Our Comic Lab in the Playground: An experimentation class

[Maxios]

Here's a banner I made. It doesn't have the full party, because when I made this I didn't have the templates made out yet for the bard and for the wizard.

[IMG][/IMG]

From left to right the characters are: The Cleric, the Paladin, the Barbarian, and the Rouge.

[Lord Raziere]

Originally Posted by T-O-E

If I see one more 1-D greedy rogue I swear I'll...


...Get kinda annoyed and sigh inwardly.

I could deconstruct that y'know, have that greedy rogue's greed be his downfall....

or alternatively, I could subvert it and make that rogue be a secret agent of a king and be lawful good, which do you want?

[T-O-E]

Maybe just a rogue who learned to steal to survive. Or for the thrill and adventure. Maybe a Robin Hood type, take from the rich and give to the poor.
NOTE: Haley from OOTS is still a greedy and charismatic rogue, even though she steals for a good cause.
They're not that hard to think up.

Originally Posted by Maxios

Here's a banner I made. It doesn't have the full party, because when I made this I didn't have the templates made out yet for the bard and for the wizard.
...
From left to right the characters are: The Cleric, the Paladin, the Barbarian, and the Rouge.

-Save in PNG for this type of thing, not JPEG. JPEG blurs the image.
-Less thick lines
-Your characters are a little too big. I'd suggest shrinking them.
-Try a vector illustrator like Inkscape if you can't or are unwilling to actually sketch out your stuff. Paint is fine for simple things and spriting, but not really suited for beginner stick-figure comics. Inkscape is free and easy to download. It does take some getting used to.
-Take your time. Don't rush it.
-Spoil large horizontal images on these forums to prevent screen stretching. Copy this text:

PHP Code:

[spoiler]put your stuff inside here[/spoiler] 


-It's spelt rogue

[Maxios]

I have inkscape, but I'm not really good at it and I've been using paint for a while now, so I went with that.
The rogue is more of the klepto-type character. He's a serious, no-nonsense, greedy, slay-the-monsters just to steal their loot, type of character.

Edit: I'll work on the lines better, and the sizes. I'll also save them in the other way you mentioned.

[Maxios]

Sorry to double post, but here's a panel from of the strips.

Spoiler

[IMG][/IMG]

I made a mistake typing it out, it's supposed to say "On the next day" instead of On the Next.

Here's a little background info:

The blonde guy is the party leader, a paladin. The guy with a badana is the previously mentioned halfling rogue. The character sheet the paladin is looking at is the half-orc barbarian Rogo's, who the rogue came with to join the party.
Rogo, being a half-orc, is to stupid to realize THERE is an alignment where you can go on a massive crime spree then help get cats out of trees (True Neutral)
The text on the sign on the ground is upside down because that's out the paladin set the sign down. Normally it says "Forming an adventuring party. Heroes wanted"

[Emperor Ing]

Well one thing you wanna do is put in text in AFTER you've colored the background. Alternatively, you'll wanna make text boxes.

But really, I can't tell what's going on.

[Maxios]

Yeah. I keep forgeting to do that [coloring background before text]. I'm going to work on making it more clearer. What was happening was the paladin was looking at the barbarian's sheet, and the rogue came over and explained why the alignment space has nothing written on it.
The reason why it doesn't fully explain things is that it's one panel in one of the strips, about mid-way though it.

[Emperor Ing]

Also, no offense but it looks like that panel is a missed opportunity for some pretty good jokes.

[Maxios]

True. It's a 'prototype' panel which means that it's going to be changed later on for more comedic effect. Also, just curious, but what could have been one of these other jokes?

[Emperor Ing]

"Why is his alignment blank?"
"Oh like you can tell, you're not even looking at the sheet."

"Why is his alignment blank?"
"It's the consensus of countless orders of paladins that discerning Rogo's alignment takes priority second only to recovering their own severed heads. Comprende?"

"Why is his alignment blank?"
"Oh, just because i'm a rogue you think I pickpocketed his alignment?"

[Maxios]

Good ones. I'm planning on using his alignment as a running gag throughout the strips. Maybe I could use one of them for the strip it appears in?

[Emperor Ing]

Originally Posted by Maxios

Good ones. I'm planning on using his alignment as a running gag throughout the strips. Maybe I could use one of them for the strip it appears in?

No! They're my jokes!

Nah, ol' randomizer's messin' with ya. I doubt i'd find a use for those jokes in my comic anyway. Go ahead and use 'em if you want. Mostly I made those for you to draw inspiration from, but I did half-expect you to want to use them.

