OOTS #387 - The Discussion Thread

[BlueWizard]

Thog has to join the group now!

[LurkerBeneath]

I've been curious: What does theKOT mean or stand for?

The King of Town is a character on http://homestarrunner.com/.
-LB

[dragon95046]

If this is the caliber of comic you were working on, Rich, I would have been happy to wait til NEXT FRIDAY! This was awesome and makes the previous comic (awesome in it's own right) seem barely laughable.

Good work.

[Tleilaxu_Ghola]

Best line EVAR: "How thog's pants turn purple?"

[metalphil]

"how thog's pants turn purple?"

Haha.. beautiful.

[edit] Apparently the person above me thought the exact same thing. Didn't mean to be repetitive.

[LurkerBeneath]

When I got to the part about the Vaporizing Flu, I felt a disturbance in the Force; as if a thousand GMs cried out for joy and suddenly began scribbling ideas...

Similar ideas have been around since 2003 at least.

Spoiler

Show

Dungeon #97, Shackled City Adventure Path, Life's Bazaar, Jzadirune, The Vanishing

-LB

[dragon95046]

Since Thog has shown some rudimentary taste where music is concerned, does anyone care to speculate about his motivation for singing ...that?

Maybe he is more cruel and devious than we think!

It got stuck in his head when Elan was singing it.

not-: I even tried singing Spice Girls if they didn't let me free.

And if he wants to sing it out loud, who is gonna stop him?

[garylian]

Absolutely Frickin' Brilliant!

Spice Girls. Thog sings a Spice Girls song. *gasp* *wheeze* *cough*

Wow.

And Elan was brilliant when he had to be. Just did a great job of winging it.

I can't wait for the rest of this story.

Kudos, Giant.

[knownaspirate]

yay!

man i'm totally stoked!
go elan!
woots!

[Zaria]

Hurray for Elan and Thog!! I bet those bars are sorry they ate the breadcrumbs now!

[Daran]

Hey, my first post.

Been reading since the Start.
That was one of the best comics so far. Keep up the good work
I even chose Elan's line below as signature

[warmachine]

The script has been rushed to the point where artistic license has been abused. In a town where divination magic is not accepted in court because it can be faked with illusions, the guards seem untrained to handle them. Now, an insufficiently funded town guard that can't afford a strong jail, let alone anti-magic fields, is reasonable to assume. Similarly, poorly paid guards that don't care enough about their jobs to bind the hands of a suspect spellcaster is plausible. Guards that believe that decorations require jail doors to be ripped apart and mangled? Um, no. That it costs 2000 GP? They're not going to believe anybody pays that much at all, especially for an badly underfunded department. They're not going to believe anyone bothers redecorating a prison in the first place. They'd be surprised if it got cleaned on a regular basis.

Elan could easily handle the guards with other magic, such as Invisibility Sphere, Sleep, Darkness, Charm Person or Modify Memory, without a moronic story. Indeed, the last two could easily create comic dialogue.

Overall, a good episode except for the unbelievably moronic guards. A shame as, with high level bardic magic, the standard, dumb guard could still make good but plausible comedy.

[charik]

wOOTS!
why thog angry?
Um, no reason.

Best couplet ever.

[ElfLad]

Thog and Elan's Excellent Adventure!

*air guitars*

[Kesnit]

Aww, man! That illusion NEVER works!

I loved Elan's bluff checks with the guards. I guess that proves his 18 CHA isn't only "under the hood."

[knownaspirate]

The script has been rushed to the point where artistic license has been abused. In a town where divination magic is not accepted in court because it can be faked with illusions, the guards seem untrained to handle them. Now, an insufficiently funded town guard that can't afford a strong jail, let alone anti-magic fields, is reasonable to assume. Similarly, poorly paid guards that don't care enough about their jobs to bind the hands of a suspect spellcaster is plausible. Guards that believe that decorations require jail doors to be ripped apart and mangled? Um, no. That it costs 2000 GP? They're not going to believe anybody pays that much at all, especially for an badly underfunded department. They're not going to believe anyone bothers redecorating a prison in the first place. They'd be surprised if it got cleaned on a regular basis.

Elan could easily handle the guards with other magic, such as Invisibility Sphere, Sleep, Darkness, Charm Person or Modify Memory, without a moronic story. Indeed, the last two could easily create comic dialogue.

Overall, a good episode except for the unbelievably moronic guards. A shame as, with high level bardic magic, the standard, dumb guard could still make good but plausible comedy.

i think you're looking wwaaayyy to far into it.
it's funny. lighten up.

and as for elan using different spells on the guards. i think there was a post elsewhere about how elan has really useless bard spells. and when he uses said bard spells it makes for laugh worthy results.

[Jared_Arcane]

Freakin' awesome. I can't wait to try out this routine the next time my half-orc barbarin is stuck in a jail. Spice Girls. They're not just for breakfast anymore.

[Mewtroid]

I'm not even going to bother reading through this thread, it'll probably double in size while I do that.

This comic is awesome in comic form. Like, pure awesome. Essence of awesome. Awesome with all the inactive ingredients removed, leaving the active ingredient of win.

Or something, I'm stupid, sick, and tired.

