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I think, at some point, Xykon is gonna get picked up on the fact that he appears to think that "power" is largely defined as "magical power", which is to say "spellcaster levels". Manpower, economic power, and logistic power don't seem to be nearly as interesting to him. This will come back to bite him when Tarquin finances and organizes a massive commoner-powered railgun to obliterate him. 
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Dec 21, 2011 16:29
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Cabbit posted:I think, at some point, Xykon is gonna get picked up on the fact that he appears to think that "power" is largely defined as "magical power", which is to say "spellcaster levels". Nnnnope. 
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Dec 21, 2011 17:00
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Yeah, Xykon's a badass. No question about that. But the Ghost of Soon came Miko's Last Bad Decision away from taking his bony rear end out. He's not invincible, just very very tough. I'm not saying that it's impossible that The Battle for Windy Canyon will end with Team Xykon steamrollering everyone, just that things might up ending more competitive than that. From a narrative standpoint, we've already seen "Team Xykon rolls in and kills everyone" three times, twice in Start of Darkness at Lirian's and especially Dorukan's Gates, and once at Azure City. To do it again would be boring, and I've got more faith in Rich's plotting than that. You've got the possibility of a four way conflict between the Order of the Stick, the Linear Guild 4.0, Team Xykon, and Clan Draketooth. That can go so many different ways, and for it to come down to Xykon making his Power > Everything speech again would seem to me to be the least interesting way for it to go down. Especially since the things that Tarquinn's good at, such as planning, tactics, and organization, are the things that Xykon's TERRIBLE at.
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Dec 21, 2011 17:59
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Mystic Mongol posted:Nnnnope. That may be what he's saying right there, but I don't know that his actions overall back that up fully for the long haul. Pure magical puissance seems to be his go-to option. I think that was just a really smug way for Xykon to tell V that he can hear him.
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Dec 21, 2011 18:34
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Really, the central conflict of the entire strip is the age-old question of caster supremacy. You've got Xykon who has the most power because he cheesed sorcery, while Roy, the leader of the party, is a fighter who has to think strategically. Tarquin is clearly the social monster, but unfortunately for him this is not Exalted. Elan is the player who just wants to have fun goshdarnit and stumbled into a nifty prestige class in the process.
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Dec 21, 2011 18:38
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Poil posted:They're not bringing Thog...
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Dec 21, 2011 20:28
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http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0609.html Just rereading when I got to this connection. I wonder what Tarquin's relationship with Bozzock was.
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Dec 22, 2011 10:02
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Apocron posted:http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0609.html Just rereading when I got to this connection. I wonder what Tarquin's relationship with Bozzock was. Haley's father, not Elan's. Walliard fucked around with this message at 10:09 on Dec 22, 2011 |
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Dec 22, 2011 10:06
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I was under the impression that Thog was dead. Not that that's ever stopped anyone in a D&D game. Ever. Still, maybe he's having a blast in the Blood War, or whatever equivalent Rich has got.
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Dec 22, 2011 12:48
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Colon V posted:I was under the impression that Thog was dead. Not that that's ever stopped anyone in a D&D game. Ever. Oh, man, the Blood War would be the best thing that ever happened to Thog.
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Dec 22, 2011 12:56
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Apocron posted:http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0609.html Just rereading when I got to this connection. I wonder what Tarquin's relationship with Bozzock was. "Friends on the western continent" need not mean one of Tarquin's group, though it might well have. Haley's father was a thief, the government arrests thieves whenever possible, its how things go.
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Dec 22, 2011 14:27
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Apocron posted:http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0609.html Just rereading when I got to this connection. I wonder what Tarquin's relationship with Bozzock was. It's very strongly implied that Geoff and Ivy are the associates Bozzok is mentioning. See his reaction here.
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Dec 22, 2011 15:54
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Zetetica posted:It's very strongly implied that Geoff and Ivy are the associates Bozzok is mentioning. See his reaction here. Last panel best panel. 
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Dec 22, 2011 16:02
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I never got that she was whispering the same thing that he said the last time he had his lead sheet. Clearly the paladins believe that phrase is the code word to make it work.
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Dec 22, 2011 21:36
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Zetetica posted:It's very strongly implied that Geoff and Ivy are the associates Bozzok is mentioning. See his reaction here. It also looks like there's something to the "Ian is involved with the Draketooths". After all, what was the "something" that got him to rush off to the Western continent?
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Dec 23, 2011 07:14
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HisMajestyBOB posted:It also looks like there's something to the "Ian is involved with the Draketooths". After all, what was the "something" that got him to rush off to the Western continent? His two friends. I thought that was pretty obvious from the Bozzok conversation that was just linked to.
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Dec 23, 2011 13:58
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Cliff Racer posted:His two friends. I thought that was pretty obvious from the Bozzok conversation that was just linked to. No, I mean what they wrote that made him rush off there. Bozzok says he doesn't know what they (his friends) wrote but that it must have been very important to Ian. On another note, does anyone else getthe feeling this could be the last recurrence of the Linear Guild? Its hard to see how Tarquin and Molock as members could be topped.