[Maxios]

Thanks. When I start my thread for my webcomic, one that strip with that joke appears, I'll give you the credit for them, so I don't take credit for "It's the consensus of countless orders of paladins that discerning Rogo's alignment takes priority second only to recovering their own severed heads. Comprende?"
In other news, I wrote out the stats for the protagonists, and the rogue gets a +10 or something hide bonus at Lv. 2 Crazy rpg huh?

[Emperor Ing]

Funniest thing is I completely forgot the blonde guy was a paladin when I wrote that. The "comprende?" part was edited in when I realized it.

[Maxios]

That is funny.

[Emperor Ing]

Glad I can be of help.

Anyways, I recommend upgrading to Inkscape one of these days. The learning curve's steep, but it's way better than Paint. I only use paint to do pixel art comics.

[Maxios]

I'll try it later on. , thanks for the tip.

[Keveak]

Originally Posted by Maxios

Sorry to double post, but here's a panel from of the strips.

Spoiler

[IMG][/IMG]

I made a mistake typing it out, it's supposed to say "On the next day" instead of On the Next.

That's actually perfectly fine grammar.

If it had been "So he could one go on a crime spree and the next day..."

Then it would have been wrong, but since it was already specified previously in the same sentence that he is talking about days then it is perfectly fine grammar to do as you did

that was your grammar lesson for today, kids! Now go out and ignore everything I just said

(NOTE: I am not a native English speaker so there is a risk that I am mistaken, not a big risk but a risk nonetheless)

[V'icternus]

You are most correct in your grammatical assertion, Keveak. No need for worry or alarm.

Anyway, Maxios...

You need something to set your story appart. More than even a gimmick or one anti-stereotypical character, you need some sort of creative plot element that wouldn't usually belong in your standard generic fantasy comic/game.

Probably. I make no claim of being an expert on the subject.

Other minor issues are simply that a lot of people have done the "adventurers adventuring" thing, and it takes something special to stand out and be noteworthy. Also, klepto rogue? Seriously?
And, thirdly, I really would suggest working with Inkscape. Even I can make some almost halfway decent stick figures in Inkscape, and for a long-term project (anything longer term than "one picture", that is) I just think it would be so much easier to have templates saved and objects moveable and all that good stuff.
I've seen some amazing things done with paint, and it always astounds me, but still. I give Inkscape my hearty reccomendation.

Oh, and final note: A different genre would do wonders for setting you appart, which is important. Nobody wants to see something they've seen before hundreds of times.
...Except Halo fans. *Gets beaten to death*

[Keveak]

Originally Posted by V'icternus

You are most correct in your grammatical assertion, Keveak. No need for worry or alarm.

Good, I keep worrying about making grammatical errors myself and pointing out that something is not one is even worse.

Originally Posted by V'icternus

Anyway, Maxios...

You need something to set your story appart. More than even a gimmick or one anti-stereotypical character, you need some sort of creative plot element that wouldn't usually belong in your standard generic fantasy comic/game.

Probably. I make no claim of being an expert on the subject.

While it is true that uniqueness is very good for a story, an element that is unusual in the setting is not vitally important for all creative writing.

They are useful for deconstructions and parodies but for tributes and similar it is often not a good idea to add too many elements not belonging in the genre.

All depends on the story you are writing, at least as far as I know but I don't claim to be much better off than you so...

Originally Posted by V'icternus

Other minor issues are simply that a lot of people have done the "adventurers adventuring" thing, and it takes something special to stand out and be noteworthy. Also, klepto rogue? Seriously?
And, thirdly, I really would suggest working with Inkscape. Even I can make some almost halfway decent stick figures in Inkscape, and for a long-term project (anything longer term than "one picture", that is) I just think it would be so much easier to have templates saved and objects moveable and all that good stuff.
I've seen some amazing things done with paint, and it always astounds me, but still. I give Inkscape my hearty reccomendation.

But you are right that it need to be special in some way to stand out among similar stories, deconstructing sadly won't do that in this crowd. Pretty much every fan-comic employ humongous amounts of it.
Can be done with good enough gimmicks, story and characters, though

Originally Posted by V'icternus

Oh, and final note: A different genre would do wonders for setting you appart, which is important. Nobody wants to see something they've seen before hundreds of times.
...Except Halo fans. *Gets beaten to death*

Also a good point that I'd like to highlight, be aware of the audience that will receive your story. On GitP it consist mostly of Roleplayers and artists so a story of a different genre might be a good idea indeed. But don't do a super-hero one, that's my idea and if you steal it I'LL CUT YOUR BELLY OPEN!

