|
Noah posted:Why would it be in any of his party's best interest to kill him? Up until now, Tarquin had/has a really good thing going. Sure they have to put up with his narrative nonsense, but its worked out pretty well for everyone villainous. Okay but Tarquin's narrative nonsense is exactly why it's a good idea to jump ship right around now. See, I used to read a comic that was almost as metahumor-y as OotS, and the bad guys based all their magic on a power called "Cynamatik" (I think you see where this is going, but I'll continue in case I'm wrong). As the name suggests, Cynamatik worked perfectly as long as it was narratively convenient and looked nice and flashy, but it would invariably turn on the user anytime it would make for a better story if they failed. The heroes had to work to keep it going that way but the downfall of the villains was ultimately that they were still trying to use Cynamatik in their climactic final confrontation. In OotS, you don't have an inscrutable magic force doing this unexpectedly. You have a cunning old man who's been actively planning his own downfall since he found out his wife was pregnant, and now he's gearing up to make it happen. This is without question the time to set up a favor and then make that favor the guarantee of a nice, quiet retirement. my dad posted:This is surprisingly good. I do not think I agree. Dr. Buttass fucked around with this message at 10:54 on Oct 24, 2013 |
#
¿
Oct 24, 2013 10:51
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 07:54 |
|
|
Cat Mattress posted:Reminds me of something. Was it that one? That's the one. Nicely spotted.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 25, 2013 04:35
|
|
|
See I'da pegged John DiMaggio for Roy maybe. I always pictured Belkar's voice as being kinda higher. Like Neil Patrick Harris maybe.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 25, 2013 05:40
|
|
|
Jimbone Tallshanks posted:Carey Means might work for Roy, too. But seeing that trio voiced by that trio would be great. Dana Snyder would work great on the quips, but not so much the "power is power" monologues and such. Yeah, his is not a voice intended for focused megalomania. Maybe Ron Perlman. He's been known to say some pretty silly poo poo in his day and no one doubts HIS capacity for a villainous monologue. Zogundar posted:I would definitely like to see an OOTS animated series, but does the strip have an insurmountable lead on any TV adaptation, or would it catch up and then.. uh.. what happens in Western productions when that happens? I only ever see this stuff in anime. I would imagine, if they were going for full blown TV series type of thing, they would probably have to take the basic plot and character development outline and rewrite the whole thing from the ground up. If they wanted to stay truer to the source material I could see doing a web series with shorter episodes to better work with the whole "end on a gag" thing. As for catching up, I can see two solutions: Either A) do what anime does and go "gently caress it" and just soldier on ahead, probably diverging wildly from the source material, or B) devote the animated series to side stories. Or C) do the Excel Saga thing and make something up out of whole cloth, with an "Approved By Rich" gag for each specific deviation.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 25, 2013 11:10
|
|
|
XkyRauh posted:The idea you proposed of a side quest to gather money or otherwise develop along the route of bringing the character back sidelines the PC who was killed while the rest of the party does their thing, and can just as easily be replaced by questing to regain the XP lost by a lesser resurrection. Also, they already did that bit. You know what with Roy being dead for like six months.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 30, 2013 23:02
|
|
|
Roland Jones posted:Really, if he thought about it for a little while, he should realize that, what with everything that's happened so far, he can't be the main villain. Main villains don't have things like this happen to them. Going by his whole narrative thing, I mean. That's only going to make him even angrier. He's literally planned his entire life, possibly since even before he was married and convincing his wife that children were a good idea, around going down in history as a legendary evil warlord. Instead: The heroes are staying a scant half-step ahead of him; one of his sons betrayed him at a key moment, which not only screwed Tarquin but proved how poorly he raised Nale by the sheer gravity of the tactical error; his forces are being whittled down slowly by heroes who seem way too on top of their game for an encounter that's supposed to crush them and drive them into hiding so they can get stronger for the ultimate showdown; the empire he built with his own two hands is in very real danger of being historically notable for thriving in spite of being ruled by a dragon so stupid she's routinely bested in contests of wits with dinners that are being handfed to her; and his son is not only perfectly willing to play second banana to someone else, he seems happier that way. Evidence is stacking up that he's just not that important. For all the hard work he's put into being the biggest badass this side of Leeky Windstaff, the payoff is to be a distraction to the wrong hero's quest.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 8, 2013 00:24
|
|
|
Point of order about prophecies: Durkon is, as of not long ago in the grand scheme of things, free to go home at any point.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 8, 2013 08:32
|
|
|
