OOTS #692 - The Discussion Thread

[Paseo H]

If it's not worth your trouble to read the rest of the thread, why in the world is it supposed to be worth my trouble to read your posts or to reply to your questions?

If there were a killfile or scorefile function on this thing everyone who regularly posts without bothering to read the thread would go in it for me. It's not that hard to read the thread, you'll still get ninja'd occassionally or miss something, but really.

This forum is already catering to the Lawful Stupids enough as it is. Please, no more rules.

[LurkerBeneath]

Spoiler

Show

There's a rather thickly-drawn line in the sand that they don't appear to have crossed yet. It looks too close (and wavy) to be a horizon.

[mec]

Aw. He flowered her!

[Nilan8888]

I just realized: this strip signifies that a week has pretty much gone by. I mean more like a work-week... 5 days, possibly 6. Plus factor in how long they've been on the continent...

Is this like at least 15% of the time gone since at least strip 666? Maybe 20%?

[Mr. Pin]

ten bucks Elan found some sort of chest-looking monster/trap

[Sijo]

Basic BBS posting logic is that you should read the full last page of a thread before posting. Anything more than that is optional. I mean, if a thread is only a few pages long, it would be better to read them all, but some threads here get to be over a dozen pages, and pretty fast! Seriously, if posts with repeated questions bother you, just tell the person on which page he can find the answer... or just ignore it.

Back on topic, I just realized I don't know what "Taking 20" means. We didn't have that rule back in my D&D playing days. anybody can explain that?

[Ted The Bug]

OK, slightly off-topic, but I've just had an idea about how Girards Gate is concealed, and by the Twelve Gods, it actually WORKS!

OK, so the OotS are in a desert right? Its a fairly sandy desert, with lots of sand dunes, correct? If there weren't dunes, and very deep sand, the worm wouldn't have been able to travel around (presuming it can't burrow through solid rock). Well everybody knows that sand isn't especially stable, and so in deserts the landscape is changing very frequently. Its also been many, many years since the Order of the Scribble first found the rift on the Western Continent and made the Gate to hold it. Thus, it holds that the landscape around Girard's Gate would have changed significantly over the intervening years, given the nature of the environment.

My hypothesis, then, is this: the Order are in almost the right place where the Gate is, but the separation is a matter of vertical distance. The Gate is buried beneath decades' worth of sand.

What do you guys think? It works on a realistic, practical level, it doesn't necessarily over-rule any illusions that Girard might have on the place (rather, it suits him to have the sand as well as the illusions), and it explains why the Order hasn't found it yet, despite the best of their efforts.

Real world precedent: The pyramids at Giza and the Sphinx, despite their considerable size, were for great portions of their existence concealed beneath the dunes of the Sahara desert.

I think that's very likely, although we haven't seen any sandstorms yet. If it is the case, I wonder where Girard is tho...

[ref]

Taking 20 is a rule where players can decide "no matter how many times we fail, we're insisting until we got it right". Basically, it means they keep rolling until a natural 20 comes up, thus it can't be done with actions where failure has significant effect or prevents a second try. Instead of physically rolling the die again and again, the players just say they "take 20" and it is assumed that several failures, and then a success, result from that.

[Leirus]

Would not it be crazy if the desert is not there? If the whole desert is an illusion? I know, I know, there are desert races ans such... but... I just like the idea

[Sewblon]

Would not it be crazy if the desert is not there? If the whole desert is an illusion? I know, I know, there are desert races ans such... but... I just like the idea

Good idea, but you are thinking too small, how about, the entire Stickverse has been an illusion all along, and Belkar is, and always has been... Chuck Norris!

[Koretsu]

could be any number of divination spells

my good money's on commune

A divination spell's possible, but what strikes me as more likely is that, judging by the way the panels seem to transition back and forth from day to night, I'd guess that panel four is early morning, with Roy keeping watch and checking his calculations, while Durkon is praying for his daily spell selection (as clerics are required to do each day. ;))

[Elfich]

As for the power ballad, is it Hazel Dean's "Searchin'"? Would be appropriate if so, but I don't remember the lyrics!

I would actually try the Allman Brothers: "Searching" - From Freebird. But then just about anything from the Allman Brothers is on Freebird.

I would like to change my comment:
Steve Winwood - We're all looking

The source lyrics:
But we're searching
Deep in our own minds
We're all looking
Sometimes we're blind

[Selene]

I'm gonna flaunt my ignorance of 80's power ballads and be the one to ask: what song is Elan parodying?

