The Index of the Giant's Comments

[Grey Watcher]

I think the point is that yes, he's being deliberately obtuse about the rules. Basically, "you should probably assume everything is homebrew unless otherwise stated".

For example, Miko's classes were fairly explicitly defined soon after her initial appearance. By contrast, we still don't know, definitively, just what class Tarquin is. Sure we can make educated guesses based on the abilities he has, but that's very different from being told, explicitly, that Miko was a Monk/Paladin.

[Shale]

Eh. The part about obfuscating the rules even when he does remember them isn't redundant.

[137beth]

Yea, both quotes should be included. I think the "I'm intentionally not following the rules" should go next to "I'm intentionally avoiding 'optimal' battle tactics".

[veti]

I think the comment Morty posted - has too much context to stand on its own. If you could take 2 or 3 paragraphs out of it, they alone would be better than Kish's - but taken as a whole, there's far too much of "this is why I'm locking this thread" in it, which will just be confusing to a reader in the future.

(Of course they could go and read the thread to get the background, but that would kinda undermine the whole point of this index.)

[ti'esar]

I think the comment Morty posted - has too much context to stand on its own. If you could take 2 or 3 paragraphs out of it, they alone would be better than Kish's - but taken as a whole, there's far too much of "this is why I'm locking this thread" in it, which will just be confusing to a reader in the future.

(Of course they could go and read the thread to get the background, but that would kinda undermine the whole point of this index.)

On the other hand, I think Kish's comment has a certain degree heat-of-the-moment exhaustion with rules pedantry going on. It's probably why the meaning is a little unclear, and why I think it's less useful then the other comment for explaining that (and why) Rich doesn't really care about adhering to the rules anymore.

[pearl jam]

I think its redundancy depends on much or little you feel the sarcasm effects the main point. If it's mostly straight then it's a very concise and definitive answer to a commonly recurring issue. If it's hyperbole then the first quote is probably sufficient.

[martianmister]

I think it's better to save Kish's comment.

[Rakoa]

I say we keep Kish's comment. It is very direct.

[Kish]

I didn't/don't think he was being sarcastic.

Actually, it explains a lot, starting with the way we still don't know which class(es) Tarquin is, beyond that he considers himself a warrior.

[ti'esar]

Actually, it explains a lot, starting with the way we still don't know which class(es) Tarquin is, beyond that he considers himself a warrior.

Good point. I withdraw my objection.

[137beth]

I didn't/don't think he was being sarcastic.

Me neither, it seemed very direct.

[pearl jam]

His next reply to the Geekery thread makes it clear that he was, indeed, serious in his comment and that, any sarcasm or snark was a carry over from responding to another thread.

[Morty]

I think both the quote I linked and the one Kish did should be included. They do talk about mostly the same topic, but from different angles. Most importantly, Kish's quote contains the information that Rich is actively obfuscating the rules, as opposed to simply not caring about them.

[Reddish Mage]

I get the feeling that Rich is very annoyed about how often people are accusing him not being "right" in this feat or that (often times brandishing their own ignorance of the rules, which who has time to look up before posting?). A lot of posts accuse him of mistakes, or a great deal of ignorance, and while mistakes have been made rarely in the past oftentimes its obnoxious.

Speculation about the rules he is using, as he notes in the follow up post, is quite ok, as is the purpose of the class and level geekery thread but he'd like to see a lot less criticism of his rule acumen and would prefer people take the comic as written rather than strictly imposing sourcebook D&D as the one true way. I think he would be fine with people using the language "I think X must be home-brewed because feat Y does not fit for ABC reasons."

[ThePhantasm]

It seems we have a consensus to include all of these quotes. If acceptable to all I will combine them into one entry (i.e. "Topic": "Summary", see also here and here) with Kish's quote as the main entry due to its relative brevity. I'll do this on my next update of the index.

[thatSeniorGuy]

Probably want to add one more to that Phantasm; this should calm down those who are worried that D&D is effectively being jettisoned from the comic (last non-mod sentence).

[Cronos988]

It seems we have a consensus to include all of these quotes. If acceptable to all I will combine them into one entry (i.e. "Topic": "Summary", see also here and here) with Kish's quote as the main entry due to its relative brevity. I'll do this on my next update of the index.

I am not sure about that. It seems to me that the quote that Kish posted here is, on it's own, rather misleading. It is only in conjunction with other recent quotes that the meaning becomes clear.