My Lovely Horse posted:The rest of your analysis is spot on, but I don't think he quite has. What he's planned his life around is being the bad guy who lives the high life at the top of an empire for years, until some hero comes along and defeats him but as he himself puts it, that's a few minutes of unpleasantness right at the end against decades of power, luxury and multiple wives. Going down in history as a legend is something he only realized would work out when Elan showed up on his doorstep. Now, though, he's gotten far too hung up on that to go back, and he can't imagine there might be a bigger story around than his. For all his talk about long-term plans and legendmaking Tarquin's downfall is coming because he doesn't think big enough. I'm not sure you really appreciate the scope of Tarquin's ego. Or his genre savvy.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 8, 2013 12:56
|
|
|
I think I looked at Erfworld once years ago? And I couldn't even really hate it, I just didn't give even a fraction of a poo poo. It does not deserve a wikipedia article.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 10, 2013 06:47
|
|
|
The first time he actually used it he ran through what his grandpa told him, he said something like "visualize the magical energies flowing around the caster" or something like that, and something about the apex of the spell maybe. I think he's literally just cutting the spell in half before they can finish casting it.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 10, 2013 22:40
|
|
|
It was funnier when Terry Pratchett used Esme Weatherwax to say it.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 12, 2013 11:25
|
|
|
Who What Now posted:You'd be hard pressed to find a bigger Pratchett fan than me, but Witches Broad was horrible from outright beating the reader over the head with the point. So I think Terry and Rich have handled it equally well. I was talking about Cornwind. Also while I don't begrudge you your position Witches Abroad is one of my favorites. I love the bumblefucking into fairy tales and Esme's sheer affronted rage that Lily didn't have the basic decency to enjoy herself at being the bad one. Wolfsheim posted:Oh boy, Goblins talk! Minmax is literally my least favorite part about Goblins (which I already hate anyway), because he's the ultimate expression of the comic's lack of direction, and also kind of an affront to metahumor. His only purpose is metahumor, but when he's trying to be funny he falls flat, and when he's trying to be serious, they're trying to get you to feel bad for the struggles of a guy who deliberately refrained from learning how to read so that when he grew up he could hit things harder. Goblins in general just sort of reads like they started reading Tolkien at the same time as Order of the Stick and decided they could do both better. Also, his latest newspost is about how he's totally for feminism but that discounting MRAs is bad and you "can't aggressively force gender equality". Maybe better if the internet just forgets this dude.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 13, 2013 01:26
|
|
|
Shugojin posted:I was just gonna say that Chewie is a terrible example because the audience can't understand what the hell he says so character development gets incredibly difficult v It's the funniest fuckin' thing though, I once saw a making of kinda special and there were a few scenes with Chewbacca in that they showed before editing, and he actually has specific, coherent lines, which Peter Mayhew actually learned and said, and so he talks like this low-key British chap, sorta like how Darths & Droids portrays him. They're having actual conversations with Chewbacca and then they edit in the weird growls, just for shits and giggles apparently.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 13, 2013 02:17
|
|
v
|
Trapezium Dave posted:I wouldn't be surprised if he reveals Tarquin wasn't as prominent in the initial story plan, his purpose being a catalyst for the Elan and Nale subplot, but ended up getting more time because Rich loves writing villains. Me either. A lot of the time when I read something and there's a part that's maybe kinda bigger than it seems like it needs to be, it gets the same answer when someone asks about it: "I didn't really intend for that to happen, it just sort of got away from me." Usually it's awesome, sometimes it's not great, but it's almost always something that grew organically out of what it was initially intended to be. And then you get stuff like Homestuck, where stuff goes on for way too long because the author was having himself a metaphorical wank session.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 13, 2013 03:26
|
|
|
I donno, even if Durkon IS necessarily Evil as a result of being turned, he seems to still be pretty loyal to Roy, who's been fairly good at reigning in an Evil teammate who would love nothing more than to shank everyone and go laughing off into the sunset. I'm pretty sure it's a red herring.My Lovely Horse posted:Are tropers actually writers (even if it's only fanfiction or amazon raptor erotica)? I always thought they fancied themselves more literary critics. Probably a little of both. They gotta whole thread for TVTropes somewhere around here if you wanna toxx yourself, but the short answer is no, they're not, Vorgen is on the money.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 19, 2013 20:59
|
|
|
That's why I always stay true pootral.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 23, 2013 03:35
|
|
|
Mystic Mongol posted:And there's some discriminatory bullshit whenever they move. "Hello, I am Count Dracul Von Strashenburg Willheim Varick, and I am a vampire. I have a history of spreading my undead curse, and as such am required to inform everyone within two hundred yards of my new home, the household of weeping roses." I'm stealing this idea for things.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 18, 2013 23:09
|
|
|
