The Annotated Order of the Stick - A Companion Guide

[TheWombatOfDoom]

I believe the word you seek is "Glossary".

That...wow...*facepalm*

Perfect. Have a cookie.

[littlebum2002]

A lot of people were having trouble with this, so

Update 943: Everyone Hates Goodbye Scenes -

• The phrase "hit the head" in the last panel is sailor slang for "use the bathroom"

[TheWombatOfDoom]

A lot of people were having trouble with this, so

Update 943: Everyone Hates Goodbye Scenes -

• The phrase "hit the head" in the last panel is sailor slang for "use the bathroom"

Excellent. I'll add that in. Thank you for using the format!

[Nimrod's Son]

The head is the proper name for a ship's toilet. I'm not sure it's really "sailor slang" anymore than someone saying they're going to "hit the showers" after working out is using "athlete slang".

[TheWombatOfDoom]

I'm not sure I'd call it "sailor slang", though - the head is the proper name for a ship's toilet.

How would you phrase it? Something like -

Julio uses the term "hit the head". The "head" is the proper name for a ships toilet.

[Nimrod's Son]

How about:

Update 943: Everyone Hates Goodbye Scenes -

• The "head" Julio mentions in the last panel is the ship's toilet.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Updated! Thank you both!

[ti'esar]

Noticed this recently: a couple of the southern nations that the refugee fleet visited prior to 501 have been identified in book-only material.

Spoiler

Show

The third is named the Realm of the Dragon, and appeared in a random one-page strip in SSDT, while the second is implicitly the Ghostlands, mentioned as being to the immediate south of Azure City in the traveler's guide included in WXP.

[Unrest]

Hope Wombat lives, as it's a great thread and I think it should be stickied. I'm rereading, so might as well contribute where I feel someone completely unfamiliar with games could get confused.

// it's still incomplete for complete newbies, but oh well. might add missing things over time.

Update #1 (this bit meant to go before the existing comment)
- each character in the comic (and in an RPG session) has a Race, a Class, and other abilities. Characters controlled by the players of the game, called Player Characters (PCs) are usually humanoid, like humans, dwarves, elves, etc. A class is a vocation which defines their Skills and abilities. Roy (bald with sword) is a human Fighter, Haley (redhead with bow) is a human rogue, Elan (blond with lute) is a human Bard, Durkon (bald with hammer) is a dwarven Cleric (divinely-inspired magic user), Vaarsuvius (purple hair) is an elven Wizard (scholarly magic user), and Belkar (crew-cut with daggers) is a halfling Ranger.

Update #11
- panel 4: "Levels" are a general indicator of power and skilfulness for players and monsters alike, the higher the stronger. Roy references the fact that in D & D, monsters usually have only their "racial levels", so they are e.g. a 9th-level Ogre. If they have class levels, e.g. they're an ogre with 6 levels of Ogre and 3 levels of Fighter (a character class the players can also choose), it means they have access to the abilities of that class, and so are more versatile.
- panel 5: in D&D, all creatures have an alignment, or a kind of specific and objective "moral nature", a combination of Law and Chaos (broadly lawfulness and lawlessness) and Good and Evil, with a Neutral point in between. Belkar is shown to be unaffected by the Unholy Blight spell, which only harms Good and Neutral creatures. The implication is that his alignment is Evil, a fact that the group chooses to ignore. The objective description of alignments in D&D later sets up many of the comic's comments on morality.

