The Order of the Stick.

[HoopyFrood]

Firstly, if you haven't seen this webcomic, methinks that you should:

Giant In the Playground Games

It is based around, and satirises, table-top role playing games and D+D. But, if you're like me and don't really follow things like that, it's still an excellent webcomic to follow because it's generally just very funny and has a very interesting (and getting increasingly more complex!) plot.

I know there are a few people around here that follow the comic, so I wondered if I could get a bit of conversation going about it. Including past things that have already happened, characters, what might happen, and also, seeing as it's updated regularly, what's going on in each new addition.



With the things that have been happening recently, I'm glad that the team's finally altogether (or at least were until V went off again). As interesting as all their mini stories were (including Belkar's, which is getting...deep. I guess he can't be the token funny guy forever -- although he is hilarious. I'll always remember him standing on that pile of dead goblins and yelling "I am a sexy, shoeless, god of war!") it's crazy going back and forth all over the place within the confines of new comic pages that are only a few panels long each time. Plus, the group's just better when they're altogether.

At this very moment in time, I've got to say O-CHUL KICKS ASS. When he went after Redcloak like that with a mere metal bar, and now he's after Xykon. For a previously minor character, he's really come through now.

Two things:

- What do you think the thing in the box/in the shadows is? It's displayed some pretty awesome powers and fits of anger now and then...

- Do you see V as a guy or gal? I've always found myself calling him/her as a 'he' but increasingly I'm finding that the comic seems to be leaning towards a 'she'.

 

[Lioness]

OOTS!

I need to reread...I haven't read for a while.

V...I honestly don't know...for me she's the Fool of oots...Hang on, I did just call it a she, didn't I? I guess I view her as a she.

And the blackness under the umbrella...if it were shorter I would say kobold, for sheer comic funniness. I don't know. If I knew more about D&D creatures I might be able to have a stab, but I have no idea. I want to find out!

 

[ManTimeForgot]

Spousal unit appears female, thus I assume V is male. Until further evidence presents itself I am working under the assumption that V is male.



Considering this is all 3ED monsters we are working with there isn't a lot of stuff that it could be. Manifesting the ability to cause earthquakes with little to no effort (like stomping) is pretty rarified. If we were talking Darksun a strong enough Defiler could pull it off. In Ravenloft a Darklord could do it in his territory (a demonlord could do it too, but not too many of those in Ravenloft). In planescape/greyhawk I think you would need to be quasi-divine to pull it off (as least and still fit under that umbrella); a high enough level druid or corrupted earth-spirit bound to a golem might do it though... If it was Forgotten Realms the answer would be simple: it could be anyone or anything. There is probably a toadstool somewhere in a remote corner of the Forgotten Realms with cosmic powers.

MTF

 

[Lioness]

And then if it were 4ED it could be something as simple as a random mage.

4ED is broken, but I won't go there.

 

[HoopyFrood]

Whey, people are talking about it.

And see, these are the kinds of things that will make a slight whistling noise as it goes over my head, seeing as I know very, very little about D+D and its different editions.

I did think that V's other half looked more female, and as I say I have always called V a 'he'...but lately more of the characters are calling him a 'she', so that's starting to sway me a little. But maybe that's just to remedy the fact that until now, the group has mainly seemed to refer to him as a he. But anyway, I do like his/her androgyny. It wouldn't bother me if it wasn't revealed in the end.

I can't help imagining that the thing in the dark is something huge that can somehow fit into that very small space!

There's so much that has already happened in it that I don't know where to start with all the reams of conversation that could go on about it! So, start off simple...favourite characters? (Main or minor). I'm quite the fan of Xykon, he can be hilarious sometimes...a bad guy with all the wit. As I say, I've got a new respect for O-Chul and his kick-ass ways. The part with the Black Dragon has been rather interesting; does bring up some questions about the so-called monsters in the strip (and probably in fantasy in general). The Familicide spell was pretty...devestating, indeed.

Oh! Here's something...I wish they'd hurry up and resurrect Roy already! It's making me tetchy that it keeps being dragged out longer and longer, leaving more chance for something to go wrong.

 

[Lioness]

I'm not sure about favourite character...probably Haley, though I do like V.

I'm getting up-to-date now...and I've just found a new favourite quote:

'Knock knock'
'Who's there?'
'Roland'
'Roland Who?'
"Roland 'Itiative...'
-Before an attack.

D&D related, but I have to tell my DM that one.

 

[ManTimeForgot]

I've always found the evard's spiked tentacles of forced intrusion to be the funniest comic so far with Belkar wanting to not get on V's bad side before he/she has had a chance to cast all his/her spells for the day (I'd certainly be leery of that one too).


