OOTS #273 - The Discussion Thread [Archive] - Giant in the Playground Forums

Eldhrin

2006-01-30, 07:45 AM

I like it.

I really really like it! I was expecting a cut back to Miko/Belkar, but I'm not disappointed at all (as usual). This is great stuff! The crayon is a nice touch... as is Lord Shojo and his irritability.

But to be honest, I think Roy and Elan would make me irritable too.

And does that 'the story continues... tomorrow' really mean tomorrow?

And am I really the first person to post? That's just spooky, that is.

Sami_Hamlaoui

2006-01-30, 07:47 AM

absolutely fantastic

Maryring

2006-01-30, 07:48 AM

Ooo. I like it. Finally we get to hear about the gods of the worlds. And we have CRAYON. Horray. ;D

The Giant

2006-01-30, 07:48 AM

And does that 'the story continues... tomorrow' really mean tomorrow?

Guess you better come back tomorrow and find out. ;)

Alfryd

2006-01-30, 07:50 AM

Up bright and early I see. Nicely done.
Do I detect a hint of Riftwar?

anphorus

2006-01-30, 07:50 AM

I love the gods arguing over disagreements in different mythologies, that was just hilarious. It also seems that we now know who all the goeds are. the Twelve Gods of the South are the animals from the chinese zodiac. We really should've seen that coming earlier.

tdgs

2006-01-30, 07:51 AM

Hello this is my first message! Very nice comic indeed. Do we have a change in the layout as well?
:)

The Giant

2006-01-30, 07:51 AM

Do I detect a hint of Riftwar?
I don't know what that is, so no.

Hello this is my first message! Very nice comic indeed. Do we have a change in the layout as well?
:)
The black background will only last as long as Shojo's story. Then we'll switch back to normal OOTS style.

diapsid

2006-01-30, 07:55 AM

heh, i love the crayon style. i did a comic for my school paper like that. but back to oots: i like how all the different pantheons are arguing about how the different creatures should be portrayed. I always did wonder how worlds with all these different pantheons would reconcile stuff like that.

Good work Rich!

Alfryd

2006-01-30, 07:55 AM

I don't know what that is, so no...
Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar series, whereby a series of interdimensional portals threaten to unleash a malevolent intelligence imprisoned by the 12 Gods in aeons past. The new edition of Magician is a fine read.

Ebon_Drake

2006-01-30, 07:57 AM

That's quite possibly the cutest Tiger I've ever seen.

But why haven't the OOtS heard of the gods of the East? What will the snags form into? Oh, the mystery of it all!

ChristopherDK

2006-01-30, 07:58 AM

yeah.. Go Giant.. my boss isn't going to like me sitting and waiting around all day tomorrow :-)

and finally some plot points for the oots universe :)

morbiczer

2006-01-30, 08:00 AM

Really cool stuff. Can't wait for tomorrow!

I hope Shojo's story takes a long time to be told, so that we can have an update each day this week!

Lord Herman

2006-01-30, 08:02 AM

Woo, crayon!

Great strip, as always. But who's Marduk, and should I know?

Shatteredtower

2006-01-30, 08:02 AM

But why haven't the OOtS heard of the gods of the East?

That's a good question. A shame we can't answer it without offering potential spoilers, so I'm just going to wait and see if I was right.

Not that I'll say so if I was, since who'd believe me? ;)

I love the crayon. I also like the little talky heads.

ScreamerSimon

2006-01-30, 08:05 AM

Seriously, if I knew who devised the universe's "superstring theory", I would pinpoint him to todays strip immediately!

Great comic, i am totally hooked!

Shatteredtower

2006-01-30, 08:06 AM

But who's Marduk, and should I know?

In Babylonian lore, he's the one the other gods gave a portion of their power to so he could stand up to Tiamat after they went and offed her hubby. It seems these elder gods couldn't stand the racket the young folk were making and he (can't recall his name at the moment) showed up with a metaphorical shotgun to deal with the problem.

I suspect you'll get a more accurate representation out of a Google or Wikipedia search, but I like my shorthand interpretation better. ;)

Ilover_Juventad

2006-01-30, 08:16 AM

Ye rock as always, Giant! Crayon was a brilliant touch. Really symbolized 'The World's Creation'. (Pre-school, yay!)

Ebon_Drake

2006-01-30, 08:24 AM

That's a good question. A shame we can't answer it without offering potential spoilers, so I'm just going to wait and see if I was right.
Yeah, I've got a couple of theories of my own, but I can wait (or at the least I can't be bothered to start a spoiler thread of my own to discuss it.)

TarSheva

2006-01-30, 08:26 AM

Crayons rule! And so does The Giant!!

"Should have thought of that before... (fill in the blank)" was always my parent's favorite line to use.

I'll be back bright and early tomorrow morning. ;D

Arturos

2006-01-30, 08:26 AM

Yup, not old school, not new school, this is pre-school. Very cool.

Lightman

2006-01-30, 08:31 AM

Behold the ultimate power in the universe...crayon!
Hail the Gods of the North West, the Crayon Pantheon!

Awesome comic.

themunck

2006-01-30, 08:32 AM

WOW!
I just got home from school and see the comic i thought would come...at 19:00...wow...

The Voice of Mod: No predictions in the main comic thread, people, masked or not. Take it outside.

Loethlin

2006-01-30, 08:36 AM

Ooh, I love the crayons!
And I agree with Ebon Drake, the Tiger is indeed very cute.
Can't wait till tomorrow to see what became of the Emo Snarl of Doom.

Odd_Thomas

2006-01-30, 08:37 AM

"Who ever heard of dragons who can't breathe fire?"

Marller

2006-01-30, 08:46 AM

Nice touch, the crayon. Let's hope there is tomorrow a strip. :)

Vargtass

2006-01-30, 08:50 AM

Awesome cartoon!

I only wonder, how international is the story about the troll under the bridge harrassing the three goats? It's well known in Sweden, although I thought it originally came from Norway. Could it be from the norwegian storytellers Asbjoerndsen & Moe?

Amalthea

2006-01-30, 08:52 AM

I just love it! It's hysterical! The very first thing that popped into my head when I saw the first panel was Mr. Burlew talking about drawing stick figures as a kid...

...and in the OotSverse, the dawn of time was done in crayon.

I haven't seen Metahumor done this well in a long time... I'm still getting giggling fits.

Gorbash Kazdar

2006-01-30, 08:55 AM

I'm pretty sure the troll-under-the-bridge concept is well known throughout most of the Western world (it's certainly well recognized in the US).

Anyways, I really loved this comic. I have to tip my hat Arturos on the pre-school comment - it definitely brings home the idea that this is all taking place in pre-historic times. Really neat way to use medium to convey story content, Rich :)

Oh, and I so have to steal borrow Shojo's last line next time I have an old, wise NPC explaining plot points to my players (I use that cliche a lot) ;D

Blaznak

2006-01-30, 09:01 AM

Wow! Quasi history of the world!
Wow! 4 pantheons for fans to argue about!
Wow! 12 gods taken right from my placemat I got at the chinese buffet down the street!
Wow! A character in a comic actually having to use the restroom!

How much better can it all get?

Later, Stick-heads!

(or are we "Stick-ers", as in "Mommy, I want a sticker, too...". Hmmm... too deep for me...)

Max_Sinister

2006-01-30, 09:04 AM

Wow!

At first I had expected that Rich would cut to another plotline, and several strips later cut back to Shojo, who just finished, and someone would comment that it took umpty-ump strips to tell that.

Now we know the different existing pantheons. Whoops, pantheons? See prediction thread...

And the disagreement about trolls, elves, dragons and so on... I remember when I told my uncle about D&D trolls and he couldn't understand that trolls aren't little kobolds but several meters tall... and the Pig's (both itself and the troll comment) so funny!

The end looks dangerous... what have the gods done?

All in all: A really great strip. The crayon is a funny detail too. And we get more of it tomorrow! YES!!

Vargtass

2006-01-30, 09:16 AM

Sc00by

2006-01-30, 09:18 AM

Crayon FTW!

Not much more to say ;)

I'm guessing that with the huge amounts of plot about to be unraveled the Giant is going to run out 1 strip per day, a bit like he has once before as there won't neccessarily be a 'funny', but there will be lots of 'story'

I, for one, am fully in favour of more OotS, regardless of content and context!

Great job ;)

(now all we need is a cut back to the Miko/Belkar fight...

..in crayon! ;D )

Rei_Jin

2006-01-30, 09:20 AM

I have to say kudos to you, Rich.

You came up with something totally unexpected. Crayon. And not just ordinary crayon, but well drawn accurate crayon. Last time I used crayon I think it melted in my hand.

