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Yeroc2 posted:I am going to laugh very hard if that little kick Belkar gave Miko ends up killing her, though that would be a waste of a good reoccuring villian. I'm half-expecting her to join the Linear Guild. She makes a good opposite for Roy - they'd have to get rid of Thog somehow, but maybe he just sees something sparkly in a window and gets lost. It's quite possible that Miko knows about the identities of their new prisoners - at least to the extent of "they hate the Order of the Stick" - and, seriously, if Miko in her present state goes and talks to Nale, she'll probably end up 100% convinced that Nale is a force for good and puppies and rainbows, fighting against the twisted demonic mastermind that is Roy. It'd be a bit cliche - I don't want the story to end up being "good guys versus bad guys", with the OotS on one side and Xykon+Miko+Linear Guild on the other - but I think those groups do really need to interact at some point, even if they don't permanently ally.
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Feb 3, 2007 07:37
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I'm enjoying it a bit. It's sufficiently entertaining that I continue to read it. I hope the plot gets on track a bit more, right now I don't feel much connection to any character in any way, but I'm still giving it a chance. There's also a few clever subtleties that seem to be intentional. For one thing, the parts of the Real World that we've seen has a very different coloring style from the fantasy world. But the thing that truly intruiges me: The Arkenhammer is 3d rendered. No, seriously. Look at it. (Even in the background.) It's not like it would be complicated to draw - the guy probably spends more effort posing and 3d-rendering it than he would to just draw the fucker. And nothing else has ever been 3d-rendered. What does it mean? I have no idea, but I suspect it will have plot significance.
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Mar 1, 2007 12:49
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RickoniX posted:What the hell, was that always like that? I swear it used to be drawn regularly. From the beginning. I remember noticing it because it was so distinct.  farraday posted:For reference all the arkentools are 3d rendered. The arken pliers are seen being wielded by Ansom. Dammit I even looked for the other arkentools and couldn't find them. What page is that on? One note: the Titans aren't 3d. So the whole otherworldliness thing doesn't apply to them, apparently.
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Mar 2, 2007 09:27
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clockworkjoe posted:Don't forget Rule 0, i.e. basically letting the DM to fudge things to make sure the game is fun. I can't agree with that. Even fantasy universes have some understanding of basic elements. Coinage is copper, silver, gold, and platinum. Iron and copper are used as terms for weapon and armor quality. The less obvious elements show up all the time in traps (I knew a GM who loved mercury - you had to be incredibly careful whenever you found a "room with a silver floor" because it could turn out to be a "room with a ten-foot-deep pit filled with mercury" instead.) Yes, the Greek elements are the classic elements. But we've already had the Chinese zodiac symbols show up - it's not a strictly Greek universe. Like most fantasy universes it uses aspects of many mythologies, and like most RPGs it uses all of that plus science when applicable. We're not going to see it suddenly turn into a steampunk adventure (I mean unless it's brought in as a fantasy cliche, so maybe we will) but I honestly don't see how a titanium elemental is out-of-place in the least. If anything, "let's make a universe that's the union of all myths and facts" is exactly what I'd expect.
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Mar 10, 2007 06:37
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clockworkjoe posted:Auras can be lowered at will and the effect could be handwaved as long as the monster doesn't make an appearance. It has to be epic though and it probably has a connection to Snarl. It might be a normal monster with the paragon or pseudonatural template on it. We don't have enough info to point at a specific monster yet. I'm going to be very amused if it's some sort of epic goblin.
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Mar 14, 2007 17:45
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Wolfsheim posted:I guess you could say his shallowness gives him more character depth?? The nice thing about shallow characters is that it's easy to avoid contradictions. Belkar likes stabbing living things. End of story! I have to admit I've kind of grown to hate tortured morally-ambiguous villains or evil people. It's like they're so weak-willed that they spend all their time agonizing over their actions. I like evil guys who either know they're evil or (incorrectly) know they're good. Belkar and Miko fill these two roles perfectly.