My Lovely Horse posted:They've been doing it for a while now, they probably picked up enough to get how it works and there's no reason to stop when two groups of evil schemers can split a continent just as well as three can. First order of business would have to be picking the Empire of Blood apart, which should be easy without its master general and high priest. Tarquin has literally the easiest conquest of any of his friends. The Empress could be fooled by a small puddle of raspberry syrup (which would probably make a better Empress of Blood, too). Literally all you have to do to stage a coup is wait until Tarquin's gone, then waltz into her throne room and tell her he sent you to do his job in his place for the foreseeable future. If you're really cunning, you might even throw in a clause about how if he ever comes back and says different, it's a test, and if you let him take his job back, you failed. So really, the most likely aftermath of Tarquin's death is Laurin and Myron prancing into the Throne Room of Blood and telling the Empress that Tarquin thought this whole empire thing he'd been enjoying for the last couple decades was SO BORING he dropped dead, and that his last wish was for his second- and third-best friends, the Empire of the Weeping King and the Empire of the King Whose Distinguishing Feature I Don't Remember, should divvy up the Empire of Blood and take good care of his first-best friend the Empress of Blood until she's the biggest and most powerful dragon in the world and can have all the fun destroying selected targets of whoever called dibs on the half of the Empire with the throne room in it.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 20, 2013 12:33
|
|
|
This is not related to like, anything, but whenever I remember Elan is a grown-rear end man and not the 12-year-old kid he acts like, suddenly I read his lines in Jack McBrayer's voice. Jack McBrayer can pull off some badass fuckin' lines. Angela Christine posted:Didn't you read? It's "a nightmare". The mark of the graphic designer is the ability to tell the difference between about twenty minutely-different variants of Helvetica, and get really insanely angry about using the wrong one.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 4, 2014 23:39
|
|
|
Explain to me how "Team Blood Sweat and Tears" wouldn't be a good name for a rock band.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 6, 2014 04:33
|
|
|
You realize you literally just proved my argument though. PS Although I do admit I forgot about them when I made the original statement.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 7, 2014 00:44
|
|
|
Speedball posted:Ahahahaahahahahahaha. Oh, maaan. With very few exceptions I have never read a "serious" fantasy story that was anywhere near as creative, engaging, and well-crafted as one that's just plain ridiculous.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 11, 2014 23:11
|
|
|
Durkon's LG and he's presumably been taking care of Belkar same as everyone else, so I don't think alignment is really an issue.Tenebrais posted:We probably still need some Durkon exposition, which could tie neatly into their dwarfward direction. Time for that prophecy to pay off.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 12, 2014 22:25
|
|
|
Combed Thunderclap posted:...not that V necessarily specifically told anyone that they divorced their partner and sold their soul to fiends. Which may or may not be relevant to the ability to pass through Elven airspace, depending on where Rich wants to take the story. I think V mentioned the whole "leased hir soul to fiends" to Roy (there was a bit of argument about what is and isn't the place for that sort of thing), specifically re: "where I was for the entire loving fight", but I don't know if the information was disseminated to the rest of the party or how they feel about it if it was.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 16, 2014 08:49
|
|
|
My Lovely Horse posted:That's never going to develop into any problem at all. Taking all bets! I've got 4:1 odds on "I cannae do it, lad, I don't feel right doing this," 7:1 on Elan running out of OJ, 50:1 on "Roy, I dinna know how to tell ya this, but you've got no blood fer me to drink," 100:1 on "Haley, lass, I'm pregnant, and yer tha father!"
|
|
#
¿
Jan 17, 2014 12:09
|
|
|
Cat Mattress posted:Grognard has no shared etymology with grog, though. Comes from "grogner", the French verb for "grunt". I think that got brought up in either Discworld or the Dresden Files. When people reproduce, they're creating a legacy. When vampires reproduce, they're creating competition. So it's in a vampire's best interest to keep offspring at a minimum.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 18, 2014 02:14
|
|
|
fool_of_sound posted:Different golems have different requirements and costs to make. I know flesh golems are particularly cheap, xp and magical reagent-wise, and can be created at a lower caster level than the other sorts. Bone golems may be the same way. Also, in case of damage, a bone golem can be repaired with nothing but a tall, refreshing glass of milk!
|
|
#
¿
Jan 19, 2014 03:32
|
|
|
Who What Now posted:My next cleric will now worship a god of "the glom of nigt". Don't arsk us about : Mrs. Cake or dogs with orange eyebrows.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 20, 2014 10:07
|
|
|
Mniot posted:My bet is that Durkon murders Belkar first, but claims self-defense or accident. Roy believes him, making it all the more horrifying when Durkon reveals himself as a monster. My bet is that Rich doesn't actually think such a predictable twist would actually be a very good story, and it's a double-twist because the people who thought Malack was being metaphorical when he said he was a different person than when he was alive (because he's spent two centuries changing and developing as a person) are right and it really is Durkon after all and Belkar is just a racist. Or maybe a vitalist.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 23, 2014 07:52
|
|
|
My Lovely Horse posted:It's probably exactly like becoming a born again Christian with the polarity reversed. What, the sudden waves of desperate delusion masquerading as genuine belief, and the obnoxious need to share your new truth with everyone, even or especially if they find you personally repulsive?
