Twice Blessed (Total Ripoff of OOTS?)

[TheTenser]

So there is a new D&D webcomic called Twice Blessed: www.twiceblessedcomic.com
The main character is an idiot bard who only ever does anything useful completely on accident, and he is accompanied by a dwarf with a thick accent and a snooty wizard who is easily annoyed by his antics. It likes to make juvenile jokes about his "rod of wonder" and other D&D references.

So, anyways, it just seems like a rip-off of OOTS, except with worse writing and (marginally) better art. What do you guys think?

[Trazoi]

It's hardly a rip-off of OoTS, at least in the dozen or so comics in the archive. The idiot bard, dwarf with an accent and pompous wizard are old fantasy cliches - that's why they pop up everywhere. So far it's not my cup of tea because it's nothing more that those fantasy cliches, but I wouldn't be painting it with the rip-off label.

[Weimann]

Pompous wizards are fantasy tropes. Incompetent bards are more of an RPG meme, I think.

Besides, I haven't seen any proof that he's actually a bard, or actually incompetent. It's the easiest D&D comaprison to make, yes, but my first thought was some kind of duelist, and we've not seen enough of the comic to make any judgements on his "competence" yet, whatever that means.

So far, the comic is by no means earthshaking, but the art style looks solid and I like the Russian dwarf. I'll have to see more of it to make up my mind on it. Might check back on it at a later date.

[Surfing HalfOrc]

Rip-Off of OotS? Nah. The characters have been done countless times before in comics, novels, and adventures.

Juvenile? Yeah, but that's not necessarily a game ender. Cade reminds me of one of my first characters, Justin Tyme. I created Justin while in Junior High, (which I attended between 1978-1981, so I was using 1st Edition Rules), and I still remember him trying to pick up girls in about the same manner, and with nearly the same results. Yeah, Jr. High boys aren't exactly smooth with the ladies!

[Friv]

The dwarf's not scottish, so, you know, points for that.

Anyway, those characters have no more than the most superficial possible resemblence to OotS. Unless... is this a sneaky way of getting people to read the comic? Are you affiliated with it?

Because that would be a great marketing strategy. Hm, I need to think of something that I can claim my work is ripping off...

[gadren]

Hey, this is Mike Haneline, the actual writer of Twice Blessed.
I'm glad everyone beat me to it, but no, I did not rip off Order of the Stick.
Also, for the record, Cade is a Paladin/Bard (or a Bard/Holy Liberator if you don't want to break any 3.5 rules), though I tend to play up the paladin part more. His class isn't terribly important to the story, honestly.

I would just like to point out that we just got started, and our story pacing is admittedly a bit slow since Gen and I are just getting into this for the first time.
If you are curious was the story is actually about...:

Spoiler

Show

The primary arc focuses on Cade and another character who will be introduced in chapter 2, Delbin Black. Black is a disciplined, ruthless assassin and master swordsman who accepts a contract to kill Cade. Unfortunately, before he can, the two end up with a curse that basically acts like a powerful two-way version of the shield other spell, meaning that if Cade dies, Delbin, dies, and vice versa. So, they (and their friends) have to figure out a way to get them un-cursed, and along the way, they get tangled up in things that are much more dangerous...

That's the distilled version of it anyway. Don't want to give away too much, but there's a lot more set to go on, and other characters are intricately involved. You've already met Melchior the mage and Vadim Valntipur the dwarf warrior, and it won't be long before you meet Pella the pixie arcane archer, Rua the "witch", and others who all have their own plots going on that affect the main plot.

[Cen]

[troll]You guys know nothing! Of course it's a ripoff of OotS! It's a webcomic, and in D&D! It even have bard as a protagonist!And a dwarf! Coincidence? I think not!

Have you seen Die Hard? It's a rip off of OotS - the protagonist is BALD and badass!! Jeez, people can't think of anything new? Where the world has got to

And Harry Potter is a rip off Twilight![/troll]

Reaaly, one of these threads again?
Anyways - this Twice Blessed seems interesting. Bookmarked and waiting for more.

[KillianHawkeye]

Incompetent bards are more of an RPG meme, I think.

Bards have been incompetent at least since Final Fantasy 2/4j.

[Friv]

Bards have been incompetent at least since Final Fantasy 2/4j.

I would counter-argue that bards are considered incompetent largely because of Final Fantasy 2/4's spoony bard.


Anyway.

Hi, Gadren! Sounds like a good root for a 'buddy cop' fantasy. I'll be someone keeping an eye on it.

[gadren]

I would counter-argue that bards are considered incompetent largely because of Final Fantasy 2/4's spoony bard.


Anyway.

Hi, Gadren! Sounds like a good root for a 'buddy cop' fantasy. I'll be someone keeping an eye on it.

LOL, I suppose it is.

"One's a swashbuckling lady's man half-elf. The other is a humorless undead assassin. Together, they fight crime!"

*cue catchy theme song*

[Valameer]

Thanks, TheTenser, for introducing me to this promising web comic! It looks good so far. And I wouldn't have found it without you. Also, have you ever considered a career in marketing?

[Luzahn]

LOL, I suppose it is.

"One's a swashbuckling lady's man half-elf. The other is a humorless undead assassin. Together, they fight crime!"

*cue catchy theme song*

Hm. Reminds me of Jarlaxle and Artemis Entreri.

