|
Ha, I remember the whole 'Thog isn't really Roy's opposite' argument being played out on the OOTS forums over and over again. I wonder how long Burlow has had this scene stored up for.
|
#
¿
Jul 12, 2011 13:23
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 09:36 |
|
|
ImpAtom posted:It acknowledged that the bird is an actual concern and that the demon's entire purpose for being there is pretty much to kill it, which in turn hints that there's some way he can screw things up for the bad guys when it comes to the V's Soul thing. That's not exactly nothing plot. Yeah, Rich has done enough seemingly irrelevant strip elements that tie back into important plot elements to show that actually every strip is pretty well thought throught and relevant. Also for all the complaining that the stip has too many words (I happen to like that), Rich can stil pull off stips like this. e: the Crown Roy had on him for a couple of hundred stips up until that point is a pretty good example actually. Alchenar fucked around with this message at 00:08 on Jul 20, 2011 |
|
#
¿
Jul 20, 2011 00:04
|
|
|
It's nice to be getting regular updates again. It feels odd actually having new stips to looks at.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 8, 2011 23:26
|
|
|
LightWarden posted:Guess we now know who was scrying them. If Nale was the one scrying them then he'd know why there were in the desert. Nale's been in contact with one of Girard's gang, which will be the hook to get back onto the main plot after this sub-plot is over.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 16, 2011 22:32
|
|
|
Stabbey_the_Clown posted:I liked how smart Elan was in this. He picked up on the "last week you were hundreds of miles away in the desert" thing right away. And he tricked the prisoner into attacking Nale while handing her a weapon at the same time. He's really gotten much more competent since leaving Azure City. He used to be 'Homer Simpson' dumb, now he's... ADHD dumb? He has plenty of insight now so his dumb moments seem to come from him either not paying attention or just noticing something irrelevant but new.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 17, 2011 00:17
|
|
|
Speedball posted:poo poo. The dark elf has now badly incapacitated two of the members of the Order, Haley and V. This is going to be a hard one for them to work through. And V has incapacitated the dark elf and the kobold. They're two for two.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 22, 2011 22:41
|
|
|
Saw the joke coming. Good one though.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 29, 2011 20:37
|
|
|
Poil posted:Possibly. Barbarians get more hitpoints per level as well as a small amount of damage reduction and Roy has probably spent a lot of his bonus feats on things that require him to be wielding a great sword to matter. Thog is most likely stronger than Roy too, especially if he is raging. You missed the bit in the last comic where Roy was almost back to being even with Thog until the dog got thrown through the wall, at which point he started raging again.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 29, 2011 23:34
|
|
|
CapnAndy posted:Because Haley is her father's daughter and unilaterally forbade Elan to tell Tarquin anything, on the grounds that she didn't trust him. That doesn't fit Tarquin's modus operandi though; he's already been willing to give up the appearance of power for actual power in order to stay alive, and willing to share power in order to maximise the stability of his position. He isn't the Xyklon 'worth the risk also I'm sure it'll be fine because I'm awesome' type and he isn't the 'even if we destroy existence it works out better for greenskins next time' Redcloak type. Tarquin would leave the people protecting the Think That Can Unmake Reality well alone.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 16, 2011 10:26
|
|
|
Slime posted:It strikes me that someone who is lawful evil is somebody who would happily abuse the law for their own gain. In fact I'd say it's part of what makes them lawful evil. Someone who is chaotic evil would ignore the law, while someone who is lawful evil would use the law to gently caress someone over while maintaining a veneer of innocence. A Neutral Evil Tarquin would (as Haley's dad says) happily create an illusion of using (and abusing) the law, when the reality is that the law is Whatever He Says It Is (which is not the same thing as being Lawful).