It sounds like Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive" to me. Fits the desert theme, too.

Start singing from "I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride."

Also, Mr. Scruffy says: "My haffing will bring you teh painz, monster!"

[ThePhantasm]

How can Elan, in the last panel, sing and speak to Roy at the same time?

[dogmac]

How can Elan, in the last panel, sing and speak to Roy at the same time?

Good breath control

[Pilot3lite]

Many things about this comic are great.

Elan making a camera.
Belkar killing something that attempted to harm Mr Scruffy.
Elan having mean face while killing cactus.
Elan giving cactus head to Haley with them cuddling and Haley holding cactus flower with smile.

Last one was my favorite

[Tova]

I'm now kind of disappointed that I didn't have the 80s power ballad playing in the background while I was reading the comic.

[lothos]

Aw. He flowered her!

Hehe. I guess that counteracts Roy being deflowered in strip 669. I assume you were referring to that :-)

I really did like that touch. Call me romantic, but I really like the way that Rich is subtly showing the Elan really does care for Haley. He might not be the brightest person around, but his heart is clearly in the right place. This is perfectly true to the character that's been established for Elan.

[Scarlet Knight]

Metal detectors? THIS IS D&D,NOT EARTH!

Normally, you'd be right; but obviously it's a staff of locate object . Fortunately rogues can use magic items....

[Lkctgo]

She's holding the cactus flower Elan gave her after defeating the evil cactus!!!
(also, notice the thorns on Elan in the same panel )

Ah, now that makes sense. Wonder why I didn't see that. If anyone could tell me what happened to that fabled treasure chest in 691, then that would magical.

[sihnfahl]

If anyone could tell me what happened to that fabled treasure chest in 691, then that would magical.

They got lewts. It just wasn't worth dedicating any panels to.

[SoC175]

I don't know about you, but if a cactus is somehow putting up a good fight, i think something absurd happened.

Well, the cactus is negating Elan's prestige class by being unable to understand his puns

[Omergideon]

I suggest another look at Panel 2.

I don't think the imagery there of V out in the Dark searching for something with his familiar helping him -- yet both looking in opposite directions -- is cooincidence. It's very resonant, in fact, using the current situation to reflect a truth of the greater story arc.

Looking in opposite directions could well simply be a reasonable method for searching. The lonliness of those two may well be resonant or foreshadowing, but I do not see much that characterises V in that panel. Simply that he is looking. One could add significance to it as we know much about him in general, but the mere image is not enough for full characterisation. At least this is my take on the panel. And besides characterisation is more than simply the resonant parephenalia of the scene, it is the actions and words and expressions of the characters. A sillouhette (may be misspelled) can't always do that.

[Lord of Syntax]

To sum up my opinion in two words:

It Stinks!

[Fingolfin]

Let me just say last two strips #691 & #692 - the funniest and best for a long time. (for me at least, p.s. not that I didn't like the previous ones, these two just stand out for me)

[Adeptus]

Nice visual page.

[DarkElfGangsta]

I am starting to think that Belkinator is fond of the fluffyinator

[Caerwyn]

Aw. He flowered her!

I think it's more accurate to say he Deflowered the cactus. With his "weapon of choice" no less!



Caerwyn

[One Skunk Todd]

I wonder if X and R are scrying them, kicked back someplace shady and cool, letting the Order do all the work and ready to jump in as soon as soon as the Gate's found.

[Nilan8888]

Looking in opposite directions could well simply be a reasonable method for searching. The lonliness of those two may well be resonant or foreshadowing, but I do not see much that characterises V in that panel. Simply that he is looking. One could add significance to it as we know much about him in general, but the mere image is not enough for full characterisation. At least this is my take on the panel. And besides characterisation is more than simply the resonant parephenalia of the scene, it is the actions and words and expressions of the characters. A sillouhette (may be misspelled) can't always do that.

I disagree with that. True, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, but I think that panel totally characterizes where V is in his life in that Panel. Out in the dark, searching by himself for something with his familiar there.

What they're searching for in the metaphorical and in the real story are two completely different things. But I see where V is after his defeat at Xykon's hands totally personified in that panel. On the surface in conveys one thing but it's totally fitting as a definition of where he is and what's happened to him at a totally other level.