*Stupid Crayon melting*

But yeah, I didn't expect that the Chinese Zodiac would be the southern patheon. I knew that 12 was always one of "those" numbers, along with 3,7,13 and 40. Just wasn't ever sure where you were taking it.

I like the change in bordering, it contrasts well with the crayon, sort of a high brow/low brow thing.

Please just don't have the snarl turn out to be an emo punk. I see enough of them in real life as it is.

Kreik

2006-01-30, 09:27 AM

Cool comic! I really love the crayon style ;D

To be honest, I thought the plot was moving too slow lately, but this one is really cool!

just_al

2006-01-30, 09:28 AM

Yeah, I've got a couple of theories of my own, but I can wait (or at the least I can't be bothered to start a spoiler thread of my own to discuss it.)

Nah, Durkon didn't have enough ranks in Knowlege Religion to notice a cleric of the Hated enemy (Sutur)of his god (Thor)

Of course he hasn't heard of the gods of the east...

barongas

2006-01-30, 09:29 AM

Once again the pigs know right from wrong, trolls ARE small wrinkled men with poofy hair collected by women. Finally some recognition of this topic.

nagora

2006-01-30, 09:32 AM

Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar series, whereby a series of interdimensional portals threaten to unleash a malevolent intelligence imprisoned by the 12 Gods in aeons past. The new edition of Magician is a fine read.

I still think Barker should have sued Feist for that book. I remember picking it up when I first saw it, flicking through it and actually thinking "Fantastic! An Empire of the Petal Throne book at last." and then realising that he was passing it off as his own ideas.

Feist has posted a denial which works quite well in hindsight now that he has written more books, in much the same way that Shannara is no longer a LotR rip-off, whereas "Sword of..." was a flagrant copy of Tolkein. But Magician was close enough that it fooled me on a casual look in a bookshop.

Dark_Stalion

2006-01-30, 09:34 AM

Hah, loved the crayon, like the resto of the world apparently. Gave a real sence of the universe in it''s infancy. Also loved the children's story influences, he he he, santa's elves and the troll under the bridge. I wonder it Giant will give us one a day? Is he scanning them in this time, because it certainly looks like real grain to me. I'm sure it's possible with computer packages, but I like the idea of seeing something that actually exists in real life, drawn by Rich's fair hand.

Flux

2006-01-30, 09:38 AM

So many questions answered today and so many more will be answered this week. It must take much longer than normall to produce these OOTS strips though, inorder to achieve that quality from crayon.

sednanalien

2006-01-30, 09:41 AM

Hmmm...Yes, of course. Crayon must always be used to depict chaos and mayhem.

And the 12 gods of the south was a very nice touch, especially since it happens to be Chinese New Year in certain parts of the world right now (hmmm...I wonder which :P)

Anyway, this comic has a great feel to it; you can't really draw the strands of reality any other way...

Frojoe21

2006-01-30, 09:54 AM

I am really digging the crayon thing Rich. I tip my nonexistant hat to you. Also, the prospect of four conflicting pantheons is interesting. I am eager to see where you run with this.

maximus

2006-01-30, 09:59 AM

I saw the crayon and the first thing I thought of was Elmo's World on Sesame Street, but I guess that's what having 2 kids under 4 will do to a guy. I love the crayon and the different references to the same topic based on culture.

Wait.... I know.... maybe the ultimate evil is... ELMO..... it's all so clear now.....

Ronfar

2006-01-30, 10:07 AM

So, Shojo can cast Summon Plot Exposition, too?

Setsu

2006-01-30, 10:08 AM

Yet another long time reader first time poster here!

Very nice comic! I just come to the site everyday! :P

Funny the Giant put up Tiamat and Marduk together when actually it was Marduk that ultimately killed Tiamat in the "real story". :) Should be Tiamat and Apsu. :P

It's a fantasy world anyway so I don't really care much! :P

Loved the crayon style on this one and really can't wait for tomorrow! :D I always loved to know all this kind of background on fantasy fiction. Gives the world the depth it must have! :)

Keep up the good work Giant!

Paragon_Kobold

2006-01-30, 10:14 AM

So, Shojo can cast Summon Plot Exposition, too?

Lesser Summon Plot Exposition:
As Summon Plot Exposition, but the images
are done in crayon.

nirha

2006-01-30, 10:23 AM

Lesser Summon Plot Exposition:
As Summon Plot Exposition, but the images
are done in crayon.

I respectfully disagree, this must be Summon plot exposition, greater:
it summons the meta-plot exposition, none of this adventure only stuff but campaign world generic.

Alfryd

2006-01-30, 10:26 AM

In Babylonian lore...
"What is this Babylon you speak of? I have never heard of it before."

...Feist has posted a denial which works quite well in hindsight now that he has written more books, in much the same way that Shannara is no longer a LotR rip-off.. ...But Magician was close enough that it fooled me on a casual look in a bookshop.
This Barker you speak of intrigues me, and I wish to learn more.

Lesser Summon Plot Exposition:
Shojo: The reformed bard.

Deuce

2006-01-30, 10:34 AM

Hmmmm . . . an evil Snarl in the threads of the universal fabric - I like it. <spoiler?>At least they won't be fighting against K.A.O.S. (Though I'm sure Roy wishes he had a cone of silence for Elan)</spoiler?>

edit: I hate cut and paste with IE :(

IRSWalker

2006-01-30, 10:41 AM

So can we expect this strip to appear alongside evolution and Intelligent (sic) Design at a school near you, soon?

BiggusGeekus

2006-01-30, 10:43 AM

Great strip!

Bakta

2006-01-30, 10:44 AM

Wait.... I know.... maybe the ultimate evil is... ELMO..... it's all so clear now.....

Nah.

You noticed the colours?, the ultimate evil is BARNEY of course.

Kanashimi

2006-01-30, 11:04 AM

Totally AWESOME new comic! I love when artists go outside their normal medium and experiment with things like crayon! Great job Giant!

Also, wonderful way of including a whole bunch of different historical religions.

Paragon_Kobold

2006-01-30, 11:05 AM

So can we expect this strip to appear alongside evolution and Intelligent (sic) Design at a school near you, soon?

There is a certain resemblance between the Ultimate Evil Thing in the strip, and the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Of course, according to orhodox FSM doctrine, The FSM created the world on its own.

Could the two origin stories be different versions of an older, yet unrevealed, myth?

anphorus

2006-01-30, 11:07 AM

There was one thing that I especially liked about the crayon, in relation to the whole child universe thing. The Chaos before everything in the first panel, looked kinda like the scribblings that toddlers do with crayons, before they learn how to draw.

Sanctu

2006-01-30, 11:16 AM

To add to the voice of everyone: I love the crayon. Sure there is symbolism to be had in the newness of the world, childlike, and the fact that we are looking at a differnt time/age entire -- a mythic time... but the raw coolness factor overcomes all of that. Very nice.

I especially like that all the gods have auras the same color as their patheon, even when roaming around chatting with the other gods.

Fire_Wolf

2006-01-30, 11:21 AM

Wow, it's all coming together! The shape of an overarching story, and a deeper mission for our heroes than killing liches or searching for starmetal (which is a point ... is Roy EVER gonna get his sword re-forged?).

To be totally honest I was getting a bit tired of the Miko/trial/Redmountain Gate plot, but now I can see something a bit bigger behind it, it's all good.

It's also good to get a solid explaination of some core things about the OotS world. :) Nice one, Giant!

Wrecan

2006-01-30, 11:26 AM

Nah, Durkon didn't have enough ranks in Knowlege Religion to notice a cleric of the Hated enemy (Sutur)of his god (Thor)

Um... Hilgya was a cleric of Loki (also a hated enemy of Thor), not a cleric of Surtur.

The Doctor

2006-01-30, 11:45 AM

Spectacular, especially the way the ssrip somehow manages to capture the esence of the primal forces of creation.
I have to admit that I had half expected the Dawn of Time to be the name of a sleezy tavern (you know, the like where all adventures start) rather than, well, the dawn of time itself... but I guess my imagination was running away with me there.

Gnomish_Armorer

2006-01-30, 11:54 AM

Hurray! Continually impressive... and might I say it is incredibly hard to draw with crayon, especially when making those beady OOTS eyes for the gods and such. It seems that Shojo can indeed Summon Plot Exposition. I'm wondering if the globe in the fifth row down represents an accurate geography for this world... if so I plan on putting various landmarks in another effort to completely waste my time!

Ilaun_Undil

2006-01-30, 12:11 PM

WOOT "I have to go to the Bathroom!!!" Great line. And finally The folds of reality become real... or not... if Lord Shojo has Summon Plot Exposition does this mean he is a bard, or is Mr Scruffy drawling pictures to go along with the story. if so Go Scruffy!!!

