Uh-oh... will this comic ever end?

[Thrudh]

Not that I want it to end anytime soon....

BUT... didn't Rich quit his day-job to write the strip (and other projects) full time??

Because if the OOTS is his main source of income, and since I doubt he wants to go back to working a normal job... he might try to stretch this thing out until retirement!!!

I could see another 5 years of this, and enjoy every second... but another 40 years to finish the story??? What if I die before I find out how it all turns out!!

:) :)

[zach12376]

Rich has stated that he already knows where the comic will end, and that it WILL end. It would suck if I died before the comic ended.

[Winthur]

Screw the money, Rich has rules!

[Nerd-o-rama]

Rich has stated he has a definite end in mind for the comic - and a good thing, too, I can't stand zombie series that shuffle on well after their story's been finished.

He can always just start another comic, or live off of merchandising this one for a few years and then start another comic or get a real job.

That "real" part was sarcasm.

[Berserk Monk]

No one makes money from producing a webcomic. You make money from merchandising. If the comic ended next month, Rich would still make money from selling his products. Besides, I'm sure Rich wants to do other things that just oots in his life. He's probably come up with other plots and characters while writing oots.

[Connington]

I dunno, the bigger ones might get over the break even margin with advertisement.

[Lord_Butters_I]

There's no ads on the site so he's not getting a dime from the webcomic itself. His money comes from merchandise and the occasional freelance job. My guess is after OotS ends he'll either start a new story or get a job writing for something else. (TV, commercial comics, whatever)

[Lupy]

He's promised he won't keep Oots going after it ends, and Rich's always been as good as his word. I predict that when he finishes this he has other stories to tell, and I'm very sure that we'll all love them as much as Oots. :smallsmile:

[[TS] Shadow]

I'm sure he won't COMPLETELY throw out OotS after it's over: a cameo is almost necessary. And stop reminding me that this thing is gonna end!

[David Argall]

We are on book 4 of what is possibly a 7 book set. So we get the conclusion far enough in the future [2015?]to make any prediction not worth making.
However, OOTS is a 3.5 story, and we are going to be in 5.0 by then. My own not-guaranteed prediction is that 5.0 will look a lot more like 3.5 than 4.0, but even so, you shouldn't base a strip on a game system that is long out of date. So the chance of a sequel is pretty low.

[Kranden]

Just because a story ends does not mean the storyteller cannot tell a different story.

[Lord Zentei]

Just because a story ends does not mean the storyteller cannot tell a different story.

This.


Yes, the story will end one way or another. Hopefully it will not simply fade away or descend into storytelling undeath. A definite, well planned out end is what any great comic with an over-arching storyline deserves.

[Raging Gene Ray]

I may be the only one, but I'm kind of hoping for a couple of short-lived spinoff comics after OotS including "The Adorably and Unabashedly Destructive Adventures of Thog the Barbarian"

[Fri]

I prefer CPPD Blues.

[Underground]

I guess he'll start a new adventure once this one is finished.

[Optimystik]

I just hope that someone, anyone - doesn't have to be The Giant - makes a decent webcomic from 4th edition, because I won't be trying it until I get either that or a new CRPG based on it.

[Raging Gene Ray]

I prefer CPPD Blues.

Rich did hint towards CSI: Cliffport in the title of one of the strips.

Other OotS spinoffs:

"Sparking the Flames": Every comic would be 10-15 panels of Miko doing something mundane, like eating ice cream or ironing clothes. Then she turns to the viewer and utters one (1) sentence and goes back to whatever she was doing before. The author then keeps track of how big the flame wars resulting from that single sentence are.

"The Puppy That Nobody Wanted (A Tale of Infinite Sorrow)": A puppy that just happens to look like a pretty girl tries desperately to be accepted by Thog.

"The Battle for Goblin Knob": Goblin Dan beco- You know, never mind. I'm not even gonna touch that one.

[NerfTW]

"The Battle for Goblin Knob": Goblin Dan beco- You know, never mind. I'm not even gonna touch that one.

