DM of the Rings CXXXII:
Wheels Within Wheels, Man

By Shamus Posted Wednesday Aug 8, 2007

Filed under: DM of the Rings 92 comments


Gilmi explains the plot.  Sort of.
Gimli knows whats coming next.

Nothing is more annoying than when the players misunderstand the plot, the characters, and the events of the story, but they manage to guess what you’re going to do next anyway.

 


From The Archives:
 

92 thoughts on “DM of the Rings CXXXII:
Wheels Within Wheels, Man

  1. forgottenimage says:

    Gimli speaks the truth. Nothing like the railroad that never ends.

    Keep up the good work!

  2. Susano says:

    I need to stop reading this at work, else I hurt myself from holding all the laughter in.

  3. Cenobite says:

    And on that note…just how hard is it for players to figure out what the DM is going to do next, anyway?

    – silence the joke tangents
    – supervise battles to end with plot hook
    – throw NPCs across their path
    – and of course, railroading

  4. Wtrmute says:

    Ghack! That was the funniest in a while; and the last few were funny as anything. I love Gimli making himself to be all smart and managing to get just about everything wrong… Plus, the pipe!

    The last comment below the comic cinches it, though. I wish I had a tenth of your skill for making pointed remarks…

  5. In Anton Chekhov’s classic play The Cherry Orchard (I didn’t like it much, but it’s in all the lit crit classes), there is an aged servant character named Firs.

    Firs Post!

  6. Nikle says:

    Just caught up on this and while everything has been fantastic, the last few have really been superb, keep it up!

  7. Paulus says:

    You have to worry when the DM’s railroading gets so obvious the players know which NPC is going to be used to get that train back on track.

  8. Browncoat says:

    Frank used to say there was only one railroad; that it was like a great river: its springs were at every doorstep, and every path was its tributary.

    The Railroad goes ever on and on
    Down from the door where it began.
    Now far ahead the Railroad has gone,
    And I must follow, [so says the DM],
    Pursuing it with [weary] feet,
    Until it joins some larger way
    Where many paths and errands meet.
    And whither then? [Gandalf will] say.

    Sigh. I hate this campaign.

  9. Doug Williams says:

    Even by the high standards of this site, this is a GREAT panel! The casual nihilism combined with the uncanny accuracy…

  10. john says:

    Poor Gandalf. Such an important character in the books and the movie … so hated in the game.

  11. Charles says:

    I love the way the players keep talking over the DM’s dialogs.

  12. Oorlof says:

    Brilliance. It all sounds so simple right now! I’ve had players do this to me – a number of times, although they use a bit more in-char reasoning to hide the metagaming – and often I change the storyline around because their idea sounds as good as mine…shame to waste that kind of creativity, right?

    “So, what I’m afraid of right now is that this ‘abandoned mine’ has been taken over by something. Kobolds or something.”
    *DM tries to hide nod*
    “Or maybe they dug up a demon.”
    *furious scribbling*

  13. Bookworm says:

    The screencap of Staragorn saying, “Okay then, Nostradamus…” is absolutely, unbelievably perfect! Thank you so much for the laugh–I really needed it today.

  14. Culinte says:

    Oh, man, this just kills me! Most excellent, you’ve captured our conversations just as if you were at the table! Screencaps are most excellently appropriately, too! HA!

  15. Jack says:

    What I hate is when you spend ages crafting a masterful plotline, with twists and turns, and the players just assume that you figured everything out, ad-lib style, just to fit in with their character’s actions.

    No one appreciates a good DM. I wish we didn’t have to have players.

  16. Jack says:

    And why is Gimli sitting in the King’s chair???

  17. Mike says:

    Gimli is sitting in the Steward’s chair. Nobody sits in the King’s Chair during the movies, not even Aragorn.

  18. Wraithshadow says:

    You have to worry when the DM's railroading gets so obvious the players know which NPC is going to be used to get that train back on track.