I think my favorite character has to be V too... The whole doily as a symbol for cosmic power cracked me up, and I think wizard is still my favorite class in D&D (paladin wars with wizard pretty heavily though).


And Frood: You might be correct. A combination of spatial alteration spells performing an effect comparable to shrink item enchanted into the umbrella could be used to keep a creature of otherwise gargantuan stature hidden underneath. And not that I wouldn't put it past Xykon for dramatic effect, but that idea really irks me at the waste of arcane power for a story-line gimic (all the more reason to beat him in the end though I guess). Thing is even the Tarrasque (D&D's version of Godzilla) doesn't possess the ability to foot stomp and crack the earth like that. You really need to have so major magical mojo to pull off something like he does.

MTF

 

[Lapuspuer]

What I love most in this webcomic is how the author manages to tip over just about every stereotype in fantasy (titanium elementals? I would have never guessed an idea could be so silly and brilliant at a time. I had a hard time laughing with my jaw dropped).
And it's non-trivial tipping over, too - characters often have multi-faceted personalities instead of just being the opposite of the stereotype they usually are. See the black dragoness for instance, a fierce nature coexisitng with a mother's love.

As to V's gender, I quit every attempt at working it out and accepted the fact I'm not supposed to know. V, by the way, used to be my favourite character, though I'm no longer sure considering his/her behaviour lately. But I've not yet resolved to choose somebody else as my new favourite.

 

[ktabic]

A combination of spatial alteration spells performing an effect comparable to shrink item enchanted into the umbrella could be used to keep a creature of otherwise gargantuan stature hidden underneath.

I'll have you know I'm not that big!

Belkar is my favourite. Although Xykon is such a casually laid back evil overlord it's great.

 

[HoopyFrood]

Just read the latest strip...gets more and more tense with each one. Webcomics are ingenious...with each one only a few panels long, you have to keep going back every few days to check up.

Yeah, V's gone off the rails a bit lately. It's difficult to decide where I stand -- his/her actions with the Black Dragon was pretty awful, but the whole concept of him/her going over to the dark side, as it were, for a while was interesting. Although, of course, the deal didn't effect his/her alignment, which says something about what V is really capable of...

Some parts, particularly in the earlier strips when the story line wasn't so developed, are very funny indeed. There's a really nice mix with, as Lap says above, characters that don't stick to the stereotypes or just reverse them. And it goes to show that drawings don't have to be amazing to make a brilliant webcomic (personally, I absolutely love the style of it).

 

[HareBrain]

OK, I've read it now. Excellent. But please don't point me in the direction of any more webcomics that have several years of back editions until I've developed the willpower and discipline not to just sit at my PC and read the whole lot.

My fave laugh:

Haley (to Roy, with paladin Miko within earshot): "... now you want to bump uglies with the paladin"
Miko: "It's 'smite evil', not 'bump uglies'."

 

[HoopyFrood]

Heh, the Miko bits are pretty cool. I also love when Roy finally tells it like it is to Miko...the look on Haley and Belkar's faces when he's finished!

And sorry...you do get sucked into these things and can't stop reading. I went through the entire archives of xkcd recently. What's really annoying, though, is you keep reading because you can't stop, but then when ou get to the end, you've frsutrated because there's no more to read!

I'm tempted to go back through The Order of the Stick now...so many things I've probably forgotten. Maybe I'll make comments on Word as I do, then post the most epic post ever...!

 

[ktabic]

OK, I've read it now. Excellent. But please don't point me in the direction of any more webcomics that have several years of back editions until I've developed the willpower and discipline not to just sit at my PC and read the whole lot.

Sluggy anyone?
Oh, sorry, have you developed that willpower yet?

There's a OotS wiki btw, some good stuff on there.

 

[HareBrain]

...the look on Haley and Belkar's faces when he's finished!

It's amazing how expressive a few lines can be. I actually found the simplistic faces in FF7, for example, a lot more engaging and expressive than the supposedly more realistic ones of every Final Fantasy since.

In general I was really impressed with the artwork in OOTS, (except perhaps a bit disappointed by the buildings) and with how well the stick-figure concept works generally. Though it works perhaps least well with Roy - seeing as he has no hair and almost no other distinguishing feature. In "real life" his feature would presumably be his physique, so he probably loses out to the stickiness more than the others.

You're right, having breezed through the comic's first five years, it's going to be very hard to adjust to a page every few days. I've never been back to MegaTokyo since popping the whole back-catalogue in a single week (though that was disappearing up its own emo-ness anyway.)

Whatever Sluggy is, I at least have the willpower not to click on the link

 

[HoopyFrood]

Roy's back in the game!



Finally.

Good to see them all back together.

 

[Lioness]

Arg! Didn't want to read that. I haven't been keeping up