Rich doesn't write Erfworld. It's written by Rob Balder and drawn by Jamie Noguchi.

[[TS] Shadow]

I want the last panel of OotS to be That Guy with The Halberd saying:
"I'm not coming back. Deal with it."

[Assassin89]

Rich doesn't write Erfworld. It's written by Rob Balder and drawn by Jamie Noguchi.

The title of that comic is The Battle for Gobwin Knob, not Goblin Knob

[FoE]

I've heard that Oots is going to end soon with a sudden fade to black in the next story arc, just as Roy confronts Xykon for a final battle.

[David Argall]

I just hope that someone, anyone - doesn't have to be The Giant - makes a decent webcomic from 4th edition, because I won't be trying it until I get either that or a new CRPG based on it.

The odds don't look good. It will take a year for everybody to get the jokes, and we learned from the start of 4.0 that 5.0 is likely already in the planning stage, and will be rolled out about 2012, meaning you will either have to drop the rules jokes or watch the audience start to say "I don't get it." about the time you have a good following. Better to start a comic based on something that will last a few more years than that.

[Optimystik]

The title of that comic is The Battle for Gobwin Knob, not Goblin Knob

The FCC would certainly be more interested in RGR's version :smallwink:


The odds don't look good. It will take a year for everybody to get the jokes, and we learned from the start of 4.0 that 5.0 is likely already in the planning stage, and will be rolled out about 2012, meaning you will either have to drop the rules jokes or watch the audience start to say "I don't get it." about the time you have a good following. Better to start a comic based on something that will last a few more years than that.

Ugh. Next thing you know, they WILL be releasing content in randomized booster packs.

[kpenguin]

Ugh. Next thing you know, they WILL be releasing content in randomized booster packs.

Damn, this is the fourth elf monk I've gotten. How many more do I have buy to get a halfling wizard?

[evileeyore]

Rich has stated that he already knows where the comic will end, and that it WILL end. It would suck if [-]I[/-] Rich died before the comic ended.

Fixed it for you.

[Linkavitch]

No, it will never end. and nobody should want it to.

[Half-Orc Rage]

I think it has to end because of the way the story is set up. Xykon and Redcloak want to use the gates to release the Snarl, and they have gone through three out of five gates already. At some point they have to go for the last two or the last one, and by storytelling rules The Order of the Stick have to stop them. Or it gets released and they have to save the world in some larger way, or something else like that. Once the main villain is defeated, you can wrap the series up for a while and take care of any dangling plot threads, but eventually you need to end it because you've reached your climax by that point.

Also, from a personal standpoint an ending provides emotional satisfaction, whereas if something goes on forever it will eventually decline in quality. It's better to resolve most of the issues in the story and leave the audience wanting more.

[NerfTW]

All stories need to end. Only hacks drag out the same story forever instead of moving on to something new.

[David Argall]

Some of those "hacks" get paid very well for a very long time. And the originality of the "non-hacks" often consists of very little, redoing the same story with new names.

[[TS] Shadow]

Some of those "hacks" get paid very well for a very long time. And the originality of the "non-hacks" often consists of very little, redoing the same story with new names.

Kind of like Dragonball Z...

Anyway, if they stretch out OotS too long, I think that we may lose interest in it. At the very least, the Giant should finish this particular arc with the gates before moving on to something else. I doubt he'll use the characters again in a seperate story, but I'd enjoy a sort of epilogue book, where we see what the characters have been doing after the story ended, and maybe bring them all back together again one last time if the end of the online OotS leads the Order to split up.

[SteveMB]

Rich doesn't write Erfworld. It's written by Rob Balder and drawn by Jamie Noguchi.

