Reading Order

Sorry, I'm sure this was asked 1000000000 times before but I couldn't find it anywhere.


What is the reading order recommended for new people?

I have a friend who asked to burrow the books, but I'm not sure where the extra \ prequels should come in the order of thigns.


I'm thinking

Book 1 Dungeon Crawling Fools

Book 2 No Cure For the Paladin Blues

Book 0 Origin of PCs

Book -1 Start of Darkness

Book 3 War and XP

Book 4 Don't Split the Party

Book 1\2 Good Deeds Go Unpunished

Book 5 Blood Runs in the Family

Extra : Haleo and Julian

and the extra Belkar story at any given point.


Is this it? Have I forogtten something?
Any changes you would recommend?



P.S
Right! Forgot Snip Snails. Where would you recommend reading that?
I'm guessing after book 2 at least since Julio is there?

I would also sort of like to know this, though just for if I ever want to go back and read all the books (I've only read the online comic though OtOoPCS is currently ordered). However I do imagine the Belkar story would go before Haleo and Julelan.

Publication order? That’s usually the best order for anything.

- D&D 3.5ed Player's Handbook
- D&D 3.5ed Dungeon Master's Guide
- D&D 3.5ed Monster Manual
- Dungeon Crawlin' Fools
- No Cure for the Paladin Blues
- On the Origin of PCs
- Start of Darkness
- War and XP
- Don't Split the Party
- Good Deeds Gone Unpunished
- Blood Runs in the Family

Start of Darkness after Book 3, SS&DT after Book 4, and GDGU after Book 5 or even 6.
EDIT: Also, I personally think Origin works best between Books 1 and 2, despite the "spoiling" of Haley's dad. By the end of Book 2 I feel the overall tone had shifted far from what Origin was.

If you look at the forewords for the books the Giant does note what later events the book might spoil.

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Originally Posted by snowblizz

If you look at the forewords for the books the Giant does note what later events the book might spoil.

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That doesn't work for the extra materials :(

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Originally Posted by Fyraltari

Publication order? That’s usually the best order for anything.

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Is there a listing of it?
I didn't see it on Wikipedia

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Originally Posted by SlashDash

Is there a listing of it?
I didn't see it on Wikipedia

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Well, since you have the books, you can check inside the cover for the publication date :smallwink:

On to your original question: I remember a while ago people discussing this, and many agreed that book 1 should be read much later on, because it relies somewhat heavily on D&D rules jokes, and that can turn people off. Maybe even book 2. I wish I had a way to figure out the exact thread, just too long ago and my forum skills are not great.

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Originally Posted by The Pilgrim

- D&D 3.5ed Player's Handbook
- D&D 3.5ed Dungeon Master's Guide
- D&D 3.5ed Monster Manual
- Dungeon Crawlin' Fools
- No Cure for the Paladin Blues
- On the Origin of PCs
- Start of Darkness
- War and XP
- Don't Split the Party
- Good Deeds Gone Unpunished
- Blood Runs in the Family

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On that basis, surely 3.0 Player's Handbook as well, before Strip #1?

Would OtOoPCs be a good book to start a reread on/introduce someone to?

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Originally Posted by SlashDash

Is there a listing of it?
I didn't see it on Wikipedia

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Origins was published in the middle of Paladin Blues, Start of Darkness in the middle of War and PX, and Good Deeds after Blood Runs in the Family.

Reading by strict publication order (which is my prefered order too) would mean reading Origins after the Starmetal Quest in Blues (and before the confrontation with Miko), and reading Start of Darkness after Elan kisses Haley in War and PX. Good Deeds can be read at any point after Don't Split the Party.

I don't mind the d&d books, I think knows enough about them

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Originally Posted by SlashDash

I don't mind the d&d books, I think knows enough about them

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Then there is no problem for your friend to follow the order you suggested in the OP.