If that quote is the "main entry", uninformed readers might interpret it to mean that from comic 886 onward, the D&D rules will actively be subverted by the Giant, which, in light of the other comments linked to here, seems an entirely wrong interpretation.

[thatSeniorGuy]

More on the same.

[pearl jam]

More on the same.

This post now seems, in my opinion, to be the most helpful of the recent posts on this subject.

[Raineh Daze]

This post now seems, in my opinion, to be the most helpful of the recent posts on this subject.

Agreed. Much less misleading out of context.

[LuPuWei]

This post now seems, in my opinion, to be the most helpful of the recent posts on this subject.

Thirded...

[CoffeeIncluded]

Fourthed. Most important, hands-down.

[ThePhantasm]

I agree. What do you all think about just including this quote and not the others?

[zimmerwald1915]

I agree. What do you all think about just including this quote and not the others?

If you're running up against space or character limits in the first post, then consider cutting out some of the other, less meaty quotes on this theme. If not, then include all of them. This last quote includes some very valuable instructions on how to read the others.

[Morty]

Yes, that quote does seem to contain all the information the other ones do. I think it would be fine just to add that one.

[nogall]

I also think it's better to include just the last one.
Less confusing, very well written, ftw

[FujinAkari]

I see no reason to add any quote but the last one, as they do not seem to contain any information which the final quote does not.

Rules D and E pretty much explicitly state this.

[Bulldog Psion]

This post now seems, in my opinion, to be the most helpful of the recent posts on this subject.

It seems truly definitive, whereas the earlier ones are likely to just cause confusion.

[theangelJean]

I've wanted to help out with this thread for a while. Someone mentioned a while back that all the URL tags could be changed to POST tags to save some space. I know ThePhantasm has been doing that, little by little, but I figured I'd have a go.

... I might have got carried away.

I promise I haven't changed anything except what was in the tags, and a couple of line breaks. Hopefully this means ThePhantasm can just quote my post, and cut and paste in the thread rules/note about the comic number at the top and the Update log and acknowledgements at the bottom. (I wasn't sure if I should change the Update log to POST tags as well, or leave it just in case we needed a different reference.)

I hope this doesn't make more work for ThePhantasm, in that I hope you don't feel the need to go and check all of the links. (I did.)

Also I realised a little while ago that I was in the middle of making minor corrections to the Geekademia Interview Transcript while Xapi was writing it, when I, umm, got bored and wandered off. I can continue to submit the corrections if ThePhantasm is happy to edit them in.

Anyway, the Index, or at least the bit that contains quotes (and all the stuff in the middle):

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For Those Who Missed Out on Kickstarter: The swag, sans patches, will be very likely available again at some point.

Alignment -

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V is True Neutral! (08/17/2011; #801)
Durkon is Lawful Good! (07/27/2011; #798)
Belkar is Chaotic Evil! (12/1/2005; #251)
Tarquin is Lawful Evil! (12/7/2010; #763)
Nale, Sabine, and Thog are all Evil! (01/20/2005; #142)
Enor & Gannji are True Neutral! (10/24/2011; #812)
Redcloak is Evil! (01/23/2012; #830)

Alignment and Environment: Enor and Gannji were not operating wholly outside the ethical framework of the Empire of Blood. This doesn't change the nature of their acts but does mean that the acts are not as indicative of their overall alignment as some might suppose. (10/25/2011; #812)

Elan and Nale's Parentage: How did it affect their alignment? Giant can't fully answer because of events yet to be revealed. Elan spared Nale's life because of Elan's understanding of what it means to be good. (11/18/2011; #815)

D&D, Alignment, and Morality: Rich on the comic's criticism of the way D&D has been played for over three decades. "D&D cannot and should not begin and end at black-and-white, and indeed already doesn't, if everyone would just learn to look at things a little more complexly." See also here (D&D "racism" and alignment) and here (the real world applicability of Redcloak's story). (02/14/2012; #835)

D&D's Alignment System: Thoughts on how it could be improved. (02/18/2012; #838)

On Being Lawful Good in D&D and the OOTS. (02/15/2006; #281)

Art -

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Character Appearances & Forum Speculation: Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. For example, just because two persons have similar hairstyles doesn't mean they are related. (10/6/2009; #683)

