OOTS #352 - The Discussion Thread

[Solmage]

One word: Awesome! 8)

[Sanctu]

Wow... I must say: awesome comic. It's been really good, this one was amazing, though, for set-up and everything else. The sweet, knowing smile on V's face as the lightning strikes 4 miles away. The interaction between what's-her-name and Durkon. Very nice.

Just wanted to chime in.

(The "first page" stuff has been discouraging me for reading these topic.)

[Frozen_Northman]

Very much enjoyed the comic. My explanation for the apparent disparity with the actual speed of sound is this: Durkon simply takes four times as long to say "Miss'ssippi" as other people, it not being a native dwarven expression, and hence difficult to pronounce.

Well, that and the fact that special effects always move at the Speed of Plot. A well-known scientific fact established in the show, Babylon 5.

It's also easy to understand why Durkon isn't distracted by Julia - she's not a dwarf. Durkon is grounded in traditional dwarf values, which means he probably isn't interested in having to look up at a set of boobs. (It causes neck strain.) And while having a beard isn't mandatory, it probably counts for bonus points.

In a more serious vein, I am really enjoying the dramatic tension from the back-and-forth in this battle against the Linear Guild. The day ain't saved yet, though Durkon gained a lot of ground. Elan is still held by Nale and Thog, Belkar needs to find a way of dealing with Yokyok, and Roy and Haley need to prevail over their respective battles.

[baltor85]

Ok... this strip was freaking cool.

I am not sure WHERE to begin? Julia going UP, not just out... CLEVER!
Julia going for help against the mystery guy, including the great "boob" lines!
Durkon getting off a nifty spell!
The evil druid WAAAY the freak over confident...
Durkon's eyes lighting up.
The way the storm must be HUGE to make the sea and sky boil like that.
V's sly grin.... does it REALLY know what's about to happen or is V just knocked silly?
Julia's expression of disbelief
The big BOOM! (including cracked staff and all...)
But how is "Miss'ssippi" figured in? Is it an ancient dwarvish counting word? Grin!

LATER!

Haven't you ever heard? After lighting strikes, if you count how many Mississippi's you can get in before the thunder, then you know how far away it was. Like each Mississippi is arund 5 miles or something, I dunno. I forgot how far each was lol...

[Jevanyn]

One word: SWEET!

Not bad for a catatonic gay dwarf, eh?

[hr]
_{Geek Squad = Schlemeils on Wheels?
New Orleans = N.O.'s renewal}

[Xenon]

so, the phobic reaction of a preist of a god of thunder, is to get the worlds biggest thunderclap(sonic) to smite his phobia... im wondering what side effects his shockwave will have? heh :)

[TreesOfDeath]

One word: SWEET!

Not bad for a catatonic gay dwarf, eh?

[hr]
_{Geek Squad = Schlemeils on Wheels?
New Orleans = N.O.'s renewal}

Erm gay? Hes had sex with a female.
Sheesh not every hetrosexual goes into a trance near b00bs

[Taliesin]

Mmmm. Good comic.
Why are we seeing a green, malevolent-looking eye in the middle of the second O of BOOM?

[Albion]

HAHAHAAAHHH! Hell yeah!

1: Nice expression when saying "Look! Boobs!" ;D
2: I KNEW you wouldn't let 'em down, Durkon, ol' buddy!! :D
3: Great one! :)

[Gamebird]

I'm with the side that says, "Huh?" This comic goes a little too far outside the boundaries of D&D. It's like hearing a joke in a language you don't understand and then being expected to laugh at the punch line. "I don't get it" comes to mind.

If he'd tossed in some teaser to indicate the spell being cast was actually Miracle (like the word "Miracle" on the scroll Durkon was holding) then it would make more sense.

As it is, I don't even have to roll to disbelieve.

I liked the boob joke. I like the idea that Durkon lays down the critical smackdown, especially against his hated foe, the trees, and his diametric opposite in the guild, the gnome druid.