    Well it isn’t as if the DM here has used a broad range of NPCs for the purpose. It’s been Gandalf, Gandalf, Gandalf, and, oh yes- Gandalf. If he’s not using Gandalf, he’s usually just telling the players directly, “Look, you’re going here. Period.”

    And as for why Gimli’s in the King’s chair- he’s not. He’s in the Steward’s chair. King’s chair is up a half dozen steps and to the right.

  19. Scarlet Knight says:

    Browncoat – nicely done!

    Face it, the DM is just linking store bought modules anyway. It really doesn’t matter much whether the players follow the DM’s plot or make up their own, as long as they get to the next adventure, it’s all good!

    As Oorlof implied, “Show mea good DM and I’ll show you a plot thief!”

  20. scldragonfish says:

    Unless the DM is a good literary type person. Games can be predictable at times.

    I had the rare luck of playing in a group for 6 months on Vampire the Masquerade with a DM who was a English Lit Major and was an awesome horror writer. Unfortunately, the game broke up when he quit because a douchebag in the group slashed his tires for killing off the guy’s character.

    Once you get caught up in a good story line by a decent writer, you are spoiled for any other DM.

  21. Kendon says:

    @ Oorlof *Furious Scribbling* I have done that soo many times when Dm’ing, unfortunately one of my players always has the idea i had, but somehow ups it one worse. (As soon as i place this gem in this statue this thing is going to come to life and kill us)Well, not kill, more… actaully… (Furious scribbling).
    Then of course, the improv campaign, (we had a bunch of Mage Knights Minitures, and when a player would start messing around with the ones not in use, it would be noted and used in the short future.) Needless to say, the giant flying deamon got used rather often. I loved that deamon.

    My first post, Your Comic is amazing!

  22. Nogard Codesmith says:

    Oh man Shamus… thats *PAINFULLY* funny… this one just made my top 10.. but I’m not sure which one it bumped off the list yet. I’ll keep you informed.

  23. Mrs T says:

    Panel 7. How baked is Staregorn now? I believe in all his stoner caps, that’s the most stoned we’ve seen him.

  24. Ryan says:

    Brilliant. Simply amazing. It was like the entire comic was set up just for this strip.

    On the con side, I’m afraid that the only place left to go from here is down. :)

  25. Caius says:

    Why is it that the characters story is always so much better than the DM’s?

  26. Patrick says:

    The character’s story is always better because they get to work together to be more devious.

  27. Jochi says:

    Jack@16:
    What makes a ‘good DM’ the one who prewrites the whole campaign. Good DMing involves creating a pleasurable game for the players. And making them think they are genious sleuths can be part of that. I have worked a scam multiple times in both D&D and Champions:
    1) Run a few adventures, throwing out meaningless plot threads that don’t lead anywhere.
    2) Listen to the players as they try to link them up. Keep track of the best ideas that link the most ones and would be fun to play, and fit in with your overall background.
    3) Take the one you like best and make it ‘the solution to the mystery’. One or more of your players feel an intense rush of accomplishment and satisfaction because they ‘solved it’ and saved the game.
    4) Keep your yap shut. Never let on to ANYBODY that’s what you did.
    I’d like to claim credit for this, but a husband-and-wife team of DM’s whose name I forgot had the basic outline on a website ten or twelve years ago. It works like a charm.

  28. Mattingly says:

    That DOES make so much more sense now!

  29. Mattingly says:

    Jochi,

    One similar nugget I learned is that when you present the players with a tight situation, let them come up with alternatives. It doesn’t matter what they are, but the first two never work — it’s the THIRD idea that’s the magic bullet.

    Congratulations! You outthought the master villain by masquerading as security guards; he never planned against that brilliant tactic.

  30. haashaastaak says:

    I agree panel seven is just about the funniest screen cap. Coupled with its word balloon it’s definitely in my top 10 panels

  31. Little Gen says:

    Aww, good old Herald Wossname! (the DM’s favourite NPC who always came to us when something needed to be told to us… The one time he showed up and told us nothing left us all very confused.)