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Dec 23, 2011 14:54
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I wonder how much more story Rich has in mind for the comic anyway.
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Dec 23, 2011 17:03
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^^^ gently caress I'm an idiot, not how much he has planned, but how much MORE, woops. Obviously no one but Rich knows, but I noticed this recently, in this strip: http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0319.html , he introduces short haired Hailey as one of her personalities the one that wants to "move on". She then becomes short haired Hailey here: http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0610.html 281 strips later when the plot has "moved on". I have no idea if he did this on purpose, or if he already had this part planned during the whole speech impediment plot but if so, goddamn. I'd like to think he has this all worked out already, and so far nothings really challenging that view.
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Dec 23, 2011 17:42
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I'm reasonably sure, based on the various chapter introductions he writes in the physical books, that Burlew has the broad strokes planned out in advance, but does the detail work once he reaches it. So, for instance, he set up the meeting with Elan's dad on the Western Continent well in advance via The Semi-Secret History of Elan and Nale and Money Makes the World Go Round. So there was probably a long term plan regarding those plot elements. But specific details like Tarquinn having written The Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord, or the composition of his old adventuring party, or the fact that Durkon and Malack bond over tea, these are likely things that Rich came up with on the spot. As far as the overall structure, there seems to be a "Getting to the Gate" book and a "What Happens at the Gate" book. So Books -1 and 0 were the retroactive Getting to the Gate Book, Book 1 was What Happens at the Gate. Book 2 was Getting There, Book 3 was What Happens. By that logic, Book 4 was Getting There, and we're a good way into Book 5 of What Happens. Looking at the number of strips per book, excepting Book 1 which was the prototype, we get somewhere in the vicinity of 185* strips. We've had 149 strips in this book so far. So there's ~36-46 more strips left in this book. That'll be the actual confrontation at Windy Canyon and Girard's Gate. Then Book 6 will be dealing with the aftermath and getting to Kraagor's Gate, and Book 7 and final will be What Happens. So, if I'm right, we're more than halfway through the story. Nearly 5/7th of the way, in fact. Of course, Rich could be aiming for six books, in which case we'll hit Girard's Gate and we'll see a race for Kraagor's Gate in the final book. But I'm sticking with my guess of seven books. * = 120 for Book 1, 180 for Book 2, 184 for Book 3, 187 for Book 4, counting multiple "strips" on one web page as a single page, and not counting bonus content for the books.
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Dec 23, 2011 20:34
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You say that like OOtS could someday end, a concept which I decline to consider at this time.
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Dec 23, 2011 21:08
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Pope Guilty posted:You say that like OOtS could someday end, a concept which I decline to consider at this time.
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Dec 24, 2011 02:37
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There's still a gate in the North after all this, and it's supposed to be surrounded by the mother of all dungeons, so that would make a great closing arc.
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Dec 24, 2011 02:50
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My theory is that while Xykon does get within 1000 feet of Girard's Gate, he never actually is able to find or detect it, and moves on to Kraagor's gate. This would subvert the expected "Xykon, OOTS, and friends fight at the gate, gate gets destroyed" formula we're expecting. We would still get a Linear Guild vs OOTS battle, however.
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Dec 24, 2011 16:25
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In the vein of posting foreshadowing here's "two are you are running late for a pair of family reunions"! http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0330.html
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Dec 24, 2011 17:20
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Apocron posted:In the vein of posting foreshadowing here's "two are you are running late for a pair of family reunions"! Granted, but that's more of a short-term foreshadow, since it pays off in 12 strips for Roy and 21 strips for Elan when they run into Julia and Nale, respectively. That's just setting up the Cliffport Ambush, which is the very next story. The better foreshadowing from the Oracle for long term purposes are the Oracle's main Q&A scene, which has paid off with Haley's Cure, 62 strips later, and Vaarsuvius's Heel Turn, a whopping 303 strips later! He even predicts his own death, which pays off when Belkar stabs him in 236 strips. What's an interesting game to play is to try and guess how the remaining predictions come out. Obviously, Roy's is going to happen because Team Xykon has decoded the diary and are heading to try and claim the Gate, though the speculation that Xykon just flat out misses it, possibly because of Girard's illusions is an amusing one. Blackwing's is the punchline, so we can probably forget it (though if Burlew has him fly in with some ginko bilaba to save the day at some point, I'll be VERY impressed,) which leaves us Durkon's Question from above and the Death of Belkar. Personally, I suspect that they're both going to buy it at Girard's Gate. The question is, what happens next? With their cleric dead, and presuming that the Dwarven homeland is near Kraagor's Gate, then it makes sense that they'd go there to try and get Durkon raised from the dead. Belkar's is more ambiguous. We know he's going to die, and we know he's not going to be brought back to life. That could mean a lot of different things, though. It could be just what Roy says to Haley, that Belkar will die and they won't raise him. Alternatively, it could mean that Tsukiko brings Belkar back as some kind of undead. While either Malack or Redcloak have the capability, Tsukiko is the one with the inclination to pop undead all over the place. Another option for Belkar is that the Snarl will kill him or, if the Monster in the Darkness = Baby Snarl theory is correct, the MitD kills him, which in either case would involve Belkar's soul being permanently destroyed, making resurrection impossible. Though with Blackwing's having seen a "world within a world" I've come to conclude that anything the Snarl "kills" ends up replicated in its own world, so the Inner World has the Greek Pantheon as the gods, and descendants of all the creatures that have been Snarled in World 1.0, as well as Mijung and Kraagor.
