Quote Originally Posted by Lombard View Post
HalfOrc I agree completely...

No one likes to watch complete pwnings. It's uninspiring. You could kind of consider the comic to be based around a particular session of a strategy game, and instead of an epic contest, it turns out to be some lopsided affair. Why is that interesting. Why is that a story worth telling and hearing. Why not tell a story about a session that was actually a good matchup, I wonder. If this strip isn't written for gamers then who's it written for, and what gamer is going to be interested in some blowout. It's almost like the strip lost its nerve and couldn't bear to have the quote/unquote good guys getting beat back. Lost its will to be different or something, got suddenly scared of the height it had climbed to and came back down into the realm of the cliche. (Now maybe starting to morph Parson into some stock good character? Bleh...) Ansom should have lost something from getting fooled like that, and not because of some lightning-strikes type of thing that I suppose could still be pending. His being able to turn that bad misstep into such a huge win for him was a very bad choice imo. Why are any of us still griping about that? Because it was so cool for awhile. It's like getting mad when your favorite sports team trades away their best player for some no-account in return, yes it was their decision to make but you still feel invested in it as a fan.
Ansom avoided getting owned in force because the Tool canceled Parson's plan. And Misty died. And the dwagons were recalled. All of that together screwed any normal chance for him to make a serious dent in Ansom's forces. And everything he was doing was anything an intelligent, experienced gamer would have done. But now he has gone from possibly ending the war to being right back where Gobwin Knob was before he arrived: up Boop Creek without a paddle.

This is where he will have to actually have to get creative. This is where even your best players will hang it up and resign the game. Parson is now blind and has no command-control-coordination. His forces are out-numbered and demoralized. His most useful units are gone, his best caster is catatonic and his best counselor is in despair. His life is in danger and he is adrift in an alien world with resources he barely understands and which do not seem particularly useful at the moment. What is he going to possibly be able to do? I can't wait to find out.