#19 I’m Sure You’ll Fit Right In

By Shamus Posted Friday May 3, 2019

Filed under: DM of the Rings 42 comments


Adding a new PC to the party means inviting an unknown and dangerous-looking stranger to join your group of otherwise paranoid and greedy adventurers. There’s pretty much no way to roleplay it so that it doesn’t sound stupid.

Imagine if someone did this to you in real life: You’re walking down the street and bump into a three random guys who invite you to to join in on assault and robbery; offering you a one-quarter stake in everything and a very real chance at severe bodily harm, without bothering to ask for your name or qualifications.

It’s ridiculous. That sort of thing never happens unless you’re in Detroit.

Shamus Says:

The title “I’m sure You’ll Fit Right In” is actually a super-obscure game quote. At the opening of Morrowwind, a soldier asks you to identify yourself, a question which leads to the character creation dialog. No matter what you pick – from a common human to a cat-man to a lizard woman, the soldier says, “Great, I’m sure you’ll fit right in” when you’re done. He says it in this sarcastic tone of voice and I still laugh when I hear it.

But how obscure can a quote be before it’s no longer a subtle reference but just obsessive fanboy wanking?

About this obscure, I’d say.

Shawn Says:

In panel 1, Josh is singing the Final Fantasy victory music, because that’s the sort of thing Josh would do.

EDIT 2019: I have since been informed that “Great. I’m sure you’ll fit right in.” is not, in fact, and obscure reference. It’s just a regular reference, although I hold out hope that it may become obscure over time.
 


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42 thoughts on “#19 I’m Sure You’ll Fit Right In

  1. Chris says:

    If a new player starts being catty the second s/he joins the group rather than trying to match the roleplaying of another player I would have “the talk” with them. We’re all adults here playing pretend, if youre not down with that its fine to leave.

    Also pushing someone into service isnt too weird. Bartholomew roberts was a legendary pirate. But he was forced to join a pirate gangg initially. So being saved when robbing a tomb (why else are you at a graveyard) and then asked to join and share the loot isnt that weird.

    1. BlueHorus says:

      I think she might just be a bit weirded out by Marcus – which seems like a likely thing for a normal person. Wait ’till she sees his character portrait.

      Also, there’s ‘roleplay’ and then there’s ‘overdone flowery language that would make Shakespeare blush’.

      1. Ravens Cry says:

        Heck, even Shakespeare knew when to tone it down to various effects. One of my favourite parts in ‘The Tempest’ is when the rather inebriated butler and jester are singing, terribly, a drunken bar song, and Caliban, listening, says simply after their caterwauling finishes, ‘That’s not the tune.’ I guess you’d need to see it in context, but it’s hilarious when timed right.

    2. Gethsemani says:

      I would probably have the talk with them too, if their style was distinctly out of whack with the rest of the group. On the other hand, what’s Ivy supposed to do here? On the one hand you’ve got the guy who just power-twinked so bad he took out an entire encounter in one round (and who’s “character” is a bunch of combat stats), you have the guy who is perpetually unable to actually talk in character and mostly ribs on and griefs the other players/characters and lastly a guy who is too drunk on Shakespeare and poor Ye Olde English to talk like an actual person when in character. There’s simply nothing for her to match.

      A few years ago I started a new group from scratch. It took us about 1,5 years and an entire campaign before we all had found each others playing styles and could be said to have a coherent “group style” in terms of how we roleplayed. During that time, one guy always spoke in first person and was deadly serious about character development, one spoke in third person and was all about keeping the group working and one sort of meta-gamed his characters based on rules interactions and wanted to do whatever brought the story forward. Eventually we all settled for a similar voice, tone and manner in our roleplay, but had someone dropped in as a new person in those first months I couldn’t have had “the talk” with them, as the disparate ways to RP made it impossible to properly match the group.

      1. Sleeping Dragon says:

        Yeah, kinda this. Also a reminder that part of the point of the comics was that this group doesn’t really work.

    3. silver Harloe says:

      She’s been sitting around the table this whole time. She knows how they all talk, and she IS fitting in with two-thirds of the group. If anyone needs “the talk” it’s Captain Shakespeare.

      1. DivFord says:

        Exactly! What’s he ‘theeing’ someone he just met for? Kind of rude…

        1. Geebs says:

          Especially if she’s already theeing someone else

          1. DerJungerLudendorff says:

            And immediately laying his hands on her. Most uncouth!

  2. Karma The Alligator says:

    Well, it’s obscure to me, having never played Morrowind.

