T w e n t y S i d e d
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.
 |
 |
How I Plan To Rule This Dumb Industry
Here is how I'd conquer the game-publishing business. (Hint: NOT by copying EA, 2K, Activision, Take-Two, or Ubisoft.)
Tenpenny Tower
Bethesda felt the need to jam a morality system into Fallout 3, and they blew it. Good and evil make no sense and the moral compass points sideways.
This Game is Too Videogame-y
What's wrong with a game being "too videogameish"?
Game at the Bottom
Why spend millions on visuals that are just a distraction from the REAL game of hotbar-watching?
Silent Hill Origins
Here is a long look at a game that tries to live up to a big legacy and fails hilariously.
Brilliant. I love it.
Very funny indeed.
Whew that sure was funny, and I can HONESTLY say I have never read that before. Nope that bit was completly new to me.
very funny. Makes me nostalgic for the Lemon
Her he her had har!!
Funny stuff! I’m enjoying these.
However, I have a quibble…
“Lord of the Rings is more or less the foundation of modern D&D. The former rose from the later…” You have “former” and “lat[t]er” reversed; if LOTR is the “foundation” of D&D, then LOTR came first. The sentence should read “The latter rose from the former…”
Whoops. Former / Latter Fixed.
I Love it.
Absolutely hilarious. Reminds me of my crew when we were playing about ten years ago, huh.
Ya learn something new evyeardy. It’s true I guess!
That’s so funny! More of that please!
Actually, the progeniator of D&D is/was Jack Vance’s Dying Earth novels. This is why we have things like Melf’s Acid Missile and things. At least according to Gary Gygax. But obviously a lot of the mythos and settings were…inherited from Tolkien.
K.
Very good! You’re so cruel to the poor players, though. Withholding their mechwarrior ;_;
Great
keep on!
He is right though, Mechwarrior is awesome.
Who wants to be Clan Widow Maker with me?
I always did wonder what they were thinking while they were shooting =-]
Verry funny. :):):)
Cool!
How do I get a lot of dice next to my comment?
Rock on.
Is it normal that the strips don’t show up? Or does nothing ever wrok for me ? :_(
LOL! Its usually a bad sign if the players don’t pay *any* attention to the opening backstory…looks like we’re about to go on an interesting trip. :)
That’s hilarious! I hate backstory myself ‘blah, blah, blah’, when the frig are we going to play?
This webcomic is awesome. I’ve been reading since one of the first strips came out, and it’s been a thoroughly enjoyable ride so far.
Thanks Shamus!
-blarg
As a Player and GM. This story has compelled me to follow Shamus’writting antics throughout.
The art of humor is: Exhibiting very funny incidents seriously.
The old master says:A world is defined by it’s occupants. I am merely here by definition.
Commenting on the change made.
It’s interesting that the player of Merry is more…confrontational. Before he was ‘O.K, whatever, sure I wanted to play Mechwarrior, but…’. Now he’s actively calling the group lunatics.
“Lord of the Rings is more or less the foundation of modern D&D.”
Not really. D&D was developed out of Chainmail in 1969-71 by Gygax and Arneson, who were active before the Tolkein revival spawned the vast hordes of 3-or-more volume bad fantasy series and made fantasy overwhelmingly prevalent on the SF shelves. The Tolkien revival was brought about by the availability of the single-volume paperback edition from 1968 coinciding with its adoption by the hippy movement.
Gygax and Arneson quoted three references in the first D&D rulebook: Jack Vance’s “Dying Earth” stories (where the magic system in particular comes from), Fritz Lieber’s Lankhmar tales of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser (rogues, thieves, sword-and-sorcery adventuring), and Poul Anderson’s Three Hearts and Three Lions, quoted as the place where the alignment system came from, although Michael Moorcock’s Elric stories were published around the same time and develop the alignment system more deeply.
Poul Anderson was also a founding member of the SCA.
Lankhmar is also the inspiration for Ankh-Morpork, in the same way that Niven’s Ringworld is the inspiration for Pratchett’s Discworld. Read “Strata” if you need convincing.
The only obvious Tolkien presence is the halfling class, which Gygax said were an attempt to hitch a ride on the Tolkien-led fantasy revival.
And so it begins. I might reveal some very funny things that happen in later strips but that would be spoiling, wouldn´t it? I never watched Titanic because I got so spoiled by people who did watch the film: they told me that the ship will sink. No sense watching the film knowing that, eh?
Just keep on clicking the Next button. This gets better and better.
i am playing the hobbit the moment and it is called lead the quest that started it all not a bad game is there any games that i can download as i brought this one have not seen any more in the shop here can you please help me
How about adding an index so I can leave, come back and not have to flip through a jillion episodes!!
I love it, miss playing D&D on all the time. Keep up the good work.
lol, try using your favorites or clicking the ring at the top of the comic ;-)
Excellent!
