Characters come and go, but the relative success of a campaign story can be judged by the number of players who are willing to see it through to the end.
A Star is Born
Remember the superhero MMO from 2009? Neither does anyone else. It was dumb. So dumb I was compelled to write this.
Diablo III Retrospective
We were so upset by the server problems and real money auction that we overlooked just how terrible everything else is.
A Lack of Vision and Leadership
People fault EA for being greedy, but their real sin is just how terrible they are at it.
Project Button Masher
I teach myself music composition by imitating the style of various videogame soundtracks. How did it turn out? Listen for yourself.
Good Robot Dev Blog
An ongoing series where I work on making a 2D action game from scratch.
Dave, I thought we settled this. That bug-eyed guy didn’t shoot at Han. He only threatened him a little. Han shot first (and only)!
“Piss Off, Casey Jones.” – I’m waiting for a chance to use that.
Hah! I always thought Dave was nothing but a whiner, now I’m sure of it. HAN SHOT FIRST!!
You like me because I’m a scoundrel. You don’t have enough scoundrels in your life.
I appreciate how Aragorn and Legolas are the only ones wanting to finish this campaign… Seeing as how the Hobbits started off as Commoner 1’s. (Except Frodo, who was an Aristocrat 1.)
…not sure about Gimlet, er Gimli.
Greedo shoots first in the special edition (ruins it really).
You can _all_ be Jedi if you play my game instead!
The look on Frodo’s face when he tells Sam he can be a Jedi is one of the most homoerotic and at the same time demeaning looks I have ever seen. I know it’s from the movies, and Elijah Wood just looks like that in the movies, but it’s just freaky seeing it frozen forever in a comic.
Yes, Han shot first. Doesn’t mean Greedo didn’t try to kill him.
Er. Frodo, Merry, and Pippin are all Aristocrat 1’s — only commoner there is Sam.
Point taken, especially if “by the book” vs. the movie. :)
Regardless, Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas have been taking names and kicking Orc for decades; the four hobbits have been smoking pipeweed and drinking beer for years… I know which character I’d rather play. And which one I’d rather be. :D
Ah ha! The DM is caught red-handed! He intended for Sam and Frodo to leave this entire time =P
Uh… I thought the Star Wars re-edit was pretty clear. Of course Han shot first. Greedo was holding a gun, pointed at Han’s chest from a distance of maybe 18 inches. The only way to miss at that range is by having your aim thrown off by a severe distraction – like, say, a blaster being fired into your torso :D
“Joining the Rebellion” — perfect title! :)
You have made mockery of all things Tolkein, and I congratulate you sir!
So what happened in the original, how were the shots different from the re-edit?
(this is starting to become the conversation they are talking about in the comic strip!)
hehe.. I’ve only just played my first D&D few weeks ago I cant belive how fun it is.. But I started out playing Baldurs Gate, NWN etc lol
Anyhoo very funny strip Shamus nice work =D
IIRC (29 years ago!?), in the original Star Wars, Han was the *only* one who shot. In one reedit, Guido shot first and in the next reedit, they both shot at the same time. I don’t remember how it is on the DVD version.
In the original, Han shot because Greedo was threatening him. It was clearly defining Han as a man with whom not to f***. Having Greedo shoot first made him seem terribly incompetant. Having him shoot at all diminishes Han’s attitude to a person who will give you a chance, but will outdraw you when push comes to shove.
Theno
[Han’s Strike Rank] Agree. Han shooting “with povocation” completely emasculates the character. Bad move, George “stupidhead” Lucas!
[Strike Rank] Look it up for Crom’s sake.
[Telas: “I know who I’d rather be”] Yup. Sauron.
Great comic, really superb. I hope you make ’em play original Traveller and have the whole gang whine about all those useless polydice in their pouches next, Shamus. Keep on keeping on.
Steve
“povocation”. Bah. Read it four times and missed the missing “r”. -2 circumstance penalty on next grammar check. I is sorry.
Steve
So, where is today’s strip? This comic has become an addiction of mine and I didn’t get my fix today!
Alas, with the busy holiday season fast approaching, our comic providers may find themselves overwhelmed. For those of you who need a fix, try: http://goblinscomic.com/d/20050626.html
make another one alrwady!
Hmm… I figured you’d at least do a strip about the perils of violating the cardinal D&D rule: Never EVER split up the party. Well, if this is it for DM of the Rings, well done. I enjoyed every pixel.
Not done, just on break. Lots more strips to come.
Just found this site (courtesy of EN World) and wanted to say FANTASTIC JOB! :)
strip withdrawal is not as bad as running out of drugs– but close! I can’t complain; my zine will be late again.
heau de ho hoe
@ crusader corim
The look Frodo has also appears in TBS’s secret lovers commerical:
http://tbs.com/broadband/videoplayer/0,,70636,00.html
In our group, the relative success is how long the GM has ideas for new adventures, quests, plots, and stuff. It more often than seldom ends with players begging on their bare knees for the GM to write another session worth of material. =P
I thought at first your image of the Rodian was taken from the Star Wars Holiday Special.
The Star Wars RPG was hard…it was way hard to ever get up enough force points to ever do anything cool with the Jedi characters.
“Hokey religions are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid”
And how!
Was adding the DM’s name in the last panel a post chainmail bikinis edit?
Greedo is my main man!
So we’ve seen a few images that are not movie screen captures.
Where do they come from?
Every time I played Star Wars it seems I was the only one who didn’t want to play a Jedi!
One game the dm suggested we all run jedi and I asked to play the pilot after all, all those points just to make a Jedi (d6 rules) surely meant my character would have beefed up abilities… nope well at least when the dm had his jedi npc mindwipe my character I found a way round the railroad!
Still wonder why any other game i hear about they’re screaming to play sith characters!
I played a rodian bountyhunter, but I was way more badass than Greedo.
Eh, Greedo was plenty badass. He just wanted the “Alive” bounty on Han, and underestimated how much Han didn’t want to talk to Jabba, figuring he could just bully him into coming along. Remember at that point, Jabba really did just want to talk to Han and remind him about the money he owed. He didn’t want revenge until Han ditched him for Luke and hid on Hoth for a couple years.
“Could I…Can I be a Jedi?”
Sam’s too pure for this campaign XD