Oots 606

[ProfessorCirno]

On the other hand, we know from the oracle that Belkar has less than a year to live.

Oracle has made mistakes before

I really liked this strip, and I cannot really get how people are saying it wasn't funny. Admittingly the comic isn't just the standard joke-of-the-day format, but it really is better off that way. Great jokes come from great build-ups. And quite frankly, I've laughed a lot harder at the humor from character interactions - interactions that happen because of character building - then I have about the throwaway D&D jokes that I forget when I'm done reading. And as someone said, the fact that the whole point of this strip is to purposefully poke fun at a long standing cliche is a level of humor it couldn't have made if all it did was say "Har har the wizard has low charisma, isn't that just like a wizard?"

There are dozens of webcomics on the internet that are all about D&D jokes and geek humor. And most of them, quite frankly, aren't really that good. Throwaway, joke-of-the-day comics get old, and they get old fast.

 

[roguerouge]

However, in this case it seems to be a parody of those kinds of philosophical turns or character growth moments.

At this point in a "traditional" story, Belkar, at his low ebb, sick from the curse, and the door about to bust in and he'd probably end up killed if he can't snap out of his craziness and get the cleric to remove curse him, etc ... in a normal story he'd have a character defining moment of some sort and character growth. However, instead he merely learns that he needs to fake character growth.

Heck, this is hardly the first time they've had this kind of character growth type moment. Durkon had to reject the Dwarf from the linear guild. Haley regained her voice. There was the whole thing with Elan recently as well. There is probably going to be some moment for Vaarsuvius soon too. It's just that, since it is Belkar, his character growth is realizing that things will be easier for him if he just pretends to have character growth. Odds are that, when the dream ends (and I think the epiphany is pretty much the end of the dream) that particular philosophical tangent will end as well.

You'll note that there was foreshadowing for this moment when Belkar faked an emotional moment, complete with tears, just to get enough xp to level.

 

[Voadam]

Nice to see some actual in-comic confirmation that the story is just about characters set in a world governed by RPG rules and cliches, and not in any way intended to represent an actual campaign with players controlling these characters. Not that I ever thought otherwise, but I've seen it argued the other way a time or two recently.

Belkar says in his fever dream "Uh, OK, but I thought we weren't actually representing a game campaign, we were just living in a world where the laws of -"

You don't think Belkar could be wrong? I don't think Belkar's statement settles the issue, it is just consistent with the view that the world has no DM or players, just RPG rules. It does not establish however that the world is not in fact representing an actual campaign.

 

[justanobody]

So that is the reason for strip delays, and the group hasn't played enough to make new scripts!

 

[Wolfwood2]

Oracle has made mistakes before.

I don't believe we've ever caught the Oracle in a mistake.

Belkar says in his fever dream "Uh, OK, but I thought we weren't actually representing a game campaign, we were just living in a world where the laws of -"

You don't think Belkar could be wrong? I don't think Belkar's statement settles the issue, it is just consistent with the view that the world has no DM or players, just RPG rules. It does not establish however that the world is not in fact representing an actual campaign.

I think Belkar's statement takes a hatchet to the back of the skull of the issue and buries it in a shallow grave. Now is it possible that we forgot to check the heartbeat of the issue before we buried it and that it somehow survived the brain trauma and will dig itself out of the grave before the issue suffocates? Sure, anything's possible. It's all make believe and the author can always change his mind.

But for purposes of discussing the comic, I think the issue is now settled. From now on, I think anyone refering to "the players" or "the DM" of Order of the Stick will be referd back to this comic. Any further discussion that person may have regarding "the players" or "the DM" will be premptively ignored and rejected as not worthy of consideration. It doesn't matter how carefully crafted the thought or what pearls of wisdom, insight, or humor may be found within; the words of that poster will nonetheless be ignored.

It's not fair, darn it, but there you go.

 

[Deset Gled]

But for purposes of discussing the comic, I think the issue is now settled. From now on, I think anyone refering to "the players" or "the DM" of Order of the Stick will be referd back to this comic.

I'm going to go on believing that it's a D+D campaign. First, there are still all the references to PCs and NPCs, plot structure, and other off-hand comments that only make sense if there are players and a DM. Second, and much more importantly, it entertains me to think of the comic that way.

 

[Darkwolf71]

It's not fair, darn it, but there you go.

I think it's quite fair.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

I don't believe we've ever caught the Oracle in a mistake.

Roy was banished and, in doing so, retained his memory - something the Oracle didn't realize would happen.

 

[Dav]

Roy was banished and, in doing so, retained his memory - something the Oracle didn't realize would happen.

You sure?

 

[Henry]

Roy was banished and, in doing so, retained his memory - something the Oracle didn't realize would happen.

I have a theory to that; The oracle can foretell the future, but only to the extent of the material world; Roy being an astral spirit, the oracle can't foresee Roy's fate because he's not tied to the material plane any more.

Alternately, the Oracle could KNOW that this was going to happen, and it needed to happen for some reason or other. Remember, we haven't revisited the oracle since that comic, either.