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Dec 24, 2011 20:04
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Is there a spell or item that makes you not need to breathe? Maybe there's an out instead of him just dying, although some sort of heroic redemption would be fun.
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Dec 25, 2011 07:02
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Kruller posted:Is there a spell or item that makes you not need to breathe? Maybe there's an out instead of him just dying, although some sort of heroic redemption would be fun. Not in the official material. There's the Necklace of Adaptation which makes you immune to suffocation and gas attacks, but that's because you have a perpetually-renewing bubble of fresh air around you. I suppose you could go with Polymorph Other, which could transform him into something like an Earth Elemental or something else that doesn't need to breathe, but he wouldn't stay a halfling in that case. That said, with people playing Pathfinder or 4th Edition now, it's less important for Burlew to stick strictly to the rules of D&D 3.5 which is rarely played anymore. And he's certainly willing to bend the rules or make stuff up if it serves his story...as he should. So it's not completely unreasonable to think that he may find or create some way to keep Belkar alive, in halfling form, and not breathing. The problem is that the Oracle has strongly implied death. The IRA crack, and the "savor his next birthday cake" lines from the Oracle's first appearance, to say nothing of his saying "your pal isn't long for this world" all seem to say permanent death to me. And frankly, I think the best redemption that Belkar can earn is to sacrifice himself for the world...even if it's only because Mr. Scruffy is IN the world.
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Dec 25, 2011 07:37
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I've been rereading the archives in bits and pieces. It's amazing how well this strip reads en masse. Sure, parts dragged when we were waiting for them, but it's really, really good if you read a major arc all at once.
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Dec 26, 2011 05:58
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rotinaj posted:I've been rereading the archives in bits and pieces. Yeah, same. I was just sort of checking for updates out of habit, even if they were still enjoyable, but reading this archivally is really, really good and addictive. It flows very well - Burlew has a really good handle on keeping things connected strip to strip and providing clear separation of story arcs without providing any tempting stopping points.
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Dec 26, 2011 06:07
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jng2058 posted:Not in the official material. There's the Necklace of Adaptation which makes you immune to suffocation and gas attacks, but that's because you have a perpetually-renewing bubble of fresh air around you. I suppose you could go with Polymorph Other, which could transform him into something like an Earth Elemental or something else that doesn't need to breathe, but he wouldn't stay a halfling in that case. There's a Ioun Stone that removes the need to Breath, but it's fairly straightforward that Belkar is supposed to die.
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Dec 26, 2011 08:52
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Kruller posted:Is there a spell or item that makes you not need to breathe? Maybe there's an out instead of him just dying, although some sort of heroic redemption would be fun. Shapechange: Wraith. Problem solved.
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Dec 26, 2011 19:05
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 New Comic "Yes, It Is"Well, it looks like another player will be making a move soon.
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Dec 30, 2011 14:50
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:
So, theory: Tarquin will swoop in at the last minute, just according to plan. Unfortunately (and foolishly), though, he announced his plans on-panel which diffuses all dramatic tension. This means that his plan is going to fail spectacularly. And now we know why. The Biggest Fish is back in the pond.
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Dec 30, 2011 15:19
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Is the hole in reality bigger?
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Dec 30, 2011 15:35
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It looks a lot bigger. I think now that Azure City/Gobbotopia will get resolved when the rift grows large enough to consume the souls of every goblin there.
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Dec 30, 2011 15:45
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Getting bigger was expected http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0544.html
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Dec 30, 2011 15:49
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I'm sure someone already worked this out before but what are the nine sides of the conflict? http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0548.html 1 OotS 2 Xykon 3 Redcloak 4 Linear guild 5 Tarquin 6 IFCC 7 Girard? 8 Serini Toormuck? 9 ?
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Dec 30, 2011 17:57
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Would the Azurites/Sapphire Guard count as a side? They're allied with OOTS, but I could see them as a separate side, albeit more important before their gate blew. The Elves are a possibility. They're allied with Azure City, but we don't know more than that. It's a good bet that the Draketooth clan is one.
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Dec 30, 2011 18:51
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I always figured the nine sides mentioned in that strip referred to: Lawful Good Neutral Good Chaotic Good Lawful Neutral True Neutral Chaotic Neutral Lawful Evil Neutral Evil Chaotic Evil
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Dec 30, 2011 19:01
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