Update #12 (also clearing up your point in p.5)
- panel 1: killing monsters, completing quests and other successes earn characters eXperience Points. Upon accumulating a specified amount, they "go up a level" (p.2). "Character levels" are advanced through, from 1 to 20 (the party right now is 9th-level, so going onto being fairly skilled adventurers), and are a general indicator of power and skilfulness for players and monsters alike.
- panel 2: Roy wants to go down the stairs into a lower part of the dungeon they're in (which they entered at ground level). In old-school "dungeon crawl" D & D adventures, the toughest monsters (guarding the most valuable treasure) would typically reside in the dungeon's lowest levels.
- panel 3: Haley mentions the Rogue-class ability Sneak Attack, which deals high damage to unsuspecting enemies. With more Rogue levels, Sneak Attack deals additional damage.
- panel 4: Haley is referencing the vampire's power to drain energy from people, which may result in character level loss.
- panel 8: Magical spells in D&D are grouped in levels from 0 to 9th, with higher levels being more powerful. When advancing to 3rd, 5th, 7th etc. level, wizards gain the ability to cast spells of a higher level, as does Vaarsuvius here. Roy mistakes his statement for a command.
- panel 10: TSR (Tactical Studies Rules) were the original publishers of Dungeons & Dragons (later by Wizards of the Coast).

Update #13
- panel 2: the well-entrenched action-RPG "kick-in-the-door dungeon crawl" play style.
- panel 6: a lich is, as advertised, a very powerful magician that triumphed over death with his magic and assumed a skeletal body. Always Evil. "Undead" is an umbrella term for zombies, moving skeletons, vampires, and other cemetery-related creatures.
- panel 8: the Bard class also has spells, but they're often made fun of because they rarely appear immediately useful. This crops up later in Elan's story.

Update #14
- panel 2: spellcasters in D&D have a specific daily allotment of spells. Once they have cast them all, they have to rest, and then prepare to use them anew.

Update #15
- panel 9: archons are wisp-like celestial creatures.

Update #16
- panel 1: elves in D&D rest by meditating rather than sleeping.
- panel 3: Turn Undead is a trademark Cleric class ability which allows them to scare away undead creatures.
- panel 7: ghasts and ghouls are a type of undead that, among other things, eat dead bodies.

Update #20
- panel 11: Belkar implies that by late afternoon Vaarsuvius usually will have used his most powerful spells, as wizards not only get a specific total number they can cast, but also have to choose how many times they can cast each spell each day.

Update #21
- panel 7: common misconception amongst less subtle players that the only way to gain XP is to kill monsters.

Update #22
- panel 4: Roy is alluding to the fact that only the Ranger class has (easy) access to the Track skill.

Update #25
- panel 4: "AC" means "Armor Class" and measures how difficult it is for one to be hit by an attack.

Update #26
- panel 1: Belkar mentions a spell named "Dispel Clothes", which is a play on the names of various "Dispel" spells in D&D (such as Dispel Magic, Dispel Chaos etc.), which cause the named effect to disappear.

[Ron Miel]

Update #20
- panel 11: Belkar implies that by late afternoon Vaarsuvius usually will have used his most powerful spells, as wizards not only get a specific total number they can cast, but also have to choose how many times they can cast each spell each day.

No, it's a reference to people being cranky early in the day until they have fully woken up.

[ChristianSt]

No, it's a reference to people being cranky early in the day until they have fully woken up.

While this is certainly possible (though I find it unlikely, because nothing really implies that V is cranky in the morning), I always have read it the way Unrest states there. (Though I really don't see why the "needs to choose how many/which spells" should matter there.)

But that is somewhat of a problem I generally have with this thread: It is nearly impossible to tell for something, whether it is really a reference to X or if it wasn't intended but someone just figured out fits nicely.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Hope Wombat lives, as it's a great thread and I think it should be stickied. I'm rereading, so might as well contribute where I feel someone completely unfamiliar with games could get confused.

// it's still incomplete for complete newbies, but oh well. might add missing things over time.

I do live! I've just been more preoccupied with some real life things/not a lot of input has been given in awhile. Thank you for changing this, and thank you for the support of the project. I look forward to more contributions from you! (I'll go through these when I can, and what I think fits from them to the OP's.

While this is certainly possible (though I find it unlikely, because nothing really implies that V is cranky in the morning), I always have read it the way Unrest states there. (Though I really don't see why the "needs to choose how many/which spells" should matter there.)