(There's just too many issues with that though.
-- Control Weather doesn't do targeted damage.
-- If it did, then why isn't V toast as well?
-- If it conforms to some wildly powered-up version of Control Weather, then the whole town is toast.
-- Lightning, in D&D, does not do accompanying sonic damage.
And so on.)

Does anyone else wonder what's up with Xykon right now? It's about time for him and his zombi hordes to arrive. If the spell was a wildly over-powered version of Control Weather, and the town is toast as a result, and then Xykon shows up on the scene with his army...

I'm sure we'll all be intrigued by the result.

I'm glad to see the comic going up more often. And I liked the X-Men/Storm homage.

[SteveMB]

I figured it out like right after Leeky mentioned protection from lightning.

Now, we see if Leeky himself is protected against lightning/fireballs/spiked tentacles of forced intrusion/etc... ;D

[Orzel]

Lol. He counted with Miss'ssippis for seconds.
That was all kinds or good.

Reminds me of a custom spell I made long ago. Moob's Greater Boom.

Very nice comic.

[Quixoto]

Does anyone else wonder what's up with Xykon right now? It's about time for him and his zombi hordes to arrive. If the spell was a wildly over-powered version of Control Weather, and the town is toast as a result, and then Xykon shows up on the scene with his army...

They're in Cliffport. Xykon's headed to Azure City.
You're right about this comic bending a lot of D&D rules though. However, I don't think the amount of disbelief you have to suspend is that incredible. I mean, I guess you could just call this a Deus Ex Machina, literally, but don't you think it's about time Durkon did something this cool?

[Aliquid]

Since when has the world of D&D followed the laws of physics? I find it amusing when people argue how something wouldn't work, and use real world science to explain why. Using that logic, virtually every single spell wouldn't work.

We are talking about Thor here... God of Lightning. Lightning doesn't behave based on laws of physics, it behaves exactly as Thor wants it to behave.

[Max_Sinister]

Great strip. I had expected too that Durkon simply had run away... and the Giant gave us even a hint...

@TreesOfDeath: Durkon's not gay, Julia just unfairly assumes he is, because he's not interested in her at all.

[Yrogerg]

I don't know if it's been said yet, but...



Sonic!!! ;D

[Silmarwen]

AWESOME!

just, AWESOME!!!

[Deckmaster]

Mmmm. Good comic.
Why are we seeing a green, malevolent-looking eye in the middle of the second O of BOOM?

Dude, that's a leaf.

Best comic in awhile! Keep up the great work, Rich.

Oh, and uh...

BOOM!!!

[firespitter]

I think a few people are just way over-analyzing the spell Durkon cast. I mean, Rich has a pretty good knowledge of rules for "the game that shan't be spoken" and probably every resource book from chainmail on up.

Rich's specialty is coming up with game mechanics changes. I think we need to just accept that the "control weather spell" in OOTS is simply a different spell then what you're used to.
Control weather (in the game that shall not be mentioned) is a bit of a crap 7th lev spell anyhow "effects can not be directed". And Rich making the OOTS version allow directionalizing a "sonic boom" from a powerful thunder clap; point A to point B isn't all that earth shattering (though it was a bit tree shattering).

Those of you citing physics that sound travels in all directions and is non-directional and thus would have damaged buildings, boats, citizens and trees for miles around, simply suspend your disbelief. Directing a sonic boom makes as much physics sense as controling a lightning bolt which almost always seeks the shortest path to ground. That's what the spells are; Magic. Quit over-analyzing it and trying to pigeon hole each and every spell.

Accept the comic strip for what it is. Love it, hate it, or indifference. Keep up the good work Giant. Awesome story-line....love the line drawings...and there's a chuckle in every strip!

A more important canundrum for you is, why the h**l isn't OOTS in my local news paper, when that inane "family circus" single-frame-anti-funny-not-even- cute crap gets syndicated for the past 30 years?

[Felinoid]

I think you may be missing the point of this:
Pacing. Seeing the closed door closed, the pauses and all of those things are building up a sense of anticipation, before you are rocked out of your chair by the second half. The only reason it takes a full two strips' length is the unbelievable splash pages, anyway.

