Rose City Comic Con 2025 - My Experiences

SEPTEMBER 05 - 07, 2025

OREGON CONVENTION CENTER

777 NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd 

Portland, OR 97232

2025 marks the 10th year in a row where I have been honored to be able to cover RCCC as a member of the press. I want to thank Leftfield Media for this continued opportunity.

We have arrived and everything is running smoother than last year. We got to the convention center early enough to be able to get a good parking spot and the underground elevators were open and not restricted like they were last year. Thank goodness!

My single complaint about the parking is that the fee has jumped dramatically since last year. When I first started attending Rose City Comic Con, the parking fee was either $6 or $8 for the day. The past 2 years it was $15 and $16. I was a little shell-shocked when I came around the corner of MLK Jr Blvd. and saw the sign declaring a $25 parking fee for this year. Just to be completely transparent, my only compensation for being a member of the press for this event is the badge itself and I don't make any actual money from this blog... even though I have Google Sense setup now. (I haven't received any feedback on this change, but if I receive anything that suggests that the ads on my blog are an eyesore, I will remove them.) I know that the parking fee is not something within the power of Leftfield to be able to negotiate, but it seems quite extreme IMHO.

RCCC Merch Area

I really can't believe that it's actually my 10th year officially covering RCCC for my blog. I am deeply honored.

Since it was still early, and the main exhibit hall had not opened up, I decided I wanted to check out the gaming area. As in years past, Ground Kontrol had a nice setup of classic arcade cabinets, but unfortunately none of them we powered on when we got there.

I spent so many quarters in my youth playing these games and I actually have very fond memories of playing Return of the Jedi at our local 7-11 and I would regularly play Punch Out when my Grandparents would take me to the bowling alley on their league nights. I also remember going to the local Chuck E. Cheese to play Dragon's Lair. I was never good at it, but I shoveled quarters into it anyway because I enjoyed the cinematic gameplay.

In the same gaming area, they also had a room devoted to classic console games. When I first walked in, there was an incredible NES setup in classic 80's style.

90's vibes!

Afterwards, we camped-out near the entrance that I typically like to use... over at the far end of the exhibitor area... and patiently wait for the floor to open to everyone. I'm thankful for the area to be able to sit and write and I hope that there will be similar opportunities in the actual event.

The priorities I made for myself this year were a short list:

• Get the autograph of Wil Wheaton on a Star Trek cover with art by Sydney Walton.
• Get my copies of The Wishsong of Shannara and The Black Unicorn signed by Terry Brooks.
• Try and pickup some inexpensive trades to add to my collection so I can keep writing reviews for my blog.

Since I knew that Wil Wheaton was in a panel from 1:00pm to 2:00pm, I thought it would be a good idea to go over to his area to see if he had scheduled signings. As luck would have it, no schedule but he was going to begin signing after his 2:00pm panel... so I took a good place in line and waited.

It was sometime after 2:00pm (I didn't keep track of the time) when he finally arrived. In the past when I have been in line for autographs, they usually let everyone in the Fast Pass and ADA lines go first, then the people with general admission were able to get theirs. This year, they decided to stagger between Fast Pass, ADA and then general folks. As mentioned previously, I was able to secure a very nice place in line with the other general admission people. (No, the Press pass does not provide any special privileges.) I was 5th in line, and again thankful that they staggered people getting their time with Wil.

He was incredibly pleasant with everyone and the lady who was right before me had a poster of the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast signed by everyone but Wil. She informed him that he was going to be the final signature for the poster, and Wil proceeded to make it an elaborate and memorable moment. I wish I was allowed to photograph or take video of this interaction so that you could take in what I experienced.

When I approached Wil, I greeted him and presented the comic that I was having him autograph. He fawned over the incredible artwork and I let him know that it was donated to Comic Book Covers 4 Cancer by Sydney and that this will be the 2nd cover that I had actually had signed by him. He remembered the first one... that happened several years ago... and took a photo of the cover before signing. I am so thankful for being able to have had this chance to meet Wil once again.

Art by Sydney Walton

After this memorable moment, it was back to wander through the exhibitor's area in search of items to add to my collection, or at least find some items that will become Christmas gifts.

