Planar Madness!!! - (another) OOTS style comic

[Goats_o_Mjolnir]

Update: Not gonna be able to post the Journeymans guide entry tomorrow....so you get it today!(sorry Caracol, still lifting heavy things into the new house )

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A Journeyman's Guide to the Planes

Perhaps one of the most interesting notes of the outer planes is that one should always be aware of the location of thier battles as well as potential enemies. Thus with the recent death of one of our top chroniclers at GreasySlaad Inc., Leopold Thistledown, we present to you critical information on the pillars, a rarely seen sight, but with this knowledge you will hopefully not attain the same fate as our dear Leopold.


2 The Pillars



Did You Know?

- Gravity, time flow, magic, alignment, links with other planes... as everybody knows every plane has its own special characteristic. These parameters depends on the "flow".
- The "flow" is a source of supernatural energy, of unknown origins, that sustain the plane and gives them their particular shape and features. Each flow is different.
- Like water in a stream, this supernatural source can be altered by magical powers.
- The Hall of Pillars, built in a demiplane by unknown beings, are the places where the flows of every known plane manifest. The access to this demiplane is guarded by the Guild of Weavers. Only the highest members of the Guild can enter.
- The Pillars look like regular columns, but they are actually more like huge tubes, filled with mechanisms and magic items that can control, change or smooth the natural variations of the flow, setting the paramaters for every plane. None of these devices can be activated without special master items that can be used in the small control chamber inside every pillar.
- Altering or intercepting the flows can result in unexpected but usually detrimental effects.
- Some people say that the Pillars Hall is not the only place where the flow manifests, but other locations are not known at the moment.


In Memory of Leopold Thistledown, a Half-Orc among men.

~GreasySlaad Inc.

[TheCountAlucard]

Coolies. I like the idea for the pillars...

[SoD]

Enterting a contest for a cameo part? I'm in!

[BRC]

New comic is up!

6# - A nice place where to get your back stabbed

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I'm glad that you people like this comic. It really gives me incentive to carry on.

Announcements !!! :

- You'll have a Setting update tomorrow or Sunday, with another issue of The Journeyman's guide to the Planes.

- You'll get next strip on Monday.

- From next week, we will be feauturing contests!!! We want to involve your readers too, so we will make small (and rather easy) contests to win stuff like:
- Cameos in the comic;
- Custom avatars and signatures;
- Personal banners;
- Other silly stuff.

So stay tuned and prepare your ninja skills.

OOH! Cameo's, Sweet. Though I'd proably have you slip Rob (Or Jack, or Greg, Or oscar. Or heck, maybe even Righty) in there instead of BRC.

[Goats_o_Mjolnir]

Which one is Righty agian? I love your Kobold Mafia but Im retarded when I try to figure out who's who's in terms of the gangsters.

[Lyinginbedmon]

I foresee big problems with a Guild in absolute control of the planes...

[Wreckingrocc]

If I win, I'll prolly cameo Slyzkarzenken and Zsaskrazr, my two comedic relief kobolds. Basically, they are going to make constant appearences in my comics after a few steps are take. Spoiler alert! Only read if you don't care, or don't read my comics

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1. Slyz and Zsask get lost.

2. The characters go to sleep.

Whenever this happens, one panel will be devoted to Slyskarzenken and Zsaskrazr to show where they end up. They will wind up in a desert, on a beach, in the icy north, in a jungle, atop a cliff, on an uninhabited island (don't ask), and in some ruins.

I think it would suit them just maing a random appearence running by

[Green-Shirt Q]

Oh, cameos. COUNT ME IN!

Mark my words. THE Q WILL BE IN YOUR COMIC!

[BRC]

Which one is Righty agian? I love your Kobold Mafia but Im retarded when I try to figure out who's who's in terms of the gangsters.

Righty is the one in brown who dosn't wear a trenchcoat. (Originally he was going to be "Lefty", but then I realized I had already drawn him with his gun in his right hand.)

[Dallas-Dakota]

I foresee big problems with a Guild in absolute control of the planes...

(Even though it does not exactly match what the article says)
vow of no interference.

