T w e n t y S i d e d
Er, not quite. Oh dear. Bilbo seems to have painted me into a corner. Let’s start over.
This is indeed the end of DM of the Rings, but not the end as far as writing webcomics go. On this site, I have another couple of weeks of deleted strips and other bits I’ve come up with that didn’t fit into the DMotR continuity.
If you want to read more by me, then check out Stolen Pixels, a screencap comic I do for The Escapist. It’s on videogames, not D&D, but it might amuse you if you’re into that sort of thing.
Thanks so much for reading. It’s been an honor.
I miss you old man
Dead or Alive 5 Last Round
I'm not surprised a fighting game has an absurd story. I just can't figure out why they bothered with the story at all.
The Best of 2017
My picks for what was important, awesome, or worth talking about in 2017.
Game at the Bottom
Why spend millions on visuals that are just a distraction from the REAL game of hotbar-watching?
Punishing The Internet for Sharing
Why make millions on your video game when you could be making HUNDREDS on frivolous copyright claims?
Trusting the System
How do you know the rules of the game are what the game claims? More importantly, how do the DEVELOPERS know?
Thank you for these remasters Peter. Are you interested in writing more for the site ? (Short message cause phone posting )
Ah what a ride. It was good to experience it again. Shamus had a gift.
For one more time, so long!
Thanks so much!!
This was a wonderful remaster!!! :_)
Thanks for everything!
And one last time: if anyone wants to see someone take Shamus’s concept, expand it, make it about Star Wars, and replace the cast of dysfunctional sociopaths with a cast of semi-functional goofballs, well, such a comic can be read!
https://darthsanddroids.net/
As a Darths and Droids fan (but when are the rest of the “Solo” strips getting commentary? :p ), it was fun to read the original inspiration…and newly remastered!
Thank you, Peter, for all the time and effort and obvious love you put into this!
And if you want to see it done with a cast of people working out interpersonal group dynamics in the setting of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, such a comic exists too! (It’s complete now, after an almost 13-year[!] run.)
https://friendshipisdragons.thecomicseries.com/
TVTropes also has a page listing other examples of what it calls “campaign comics,” if you’re looking for something else new.
And if you want to see the concept executed by an actually functional group, there’s always One Piece: Grand Line 3.5, which continues to receive updates thrice weekly and maintain a semi-active (plus generally friendly) shoutbox community.
On a related note, I take Olivier’s use of “(semi-)functional)” to mean “devoid of any major social-emotional issues that impact, or may impact, the players’ ability to collaborate and communicate with each other peacefully and respectfully,” but that’s merely my take.
—————
On the other hand, if you somehow want to subject yourself to an even more dysfunctional group with only half the humor of DMotR, I suppose you could always read D&D Aangvanced, which is listed on the TV Tropes that Philadelphus so kindly linked for us.
For those
masochisticdaring enough to brave Aangvanced themselves, be warned that the series was designed to be as unfriendly as physically possible to low-vision, blind, or screen reader-using readers. For whatever goddamn reason the author thought it acceptable, even brilliant, to liberally use low-contrast (especially dark-on-dark) text, visual effects in speech bubbles (blurred text, noisy backgrounds, etc.), and alt text commentary throughout the comic. There are no transcripts for most of the comic to help readers navigate the author’s…interesting artistic choices, and the transcripts hosted on tumblr for the first dozen pages or so are not guaranteed to resist link rot. Hell, if you just want transcripts around to keep track of which lines or panels go where, Aangvanced is not for you: The author loved to experiment with panel and speech bubble layouts for the sake of drama and aesthetics, sometimes at the expense of an intuitive (or at least coherent) visual order.(Seriously, if you want a campaign comic that centers access in its reading experience, Friendship is Dragons and Darths & Droids are both excellent choices. They have detailed transcripts with SFX and descriptions of noteworthy details in case anyone uses a screen reader or is simply confused by any given page’s layout. Sadly, Grand Line 3.5 doesn’t offer any transcripts.)
I also feel obligated to mention that Aangvanced is exquisitely detailed in its depictions of emotional and verbal abuse, toxic kinship (both family and friend) dynamics, and gaslighting. At one point in the final arc, there’s even an extensive and aggressive attempt to induce psychosis and suicide ideation in the newest player to join the table. Consider this your main advisory; the author never saw fit to add content warnings themself.
Oh, and the first half of the series might be difficult for autistic readers to stomach. Let’s just say the table doesn’t treat their sole autistic player with much empathy or inclusion.
(If anyone is wondering whether the multitude of warnings is necessary: Yes. Yes, it is. The series is just that cruelly written.)
I miss the old man too. :( (Actually he was only a decade older than me.)
Thank you for this remaster! It was a pleasure to see this story again, after so many years.
And I’ve completed my translation (to Russian) as well, and even did some extras by myself (DMotR ‘special’ one-shots and ‘Knights of the Rohirrim’): https://acomics.ru/~dm-of-the-rings-remaster
It was fun rereading all of these comics. Thank you for doing this!
Is there any chance that Shamus’ comics about his time spent in Lord of the Rings Online? There doesn’t seem to be any way to access them, as they are all just broken links on the old Escapist website.
It looks like his mmo playthroughs are listed under “Shamus Plays” in the archives. Here is the first lulzy:
https://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=30811
Shamus is responsible for me playing lotro as well.
Thanks for everything! I started on the original version and now I’m finishing with this great remaster
Thank you for all the work you’ve put into this!
Good fun to revisit the comic again, and some bittersweet moments as well. Thanks for remastering them & running them again
(inevitable nerd observation)
The original was better.
(/ino)
Thanks for the trip down memory lane. :)
I hate to see it end. I bought “Help My Dice Are Trying Ti Kill Me” mugs/travel mugs for some of the family for Christmas. We all miss Shamus in an unending way.