Things You Never Noticed V: Your Familiar

[Peelee]

Not cheating, exactly. They are certainly playing house rules different to the official rules. But if all players agree to the variant, it isn't cheating.

Common house rules are also largely responsible for turning a 60-120 minute game into a 60-120 hour game.

Though landing on s property with 5 hotels would end the game pretty fast, i gotta say.

[goodpeople25]

Not cheating, exactly. They are certainly playing house rules different to the official rules. But if all players agree to the variant, it isn't cheating.

I don't know, if the variant is thought to be to the suggester's advantage (Never really played a full game of real monopoly, but more hotels does seem to be in Haley's favour) and the other players aren't aware of that, (It's Elan) I would think that's pretty close to (if not being) cheating depending on context.

[Mad Humanist]

Sometime between 46 and 681, Haley grasped the concept of tipping.

That's character growth. Haley is learning from Elan as we learn in panel 7 of 681.

[Mad Humanist]

The exit Durkon was exiled from is the same Roy found using the runestone.

[GravityEmblem]

Gotcha. Not really all that similar in my opinion.

Having a trait usually tied to a certain class automatically added upon taking a level, or having to already have the trait (gained or already attributed) before taking the level.

[Sermil]

Not cheating, exactly. They are certainly playing house rules different to the official rules. But if all players agree to the variant, it isn't cheating.

Ya, if it were Haley and V, I would believe that they both knew the game rules inside and out and had agreed on some variant rules. But this is Elan. She probably told him a few basic rules, and then just failed to mention all the other rules unless & until they helped her. So the no-more-than-one-hotel rule isn't mentioned unless Elan tries to build a second hotel on Marvin Gardens, at which point she'll tell him that you can only build one hotel on Marvin Gardens. Multiple hotels is for blue squares only.

If in the next game, Elan gets Park Place, it'll be "Oh, honey, ya, you can only build a second hotel if you own two utilities, remember?"

Low, Haley, low.

[Elanasaurus]

I had no idea what Veldrina was talking about in #987 until I read the Wrecan vs Vaarsuvius poll. Thanks to that thread, I now also understand the ''I like counting things" quote. (RIP Wrecan )

Aaand now I know that a cameo is a piece of jewellery.

[Zyzzyva]

The exit Durkon was exiled from is the same Roy found using the runestone.

Nice catch! :D

Interestingly, in the old art style, it looks very different (ditto for the scene in otOoPCs)- but it looks just like it currently does in the 2014 calendar.

My contribution: High Priestess Rubyrock has a facial scar. (It's most noticeable in the panel after the flashback, but it's in the flashback too - it's clearly a scar, and not vampire-fighting damage.)

[ti'esar]

A scar shaped like a lightning bolt, no less.

[Mad Humanist]

A scar shaped like a lightning bolt, no less.

She does not have it at Durkon's ordination (assuming as many people do she was sitting in the front row). I can't help feeling if that was her, she has a very bad memory given the plot has depended on her poor memory.

[Zyzzyva]

She does not have it at Durkon's ordination (assuming as many people do she was sitting in the front row). I can't help feeling if that was her, she has a very bad memory given the plot has depended on her poor memory.

What exactly is she supposed to remember, though? Middle-Priest Rubyrock attends the ordination of a Dwarf named Durkon, who later disappears for reasons no one is sure of. Many years later, as High Priestess, she receives a letter from Durkon, in exile, politely asking if he can come home now. She is confused and horrified; searches her predecessor's records for any clue as to what could be going on; finds nothing and is even more confused and horrified; writes back telling Durkon he can of course come back as soon as he likes. Still later she meets Durkon, now a vampire, and tries to help his adventuring buddies chasing after him as best she can: notably, by zapping him with lightning and, when that fails, telling them the one thing she knows about Durkon's exile, namely that it's officially over if he wants.

What has she forgotten? No one other than Hurak, Blackore, and the High Priest of Odin ever knew about the prophesy.

[Mad Humanist]

She does not have it at Durkon's ordination (assuming as many people do she was sitting in the front row). I can't help feeling if that was her, she has a very bad memory given the plot has depended on her poor memory.

What exactly is she supposed to remember, though? Middle-Priest Rubyrock attends the ordination of a Dwarf named Durkon, who later disappears for reasons no one is sure of. Many years later, as High Priestess, she receives a letter from Durkon, in exile, politely asking if he can come home now. She is confused and horrified; searches her predecessor's records for any clue as to what could be going on; finds nothing and is even more confused and horrified; writes back telling Durkon he can of course come back as soon as he likes. Still later she meets Durkon, now a vampire, and tries to help his adventuring buddies chasing after him as best she can: notably, by zapping him with lightning and, when that fails, telling them the one thing she knows about Durkon's exile, namely that it's officially over if he wants.