Examples of Rich's Non-Stick-Figure Art Talent: Rich's mad art skills on showcase. Also more here. (4/11/2012, #848)

Why the Strip Titles Aren't Above the Strip: The titles are "bonus" jokes. Rich prefers not to put them above the strip itself. (11/20/2010; #759)

True Subjective View In #843: V gets cornered. (03/7/2012; #843)

Speech Bubbles: Don't overthink them... they are subservient to the story. Malack's bubbles are only black when he "vamps out." (02/18/2013; #870)

Light and Art: The art style doesn't show lighting and shading, much like how it doesn't show noses. (02/26/2013; #871)

Art and Magic:

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Invisibility: Why the art for invisible characters isn't consistent (utility trumps consistency). (03/15/2010; #706)

Counterspelling: The Giant doesn't use different art to differentiate between counterspelling with Dispel Magic and counterspelling with the same spell. (01/23/2012; #830)

Spell Colors: The colors come from the spellcaster's choice or personality, and not their alignment or the types of magic. (06/28/2010; #731)

Meld Into Stone: Art trumps rules accuracy here in order to show the warping of the spell effect. (07/26/2012, #859)

Art and Merchandise:

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Black and White Books: They are unlikely to ever be colorized, and were not originally in color. Rich drew them in black and white. (03/16/2011; #781)

The Oracle's Location on the OOTS Poster: Don't read too much into it. (09/5/2010; #744)

Characters and Merchandise: The presence, absence, position, or style of any character on any piece of merchandise has no bearing on any future (or past) plot points. (11/22/2011; #816)

D&D Rules and Explanations -

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Malack's Undead: Malack reanimates the dead Draketooths into mummies. (06/20/2012; #856)

Acid-Born Shark: Rich created it, and made fun of himself in the comic. (04/6/2011; #785)

Character Items:

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Elan's Rapiers: He has 2. His original, and one from Julio Scoundrel. (05/13/2010; #723)

Haley's Boots of Speed: Yes, she did get them dyed to match her brown / tan garb. (05/29/2011; #793)

Durkon Throws Diamond Dust into the air in #844. (03/9/2012; #844)

The Keoghtum's Ointment removes deafness because it is extra strength. (09/12/2012; #863)

Why V Doesn't Have a Staff: There is no narrative purpose for it, and it would just be one more item to keep track of in the art. (03/03/2013; #878)

Character Stats -

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OOTS' Stats: Rich hasn't written them down, and everything is up in the air until they need a specific ability. (04/10/2010; #714)

Tsukiko Breaks The Rules: Tsukiko has too many schools. Rich doesn't make character decisions based on common player trends. (08/14/2011; #800)

Durkon's Mass Death Ward: Rich did not even know Mass Death Ward existed when he wrote the strip. He pegged it at 7th level instead of 8th. (09/19/2011; #806)

Elan and Nale are Twins: So Nale has the same Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution as Elan. (05/3/2004; #65)

A Piece of Straw: Haley used a piece of straw to get out of the jail cell. Info on Haley's Dexterity, Level, etc. (01/3/2006; #262)

Tarquin Doesn't Have Trap Sense: "I don't usually bother making fun of mechanics anymore, but if I do, I'm not that subtle about it." (07/23/2012, #858)

Vampire Durkon Can Cast Spells: A cleric doesn't have to worship a deity to cast spells. (04/09/2013; #883)

Combat Scenes and Explanations -

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Battle Scenes and D&D Tactics: "My job is to entertain, not to showcase perfect D&D tactics. If you can't be entertained by anything BUT perfect D&D tactics, that's on you." (02/28/2013; #873)

Miko's Fight: How Miko defeated the OOTS off-panel and captured them. (11/30/2005; #251)

Roy's Arena Fight With Thog: Roy's strategy to taunt a dungeon-crashing Thog into breaking the pillars. (10/6/2011; #808)

Zz'Ditri's Break Enchantment: Rich didn't read the casting time while making the strip. (09/7/2011; #800)

Malack and Mass Death Ward: Why did Malack bother checking if Durkon protected himself when he could simply dispel the spell and not care at all? (03/02/2013; #876)

Rules Accuracy:

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Rules Accuracy In The Comic: "If you are looking for moment-to-moment rules accuracy from this comic, you probably should stop reading." (08/17/ 2011; #801)

Rules Accuracy In The Comic, II: Case in point: Rich avoids the D&D term "calling" for the sake of non-D&D OOTS readers, who probably would not understand its meaning. (01/10/2012; #826)

Game Balance Doesn't Matter in This Story: "I was communicating the way I expected the audience would perceive it, then I began the process of abolishing that perception." (9/20/2011, #806)

Story / Plot -

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General / Uncategorized -

Familicide (03/7/2012; #843): How it works.

