Order of the Stick: Why isn't it going 4e?

[freyar]

Of course, Roy's dead, and Haley and Belkar could be about to die. Varsuvius isn't looking too good either. That leaves Durkon and Elan, who could easily be killed, so could Rich be building up to a TPK leading to a 4e reboot?

Nah, there's no OGL safe-harbor in 4e, so we'd just have a strip full of those lawyers all the time.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Nah, there's no OGL safe-harbor in 4e, so we'd just have a strip full of those lawyers all the time.

Of course, this doesn't matter at all for a parodistic work. And the OotS books specifically state that none of their content are under the OGL.

 

[billd91]

Mr. Burlew claimed that he was going to bring it over so that it was some vague gray area between 3.5E and 4E, but that certainly hasn't happened. Also, it is not like he has stopped making any jokes based on rules...

<snip>
Also, Mr. Burlew continues to base all of the races, classes, and monsters in his strip on 3.5E races, classes, and monsters. He hasn't even made a single move to introduce a Warlord, or a Dragonborn, or one of the new 4E Angels, or anything.

I don't think a complete conversion is necessary at all, but right now Mr. Burlew seems to be doing nothing more than pretending that 4E doesn't even exist. He has certainly not held to his claim that he will make some kind of transition. If he just said outright that he was not going to make such a transition (like some other D&D based comic authors have made), then I would have no problem (other than a disagreement, I suppose, but one I could just ignore and keep to myself), but he did not go that route.

Maybe you should check out his 5/20/08 statement on 4e. He isn't intending to do any conversion at all. So I don't know what sort of claim to move to a gray area you're referring to.
He'll go where the humor takes him but won't convert to 4e. That's pretty much the long and short of it. And good for him. A series of comics about the shifts from 3.5 to 4e for the characters would, I think, be really tedious given the number of changes. I would prefer him to focus on the story with occasional rules jokes rather than have the story be swallowed up by overwhelming rules jokes.

 

[avin]

In my opinion he wasted a very good plot not doing the "uh oh, we are 4E" "what happened?" geez... OOTS is losing its fun to me from a long time now... I should check 8 Bit Thearer and see if Red Mage (aka Debora) is changing his sheet for 4E exploits

 

[Wolfwood2]

Pretty much why I stopped reading it ages ago. The guy has more words on each page of his comic than is sensible.

Well you must have some interest. After all, you stopped to post in an OotS thread. Been following the plot summaries on wikipedia?

 

[WizarDru]

To wit:

Equally important is the fact that the new edition departs radically from prior versions of the game in terms of what classes and races are initially described. Whether or not this is good for the game isn’t really my concern; I’m more interested in the fact that converting would introduce dozens of unnecessary changes in my story. At the very least, I would need to devote many strips to showing off the ways that characters have been changed by the new rules, strips I would rather devote to advancing the story. This sort of thing isn’t as crucial a problem for a gaming group considering the new game, but when switching would force several of my main characters to significantly change their powers and abilities—and some wouldn’t even have their new abilities defined yet for at least another year!—it becomes less palatable. Again, though, to be crystal clear: This is not a condemnation of the new rules by me. I have not read them yet, having failed to get my hands on an advance copy some time ago. They may well be the finest fantasy roleplaying rules ever written. I wouldn’t know. What I DO know is that they are not suited to my needs as a storyteller at this time.

However, this does NOT mean that I will stop making jokes about the fact that the characters exist within a world that operates like a roleplaying game. Nor will I limit myself to either jokes about 3.5 Edition or 4th Edition. I’ll go where the humor takes me, and if that happens to create gross inconsistencies, then so be it. As an added benefit, I expect it will drive the fans who try to figure out exactly what is occurring in each strip from a strict D&D rules perspective absolutely nuts. If it really bothers anyone, simply imagine that the OOTS world follows someone’s homebrewed hybridization of 3.5 and 4th Editions, using bits and pieces from whichever ruleset they think works better.

Rich made that decision before 4e was even on the shelves. He went on to mention that he'll make the occasional 4e joke where it makes sense...but he believes that a singificant chunk of his readers aren't even active D&D players and likely don't care either way.

 

[Nimloth]

Requesting edification

Mr. Burlew claimed that he was going to bring it over so that it was some vague gray area between 3.5E and 4E, but that certainly hasn't happened.

But others say;

But they've already made at least one 4E joke, and I'm sure there'll be more.

There's 4e jokes already, and I'm sure there will be more, but a full-fledged conversion would seem to be too much work for too little reward, I think.

Despite his answer, he's made maybe 3 references to 4e.

I've only glanced at 4th Ed and am not planning on changing (mostly because I have so much $ spent on 3rd), so which comics have 4th ed jokes? Thanks.

 

[freyar]

Of course, this doesn't matter at all for a parodistic work. And the OotS books specifically state that none of their content are under the OGL.

And indeed my post was parody too. But those lawyers sure came in handy when the illithid showed up.

 

[Darkwolf71]

Despite his answer, he's made maybe 3 references to 4e.

Actually, in his answer he states:

However, this does NOT mean that I will stop making jokes about the fact that the characters exist within a world that operates like a roleplaying game. Nor will I limit myself to either jokes about 3.5 Edition or 4th Edition. I’ll go where the humor takes me, and if that happens to create gross inconsistencies, then so be it. As an added benefit, I expect it will drive the fans who try to figure out exactly what is occurring in each strip from a strict D&D rules perspective absolutely nuts. If it really bothers anyone, simply imagine that the OOTS world follows someone’s homebrewed hybridization of 3.5 and 4th Editions, using bits and pieces from whichever ruleset they think works better.

Emphasis mine.

 

[Qualidar]

Mr. Burlew claimed that he was going to bring it over so that it was some vague gray area between 3.5E and 4E, but that certainly hasn't happened. Also, it is not like he has stopped making any jokes based on rules...

Seriously, in a very recent strip he turned the fairly obscure and very minor "can't sneak attack a rogue unless you are 4 levels higher" rule from 3.5E into a plot point within his strip. It was involved in a critical mistake on a character's part that lead directly to a fairly major event. Actually, that same comic had a punch-line/final quip that doesn't even make sense under 4E assumptions. No matter how much the strip is more focused on its own story than on rules jokes, it doesn't change the fact that D&D rules are a very important part of that story.

Also, Mr. Burlew continues to base all of the races, classes, and monsters in his strip on 3.5E races, classes, and monsters. He hasn't even made a single move to introduce a Warlord, or a Dragonborn, or one of the new 4E Angels, or anything.

I don't think a complete conversion is necessary at all, but right now Mr. Burlew seems to be doing nothing more than pretending that 4E doesn't even exist. He has certainly not held to his claim that he will make some kind of transition. If he just said outright that he was not going to make such a transition (like some other D&D based comic authors have made), then I would have no problem (other than a disagreement, I suppose, but one I could just ignore and keep to myself), but he did not go that route.

Seriously, does that bother you?