This pure genius! I haven’t laughed that hard in a while! LOL!!!
Hmmm… I would like to read this comic, but where it is? Maybe my browser blocks some links, but I cannot see the link. Anyone willing to help without making harsh comments?
The start of a legacy!
Man Tolkin would be turning in his coffin if he knew of this!
i also hate looong intros. give me a cliff notes any time!
Yo, love the Dm of the rings thing, but where have the pics gone? I don’t see any of the work you’ve done one here now. NO hobbits or nothing.
Seems to be back now, Thanks :)
did anyone know that there is a Lord of the Rings Roleplaying game?
its true . it is produced by Decipher and is played with d6s.
instead of classes it has orders. they include barbarian(Extra survival), craftsman(Bonus ranks in Craft), loremaster(More ranks in Knowlage), Magician(Spellcaster damage or healing), Mariner(Bonus for using ships), Minstrel(Bard), Noble(Bonuses on some rolls), Rogue(Bonuses for Hide), Warrior(Fighter).
each of these Orders have “packages” which give different skill and stat bonuses. then there are “Elite Orders” which have even more bonuses but require higher stats.
al in all, your idea of LotR D&D is not all that original. someone already did it.
Though i have read through this and have tremendously enjoyed it. the story puts just the right twist on a great legacy.
IT IS WONDERFUL!!!
I absolutely love it. As a former avid D&D player this was both nostalgic and enlightening. Just freaking fantastic.
I am sure this is in some FAQ of yours, but I can’t seem to find it. What program did you use to catch the frames from the movie and what did you use to create the comic?
Doc Swan
Tolkien influences have been all through D&D since the three little rulebooks in the beige box back in the Seventies, though. D&D elves aren’t *quite* like Middle-Earth elves, which are generally superior physically to Men, but the inspiration’s obvious, doubly so for the dwarves, and until the Tolkien estate got sniffy there weren’t “halflings” and “treants” and “balors” in D&D – there were hobbits, ents and balrogs, and proud of it!
This picture is very funny I like this his all fnny picture of the Rings The Copious Backstory.
I have discover and read your fabulous history on the french ludiste site, ah ah ah hilarous, great, nice …
Happy to see your site
OH MY CHRIST! You are hilarious and totally capture bored gamers with lower level characters and a chatty Story teller. I really think this is fabulous.
I love the whole series of Dm of the rings Shamus, you did such a wonderful job at creating it.
P.S. I hope you do the hobbit when it comes out. :)
Well.. good stuff first off.. but really it seems to me that early d&d was more based off conan and early cheesey fantasy pulp as opposed to lotr.. from what i have read about the origins of the game this seems to be more and more the case the hobbits and ents etc. where mainly thrown in there intially as more reconizable figures in a fantasy world or really just an example i guess.. the original rules where a framework and just do not not feel like lotr at all to me.. on the on the other hand once 1e came around and certainly by 2e the lotr cliches became more dominant as the rules and the world of d&d became more standardized and cohesive as they struggled to try to bring together not just a generic fantasy framwork for a game but a whole new fantasy mythos…
I just finished the last one. Absolutely hilarious! Thank you so much! If you’re just starting to read this strip, I envy you. My sides still hurt.
Why is it that every so often, the server holding the images goes down?
so cool dude
very funny, did you make this with comic life?
This is now the default page when searching for “lord of the rings comic.” Congratulations.
LOLS! I’ll be wathcing this space..glad i found this comic!
I think that this so cool
You should make an “archive” option if this is a finished comic, make it easier for those of us with a computer that habitually freezes and we end up clicking “next” 30 million times until we find our place again ^_^
but this is HILARIOUS. I used to play D&D in college abut my DM was HILARIUS and very laid back. XD
Cool! Very funny!
Cool! Good idea!
This picture is very funny! Thanks!
I liked Tolkien! Thanks for this cool pictures!
I playz Mechwarrior! SHAMUSYOUNG FUCKING FTW
Oh my God… those players are a DISGRACE to all RPGers.
LOL That was hilarious.
very funny! )
Crazy
HILARIOUS! :D
I love me some nerds!
OMG this is amazing, I’m loving it ;)
Congratulations on being Boing Boinged!
Thank you! Very funny!
Funny!
Funny post!
omg, ive read all of this and im like ROTFL pretty much every single one. and going EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!
Hey Shamus, I don’t know if you’d do this or not, but I figured it would be worth a shot… I just finished reading this comic and I found it hilarious. I was wondering if you had a downloadable packet of all the comics? I know you said you couldn’t publish them because of copyright issues, but I’d just like to be able to show a few people who are internet-lacking.
Wery interest comix :)
I just thought I’d let you know I made a post on my own blog suggesting people look at this one. :)
http://www.themagicallibrary.com/tmlblog/?p=377
Nice pic!
Very nice. I love it!
by Shamus Young's popular and LOL-able DM of the Rings
I love it
DM of the Rings cool!!