    And Big G has a nice long-suffering look on his face. XD

  32. Nanja Kang says:

    I need a railroading Gandalf in my campaign… this freedom of choice crap is killing me.
    My group left a dungeon (on a demi-plane) to go shopping… yeah… freakin` sweet…

  33. hendrake says:

    scldragonfish: Your DM had his tires slashed for killing off one of the player-characters?

    Wow…just…wow.

    Great comic, Shamus. Thank you.

    Gimli rocks – far an away my favorite player.

  34. Vinchenze says:

    Gimlli is right for a player that wasn’t paying attation but wrong for those that were.

  35. Miles Tormani says:

    Panel 12 and the look on Gandalf’s face in the last panel are priceless.

    So who would’ve been the king had Stonagorn not been around? Legolass or Gimli son of Groin? I say there’s only one true heir: Elrond.

    Unfortunately, he’s currently ‘not too bright’ as we have seen.

  36. Scarlet Knight says:

    “Wraithshadow Says: It's been Gandalf, Gandalf, Gandalf, and, oh yes- Gandalf.”

    Well, sure. You can’t stop after one Crusty McDoomsayer…

  37. Isoyami says:

    Another gem.

    The screencaps of Stoner-gorn are absolutely priceless, in panel 7 he looks *really* baked, even more baked than usual. And the: “Ok then Nostradamus”? Beyond perfect. xD xD

    The scary thing is that Gimli’s explanation really does make sense… the DM’s skin must be crawling right now, I know mine it.

    And Gandalf? Come on. Like anyone didn’t see THAT coming from a mile away. Illuminated by the shiney highbeam searchlights from Gandalf’s magic staff.

    Lucky guess indeed. xD xD

    Oh, and if you look carefully at the last panel, you can see the throne Gimli is sitting in is off to the side of the staircase. I’m assuming the King’s throne is at the top of those said stairs. heh.

  38. Isoyami says:

    Bleh, my skin IS crawling, rather.

    And the “OK then Nostradamus” just became my second favorite line EVER.

    The best ever line for me is still the: *Suddenly Lord Elrond shows up at your camp.* “Hi.” That just kills me every time.

  39. Rolld20 says:

    I agree, Isoyami. That’s such a horrible thing to do in a well told story- but I’ve seen times when it was the only way to keep things together. :)

    Oh, and I never let the GM overhear my predictions. If they’re accurate, he’ll be bitter about being predictable, And a bitter GM is dangerous. If they’re not what he had in mind, they’re probably *worse*, so he’ll use them and let everyone know it’s my fault. Lose-lose situation; don’t go there. :)

  40. Namfoodle says:

    What I noticed about the screen caps is that if you look carefully, you can see that Gimli is the tallest actor in the room. He’s sitting and two steps up, but he’s sort of slouching. So his head is lower than Legolas, but if he stood up and stretched his long legs, you can just make out that he would be taller than the elf.

  41. Mik says:

    Or, Isoyami, not so carefully at the first panel, where the stairs aren’t even hidden :-)

  42. Vermont Gal says:

    Slashed tires for killing off a character?!

    Whoa…that’s actually a huge backhanded compliment if you think about it…

  43. Aaron says:

    After the day I’ve had today, this is EXACTLY what the doctor ordered. Shamus you’re and absolute genius! Nostradamus indeed lol :) Thanks for making this entire strip, and I suspect the next idea that rolls out of your fingers and onto the webpage will be just as good if not better! Thanks for brightening my day sir! /salute!

  44. Marty says:

    My group left a dungeon (on a demi-plane) to go shopping

    What is it with players and shopping? Does anyone remember any fantasy novel where the main characters were always hunting around for a blacksmith?

    However, there must be more to this story because what kind of retail availability is there outside of the material plane in your campaign?

  45. TalrogSmash says:

    Sort of like the guy who “discovered” pluto. Wrong orbit, wrong size, and the exact pinpoint location on the day he said it would be visible.

