OOTS Kickstarter Bonus PDFs: The Discussion Thread *Unmarked spoilers*

[Guy Incognito]

I sent the link to my friends on Steam and read it with them. I could TELL the moment when they reached the twist because they started laughing at the same time when they got to that page. It was great.

[jere7my]

I sent the link to my friends on Steam and read it with them. I could TELL the moment when they reached the twist because they started laughing at the same time when they got to that page. It was great.

Presumably these were friends who also backed the Kickstarter? Because this would be a pretty silly place to announce filesharing of Kickstarter rewards with people who didn't participate.

[factotum]

Particularly since the Giant specifically asked for people not to do that in the message he sent round about the PDF download...

[Guy Incognito]

Particularly since the Giant specifically asked for people not to do that in the message he sent round about the PDF download...

Oh, crap. I didn't realize that.

[Winter]

I sent the link to my friends on Steam and read it with them. I could TELL the moment when they reached the twist because they started laughing at the same time when they got to that page. It was great.

You are aware the author asked you not to do that, both in the message on kickstarter as well as in the .pdf itself? Because he has to pay for the bandwidth. Even if you do not send out the link again, what happens if your friends now send the link to other friends?

How you can support Rich on the KS and then blatantly ignore his explicit wishes is a bit beyond me.

edit: Sorry, posted this before your latest reply was there.

[Roland Itiative]

Whoa, how did I miss this topic for all of these days? Also, I should probably keep an eye on the email used for the Kickstarter account from now on

[ThePhantasm]

Oh, crap. I didn't realize that.

He said it on the download link post, and on the actual PDF itself, which is clearly marked as copyright protected... plus, given that it is an exclusive reward for the Kickstarter donators, wouldn't it be safest to assume that it shouldn't be redistributed?

[Advance Strat..]

Clearly this is the best option at this point.

Spoiler

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Then you can watch their reactions again later!

[LuPuWei]

Belkar really is an evil little git

[Gorm_the_DBA]

In what possible sense of the word is killing innocents not evil?

Collateral Damage happens.

Not *here* mind you, but in other places...

[Roland Itiative]

After seeing Durkon become a vampire, with his clothes going dark, I couldn't help but imagine Belkar's reaction if he had been the one to be turned, and his clothes turned grey/black (once more).

[Italian Hippy]

Belkar did not actually burn the town down. If he had, I would have shown smoking ruins or the like to make that clear.

Thanks for clearing that up, Giant. After reading the story, I was kinda wondering about whether my beloved sexy shoeless God of Death resorted to extortion or bloody murder to get all that gold :D

By the way, should you ever read this... I suppose I am allowed to print a copy of the story (on photo paper, no less!) and "make" my own booklet, right? I just like reading comics on paper, rather than on a screen :)

[Jokunen]

Are these comics going to ever be released for anybody else than the backers? I'm asking because I haven't been reading OOTS for a couple of years, but I have now read most of the comics that have been released since then, and would have participated in the Kickstarter if it was still open.

[Porthos]

Are these comics going to ever be released for anybody else than the backers? I'm asking because I haven't been reading OOTS for a couple of years, but I have now read most of the comics that have been released since then, and would have participated in the Kickstarter if it was still open.

From the very first post in this thread.

• These stories will be available in print someday for everyone else who didn't back, so if you don't have them now and you think you're likely to buy the book in which they appear...don't read any further!

[Sir_Leorik]

Belkar key traits have already been established as being too quick to kill people and also that he is incapable of understanding the difference between "good" and "bad" killing (which in my mind means he's more psychotic neutral then evil). A theme established in previous comics is that once Belkar is rewarded for killing an evil thing, he must immediately screw up the goodwill by killing something good.

It was obvious that Belkar had to misread the shakedown and kill good people, what was not clear was how.

Belkar, Thog and Crystal are all stupid and Chaotic Evil characters, but they differ in certain respects. Thog is the stupidest of the three; he can't even string together complete sentences without referring to himself in the third person. (Compare his speech pattern to Therkla, a Half-Orc with a very respectable Intelligence score.) Thog is child-like, but prone to acts of brutal violence, which Nale and Sabine encourage.

Crystal is slightly more intelligent than Thog, but still dumber than Belkar. Bozzok does all of Crystal's thinking for her, aiming her at targets like a trained attack dog. Crystal is a remorseless killer, but without Bozzok to keep her in line she'd probably incur the wrath of the Rogues in the Thieve's Guild, almost all of whom can run circles around her.