The Voice of Mod: I said, no spoilers/predictions in the main comic thread. And I mean it. The next person I catch posting a "masked" prediction in this thread gets a warning.

indianajoe

2006-01-30, 12:30 PM

Hooray for Crayon ;D However, it did make it a little harder for me to read due to my colorblindness. *shrugs* Regardless, Great comic Giant!

celticdeltic

2006-01-30, 12:31 PM

A great comicand the best use of crayons i have ever seen.

Quixote

2006-01-30, 12:32 PM

Everyone assumes that the crayon-ness symbolises the 'newness' of the world, but I have a different theory... the exposition is drawn in crayon because Lord Shojo is narrating it. The crayon-ness represents the childlike-ness of his imagination.

Actually I prefer the 'newness of the world' theory, but the 'Lord Shojo's childishness' theory was the first idea to spring to my mind. Look at Elan's exposition in comic #13... the castle looks like it was drawn by Elan.

I love that the Chine- I mean, the 'Southern' dragon is drawn differently from the other dragons. But it's still got the OOTS-dragon look.

Amalthea

2006-01-30, 12:33 PM

Spuddly

2006-01-30, 12:34 PM

Does anyone else see the similarity between the gods in this strip arguing with DMs arguing about the place of the various races in their world?

Cause I think that's what the Giant *may* have been poking fun at, or paroding.

Quixote

2006-01-30, 12:36 PM

Paragon_Kobold

2006-01-30, 12:45 PM

Frem

2006-01-30, 12:47 PM

My most burning question, that I simply must know is this:

How did The Giant get the crayon-effect? Is there some sort of crayon filter in Illustrator or Photoshop? Were real crayons involved?

Inquiring minds want to know! ;D
Hear, hear! I was just about to ask that myself.
It's pretty sharp and the crayon lines look to be purely one color, so I kinda doubt it's a scan. Plus, scans of crayon drawings tend to leave the scanner all waxy.
Or maybe this is a trade secret? ;D

Erpatr3

2006-01-30, 12:50 PM

Very good idea with cryons ;D It makes comic more interesting... ;D I can't wait untill next part ;) ... as always :P

I love OOTS :D

The Giant

2006-01-30, 12:51 PM

It's real crayon.

Starbuck_II

2006-01-30, 12:52 PM

Woo, crayon!

Great strip, as always. But who's Marduk, and should I know?
In Dragon Force on Sega Saturn he was an evil God that tried to rule the world.
Last boss too.

Don't know his past in real life though.

Great Comic. I hope Elan can hold it. Not good to pee your pants while in a court case ;D

U2QueenBee

2006-01-30, 12:54 PM

Holy crap...no wonder it took so long last week if he was making this. I tell ya, my crayon drawings never came out looking anything like that good.

Also, the world being created in crayon is in fact totally bitchin. Love it love it love it.

Edit: forgot to say that

A) the tiger is particularly impressive (I couldn't draw a tiger that expressive with a really expensive pencil, let alone crayon) and

B) if you ever decide to auction off that bit of awesomeness you could probably earn enough to buy a house, because...dude. In crayon.

Also, I've now looked up Tiamat and Marduk and that niggling feeling in the back of my mind was right, they're Babylonian/Assyrian mythology, for anyone else who was interested but didn't know. :)

Farseer_George

2006-01-30, 12:54 PM

That was cool.

Sylian

2006-01-30, 01:03 PM

I think the crayon is because Rich wants to save some time, and have it look like a flashback.

The old style is definatly better IMO. If it actually takes more time than an normal comic, I don't think it's worth it. But that's just my opinion, I presume that it'll go back to normal after the flashback.

It seems like noone said it, so here it is:
The comic is longer! Yay! :D

SnowBear

2006-01-30, 01:04 PM

Yeah…publication is back on track.

And a promise of a new strip TOMMOROW….why I do declare it’s just like my birthday…except for the fact that Aunt Barb isn’t passed out next to the BBQ pit clutching an empty bottle of Jack Daniels.

dragon95046

2006-01-30, 01:06 PM

It's real crayon.

Awesome! Years of training as a Graphics Designer to learn how to draw stick figures and Crayon drawings. :P

Great work, Rich. I'm loving every minute of it.

Freeman333

2006-01-30, 01:22 PM

Marduk? Tiamat? Mesopotamian gods as "gods of the West"?

That.

Is.

Rockin'.

AWESOME.

I'm not Eric Burns, but if I had biscuits to give out, the Giant would get a tasty one. A tasty, tasty one, even.

Dude.

Dude.

The Doctor

2006-01-30, 01:22 PM

Everyone assumes that the crayon-ness symbolises the 'newness' of the world.

Actually, I would rather like to think that it symbolises not so much newness as the primal forces of creativity.

As to the god arguing - yes, yes, that could be DMs. Of course, anyone who spent 5 seconds on these boards would realize that DMs are nothing compared to message board users when it comes to endless arguments and pointless discussions.
Those gods may quote well be holding up the mirror, but I am wondering whether it is not ourselves that are reflected in it . (Or yourselves, as the case may be.)

Lastarion

2006-01-30, 01:28 PM

hunisu

2006-01-30, 01:35 PM

Love your work!

sniffles

2006-01-30, 01:36 PM

@Lastarion - The five-headed dragon is not original to Dragonlance, I think.

Another stellar installment! I love the crayon. :)

Istielthia

2006-01-30, 01:48 PM

I have to say, that like nearly everyone else, I love the crayon. (At 28 years-old, I still have a couple of coloring books and a box of 96 crayons.)

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm hoping that Shojo's explanation takes a while.

B) if you ever decide to auction off that bit of awesomeness you could probably earn enough to buy a house, because...dude. In crayon.
Agreed.

Anyone else having any issues with the board? Not anything like the DOS attacks, just slower than usual and problems with pages loading. Could just be me.

The Doctor

2006-01-30, 01:51 PM

Nerd-o-rama

2006-01-30, 02:04 PM

Yes. Tiamat is given the shape of a five-headed dragon and the role of Evil Dragon Goddess (Red Mage: Queen) right. Evil Dragon Goddess Queen. Though in Mesopotamian mythology, from which she and Marduk (and Gilgamesh, and a bunch of other people no one really cares about) come originally, she was a nasty Elder Goddess in the shape of a dragon that Marduk killed and turned into the earth, much as Odin made Midgar out of bits of dead Ice Giant, and Greek Earth was the titan Gaia.

Anyway, Rich proves that his art can be awesome in any form; stick figure, chibi crayon drawings, anything. I was waiting for other arguments about the nature of monsters: peaceful, druidic orcs vs. savage, bloodthirsty orcs; silicon-based trolls that are nice guys deep down, just misunderstood because they're big and usually dumb, that sort of thing.

Anyway, it just goes to show that when creating a new world, it helps to have an Advisory Board to regulate the voting and writeups.

Reptile

2006-01-30, 02:07 PM

I believe that, using the standard D&D pantheon as a sample, the five-headed dragon may be Tiamat.
Tiamat being the evil dragon deity, and Bahamut the good dragon deity - as far as you can speak of evil and good when you are dealing with freaking gargantuan lizards that bite of your head when they get annoyed.

Hey! I resemble that remark!
(see nick/avatar)

But yes, the five-headed god of the West is referred to as Tiamat by name in the strip. (Although Wikipedia tells me (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiamat_%28disambiguation%29) that that's a D&D-ism, as the Babylonian deity of the same name did not have such a form).

(Don't many Eastern dragons not breathe fire? Ah, well--this is the Giant's world; he can make its cosmology model real-world mythologies--or not--as he chooses.)

Miklus

2006-01-30, 02:12 PM

Great comic, I like the idea of using crayon for flashbacks!

I know the gods of the north, south and east, but what is that thing with the four eyes??? (And four arms, I now notice).

Oh no! The gods have created the Dustbunny of Doom! Fear and tremble!! :D

Pvednes

2006-01-30, 02:17 PM

totally awesome :D

Kish

2006-01-30, 02:30 PM

bexie

2006-01-30, 02:45 PM

"Psst! Do you think this story will take a while? I have to use the bathroom!"

"I'm pretty sure you should've thought of that before he began with, 'At the dawn of time'."

"Awwww, man!"

lmao. Elan is so sweet. Thank you, Giant, for giving us all The Order OF The Stick! WE LOVE YOU!!! :-*

lol. And the crayon? Seriously cool.

..... :P :D

Sanctu

2006-01-30, 02:50 PM

It's real crayon.

Very cool! I had just assumed photoshoping.

Great looking strip.

theKOT

2006-01-30, 02:54 PM

Well, I was gonna make a joke about shojo being a bard, but SOMEBODY beat me to it. So I'll just stick with this: Nice bit of exposition. That is pretty well rendered for crayon. I can't wait for tommorow!