  46. Narmio says:

    You know, with the comic’s font, I can’t tell whether Gimli said “to run the city instead” or “to ruin the city instead”. Which is about perfect.

  47. roxysteve says:

    Wouldn’t it have been easier from the get-go for the Dm to simply “geas” the players into fulfilling their destinies?

    [not trolling, not picking on anyone]

    I have to admit to being confused about the “railroading” thing now (mostly because it seems to have an elastic definition in these hallowed halls). If a group of players and a DM have embarked upon an adventure but the players cannot keep track due to extreme ADD, player unavailability etc. how is them wandering off and freelancing the plot better? If the point of this game (as opposed to that one) is to achieve strategic result “x”, if the players can’t keep it straight (and I’ve been there myself) isn’t it better to adjust the complexity of the intelocking scenarios rather than having the players wing it? I mean, the point of the game is not only to get XPs but to get them en-route to “x”, right?

    Otherwise, why bother with campaign style games at all?

    I mean, I know why the “Rings” campaign is failing, and I know that Shamus is pointing out the weaknesses of the players on both sides of the screen that have unfortunately met in this train wreck of a game, but I cannot for the life of me understand where some of the commentators over the last year are coming from.

    Steve.

  48. roxysteve says:

    [shamus] Oh yeah, it was a move of sheer genius to have Gimli-with-Pipe doing the exposition for Aragormless.

    Would that Jackson had seen this more meaningful role for the Dwarf to play in the original movie than the comic relief and walking punch-line he settled for.

    Steve

  49. Isoyami says:

    @ Mik #43

    *Looks again* You’re right. I completely missed that.

    I feel sillier than Stoner-gorn now. :D xD

    Oh, and about Gimli’s pipe… why do I think he’s puffing something a lot stronger than bubbles? heheh….

  50. Doug Williams says:

    Also–and I’m not sure why this is true, exactly–but every time the players speak crassly over the NPCs’ (that is, the DM’s) speeches, it makes me really chuckle! I have so enjoyed this comic!

  51. Eric Towers says:

    The railroad goes ever, ever on …
    to the land beyond this tree …
    Any plot point I shall fail …
    To grasp eventually …

  52. Rick says:

    The one Gimli didn’t point out: They got Gandalf to sacrifice himself for the rest of the group, and then everything went to heck (Legolas killed Gollum, and all four hobbits quit). Obviously, the DM needed some way to get his campaign back on (the railroad) track, so let’s bring Gandalf back!

  53. inq101 says:

    As all DM’s know, you should not just railroad your players, you must also make the railroad go through a tunnel, and close all the stations allong the route. If you don’t players tend to start doing weird things, like having FUN!

  54. oldschoolGM says:

    9 Browncoat Says:
    August 8th, 2007 at 11:10 am

    Frank used to say there was only one railroad; that it was like a great river: its springs were at every doorstep, and every path was its tributary.

    The Railroad goes ever on and on
    Down from the door where it began.
    Now far ahead the Railroad has gone,
    And I must follow, [so says the DM],
    Pursuing it with [weary] feet,
    Until it joins some larger way
    Where many paths and errands meet.
    And whither then? [Gandalf will] say.

    There should be some kind of award for posts like these :).

    And great stuff Shamus, as always.

  55. xbolt says:

    One of the high points of my day! :D

    Easily one of the funniest in a while.

  56. Jos says:

    Ah, Frank. I liked Frank, he was sane. I was hoping that when, a few comics back, Faramir got mentioned Frank would (possibly very briefly) rejoin the game.

    But this’ll do too, I guess. ;)

  57. CyberGorth says:

    The Gimli moment is one I’ve witnessed tableside many times, someone getting the right idea for the wrong reasons. Unfortunately, the inverse is far more common. The player will take the right clues, the right reasoning, and come up with a conclusion that, while reasonable, is so completely different than what you’d thought up that it threatens to upend the plot. Either way, fun times (for us PC’s at least).