But that is somewhat of a problem I generally have with this thread: It is nearly impossible to tell for something, whether it is really a reference to X or if it wasn't intended but someone just figured out fits nicely.

Sometimes it is nearly impossible, yes, but othertimes I tend to lean toward references to gaming more heavily, since that's one of Rich's main influences to the comic, but I do understand your hessitations for intended meanings. Rest assured, I do understand that sometimes a "cigar is just a cigar", and I know I'll be likely be wrong about something or another (or a contributor will be). Still, I think this project is worth it despite this, which I guess is why I enjoy maintaining it. (Also because I'm certifiably insane )

Even still, I appreciate your input in this thread. Thank you.

[ChristianSt]

Sometimes it is nearly impossible, yes, but othertimes I tend to lean toward references to gaming more heavily, since that's one of Rich's main influences to the comic, but I do understand your hessitations for intended meanings. Rest assured, I do understand that sometimes a "cigar is just a cigar", and I know I'll be likely be wrong about something or another (or a contributor will be). Still, I think this project is worth it despite this, which I guess is why I enjoy maintaining it. (Also because I'm certifiably insane )

Even still, I appreciate your input in this thread. Thank you.

Oh no - that wasn't meant as a negative criticism on this thread. I know (or at least I see) that other poster like this and I don't see any reason to try to stop anyone in doing so.

And yes some references seems too obvious to not be intended (like the FF reference in Cliffport or the Lost reference on the Orc Island), but others seems just unintended similarities (like the Thog is flying in Superman pose someone pointed out in the past. I don't know if it has gone in the OP).

There is just a point where "intended reference" crosses over into "random fluke". The problem is that this border point has probably a size similar to the Neutral alignment between Good and Evil. And we just can't tell whether something is on this or on that site of the border.


But I don't "give up" my right to voice my opinion when I think that someones tries to sell something that imo is only a cigar as something else (Because if no one voices his opinion about such things, someday comes the point where this might turn in a haystack of random flukes with some needles of reference thrown into).

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Oh no - that wasn't meant as a negative criticism on this thread. I know (or at least I see) that other poster like this and I don't see any reason to try to stop anyone in doing so.

And yes some references seems too obvious to not be intended (like the FF reference in Cliffport or the Lost reference on the Orc Island), but others seems just unintended similarities (like the Thog is flying in Superman pose someone pointed out in the past. I don't know if it has gone in the OP).

There is just a point where "intended reference" crosses over into "random fluke". The problem is that this border point has probably a size similar to the Neutral alignment between Good and Evil. And we just can't tell whether something is on this or on that site of the border.


But I don't "give up" my right to voice my opinion when I think that someones tries to sell something that imo is only a cigar as something else (Because if no one voices his opinion about such things, someday comes the point where this might turn in a haystack of random flukes with some needles of reference thrown into).

I wasn't taking it as such, actually! I appreciate you criticisms and honestly, a thread like this needs more than just the curator going nope, yep, or maybe, because otherwise, this is just one persons opinion of the comic being posted, and that means that things will be missed that that one person might have got, that others did not.

No the superman pose didn't go in, as I also think that was a random fluke. I tend to er on the side of caution for things that aren't clearly referencing something, and only go with those that are. In terms of, "Oh, this is a D&D reference that someone who doesn't play might not get", or "Oh this is a TV show reference" or even a "I don't get this reference...". There's also some references to previous comics that not everyone picks up on. I generally try and stick to those topics as much as possible, unless someone brings up a confusion on something, or I've seen confusion on it in the past.

Please keep speaking up!

[littlebum2002]

Update 447: Guarding the Sapphire –

• In the last panel on the 2nd row, you see the wondow is boarded up from when Belkar and Miko crashed through it in 284

[TheWombatOfDoom]

After a two month Hiatus, I'm thinking it may be time to work on this again.

[Gwynfrid]

I'll find it difficult to dedicate time to help but will try my best.

