Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire, Mk. XXXIII: DeeganBallZ

[Gadora]

There's no reason for him to say "I'm glad to see the city is making you wet" unless he's making a dirty joke. It doesn't make sense any other way.

I really need to make a habit of using emoticons. That statement was meant to be facetious.

[Fawkes]

I really need to make a habit of using emoticons. That statement was meant to be facetious.

Well, to be honest, the same thought had occurred to me.

[Oracle_Hunter]

I've actually started reading these threads for exactly this reason. I'm getting a series of books published next year in which the main character uses divination magic, and the commentary here is surprisingly useful for working out the details of the magic system.

Ah, I'm cheered to hear that the Snark is good for something in the end

[Kris Strife]

Mookie certainly intended it to be a dirty joke, but that probably has more to do with the comic lacking any class.

And in a mostly aquatic society being wet probably has a totally different meaning anyways.

[Glass Mouse]

Mookie certainly intended it to be a dirty joke, but that probably has more to do with the comic lacking any class.

Lacking class, I'll definitely give it. But I don't really understand why people get upset about it.

[Fawkes]

Lacking class, I'll definitely give it. But I don't really understand why people get upset about it.

It's completely inappropriate for the scenario. And probably sexual harassment.

[SnowballMan]

I've actually started reading these threads for exactly this reason. I'm getting a series of books published next year in which the main character uses divination magic, and the commentary here is surprisingly useful for working out the details of the magic system.

Well, if you need help proofreading, would be happy to help. If for no other reason then the novelty of reading about divination magic done with forethought.

As for today's comic, my first thought was, "Hey, I could make of slay of this.", followed almost immediately by the thought of "Why should I bother?" It's as if the comic itself is so lacking that it is literally sucking the creativity out of people. We may very well have identified the comic equivalent of a black hole.

[Kizor]

I'm with Fawkes here. Glass Mouse, our discussion on taking breasts in stride was quite enlightening, but when a stranger (never mind a guide) takes up the matter of one's groin-juices it's time to get worked up.

I am personally of the opinion that my genitals, fierce as they may be, involve nobody else except by my decision. I assume that this conviction is near-universal, and hold it strongly enough that I expect others to respect it.

Do you disagree?

[Glass Mouse]

Do you disagree?

Kinda. I mean, it was obviously meant to be a (albeit bad) joke from someone who seemed to have otherwise no interest in Luna's lady-parts.

I agree, though, that the moment it gets a hint of hitting on someone or being otherwise creepy (fx if the joke continued in various forms), I'd be disturbed as well. As it were in-comic, I probably would've just laughed at the sheer badness and thought nothing of it.

Don't worry, I won't turn this into a big debate. I was just curious as to what exactly ticked people off about that comment. Probably a culture thing.

[Kris Strife]

I'm with Fawkes here. Glass Mouse, our discussion on taking breasts in stride was quite enlightening, but when a stranger (never mind a guide) takes up the matter of one's groin-juices it's time to get worked up.

I am personally of the opinion that my genitals, fierce as they may be, involve nobody else except by my decision. I assume that this conviction is near-universal, and hold it strongly enough that I expect others to respect it.

Do you disagree?

I don't think the character was supposed to be referencing anything sexual. If you read the rest of the comic it was supposed to be a language barrier thing, a turn of phrase that doesn't translate properly, or might not have a real equivalent in Callinian/Whatever-the-heck-language-the-speak.

And again, the speaker is from a race that's semi-aquatic (I believe other strips said that the above water sections of the city were entirely for the benefit of the tourists) the word "wet" probably doesn't have any sexual meaning to it.

[rocketpony]

Sneaky Gate all up ins
Future all up ins.

AND EVERYONE LEARNED A VALUABLE LESSON.

I remember once somebody talked about how Warlord Mustache could never be derailed because he barely had a character. His entire schtick was that he loved killing orcs, and he killed orcs.
Does it follow that Taz is equally hard to derail? I mean, his entire thing is "Taz is terrible." Here, he's showing some concern for his own well-being, but that's hardly against accepted character - he never gave any indication that he was suicidal.

Hilarious alternate ending: Taz says "So, how am I going to die?"
Dom: "Looks like you're going to be unmade as Snuggly enters Prime Dominion."
Beat panel.
PLOT.

[Khosan]

Does it follow that Taz is equally hard to derail? I mean, his entire thing is "Taz is terrible." Here, he's showing some concern for his own well-being, but that's hardly against accepted character - he never gave any indication that he was suicidal.

He's hard to derail because he didn't have much characterization in the Bland Arc in the first place.

All we really know is that he was in another band, got kicked out and then kissed Greg.