[ahzreal]

The art was actually better than OOTS, but the grammar, spelling, and... word choice in general needs work. It really bugged me a couple of times. Anyway, hope it improves, because other than that this is a superb comic!

[memnarch]

I'm always good for decor or a light fixture.... Looks at Q

Can't wait for contest and next comic!

[Caracol]

Wow, I didn't expected such feedback for something that isn't started yet...
Anyway, thanks to everyone that is interested.

I would like to be more specific about the "cameo" thing: if you win the contest (basically because you will the first to reply, they will be extremely easy, trust me) you or your character will make a short appereance as a NPC. Don't expect so much from this however, it will be just your presence in a couple of panels as a minor role. I would like to make you be more involved, and to let you decide what you will do in your cameo, but I'm afraid I can't basically for these reasons:

- Making a strip is a long and hard work, and so I can't do large numbers of additional panels just to make your character do what you want;

- I don't want to mess up with an already complicated storyline.

So, the cameos will (usually) work this way: you will be one of the NPC I've already decided to put in the strip. Rather than a random guy, the NPC will have your appereace, but he will act as I already scheduled.

Of course, if your cameo request is easy to accomplish and makes enough sense to figure in the storyline, I will be glad to make it
For the others, there are a lot of minor NPC roles, so if you don't mind to figure just for few panels...

Also, don't forget that won contests could give you customized avatars, banners and signatures too!
For example, I haven't decided already the name of one of the members of the party that will join later. It will be up to you to decide a name: the one that I and Goats prefer will be the winner....
Enough with spoilers!!!! Let's delay this at the proper strip.

Any comments about the Pillars idea, meanwhile?

[Green-Shirt Q]

Well shucks. I don't think I'll enter any more.

I'll think about it.

[Shadowcaller]

Hehe this contest would be the werewolf games narrators (no idea if you know what that is) worst nightmare.
Everyone is writing the answer and post at almost the same time, this thread is going to crash.
Anyway I definitely like the idea more comics should do this.

(I wonder how many that should respond if Rich made a similar contest...)

[Szilard]

I think the leftmost pillar controlls Mechanus, not sure about the others though.

[Caracol]

Issue #7 is up!

7# - Stools do sneak attack damage too

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Hope you guys like it...
So, it's contest time!
Spot what in this strip is wrong and you'll get a cameo in following strips! More cameos are available, so don't write the awser here and send a Personal Message to me. If you don't want a cameo but you prefer an avatars that's fine, just tell.

So, spot the error (it's not a grammatical error)! There are 6-7 cameos available. For the others, please just enjoy the strip and leave a comment...

New cast and banners coming soon!!!

[Caracol]

I'm experiencing technical difficulties (read: I don't know what the fudge is happening) with the images host. Perhaps imgeshack servers are down? That could be the problem, but only the last strip (and the my avatar) can't be seen at the moment: the others work right. Are you able to open the images?

[memnarch]

I can't see the comic either; maybe try uploading it again and hope for a different server? Your avatar I can see just fine though.

[Caracol]

The image should work now.

I'm considering the idea of moving the all the images on photobucket soon, but meanwhile, just enjoy #7!

[Caracol]

Slowly transferring the images to the other server.
Some of you tried to guess the contest, but only one gave the right answer!
A small hint: it's a continuity error, something that changed from strip 6 to 7.

5 free cameos remained!

[MrEdwardNigma]

This comic rules. It's very well drawn, and the plot might actually be going somewhere. It doesn't seem to suffer from illusions of being funny, and that's good because comics that do really annoy me sometimes.

Does his cloak and eyes look different?
The no gambling sign is gone?
There's nothing on the table anymore?
The drunk is gone?

[Goats_o_Mjolnir]

You have to PM Caracol with the answer, preferably only one for fairness

[Caracol]

This comic rules. It's very well drawn, and the plot might actually be going somewhere. It doesn't seem to suffer from illusions of being funny, and that's good because comics that do really annoy me sometimes.

Does his cloak and eyes look different?
The no gambling sign is gone?
There's nothing on the table anymore?
The drunk is gone?