Some Thoughts on Visuals and Story: People get invested in the story, not the art, of a comic. (02/18/2012; #838)

Scrying in the Desert: It was Zz'ditri who scryed on the Order after they found Girard's illusion. (02/18/2013; #870)

More Prequels? The total number of planned prequel stories is "pretty much fixed." (09/1/2011; #804)

Not everything needs a backstory, or even has an interesting one worth telling. (06/23/2010; #737)

V's Children: The Giant made them adopted to leave open the possibility that V / Inkyrius are gay or lesbian. (04/09/2013; #882)

Dragon Continuity: The Dragon Magazine strips and Gygax magazine strips exist in a separate continuity from the OOTS strips. (11/25/2012; #859)

Calendars and Dates:

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Chronology & Timeline: Anything that states a numbered, dated year references the Northern calendar. The Oracle uses the Southern calendar. Further details on timeframe of Belkar's death prophecy included. Some time references in the strip (like the deva's chart) should not be taken too literally. (05/26/2010; #725)

OOTS Age Range: Intended to be early to mid 20s. Durkon is the "dwarf equivalent" of this age range, in his 50s. (07/2/2010; #732)

Culture and Geography:

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Religions and Deities in OOTS World: Background details on who worships whom, and on Thor, Hel, and the Twelve Gods. (4/11/2012, #848)

Nergal and Undeath: Nergal is not against undeath. Malack just doesn't like using the undead as canon fodder. (02/21/2013; #870)

Map of the Western Continent: It is constantly changing. (09/12/2010; #746)

Class Systems and Careers: And also, FYI, Durkon isn't "white." (04/08/2013; #882)

Prequels (SPOILER ALERT) -

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SoD Paladins & Miko's Fall: Only the crayon pages are narrative by Redcloak. Not every event is necessarily "seen." Certain scenes are largely shown from Redcloak's perspective. Details of why the paladins who killed Redcloak's people may or may not have fallen, why it doesn't matter, and how showing it would have cheapened the effect of Miko's fall later. (03/15/2010; #706)

The Rise of the Dark One: The other gods lost their one shot to gang up on him and kill him. The Dark One has since been building his power. (01/04/2013; #864)

Right-Eye's Family: They weren't raised because Redcloak doesn't control Team Evil's finances to pay for resurrection, Xykon does. Evil characters are not discouraged / prohibited from raising the dead in OOTSverse. (06/15/2008; #566)

How Xykon Broke Out (with some insight into The Giant's writing process). (09/07/2012; #862) On Xykon and Redcloak's escape from Lirian, see also this post.

Dragon Magazine Alternate Panel: What didn't show up in Snips, Snails, and Dragon Tails. (08/3/2011; #799)

The Crimson Mantle: Generally it is not known by non-goblins that the mantle is the source of power. (01/12/2012; #826)

Redcloak's Little Sister was not irredeemably evil, and certainly did not deserve execution. (02/14/2012; #835)

Kickstarter Bonus PDFs (SPOILER ALERT)

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Fire Threat: Belkar did not actually burn the town down on his first adventure. (02/23/2013; #870)

Cornered For Donations: "Nervous" and "Afraid" look pretty much the same, which helped with the misdirection at the start of Belkar's story. (02/25/2013; #871)

Reading Too Much Into It -

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Hidden Meanings: Not everything in the comic has one. (06/2/2009; #667)

Current Politics: There are no references to current politics in the strip beyond those which readers invent themselves. (07/2/2010; #732)

Belkar's Jokes: Belkar making a joke about something does not make it so. (04/11/2011; #786)

TV Tropes: Rich is aware it exists. No, he doesn't use it for ideas or reference it in any way in the comic. (03/4/2010; #705)

Pratchett: Rich hasn't read Pratchett. (10/26/2009; #687)

Orrin Draketooth's Daughter: She's not Haley. (11/21/2011; #811)