[Johnny Blade]

Hilarious alternate ending: Taz says "So, how am I going to die?"
Dom: "Looks like you're going to be unmade as Snuggly enters Prime Dominion."
Beat panel.
PLOT.

That would be much better, yes.


But, hey, at least this round of filler has come to an end. Maybe the next one will revisit a derailable character and be more snarkable?

Or we could even possibly have some plot, perhaps?

[Darkmyst]

Ok. This bit's over (hopefully). I would be most appreciative if we never see Taz again except possibly from a cutaway in the future where he dies choking on his own vomit due to a plague of some sort.

[Castel]

Is this really it? How... pointless.

[colonelslime]

Let us recap the past month:

Onetusk writes a dirty song for Luna
Taz is an *******




This may be slower than Maltak, at least then there was a point (sort of) to the characters' random meanderings

[averagejoe]

Huh. Looks like Dominic was right the whole time.

I've actually started reading these threads for exactly this reason. I'm getting a series of books published next year in which the main character uses divination magic, and the commentary here is surprisingly useful for working out the details of the magic system.

Good luck to you!

[Oracle_Hunter]

Let us recap the past month:

Onetusk writes a dirty song for Luna
Taz is an *******

Wait... that couldn't have been a whole month, could it?

OK, the first strip was February 28th and today is March 18th so that's... fifteen strips. Just short of a "month" of 5/week comics (20 strips).

And we had two plot points "events" in that time.

So, next week is Plot-Filler. Get excited

[Saph]

Well, if you need help proofreading, would be happy to help. If for no other reason then the novelty of reading about divination magic done with forethought.

Heh, thanks. It's far enough along now that most of the basic proofing's been done, so at the moment I'm busy with the story of the next one in the series.

To be fair to Mookie, it's actually pretty difficult to come up with a consistent system for divination magic. I worked one out that I was happy with, but it took a while and working out the kinks is a pretty long process, so I can see how it's easier to leave it vague and undefined. I think it's more interesting in the long run if you work out exactly what your main character can and can't do, though.

[Glass Mouse]

That would be much better, yes.

It's actually interesting how many expressed possibilites Mookie has for salvaging everything and win the love of his snarkers.

Granted, most of them involve the death of the main cast, but still...


Oh, and Saph, good luck with your book! Sounds like a lot of work went into it.

[TheArsenal]

Heh, thanks. It's far enough along now that most of the basic proofing's been done, so at the moment I'm busy with the story of the next one in the series.

To be fair to Mookie, it's actually pretty difficult to come up with a consistent system for divination magic. I worked one out that I was happy with, but it took a while and working out the kinks is a pretty long process, so I can see how it's easier to leave it vague and undefined. I think it's more interesting in the long run if you work out exactly what your main character can and can't do, though.

I love Disecting movie logic and science. I can proofread it if you want. Im a master of knowing when to be vauge and when to be more solid.

Divination is a very touchy subject. Especially if its a main power. Try to avoid using it as much as possible.

[Welf]

I don't really care for this one. It feels like a clumsily executed foot-in-the-door method of making us like facebath and it's constituent members, and that sits poorly with me.

Put it that way: at least mookie is trying to push our buttons like an author should do. And it was somewhat successful with me. Until today when we once again learn that Dominic is right about everything and everybody should do what he says.

[rocketpony]

So, next week is Plot-Filler. Get excited

Wait why are you assuming this arc is over?
NOTHING'S HAPPENED TO GREG YET

... hrgp!

[Kizor]

Don't worry, I won't turn this into a big debate. I was just curious as to what exactly ticked people off about that comment. Probably a culture thing.

No worries. I was likewise curious as to why it wouldn't. It seems that our reactions only differ by degree, so mystery solved.

It does seem like a culture thing. By the standards and tradition of my nation, eroticisation of the conversation through lubrication information solicitation would be major provocation, likely grounds for an altercation. Communication innovation has caused some desensitisation through assimilation, but folks are still pretty uptight.

[Mr. McGician]

So, the Randy mini-arc was "Randy writes a song and... there's no conflict," and the Taz mini-arc was "Dominic and Taz sit around talking." If there's going to be a Greg mini-arc, we can expect from it a similar level of storytelling. I can hardly wait...






...till it's over.

[Deme]

Well, I actually do need some help with my oracular hero's powers.