  58. Medium Dave says:

    Frank’s dead? I didn’t even know he was sick!

    Crosstalk about plot points and the game our group calls the “What If” game has provided me with some rich plot points.

  59. Thenodrin says:

    Am I supposed to be getting the impression that this conversation is happening while the DM is out of the room, returning as Gandalf enters the scene?

    Because that is the way I’m reading this. It just seems like this is a conversation that the players would be having behind the DM’s back.

    Theno

  60. Acanthoid says:

    These comics are just so much fun! You have great skill of getting the right screen caps for the right lines. Like Aragorn s and Legolas’s expression on the small frames in the middle. Keep up the great work!

  61. Althanis says:

    people at work are looking at me funny because I can’t stop laughing. Another classic Shamus! :)

  62. okay! says:

    Pretty funny that the players assume the complicated plot of LoTR is all on-the-fly jerry-rigging by the DM.

    Still waiting to see how the DM handles Golem’s premature death (thanks elf), which will take some jerry-rigging.

  63. Dan says:

    Theno,

    Just what this comic demands – a continuity audit! :)

    Dan

  64. Nanja Kang says:

    However, there must be more to this story because what kind of retail availability is there outside of the material plane in your campaign?

    Marty… You are right there are no shops on that demi-plane, just a dungeon. However there are 7 players, all well equipped, and they hadn’t finished searching the dungeon. It is an altered version of Maure Castle (Greyhawk) that I put in Forgotten Realms. There are so many unique items like potions of immortality and other quasi epic items in there, its unbelievable that their own curiosity hadn’t led them to the most obvious parts of the dungeon… FOR GOD SAKES GO DOWN THE HALLWAY!!!

    (And if anyone is Familiar with Maure Castle, I am only running the initial 4 levels, tell me there aren’t crazy powerful items there.)

    Crazy kids and their greed…

  65. Nanja Kang says:

    Oh and outside of the material plane… I really think being able to buy any item over a +3 just isn’t real… no wizard or blacksmith is going to sell items of any REAL power… plus, what shopkeeper could buy an item worth 150,000+ gold pieces?

    So I guess some would say that I am stingy…

  66. Melfina the Blue says:

    Browncoat, you are full of win!
    And shamus, great comic.

  67. Marty says:

    I have to admit to being confused about the “railroading” thing now (mostly because it seems to have an elastic definition in these hallowed halls)

    As it does in many places… I’ll try not to go into all the railroading discourse we had a month or so ago, but…

    The term “railroading” is usually used when the GM has the whole story planned and nothing the players do really make any impact on the game… It all would have unfolded the same no matter what actions are taken.

    One of the difficulties with role-playing is the fine line walked between letting the players run off to where ever the whim strikes and making them go and do exactly what you wish. The reality needs to be somewhere in between for a successful game.

    Some people prefer a more free-form game, but on the whole, the game is really shared story-telling. As a GM, when you put hard work into coming up with a plot and planning sessions, so there is an implicit contract with the players that they will at least follow the story arc somewhat. The idea is to collaborate to make it fun for everyone.

    The key is that it is collaborative. The GM needs to build the framework for the plot, but allow the players the freedom to fill in details.

    The GM can’t always control how they fill in the details, however, so the plot has to be loose enough to allow the players some freedom and the GM flexible enough to alter the story to fit with the players’ style(s) of play.

    If both the players and the GM have similar goals in the shared story, things tend to go well. The difficulty is when the players do try to take control and purposefully thwart the plot.

    The players are basically saying, “We don’t care about your hard work… we’d rather play something different.” On the other hand, the GM shouldn’t force the players to do everything exactly the way they’ve detailed the whole campaign down to the smallest sub-plots.

    In this case, the GM is breaking the implicit contract by not letting the players contribute to the story.