|
|
#
¿
Nov 16, 2011 15:49
|
|
|
PFlats posted:Or, perhaps, his climactic redemption. Well, Xykon does have a huge army. The OoTS are going to need an army of their own at some point to bail them out.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 23, 2011 23:08
|
|
|
jng2058 posted:Yes, but they're leaving it behind at 1 more Gate after that. Which is obviously where the story ends.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 23, 2011 23:56
|
|
|
Cabbit posted:The absence of Tarquin will make his inevitable reappearance all the more awesome. I am picturing him being killed by Xykon.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 5, 2011 15:33
|
|
|
Brannock posted:So when Tarquin shows up do you think he'll fight against Xykon or join him? Why would Xykon want Tarquin on his side? They are deliberately diametrically opposed characters.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 12, 2011 17:42
|
|
|
Archenteron posted:I don't remember if this is a Start of Darkness spoiler or not, so I'm spoilering it to be safe: Redcloak's Ritual isn't supposed to control the Snarl to give its (mortal) holders world domination, it's supposed to let The Dark One, God of the Goblins, unmake the world again and use the Snarl as a bargaining chip against the other Gods so that the next world is actually fair to goblinkind Unspoiled version: It's not quite that simple, as entertaining as it may be. Not quite. Plan A is to control the Snarl. What you spoiled is the Plan B which explains why Redcloak is completely unafraid of failure. e: also Plan A is for the Dark One to use the Snarl to make sure the current world is equal. Plan B comes into effect if the ritual fails in which case The Dark One gets a say in the making of the new world. Remember that the Goblin God wasn't one of the original gods who made the world, which is why it sucks for goblinkind. Alchenar fucked around with this message at 23:21 on Dec 12, 2011 |
|
#
¿
Dec 12, 2011 23:18
|
|
|
Aww, Tarquin thinks that he's the Antagonist and not a sideplot. Xykon's going to give us another lesson in power.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 15, 2011 10:50
|
|
|
Again, that's exactly the kind of thing that Xykon would blast right through in order to make a point about power.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 16, 2011 22:45
|
|
|
navyjack posted:It's incredibly narratively UNSOUND. There is probably even an "evil overlord handbook" entry about "don't hurt the feelings of your most important ally before heading into an incredibly important battle." Well Tarquin knows that Nale is going to betray him so this is insurance for that point. The main problem is Tarquin's sudden desire to take control of the gate when it runs entirely contrary to his previous behaviour of slow and cautious power consolidation. Tarquin was sensible when he told Elan 'I have a good thing going and I'd much rather the world didn't end so I'll help you stop the Big Bad'. Suddenly making a play for the gate himself makes no sense, especially when you consider that he personally has no way to control it at all.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 21, 2011 11:17
|
|
|
jng2058 posted:Sure he does. He's got Malack for the divine part of the ritual and either Zz'ditri or the chick with the Ioun Stones from his old group for the arcane. Yeah but this just runs us straight into the 'Tarquin is a total lightweight compared to Xykon and not a credible antagonist when competing for the same goal' problem.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 21, 2011 11:30
|
|
|
jng2058 posted:Tarquin's got the resources of three empires, as well as a full party of very high level adventurers. That's a LOT of firepower, and what's more, Tarquinn's smart enough to know how to use it. Except Tarquin isn't the primary antagonist, Xykon is. And as we've already seen, Xykon has a point of demonstrating that power equals power.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 21, 2011 16:03
|
|
|
Apocron posted:When I was rereading I thought Banjo might count as a side as well. That might also play into the whole meta game around the snarl that is based on the Gods. I don't know how exactly but the idea intrigues me. Traditional Gods - Dark One - Banjo. I will be severely disappointed in the final resolution does not involve Banjo in some necessary way.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 31, 2011 12:47
|
|
|
Reminder: It's been about 140 strips since we last saw the real villain
|
|
#
¿
Jan 2, 2012 22:11
|
|
|
Well I'm hoping that we're about to find out what Xykon's been doing off screen (and away from the goblins) all this time, and I hope the answer is 'I know where Girard's Gate is'.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 3, 2012 11:04
|
|
|
Danzou posted:Girard gave the true coordinates to Serini, and Xykon has her diary. So probably. Actually that makes me pause; Xykon disappeared for a reason, and Rich is better at plotwriting for that reason to be 'do something I didn't need to disappear to do'.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 3, 2012 21:41
|
|
|
Stabbey_the_Clown posted:
In retrospect though, all the elements for it were set up well in advance.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 4, 2012 17:18
|
|
New Comic:
|
jng2058 posted:Whiles that's certainly possible, and would be an interesting lead-in to Xykon getting back into the game, it seems kind of cheap. With the Cloister effect going on, there should be no way for Team X to know that the phylactery was found. I mean, I suppose they could have sent a runner ahead with the news, but there's no evidence of that in the strip. Xykon was the updating the cloister and he hasn't been around Azure city in ages. We don't know how long it's been though.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 4, 2012 19:36
|
|
|
Bobulus posted:It sounds like the one that could teleport was in the group that was already slaughtered (actually, probably the one being held by the demon?), so I assume that option is out... Well there has to be some reason for them to have appeared otherwise this is just completely pointless filler, which Rich doesn't do unless it's to make a joke. Why have two/three strips where they capture the phylactery if it's just going to fall almost immediately into Redcloak's hands anyway?