[Quantum Toast]

Is it just me, or has Elan's Intelligence tripled in the last few strips?

[Solara]

Oh my God. It's very rare that I literally 'LOL' at a comic, but this one got me multiple times. I'm sure that had a lot to do with the number of lines Thog had, though the other jokes were hilarious too. This whole arc has been great, but even so this is easily my favorite strip in a long, long time.

Guards that believe that decorations require jail doors to be ripped apart and mangled? Um, no. That it costs 2000 GP? They're not going to believe anybody pays that much at all, especially for an badly underfunded department. They're not going to believe anyone bothers redecorating a prison in the first place. They'd be surprised if it got cleaned on a regular basis.

Heh. Seems like there's always somebody that's going to find a reason to hate a comic no matter what, but if you're going to get mad about the 'realism' of one TV reference why didn't you complain about how thog's pants changed color too?

[Belkar's Left Foot]

I can hardly wait to see what thog and Elans adventure is!

(will have to take sedatives to make sure I don't go insane waiting for the next comic)

Thog smash puny sanity!

[Erloas]

Overall, a good episode except for the unbelievably moronic guards. A shame as, with high level bardic magic, the standard, dumb guard could still make good but plausible comedy.

Well as has been very well demonstrated the last times the Cliffport police were around, they are not just stupid, they are very stupid.

[the_tick_rules]

good to see the comedy aspect has returned in full swing, hulk refrences was great. elan has one good bluff/diplomacy check don't he . but of course the guards are like low-level warriors, they're sense motive is minimal.

[Miarae]

Brilliant comic! Well worth the wait, I literally LOL-ed! Not so good for neighbours, considering it's 4 am. Ah well, they're not worth it if they don't read this wonderful comic ! I can't wait to see monday's comic, wonder if we'll (ever) find out why Thog's in a leprechaun costume. I love him. And Elan for that matter. "My Haley", awwww! And he finally figured out the Disguise Self. I'm so proud! He's all grown up...

[Suki_the_Pure]

Is it just me, or has Elan's Intelligence tripled in the last few strips?

I'd say it's Thog being the only somewhat-main character in the strip, so Elan seems smarter by comparison, the pressure of his situation forcing Elan to use his head more than would otherwise be necessary with the other Order members around, or a combination of the two.

[Blaznak]

Prison changed Thog.

This is really becoming some of Giant's best work in a very long time. Now this is coming from the guy that gets creeped out by 'false identity' stories, so I'm pleasantly surpised at how much I'm really enjoying this!

Well done and BRAVO!

[tcjsavannah]

it thog's world now. it happy place.

[Holy_Knight]

Literal LOL at Thog as the Incredible Hulk. Great stuff. Elan lamenting about that illusion never working is pretty funny too, not to mention everything else.

And how cute was it that he called her "my Haley"? Awwwww...

[SPoD]

The script has been rushed to the point where artistic license has been abused. In a town where divination magic is not accepted in court because it can be faked with illusions, the guards seem untrained to handle them. Now, an insufficiently funded town guard that can't afford a strong jail, let alone anti-magic fields, is reasonable to assume. Similarly, poorly paid guards that don't care enough about their jobs to bind the hands of a suspect spellcaster is plausible. Guards that believe that decorations require jail doors to be ripped apart and mangled? Um, no. That it costs 2000 GP? They're not going to believe anybody pays that much at all, especially for an badly underfunded department. They're not going to believe anyone bothers redecorating a prison in the first place. They'd be surprised if it got cleaned on a regular basis.

The reference is to a TV show called "Trading Spaces", wherein the designer comes in and redesigns the home in two days for $2000. Note that the TV SHOW pays the money, which employs the interior designer, not the the homeowner. Elan is saying that people are coming in to pay for the redesign, and for an underfunded police department, THAT would make perfect sense. "Hey, good work, Warden, you found people willing to pay for our badly-needed upgrades."

Or, it was just funny and the level of believability you are talking about doesn't matter to 99% of the readers.

Elan could easily handle the guards with other magic, such as Invisibility Sphere, Sleep, Darkness, Charm Person or Modify Memory, without a moronic story.

That "moronic story" is known as a joke.

At any rate, we have no evidence that Elan knows any of those spells. In fact, I would bet Elan doesn't know ANY Enchantment spells whatsoever--because NALE knows enchantment spells, and they're opposites. Within the realm of bardic magic, illusion and enchantment are the two possible routes. Elan clearly prefers illusion.

And yeah, Rich could have given him some powerful bard spell now, but remember if he does, he has to deal with the fact that Elan can cast that spell without preparation from now on. I'd rather he escape prison this way then watch Rich constantly need to explain to the nitpickers why Elan didn't cast "Invisibility Sphere" in every single battle.

[Aevii]

I'd say it's Thog being the only somewhat-main character in the strip, so Elan seems smarter by comparison, the pressure of his situation forcing Elan to use his head more than would otherwise be necessary with the other Order members around, or a combination of the two.

Well, since they're PCs I've always had the players in mind instead of the characters when it came to the OotS-the primary reason I don't like Belkar.

Elan's player came across as someone who didn't take the game seriously so much as enjoying the time he was spending with the playgroup until he had something interesting/important (Haley) to pursue.


It's just a game until you run into something important to you