    Anyway, I love the first text box, saying “all the zombies” instead of “the remaining zombies”, making clear that, yes, Josh did in fact kill *all* of them, by himself.

    1. Decius says:

      You should rectify that error in your upbringing now.

      1. BlueHorus says:

        @Karma – If you’re worried about Morrowind’s old & clunky UI, you could always look up Skywind: basically, Morrowind as a Skyrim module.

        Given the rate of progress and the pace of updates, it should be completed about the time A Dream Of Spring gets published!

        1. Karma The Alligator says:

          So, never?

          But anyway, I just don’t like the elder scrolls games that much to go back and play it. I know it’s supposed to be good, but that’s what I was told about Oblivion and Skyrim, too.

          1. DerJungerLudendorff says:

            A few months after Left for Dead 3 get’s released.

    2. DerJungerLudendorff says:

      I have played it many times, and never caught it.

  3. Crokus Younghand says:

    I never actually caught onto the sarcasm in his voice (which is clear, now that you have mentioned it). I always though he was a new recruit or something, naive to the xenophobia of dunmer, genuinely trying to appear friendly.

    But yeah, we are a prisoner going into ashlands, of course he is sarcastic.

    It’s just a regular reference, although I hold out hope that it may become obscure over time.

    Not if the good people over at OpenMW and Skywind get a say in it!

  4. TLN says:

    I think to me NWN2 represents the ultimate in “inviting total strangers along for the ride”. Probably the majority of people you encounter that joins your party have very iffy reasons (or none at all) for joining your party and plenty of them seem specifically engineered to be as annoying as possible, which you just have to live with since telling them you DON’T want them to join is simply not an option (nor is killing them, unfortunately).

    1. tmtvl says:

      Khelgar joins you ’cause he is also planning to go to Neverwinter and he likes fighting.
      Neeshka uses you as muscle to one-up her rival and later gets some personal stakes in the big conflict.
      Elanee joins because her druid order told her to.
      Qara gets pressed into service by Uncle Duncan and sticks around because she likes blowing people up better than Arcane academia.
      Grobnar is a space cadet who joins you because… he shows you the way to Old Owl Well. Okay, he has an iffy reason, but still.
      Casavir joins to fight the Orcs and do all that Paladin (?) stuff.
      Bishop is pressed into service by Uncle Duncan and has revenge-y reasons to stick around.
      Sand… is your lawyer? IDK.
      Shandra joins because you’re her bodyguard and because you need her to find her grandpa.
      Zhjaeve has Githzerai reasons, so much *knowing* is to be had.
      AJ joins to fight the big bad, which he’s devoted much time and effort to already.

      1. TLN says:

        Yeah but what are YOUR reasons for wanting them along for the ride, rather than telling them to stop bothering you (beyond them filling the “Token [Class]” role in a party)?

        The only ones that make sense as more than temporary characters for one player character are like.. Shandra, Zhjaeve and AJ. Maybe Elanee (due to her connection to the mere) and Sand (you need his help when he joins, and afterwards he’s competent and knowledgable + seems interesting in figuring out what’s going on).

        Casavir/Bishop have no real relevance to the plot, and being basically polar opposites on w/r/t alignment I’m not sure what PC could possibly want to bring them both along. Neither seem all that interested in anything that goes on beyond their own little plotlines.

        Qara is basically an psychotic pyromaniac who dislikes you unless you spend every conversation telling her how correct she is, Grobnar is a seemingly Actual Insane person who is impossible for anyone to enjoy.

        Khelgar/Neeshka are in the game because someone said “Well we need to have a fighter and a rogue in the party early on in case the player wants to play a wizard”.

        1. Joshua says:

          I’m probably unique in that Casavir was the first person I didn’t mind having come along, but I was already playing a Stoic Paladin, which I typically do the first time through. Everyone else before him (except for Elanee, who’s creepy stalker) just came off as cRaZy and wAcKy sidekick that just made me grit me teeth (especially Grobnar). Neeshka might have been all right, but her first impression to me was watered-down and less interesting copy of Annah from Planescape:Torment. Later on, I really liked Shandra and Sand, and even Bishop wasn’t too bad for Token Evil teammate. It’s just that they front-loaded all of the wacky characters which clashed with how I was interpreting the story at that point.

          I think the big issue is that you’re forced to recruit all of them into your party as opposed to allowing you to make your own decisions with them like Baldur’s Gate games.