|
|
#
¿
Jan 6, 2012 15:22
|
|
|
Bobulus posted:A) As mentioned, more interesting than "welp, found it". A) Not really. It it doesn't go anywhere then it can't be more interesting that actually advancing the plot. B) If the entire resistance is killed off then there was literally no reason for that storyline to exist in the first place. The resistance have done literally nothing of significance with regards to the main plot up to this point. If they aren't actually going to do anything then Rich wouldn't have set them up in the first place.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 6, 2012 16:34
|
|
|
Nilbop posted:A) If you can't understand why a story is more interesting than no story then stop reading this now. If you don't understand the concept of Chekhov's Gun then you shouldn't be replying.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 6, 2012 18:48
|
|
|
inthesto posted:The joke seems more to be that Belkar doesn't know about anything his class does, other than two weapon fighting. Didn't take any ranks in tracking either.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 10, 2012 16:56
|
|
|
HKR posted:The point of this scene is to show that poo poo has been progressing for this group of characters while the oots have been playing in the desert. If you can't see that you need to look up basics of screen writing/story telling. Not really. The 'Gobbotopia' speech and surrounding comics could've happened without the Resistance and that's the real development they've had that we needed to see. Rich set up the bud guys with a very solid 'they need to search for the phylactery before they can do anything else' that explains to the reader exactly what they're up to which is satisfying right up to the point where he shows it being found.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 10, 2012 17:57
|
|
|
Redcloak has always had Xykon's phylactery around his neck. It doesn't do him any good - this gets addressed at the end of Start of Darkness.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 10, 2012 21:06
|
|
|
Affi posted:New strip is up and it does imply very interesting things to come! Ok, there's the resistance payoff that I was worrying about. Plot moves forward and Hinjo is still in the game. Alchenar fucked around with this message at 16:59 on Jan 13, 2012 |
|
#
¿
Jan 13, 2012 15:01
|
|
|
Wili posted:It is a reference to events in Start of Darkness. This is also why in an earlier strip Redcloak was looking in the mirror before his big speech and saying 'this'll all be worth it, you'll see'.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 22, 2012 21:32
|
|
|
Deki posted:I really don't get why he doesn't sell PDFs of his books online instead. Sure there's an increased chance of piracy, but he could make more money per sale while selling them for much cheaper. That's a bit too close to selling something in an identical form to something that you're already giving away for nothing.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 22, 2012 21:57
|
|
|
Bobulus posted:It's really just a question of which is a bigger ace: Not knowing what the spell actually does is something that can be played out as a plot thread right up until the very finale. Not knowing about the amulet is a complete block on the villains making any progress at all because Xykon won't leave without it.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 22, 2012 22:26
|
|
|
Poil posted:Come on guys, surely someone else besides me like Tsukiko. Nope, she existed purely to be a foil between Redcloak and Xykon and to get this bit of exposition out to people who haven't read Start of Darkness. Pretty much how Miko existed pretty much exclusively as a hook to get The Order onto the main plotline. After that job is done, death is inevitable.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 23, 2012 14:31
|
|
|
Verr posted:Yeah, the last time he tried to kill her he didn't even blink. I doubt it will be much different this time. Plus Xykon is all about, "She broke into my room so I took her life." Power is power. I think you mean this one. e: but while Xykon isn't a planner, he's proven himself extremely canny in the moment and a very good manipulator. While plot necessities mean that the Xykon and Redcloak tag-team aren't going to break up until the end of the strip, Xykon is going to notice that Redcloak is lying to him even if he doesn't call him out on it. Alchenar fucked around with this message at 17:07 on Jan 23, 2012 |
|
#
¿
Jan 23, 2012 16:59
|
|
|
The problem is that Xykon is unpredictable (or unpredictably written, depending on how you look at it). It wouldn't be out of character for him to have completely forgotten Tsukiko exists.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 23, 2012 18:04
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 09:36 |
|
|
Russian Guyovitch posted:Man, I'm really enjoying the pace that Rich has going on with his strip releases lately. Also, I'm guessing Redcloak isn't going to ever have to think about explaining Tsukiko, as once Xykon gets the fake phylactery (assuming he doesn't realize it's a fake), they're probably hitting the road for the next gate immediately. Well all of this has been set up well in advance, so I imagine Rich has had this set of strips forming in the back of his head since whenever the last time we saw the resistance was (what, a year ago?)
|
|
#
¿
Jan 26, 2012 01:29
|
|