T w e n t y S i d e d
On Monday I’ll have the other “half” of his death. It was just too big to cram into one strip.
As I write this I find I can only do one of two things at any given time:
I really envy the skill of Rich Burlew, author of Order of the Stick. His strips are able to advance the story and deliver the funny at the same time. I’m still getting a feel for how to make a comic, and the longer I do it the more I see how hard it is to move the plot forward while telling a joke. The best strips so far are the ones where the characters just have a bit of preposterous dialog and the plot doesn’t go anywhere. The lamest ones are where I just move everyone to the next batch of jokes.
– Shamus, Friday Dec 8, 2006
My lungs are working at about 60%, sorry for two weeks of no effort commentary. On the upside all the stimulants’ they’ve given me make me really really good at making anxious chihuahua impressions. Apparently some people do albuterol for fun. I do not understand. That’s like telling me some people enjoy…uh…nope, I can’t think of a single thing some freak out there wouldn’t manage to enjoy. Carry on.
The Terrible New Thing
Fidget spinners are ruining education! We need to... oh, never mind the fad is over. This is not the first time we've had a dumb moral panic.
The No Politics Rule
Here are 6 reasons why I forbid political discussions on this site. #4 will amaze you. Or not.
Mass Effect 3 Ending Deconstruction
Did you dislike the ending to the Mass Effect trilogy? Here's my list of where it failed logically, thematically, and tonally.
Patreon!
Why Google sucks, and what made me switch to crowdfunding for this site.
Programming Language for Games
Game developer Jon Blow is making a programming language just for games. Why is he doing this, and what will it mean for game development?
I was a little surprised to see the reference to Order of the Stick here; I had imagined that I had DMotR came first but no, after checking the date, OotS is older by 3 years.
Perhaps this illusion is caused by me discovering DMotR first ond OotS second, and assuming that both comics were equally “fresh” when I first started reading them. Perhaps it’s because Shamus finished his comic and went on to do multiple projects, while OotS is still running to this day.
Yeah. I discovered OotS from here and not the other way round too. Thanks, Shamus!
Yeah, this strip’s punchline is just a reminder about how long Burlew has been faffing about with OotS.
Typo watch:
“Overcome by the orcs Boromir Fall in battle” should say “Overcome by the orcs, Boromir falls in battle”. (comma after “orcs”, capitalization on “falls”, third-person S on “falls”)
“Swimming is a weird sport. Because sometimes you do it for fun. And sometimes you do it to Not Die.” — Dmotri Martin maybe?
By the way, Boromir’s “low-level fighter” comment is interesting.
In theory, Aragorn and Boromir at least should be relatively high level – they’re experienced warriors. Legolas is relatively low level for an elf. I’m less clear on Gimli from the lore – I thought he was relatively young for a dwarf. Obviously the hobbits are not only low level, but not very capable fighters to boot.
But even if you ignore Galdalf as the mary sue NPC, this party should be pretty unbalanced level-wise.
Not that an “infinite number of orcs” is a reasonable challenge even for a higher level fighter.
If you look at it through the lens of classic D&D, IMO:
Gandalf: off-the leveling charts, technically a DM-controlled NPC with plot armor and plot power. Can do whatever he needs to be able to do, can’t do what MUST be accomplished by the PC’s.
Aragorn: way over level 10, at least 15, you can definitely argue he’s flirting near level 20. In game terms, this is a high-level character that should only be playing EPIC-level games. “Infinite Number of Orcs” isn’t necessarily an unreasonable challenge; “Infinite Number of Orcs” while escorting lower-level players AND a large group of level 1 noncombatants that literally walk off into the woods constantly is definitely unfair, though.
Legolas: young and low-level, but “for an elf,” in a campaign where elves start…at least at level 2? Maybe higher? Elven Rangers from Mirkwood don’t just get a handful of +1’s, they get some talents that are on par with level 8 – 10 PC’s. I think you could argue that Legolas may only be a level 2 Elven Ranger, but that’s actually some kind of prestige class you take after you’ve already reached level 10 in the base class.
Gimli: Most likely another prestige class, but you could argue maybe that Gimli in “in the middle” of his quest to gain the new class. But clearly the player is min-max’er who dumped everything ONLY into his axe skills and fighting ability. No charisma at all, low intelligence, his knowledge is limited to inherent racial knowledge and, arguably, his weapon skills. He tanks and swings his axe really hard. Dwarves have no agility, and he clearly didn’t add points.
Boromir: Level 5 Human Fighter and an inexperienced player. Thought he was being clever by dumping intelligence and charisma to boost his fighting stats, and also took “weak willed” or “easily manipulated” in order to get an heirloom that calls allies.
The Hobbits: clearly all noobs and level 1’s. These were meant to all be NPC’s, not players. Have interesting “color” abilities such as “gardening,” “brewing,” “hobbit lore,” and “farming.” Three of them are technically nobility, one of the least-played classes in EVERY RPG that has ever included it. We’re not even talking poorly-equipped bards here…they’re friggin’ useless. Again, clearly they were supposed to be NPC’s in an escort quest. You probably get extra points is all 4 make it to the destination.
I think this undersells Boromir .
Aragorn should be the superior fighter – he’s got that Numenorian blood and all. But Boromir is the son of the Steward of Gondor, and the country’s de factor military leader. He’s been leading troops in battle fighting Sauron’s forces for years. He’s more than your average a mid-level fighter. People know his name across a significant part of this world.
I’d argue that, rather than taking a disadvantage, he simply dumped Wisdom as a stat, which allowed him to be corrupted by the ring much more easily than he would have been otherwise (and humans are naturally weak to the ring, just as hobbits are naturally strong against it).
That’s a good perspective. Could easily explain his actions and abilities.
To be fair, so does Boromir, though possibly (probably?) not as much as a direct scion of Elendil and heir to the kingdom of Arnor.
This is my first visit to your website, and this comic series. It’s interesting to see how you’ve used two voices in this media, on top of the LOTR imagery. Well done.
Reading through this strip is quite a bit like having a conversation with the character, while the narrator leads me further into the story. I also like how you used the cartoon “THWAP!” lettering. Those little touches make the media more enjoyable.