I would go with

Utterly Dwarfed
Start of Darkness
Don't Split the Party
Dungeon Crawling Fools
Blood runs in the Family
How the Paladin Got his Scar
Dungeon Crawling Fools again
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
No Cure for the Paladin Blues
Snips and Snails and Dragon Tails
Equal Rites
Play a few games of the board game
Then cap it all off with War and XP

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Originally Posted by RatElemental

I would go with

Utterly Dwarfed
Start of Darkness
Don't Split the Party
Dungeon Crawling Fools
Blood runs in the Family
How the Paladin Got his Scar
Dungeon Crawling Fools again
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
No Cure for the Paladin Blues
Snips and Snails and Dragon Tails
Equal Rites
Play a few games of the board game
Then cap it all off with War and XP

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No, here is the true order.

Empire Strikes Back
All of Discworld, every single bit of it
The Hobbit
A New Hope
Return of the Jedi
Fellowship of the Ring
Two Towers
Discworld again
D&D 3.5 CORE
Core 5.0
Start of Darkness
Phantom Menace
Return of the King
Advanced D&D CORE
Attack of the Clones
Prisoner of Azkaban
Revenge of the Sith
Haleo and Julelan
The Last Jedi
Discworld again
Force Awakens
Belkar story
Utterly Dwarfed
On the Origin of PCS
War and XPs
Blood Runs in the Family
Good Deeds Gone Unpunished
No Cure for the Paladin Blues
Don't Split the Party
Snips, Snails and Dragon Tales
Every page with Tarquin and Miko
The Coloring Book
A few rounds of the game
Discworld again just to be sure
And now you're ready to read Dungeon Crawling Fools, and then read/watch everything else on this list in order of publication!

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Originally Posted by Schroeswald

No, here is the true order.

Empire Strikes Back
All of Discworld, every single bit of it
The Hobbit
A New Hope
Return of the Jedi
Fellowship of the Ring
Two Towers
Discworld again
D&D 3.5 CORE
Core 5.0
Start of Darkness
Phantom Menace
Return of the King
Advanced D&D CORE
Attack of the Clones
Prisoner of Azkaban
Revenge of the Sith
Haleo and Julelan
The Last Jedi
Discworld again
Force Awakens
Belkar story
Utterly Dwarfed
On the Origin of PCS
War and XPs
Blood Runs in the Family
Good Deeds Gone Unpunished
No Cure for the Paladin Blues
Don't Split the Party
Snips, Snails and Dragon Tales
Every page with Tarquin and Miko
The Coloring Book
A few rounds of the game
Discworld again just to be sure
And now you're ready to read Dungeon Crawling Fools, and then read/watch everything else on this list in order of publication!

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I think you missed THE MOST IMPORTANT volume in this saga!

You should read H2G2 between WXP and BritF. Also, read GoT after the second round of Discworld.

You should add all four seasons of Monty Python's Flying Circus to the list.

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Originally Posted by The Pilgrim

You should add all four seasons of Monthy Pyton's Flying Circus to the list.

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You can't really appreciate Monty Python's Flying Circus unless you have experienced it in written form.

Wonder why everyone (including the Giant) seems to assume the comic is too obscure for people who don't know D&D.
I think I never read anything D&D before OotS. I think I barely knew that D&D even was.
And I STILL enjoyed the jokes, because the context was crystal clear. It's about some stupid rule, get it? You don't need to know the exactsies of the rule to understand that a scene is making of fun of an obscure rule (most of the time).

I do think the decisive factor is whether someone played pen&paper roleplaying AT ALL. Because MAAAAANY jokes just resonated with me because that happened with our roleplaying group in a similar way, even though we didn't use D&D rules at all. In fact, our game was a homemade design with the rules basically fitting on a page. In large handwritten letters. And half of it was how shooting combat worked, and the other half were a couple concentrical ellipses to show how the city the story played in basically looked.

Re: Monty Python

There is a point&click game about the Monty Python Holy Grail story.

If you are a fan of MP and haven't tried it, you are doing yourself a HUGE disservice.

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Originally Posted by Quebbster

You can't really appreciate Monty Python's Flying Circus unless you have experienced it in written form.

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Yeah, they are much better in the original Klingon.

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Originally Posted by Mightymosy

Wonder why everyone (including the Giant) seems to assume the comic is too obscure for people who don't know D&D.
I think I never read anything D&D before OotS. I think I barely knew that D&D even was.
And I STILL enjoyed the jokes, because the context was crystal clear. It's about some stupid rule, get it? You don't need to know the exactsies of the rule to understand that a scene is making of fun of an obscure rule (most of the time).