    A campaign is always somewhat on rails. The players can’t just do anything they want because the game will lose focus and any sense of purpose. There just needs to be enough “junctions” that the rails can lead in numerous directions and allow the players a choice on how they arrive at the destination (which may or may not be the one the GM first envisioned).

  68. Tsetut says:

    That was awesome. Although most DMs would probably change stuff right after the players guess successfully.

  69. Gnarlo says:

    Awesome :) Discovered the comic a couple of days ago, have been reading it and the commentaries since; took as long as the three movies did :) Just can’t believe how close we are to the end; you have to go see how the Star Wars campaign is going now!

    Wonderful stuff, thanks!

    P.S. Why do I keep thinking Legolas is about to do a Mary Katherine Gallagher in the 9th panel…

  70. Tola says:

    Heh.

    “Oh yeah, the dude with the horn!”

    Doesn’t seem to matter what version: Boromir is ALWAYS ‘The dude with the horn.’ Even when it’s being played by a guy they might know(Frank).

    For some reason, I find this very funny indeed.

  71. Tartette (deceased but still my favorite) says:

    Our DM is GOD! I used to hate playing until I met the current crowd. You just know you’ve fucked up the GM’s plan when he mutters “cretins” under his breath after you’ve just killed the ‘guiding’ NPC character in a drunken brawl or sacrificed the magic artifact that was the key to solving the mission. Then, due to a brain the size of a car, still manages to heard the party in the right direction. Truly heroic. The downside is it always gets really dangerous after midnight when the GM keeps rolling 20’s. Usually the party runs away before midnight like Cinderella, and lives to play another day.

  72. Zaghadka says:

    Great cartoon!

    Question: Why is there a Google ad for “Linda Ronstadt ringtones” on this page? There must be something wrong with Google’s context sensors today. LOL.

  73. sir pudding says:

    @ Steve
    RE: Railroading

    It is possible to have a “rail-less” campaign with a defining narrative. In my games the narrative is emergent, I give some thought as to what’s going on in the world, what NPCs are up to, and how they react to the PCs actions. I’ll craft “adventure hooks” and in a mission based campaign give the PCs their jobs or orders or whatever but I don’t direct the PCs in how they’ll interact with any of that. It’s a cooperative art form, IMO, and I expect to be as entertained by the players as they are by me (hopefully). So even if I don’t railroad them, stuff still happens, PCs act and NPCs react, vice versa and a narrative emerges.

  74. Uri says:

    Is it me, or is Shamus’ Aragorn the spitting image of Sawyer from Lost? Shamus also makes him call people names. Nostradamus ;)
    Shamus, I wounder if you want to make a small non Tolkien sidetrack, and feature a Lost episode strip with Aragorn and Sawyer facing off? Or him teasing Freckles. Or anything else out there, like Desperate Housewives.

    Uri

  75. Salen says:

    Woo woo! Time to ride the train! Woo woo! Heheh. Poor players, always being shuffled from one railroad to another.

  76. solemndragon says:

    i’m thinking “undead gollum.” Because really, he wasn’t very far from it to begin with.

    Plus, some kind of extra curse that makes him know the location of the ring, because really, how the hell else would he find them again at this point? Unless he was hiding in a backpack with some of those 99 pounds of leather jerkins and cracked wooden clubs.

  77. roxysteve says:

    sir pudding Says:
    RE: Railroading

    It is possible to have a “rail-less” campaign with a defining narrative. In my games the narrative is emergent, I give some thought as to what's going on in the world, what NPCs are up to, and how they react to the PCs actions. I'll craft “adventure hooks” and in a mission based campaign give the PCs their jobs or orders or whatever but I don't direct the PCs in how they'll interact with any of that. It's a cooperative art form, IMO, and I expect to be as entertained by the players as they are by me (hopefully). So even if I don't railroad them, stuff still happens, PCs act and NPCs react, vice versa and a narrative emerges.

    So for you, the phrase “campaign setting” means “players use the same characters” and nothing more then?