Malack's Chamber Plans: This was intended to use the imagery of factory farming, not the Holocaust. Malack plans to create a vampire ruling class. (03/01/2013; #875)

Malacks Vampirism and LGBT: Malack's condition is not an allegory for LGBT. (03/01/2013; #875)

Soon's Gate Backstory and Explanation

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Soon's Gem and Gate: Details about Soon's rift and how it is protected. The gate / rift could not be moved. You can shift a gate to another plane, but not another place on this plane. (08/21/ 2011; #801)

Soon's Castle: Soon built the castle, but did not build Azure City. (09/1/2011; #804)

Storytelling Mistakes? -

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Surprises Are Not Deus Ex Machinas (09/19/2011; #806)

No Purpose? "As a general rule of thumb, no one should say the sentence, 'There's no (or no other) possible narrative purpose for Rich to have done X!' until the story is completed. Because there's always a narrative purpose, you just haven't thought of what it is." (01/10/2012; #826)

A Missed Opportunity in #602? Why Hilgya was not the Cleric of Loki working for the Thieves' Guild.

Typo in #597? Nope. It is a joke. (09/30/2008; #597)

True Resurrection as a narrative-wrecking device, and an answer to the age-old "why didn't x character do y?" question. (9/07/2012; #862)

Racism and Sex in OOTS: Rich answers two separate concerns: One, whether there is some correlation between skin color and promiscuity, and two, whether there is too much promiscuity among the women portrayed in the comic. The short answer to both is no. (05/2/2009; #650)


The Gods Created Creatures After The World Was Created: Is this a contradiction? No. There is no Gaia hypothesis in OOTS world. (3/20/2012, #845)

On Plots and Boredom: "If one does not care about the protagonists or antagonists and is not emotionally invested in their struggles, and all one cares about is the resolution of the MacGuffin chase, then you will almost certainly be bored with a lot of the material I'm producing." (03/02/2013; #876)

On Character Importance and Leadership Skills: The Giant doesn't feel a character suffers for not having "leadership skills," and won't force someone's development just to give them said skills.(04/07/2013; #882)

Plot Holes:

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Giant's Response I: Including - why Haley was surprised that Miko was killed, info on Nale's self-delusion and ego, how the rift got so close to Xykon's Tower (it grew), and what is and isn't a plot hole. (11/29/2011; #816)

Giant's Response II: A character thinking one thing instead of another thing is not a mistake, it just is. The rift grew according to Redcloak's predictions, but he was measuring the actual hole, not the cracks. (11/30/2011; #816)

Why Destroy Tsukiko's Remains if Redcloak was just going to tell Xykon he killed her? One reason is so that Xykon would be unable to Speak With Dead on Tsukiko... or Raise Dead. (01/26/2013; #866)

Writing Process and Story Development

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V's Gender History: Why Rich made V's gender ambiguous and what discussions about it were like in the early days. Roy's 'V-man' comment is not necessarily indicative of V's true gender. (05/29/2011; #793)

Dungeon of Dorukan History: Originally, Dorukan was not even necessarily a person. (06/20/2005; #196)

On Writing Female Characters: The difficulties and fan reactions. (04/09/2013; #883)

The Dwarven god Thor: OOTS Thor is not based off of D&D Thor. Until referenced in the comic, the Nordic legends / mythology does not exist in OOTSverse. (07/12/2004; #86)

LGBT Characters: Why there aren't more in the comic. (04/08/2013; #882) (Also see this.)

Character Development / Backstory:

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Parental Problems: Background info on the parents of various characters like Elan and Haley, including character / plot development history. (11/18/2011; #815)

Miko and Shojo: Shojo was the "tape" that held Miko's character together for so long. He was responsible for much in Miko that was good / positive. (11/18/2011; #815)

Miko's Popularity: Miko's story was not "cut short" because of fan opinions - it was precisely the length intended. Rich does not make storytelling decisions based on finances. (12/18/2012 #863)

Durkon and Malack's Breakup: Durkon reacts not only to Malack's vampirism, but to his alliance with the Linear Guild. He knows that Malack does not know Belkar isn't innocent. (02/26/2013; #872)

V's Splices: There won't be a prequel book about them, and Rich hasn't developed a backstory for them. Just 3 evil souls. (08/21/2011; #801)

Worldbuilding vs. Foreshadowing: "Say hello to your boss for me." (08/18/2011; #801)