[Nerd-o-rama]

I'm not going to call this comic original, but I'm not going to call OotS original either. OotS set up camp right next to the Well Of Overused Fantasy Plot Devices for all its story and character needs and is quite happy there - you can't blame other stories from coming and watering at the same well, it's the one all fantasy uses.

That said, this Twice Blessed comic has some promise; even if I'm not fond of things that take their time getting to the main premise, that seems to be almost an inevitability in plotted webcomics. I'll keep an eye on it.

Oh, and there's a feat in D&D 3.5 that lets you be a Lawful Good Bard/Paladin and stacks the class levels for some features, if gadren was curious. You have to start as a non-Lawful Bard and "convert" to take the feat and Paladin levels, technically, but I'd rather just houserule out the alignment restrictions anyway. Devoted Performer, I think, from Complete Adventurer.

[H Birchgrove]

LOL, I suppose it is.

"One's a swashbuckling lady's man half-elf. The other is a humorless undead assassin. Together, they fight crime!"

*cue catchy theme song*

I'd watch it.

[gadren]

Hm. Reminds me of Jarlaxle and Artemis Entreri.

Doh! I guess.
But Cade is actually not particularly clever, or resourceful, or powerful, or skilled, or in general as big of a Marty Stu as Jarlaxle is. Cade is mostly just lucky.

(Don't get me wrong, I love Jarlaxle and will probably read anything he's in because he is amusing as hell, but he is like the high-king of Marty Stu's everywhere.)

[Tirian]

I would counter-argue that bards are considered incompetent largely because of Final Fantasy 2/4's spoony bard.

A few years before that, bards were surprisingly useless in The Bard's Tale. Personally, I'd go further back to the minstrels in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, even though they came to some use in the end.

[Nerd-o-rama]

A few years before that, bards were surprisingly useless in The Bard's Tale. Personally, I'd go further back to the minstrels in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, even though they came to some use in the end.

Yaaay! fillertext

[Friv]

You know, I just noticed that the OP has only ever made one post. Either he really hates this comic, or he actually is a marketing genius.

[Lizard Lord]

Oh, and there's a feat in D&D 3.5 that lets you be a Lawful Good Bard/Paladin and stacks the class levels for some features, if gadren was curious. You have to start as a non-Lawful Bard and "convert" to take the feat and Paladin levels, technically, but I'd rather just houserule out the alignment restrictions anyway. Devoted Performer, I think, from Complete Adventurer.

There is also the Chaotic Good Freedom Paladin Variant.

[blackjack217]

You know, I just noticed that the OP has only ever made one post. Either he really hates this comic, or he actually is a marketing genius.

So I was on the forums then I looked around and saw I was suddenly on a webcomic. It would take some kind of marketing genus to.... TENSER!

[gadren]

There is also the Chaotic Good Freedom Paladin Variant.

Or, you know, Holy Liberator, like I said in the first place ;)

....
Also, for the record, Cade is a Paladin/Bard (or a Bard/Holy Liberator if you don't want to break any 3.5 rules)...

Honestly, if you are multiclassing in paladin but are CG, holy liberator is the way to go anyway. It has most of the crunch that paladin's get for levels 1-20 plus some other good stuff.

[Shpadoinkle]

Holy crap! Do you mean to tell me that common stock characters have been used by more than one person?!

THIS IS PROOF THAT THERE IS NO GOD!!!

[gadren]

Holy crap! Do you mean to tell me that common stock characters have been used by more than one person?!

THIS IS PROOF THAT THERE IS NO GOD!!!

I try to play with most of the stock stereotypes...

[Lord Raziere]

Wow.

Cade is Walking Lucky. Every move he makes, somehow turns out well for him even if he didn't mean it.

[Weimann]

Hey gadren, you should put a link to your comic in your signature.

[gadren]

Hey gadren, you should put a link to your comic in your signature.

You're right. Done ;)

Wow.

Cade is Walking Lucky. Every move he makes, somehow turns out well for him even if he didn't mean it.

Well, that's not entirely true. It can also turn out really badly for him. You know how in most stories, if there is a one-in-a-million chance of something happening, it's like guaranteed? Well I basically decided to play off that and turn it up to eleven. Instead of it being all just a coincidence, it is actually Cade's "blessing" at work.

[KillianHawkeye]

Bards have been incompetent at least since Final Fantasy 2/4j.

I would counter-argue that bards are considered incompetent largely because of Final Fantasy 2/4's spoony bard.

I don't think you can counter-argue with the same argument that I used in the first place.

Anyway, nice comic.

[Lord Raziere]

Well, that's not entirely true. It can also turn out really badly for him. You know how in most stories, if there is a one-in-a-million chance of something happening, it's like guaranteed? Well I basically decided to play off that and turn it up to eleven. Instead of it being all just a coincidence, it is actually Cade's "blessing" at work.

So he is Walking Luckwarped.

You are an evil man sir.

(Luckwarped is when you get both extremely good luck and extremely bad luck, not just one or the other, without both canceling each other out.)

[gadren]

So he is Walking Luckwarped.

You are an evil man sir.

(Luckwarped is when you get both extremely good luck and extremely bad luck, not just one or the other, without both canceling each other out.)

Interesting. Is the Luckwarped concept from a specific game or series, or did you just make that up on the spot?

[Lord Raziere]

My own word. came up with it years ago to describe my life. I find the concept that I made it up on the spot insulting.