(I am actually working on a superhero comic, don't mind anyone else doing the same actually)

[Maxios]

I've made templates for the comic. One of the props (weapons, chests, etc.|) and ones of the characters.
What set's the comic apart is the characters personalities.

The barbarian freely suggests evil methods one minute and then the next wants to help the old halfling lady get her cat out of the tree.
The bard is critical of the others and very sarcastic.
The cleric is a little crazy.
The paladin is the only truely sane one of the party, fully aggravated by the others less-then-stellar actions.
The wizard is very tempermental and will magic missile the others in the event they annoy her.
The rouge...well you all know already

The webcomic parodies DnD 3.5 (I would have done 4th but there's no way anyone can do it). I've written out stats for every protagonist. They're all level 2 at the start.

The story starts out with the paladin recruting the others, then setting off to slay a foul beast htat's been harrasing passerby (similar to my DnD 4th editio play-by-post game). After issues with armor disintergration breath, being eaten then puked out, and other "setbacks" they capture the beast and bring it back to the town (of course with the halfling riding it )
Later, they set forth traveling. Arriving at a small village, they find out goblins, bugbears, and hobgoblins have gathered in the nearby mountains and are planning on conquering the nearby areas.
They find the gobbie's lair (which is OF COURSE at a mountain cliff with a perilous rope bridge) and partake in a massive battle between them ending with a nat. 20 on an unarmed attack roll knocking the leader of the monsters off the cliff.
That's all I've planned out so far. This is a prototype version of the story, a first draft, so will change later on)

[Emperor Ing]

Holy crap.

Listen dude, this is totally meant to be taken in the way that it is presented, as it is a "no interpretation necessary" statement.

Your comic sounds extremely generic.

[Maxios]

Like I said, prototype story. Once the ACTUAL comic is made, the plot's going to be diffrent and it's not going to be generic. It's basically a rough-draft of what it's actually going to be.

[Emperor Ing]

My best advice for you would be to completely scrap that story idea. It reeks of genericness. If anything it's beginning to sound less of a DnD parody comic and more of a parody of DnD parodies.

[V'icternus]

Y'know what would liven it up?

Aliens.

See, you start out with your current plot idea...

Then, BAM, aliens invade and kidnap the heroes, and suddenly it's a story of a group of fantasy adventurers learning to deal with a Sci-fi setting. Some characters want to get home, some want to save the galaxy from the Goa'uld evil badguys, and none know exactly how to do any of this in this strange world of lasers and planetwide mayhem.

That is what I would do to set your idea appart.

[Maximum Zersk]

Originally Posted by V'icternus

Y'know what would liven it up?

Aliens.

See, you start out with your current plot idea...

Then, BAM, aliens invade and kidnap the heroes, and suddenly it's a story of a group of fantasy adventurers learning to deal with a Sci-fi setting. Some characters want to get home, some want to save the galaxy from the Goa'uld evil badguys, and none know exactly how to do any of this in this strange world of lasers and planetwide mayhem.

That is what I would do to set your idea appart.

I gotta say... this idea is pretty cool.

Start of standard, with the usual jokes, characters, and such. Then BAM, do V'icternus's idea.

[Lord Raziere]

heh, I'd imagine the fantasy characters would experience massive culture shock at first....I mean sci-fi does crazy stuff without the magical arcane forces of fantasy that outdoes most things wizards pull off- sure a wizard can conjure stuff out of nowhere and make magic carpets flying around like a bird but that isn't really anything compared to say, the Death Star or the internet, or missiles that destroy cities, or anything that happens on Doctor Who.

I mean when you look at it.......Magic has actually done less than super-science despite the former being able to bypass the laws of physics entirely....and the latter only being able to find loopholes.

[Emperor Ing]

The entire setting of my comic (with the exceptions of WH40k thrown in) is based off of magic replicating sci-fi stuff.

[Lord Raziere]

Originally Posted by The Randomizer

The entire setting of my comic (with the exceptions of WH40k thrown in) is based off of magic replicating sci-fi stuff.

it replicates it too well, I can't really tell the difference.

or is that intentional?

[V'icternus]

Pfft. The power to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of t- *Glurk!* Hrgghhhh... khuu...

*Dies*



Anyway, a nice magic vs. technology thing would be great, in that the main party have grown up with real divine powers and magical abilities being commonplace, and now they find everyone uses science to do a lot of these things much more reliably.

And of course, the main bad guy, Darth Va whoever he is, would be all up in the planet destroying, world conquering technology, with no use for their "piddly little fantasy magic".

As another plot point, a Rogue would become quickly useless with unpickable doors, un-pickable pockets, and a dagger being about as useful in a fight as insults. Except less painful.