I do think the decisive factor is whether someone played pen&paper roleplaying AT ALL. Because MAAAAANY jokes just resonated with me because that happened with our roleplaying group in a similar way, even though we didn't use D&D rules at all.

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I had no experience with tabletop roleplaying at all when I started OotS, just what elements got ported into videogames. Only Comic #1 fell flat for me, everything else I got from context.

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Originally Posted by The Pilgrim

Yeah, they are much better in the original Klingon.

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I tried reading the relevant Wikipedia article in Klingon, but I found that reading Wikipedia in the proper Greco-Hawaiian hybrid had a much more fluid feel to it.

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Originally Posted by whitehelm

I had no experience with tabletop roleplaying at all when I started OotS, just what elements got ported into videogames. Only Comic #1 fell flat for me, everything else I got from context.

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I first started reading OotS a good while ago (well before I did anything on the forums, I don't actually remember where the story was at the time). I had a good inkling of what DnD was, but had not played it. Most of the jokes were still funny because of them just being...well, funny! :smallbiggrin: There were some that didn't make sense, but the way context was woven in and the manner in which everything was set up made it very enjoyable. Honestly, given the self-aware aspects I'd say it's not much worse than reading 8-Bit Theater without having played Final Fantasy. Sure, you'll miss out on some points, but the jokes in of themselves are good.

See, I didn't even KNOW 8Bit Theatre was about FF, and never played FF, and still 8Bit Theatre is HILARIOUS. Because the characters are hilariously stupid.

It does get repetetive at times, though. Better read in portions and not binge the entire thing.

Hadoken.

While I can't speak for anyone else, the reason I worry about starting out while the rules jokes are thick on the ground isn't "Oh no, they don't know D&D, they won't get the jokes!" It's "Oh no, they don't care about D&D, they won't think the jokes are funny! Because I do care about D&D and I still don't think 'Wait! I think I failed a Spot check!' is funny!"

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Originally Posted by Quebbster

You can't really appreciate Monty Python's Flying Circus unless you have experienced it in written form.

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Just wanted to mention that the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch was actually a catholic school joke since the 1950s. Several of Monty Python's jokes are based around British and catholic school humor and in some ways knowing that context makes the humor better. This webcomic is virtually the same, while someone might understand that X joke is based around "some stupid rule" playing a game that uses those same stupid rules makes one appreciate the context more.

Kind of the same as watching color commentary for a sport with someone who likes the sport. You might know the rules and that some comment about a player is supposed to be a jab at them or their sports team, but knowing the context of the joke makes it funny.
(I have not watched sports commentary but assume that they would make jokes about players/teams)

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Originally Posted by HorizonWalker

While I can't speak for anyone else, the reason I worry about starting out while the rules jokes are thick on the ground isn't "Oh no, they don't know D&D, they won't get the jokes!" It's "Oh no, they don't care about D&D, they won't think the jokes are funny! Because I do care about D&D and I still don't think 'Wait! I think I failed a Spot check!' is funny!"

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I somewhat agree -- "I got a 4" is one of the flattest jokes in the comic and I have never understood why people gush over it.

But there are plenty of other jokes in the early strips that did work for me, which is why I think there's no reason to be shy about recommending starting at the beginning. Usually the jokes that are not specifically about D&D rules are the best ones, like "I found all these swords... they were in my spleen."

If I recall correctly, the print copy of Dungeon Crawling Fools has extra bits added to the front of it so the comic doesn't start as a cold open rules joke. I can't recall if the pre-online material is much better though.

And while I was not versed with DnD at the time of first reading the comic, I could infer pretty easily what was going on due to my experience with fantasy and video games. However, If I were to try and recommend OotS in spite of the DnD references DCF (online) would be a terrible starting book. The jokes are often funny but it lacks any real hook to catch new readers on, if you arn't interested in the TTRPG jokes. When Reccomending things to friends/ect usually you have to make a better pitch than "smooth enjoyable read, gets better later" which is the best I can say about the first 3(?) books of Oots. (SoD is when the story starts to get really good imo.)