I now have 2 "customers" at home who are asking me questions about strips from time to time - ages 12 and 13

[Angelalex242]

I think a 'translation of all Haley's Cryptograms' might be in order for a companion guide. Just a thought.

[Jaxzan Proditor]

I think a 'translation of all Haley's Cryptograms' might be in order for a companion guide. Just a thought.

There have been threads that did that, though. Here's one, for example.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

There have been threads that did that, though. Here's one, for example.

THat's being handled by a related project - Transcription of the Stick, located in my signature.

[Aedilred]

I don't know if this has been mentioned before, and I'd be kind of surprised if it hadn't been, so maybe there's a reason it's not been put up already, but whatever: the paladin on Xykon's Teevo in panel 4 of strip #415 is Sir Francois, who Elan used to work for before joining the Order of the Stick. (Origin of PCs).

(At least, he looks exactly like him. Sir F's only been shown in grayscale so it's theoretically possible it could be a different paladin, but the character design is identical).

[TheWombatOfDoom]

I don't know if this has been mentioned before, and I'd be kind of surprised if it hadn't been, so maybe there's a reason it's not been put up already, but whatever: the paladin on Xykon's Teevo in panel 4 of strip #415 is Sir Francois, who Elan used to work for before joining the Order of the Stick. (Origin of PCs).

(At least, he looks exactly like him. Sir F's only been shown in grayscale so it's theoretically possible it could be a different paladin, but the character design is identical).

It is indeed! I have a list of his appearances in the "overflow and gags" section:

Sir Francois was Elan’s travelling companion before he joined the Order of the Stick. We find this out in the On the Origins of the PC’s book, though he makes several appearances within the main story –
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0311.html
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0415.html
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0888.html

[Jaxzan Proditor]

It is indeed! I have a list of his appearances in the "overflow and gags" section:

Sir Francois was Elan’s travelling companion before he joined the Order of the Stick. We find this out in the On the Origins of the PC’s book, though he makes several appearances within the main story –
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0311.html
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0415.html
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0888.html

Wow, I had no idea he appeared so many times. I should look at this thread more often.

[Aedilred]

Aha, I missed the overflow and gags section.

In which case, I'll give you a 2-for-1 (or in fact, a 1-for-1) and point out another instance of the "Elan's female adversary illusion", in #387, panel 1.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Alrighty folks, now that the Transcription project is largely complete, and my wedding and such have passed successfully, I'm bringing this thread back into active status!

Let me know if you find anything to contribute, or if you notice any suggestions mentioned previously that I've missed.

[Gwynfrid]

Congrats on your wedding!

I might add some contributions at random times. No promises, though... I need some downtime to do that.

[Quild]

wow, nice work. I wonder how I managed to miss that for so long. I'll take some time to read and see if I see missing things :)

Double congrats then!

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Congrats on your wedding!

I might add some contributions at random times. No promises, though... I need some downtime to do that.

Glad to have you still (randomly) with us. It appears that I have my work cut out for me in catching up. Formatting alone looks like it needs improvement. I'm also noticing things that I may need to be put up for voting - things that should or should not be within the annotation. For example, do we really need-

Update 121: The Return of Mail Call –
•In panel 11, the left pirate is uncorking the bottle with a hook hand.

[Ron Miel]

For example, do we really need-

Update 121: The Return of Mail Call –
•In panel 11, the left pirate is uncorking the bottle with a hook hand.

Yes, I think we need that sort of thing. It is good to point out the little details like this that some people might miss.

[Gwynfrid]

Yes, I think we need that sort of thing. It is good to point out the little details like this that some people might miss.

It's nice to record that somewhere, but at the same time, it's also kind of a spoiler for things people might like to discover on their own. I suggest using a spoiler labeled "Did you notice?" for such little gems. That's even more work for Wombat though... Consider it just a suggestion. That said, it should be possible to farm out some editing work to contributors like me (provided there's no implied urgency).