Sanctu

2006-01-30, 02:55 PM

Everyone assumes that the crayon-ness symbolises the 'newness' of the world, but I have a different theory... the exposition is drawn in crayon because Lord Shojo is narrating it. The crayon-ness represents the childlike-ness of his imagination.

Great theory, and excellant points on Elan previous story-telling. I hadn't thought of that, though I feel that I should have.

The_Shadow

2006-01-30, 03:05 PM

First of all, compliments, Giant!
I don'know if anyone else already told about that, but I noticed that among the gods of west there is the five headed dragon-Takhisis who is a goddess in Dragonlance...

Dragonlance's Takhisis is nothing more or less than D&D's Tiamat, renamed and Krynnified (to coin a term). Tiamat long predates Takhisis in D&D products.

The D&D Tiamat in turn is loosely based on the Mesopotamian goddess. Who was, in some myths, a many-headed dragon, though it was never limited to five, and certainly never had specific breath weapons. :)

Weiss and Hickman have never exactly been what you could call original, you know. And never did figure out how to end a story. But they spin a good tale otherwise. My favorite of theirs is Rose of the Prophet.

Paragon_Kobold

2006-01-30, 03:08 PM

Now I want crayons. :P

Eweniel

2006-01-30, 03:15 PM

Oh no! The gods have created the Dustbunny of Doom! Fear and tremble!! :D

;D

MrSokkie

2006-01-30, 03:17 PM

First time poster. I saw the crayon and I just couldn't resist. That, and I think these threads aren't growing quite fast enough ;)

In Babylonian lore, he's the one the other gods gave a portion of their power to so he could stand up to Tiamat after they went and offed her hubby. It seems these elder gods couldn't stand the racket the young folk were making and he (can't recall his name at the moment) showed up with a metaphorical shotgun to deal with the problem.

That, and, not coincidentily, it's the name of one of my cats. I've always thought cat should have really mythical names, (that, or Mr Chuckles). I was actually planning of naming my next cat Tiamat.

enigma

2006-01-30, 03:21 PM

"Hey, Who's the wizened old man dispensing valuble plot points here? You? Didn't think so. Now pipe down!"- best quote ever.

And how fine must your crayon have been to get that great detaiL. The stick figures were great, but now I am thouroughly awed. Whenever I used the sharpener on my box of 96 crayons they broke.

Enigma

Sylvius

2006-01-30, 03:28 PM

Tiamat also has a role in mythology, which may mean more or less to the Giant here than her D&D role. However, the five-headed dragon is by no means a figure exclusive to or originating in Dragonlance, either inside or outside of D&D.

But Tiamat's most noteworthy appearance is clearly her recurring role in the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon.

Which, I might add, I recently acquired. Venger's just as cool as I remember him.

eof

2006-01-30, 03:31 PM

Now I want crayons. :P

http://www.thesoundarchive.com/simpsons/ralph/atecrayon.wav

Mmmm... crayons.

Erpatr3

2006-01-30, 03:37 PM

Real crayons :D I had been suspected this from U Giant :D

It can be spoiL, but I tried to make a sticky comic... gosh... I made 1 frame, few items, and 3 characters and I'm exhausted... UR really great :D

Loghren the Barbarian

2006-01-30, 03:45 PM

This fine comic brought to you by:
Giant!
With help from: Crayola.
And viewers like you.

ref

2006-01-30, 03:46 PM

Hey, I guess noone said that yet. Very cool crayons! ;D ;) :P

Let's hope Daily-Update-Week #3 is really here!

Also, I noticed it's quite usual in comics to do flashbacks or imagined scenes with black pages. Anyone knows who set this standard or whether it's just done bacause of the visual message or has some hidden meaning?

[edit]Translated from Typonese to English :P

Supagoof

2006-01-30, 03:57 PM

This fine comic brought to you by:
Giant!
With help from: Crayola.
And viewers like you.

LMAO. Seriously funny comic. Seriously funny quote.

It would also appear, despite aggrevation from spoilers not being posted politely, that our Giant is making up for the lag of last weeks comics. More to follow tomorrow! Awesome.

So which group does Banjo belong too? Any thoughts?

zibeck

2006-01-30, 03:57 PM

I'm confused. So the Japanese-esque society worships the Chinese zodiac as gods, and they are in the South?

Rich, you're blowing my mind!

Kish

2006-01-30, 04:01 PM

So which group does Banjo belong too? Any thoughts?

If he already belonged to any of them, Elan wouldn't have tried to get him into the Northern one.

uranium194

2006-01-30, 04:02 PM

Supagoof

2006-01-30, 04:05 PM

If he already belonged to any of them, Elan wouldn't have tried to get him into the Northern one.

So then, can we deduce, that he would be placed in the Western group, because Banjo is not an Animal and no one has heard of the Eastern Gods?

Why not the Northern group?

Oznstuff

2006-01-30, 04:07 PM

It makes sense that Banjo would be part of the Northern pantheon because that is the part of the world that Elan is from, and the gods he worships. Also, Odin said that he likes puppets...
http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript?SK=137

Amalthea

2006-01-30, 04:13 PM

Actually, I would rather like to think that it symbolises not so much newness as the primal forces of creativity.
I still think it's a metahumor nod back to The Giant drawing stick figure sagas as a kid. The Dawn of Time being the Dawn of the Art Style.

Kish

2006-01-30, 04:19 PM

So then, can we deduce, that he would be placed in the Western group, because Banjo is not an Animal and no one has heard of the Eastern Gods?

Why not the Northern group?

Erm. No, we can deduce that he isn't a part of any of the four pantheons, because Elan wouldn't try to get him to become something he already is.

Edna

2006-01-30, 04:43 PM

After a little Googling, I've figured out that the four-eyed guy is Marduk, and the five-headed dragon is Tiamat. Can anyone tell me who the woman with the floating crown is? I'm not really familiar with Mesopotamian mythology.

Edna

luilupino

2006-01-30, 04:49 PM

I'm glad, V's questions couldn't be more answered than that...The ultimate guide to the beginning of the multiverse.
One more thing: Hades really looked nice in crayon, he isn't so scary now... I should try drawing myself with it...

theKOT

2006-01-30, 04:51 PM

all I could think of, outside the obvious already pointed out humor, in this episode is "I said consummate V's!!!!!" and if you a Strong Bad fan ("Dagron, you just keep doing your thing man!") you'll get the quote(s)!!

With any luck, the next strip will be a rock opera about Tiamat. Burninating the countryside....

dragon95046

2006-01-30, 04:57 PM

PhoeKun

2006-01-30, 04:59 PM

I'm in awe. How the heck does anyone draw that well in crayon? And to think, there's more tomorrow! Dare I put forth that perhaps this was the reason last week's strips were slightly off in the timing department?

On the subject of gods: I love 3 out of four pantheons. Obviously, everyone loves Thor and company, and I went nuts at the nod to the Assyrian deities (Tiamat has an oddly special place in my heart), and its difficult to dislike the Greek pantheon after devoting so much of my life thus far to reading all the great authors of antiquity, but the Southern gods kind of disappointed me. I know I should have seen it coming as soon as the number '12' came up, but I kept holding on to the hope that I could see Susanoo in stick figure form. I read the Giant's explanation for choosing the Zodiac on another thread, and while I certainly understand his reasons (and I thought Dragon and Tiger looked amazing), I can't help but feel a little disappointed.

...Then again, I just saw Thor arguing with a pig.

Ilaun_Undil

2006-01-30, 05:05 PM

how come the strands of reality are only blue and red and purple. It seems to me that they would be more colorful. And aren't those the cutest evil eyes in the world.
And another thing I thought we were talking about the Fabric of reality not strands of reality. :)

Tariskat

2006-01-30, 05:13 PM

Whoops, never mind. This is why I love google. Anyway, could someone post the link to where the Giant explained his 12 God (Chinese) choice?

The_Shadow

2006-01-30, 05:14 PM

how come the strands of reality are only blue and red and purple. It seems to me that they would be more colorful.

This is a fact obvious to all the best mages. It's way too complicated to explain to a layman. ;)

That, and the Giant thought it looked cool. Maybe he was down to just a stub of yellow, too.

And aren't those the cutest evil eyes in the world.

Yes, yes they are.

And another thing I thought we were talking about the Fabric of reality not strands of reality. :)

Fabric is woven out of strands, is it not?

After a little Googling, I've figured out that the four-eyed guy is Marduk, and the five-headed dragon is Tiamat. Can anyone tell me who the woman with the floating crown is? I'm not really familiar with Mesopotamian mythology.

