix it up in melee than strum a lute — though perhaps as a dual-wielding blindfighter he often found himself at the very least whistling in the dark? Dieter informs us that Ryle was one half of an adventuring duo and that he and his other, even-more-roguish companion Alfonse the Thief, were the only two PCs in the campaign: a veritable Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser! The small party size definitely added to the Appendix N feel of the game — as these two swashbucklers lied, pillaged, stole, and conned their way from one adventure to the next. In Dieter’s words: Our other friend Matt was the DM. We were nominally going through HHQ3 – Thief’s Challenge, but we derailed it so quickly I don’t think we even used more than the introduction of the actual module! And Matt the DM was more to blame for this than the players were . . . his style is VERY improvisational and I guess he got inspired. Sure, blame the DM — maybe that Charisma 16 will fool a few more trusting souls as Ryle and Alfonse (two roguish names if there ever where!) slip away with a liberated money pouch or two. I mean, who wouldn’t trust a forger who always has invisibility memorized? Dieter: Note that Ryle has “what-not” on his equipment list. Don’t really recall what that was about, but I find it amusing. And yes, that’s...