OOTS #629 is up

[Filcher]

I want to know what gingko bilboa will solve for the raven.

Wikipedia says it is used for memory, so the crow (familiar) might have been asking: "How do I gets these jerks to remember that I exist?"

V's 4 words will be "I accept your offer" to the imp. It will have a very right reason for it ("save the children"). However, in 20 more strips, when V is ensnared in some impish plot that makes the situation even worse, he will protest, "I never wanted this!" And the imp will reply, "Doesn't matter that you did it for the wrong reason, you got it anyway."

This rings true to me.

 

[Quartz]

Was that a Primal Scream by V in the last panel?

 

[jeffh]

No, this is the follow up to V saying the 4 right words to the right being for all the wrong reasons: Giant In the Playground Games

Nothing that V will say now in pursuit of trying to save his family can POSSIBLY be for all the wrong reasons. It might be the wrong thing for the *right* reasons, but it won't be the right thing for the wrong reasons. That one was Kubata.

Lots of people have been pushing that theory since the day #595 came out, but I don't buy it. Yes, that does count as V saying the right four words for all the wrong reasons. But that's only half the prophesy. How is that supposed to count as achieving complete and total ultimate arcane power by saying the right four words to the right being for all the wrong reasons?

• Over 30 strips later, V has achieved nothing of the kind.
• Whatever happens now - even if he cuts a deal with the imp in the very next strip, or whatever - it won't be something he achieved by killing Kubuto. Nor is there any sense in which that action started him down his current path, or anything like that; this was already well underway by then.
• There's also the fact that he didn't say those words to anybody, much less to any plausible candidate for "the right being".

We have already seen that the Oracle doesn't really buy the sorts of very tenuous causal links being proposed here (he pretends to for a while in the hopes of saving his own skin, but see the second-last panel). I wish people would stop suggesting them.

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

Was that a Primal Scream by V in the last panel?

I'm guessing the pain of his family dying?

AR

 

[ruemere]

Well, by the wisdom of old manuals, the ultimate arcane ability equaled to use of Wish spell. So, "I wish ... ..." improperly phrased (for example, the dragon already killed V's family and revealed her intentions to toy with V) so as to act for a wrong reason.

Another possibility, this could be all a hallucination of trance-deprived mind (i.e. nightmare) - 4 missed ray spells, a dragon who counters every spell and tremendous feeling of guilt. Come on, how tired one has to be to miss with 5 touch spells, including one targeting HUGE object?

Also, did anyone notice that the imp survived Disintegrate and probably Dragon's breath? And made a summon of a huge creature previously. This is not a mere imp.

Regards,
Ruemere

 

[Fifth Element]

While I wouldn't put past Mr. Burlew to let this be the action that forges the evil alliance between V and the imp, I really don't think he'll do something like this. It seems too obvious.

But if he never does the obvious, then not doing the obvious would become as obvious as doing the obvious would otherwise be.

Savvy?

 

[Nymrohd]

I am confused. What does ultimate arcane power has to do with imps? I thought it was clear that it stems from understanding the occult secrets of the humble doily.

 

[Donovan Morningfire]

I'll infer ...

And I'll thank you not to infer how I run my campaigns.

Maybe I am a GM rarity, but I don't believe that giving the PC(s) a single shot when they're at the end of their line to stop something horrific from happening qualifies as "good GMing." A fair few folks I know would put that kind of crap under "railroading" and "punishing the PC for not going along with the GM's plan."

Let's so how upset you would be if a random monster (and that's largely what the dragon is, a random monster) suddenly shows up, wipes the floor with your PC, and says it's going to destroy one of the most important things in your PC's life, and there's really jack-all you can do about it.

But then I suppose the folks that like this strip would be just has happy if the heroes finally get back together, go to confront Xykon for the final battle... only to learn that's he already unleashed the Snarl which is going to destroy reality on its next turn... and it has initiative. Rocks fall, everyone dies. Enjoy the show.

And before anyone else makes a snide remark about it, I am bloody well frakin' aware that this isn't representing a gorram tabletop game! But others who are similarly aware of that haven't stopped from trying to figure out the game mechanics of scene, and I don't see people mindlessly bashing them.

Point blank, I didn't care for the strip based on personal preferences. Got a problem with that? Go take a long walk of a short plank.

 

[MarkB]

And before anyone else makes a snide remark about it, I am bloody well frakin' aware that this isn't representing a gorram tabletop game! But others who are similarly aware of that haven't stopped from trying to figure out the game mechanics of scene, and I don't see people mindlessly bashing them.

You're not showing that awareness in your commentary, though. Whether V's predicament would be a 'fair' way for a DM to treat a player is utterly irrelevant, because he's not a player, and there's no DM doing this to him. He's a character in a story, and what matters is whether this is dramatically appropriate for a character in a story. And frankly, yes, this is exactly the sort of character-defining moment that I'd expect and want to see in a decent story.

Point blank, I didn't care for the strip based on personal preferences. Got a problem with that? Go take a long walk of a short plank.

Well, that's different. If you don't like the story, that's your choice - but then, why are you bringing irrelevancies like DMs and players into your explanation of why you don't like it? They are not present in this story.

 

[Pbartender]

Maybe I am a GM rarity, but I don't believe that giving the PC(s) a single shot when they're at the end of their line to stop something horrific from happening qualifies as "good GMing." A fair few folks I know would put that kind of crap under "railroading" and "punishing the PC for not going along with the GM's plan."

You do realize that Rick has a penchant for showing off the stupidity of stereotypical player and DM behaviors such as this by featuring it in a rather exaggerated way in the comic strip.

Remember how he protrayed Miko as the ultimate in an unforgiving "lawful good" character, and how disruptive that could be? Or Belkar and his ultra violent purposefully chaotic distractions? Or Celia and the hinderance of her unnecessarily pacifist tendencies?

Much of Rick's character and plot development is driven by starting with a typical player, DM, PC or NPC stereotype which has been taken to a certain extreme, showcasing how it can be disruptive to a game, and then showing what happens when the "player/DM**" refuses to change the behavior (like Miko) or manages to find a way to modify the habit so that its at least non-disruptive to the game (like Belkar).

Almost every major character in the comic shows this trend to one degree or another...



**I know that technically there are no players or DM in the strip, but sometimes it is helpful to pretend there is for the purposes of plot analysis.