Most likely Ishtar. Also known in related mythoi as Inanna, I think.

PhoeKun

2006-01-30, 05:20 PM

I'd like to know, what colors are Tiamat? Whether or not Takhisis is a rip off of Tiamat, which I'm sure she is, one of her forms is a five headed dragon with Blue, Red, Black, White, and Green representing the various evil dragons.
And also, could someone post the link to where the Giant explained his 12 God (Chinese) choice?

Can't really help with the Takhisis question, except perhaps to say that D&D Tiamat is an almagation of chromatic Dragon heads with a scorpion tail, and Assyrian Tiamat is no such thing. But she was definitely here first in either case.

Also, Here (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=comics;action=display;num=1138637450 ;start=2#2). Hope that helps.

Gralamin

2006-01-30, 05:23 PM

This is a fact obvious to all the best mages. It's way too complicated to explain to a layman. ;)

its obviously octarine

Tariskat

2006-01-30, 05:28 PM

PhoeKun, thanks!! It does help, in fact. And I (kind of) answered my own question about Tiamat vs. Takhisis.

Amalthea

2006-01-30, 05:37 PM

You know, I have this niggling feeling that part of this strands of reality business comes from images, in myth and literature, of fate being woven.

The Greek Fates, (Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos) who spun, measured and cut the threads of life. Anyone else learn their names by playing Kings Quest 7?

The Three Sisters, from the Chronicles of Prydain.

The Wheel of Time, although Jordan mixed too many metaphors with that one - I think he should have stuck with either the idea of weaving or the idea of the wheel. That he used both is a good summation of everything else in that series. :P

There are more, but those three are the ones that came immediately to mind.

And did anyone else notice that each pantheon has it's own colored background? And that at least for Thor and Friends, it's the same (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript?SK=40) as their god-glow (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript?SK=79) in previous strips (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript?SK=137)?

NelinialRiverflow

2006-01-30, 05:49 PM

Well, I loved the part with crayons. At first, I thought, what the heck? Is this another fan comic? But then I knew, and it rocked. I loved it :), and no one will change my opinion. I like that we are getting some history to go with the great story ;D. And I cannot wait to see if Miko is okay. I started to like her. I think... never mind. Some people may think of it as.. well, you know. A spoiler? But, you know...
Well, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh! I LOVED IT!!!!!! :D :) ;D :P 8) ::) WOOT!

>Alcmariel the Druid<

whitemane

2006-01-30, 06:06 PM

Alot of people have speculated on the significance of Lord Shojo using crayons...

Some people think that it means...
1. He cast Summon Plot Exposition: Lesser
2. He cast Summon Plot Exposition: Greater
3. The crayons represent the primal force of creation at the beginning of the universe
4. The crayons represent the relatively young gods trying to figure stuff out...
5. Etc. Etc. Etc.

Allow me to throw in my 2 copper pieces... Lord Shojo (or perhapps Mr. Scruffy) actually drew the pictures with crayons and is handing them out as visual aids to everyone....

(Yes, I think Mr. Scruffy might've been the one to draw the pictures... I just don't trust the cat... He's got to be the power behind the throne! Bwahahaha!)

humanpylon

2006-01-30, 06:16 PM

Adeptus

2006-01-30, 06:23 PM

Great work Rich! The crayon is a nice touch.

Too bad Thor seems to be the blonde Marvel Comics version. The proper Viking Thor was known as "red bearded Thor"

Ilaun_Undil

2006-01-30, 06:25 PM

I agree that there is something up with mr. Scruffy. I thought Lord Shojo was just a translator for Mr. Scruffy. i can't help thinking this story has a funny ending.

Crayola would be so proud!!

Lianae

2006-01-30, 06:34 PM

Ooooh, intense!!

It makes sense that the world was originally crayon, after all, I don't think pencils were invented for at least a hundred ye ars afterwards! :P

PhoeKun

2006-01-30, 06:35 PM

LOL shojo handing out crayon pictures!! Maybe he could just make a pamphlet.

Also let me join those praising the Giant for the Crayon drawings. Unbelievable.

By the way, is there any real world mythological counterpart to Bahamut? Bahamut is the "platinum dragon", the AD and D ruler of good dragons, lawful good, opposing tiamat etc.

In Babylonian/Assyrian mythology, Bahamut was a giant fish-type god that supported the giant bull Kujata, who himself held a big ruby. Honestly, I forget the significance of that.

Either Squaresoft or TSR then got their hands on him, turning the sea-deity into the King of Dragons. I think he showed up in Final Fantasy first, but I could be mistaken.

In other news, mythology is fun!

Podkayne

2006-01-30, 06:42 PM

The crayon was awsome. ;D ;D

I love the snarl. Superpowerful villans born at the dawn of time are always fun. ;)

Sylvius

2006-01-30, 06:43 PM

Too bad Thor seems to be the blonde Marvel Comics version. The proper Viking Thor was known as "red bearded Thor"

No reason he can't have it both ways. I know several Swedes with blonde hair and red beards.

bosssmiley

2006-01-30, 06:58 PM

Wow, an ultimate cosmological BBEG who is actually called Snarl. Genius! ;D

Lyc

2006-01-30, 07:05 PM

The Greek Fates, (Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos) who spun, measured and cut the threads of life. Anyone else learn their names by playing Kings Quest 7?

Norse mythology had them - the three Norns and the tapestry of fate. Mesopotamians had the tablets of destiny (wouldnt be surprised if there was 3 of them).

Oh and did play KQ7 (princeless bride IIRC), but I already knew the names of the Moirae (Greek fates).

Leveller

2006-01-30, 07:16 PM

Great work Rich! The crayon is a nice touch.

Too bad Thor seems to be the blonde Marvel Comics version. The proper Viking Thor was known as "red bearded Thor"

Well if it was strictly taken from norse mythology there are a number of things wrong with the norse gods but it's just artistic license. ;) still funny and we all know who he's supposed to be.. Only bad thing might be if people that don't really know get the wrong idea.. then again it doesnt really matter does it? Anyway I'm just rambling :P

Sylvius

2006-01-30, 07:18 PM

Do the Snarl's eyes remind you of anyone?

http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript?SK=117

Leveller

2006-01-30, 07:19 PM

Do the Snarl's eyes remind you of anyone?

http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript?SK=xxx

Uh-uh Lillys gonna have your ass ;D

Winged One

2006-01-30, 07:22 PM

Do the Snarl's eyes remind you of anyone?

http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript?SK=spoiler
:o

Lily will, indeed, have your ass. On a platter. With hors'd'ovures on the side.

Leveller

2006-01-30, 07:24 PM

:o

Lily will, indeed, have your ass. On a platter. With hors'd'ovures on the side.

;D

And by the way Sylvius I think we all though about that ;)

Sylvius

2006-01-30, 07:32 PM

That's hardly a spoiler. That's just pointing out a similarity in the art.

It's stick-figure art. There are only so many different shapes of eyes.

Lightman

2006-01-30, 07:34 PM

Anyone feeling some Crisis of Infinte Earth's analogies?

I can see the [censored for spoiler content] in snarl's eyes.

xrestassuredx

2006-01-30, 07:40 PM

No time to read all the discussion until later .. all I have to say is, my favorite part of this strip was "The story continues...tomorrow!"

Does that really mean? Joy! ;D

Leo_Forestclaw

2006-01-30, 07:41 PM

I hope Rich makes some of those Crayon Stick Figure Drawings available as avatars. I want to make the evil dust-bunny in the last panel my new avatar. MWA-HA-HA. Complex, intelligent and hateful, what more could you ask for? ;D

D'oh, I've been scooped! I was patiently reading through the boards hoping I'd be the first to suggest this!

Seriously Rich, would love to see the cartoon avatars added as an option for the message boards, they look that good.

As a whole, I think this as been my favorite OOTS to date and probably for all the wrong reasons: it wasn't the story line or punch lines but the absolute quality in the graphic design. From the black background to the brilliant use of crayon (Rich, you can do this in crayon - does everyone appreciate how flippin' hard it is to draw like this in crayon?!?), to the use of the semi-transparent talking heads to the actual design of the characters.

I keep looking at the strip and note just simple and elegant bit of smart design. This strip could be used as a primer to teach how to get complex concepts across with a clean, basic layout.

Having said that, you need only look to this strip to see how "hard" "simple" can be.

Bravo, Rich, bravo!

Lightman

2006-01-30, 07:41 PM

No time to read all the discussion until later .. all I have to say is, my favorite part of this strip was "The story continues...tomorrow!"

Does that really mean? Joy! ;D
I wonder if this is permeanent...I sure hope so!