What has she forgotten? No one other than Hurak, Blackore, and the High Priest of Odin ever knew about the prophesy.

She did not remember the connection until the vampire mentioned exile. Afterwards she tells Roy that may be the truth will help. If she had remembered earlier she could have said the truth earlier and maybe that would have swung the battle.

[Zyzzyva]

She did not remember the connection until the vampire mentioned exile. Afterwards she tells Roy that may be the truth will help. If she had remembered earlier she could have said the truth earlier and maybe that would have swung the battle.

Well... maaaaaaybe. I can't imagine that comics 1000-1019 take that long in wall-clock time, though. And she spends most of that attending the formal part of the Godsmoot, literally possesed by Thor, or trying to help Roy in a much more direct, vampire-murdery way.

I think, at the very least, "the plot has depended on her poor memory" is really strong for what we've actually seen her contribute. (And whether she attended his ordination thirty-odd years ago seems pretty unrelated to whether she decides to shout things at a vampire mid-combat.)

[Mad Humanist]

Well... maaaaaaybe. I can't imagine that comics 1000-1019 take that long in wall-clock time, though. And she spends most of that attending the formal part of the Godsmoot, literally possesed by Thor, or trying to help Roy in a much more direct, vampire-murdery way.

I think, at the very least, "the plot has depended on her poor memory" is really strong for what we've actually seen her contribute. (And whether she attended his ordination thirty-odd years ago seems pretty unrelated to whether she decides to shout things at a vampire mid-combat.)

I think you might be right. I am being harder on her than I have a right to.

[unbeliever536]

What has she forgotten? No one other than Hurak, Blackore, and the High Priest of Odin ever knew about the prophesy.

Ok, I don't mean to be picking on you in particular, but ... that was not the High Priest of Odin. The person who gave Hurak the prophecy is only ever "a" priest of Odin or "the" (presumably local) priest of Odin. Not the High Priest. Odin has no special concern for dwarves; there's no reason to believe his high priest would be a dwarf (and indeed the current one isn't, though she probably wasn't high priest at the time of Durkon's exile).

[Zyzzyva]

Ok, I don't mean to be picking on you in particular, but ... that was not the High Priest of Odin. The person who gave Hurak the prophecy is only ever "a" priest of Odin or "the" (presumably local) priest of Odin. Not the High Priest. Odin has no special concern for dwarves; there's no reason to believe his high priest would be a dwarf (and indeed the current one isn't, though she probably wasn't high priest at the time of Durkon's exile).

Huh, I could have sworn Hurak said High Priest. But you're right, it's just "Odin's priest" - presumably the local one for Firmament, yup.

Although there's no particular reason to think Odin's priest wouldn't be a Dwarf, either, beyond the empirical fact that she currently isn't. Now I want to do some stats...

18 major (Northern) gods and 7 demigods:

• 12 humans or plausibly human-looking (Odin, Sif, Heimdall, Freya, Sunna, Mani, Skadi, Hoder, Vafthrudnir, Sigrun, Bragi, Hermod)
• 4 dwarves (Thor, Frigg, Hel (sorta), Dvalin)
• 3 halflings (Baldr, Loki, Iounn)
• 2 gnomes (Freyr, Njord)
• 2 orcs (Tyr, Fenrir(?))
• 1 fire giant (Surtur)
• 1 frost giant (Thrym)

Not a single elf or lizardfolk, although obviously they both live mostly out West.

[Yanisa]

Not a single elf or lizardfolk, although obviously they both live mostly out West.

Similarly, there are no dwarf, gnome or halfling high priests in the south and west. (Comic #999)

South is 10 humans, 1 ratfolk and 1 half-orc (or orc?).
West is 12 humans, 4 elves, 2 lizardfolk, 1 kobold and 1 humanoid with wings I can't place.

Also of note is that there are a lot of different subraces and cultures presents. You see that the easiest in the southern group, where are there 10 humans but each one is clearly inspired by a different culture. (Also see #501) Also in the west group each elf and lizardfolk seems to be a different subrace.

[GravityEmblem]

First time reading up the comic, I didn't notice that Nale had a goatee until the comic where they outright mentioned that. I am so innatentive!

[Zyzzyva]

Similarly, there are no dwarf, gnome or halfling high priests in the south and west. (Comic #999)

South is 10 humans, 1 ratfolk and 1 half-orc (or orc?).
West is 12 humans, 4 elves, 2 lizardfolk, 1 kobold and 1 humanoid with wings I can't place.

Also of note is that there are a lot of different subraces and cultures presents. You see that the easiest in the southern group, where are there 10 humans but each one is clearly inspired by a different culture. (Also see #501) Also in the west group each elf and lizardfolk seems to be a different subrace.

