(No after-comic commentary for this on in the original run.)
Shamus Says:
I love this strip. The whole thing. I love Josh, stalking the hapless goblins in panel 1. The rationalizations in panel 2. Chuck’s wry truth in panel 3 and Fitzpatrick giving raspberries.
Shawn Says:
Oh hey! I should comment here! Oops.
I’m a big fan of this one as well. I’d say it’s one of the high points of the run. I should note we had a few people complain about how cute and doomed those poor goblins were, which was rather the point.
Best. Plot Twist. Ever.
Few people remember BioWare's Jade Empire, but it had a unique setting and a really well-executed plot twist.
Rage 2
The game was a dud, and I'm convinced a big part of that is due to the way the game leaned into its story. Its terrible, cringe-inducing story.
This Scene Breaks a Character
Small changes to the animations can have a huge impact on how the audience interprets a scene.
Another PC Golden Age?
Is it real? Is PC gaming returning to its former glory? Sort of. It's complicated.
Quakecon 2011 Keynote Annotated
An interesting but technically dense talk about gaming technology. I translate it for the non-coders.
Heh, “ignorant enough to not be complicit, involved enough to get XP” reminds me of “very specific level of tired” in DMOTR. :)
This strip actually reminded me of the DMotR one where Gimli’s player makes fun of Aragorn’s for having absurd amounts of items including weapons and armor stashed conveniently in his pack and refers to it as his portable Tardis.
How about the one where Gandalf confronts the Balrog and Gimli’s player (wasn’t that actually Chuck? I always get player names confused) argues how abandoning Gandalf (for those unfamiliar in the comic he’s “GM’s pet NPC” of the very annoying variety) is within their alignment?
that was my favorite. Gimli was the most experienced roleplayer and showed everyone else how you can do what you want if youre smart about it.
That might still be my absolute favourite joke from DMOTR. I think of it so often when my DM or my players end up resting in conveniently epic places.
Yeah, maybe I’ve been reading Shamus’ stuff too long, but I honestly expected that to be the punch line.
From the D&D&D Players Handbook:
Huh. Forgot about this one, but it’s the funniest one so far. Nice to see Marcus leaning into the player nonsense, he feels like part of the group here instead of a newbie pariah.
I also find Josh’s stalking of the goblins one of the best compositions in the webcomic
If I remember right, one of the random lore books you can find in Icewind Dale 2 is called Face It, You’re Actually Neutral Evil or something similar.