In the past, I have made it a goal to stop by the Oni Press area to take advantage of their half priced Rick and Morty trades. I was really looking forward to it this year as I want to not only continue the story I've been reading, but also pick-up the Oni Press convention covers of the trades since those were the same style covers that I had already begun to collect. Unfortunately, it seems as though they decided not to attend this years even despite being a local publisher. This realization saddened me to the core and I wish I had taken time to notice this fact before attending so I didn't have my hopes up.

Another vendor that was absent at this years event was CBCS Comics. In they past they have not only participated at RCCC, but I have been fortunate enough to partner with them for several Comic Book Covers 4 Cancer covers. I have been, and remain, a supporter of CBCS Comics as I feel they provide a better overall product and service to the collecting community over their competitors.

Another vendor I was hoping to see again this year was Free League Publishing, as I was hoping to get at least The One Ring core rulebook. Alas, they are also not in attendance this year. I did however find the Goodman Games booth and I think I will come back during day 2 to pickup some TTRPG goodness.

In addition to my previously stated goals for the event, I am always on the lookout to add to my action figure collection, and I also have a short list of figures I'm looking for for a friend in Tennessee. Unfortunately, upon my first trek through the exhibitor area, I didn't find anything that peeked my interest of were on any wishlist.

We were fortunate again today with parking. Not only did we get underground early enough, but my favorite parking spot was open! I consider that and incredible win because instead of having to back out of a parking spot, I can simply drive forward.

The unfortunate part is that we got here a little too early for the press room to be open and the gaming are doesn't actually open until 10:00am (I found that out this morning after we arrived).

We did hit the merch area and I picked up one of the new Cryptid Society lanyards. I figured that I was due a new lanyard since I have been using the same one for RCCC since 2013 (I believe).

We made a walkthrough of Artist Alley and the Maker's Market area. While I will never disparage the talent of anyone, it seemed like the majority of the artwork (outside of the professional artists) we primarily focused on anime or similar styles... which I am not a big fan of. I also don't collect stickers or enamel pins, so there wasn't much around here that really caught my interest. I decided to stop collecting art prints a few years ago, so that is another items that was featured that didn't draw my interest.

As far as the art prints are concerned, the biggest reason I stopped collecting them is that I have 3 11" x 17" portfolios full of them and I only actually look at them when I am rearranging my office space. As much as I would love to frame them all and put them on the wall, I don't have the finances to frame them all, not the wallspace to display them. I will always support independent artists in other ways.

On Friday, there were a couple of exhibitors I wanted to revisit on Saturday. First was Katelyn McCaigue who I first met last year and picked up her 2 Creature Compendium volumes. She had some great looking Magic the Gathering tokens available that I felt deserved a home in my collection.

I actually bought 3 of each token.

As I mentioned in the Day 1, I was hoping to find Free League Publishing to scratch my TTRPG itch. Since they were not there, I was able to satisfy that desire with a stop at the Goodman Games booth to pickup some great 5E and DCC adventures.

Another vendor that I noticed during my time on Friday was Misty Mountain Gaming as they had these token counters for Magic the Gathering displayed. Since my roommates and I play the commander format, and have a few decks that end up generating a decent number of tokens, I wanted to get 1 for each of us. It was then explained that they were doing a buy 3 get 1 free special, so I opted to get a 4th token counter. While they had several color options available, I ended up buying the last 4 they had and only took a photo of a single one. They will all be put to good use, I assure you.

Unfortunately, there weren't very many options for getting inexpensive trades, so that piece of my wishlist became unfulfilled for this year. That left only one last item to check off the list: visiting with Terry Brooks.

The signing was scheduled to run from 12:15pm to 1:15pm and when I checked on the line at noon, it was already packed and wrapping around the backend of the signing location. I got in line and patiently waited my turn. During my wait, I did lament a few times over the fact that I could have acquired his autographs at last years RCCC. I wanted to make sure I got them this year because he announced his retirement earlier this year so who knows when the opportunity will make itself available again. Brooks is not a young man. After about an hour long wait, my mission was successful and my body was telling me how much it hated me for standing in line for so long.