Haley's Leadership: A greedy self-centered rogue becomes leader. Belkar and Haley are the only one's who questioned her leadership skills during the Azure City Resistance. (04/07/2013; #882)

Character Names:

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Malack's Name: Not based off of Darth Malak. Originally was going to be named Malachi. (10/10/2010; #749)

Tarquin's Name: Named after a Roman King, not the Grand Moff. (10/11/2010; #749)

Azurite Names: Why O-Chul isn't Oh Chul. (03/10/2013; #879)

The Story as a D&D Spoof:

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D&D Spoof: The Giant on the comic's shift in focus from D&D gag-a-day jokes to a story that might appeal to a broader fanbase. (01/22/ 2012; #829)

D&D Spoof Part II: More on the above topic. (01/29/2012; #831)

Geekademia Interview Table of Contents

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Part 1: Kickstarter and the Fans
- 1A: Introduction
- 1B: OOTS Kickstarter Project
- 1C: OOTS Fandom & GiTP Forums
- 1D: OOTS Soundtrack Thread & OOTS Animated
- 1E: OOTS & Social Networking

Part 2: The Comic and Role-Playing Games
- 2A: On Whether Rich Has Time For Role-Playing
- 2B: Will There Ever Be an OOTS World Created for a Gaming System?

Part 3: The Comic's Storyline, Part I
- 3A: The "Darkness" of the Storyline
- 3B: On Behind-The-Scenes Story Commentary In Interviews and Books
- 3C: What Is The Comic About?
- 3D: On The Comic & D&D Rules
- 3E: Creating the Character Wall Poster
- 3F: On Fanart & Whether Roy Wears Pants
- 3G: Putting an End to the Crack Pairings Thread

Part 4: Modern Fantasy and D&D
- 4A: On Keeping Fantasy New & Interesting
- 4B: TVTropes & Lazy Criticism
- 4C: Public Perception of D&D
- 4D: Jack Chick & Tom Hanks

Part 5:The Comic's Storyline, Part II
- 5A: Rich's Favorite Characters to Write Jokes For
- 5B: Rich's Favorite Characters to Write Drama / Character Struggles For
- 5C: Vaarsuvius' Moral Conflict
- 5D: The Storyline & the D&D Alignment System
- 5E: On Keeping Plot Twists Secret
- 5F: The Desert Plot Arc & Law vs. Chaos
- 5G: The Possibility of an Order of the Scribble Prequel Book
- 5H: The Kickstarter Donor's Choice Stories
- 5I: The Conclusion of the Storyline
- 5J: How Much Story Is Left To Tell

Part 6: Outro and Ending

Special Thanks to Xapi and B.Dandelion for transcribing the interview. Reformatted for the index by ThePhantasm. Original interview by Jesse Baruffi and David Lawrence of Geekademia.

eBooks: Yes, Rich has considered it. Digital PDF's are not in the works. Rich prefers to sell physical copy books. (4/11/2011, #786)

Top Webcomics: Do not vote for OOTS on Top Webcomics. (5/19/2010, #724)

[Grey_Wolf_c]

I've wanted to help out with this thread for a while. Someone mentioned a while back that all the URL tags could be changed to POST tags to save some space. I know ThePhantasm has been doing that, little by little, but I figured I'd have a go.

... I might have got carried away.

I promise I haven't changed anything except what was in the tags, and a couple of line breaks. Hopefully this means ThePhantasm can just quote my post, and cut and paste in the thread rules/note about the comic number at the top and the Update log and acknowledgements at the bottom. (I wasn't sure if I should change the Update log to POST tags as well, or leave it just in case we needed a different reference.)

I hope this doesn't make more work for ThePhantasm, in that I hope you don't feel the need to go and check all of the links. (I did.)

Also I realised a little while ago that I was in the middle of making minor corrections to the Geekademia Interview Transcript while Xapi was writing it, when I, umm, got bored and wandered off. I can continue to submit the corrections if ThePhantasm is happy to edit them in.

Anyway, the Index, or at least the bit that contains quotes (and all the stuff in the middle):

Jean,

You need to change the quote tags to spoiler tags (or any other, but spoiler tags work best). When you "quote" someone's post, any quote tags get removed (see above), so The Phantasm can't take your work from your post, even if he wants to.

Yours,

Grey Wolf