OOTS #1043 - The Discussion Thread

[Kish]

I think you mean "devil."

(Unless this is an other-edition thing again. Demons, as Elan commented when trying to stab Sabine, are vulnerable to cold iron, devils to silver.)

[DaggerPen]

I think you mean "devil."

(Unless this is an other-edition thing again. Demons, as Elan commented when trying to stab Sabine, are vulnerable to cold iron, devils to silver.)

That's way too lawful for Belkar

[The MunchKING]

I think you mean "devil."

(Unless this is an other-edition thing again. Demons, as Elan commented when trying to stab Sabine, are vulnerable to cold iron, devils to silver.)

I thought Holy Water hurt evil outsiders no matter what the type.

Anyway he's clearly Undead.

[MaverickMopete]

Isn't it obvious? Belkar's Alignment is Belkar Evil. MAYBE Belkar Neutral now.

He doesn't care about Law. He doesn't care about Chaos. He doesn't even care about anything in between. All he cares about is himself.

Edit: And Mr. Scruffy. And Bloodfeast the Extreminator.

[deimos3428]

It might've made it one step too confusing, but I kinda wish Belkar had said "No, *your* a homophone."

[Iximaz]

Nice to have a bit of a breather episode before we kick back into high gear. Good on Belkar for starting to think ahead; I think that's a first for him, actually...

Does this mean he upped his Wisdom score?

[DaggerPen]

Nice to have a bit of a breather episode before we kick back into high gear. Good on Belkar for starting to think ahead; I think that's a first for him, actually...

Does this mean he upped his Wisdom score?

Durkula seems to bring out forward thinking with him, actually.

[The MunchKING]

He actually thinks ahead a lot when he actually knows he has an enemy he's going to have to deal with ahead of time. A lot of the time the enemy is just dumped on him, so he doesn't have time to prep, and his INT/Wis isn't good for much of an immediate course of action except "stab it until it quits getting in my way".

[F.Harr]

See, if you ask reasonably, you can get what you want. Sometimes. It's worth a try.

I do agree with him, stakes are a good thing right now.

And steaks often are.

[skim172]

Wooden stake. Wood in steak.

Wooden stake ... Wood IN steak.

[batiushkov]

Is this a Calvin and Hobbes reference?

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...fd963ef9c2.jpg

[Rogar Demonblud]

About than half of the Commanding Officers on the ships I served on in the Navy had served as the Chief Engineer. The other two major departments -- weapons and operations -- accounted for the other half. It may have changed a bit, in terms of balance, since then in the Navy, but being technically competent is a major must for the captain of a ship.

In many fictional works, the Chief Engineer is just behind the XO in seniority, often with Weapons the next step down. As the most familiar example to geeks, TOS Enterprise goes Kirk, Spock, Scotty.

So Andi probably has some basis for her claim on seniority grounds, but she seems to be using "Keeping the bucket of splinters from falling apart".

[Reboot]

With the fact that Belkar basically owes his life to durkon.. I think it's only right storywise if he kills Durkula and dies with him (probably through some sort of evil-burning type equipment or magic item). And with the increasing amount of emphasis on Belkar going "I need to kill Durkula to save Durkon", I hope that's where the story ultimately ends up.

I'm just wondering how different Greg The Belkar is going to be from Belkar The Belkar. Greg The Durkon at least has opposite alignment from Durkon The Durkon going for that.

[Necris Omega]

Tee hee.

Belkar takes 1d4 Nocebic Damage from contact with Holy Water.

[Lombard]

I had this thought that he actually died when he fell off the mountain and is a Revenant now...

That's crazy talk.. right??

[KorvinStarmast]

In many fictional works, the Chief Engineer is just behind the XO in seniority, often with Weapons the next step down. As the most familiar example to geeks, TOS Enterprise goes Kirk, Spock, Scotty.

So Andi probably has some basis for her claim on seniority grounds, but she seems to be using "Keeping the bucket of splinters from falling apart".

Of course, the flip side of my point was "yeah, but half of the weren't chief engineers!" (Which would be the same facts looked at through a different lens! )

Is the glass of water half full, half empty, or just missing out of the necessary amount of beer?

And since we are dealing with a ship and star trek

Kobyashi Maru!

[goodpeople25]

For this conversation about engineers and XOs and star trek.

This isn't a military ship though nor do i think it really has the same size crew. So not sure if these examples are really equivalent. I'm sure those examples had plenty of applicable leadership experience. Andi? Maybe but maybe not. With a small ship like this I think head engineer could just as easily mean most experienced engineer than head/manager(ect) of the engineers (and from the comic I'm leaning a bit closer to the former) so not sure if she would really be in the running on this ship.

Now my obligatory joke about knots and Seamen (*snicker) after talking about the navy to maintain my duty as a former Air Cadet.

[skim172]

I had this thought that he actually died when he fell off the mountain and is a Revenant now...

Ridiculous. Belkar looks nothing like Leonardo DiCaprio.

[8BitNinja]

I think you mean "devil."

(Unless this is an other-edition thing again. Demons, as Elan commented when trying to stab Sabine, are vulnerable to cold iron, devils to silver.)

Holy water harms both

[Basileus]

I'm dying at that last panel

[Centaur]

So Belkar is going to become one of Mechane’s stakeholders!

May even get to meet the board of directors.

[davidbofinger]

About than half of the Commanding Officers on the ships I served on in the Navy had served as the Chief Engineer. The other two major departments -- weapons and operations -- accounted for the other half. It may have changed a bit, in terms of balance, since then in the Navy, but being technically competent is a major must for the captain of a ship.