Buzzaro

2006-01-30, 07:43 PM

Once again the pigs know right from wrong, trolls ARE small wrinkled men with poofy hair collected by women. Finally some recognition of this topic.

WE ARE NOT!

We are vile monsters living under bridges and harassing goats!

On occasion we live in booths near roads, bridges, and tunnels and shake down travelers to take their exact change.

BUT WE ARE NEVER small wrinkled men with poofy hair collected by women.

klinneivo

2006-01-30, 07:50 PM

Best OOTS ever. I loved the artwork!

Lightman

2006-01-30, 07:54 PM

WE ARE NOT!

We are vile monsters living under bridges and harassing goats!

On occasion we live in booths near roads, bridges, and tunnels and shake down travelers to relive them of their exact change.

BUT WE ARE NEVER small wrinkled men with poofy hair collected by women.

http://z.about.com/d/collectdolls/1/0/l/G/troll.jpg

The Truth Is Revealed

redmind0

2006-01-30, 07:58 PM

I found the crayon simbolic of the storytelling. The passed down legend is not as clear as the real event.

PhoeKun

2006-01-30, 08:05 PM

The Truth Is Revealed

... words fail me.

Actually, could Trolls be vicious, shriveled monsters with poofy hair that live under bridges and harass goats , and are collected by old women in their dotage? Just a thought.

Buzzaro

2006-01-30, 08:07 PM

The Truth Is Revealed

LOOK AT ME... Now look at that abomination...
Do we look ANYTHING alike? That thing is NOT a troll it is a trollkin, Real Trolls use those guys for playing Troll ball, and they are the ball. The object of the game is to get any living peace across the goal line and we score a point. We go through 25-50 of them a game.

http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript?SK=143
http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript?SK=144
http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript?SK=145 censored by WTBL (World Troll Ball League)

Lightman

2006-01-30, 08:11 PM

Maybe. No Bridges, Though.

http://dox.media2.org/barista/archives/cropped%20trolls.jpg

The Glitter Ninja

2006-01-30, 08:31 PM

Fabulous strip! The crayon was amazing. It looks lovely, plus I know from experience drawing in crayon is hard to do. There are no do-overs in crayon!

Gotta love the snag about the trolls. A fourth god should have said, "No, trolls should be young men in their parents' basements posting foul lies to the Internet." ;)

Shouldn't that previous post about the eyes be in Spoiler Beige?

Nightfall

2006-01-30, 08:34 PM

The string theory reminds me of "Quantum Leap", and how Sam Beckett could jump to different points in his life (or the lives of others who lived at the same time as he) wherever the time lines (strings) intersected.

And what IS that thing inside the strings?? Anything with glowy red eyes makes me nervous. It's like looking in the mirror during a bad case of "pink eye"! As Sauron said in his Very Secret Diary, "Visine would be a comfort!"

PhoeKun

2006-01-30, 08:36 PM

DOOM2099

2006-01-30, 08:52 PM

Awesome use of CrayonTM, I approve.

Ilaun_Undil

2006-01-30, 09:13 PM

There's no actual significance to the eyes. There can't be. The only eyes that are actually similar are Xykon's eyes (as seen from his phylactery), and as we all know, Xykon isn't a being of pure malice born of the chaos at the beginning of time.

As such, I was very confused about the whole Lilly-ass comments before, although I guess now that I think about it I can see why.
This (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=comics;action=display;num=1138621378 ;start=60#61) should clear it up, at least that is probably what they are refering to. it is scary :o The Crayon Knot of Doom is a part of every evil in the world. for it is the arguements between Gods, and thus the different religions were formed :)

WonderBunther

2006-01-30, 09:27 PM

Hi, everyone. This is my first post.

Sorry if someone had already posted the answer to this question, but I didn't really have time to go through the 11 pages of posts.

I like the crayon style, too. Did Rich scan in hand-colored panels or is it just an effect of the software that he uses? Pretty cool either way.

theKOT

2006-01-30, 09:42 PM

WonderBunther

2006-01-30, 09:44 PM

Awesome. Thanks, Kot.

It's also impressive how well Rich got the hand-drawn crayon sketches to look like the characters he renders with the software tools - i.e., circles, polygons, etc.

nightfire8199

2006-01-30, 10:08 PM

:DLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!! :DHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!!! :D*whew*...ok next line...yada yada yada...trolls...wrinkley...old women...What the heck? ???...LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL :D....HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!! :D

bathroom...ahhh....good times...good times. :D

(still laughing)

lunar

2006-01-30, 10:22 PM

I didn't get caught up in the whole Eastern pantheon thing. I thought it was a joke. In Elementary school when you talk about Mythology you only talk about Greek and Roman mythology for some reason... to the extent that some people don't even know who Thor or Odin are. I thought Rich was simply turning this on it's head for the sake of irony.

Also, the only other character who is only a set of eyes is Xykon's secret weapon. Might there be some relation?

Tharr

2006-01-30, 10:35 PM

Thog not like story there was no Grumush.
Where be orc diety involved.

Now Thog wonder if V noticed no Elvin pantheon either or the silly Lloth thing.

V be dumb and Thog be smart.

Thog like crayon why use bad inks.

Plus Thog wonder if Xykon would bring up Abyss and Undead hidden dieties like the SB.

Me Thog going to hope Elan goes pee in pants.

That be funny.

Reptile

2006-01-30, 10:39 PM

This (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=comics;action=display;num=1138621378 ;start=60#61) should clear it up, at least that is probably what they are refering to. it is scary :o

Well, according to the mod names listed in the rules of posting (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=comics;action=display;num=1133174288 ), that's Rich. Lilly would be the Fairy Modmother. Agreed about the reference, though.

Glad to see the greater backstory in the picture--both because it was interesting, and because I've waded through far too many threads on the message boards about the validity of the charges against the OOTS, jurisdictional issues, etc. :)

Also, it's nice to see a dragon in OOTS (deity or no) that doesn't exist simply to (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript?SK=99) be (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript?SK=186) slain (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript?SK=195).

evileeyore

2006-01-30, 10:49 PM

http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript?SK=145 censored by WTBL (World Troll Ball League)

Well my group last Sunday proved that theory has exceptions. We had seven seperate encounters in one day. Used up almost every spell and SU ability we had.

Granted it was two "giant' spiders (size medium) each fight except the first which was two 'giant spiders and a Vermin Swarm... They would have been deadly in one mass, so lucky for us the DM only had two spider minis...

soni

2006-01-30, 10:50 PM

best. strip. yet.

three different uses for trolls... LOLOL

Duraska

2006-01-30, 10:57 PM

A completely awesome strip! And further more, it created a background for my avatar! (Yeah, sure, my avatar looks more "roman" than "greek," and centurions and evocati were totally a roman invention, but it's close darn it!)

I hope we get to eventually see some of these eastern peoples. Imagine togas and chariots, and gladiators and legions... all within the OOTS world.

But until then, this comic is one of your best ever. :)

[Edit: I got so excited I forgot how to spell things!]

Tharr

2006-01-30, 11:08 PM

Lord Fullbladder, Master of Goblins

2006-01-30, 11:08 PM

Thog not like story there was no Grumush.
Where be orc diety involved.

Yes, where was everyone's favourite one-eyed orc-god? I could also question the missingness of several others, but I feel no need.

Awesome comic. Crayon rocks! All hail the almighty crayon! Lord of the Wax!

Lord Fullbladder, Master of Goblins

2006-01-30, 11:19 PM

...Okay... you are cut off, my friend. *takes sugar/mead away from Tharr/Thog*

That guy was starting to creep me out.

Tharr

2006-01-30, 11:25 PM

Sorry now I moved post.
Ignore the double post above.
The sugar rush is over.

ARMOURERERIC

2006-01-30, 11:28 PM

I like to point out techinally the greek, norse, and chinese mythos are not honestly being followed by the people in our modern world anymore.

You would be very surprised, supposedly there is an active Norse pantheon based worshiping venue like 20 minuets from me.

Eric

Charity322

2006-01-30, 11:30 PM

Is dragon eating snake, or does he just have really big whiskers? ;D

PhoeKun

2006-01-30, 11:30 PM

I like to point out techinally the greek, norse, and chinese mythos are not honestly being followed by the people in our modern world anymore.

However Tiamat and the Vishu and Brahma religion is being still in major parts of India today. Beware how you talk about that list. Honestly just stick to well the other three groups and discussing the comic for its art work that was great.

To the best of my knowledge, Tiamat is not part of Hinduism, which is where Brahma and Vishnu come from (but with the sheer number of gods, who knows?). At any rate, this Tiamat is a reference both to the D&D pantheon, and the old Babylonian religion, both of which should be fair game on the boards. But you're right, the art is great.