Here is what I know to be true, and doing so too much would totally change the character:
#1: His main power is the ability to recieve "visions." During this time, he appears to all science to be dead, and that unresponsive period can last up to several hours. He's been lucky there's been no autopsies yet. These happen seemingly at random.
#2: The visions themselves take the form of a confused smattering of information and sensory information, as well as 'feelings.' He once ended up summing up a vision about a person he would meet, a blind guy with a guitar, an obsidian cane, and a psycopathic snake-man named Chaos hitchhiking as an artificial alternate personality as: "...Sunglasses. And...something about strings. Snakes -- no, no, A snake. Just a lot of it. A black stick...And chaos?"
#3: Within his experience, his visions have always been right, though not always in the way he expects. Enough so that when he forsees that he'll be slowly losing his mind and memory until there's not even a functioning short-term memory left, entirely alone, he believes it completely.
#4: There is a chance that, for longer visions, he'll lose pieces of his memory. Maybe forever, maybe for just a while. This is because his powers work through a non-human soul in a human brain... But the two don't add up well, and information gets lost in the tangle.
#5: He can get some information about people by deliberately scrying, using their hand (he can use other pieces of a person, but he makes his living 'palm reading'). This information isn't as likely to be accurate, since it's even vaguer than his actual visions, and less strongly conveyed, but it's focused on that person, and he's pretty good at taking guesses based on the info he has, and a good fortune should sound a little vague, right? He remains concious through this process.

Those are the baseline rules, and I'm looking to expand that into a working system of how this all works. I am also trying to figure out how this kid can be saved from his very miserable ending -- He's got a not-quite-god on his side, though.

[TheArsenal]

Well, I actually do need some help with my oracular hero's powers.


Those are the baseline rules, and I'm looking to expand that into a working system of how this all works. I am also trying to figure out how this kid can be saved from his very miserable ending -- He's got a not-quite-god on his side, though.

This Will work fine s long as you avoid anti divination magic. In addition try to remove the forced scrying.

Or Have the Anti Divination be like whenever he scries he gets painfull nightmares instead.

[BlackDragonKing]

Ok. This bit's over (hopefully). I would be most appreciative if we never see Taz again except possibly from a cutaway in the future where he dies choking on his own vomit due to a plague of some sort.

Don't you know?

The Prophecy Twist was Dominic's favorite dance when he had two legs.

[Johnny Blade]

So, next week is Plot-Filler. Get excited

It's actually interesting how many expressed possibilites Mookie has for salvaging everything and win the love of his snarkers.

Granted, most of them involve the death of the main cast, but still...

I don't demand death, I just want the comic to go back to how it was 2007/08.
The things Mookie wrote back then, they were so wonderful in their badness. (And Dominic got groinpunched.)




Also, @ Deme: That sounds interesting, but...

#4: There is a chance that, for longer visions, he'll lose pieces of his memory. Maybe forever, maybe for just a while. This is because his powers work through a non-human soul in a human brain... But the two don't add up well, and information gets lost in the tangle.

I'd strongly suggest you don't overuse that. It's good for some internal conflict and all, but amnesia plots are not exactly underused.

#5: He can get some information about people by deliberately scrying, using their hand (he can use other pieces of a person, but he makes his living 'palm reading'). This information isn't as likely to be accurate, since it's even vaguer than his actual visions, and less strongly conveyed, but it's focused on that person, and he's pretty good at taking guesses based on the info he has, and a good fortune should sound a little vague, right? He remains concious through this process.

So, does that only work on people? Or also other animals? There could be reasons for both, but some clarification along the way wouldn't hurt.

[Deme]

Also, @ Deme: That sounds interesting, but...

I'd strongly suggest you don't overuse that. It's good for some internal conflict and all, but amnesia plots are not exactly underused.

I've been using him for RP for a couple of years before my friend and I have decided to move the story to a more public form (a comic)...And we've only actually had him gain a new set of amnesia once, which may or may not be re-used for this story. At his current stage, he's just missing bits and pieces, but isn't likely to pursue. He'd prefer not to know: why know who your parents are when you're just going to end up alone in a ditch? Why find out what happened to the nice couple that took you in, if they just turn out to have died or something? Why worry about people you've met, if you're just going to abandon them again? ... Psycologically healthy, he is not.

So, does that only work on people? Or also other animals? There could be reasons for both, but some clarification along the way wouldn't hurt.

He can scry on animals or objects, but he can only get intelligible information off of beings with human-like intelligence, and even then, it's pretty vague. With animals, the stuff he gets is too jostled and noisy for him to make heads or tails of, and liable to give him a nasty headache, and with objects, the information isn't in a form that he can understand he's getting information in, much less what that is. I'm thinking that it works by connecting to what he's scrying to -- hence the physical contact being required -- and then getting information through that connection. The more alike his mind/soul is to what he's connecting with, the better and easier the connection will be, and the better his information will be.