I'm guessing that was the United States Navy, certainly the statements you make apply better there than many places. In an RN-influenced navy, for example, technical expertise is typically held at a much lower level and candidates for CO are expected to focus on other things like tactics and managing people. There's a lot of different ways to run a ship, even without asking what difference a fantasy setting might make.

In practice if Julio got killed heroically tomorrow I suspect several pirates would contemplate advancing their case and the crew would vote. Formal seniority probably wouldn't apply.

[Neoriceisgood]

Kinda looks like Belkar ain't that shabby a cook.

[Werbaer]

Kinda looks like Belkar ain't that shabby a cook.

Cooking is one of Belkars two skillsets.

[Yendor]

I'm guessing that was the United States Navy, certainly the statements you make apply better there than many places. In an RN-influenced navy, for example, technical expertise is typically held at a much lower level and candidates for CO are expected to focus on other things like tactics and managing people. There's a lot of different ways to run a ship, even without asking what difference a fantasy setting might make.

In practice if Julio got killed heroically tomorrow I suspect several pirates would contemplate advancing their case and the crew would vote. Formal seniority probably wouldn't apply.

I'd suggest too that a modern military with hundreds of vessels and tens of thousands of members is a very different situation to a single independent ship with a few dozen crew. If you promote someone to command, you have to find someone to do their old job.

[Onyavar]

I'd suggest too that a modern military with hundreds of vessels and tens of thousands of members is a very different situation to a single independent ship with a few dozen crew. If you promote someone to command, you have to find someone to do their old job.

Which Bandana is still doing: Steering the ship, right? Sure, she no longer exclusively steers the ship, but has a bunch of added duties. Sounds like captain to me.

Even in a less modern military, the "commander of a technical unit" (captain) should be able to know his "technical unit" (ship) from the in and out. An officer who hasn't served lots of time in a tank and who doesn't know even the basics of tank logistics, is unfit to command a tank brigade. The captain of a sailing ship who doesn't know how to navigate his vessel against the wind can't plan his course, his maneuvres and is basically useless.

So: Bandana knows her ship sufficiently (but isn't an engine whiz), and Andi does too (but isn't really good in people skills). Julio, being a CHAR-20 character, of course trusted Bandana with his job. If Julio were a tinkering gnome, his reasoning might have been different. Anyway, Bandana isn't good enough a leader for her crew, so her command is going to blow up in her face.

[Peelee]

In cartoon language, ham usually takes the form of hamhocks with the bone still in, the kind that look like this:

Don't ask me why.

(No, really. Especially don't ask me why. I spent years not realizing that those asymmetrical and weirdly uneven yellow rectangle blobbies that often serve to represent folders in GUIs were actually supposed to look like...manilla folders. Oh! That's why they're all uneven like that! 'Twas a eureka moment, to be sure.)

Basic rule of cartooning. Keep things recognizable and simple. Usually 1-3 details. Pink meat, crosscut crust, bone. Recognizable ham for everyone. No mistaking it for anything else. Similarly, for a cook, you have a white chef's hat, and call it a day (white suit or cooking utensil optional), or a pointy blue cop hat, shield badge, and blue suit for a cop. Minimize details, while making it instantly recognizable.

I used to have a book on cartooning. If I'd had any artistic ability, i might have been able to do something mediocre. As is i had a few good XKCD-style comics, and stopped. Still cool knowing about the techniques though.

Is this a Calvin and Hobbes reference?

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...fd963ef9c2.jpg

No.

In many fictional works, the Chief Engineer is just behind the XO in seniority, often with Weapons the next step down. As the most familiar example to geeks, TOS Enterprise goes Kirk, Spock, Scotty.

Similarly, TNG Enterprise went Picard, Riker, Data, LaForge (after he was promoted to Chief of Engineering, of course).

I'm just wondering how different Greg The Belkar is going to be from Belkar The Belkar. Greg The Durkon at least has opposite alignment from Durkon The Durkon going for that.

......as different as Xykon, Redcloak, Tarquin, Malack, the vampire, and any other evil character is from Belkar? Imean, really now. Unless you want to claim that all evil characters are the same, I don't see any basis for your conclusion. It's not like the vampire is just Durkon, but evil. He's a whole new person. Different motivations, different personality, different everything. Not just different alignment. Why would you expect this to not be the case for Belkar?

Just breaking up this last bit from the rest

Also, i posit that we have a defined character trait for Belkar: poor lexicon. We've had sex tent, cart o' gophers, and now mistaking steak for stake and (most likely) homophone for homophobe.

[KorvinStarmast]

I'm guessing that was the United States Navy, certainly the statements you make apply better there than many places. In an RN-influenced navy, for example, technical expertise is typically held at a much lower level and candidates for CO are expected to focus on other things like tactics and managing people.

In the USN, all three department heads have to stand as TAO (run the watch in CIC) and have to lead and manage people: the Chief Engineer usually has the most people. All three have to know how to fight the ship or they'll not screen for XO and advance in the command track. Each organization has its own approach -- the USN in Up or Out, and the RN can see serving LCDR's with 30 years in service.

Back on topic ... the question is, does the role Andi is playing fit "department head" or "best mechanic/boiler tech?" If the latter then my analogy does not fit at all. As pirates, one leaves ... in a shroud or when marooned!

There's a lot of different ways to run a ship, even without asking what difference a fantasy setting might make.

Yes indeed, and pirates would seem to respond best to charismatic types.

[evilbob]

This is absolutely the funniest comic in a long time.

[Quibblicious]

After doing research, I have a wild hypothesis that Belkar is not a werewolf, but a demon

He's too clean shaven to be a werewolf.

Maybe a were-hairless-chihuahua?

Q