          1. TLN says:

            I don’t mind Casavir really, but then I usually play good/good’ish character. If I were to play a chaotic evil character, it’s hard to come up with a reasonable in-character explanation for why I would want to bring a goody two shoes like Casavir along, and also why he would want to come along (iirc unlike the evil npcs Casavir will never abandon you/try to kill you no matter how evil you get).

            The same thing could be said for you playing a paladin, where in-character you’d probably be more inclined to strike Bishop & Qara down rather than try to befriend them.

        2. tmtvl says:

          Yeah but what are YOUR reasons for wanting them along for the ride, rather than telling them to stop bothering you (beyond them filling the “Token [Class]” role in a party)?

          A horde of outsiders is after you and you may want someone to watch your back?

          1. DerJungerLudendorff says:

            Most of these people would classify as outsiders, and some as outright hired muscle.

      2. TLN says:

        To be clear, games like Baldur’s Gate also has this problem partly, but they key difference is that for the most part you are not forced to bring anyone along. Most characters are entirely optional to even meet up with, associated with a sidequest that you might not even do.
        If you do meet them, you might decide that you dislike them and just leave them as they were.
        You might find Korgan so despicable that you attack and kill him during the quest in which he joins you.
        You might even be a horrible monster of a human being who kills Aerie in the circus tent before she even gets to join!

      3. trevalyan says:

        Sand is under orders from Nevalle: and at worst might stick around because he correctly sees Qara as a world-ending menace.

        Grobnar is a friendly goof who will happily pledge eternal loyalty to anyone who can tolerate him.

        Casavir only joins because he’s trying something different from orc kamikaze, and hopes travelling with you can redeem his (cut) sins. Some of his dialogue in an evil ending rules just for how he deals with you and Ammon Jerro being -worse- than orcs.

        1. Hector says:

          For the rest of time, I will insist that Bishop is Chaotic Neutral and Qara Chaotic Evil.

  5. Lino says:

    What?! Josh is singing the Final Fantasy theme? When I read it, I imagined he was singing the beginning to the theme song from Indiana Jones…

    Anyway, greay strip once again!

    1. qwerfsagvszdfwqer says:

      Think it’s missing a “da” at the end (before the “daah”)

      1. CrimsonCutz says:

        Yeah. Duh!

        Er, dah!

        Daaaah?

        duuuhhhh?

        Never mind

      2. Eric says:

        It is missing a “da”. The Final Fantasy victory fanfare is nine notes and he’s only singing eight.

        I know this because I regularly hum it.

        I’m that guy.

        1. Decius says:

          If you don’t go into the tune afterwards, you aren’t really that guy.

          1. tmtvl says:

            But that part changed after VI… although the classic follow-up was re-used in IX and XII.

        2. Kathryn says:

          I played it (on my phone) in a team meeting at work after we’d had a major achievement. (The one person who recognized it immediately IMed me a row of laughing emojis. I think everyone else was oblivious.)

  6. RJT says:

    I like this strip. I like that Ivy is uniquely obnoxious in her own way instead of being the straight man as the Only Female Character usually is.

    1. Scampi says:

      Isn’t she an overexaggerated form of a straight man? The one who stays serious in the face of Marcus’ overblown dialogue and is all facts instead of encouraging him to continue his performance?
      Seems like one to me.

      1. Sartharina says:

        Not really, because she’s actively shutting him down in the most passive-aggressive way.

        1. Scampi says:

          Okay. I guess I misunderstand/misunderstood what the role of a straight man encompasses?
          I always understood it to be someone who tries to stay (kind of) focused on tasks at hand, would like to work efficiently and undisturbed by other people’s excentricities and antics, especially if those subtract from effective methodology. Those, I think, she did fulfil when she just gave Marcus “the facts” on her character, even if I think they are overexaggerated for comical effect.
          To me, she seemed like the straight man trying to minimize dialogue to prevent Marcus from wasting more of everyone’s time. On the other hand, maybe we just read her dialogue with different emphasis?

          1. Syal says:

            That… might be strait-laced? That’s different from The Straight Man in comedy. The Straight Man is the person who provides enough setup to make the other character’s punchline land. In this comic it would actually be Marcus.

            1. Scampi says:

              Okay, then the fault lies with me. I always assumed the term to mean something different than it actually does. My bad. The translation into German is actually very clear, as I just found out.

  7. noahpocalypse says:

    Interesting. Now before I stamp these papers, make sure this information is correct.

  8. Galad says:

    I’ve dabbled in Morrowind years ago, so to people like me, who have put this game way behind in their timeline, yes, this is an obscure reference

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