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Apr 5, 2007 06:58
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TJO posted:I can definitely understand why lots of you seem to be disliking Erfworld, but I'm really starting to enjoy it. The slow, what-exactly-is-meant-to-be-happening build up seems to be over, and Tool, Wanda and Parson are finally getting a little more interesting. I also think the whole "I'm clearly not part of this world, I wonder if I can use that" gimmick could turn out to be pretty neat. Overall this comic is still in my Benefit Of The Doubt file - the guy's got some pacing issues and some wall-of-text issues, as well as the occasional creepy-in-the-bad-way section, but I'm waiting to see what happens with the universe and the plot. I'm pretty sure that the entire comic is not going to consist of defending a castle from enemy forces, and I'm not going to give up on it until it becomes clear that's wrong or it turns out to be awful once outside the castle.
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Apr 13, 2007 22:16
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Calaveron posted:Well, it's been over 40 pages, 4 of them being enormous wall-of-texts one, and so far, the only thing we know is this: Come on, read through the first 44 strips of OOTS. It's not all that much better. There's a bunch of basic character introduction (I forgot how annoying Elan used to be) and then you get a few actual plot points! * Xykon is evil and they're trying to kill him * Roy has a ghost dad who isn't particularly helpful * Xykon has a terrifying secret weapon that lurks in the dark * Haley likes money (because she's a thief! How original! I can tell this is going to be a wonderful and unique comic) And . . . that's all. Then you get a relatively uninteresting battle with a chimera and another bunch of one-off jokes. Oh yeah, and a breaking-the-fourth-wall joke and a Letters from the Readers strip. At this point, every single character besides Roy comes across as a complete and total cliche, and Roy only avoids that by virtue of being intelligent. The rogue's evil, the thief is moneyhoarding cute and acrobatic, there's a devout dwarven priest healer, and there's an elven mage who talks too much. What imagination. Honestly, after reading these strips, I think OOTS comes across worse early on (at least for someone who enjoys unique worlds and has no particular love for punchlines.) It feels like yet another generic cliche fantasy comic with at least a few good one-shot jokes but nothing else to recommend it. Erfworld is at least distinctive in the first 44 strips. I'm obviously not claiming that OOTS hasn't turned out to be fantastic, because it has, but the great character development really only starts showing up when they run into Xykon the first time. This takes about a hundred strips. ZorbaTHut fucked around with this message at 01:26 on Apr 14, 2007 |
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Apr 14, 2007 01:16
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Anyone know what's so horribly wrong with their server? I'd check their forums, but the server is so slow I can't get there.
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Apr 18, 2007 22:59
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Man. Xykon's a dick. It's getting to the point where I hope he loses, not because he's the bad guy, but just because I don't like him. (As a person, note, not as a character. He's an awesome character.)
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May 5, 2007 06:20
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Wolfsheim posted:I agree, pretty much. I thought it was great the way the first paladin introduced is a stereotypically portrayed psychotic, justice-obsessed nut and then he flips it around and shows that all the other paladins think she's whacked out too. But now they're just cannon-fodder? Weak. I knew Xykon wouldn't be defeated, but to have him dispatch them almost effortlessly was a bit too deus-ex machina and bucks the rules entirely. I think the reason I don't mind any of this is because it's making it clear just how powerful Xykon is. He mentioned this on the dragon - he's seven levels or more higher than Roy. Isn't Roy supposed to be nearing level 10 by now? Xykon could very well be double his level. That's not "epic fight". That's not "final boss". That's "total party wipe". They're quite possibly going up against a level 20 epic lich. On top of that, I seem to remember that Miko was one of the best paladin warriors, and that left her only a level or two above the rest of the party (people seem to believe Miko won through a combination of good luck and DM's Plotline, as well as being somewhat more powerful than the OotS - but it wasn't an obvious overwhelming victory.) So, if that's the case, what's the average level of the fortress guard? Five? Three? Less? They're having trouble with the same set of hobgoblins that Belkar doesn't get XP for. I wouldn't be surprised if the OotS could put up a good fight against the entire guard of Azure City, but the entire OotS together wouldn't be able to do more than mildly entertain Xykon. Xykon is that powerful. Xykon is going to win this fight. Xykon probably could have won this fight singlehandedly. That's why he never really cared - because he knew it wasn't going to be a fight worth worrying about. I bet he only keeps lackeys around so he doesn't have to bother with lots of low-level adventurers trying to kill him. I suspect a good number of Xykon's suggestions in that above-linked strip are going to come true.