Who's the orc? (I am colourblind, so picking out greens from browns is not the easiest for me.)

[GrayGriffin]

Who's the orc? (I am colourblind, so picking out greens from browns is not the easiest for me.)

The one to the right of the ratfolk.

[Zyzzyva]

The one to the right of the ratfolk.

In the hat with the smokestack? ...yeah, I guess that's green. Stupid colourblindness. :P

ETA: And, vaguely inspired by the thread linked through in GrayGriffin's sig, some other stats...

14 Male-bodied* priests
11 Female-bodied* priestesses
-----
17 gods
8 goddesses
-----
5 gods with priestesses (Odin, Thor, Njord, Hoder, Hermod)
2 goddesses with priests (Sunna, Hel)
12 gods with priests
6 goddesses with priestesses

*I think those are applicable terms anyways, but in any case I am literally basing my judgements here on torso-curviness. STICK FIGURES!

[Lord Torath]

West is 12 humans, 4 elves, 2 lizardfolk, 1 kobold and 1 humanoid with wings I can't place.

I never noticed the winged humanoid. One possibility is it's an Avariel, a winged elf (the elven lands are on the Western Continent). No visible pointy ears, though.

2 orcs (Tyr, Fenrir(?))

Fenrir's High Priest has a tail. An apparently prehensile tail. Some kind of Monkeyfolk? The ears don't look very monkey-ish though.

[Zyzzyva]

Fenrir's High Priest has a tail. An apparently prehensile tail. Some kind of Monkeyfolk? The ears don't look very monkey-ish though.

Things I never noticed: Fenrir's High Priest has a tail.

Monkeyfolk seems more Southern than Northern, too, and the teeth and ears definitely aren't monkey-like. Hrmmm. I want to say "some kind of be-tailed goblinoid" but the internet can't find me any...

[Lord Torath]

Things I never noticed: Fenrir's High Priest has a tail.

Monkeyfolk seems more Southern than Northern, too, and the teeth and ears definitely aren't monkey-like. Hrmmm. I want to say "some kind of be-tailed goblinoid" but the internet can't find me any...

I agree with you on the ears bit, but have you seen monkey teeth?

I never noticed V and Blackwing approaching the artificer's shop while Belkar was getting his ring.

Or Durkon harming* himself after Roy's initial attack.

* Harm, Inflict Serious Wounds, Bear's Endurance, whatever, you get the idea.

[Mad Humanist]

In 16, Elan is sleeping peacefully throughout Durkon's "turns".

[Ornithologist]

Something I just noticed in Haleo and Julean, which has a hilarious implication in the main story. - Spoilered

Spoiler: Haleo & Julean

Show

On the last page of the story when Haleo and Julean are running away from everybody, Pompey is among those chasing them. What makes it weird is he has Nurse Banjo on his hand at the same time. That implies that Nurse Banjo is sentient, because there would be no reason to keep wearing it otherwise if Julean was dead.

So really, this just makes me wonder about the real Banjo (within a particular definition of real); and how much of that carries over.

[Zyzzyva]

I agree with you on the ears bit, but have you seen monkey teeth?

Oh, I wasn't comparing to real world monkeys, just like real world humans have more than three fingers. I was just pointing out that Monkey, the canonical monkey, has no visible teeth when they talk. (I suppose "monkey teeth" could have gotten an art upgrade in the interim, but on the other hand an art upgrade would be less likely to eliminate the fur colouration on the chest and head.)

Or Durkon harming* himself after Roy's initial attack.

I never even noticed Durkon and Roy were in that panel!

[Yanisa]

I never noticed the winged humanoid. One possibility is it's an Avariel, a winged elf (the elven lands are on the Western Continent). No visible pointy ears, though.

Fenrir's High Priest has a tail. An apparently prehensile tail. Some kind of Monkeyfolk? The ears don't look very monkey-ish though.

Speaking about ears: (I never noticed that) Half-orcs don't have ears... only hair indents to suggest the location of ears. It's also doesn't look like goblin ears.
I suspect wolffolk, because Fenrir, and wolves have pointy ears and 4 pronounced teeth. However the curly tail doesn't really fit wolves though and also wolffolks aren't really a dnd race. Catfolk could also work, but lacks that cool connection to Fenrir.

[hroþila]

That's just due to the shape of Bozzak's sideburns. Orcs, whether half or full-blooded, don't have visible ears.

[Zyzzyva]

Incidentally, search reveals there was a High Priest of Fenrir? thread already: they came to no firm conclusions, but "orc with some kind of lycanthropic business, because Fenrir" seems the most plausible to me.