Yes, where was everyone's favourite one-eyed orc-god? I could also question the missingness of several others, but I feel no need.

Hey, while I'm on the subject of gods: Many deities were suspiciously absent from the comic for two reasons:
1) It would be a pain to show all of them at once.
2) Most of the deities your probably thinking of (including Gruumsh) are from the D&D pantheon, which doesn't exist in OOTS-land. Don't be confused by Tiamat's shout out: she's all Assyrian, baby. She's also standing next to the guy who killed her. That's just plain funny, and I can only assume intentional.

Right. I've clearly spent lots of time reading various mythologies, and feel the need to share. Not really any nitpicking going on at all, I swear on the name of Akechi Mitsuhide!

EDIT:

Is dragon eating snake, or does he just have really big whiskers? ;D

You know you love a mustachioed dragon!

Musrum

2006-01-30, 11:35 PM

Nightfall

2006-01-30, 11:36 PM

Is dragon eating snake, or does he just have really big whiskers? ;D

In Chinese mythos, dragons are typically shown with "whiskers". I have a salt-and-pepper/bud vase set my mother gave me that was made in Occupied Japan with whiskered Oriental dragons on it.

Tharr

2006-01-30, 11:52 PM

The dragon has whiskers just like the great dragon of Dragonball Z fame with huge big whiskers.

Gruumsh is techinally Finnish now.

I rather be a dragon with the power to grant infinite wishes than dumb fire breath.

Now hopefully the OOTS will not have to go on a quest finding seven dragon spheres.

Xykon: That is unbelievable!
Redcloak: It seems Roys power level is higher.

By the way people wonder if the Cthulhu mythos is also in OOTS.

DarkMonkey

2006-01-31, 12:31 AM

Heh, awesome strip. Betcha people won't be as eager to critisize your art when you can do that with crayons. and as a bonus, we get another update tommorow!!(supposedly)

theKOT

2006-01-31, 12:35 AM

Now hopefully the OOTS will not have to go on a quest finding seven dragon spheres.

Xykon: That is unbelievable!
Redcloak: It seems Roys power level is higher.

Don't forget the hours of staring with twitching, disbelieving faces and then the long sequences of:
Roy:YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA20minlaterAAAAaa. ...
that was just him drawing his sword.

goblin

2006-01-31, 12:40 AM

Tharr

2006-01-31, 12:46 AM

KOT your post had me laughing alot.

Plus everyone would inhale meals.

team56th

2006-01-31, 12:51 AM

Gods from every different mythology were cool. And I'm curious who is that crayon-threaded villain like thing.

theKOT

2006-01-31, 12:54 AM

Plus everyone would inhale meals.

Oh right, can't believe I forgot about that. On another note... The comic's not early? I'm outraged! Outraged I say! Now I have to wait till tomorow! O, woe is me!

PhoeKun

2006-01-31, 12:55 AM

I just can't keep myself away from these forums tonight. You may have something there, Goblin. I haven't read the Poetic Edda in about 2 years, so I can't be sure... but then again, that may or may not have anything to do with this world.

It makes you think...

Kish

2006-01-31, 12:57 AM

i didn't see anyone else comment on how it's thor who wants trolls to be in what (in standard convention) is the role held by the dwarves.

could this suggest that the dwarves- (thor's chosen people) were his second choice?
I'd say the implication is more likely to be that Thor had been looking at each new race and going, "They should be hardworking underground blacksmiths." The dwarves thus became his chosen people because they were the only race none of the other gods fought him on hard enough to warp from his vision.

evileeyore

2006-01-31, 01:11 AM

Tharr

2006-01-31, 01:17 AM

Sigh what about ogres and yes goblin speaks truth.
Plus trolls in Finland are loveable try Moonin Troll.
I like the drawing of Pan it was very cute.
What kind of name is Zeus reminded me of the line in Die Hard 3 from the car driving.
If a real barbarian was there he said "Krom".

ref

2006-01-31, 01:25 AM

I wonder if this is permeanent...I sure hope so!

Sorry, but most likely not. Which, incidentally, is a good thing. Such an increase would hurt the quality of both the strips and Rich's health.

These strip-a-day things always last a week. But this will be a good week :)

The_Shadow

2006-01-31, 01:29 AM

Deuce

2006-01-31, 01:34 AM

Hmmm. We learned in strip #81 that V worships "the ancient elven god of knowledge". Wonder how he/she/it fits into the four pantheons, if at all?

At a guess, I'd say Northern. The Norse pantheon is the only one of those four to have elf-like beings. But I could very easily be wrong.

Or it could be that Shojo, being human, is giving a version of the creation story of his world that does not include pantheons of races that are different from him. . . every history still has a perspective.

Though in the strip, Hades (from the Eastern gods) is talking about Elves that don't seem much like V, so probably one of the other 3 if any of them. Perhaps there are demi-human and humanoid members of each pantheon, and they are not mentioned in this story (yet), for the reason above?

Tharr

2006-01-31, 01:41 AM

V worships shock.
What next Thog declaring one.
Maybe the lawyers prevent Lloth from entering.
Think Belkar worships evil halfings.
How about a goblin lord.

PhoeKun

2006-01-31, 01:50 AM

This may be flawed reasoning. Let us not forget that Lord Shojo and his Saphire Guard worship 12 animals and find nothing strange about this. Let us also not forget Miko's attitude toward Durkon.

Back to Gods. V's Elven God of Knowledge is likely drawn from the North pantheon. There could be Elven deities that have yet to show themselves, or since the D&D elf is pretty much drawn from Norse mythology (and give Aesir/Elf relations)... well, the math is pretty self evident.

... and it was Zeus who was arguing in favor of Santa's elves. Darn it! Go away, you stupid urge to nitpick!

EDIT: took slightly too long. I am responding to Deuce, which may or may not be self evident.

pudgimelon

2006-01-31, 01:57 AM

Has anyone else noticed that the Tiger is NOT a stick figure?

I don't recall ever seeing a non-stick animal or humaniod (jellyfish-thingies not included) in the comic so this is a first, I believe!

Lyc

2006-01-31, 02:27 AM

Back to Gods. V's Elven God of Knowledge is likely drawn from the North pantheon. There could be Elven deities that have yet to show themselves, or since the D&D elf is pretty much drawn from Norse mythology (and give Aesir/Elf relations)... well, the math is pretty self evident.

Or they god the dragonlance route where there are limted 'actual' gods, but infintie 'virtual' ones. That is the various racial/cultural groups package the core god into a form more suited to them even - though its really still the original one in a funny suit. The ones which come to mind from the Norse are Heimdall or Vidar.

Of interest though is that one of Odins brothers/aspects is called 'Vé'.....

Methuselah_Amakiir

2006-01-31, 02:47 AM

Great comic, Rich.

I agree that Shojo could be telling only his view of "religion" or whatnot, with the pantheons of Gods. It's pretty evident from watching Miko that they think highly of themselves, plus the fact that they march (Miko) miles and miles to arrest Roy and his gang. I wouldn't put it past them to ignore the beliefs/Gods of "lesser" cultures or peoples.

Nerd-o-rama

2006-01-31, 02:51 AM

I think V's just an indifferent roleplayer who didn't pick an actual deity and made something up on the spot. The DM didn't countermand it because he was still working on the campaign world. I.e. Rich hadn't formalized the whole four pantheons thing until he got a better grasp of the Macroplot, which we're seeing exposed right now.

I mean, this is the man...woman...thing...who couldn't be bother to fill out its gender entry, let alone something as negligible to a wizard as its deity.

And remember, on the subject of racial deities, that Durkon and most of the other dwarves we've seen worship the "generic" Northern deity Thor (and Odin and Loki each claim at least one dwarf clergyperson as well.)

I reserve the right to be completely wrong, of course.

Zantetsuken_Kokoro

2006-01-31, 02:58 AM

Gotta love it!

Tharr

2006-01-31, 03:22 AM

I wonder if the Egyptain pantheon will show up.
We need Bast for all those cats in the background.
Plus Anibus could get Thog a puppy.

The Doctor

2006-01-31, 04:16 AM

I mean, this is the man...woman...thing...
Let's have a bit of respect to the gender-queer member of the party.
Don't forget that the player is going through a lot of trouble to maintain the suspence.

V - my heroine. (Well,, ok, I am lying, I like Elan most. And then Haley... But V is on a nice 3rd.. eh... 4th place, after Belkar.)

Count-Tyr

2006-01-31, 04:26 AM

Love the strip...awesome Riftwar refernce even if it wasnt meant ;)

Popkorn

2006-01-31, 06:32 AM

oh gorgeous

I can't get enough from it :)

and I'm totally on fire for todays oots

Quixote

2006-01-31, 07:34 AM

and I'm totally on fire for todays oots

We all totally are.