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May 5, 2007 12:45
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rantmo posted:The Order is in the low teen levels, somewhere around 13 if I remember right, so yeah, Roy and the rest of the everyone else are seriously, seriously out-classed at the moment. Okay, I guess I underestimated the Order's levels a bit. But that makes it even more certain that Xykon is level 20, and has all rights to be stomping around the fortress annihilating things effortlessly. Or higher. Isn't there a D&D supplement or two that includes rules for up to level 40? 
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May 5, 2007 17:17
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Rincewind posted:Yeah. I dunno. Xykon's a dick but he knows he's a dick. Miko thinks that she's a shining beacon of holy goodness. Does anyone really believe that Miko wouldn't have gladly chosen a strategy that ended with goblins killing themselves once they see the true meaning of their actions? And then she'd gloat about how she helped their souls regain purity. Honestly, I'd rather have a beer with a self-admitted rear end in a top hat any day.
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May 6, 2007 17:34
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Efreet saiid posted:Ok fine, then the next move should be for the OOTS to spend a few comics pouring boiling water down ants-nests to get lots of extra XP. I'm pretty sure that if killing hordes of hobgoblins doesn't give XP, neither does boiling anthills. Seriously, "I do not approve of the way he's interpreting the rules" doesn't translate into "he is clearly ignoring D&D rules and thinks that anything no matter how crazy should work". Judging from Spaz's reply, I agree that I like his interpretation. It might not be how you'd do things, but that doesn't mean he's wrong.
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May 7, 2007 11:44
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Kahrytes posted:Yes. Exactly. See, I'm looking at all of this strip from a DM's perspective. I love running games, and it's really great when your PCs manage to surprise you with something cool. I almost always let them do stuff that they've put a lot of thought into and will be cool, even if it's not really rules-correct. I think that's the Moment of Truth for DMs. You come up with a great situation, you get the players into it, and the players pull an awesome and yet completely unexpected metaphorical rabbit out of their hats which utterly annihilates every bit of planning you've done in the last month. Do you let them have it, or do you overrule them? Moment of Truth.
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May 10, 2007 03:38
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Robot Bastard posted:OMT OMT OMT! What's an OMT? Google is not particularly useful right now.
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May 21, 2007 13:13
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I almost wish the Mark of Justice was worded differently - if it specified "within the bounds of Azure City" then it wouldn't have to ever be taken off. I'd also like to mention that the Wikipedia entry for OotS is kind of terrifyingly long. Note the links at the bottom for other related pages.
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May 23, 2007 05:32
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Quarex posted:However, it seems particularly unlikely that the ostensible main villain of the entire strip would be killed off by comparatively minor sub-protagonists. So even if that did happen, he would clearly come back. I think it's likely that they'll end up hurting him though, otherwise there wouldn't have been any reason for that plot point to exist in the first place. I'm half expecting Redcloak to bust in on a bunch of ghost paladins and Xykon in a roughly-evenly-matched battle and decide to just kill them all. The phrase "ghost paladins" is pretty neat.
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May 29, 2007 12:34
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Goblins may be running really slowly, but it sure is keeping up its quota of badass.CoolCab posted:The artist is on honeymoon and the writer got so much flak for the Klog pages he's stopped making them. I actually kind of liked those 
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May 30, 2007 14:04
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What if we split off a General RPG Comic Thread, including Erfworld and Goblins? I've wanted to post about Goblins a few times also. It'd probably be a slower-moving thread, but I'm okay with that.
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Jun 20, 2007 22:34
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tsob posted:Also, good to see Belkar kept the skull I would be vastly amused if it was completely out of power, but Belkar just kept it around so he can wave it at people and so it can make snide remarks. Eventually, the two of them form a love which will withstand the ages. This is now a formal request for Rule 34 to be applied.
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Jun 21, 2007 06:23
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bgaesop posted:Thank you, I think.