Then there's Belkar. Belkar is cunning and his grasp of Common exceeds Elan's. But he is ignorant of basic social conventions and seems annoyed that he has to obey basic laws against arson, homicide or jaywalking. A more clever psychopath would know when to go on a killing spree and when to lay low. Belkar is cunning, not clever. He leaps without looking. And like an AD&D 2E Thief, he believes the world and everyone in it owes him a living. The net result is that Belkar, prior to his epiphany in Greysky City, was out of control. Roy managed to reign him in, especially after Shojo's Clerics put the Mark of Justice on Belkar, but after Roy died all bets were off, as Solt Lurkyurg learned to his eternal regret. (Too bad you have to wake up pretty early in the morning to pull one over on the Oracle of Sunken Valley.) A smarter crook would have asked questions, not leapt to conclusions. (Of course if Belkar had asked questions, he might have tried to blackmail and/or murder them anyway, just in a different, hilarious way.)

[Sir_Leorik]

I don't think this story really sets that up. Comic 685 establishes that Belkar was friends with one of the suppliers Buggy Lou bought slaves from. It wouldn't make sense for Belkar to be friends with people who were buying and selling him. Plus, in the story Belkar implies that he killed the slavers. The story does establish that Belkar wouldn't have had any qualms about associating with slavers even after being a slave himself, but I don't see Belkar's slavery as having anything to do with Buggy Lou.

Hmm, maybe Belkar decided to use the extortion money he got in this story to go into business with Buggy Lou's supplier?

[Porthos]

Hmm, maybe Belkar decided to use the extortion money he got in this story to go into business with Buggy Lou's supplier?

Well he does say he admired the business model. Perhaps he decided to do some investing.

[Romanes eunt do]

Enchanted Leprechaun.

You stab-happy little psychopath.

Page 8, Panel 5: You're welcome, Giant.

[Flame of Anor]

It's a special font.

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I LOVE BANANAS AND ALSO SECRET MESSAGES TOO

Wow, that's amazing.

[Gift Jeraff]

I was thinking after Buggy Lou went to the Western Continent and the other guy got tagged, no one else in the local slave trade liked Belkar and thus he became a victim of it.

[entraha]

i either didn't look carefully enough to see, or am the only one (with an account and time to post) who saw and loved the breaking bad reference.

good one, giant :D

[Vinsfeld]

I sent the link to my friends on Steam and read it with them. I could TELL the moment when they reached the twist because they started laughing at the same time when they got to that page. It was great.

That's great, man. Now you have to run and tell them not to spread the link any further, so to minimize your mistake.

[Agnostik]

i either didn't look carefully enough to see, or am the only one (with an account and time to post) who saw and loved the breaking bad reference.

Huh? What reference?

[Happy Me]

Huh? What reference?

I assume the BB reference is on Page 4 "Baking is complex chemical..."

[Agnostik]

Hrrm*, could be. Not sure it is a Breaking Bad reference, to be honest.

*Yes, I picked up the habit of saying that from Malack.

[allenw]

Hrrm*, could be.
*Yes, I picked up the habit of saying that from Malack.

Hrrm. I picked up the same habit from Rorschach.

[Olinser]

O-Chul will be in "bluescale," or monochrome blue. Think black-and-white, but with shades of blue instead of shades of grey. Therkla's story will probably be the same way, since she's from Azure City too. If you want to see what it looks like, check out the cover image I used for O-Chul's story during the Kickstarter.

The other prequel stories (C.P.P.D and Sir Francois & the Dragon), the StickTales (Haleo and Julelan), and Julio Scoundrél will be in black-and-white, to match the existing stories of the same group from Snips, Snails, and Dragon Tales. Dim Sun will be in full color.

Maybe somebody already asked and answered this, but who is C.P.P.D?

[Gift Jeraff]

Cliffport Police Department.

[Olinser]

Cliffport Police Department.

Ah got it, thanks.

[Starwaster]

In what possible sense of the word is killing innocents not evil?

He's evil. He's stated he's evil, the Giant has stated he's evil, his character sheet says evil, and he's repeatedly been evil for the sake of evil. He's dabbled in slavery, tried to murder teammates, murdered a random passerby for a chocolate bar, murdered the Oracle before they could ask their questions, and tortures kobolds well beyond what can be considered payback. Oh, and in this story, he proceeded to shake down the town for protection money upon realizing he killed their guards.

He's evil, not neutral. Let me repeat, EVIL. with a capital E. This isn't poor misunderstood Belkar. This is a psychotic, evil little halfling who likes to kill things for fun.

Please forgive me for this bit of necroposting, but I only just saw this and had to throw in my 2 CP...

Let's also not forget the fact that his 'conscience' doesn't consist of a devil and an angel as is usually traditionally depicted. Instead he has two devils and a slaad.... And you don't want the slaad to come out.

The angel.... doesn't work here anymore.