Actually, I didn't miss that at all, if you'll notice what I said about not being able to take any of the panels out. It just doesn't feel like it should be two full pages. One and a half, yes, but not two. Though that's probably the fault of the splash pages as well... Meh. As I said, it's a small quibble. Didn't really detract from the initial enjoyment, but I wouldn't hope for repeated enjoyment because of it. My loss, I guess. :-/

[DwaggieBard]

In the case of the sonic boom... when a supersonic jet makes a sonic boom, it actually does not go in all directions. But then agian, it's made in a different way.

I'm not quite sure about it, but lightning creates a boom either by extremly rapidly expanding the air, or creating a vacum when it suddenly isn't there. Normally this would make the boom go in all directions, but if you were to create a special kind of lightning bolt, that was created in a certain direction... It might work, but let's just go with...

It's magic, okay? :o

[battleburn]

Firespitter, I did say buildings must have been destroyed, I didn't say sounds can't be aimed.
I specifically said they could be in the #345 thread.
But the lightning was outside of the city and it did take 4 seconds to arrive at the location. Meaning in a straight line from the source to the park, there has to be a lot of destruction. Unless you claim that the soundwave didn't make any noise until it reached the park.
Frankly, magic or no. I think that is a little far fetched.

[DwaggieBard]

That's true. I suppose if you were really in denial you could say that the lightning was high in the sky and so could project sound downwards.

Anyway, I've come up with a new theiry: next comic. The police are not going to be happy about this.

[The_Ferg]

Durkon with bright white eyes like that is pretty scary. Could you imagine an evil one with red eyes? That would be...terrifying.

[_JM_]

You can't say much about Durkon's tactics for the simple reason that it has to work that way for the plot to work. It wouldn't really work in OOTS for Durkon to wipe out half a city (with resulting angst and seeking of redemption).

Quite liked Julia's increasingly frustrated attempts to draw Durkon's attention (good Concentration on his part to both be able to make the prayer and to avoid the effects of Julia's Taunt attack).

I was actually expecting Durkon to save the day but I'd been thinking back to [link=http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0111.html]OOTS #111[/link] both in terms of Durkon remembering how he had rebuked Belkar for the fact that he’d “abandon’d yer post in battle” and in terms of the solution. Trees protected against magic? Okay, THOR’S MIGHT and smash them into pulpwood with a huge hammer then.

This was much more dramatic, less angsty, and funnier.

[Luizeu]

I didn't think she would have that kind of attitude

[TheQuestionable]

I didn't think she would have that kind of attitude

I don't believe it's your comic, is it? Rich can do what ever he wants with his characters that he made. Besides, she somewhat new. You're really not going to understand the way she ticks because of reading six strips she's appeared in. All the main characters are performing action I wouldn't expect them to do. Then agian if they weren't odd at times that would make them predictable...which is a very boring story-line to follow.


That was actually the funniest and coolest (if that's even an actual word) new comic I favor. It was unpredictably hillarious.

P.S. This is for all those who take the time to read every post in a OOTS comic discussion...*Clears throat*...Hahahaha, what losers. You wasted twenty minutes of your time reading repeated non-sense.

[firespitter]

I'm not sure I was referring to anything you stated, Battleburn. Some of the mechanics comments might have even been in a different thread. And to backpeddle further, I myself, contemplate game inaccuracies to the strip, but I don't verbalize them. I guess I just find some of the comments disparaging to the great work of Rich. When people quibble about rules of the game or make half thought comments "Impossible spell. The strip would have been okay otherwise."
BTW, I have 5 ranks in "Wild Cartoonist Empathy".

[Aliquid]

I'm not quite sure about it, but lightning creates a boom either by extremly rapidly expanding the air, or creating a vacum when it suddenly isn't there.

Don't be silly. Thunder is created by Thor's Hammer. Everyone knows that.

It's magic, okay? :o

Exactly! :)

[Elurindel]

Man, little miss Greenhilt has some serious narcissism going on.