[Foghorn Leghorn] It's a joke, Ah say, a joke, son! [/Foghorn Leghorn]

[TheSummoner]

Once its over, I'd like to see another story set in the same world, but with little relation to the OotS plot. (occasional references for example... in the same world many of the same cities would exist, and depending on the time frame, some known characters might've become historical figures)

[Raging Gene Ray]

[Foghorn Leghorn] It's a joke, Ah say, a joke, son! [/Foghorn Leghorn]

Ah keep pitchin' 'em and that boy keeps missin' em!

[Assassin89]

There are possibilities for spin-offs if the Giant so chooses.

The following come to mind:

Following Roy's domestic life with Celia
Following the domestic life of Haley and Elan
Nale raising a successor to kill Elan
The Oracle being beaten to death by debt collectors

[The Neoclassic]

I've heard that Oots is going to end soon with a sudden fade to black in the next story arc, just as Roy confronts Xykon for a final battle.

Sorry, but I bet that is utter crap. The Giant does not seem the sort to leak information, nor do I think he'd give us any such unsatisfying end!


I may be the only one, but I'm kind of hoping for a couple of short-lived spinoff comics after OotS including "The Adorably and Unabashedly Destructive Adventures of Thog the Barbarian"

No, that's at the top of my list too. So that makes two of us. :thog:

[The Extinguisher]

I've heard that Oots is going to end soon with a sudden fade to black in the next story arc, just as Roy confronts Xykon for a final battle.

I'm personally wondering how Rich is going to incorporate music into that last panel.

[The Adder]

Shadow;5607894']Kind of like Dragonball Z...

Not at all. Akira Toriyama tried to end the series several times, but just kept getting pulled back into it.

It was gonna end after Dragonball, then Frieza, then Cell. Buu was the last one he did, they tried to get him to continue, he refused, they made GT it sucked.

If you're talking about the length of the series, that's not Toriyama's fault. The anime had to stall for time so it didn't pass up the manga, hence the 1/2 hr of banter and powering up that you got in some eps. The actual manga was fairly concise.

[hewhosaysfish]

I think it has to end because of the way the story is set up. Xykon and Redcloak want to use the gates to release the Snarl, and they have gone through three out of five gates already. At some point they have to go for the last two or the last one, and by storytelling rules The Order of the Stick have to stop them. Or it gets released and they have to save the world in some larger way, or something else like that. Once the main villain is defeated, you can wrap the series up for a while and take care of any dangling plot threads, but eventually you need to end it because you've reached your climax by that point.

Agreed. Of course, it is not inconceivable that the OotS may defeat Xykon and the Snarl, save the world and wrap up all their loose plot-threads... and then get dragged back for a contrived sequel: Order of the Stick 2 - Xykon's Revenge! Order of the Stick 3 - Stick Harder! Etc.
But I don't think Rich would do that. Perhaps I'm being naively optimistic? I've never actually met the man.

The epilogue to OotS, however, will have to refer to a contrived sequel or two., regardless. Starring Elan.

[JaxGaret]

I say after OotS is done Rich starts a webcomic called Order of the Stork.

Hilarity ensues.

[Quorothorn]

No one makes money from producing a webcomic. You make money from merchandising. If the comic ended next month, Rich would still make money from selling his products. Besides, I'm sure Rich wants to do other things that just oots in his life. He's probably come up with other plots and characters while writing oots.


He's promised he won't keep Oots going after it ends, and Rich's always been as good as his word. I predict that when he finishes this he has other stories to tell, and I'm very sure that we'll all love them as much as Oots. :smallsmile:

Mr. Burlew specifically stated in one of the books that he has other stories to tell after OotS, yes.


Fixed it for you.

*Twitch.* Don't remind LotR/WoT fans like me of that possibility. *Curls up in a corner.* Won't happen here won't happen here won't happen here won't happen here...


I say after OotS is done Rich starts a webcomic called Order of the Stork.

Hilarity ensues.

Me like.

[Morgan Wick]

Mr. Burlew specifically stated in one of the books that he has other stories to tell after OotS, yes.

Hopefully in a new continuity.

[Quorothorn]

Hopefully in a new continuity.

Yup, that was the feeling I got from what he wrote.