OOTS #1049 - The Discussion Thread

[Jasdoif]

But rocs are supposed to fly, why are they falling?

The Airship Transportation Commission got sued when a roc fell and crashed into a merchant dirigible. The sign's part of the settlement agreement, and has nothing to do with how (in)frequently rocs actually fall.

[Aquillion]

Gee, I wonder if the mechanism the ship uses to stay afloat is going to matter sometime soon?

[Roland Itiative]

I wonder if this is foreshadowing, and the fact the Mechane works by (mostly) non-magical means is about to become important, or just a little bit of lore-building.

[Sylian]

It looks so strange to see Roy looking happy while participating in a conversation with Elan. Did that ever happen during the first few hundred comics?

[AutomatedTeller]

btw - I sort of assumed that Roc's fall meant to watch out for Roc's dive bombing you ;)

[Jay R]

to be fair, when "a wizzard did it" is the common answer, I feel it's already very openminded of him not to dismiss all this "science" as wild crackpot threories. you can't expect him to go understnd all at once on top of it.

All he needs to do is make the right Bardic Knowledge check, and he'll know all about it.

And if the hull is enchanted, then it is a magical airship, isn't it?

In one sense, yes. But if I cast a magic mouth on my sword hilt, or the sword never needs sharpening, but it hits like an ordinary sword, I don't consider it a magic sword. And if the airship stays up in the air in an anti-magic field, then I don't consider it a magical airship

[Shining Wrath]

All he needs to do is make the right Bardic Knowledge check, and he'll know all about it.



In one sense, yes. But if I cast a magic mouth on my sword hilt, or the sword never needs sharpening, but it hits like an ordinary sword, I don't consider it a magic sword. And if the airship stays up in the air in an anti-magic field, then I don't consider it a magical airship

I don't think Knowledge(Physics) was in any canonical splat books.
Clearly, the Mechane is an extraordinary airship. And Andi, Bandanna, and Julio would all agree.

[Ravanan]

Science and art aren't opposing ends of a spectrum though. Music! Visual Arts! Acting!

[ManuelSacha]

"Can we pretend that falling rocs in the Northern sky are like shooting stars?
I could really use a wish right now! (wish right now! wish right now!)"

[FolcoTook]

HA! Take that, Fourth Wall!

That was certainly more uplifting than the last few pages.

I see what you did there.

[Carl]

+1 Just massive +1 everything in this was just utterly perfect :).

Elan seems to get in on 9/10ths of the best scene's somehow doesn't he?

Maybe thats why he gets the happy ending...

[DaggerPen]

I don't think Knowledge(Physics) was in any canonical splat books.
Clearly, the Mechane is an extraordinary airship. And Andi, Bandanna, and Julio would all agree.

Of course it's not in any of the splat books! Can you imagine what the PCs would do if they could justify this sort of thing in character?

[hamishspence]

I don't think Knowledge(Physics) was in any canonical splat books.

Of course it's not in any of the splat books! Can you imagine what the PCs would do if they could justify this sort of thing in character?

It's in Call of Cthulhu D20 - which has a back-of-book conversion guide for importing its monsters and spells into normal D&D.

But that would open up a whole new can of worms, dholes, and chthonians

[Aquillion]

In one sense, yes. But if I cast a magic mouth on my sword hilt, or the sword never needs sharpening, but it hits like an ordinary sword, I don't consider it a magic sword. And if the airship stays up in the air in an anti-magic field, then I don't consider it a magical airship

This is the main takeaway, I think. In an AMF (or if hit by a powerful dispel), the airship will drift slowly downwards due to its weight increasing, but won't instantly crash out of the sky.

(OTOH it means that it can be forced out of the sky by damaging its pocket.)

[Lheticus]

That "rocks/rocs" sign made my Who's On First Jokes sense tingle.

[DaggerPen]

That "rocks/rocs" sign made my Who's On First Jokes sense tingle.

What, in OOTS? Never!

[ti'esar]

I can't help but be suspicious about why it's so important now for Elan and the readers to understand how airships work...

[Peelee]

Ah, yes, a dash of steampunk makes any fantasy story...um...steampunk-ier.
I wonder what the relative cost efficiencies of using mundane helium versus magical levitation are. Also the engineering benefits and problems posed by each. But this probably isn't the best comic to speculate on that with.

Well, they don't ever have to worry about a helium shortage, so there's a cost offset already.

[Darth Paul]

My very first thought was: "Someone did a lot of work putting road signs up on those peaks."

[Mightymosy]

The Roc joke was pretty nice.

[Sapreaver]

Ah, yes, a dash of steampunk makes any fantasy story...um...steampunk-ier.
I wonder what the relative cost efficiencies of using mundane helium versus magical levitation are. Also the engineering benefits and problems posed by each. But this probably isn't the best comic to speculate on that with.

It's safer, if it is powered my magic to fly it's vulnerable to having it's sources dispelled. and thus crashing.

With how they have it set up the balloon is most likely enchanted in sections to prevent it from being just dispelled in 1 go and than punctured. And even if 1 section is dispelled it would be difficult to make a large enough hole for it to fall immediately depending on the size of each section.

and the propulsion system is fixable if something goes wrong

[Jaxzan Proditor]

I see what you did there.

I mean I wish I could take more credit, but really I just stole the joke of the title.

[The MunchKING]

Because of all the falling rocks, duh

Rock-Type IS super effective against Flying type!

[danielxcutter]

The conjure helium from the elemental plane of Air, not hydrogen?
I guess that means they air on the side of caution.

Okay, that pun blew me away.

Everyone taking the Falling Rocs sign seriously will fowl up Rich's pun. C'mon, folks, let's quill this dispute.

Rocks fall, everyone dies; Rocs fall, everyone gets gigantic drumsticks for supper tonight.

Heh... guess birds of a feather flock together.

[Canuck617]

It looks so strange to see Roy looking happy while participating in a conversation with Elan. Did that ever happen during the first few hundred comics?

I didn't notice that at first. Well spotted! I think it has to do with Roy's character growth and increased tolerance of Elan's brain-draining inanity.

[8BitNinja]

Hey, I'm early

Anyways, I'm surprised that in a world that is around 8th century AD (I'm guessing) that physics and chemistry are known subjects. If I'm right in my assumptions, shouldn't there be more airships? Is there an OotS Isaac Newton? Or am I just making wrong assumptions?

[stsasser]

Absolutely CRUSHING that fourth wall!

[ti'esar]

Hey, I'm early

Anyways, I'm surprised that in a world that is around 8th century AD (I'm guessing) that physics and chemistry are known subjects. If I'm right in my assumptions, shouldn't there be more airships? Is there an OotS Isaac Newton? Or am I just making wrong assumptions?

I think the answer is here:

Absolutely CRUSHING that fourth wall!

[dtilque]

Anyways, I'm surprised that in a world that is around 8th century AD (I'm guessing) that physics and chemistry are known subjects.

It's already been established that there are Chemistry classes in the OotS universe.


PS Don't try to find an equivalent to any time period in our universe. It just doesn't work.

[Lombard]

Really liked the artwork in that first big panel.