Four epic RPG webcomics
Sometimes I don't quite succeed in keeping this blog ungeeky, so today I'm presenting a selection of exceedingly geeky webcomics based on role-playing games.
I just recently discovered The DM of the Rings, which explores what Tolkien's classic work might look like as a D&D campaign with a bunch of easily-distracted players and an exasperated DM.
Lord of the Rings is more or less the foundation of modern D&D. The latter rose from the former, although the two are now so estranged that to reunite them would be an act of savage madness. Imagine a gaggle of modern hack-n-slash roleplayers who had somehow never been exposed to the original Tolkien mythos, and then imagine taking those players and trying to introduce them to Tolkien via a D&D campaign.
The comic is assembled entirely from movie stills, and hits all the right comedic notes. Great stuff.
Via The spectacularly obtuse blog.
Two more nice RPG comics can be found at Giant in the Playground, both silly and fun: there's the graphically impressive Erfworld, a parody in the most overwrought high fantasy tradition, and the minimalist stick-figure comic The Order of the Stick, an AD&D "metagame" comic where the characters argue over xp, stats, and rolls.
EDIT: Now that I've gotten deeper into reading it, I just had to amend this post to add that the Order of the Stick is the best thing I've seen in a long time. LOVE it. I wasn't nearly enthusiastic enough about it at first, but it's really something.
Reading these, I was reminded strongly of that other geeky favorite of mine, 8-Bit Theatre, the epic webcomic that retells, more or less, the story of the original Final Fantasy game in a highly irreverent fashion, taking swipes at roleplaying, rpgs, and the whole fantasy adventure genre along the way. (I originally mentioned the comic in my "Excellent webcomics: strips and dailies (Part 2)" post.)
This is part of the first strip. Looking back, even though it's all based on the same remixed 8-bit graphic set in all its primitive glory, the graphic design has come a long way in the current strips. Creator Brian Clevinger has certainly had a lot of practice, with over 900 strips and counting.
Dear me -- revisiting the archives, I've just realized that this is in fact my third time posting this comic. And the last, I promise. With a bookmark stash like mine, there's no excuse for reruns.
I just recently discovered The DM of the Rings, which explores what Tolkien's classic work might look like as a D&D campaign with a bunch of easily-distracted players and an exasperated DM.
Lord of the Rings is more or less the foundation of modern D&D. The latter rose from the former, although the two are now so estranged that to reunite them would be an act of savage madness. Imagine a gaggle of modern hack-n-slash roleplayers who had somehow never been exposed to the original Tolkien mythos, and then imagine taking those players and trying to introduce them to Tolkien via a D&D campaign.
The comic is assembled entirely from movie stills, and hits all the right comedic notes. Great stuff.
Via The spectacularly obtuse blog.
Two more nice RPG comics can be found at Giant in the Playground, both silly and fun: there's the graphically impressive Erfworld, a parody in the most overwrought high fantasy tradition, and the minimalist stick-figure comic The Order of the Stick, an AD&D "metagame" comic where the characters argue over xp, stats, and rolls.
EDIT: Now that I've gotten deeper into reading it, I just had to amend this post to add that the Order of the Stick is the best thing I've seen in a long time. LOVE it. I wasn't nearly enthusiastic enough about it at first, but it's really something.
Reading these, I was reminded strongly of that other geeky favorite of mine, 8-Bit Theatre, the epic webcomic that retells, more or less, the story of the original Final Fantasy game in a highly irreverent fashion, taking swipes at roleplaying, rpgs, and the whole fantasy adventure genre along the way. (I originally mentioned the comic in my "Excellent webcomics: strips and dailies (Part 2)" post.)
This is part of the first strip. Looking back, even though it's all based on the same remixed 8-bit graphic set in all its primitive glory, the graphic design has come a long way in the current strips. Creator Brian Clevinger has certainly had a lot of practice, with over 900 strips and counting.
Dear me -- revisiting the archives, I've just realized that this is in fact my third time posting this comic. And the last, I promise. With a bookmark stash like mine, there's no excuse for reruns.
Labels: comics
brewed by Jess Haskins at 02:06
4 Comments:
Hi, Blue,
Hope you noticed that I finally followed through with your meme. I feel kind of contrite seeing as how it was your first and it took me months to respond. I have never played a role play game; if you overlook my entire life that is.- You know Shakespeare and all.. They do look like fun. Oh, I was going to mention I read this urban exploration novel that was pretty interesting by John One Hawk or something like that. He is a person who "is off the grid." I wonder how he managed to get paid that way..if he did. Oh, these late night ruminations... Well take care and glad to see you are still blogging. So many of my favorite blogs are on hiatus and I hope not permanently.
Happy All Hallows!
Dear Blue,
I enjoyed your long comment although it appears to have vanished. I hope I wasn't in on the vanishing part. Sometimes things seem to.... poof on blogger. Life is like that too. I can't believe you are not using that guitar. It came to you as it were; a small happening in your life. -A voice unheard.. a poem not read etc etc and so forth. Maybe you would like a recorder more.
Just an agreement on OOTS - I started off mildly interested, then spent three days reading all 505 strips. Amazingly fun.
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