T w e n t y S i d e d
Shamus Says:
A recap comic. Everyone – fans and Shawn alike – faulted me for doing too many of these. They don’t advance the story, they just rephrase it.
They’re probably right, but I remain unrepentant.
Shawn Says:
On the one hand, this comic is largely unnecessary. On the other hand, there are a few amusing bits. I’m also once again reminded that I wish I had done the fantasy segments in a sketchier style. I think it would have worked well. Ah well.
Linux vs. Windows
Finally, the age-old debate has been settled.
Megatextures
A video discussing Megatexture technology. Why we needed it, what it was supposed to do, and why it maybe didn't totally work.
Who Broke the In-Game Economy?
Why are RPG economies so bad? Why are shopkeepers so mercenary, why are the prices so crazy, and why do you always end up a gazillionaire by the end of the game? Can't we just have a sensible balanced economy?
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.
I think it’s a testament to the authors’ commitment to the premise that I don’t immediately find Steve the most unlikeable character in the group :)
That recap is perfect. There’s just something so very…Marcus about the way it conveys all the basic information in such a stupid, unhelpful way.
It’s very true to my experiences with RP groups, too.
The recap helped me. I haven’t gone back and read the rest of this strip and don’t know if I plan on doing so. And it was a funny little recap.
Side Note: I usually find stories about what the party was doing before I joined to be boring. I know its sounds selfish and honestly partly it is, like I care more if my character is involved. But its also more interesting if I was there to get the full context of what happened as it happened. If I was there rolling dice, experiencing the tension.
Now that’s a good clip episode! You can taste the salt emanating from the GM whose entire plot nobody cares about!
Just because it’s not necessary doesn’t mean it’s not funny.
I think it’s not _just_ recap; there’s humor in seeing how badly the players have garbled their understanding (or, at least to some extent, Casey has garbled their understanding) of the plot.
I lean towards the players in this comic. The plot established by Casey is extremely simple, and the players screwing around so much is the cause for their own confusion. DMotR is more aligned with the DM making things way too complicated and/or forgetting crucial information.
I think recaps are important in a webcomic. When the reader spends only a couple of minutes per week with the comic, and storylines can stretch over months, a recap is good way to remind the reader of the main events. Especially because the highlights of a comic like this are the jokes, not the plot points
From the other perspective, that of the binge reader, a recap is just one extra strip, and doesn’t distract much from the flow of the story.
The only downside with that, especially for a strip that updates irregularly is that it can be frustrating to have that single update in a month or week be a recap of things the audience already knows.