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Jun 22, 2007 09:21
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Robot Bastard posted:edit: Do the bats spot everything in the hex, or just the things that attack them? Because that could be the idea--the "slow" dragons just move up into the ring of hexes and wait; the "fast" dragons attack the column and then retreat to the ring. That way, the fast dragons don't have to fight when Ansom's troops move into the hex; the slow dragons can take over the job. From what I've been getting out of it, they spot everything in *that hex* (and presumably a visibility radius around them which doesn't help in forest). Combat seems to happen on a level of hex-vs-hex, or at least invading units vs. all defenders in that hex, which is why putting all the units in a single giant stack would be a terrible idea (if, indeed, it's even possible, many game systems have limits on how big stacks can be, which often translates into a limit on how many units can fit in a hex.) Judging from the map, it looks like units can only see one space into thick forest, and I suspect either enemy units in thick forest can't be seen unless you move into the hex (and get ganked) or unless you move next to the hex (and get attack-of-opportunity ganked). If it didn't necessitate potential ganking, there would have been no reason to lose the bats. Summary: Ansom isn't going to know what's in the center hex until he beats down one of the surrounding groups and, even worse for him, moves into the center hex. It is entirely possible that this turn will end with his reserve forces in the worst position imaginable, namely, surrounded entirely by dragons (dwagons lol). Side note: I am amused by The Arkenhammer's occupation.
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Jun 24, 2007 13:18
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Halloween Jack posted:Which is oddly incorrect; if it does something, it's not a MacGuffin. So far, all it's done is crack walnuts and spawn a few pigeons, which isn't really plot-critical. I mean, in theory it's useful - but we really haven't seen anything along those lines.
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Jun 25, 2007 02:55
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Brannock posted:I believe 23 and 24 are the same hobgoblin. However, you also missed one on panel 5 - there's a third that she's shooting. So I agree with 24, but I think you've got a mistake or two. I feel like an unbelievable geek right now.
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Jun 29, 2007 00:25
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Noonsaliwah posted:There are 10 hobgoblins walking to her (14-23), and 10 crushed to death in the next panel- with another one living. I don't know where that eleventh one came from, but he's definately a number 24. Hey, you're right. I'm guessing there's one standing behind the piece of rubble - there's easily enough space there for a hobgoblin, and in fact, originally I was assuming there was another one there. 25 it is.
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Jun 29, 2007 22:06
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bgaesop posted:This is one of the shittiest comics of all time. Dude, you read the Webcomics Megathread, right? What you're saying is not even close to true - I'd agree it's got some really unfortunate parts, but claiming it's remotely on the same level as the Hall of Shame entries? I mean, it's not. It's quite a bit better than those, and I'd argue that it's quite a bit better than the average, even with the leetspeak. (Consider how bad the average is, after all.)
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Jul 1, 2007 10:13
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Bobulus posted:At the risk of further sidetracking the conversation, the DMs I've played with are really frustrating me. I keep making non-munchkin characters (An engineer in a Firefly campaign, a combat-inexperienced grad student in a zombie game, an unoptimized wizard in a D&D campaign...) and all that ever happens is that I end up standing there while the other players hack-and-slash their way through everything, because the DM never does anything but combat and the occasional indimidation. Makes me want to just give up and join them. I've got the opposite problem in the campaign I'm GMing. Shadowrun campaign, and I've got a ninja, a fire mage with a warhammer, a combat mage specialized for buffs, a sniper, a hacker, a Face with the highest charisma I've ever seen, and I-swear-I-am-not-making-this-up a loving bum with sky-high perception and drat good sneak . . . and nothing else. I'm having a horrible time trying to come up with things everyone can do. I seem to end up forgetting about at least one character every adventure, and there's always segments that certain characters just don't participate in (the fire mage and the bum are pretty much diametrically opposite, I don't think I've ever come up with a situation where they can both participate.) At least everyone says they're having fun
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Jul 17, 2007 23:39
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My theory is that the monster in the shadows is going to turn out to be some kind of shadow elemental. He'll throw away the umbrella and, hey, he'll look exactly the same!