Thanks about the comment

You are supposed to PM me to give your guess: more guess are fine, but just tell them personally by personal message.

In your case, I'll PM you to reply at your guesses.

UPDATE!!!! 7 people got the answer right!!!
That leaves us with just 1 cameos left (I know I said 7, but maybe 8 is better)

If you still want to partecipate, be quick!!!!

[MrEdwardNigma]

Here's my analysis of the webcomic (Sort of). Feel free to ignore.

Drawing style: 9
Humour: 3
Originality: 4
Plot: 6

[Caracol]

The first contest is CLOSED!!!!! (not really)

Thanks to everybody, my Inbox almost exploded for your messages, I got like 30. All the cameos positions have been filled, but there's one of you that can still decide to be featured or not. If he renounces (or delays ) his cameo request, the last place would be still open to the contestants.

The last position's fate, the solution, and the winners of this contest, will be revealed tomorrow morning (here in Italy is 00.25 AM and I NEED TO SLEEP).

For the ones that didn't make the right guess or weren't able to partecipate, just wait for other contests!

[Shades of Gray]

In the joruneyman thingy it says that the hall is guarded by the weaver guild, would these be characters using the basket-weaver build?

[Caracol]

The last cameo has been finally taken, so this first contest is over.

I'm glad that I had so much response: as I said, I got 30 PM from the contestants. I tought that the answer would be easy, but actually a lot of people had to make 3 or 4 guesses before to get it right.

This contest's solution was...

The wound on Sthendal's cheek: it's clearly visible in strip 6, while it disappears in 7. Unlike Caracol (his wounds disappears from strip 4 to 5, but he states in strip 6 that he cured himself with 3 potions) Sthendal doesn't state that he cured himself, so this is a continuity error.

Some of you spotted other "errors", like the dissappereace of the "No Gambling" sign (that was just somewhere else, the tavern is rather big),
the change of the hooded figure cloak color (not the same guy) or the position of the drunk (not the same guy), and also the "Caracol's talking shoe" error (the odd position of the speech bubble).

Although this is not an error, Abardam, the one who did this joke, wins a cameo anyway for reason of pure awesomeness.

So, the winners are:

- Sampi
- Abardam
- Shades of Gray
- memnarch
- Doihaveaname?
- Bloodyredcommie
- SoD
- MrEdwardNigma.

You people will be featured in strip from 8 and in following. If you don't appear in strip 8, don't worry! A place in the following strip is reserved to you.

Other people got the answer right but decided to not be a cameo:

- TheCountAlucard
His avatar doesn't really fit for a cameo, but will be featured anyway in the following strips.

- TDKFirefly
He decided to request an avatar istead (you can place your request here).

So, I'm glad that you people liked the contest, I just hope you will like the role I reserved to you (and that you wouldn't dislike the events that will happen later...)

For the others that didn't win, don't worry! There will be a contest for every strip(maybe) with prizes, and new cameos in the later installments of Planar Madness!!!

Some news before I go:

- New banner tomorrow;

- Planar Guide update in the middle of the week;

- New strip on friday, with your awaited cameos and a new contest;

- Cast section update on saturday.

Meanwhile, if you want to comment or criticize the comic, you're welcomed!

[SoD]

I originally thought that it wasn't the missing sign (I remember thinking 'no, the crack is shaped differently to the original one, therefore it's a different crack), but it took me a while to notice it was the cut.

[TKDfirefly]

I was originally not going to participate because I thought I saw a lot differences. I did not even notice the cut until after Caracol gave the hint that it was between the strip 6 and 7.

Anyway, for my avatar, I finally decided what I want. I looked through my past characters and I noticed the one I had the most fun. He was an half-elf acrobat (class from a book called City Works) that I played during a city campaign. He was able to do a lot of cool abilities like running up walls and twisting charges. And his staff was made of blue ice for the soul purpose because it looked cool (no pun intended). That was a very fun character and campaign. So, I would like my avatar to be this half-elf acrobat running up, down or across a wall carrying his blue ice staff.

If this is not possible, let me know and I will give you another idea.

Thank you for my prize and before I forget to mention it, this comic is great.