After taking a short rest, we decided to call it a day. My photographer had another event that he and his wife were vending at on Sunday, and they both had to make preparations for. I am already looking forward to next year.

Hope to see you again next year!

Life Goals

 

Ever since I turned 50 last year, I've been having dreams of what I could do if I didn't have to commit so much of my life working a 9 to 5 job in order to earn a living and make ends meet. 

There were many years that I dreamed about opening my own RPG/comic book shop. A place where people can not only come to purchase all things they need for their likes, but also provide a great place to be able to host games and community events. I'd love to be able to carry on the traditions of my former LCS Tony's Kingdom of Comics, but I've come to realize that I don't have the finances nor the business acumen to be able to start or run a business. Also, I've come to realize that opening a store like this would not be economically feasible or sustainable with so much product being made in digital formats now.

As of late, I've started dreaming of different endeavors that I could take on that may or may not actually turn out to be money-making but more of something I would enjoy doing and even be able to give something back to the community. Not nearly in the same way as Tony once did, but something nonetheless. 

For starters, I want to be able to actually commit myself to developing the various TTRPG ideas that I have had over the years like Salem By Night and Project Multiverse. I would also like to create a type of archive for homebrew TTRPG material. I have a ton of printed pages of old plot hooks, character sheets and other material I think other people would enjoy to read and possibly even use in their own adventures.

I recently thought it would be a great idea to open an account on World Anvil to begin the process of bringing these projects to light. I would like to also open it up for fellow creatives to help design the worlds I have trapped in my head.

There's also a part of me that would like to try and get back into the creative process of writing a comic book like I did when I was younger. Maybe even go so far as to actually write some of the crazy ideas I had for stories when I was in high school. I used to have a notebook I would write down ideas for stories. I still remember 1 or 2 of them that I think might actually be worth flushing-out into short stories. There was a time in my life that I thought I would become a published writer.

My biggest problems to accomplishing any of this are as follows:

• I feel like I don't have any time to devote to these projects because I have to spend so much of my time working. In other words, I've got bills to pay and need to make money in order to pay them.
• I have always been a procrastinator, and it has been very hard to overcome this problem. Even when I write for my blog, it is very sporadic and I typically write for only a few hours in the early mornings on the weekend because I'm awake, I don't have any serious disruptions and the mood strikes me.

At this point, I don't have enough money to be able to retire early, so I have occasionally taken to purchasing lottery tickets hoping that I'll win enough to be able to make this fantasy into a reality. I'm not investing into this theory as I only play $20 every few weeks. I know the odds are against me, but I only play the state lottery so at least my money is going to help local projects.

The reason for writing this is to get these feeling off my chest and out into the world. I feel that if you put something positive out into the world, there's a chance that it can actually become a reality. I would love it if by publishing this I could help to manifest a path towards achieving these dreams.

YouTube Recommendation - Dungeon Craft

 

Another constant source of inspiration for the RPG side of me are the videos from Professor Dungeon Master of the YouTube channel Dungeon Craft. While I don't always 100% agree with his opinions, I do 100% enjoy what he has to offer to the TTRPG community.

There was a brief time, before I rebranded to The Nat 20, that I was considering taking my blog to the next level and making it a podcast rather than just the written word. Professor DM shows what I would have liked to have accomplished. He obviously has way more insight into the TTRP community than I do, so I'm glad that I decided to stay in the written word format of this blog.

Professor DM makes me not only appreciate being apart of the TTRPG community, but also gives me the occasional kick-in-the-pants I often need to not only work on my own content here, but also push forward on my other RPG projects that have been languishing in the recesses of my mind and in a variety of notebooks for years.

MrGone's Character Sheets

 

I've been playing White Wolf's World of Darkness games for over 3 decades now, and if you also play classic or new World of Darkness, you probably already know of this great site for character sheets. If you don't know, or are new to playing World of Darkness, then you should come here for all your character sheet needs.

Back in the late 90's and early 2000's I worked to develop a number of character sheets in Excel, but the sheets that MrGone provides are far superior to anything I've ever made. I highly recommend using these sheets and supporting MrGone.