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  1. - Top - End - #1
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    137beth's Avatar

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    Default Order of the Stick Book Tournament II: Order of the Stickier (Matches 1 and 2)

    Greetings to all people of the Playground, and welcome to
    The Ultimate Order of the Stick Book Tournament II!


    Back in 2014, I ran a series of polls to determine the forum's favorite OOTS book. Start of Darkness won that tournament, defeating Blood Runs in the Family by one vote. Since that time, the number of available books has increased, and the readership has had more time to reflect on earlier stories in light of more recent events. Hence, I felt it was time for another tournament. Without further ado, I present

    The Contestants

    Dungeon Crawling Fools
    On the Origins of the PCs
    The Start of Darkness
    No Cure for Paladin Blues
    War and XP
    Don't Split the Party
    Snips, Snails and Dragon Tails
    Blood Runs in the Family
    Haleo & Julelan + Uncivel Servant
    Good Deeds Gone Unpunished
    Utterly Dwarfed


    Even though Book 6 has yet to be released, I believe we have seen enough of it from the online strips for it to be fairly included. Also, I have grouped together the two stories which are currently digital-only. The 11 contestants will compete in a double elimination tournament, with your votes deciding who wins each match. The winner of the entire tournament will be crowned Grand Champion of the Stick!

    Due to the fact that there are more than 8 but fewer than 16 contestants, five books will get a free pass on the first round. You can see the entire tournament bracket on Challonge.

    Vote once in each match by posting your vote in this thread. The voting for these matches will close Monday December 9, at which time I will post the next two matches. I will vote only in the case where a tie-breaking vote is needed.

    The Current Matches
    Match 1: Utterly Dwarfed vs No Cure for Paladin Blues

    Match 2: Don't Split the Party vs Dungeon Crawling Fools
    Last edited by 137beth; 2019-12-03 at 06:14 PM.

  2. - Top - End - #2
    Troll in the Playground
     
    Gluteus_Maximus's Avatar

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    Default Re: Order of the Stick Book Tournament II: Order of the Stickier (Matches 1 and 2)

    I was trying to describe why I was making my votes, but I'm just going to throw away that sort of civility.

    Match 1: UD.

    Match 2: DStP.
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  3. - Top - End - #3
    Bugbear in the Playground
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    Default Re: Order of the Stick Book Tournament II: Order of the Stickier (Matches 1 and 2)

    1 - UD. OotS has gotten really epic in this arc, and it would be my vote for overall best book.

    2 - DStP. DCF is the weakest book because the overarching story hadn't really gotten started yet.

  4. - Top - End - #4
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Order of the Stick Book Tournament II: Order of the Stickier (Matches 1 and 2)

    1. UD, NCFtPB has some great stuff in it but this book was much more solid overall (though probably not the best).

    2.DStP, there are like a billion singular things I could pick that exist in this but not in DCF and then go “nuff said”, it’s pretty clear.
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  5. - Top - End - #5
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    Default Re: Order of the Stick Book Tournament II: Order of the Stickier (Matches 1 and 2)

    1. UD. To be honest, I can't judge UD properly yet, especially in comparison with the other books, because it's still very recent and because I haven't re-read the whole thing in order. However, I think it should be safe to put it ahead of NCftPB in my personal list.

    2. DStP. This one's easy. I still like DCF and I think sometimes it gets a bad rap but come on.
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    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    BlueWizardGirl

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    Default Re: Order of the Stick Book Tournament II: Order of the Stickier (Matches 1 and 2)

    1. Utterly Dwarfed

    2. Don’t Split the Party

    DSTP is my favourite of the main books (V’s arc is the best thing in all off OOTS so far, and I really like the parts with Roy in the afterlife). GDGU is my favourite of the supplementary books, and possibly my facourite OOTS book overall.

  7. - Top - End - #7
    Pixie in the Playground
     
    GnomeWizardGuy

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    Default Re: Order of the Stick Book Tournament II: Order of the Stickier (Matches 1 and 2)

    1. Utterly Dwarfed. I love Durkon, this is his book, and I think the entire order had a great arc.

  8. - Top - End - #8
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    WolfInSheepsClothing

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    Default Re: Order of the Stick Book Tournament II: Order of the Stickier (Matches 1 and 2)

    2. DStP

    Still thinking about 1.

  9. - Top - End - #9
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    GreataxeFighterGirl

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    Default Re: Order of the Stick Book Tournament II: Order of the Stickier (Matches 1 and 2)

    1) Utterly Dwarfed. (Pretty much) finishes rounding out all of the Order, has some truly spectacular art, cool plot twists. I wasn't around for the legendary hiatuses, so I can't attest to them negatively. NCFTPB could've handled Miko better (has an amazing finale though).

    2) Don't Split the Party. V's arc and the ending is pure scripture. DCF is entertaining, and that's pretty much all there is to it.

  10. - Top - End - #10
    Troll in the Playground
     
    RedWizardGuy

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    Default Re: Order of the Stick Book Tournament II: Order of the Stickier (Matches 1 and 2)

    Oooh been a while since we’ve had one of these. This ought to be fun. (I’m still hoping for the eventual resurrection of the Stick Awards tournament).

    For Match 1 I’ve got to go with Utterly Dwarfed. It is still a bit hard to judge this book, since I’ve never actually fully read it all in one go, but I really have enjoyed these past few years reading it. NCftPB, on the other hand, while good, has never been high on my list.

    As for Match 2, my choice is Don’t Split the Party. Both the beginning and ending of this one are probably up among the best arcs of the entire comic (though the middle sections aren’t my favorite). While DCF makes me nostalgic and I, personally, love the constant D&D jokes, it just doesn’t quite compare.