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Jul 18, 2007 11:41
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Ashcans posted:Seconded. Or at least start your post with something about Erfworld so no one will read it anyway. Thirded. I really want to buy the book, they just don't have any available 
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Jul 27, 2007 02:21
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Nosy_G posted:I'm a fan of Goblins, but god damned it would be awesome if the guy would update more than once a month. Seriously though, sometimes it feels as if he puts more work in on his "Tempts Fate" thing than on the main comic. He's been doing a lot better lately - it's always a few days late, but it's always on the right week. Only one or two pages generally, but he gets it done and gets it posted. Right now he's a lot more consistent than OOTS, which manages nowhere near the vaguely-planned "three-times-a-week" thing.
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Aug 1, 2007 07:03
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Vicissitude posted:I'd love to see a half-orc riding a rhinocerous. How hardcore is that? Significantly less hardcore than a half-demon riding a tyrannosaurus. Man, that would be the most awesome paladin ever.
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Aug 2, 2007 06:08
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I'm not sure how many people here are reading Goblins, but if you are, check out the latest update. There's something weird about that axe - it's going right through him with no blood at all. There's no way that's unintentional, given how much care was made to keep the blood patterns the same from the second-to-last panel. Maybe he's not dead? Maybe something really loving weird is about to happen? I really like this comic, I never know what's going to happen. Also as far as I'm concerned this is the last post that should be spoilered on the subject, since if you do read it you should have read it by now
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Aug 8, 2007 05:12
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Karma Guard posted:I winced when I saw the last panel. I mean, axe through head. I was thinking that maybe it was some kind of crazy "wtf" moment like I try to put in my games - maybe the guy wielding the axe is evil, but the axe itself is actually a force for good and won't harm a paladin. They just keep running up against neutral or evil, so he's never realized it before. Then I remembered that it's been explicitly stated that the axe itself is evil, and the guy certainly doesn't look or act good, so yeah, I have no idea what's going on there. As far as I know even paladins don't have "become incorporeal" powers, at least not at level 2. (They are at level 2 by now, aren't they?) Guess we'll find out next week . . . unless Thunt takes the opportunity to go back to Dies Horribly, which I'm actually guessing he will
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Aug 8, 2007 10:21
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NutShellBill posted:Well, that update certainly jives with my theory of Elan becoming the new team leader. They've got 500 strips or so to strap a headband of intellect on him, and make him respectable now. 500 strips? Is it known that the series ends at strip 1000?
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Aug 10, 2007 10:21
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Back to Goblins for a minute: New strip is up Also, I unintentionally called it, I just didn't buy it because of the axe-is-evil thing. Which is now explained. Woo! (If anyone really minds diverting into Goblins, let me know, but considering how rarely OOTS is being updated now the thread's gonna mostly die otherwise.)
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Aug 12, 2007 18:46
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Kojiro posted:Oh why would anyone put a giant block of text like that in there Yeah, I would've rather had two or three strips explaining it in pictures, like we got with Klik and Dies . . . but considering how long we've spent on this fight scene, I can't really blame him for wanting to hurry it along. Could've been formatted a lot better
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Aug 12, 2007 19:12
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Wolfsheim posted:
I agree with basically everything you said there. I really love the comic overall, but man, the fight scenes can take so long . . . even though, when you go back and read them later, they're so cool. I kind of think he should post one page per week when doing non-fight-scenes, and use the time to build up a buffer so he can post two or three pages per week in a fight scene. It updates every week "on Saturday", very regularly now. He used to frequently miss posts but he seems to have realized that posting a single page every week is a lot better than posting three pages apparently-randomly. It's frequently a few days late, however.
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Aug 14, 2007 12:17
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bgaesop posted:You mean how would it work in a game? When players' characters die they just roll up a new character and the DM figures out how to introduce the new character into the campaign. This might be by having them control an NPC that they had been working with, or they might meet them along the path of their adventure, or they might just happen to meet them at the next tavern they stop in and join up together for no reason. "Hello. My name is Ri'dzzt. I would like to join your party." "What a coincidence! We have just lost a member of our party, a dear friend named Zt'zdri. He was a Fighter/Ranger/Barbarian. Pray tell, what is your class?" "Fighter/Ranger/Barbarian." "Excellent! Despite never having met you before, I feel we can trust you with our lives." "I accept. Don't bother to brief me on our current quest, I already know all about it."
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Sep 1, 2007 08:59
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five days until it lives again
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Sep 12, 2007 20:33
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