    That explains the confusion. Coming from a wargaming background I expect a campaign to be played towards an explicit goal, and that that take precedence over the cast list if needs must. I keep seeing the reminding of severely inattentive players of the goal as “railroading” when to me such reminders are more akin to reminders towards “not wandering too far off topic”.

    Steve.

  78. sir pudding says:

    [i]roxysteve Says:
    So for you, the phrase “campaign setting” means “players use the same characters” and nothing more then?[/i]
    Campaign setting means “Game world”. It is the backdrop in which the campaign takes place.
    [i]
    That explains the confusion. Coming from a wargaming background I expect a campaign to be played towards an explicit goal, and that that take precedence over the cast list if needs must. I keep seeing the reminding of severely inattentive players of the goal as “railroading” when to me such reminders are more akin to reminders towards “not wandering too far off topic”.[/i]
    Remainders of the goal isn’t railroading, if it makes sense in the context of the game. For example say, the PCs were trying to get to a certain place before the BBEG, and they seem to be wasting a lot of time. I might have some event or NPC remind them that they are supposed to be in a hurry, more likely I’ll just say, “A day passes as you shop in the markets.” and see what they do. If they get to the place too late to stop the BBEG, well then, that’s the direction the story goes in and we go from there. A railroading GM would force the PCs to keep moving on his “story”. He’d have a GMPC forcing them along (like the DMotR’s Gandalf), or maybe they get arbitrarily arrested without any chance of escape and taken by force to their destination. This really isn’t fun, IMO, since you aren’t playing your character in a shared improvised tale, you are playing a scripted part in someone else’s story.

    My way a story still emerges. If you told someone the tale of one of my campaigns the story would make sense, and have the sort of narrative conventions you’d expect but I’ve never scripted it out that way from the start.

  79. sir pudding says:

    Well clearly that’s not how italics work here. Should have used HTML, I think. Oops.

  80. Colin says:

    Pimp! Yeah!

  81. Browncoat says:

    Yes, Colin. He is “pimping” Lord of the Rings. And well.

  82. superfluousk says:

    I like how Gimli gets to be the smart one in this incarnation. Of course, considering his competition, that’s not so hard.

  83. dr. duck says:

    Okay, I started laughing at “wee daft munchkin” and I am still laughing. And even though Mortensen’s Aragorn was one of my favorite characters in the films, you have CAPTURED the essence of stoner obliviosity in those snapshots of blank dumb looks … hoooo-ray, Seamus, much applause and gratitude.

  84. Cynder says:

    I love Aragorn in the 3rd-last frame…he looks REALLY ticked off XD

    Good on Gimli trying to explain everything and telling off Legolas for being a lazy twit. Serves him right for paying no attention to the plot :P

  85. Colin says:

    Did Gimli just call Legolas “Munchkin”?

  86. Rabiesbunny says:

    Heh, wow. I’m just reading through this whole thing now; love it! But I gotta say, if I was stuck Rping with people like these guys, ANY of ’em, I wouldn’t be doing ANYthing with them!

  87. Michael says:

    Manure castle??? Sounds like a … never mind.

    As for the plot summary: I was expecting a wedding to be mentioned. Oh well.

    I have had plot summaries/actions like that, actually. Once when playing Gilligan (yes, on the island) — the GM wasn’t expecting a real role player to play the role properly, and the plot couldn’t advance until someone found that I had done a Gilligan :-). Fun time at the convention.

Thanks for joining the discussion. Be nice, don't post angry, and enjoy yourself. This is supposed to be fun. Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked*

You can enclose spoilers in <strike> tags like so:
<strike>Darth Vader is Luke's father!</strike>

You can make things italics like this:
Can you imagine having Darth Vader as your <i>father</i>?

You can make things bold like this:
I'm <b>very</b> glad Darth Vader isn't my father.

You can make links like this:
I'm reading about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darth_Vader">Darth Vader</a> on Wikipedia!

You can quote someone like this:
Darth Vader said <blockquote>Luke, I am your father.</blockquote>

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.