    Peelee’s Lotsey

  11. - Top - End - #11
    Halfling in the Playground
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    Default Re: Order of the Stick Book Tournament II: Order of the Stickier (Matches 1 and 2)

    Utterly Dwarfed

    Don't Split the Party

  12. - Top - End - #12
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    Joerg's Avatar

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    Default Re: Order of the Stick Book Tournament II: Order of the Stickier (Matches 1 and 2)

    Utterly Dwarfed and Don't Split The Party.

    Looks like these matches aren't going to be close.
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  13. - Top - End - #13
    Bugbear in the Playground
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    Default Re: Order of the Stick Book Tournament II: Order of the Stickier (Matches 1 and 2)

    Match 1: No Cure for the Paladin Blues, and I'm not voting this way to be contrarian (or, at least, not just to be contrarian). I suspect Utterly Dwarfed is benefiting from some pretty heavy recency bias, and we need to step back and remember just how much fun NCftPB was. It marked the transition of OotS from a largely gag-driven parody of 3.5 rules to something with an actual, meaty story attached. We met Shojo, one of the best characters in the strip, and got introduced to Azure City, Miko, and The Snarl. And there was just so much going on in this volume - the bandit camp, the assassins at the hotel, Haley's aphasia, the trial in Azure City, the Linear Guild setting the stage for Cliffport... so much story crammed into what we by now would have to consider a comparatively slim volume. Don't get me wrong, I loved Utterly Dwarfed, but its epic march towards the endgame doesn't have the energy the strip had in those early days, flitting between plotlines and putting the characters in completely different situations every couple dozen strips.

    ...also, I like the old, simplistic art style better. And Tinkertown is probably my second least-favorite plot arc.

    Match 2: Don't Split The Party, and it wasn't really a tough call. DStP may have my least favorite plot arc in all OotS in it (Therkla. Ugh.) but it also has the Soul Splice and V vs Xykon, one of the comic's many high-water marks. Haley and the Resistance are also a ton of fun, as is Gobbotopia and Roy's adventures in the afterlife. As much as I love Dungeon Crawlin' Fools, I can't bring myself to vote for the volume that started it all over all that.
    Last edited by rgrekejin; 2019-12-04 at 05:53 PM.

  14. - Top - End - #14
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    BlueWizardGirl

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    Default Re: Order of the Stick Book Tournament II: Order of the Stickier (Matches 1 and 2)

    By the way, what’s the rationale for the way the bracket is set up (the matchups, and which books were selected to get a bye through the first round)?

  15. - Top - End - #15
    Troll in the Playground
     
    RedWizardGuy

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    Default Re: Order of the Stick Book Tournament II: Order of the Stickier (Matches 1 and 2)

    Quote Originally Posted by LadyEowyn View Post
    By the way, what’s the rationale for the way the bracket is set up (the matchups, and which books were selected to get a bye through the first round)?
    I was wondering this myself. Maybe it was all just selected at random?

    Also, looking at some of the upcoming matchups, I feel bad that Utterly Dwarfed is running straight into Start of Darkness and either that the PDFs or OtOotPCs has to go up against W&XPs...


    Peelee’s Lotsey

  16. - Top - End - #16
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    137beth's Avatar

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    Default Re: Order of the Stick Book Tournament II: Order of the Stickier (Matches 1 and 2)

    Voting is now closed!

    The results are:

    Match 1: Utterly Dwarfed vs No Cure for Paladin Blues (10-1)

    Match 2: Don't Split the Party vs Dungeon Crawling Fools (11-0)

    A new thread is up now.
    Last edited by 137beth; 2019-12-09 at 06:51 PM.

  17. - Top - End - #17
    Ettin in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Order of the Stick Book Tournament II: Order of the Stickier (Matches 1 and 2)

    Well, I missed the match, but it went the way I would have voted anyway. (I think DSTP suffers from, well, exactly what its title references, and the subplots that I find it harder to care about in the larger context, but the conclusion is dynamite.)

  18. - Top - End - #18
    Halfling in the Playground
     
    Daemon

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    Default Re: Order of the Stick Book Tournament II: Order of the Stickier (Matches 1 and 2)

    Match 1:
    No Cure for the Paladin Blues.
    LOVED UD, but that really is where it all began...

    Match 2:
    Don't Splt the Party.
    V conquers all.


    edit: too late, I noticed, but still...
    Last edited by Vulkos; 2019-12-09 at 11:42 PM.

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    Default Re: Order of the Stick Book Tournament II: Order of the Stickier (Matches 1 and 2)

    Match 1: Utterly Dwarfed vs No Cure for Paladin Blues
    Utterly Dwarfed, by a large margin, and not just for the art work. Pirates and air ships FTW! Durkon char dev.
    Match 2: Don't Split the Party vs Dungeon Crawling Fools
    This is a hard choice, amost apples to oranges.
    DSTP is an exercise in story telling while DCF was OoTS finding and transitioning from mostly a vehicle for humor to the beginnings of a graphic novel series.

    *flips coin*

    DCF: I'll go for the laughs over the drama.
    Last edited by KorvinStarmast; 2019-12-10 at 10:46 AM.
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    EvilClericGuy

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    Default Re: Order of the Stick Book Tournament II: Order of the Stickier (Matches 1 and 2)

    Match 1: No Cure for Paladin Blues
    Match 2: Don't Split the Party

    Utterly Dwarfed wins the art award for sure, but the whole vampire story arc fell mostly flat for me, and unless it comes into play in Book 7, Andi's mutiny was a tedious diversion. Plus Bozzok's death sort of negated Haley's having spared him to save the Thieves' Guild from a power struggle in DSTP. Maybe the more level-headed Hangk will take over, but there's no guarantee.

    Then again, what do I know? My favorite Harry Potter movies are 4, 2, and 6, in that order.
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