When all this work is done, a GM tends to want to share all this (it's only natural, when you pour a lot of effort in something,seeking validation is normal). Thing is, the tendency of many GMs is to present this in the form of non-interactive presentations… (which often leads to this type of reaction from players)
Tak takà½to prsteň by asi dobrovoľne nechcel nikto…
Crossed upon your website, awesome article dude!
I’ve read through this epic journey twice now, and still have not found the courage to peruse the final strip on that fateful friday. Someday, perhaps, I shall look upon it; but I hope not to, for then at length will the closing fully come to pass.
I plan yet to review these early times anew yet further, and along the way I have to say thank you Shamus for all the work dedicated to such a piece of humor.
Still recommending this comic. I <3 it so much.
Images seem to want to come from http://shamusyoung.mu.nu/images/ which does no longer exist…
Hi! This really is my 1st comment right here thus i i would like to provide a quick shout out and show you I absolutely love reading your blog posts. Could you recommend some other blogs
One thing I would like to reply to is that weightloss program fast may be accomplished by the right diet and exercise. A person’s size not just affects the look, but also the quality of life. Self-esteem, major depression, health risks, as well as physical ability are afflicted in fat gain. It is possible to just make everything right whilst still having a gain. Should this happen, a problem may be the offender. While a lot food and not enough work out are usually at fault, common medical conditions and traditionally used prescriptions might greatly enhance size. Many thanks for your post right here.
lol i love mechwarrior so i get where he is coming from
great first page think i will read this now
I’m not sure but the MechWarriors wouldn’t have been a trope to Tales of MU by any chance? I’ve only been reading it online the last few months and I think it Alexandra Erin began it back in ’05 or ’06 if I remember correctly.
demongirl Mackenzie Blaise does enjoy her MechWarrior “action figures”.
Good lord, this is hilarious! I think it’s especially entertaining for me because I get all the refs and jokes. I may be a girl but I’m the D.M. of my local D&D group and I’m a huge LOTR fanatic. Great job!
Oh, this is even better now, years after reading it the first time! The Hobbit is out now… has anyone started on that trilogy?
Well, that day has come in the shape of the new “jailbreak me” iPad jailbreak.
It was a userland exploit and Apple patched it in about a week.
So do you want to learn the way to get the best iPhone Themes?
There is a bunch of messed up character encoding in the comments, but they’re almost all trackback comments, so might not be worth fixing.
The three “real” comments I found were by:
Pagba (wouldn´t) [page 1]
Admin (Shamus Young's) [page 3]
forzalove (it's) (presentations…) [page 4]
A quick search says that ' should be an apostrophe, and … should be an ellipsis.
Going to throw out a bit of a nitpick here – D&D didn’t rise from LotR. It rose from fantasy wargaming, which rose from historical wargaming. D&D is much more the product of wargaming and sword and sorcery novels like Conan or Elric than it is LotR. Gygax has gone specifically on record saying that he dislikes LotR and would have preferred to not include those elements in D&D, but was subject to the massive popularity of the books in the early 70s. There is no doubt that LotR has had a lasting influence on rpgs, however.
Part of the reason Gygax went on record to say that is because lawyers from the Tolkien estate were sending friendly little warning letters about their intellectual property. The original version of D&D included Hobbits (later Halflings), Ents (later Treants), and Balrogs (later Balors), all of which had to have the serial numbers quickly filed off.
Yes, it did rise out of fantasy wargaming, and works like Conan, Elric, Three Hearts and Three Lions, Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, and so on, all had strong influences on it. They may have even been Gygax and Arneson’s preferred sources. But Tolkein’s influence was more than incidental. Part of the reason that fantasy wargaming had even become popular was because of the lasting influence of Lord of the Rings – more than one gamer wanted to re-create the Battle of the Five Armies, or the Pelennor Fields, or some similar conflict.
2019 and rereading this for the Nth time. Still hilarious as i remember it! Goddamit this is such a classic.
The Sepia Escort is the number one VIP model escort model & high class companionship agency in Munich. Sepia VIP escorts specialize in Premier Girlfriend Experiences, Elite & Discreet model escorts bookings- We Are Available 24/7 & provisional booking is always advised. We have beautiful blonde escorts,brunette escorts, ebony & Redhead escorts that are the very best in Munich. Our personable customer service is unparalleled & our reputable escort agency is rated The most no. 1 VIP model companion & escort agency in Munich – Sepia escorts invite you to spoil yourself with high class escort model companions & a superior escort booking & girlfriend experience not seen on other mainstream escort agency platforms in Munich.
https://sepia-escort.com/
You do not have to be alone in the city Munich. Get an escort from Miracle Escort Munich, a reliable escort provider from first-class escort ladies. We are the most detailed and accommodating escort agency in Munich. Beautiful ladies can come to your hotel, or if you live in and around the city, we will visit you at home.