Leo_Forestclaw

2006-01-31, 07:42 AM

Ok, is 6:40 am too early to be looking for the new comic? ;)

Reborn

2006-01-31, 07:48 AM

Heh, snap, I'm only looking now because this is when it got posted yesterday. Rich, I have to say, you are very talented with crayon as well as computer. Nice work.

Setsu

2006-01-31, 08:12 AM

By the way people wonder if the Cthulhu mythos is also in OOTS.

Let's not forget the Cthulhu mythos was largely (if not entirely) created by a modern fiction author.

As such, I honestly don't believe it will show up any time soon (I might be wrong though) because whatever the company that owns the rights to the mythos it would probably sue Rich's buttocks.

Wouldn't be bad do see it though. In another context other than the one in this strip, of course.

Tharr, not meaning to dissapoint or "spoiling" but if the Egyptian pantheon was supposed to show up right now, the Giant would've probably shown it up already. :P

It might be the case someone already mentioned about V's elven gods. Shojo may be unaware of the cultures behind the existance of those gods, and as such wouldn't include them in his version of the story. ;D

My two cents.

zzyss

2006-01-31, 08:34 AM

I'm curious as to how the Pantheon was conceived, because while it uses "real" mythology, I thought it could have been taken a little bit further, eg. the gods of the south would more interestingly have been the gods of the east (as in oriental, asian). Then, the gods of the west could have been from the judeo-christian stuff (eg. Jehovah/Yahweh, etc.). This one in particular (west) could have provided a rich field for political/social/religious commentary and satire, although I do understand that those things are potentially very very risky and probably not really worth it. It might have tied in nicely with the Christmas reference joke too (about the elves making toys).

The gods of the south could have been the Australian Aboriginal dreamtime crowd, and the gods of the north can remain as thor et friends (a must, since thor has already appeared in the strip).

Egyptian gods would have been cool too, as people have already suggested.

Anyway. Whatever. I loved today's strip.

Heh, snap, I'm only looking now because this is when it got posted yesterday. Rich, I have to say, you are very talented with crayon as well as computer. Nice work.

pssst... computers can do crayon too...

boolean

2006-01-31, 08:43 AM

evileeyore

2006-01-31, 08:46 AM

There are certianly Cthonic dieties in OotS.

Cthonic is Greek for Gods of the Underwolrd and it "designates" how one is to prepare the sacriffices for them, being a pit into which the sacrifiec is burned. By contrast that makes Banjo an Olympian as Belkar raised his sacrifice into the air on an altar.

The term Cthonian was coined by Brian Lumley in his Necroscope series and Cthulhu Mythos by August Derleth (a friend of Lovecrafts) whereas HPL himself referred to it as "Yog-Sothery".

This post was brought to you by the color nurtrine, the letter "qua", and fifthe dimensional vertices.

Did anybody else notice that the gods are colour-coded? Each pantheon has a coloured aura, and the speech bubbles are the same colour.

Notice which colour the twelve gods of the south are. I guess we now know why Miko's lay on hands is blue.
Possibly. However I present to you Durkon who uses White Magic and Helgya who uses Orange.

It woudl be a nice idea though and would firmly identify V as drawing V's power from the Babylonian pantheon... but alas it doens't hold yp under the weight of D and H.

Yuki Akuma

2006-01-31, 09:06 AM

pssst... computers can do crayon too...

Pssst.... the Giant already said he used real crayon...

Amalthea

2006-01-31, 09:11 AM

Did anybody else notice that the gods are colour-coded? Each pantheon has a coloured aura, and the speech bubbles are the same colour.

Notice which colour the twelve gods of the south are. I guess we now know why Miko's lay on hands is blue.
*cough* I observed this back on page 9.

And did anyone else notice that each pantheon has it's own colored background? And that at least for Thor and Friends, it's the same (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript?SK=40) as their god-glow (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript?SK=79) in previous strips (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript?SK=137)?
I don't think it has anything to do with individual mortal's magic-color though.

Lyc

2006-01-31, 09:12 AM

*cough* I observed this back on page 9.
I don't think it has anything to do with individual mortal's magic-color though.

Divine magic. Colour coded for your convienence!

Though I am curious who Redcloak follows...

The Giant

2006-01-31, 09:15 AM

Strip ETA is 9:30-10:00 am today.

Ilaun_Undil

2006-01-31, 09:19 AM

the God glow is probabaly the same reason Celia talks in Blue, and Xykon talks in Black. It has to do with charachter.

Be back in about an hour and a half!!!

U2QueenBee

2006-01-31, 09:20 AM

Thanks for the update Giant. :) Only a few more hours til more crayony goodness!

Ranorian

2006-01-31, 09:21 AM

After seeing the Snarl, the term "Malevolent Ball of Yarn" has now entered my vocabulary. Hehehe, great comic as always.

themunck

2006-01-31, 09:23 AM

The Voice of Mod: No predictions in the main comic thread, people, masked or not. Take it outside.[/color]
very well, o great one!

Mal_the_Mad

2006-01-31, 09:33 AM

V's gods are Aristotle, Newton and Galileo and s/hes always trying to prove them wrong.

darnit new strip will post when im on my morning commute arrgh

Kian

2006-01-31, 09:38 AM

An alternative for the elven gods that noone seems to have pointed out is that the elven gods might not have been involved in the creation of the world. So, they don't get mentioned in the beggining.

Another possibility is to go the Faerûn way, and have the elves be 'inmigrants' from another world/plane/whatever.

Caledonian

2006-01-31, 10:13 AM

Note: the Asgardian pantheon's color is yellow, but Hilgya's magic is orange-flame-colored.

Don't go drawing too much from the color of someone's magic.

Shatteredtower

2006-01-31, 10:15 AM

Got to remember that's Eastern and not Atlantic. Okay, so that's... soonish in Mountain time.

Well, I'll check when I get home, then go to bed. Might be too tired to read anything by that time anyway and I want to be fresh enough to understand this symbolism stuff people keep seeing in the background. ;)

Greebo

2006-01-31, 10:32 AM

Strip ETA is 9:30-10:00 am today.
I'd like to stop a moment and just say to the Giant that I really personally appreciate your taking time to let us know when to expect the comic.

I have no illusions of ownership or obligation owed here - you post your work when you post it, and I'm always glad to see new stuff posted.

But when you let us know when we can expect to see the new stuff, that says to me that your glad to have us read them as much as we enjoy reading.

Thanks, TG!

Deuce

2006-01-31, 10:34 AM

I'd like to stop a moment and just say to the Giant that I really personally appreciate your taking time to let us know when to expect the comic.

I have no illusions of ownership or obligation owed here - you post your work when you post it, and I'm always glad to see new stuff posted.

But when you let us know when we can expect to see the new stuff, that says to me that your glad to have us read them as much as we enjoy reading.

Thanks, TG!

Seconeded, thank you Giant!!!! ;D

dylosaur

2006-01-31, 10:34 AM

Do the Snarl's eyes remind you of anyone?

http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript?SK=117

I can't believe it took until page 9 for someone to point that out.

Also, the Giant's talent is apparently unlimited. Gah! And I hope he's not kidding about the "tomorrow" thing. That would just be cruel.

Edit: that'll teach me to stop reading after page 9.

Supagoof

2006-01-31, 10:37 AM

Strip ETA is 9:30-10:00 am today.

Building our expectations and not letting us down. Schweet!! ;D

Alfryd

2006-01-31, 11:07 AM

You noticed the colours?, the ultimate evil is BARNEY of course.
Utter not the name of the Beast.

There is a certain resemblance between the Ultimate Evil Thing in the strip, and the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Have you been touched by his noodly appendage?

Most likely Ishtar. Also known in related mythoi as Inanna, I think.
Alternately Goddess of love and war, which says a lot about our species.

...as far as you can speak of evil and good when you are dealing with freaking gargantuan lizards that bite of your head when they get annoyed.
Well, the main difficulty is getting them to recognise you as another sentient being.
"Dear! We have another infestation of those small squeaky pink things! Can we do lunch at 4?"

The proper Viking Thor was known as "red bearded Thor"
This appears to be a blonde-bearded Thor.

Plus Thog wonder if Xykon would bring up Abyss and Undead hidden dieties like the SB.
That does raise the question of who Drow and Goblin clerics worship.

If a real barbarian was there he said "Krom".
Krolm is the primal creator deity worshipped by Barbarians in Majesty, Crom is worshipped by Conan, and Crom Cruach is an ancient Irish deity.

This post was brought to you by the color nurtrine, the letter "qua", and fifthe dimensional vertices.
God bless America!

Strip ETA is 9:30-10:00 am today.
Outstanding.