Gother Than Thou

"The most pretentious card game ever made."

A great new game from Savant Garde, in which you play a budding gothling, and must outshow, backstab, and be generally gother than your "friends." Such cards as Fun with eyeliner, Absinthe minded, Big tin ankh, Disturbing German Accent, and the dreaded Visit from mom will help or hinder your way to the top of the social food chain at your local club.

It has a simple, easy to learn mechanic, and some very nice artwork (and quite tongue-in-cheek). If you've ever been a part of the goth subculture, or been around it much, you will be laughing uncontrollably for the first hour. It's not collectable, so you only need to shell out the $10 or so for a deck once, and all your friends can play from that deck.

The only complaints I can think of are a limited card base, and a lack of incredibly stimulating gameplay (although I haven't played it too much, maybe there's subtleties I'm missing), which banish it forever to the realms of novelty items. Apperently, though, there's a third edition in the works, which looks like it will include new cards. Maybe they could actually make it into a fun game, and not something that makes you laugh for an hour, then gets thrown into your closet to never be seen again.

Check out the web page for info and ordering options: http://www.gothic.net/~luvcraft/gother/

Just thought I'd node the entire card list because, to be honest, they are all hilarious...:

• Crying Yourself to Sleep
• Sing This Corrosion to Me
• Ancient Egyptian Doodad
• Wardrobe Sale
• Face Like Murphy
• Voice Like Morrissey
• Disturbing German Accent
• Disturbing Southern Accent
• Absinthe Minded
• Fun With Eyeliner
• That Wasted Look
• Up Before Noon
• Visit From Mom
• Dire Fashion Blunder
• Genital Piercings
• Boots!!
• Ointment
• Gullible Roommate
• Deep Newsgroup Posts
• Tinfoil on the Windows
• BlueBlack #124
• Big Tin Ankh
• Pet Named Hecate
• Steady Clove Supply

The WU above explains what gother than thou is, if you don't know it.

Gother Than Thou was the brainchild of Albuquerque's own R. Hunter Gough, my brother's former roommate. My brother, Puck, was responsible for photoshopping the lovely card images, and I spent many a long hour sitting in a small, smoky closet with him while he brought them up to Hunty's standards. The cards contain many of my compatriots, who I will now identify for your amusement. (At least as many as I recall!)

Crying Yourself To Sleep :: Puck (aka ESC, from disBand and IZMM) | original alternate image :: Y.T.
Sing This Corrosion to Me :: Tetsuo (from disBand, and more recently b10$'f34r" labs)
Wardrobe Sale :: Elizabeth (Hunter's other former roommate!)
Disturbing Southern Accent :: Reverend JB Bell (founder, Church of the Black Gnosis)
Disturbing German Accent :: Reverend JB Bell (founder, Church of the Black Gnosis)
Fun With Eyeliner :: Shannon (who has for many years dated a former Everythingian)
Up Before Noon :: Puck
Visit From Mom :: Mrs. Gough (Yes, kids, that's Hunter's mom!)
Genital Piercings :: Ogre (disBand, ->dev/null, IZMM), Fixer Mike Hollenbeck (disBand), Y.T., Adric the Green, and some other people I don't recall at the moment.

More when I can borrow a deck and actually look at the cards again! I have only seen the First Edition, but I am rumoured to appear on the Second Edition Rule Booklet. Details when I care enough to know if it's true.

R. Hunter Gough is also responsible for the Tamagothi, and the Gothic.Net "Not a Racist, Not a Satanist..." t-shirts.

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03.22.02 :: UPDATE

Yes, apparently I am on the second edition rules. Sadly, I have been recognized by some players of the game, and am now a local celebrity of sorts. /me kicks me.