|
|
#
¿
Jan 25, 2014 11:10
|
|
|
The Leper Colon V posted:Nah, more like a sudden need to prove yourself intellectually superior to people with different beliefs than you. That's the atheist version of evangelizing.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 25, 2014 23:01
|
|
|
The Leper Colon V posted:Whoosh. Oh wow, a bird!
|
|
#
¿
Jan 26, 2014 08:15
|
|
|
And now it's someone else's "whoosh".
|
|
#
¿
Jan 26, 2014 22:43
|
|
|
Dolash posted:Man, for a well-established paranoid Ian was really quick to forgive three year in the clink. Seems like kind of a hurried subplot mop-up. I think it was the family angle. All Geoff had to do was tug on those "you just reunited with your daughter" strings and right on cue Ian thinks, "I can't judge Geoff, I'm literally no different."
|
|
#
¿
Jan 29, 2014 06:28
|
|
|
I wanna say it's "a unique". "An unique" sounds really awkward to say out loud. I always say if you're not sure go with whatever sounds less awkward instead of what your teacher told you was the rule in first grade, because English is a half-assed mishmash of a language anyway and any given rule is broken more than it's followed.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 31, 2014 03:06
|
|
|
Raenir Salazar posted:I don't think Bozzok gains levels to keep pace with the PC's, he needed to be higher level to serve as the core "threat" to Haley and Belkar for that arc; there isn't a compelling narrative purpose that he keep pace with that, being on par for the course is probably fine; almost certain if he's going to be playing second fiddle to some bigger more powerful person (Because it presents a possible set up for being a temporary PC in the usual "Don't you have PRIDE!?" team switching moment). Yeah, Crystal gained levels with Haley because she's a major rival or whatever the official term is and there are actual game mechanics for that, so it works as an exposition gag and fits with the story. Bozzok is more of a boss character so he just gains levels whenever he needs to be an actual threat to the protagonists. I assume that's how boss characters work in DnD.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 4, 2014 00:11
|
|
|
inthesto posted:Are there? I know that 3E has a lot of crazy and silly optional subsystems, but I've never even heard of this one. I've never played DnD, this comic is my only familiarity with any of the rules. If Rich says something in a way that sounds like a funny riff on a real rule I'll probably believe it.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 4, 2014 23:02
|
|
|
Goddammit Julio. You and Elan know exactly how to make me giggle like an idiot.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 5, 2014 11:36
|
|
|
Roland Jones posted:Addendum to this, White Mage was only there because Sarda sent her into "a pocket dimension" to keep her out of the way. It is after he does this that he realizes, oh, so that's why she was there at the beginning of time. He is less than pleased to realize this. (She's also the one who told him to grow his mustache.) Also, Fighter loses at drownball because he does a thing where he doesn't drown, but as the only survivor he inherits the title of champion.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 7, 2014 22:57
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 07:54 |
|
|
Shugojin posted:I also think he's further into the pursuit of this at any cost. It would take him realizing that the Plan isn't necessary for the goblinoid races to live well and is just revenge (and for Gobbotopia to actually be a place where they live well and safely) to bail on Xykon at this point. Yeah Redcloak is basically a straw feminist. Or, you know, whatever the racism and high fantasy equivalent of that would be called. He says he wants goblins to have a fair shake, which is not an unreasonable goal on the surface, but what he actually wants is some kind of institutional revenge. He thinks that "a fair shake" is what PC races have right now, so he wants goblins elevated to the status of PC race, but then he also wants the current PC races to suffer as he and his people have, so they have to become adventurer chow in his New World Order. And he didn't really consider hobgoblins to count as goblins until recently. And he doesn't appear to give even half a poo poo about any other species in the same exact position as goblins. So really what he's after is for goblins to be top of the heap, oppressing every other species, which are only good for XP; which means that basically Redcloak's stated goal of a world where everyone has a fair go will come about when everyone rises up and exterminates goblins entirely, forgetting old rivalries and feuds in along the way and learning the true meaning of friendship (doubly so because they have oppression to compare it to). I think Jirix winning humans and dwarfs and elves and them over with diplomacy is more likely if only because Redcloak's actual ultimate goal is the chink in his Sympathetic Character Armor, and is, as established, less likely to turn out like a monkey's-paw wish.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 9, 2014 09:45
|
|