What if OotS never ends?

[CaptainIreland]

Not if there's no end to the story, but for whatever reason, you never got to read it because it was never finished. Let's say it happens after the most recent comic posted before you read this thread?

How would it color your impression of the comic?

[Ancalagon]

At one point, it'd get stale and lame. Characters either got dragged through it and decayed long after their character-delevopment was over (the point was made) or stuff goes on and Character Development piles on Character Development until it becomes awkward to ridiculous.

A good story needs a good end. Or at some point it stops being a good story.

[CaptainIreland]

At one point, it'd get stale and lame. Characters either got dragged through it and decayed long after their character-delevopment was over (the point was made) or stuff goes on and Character Development piles on Character Development until it becomes awkward to ridiculous.

A good story needs a good end. Or at some point it stops being a good story.

No no, I mean let's say the comic just stops being made, and there's no notes left for anyone to finish the story.

[Ancalagon]

No no, I mean let's say the comic just stops being made, and there's no notes left for anyone to finish the story.

Now, that would be... bad. :smalleek:

[Vorynn]

I'd be sad :| I really love the writing, the characters, and the story arcs in OOTS. I look forward to finding out where the character arcs are going to end up.

One of the reasons I obsess over this comic is that I know how much the Giant appreciates good writing (as evidenced by his commentary about JMS/Babylon 5 in a recent book, I think it was DStP?), and I know that he has the major story arcs plotted in advance. I'm glad he's keeping those secret until the appropriate time, but it does create a risk if he doesn't manage to finish the intended story.:smalleek:

I already went through the "stopped being made" scenario once and in that case the author HAD left notes (Robert Jordan, who died before finishing the Wheel of Time), but I still lost faith in the series. (I haven't actually read either of Brandon Sanderson's follow up books... I am waiting until he FINISHES the damn series, because I refuse to get burned the same way again if he gets hit by a bus. C'mon Brandon, one book to go, you can do it!).

[CrazyBlue]

You might as well read those books in Wheel of Time, they're the best out of the series honestly. The 5 before it are practically filler in comparison.

[rewinn]

No no, I mean let's say the comic just stops being made, and there's no notes left for anyone to finish the story.

It would mean the Snarl got loose.

The End!

[Zevox]

No no, I mean let's say the comic just stops being made, and there's no notes left for anyone to finish the story.
Well, that would suck, but there wouldn't really be anything we could do about it, so... meh? I don't know, what're fishing for here? :smallconfused:

Zevox

[Morquard]

You might as well read those books in Wheel of Time, they're the best out of the series honestly. The 5 before it are practically filler in comparison.

I'm currently re-reading the entire series (there's just so much going on I always forget half of it), then add the 2 Brandon Sanderson books I've not yet read, so i'm ready for the last one in October or when it's going to be released.

To the OP, I hope it won't come to that.

[Kish]

I agree with Zevox. What are you looking for? If the comic abruptly ended in the middle then...the comic would have abruptly ended in the middle.

[Lissou]

It would be sad. If there are never notes or anything to let anyone know what the end could have been like, it would be a great loss, a mystery, and I would torture myself wondering how it would have ended.

So I'll just hope this won't happen. Seriously, it would be bad, and I don't think anything would make it better, be it someone else taking the story (but without notes to go from) or fans providing various interpretation of what they think the ending should be...

[King of Nowhere]

Yeah, not much to say besides "this sucks!". And an eulogy to rich if his trepassing was the cause of the halt.
HEck, if *I* was hit by a bus, my last tougth may well be "No! I'll never get to know how oots ends!"

[ThePhantasm]

Holy Threads of Hypothetical Depression, Batman!

[Knaight]

You might as well read those books in Wheel of Time, they're the best out of the series honestly. The 5 before it are practically filler in comparison.

That would be because Sanderson is a much better author than Jordan is.

[Kobold-Bard]

I'd be more concerned for the forums at large since The Giant runs them & if he's not doing OotS any more I can see him probably not keeping them up either.

[CrazyBlue]

That would be because Sanderson is a much better author than Jordan is.

Agreed. I can only stand a braid being tugged so much before I stop caring.

Overall though, I think he read the abridged WoT and went out of his way to avoid making the same mistakes. I wonder how many books Jordan intended for the material that Sanderson is presenting to take... probably 10.

[Vorynn]

Agreed. I can only stand a braid being tugged so much before I stop caring.

LOL! So very true. I'm still not going to read any of Sanderson's work until he finishes it though, no matter how well written it is :)

To quote the protagonist from Secret Window (the movie at least, I never read Stephen King's book): "The ending is the most important part of the story." So before I start reading a story these days, I want to know that it ends well. I certainly do NOT want to know HOW it ends (eek, spoilers!), just that after reading it, people aren't disappointed by a lackluster ending.

It is for this reason that I generally wait until TV series have finished their entire run before I even start watching them on DVD (still haven't seen Lost!), and for novel series to finish their run before starting them (I made an exception for Wheel of Time and look where that got me... I was 1 book into it when I found out that Jordan had, in fact, died two weeks before I bought the book) :P

[The Pilgrim]

(...)
So before I start reading a story these days, I want to know that it ends well. I certainly do NOT want to know HOW it ends (eek, spoilers!), just that after reading it, people aren't disappointed by a lackluster ending.
(...)
(still haven't seen Lost!)P

Don't bother, then. After six seasons we learned that the scrpit was being written on the go. At the end, the writers were unable to wrap up all the loose ends (in fact, they were unable to tie ANY loose end) and chose to substitute the proper ending they were unable to produce with a cheap sentimental shot.

So, that's the reason for everything? a giant cork?

[ThePhantasm]

Don't bother, then. After six seasons we learned that the scrpit was being written on the go. At the end, the writers were unable to wrap up all the loose ends (in fact, they were unable to tie ANY loose end) and chose to substitute the proper ending they were unable to produce with a cheap sentimental shot.

So, that's the reason for everything? a giant cork?

That's not true, and plenty (almost all) of the loose ends were tied. They might not have been to your satisfaction, and they might not have been tied in a fully explicit way (some were implicitly obvious). But this thread is not the place to discuss this anywho.

Don't listen to him Vorynn, if you want to watch LOST, it is a great show, and I definitely recommend it. It isn't a perfect show, but it is really worth watching.

[Blue Ghost]

I'd be more concerned for the forums at large since The Giant runs them & if he's not doing OotS any more I can see him probably not keeping them up either.

:smallfrown::smallfrown::smallfrown:
Let's pray that doesn't happen.

[MoonCat]

Not if there's no end to the story, but for whatever reason, you never got to read it because it was never finished. Let's say it happens after the most recent comic posted before you read this thread?

How would it color your impression of the comic?

Do you mean if the Giant would just stop updating?

[Kobold-Bard]

Do you mean if the Giant would just stop updating?

I think that's the idea; either because he can't finish it or just chooses not to anymore (eg. burn out, lottery win, massive trolling of the fans by not telling us the end, etc.).

[MoonCat]

I think that's the idea; either because he can't finish it or just chooses not to anymore (eg. burn out, lottery win, massive trolling of the fans by not telling us the end, etc.).

Oh. Hmmm. I'd probably be incredibly depressed and haunt the OoTs forum talking about what might happen. And arguing about whether the lack of updates is a long waiting time, or whether everything's over.

[dps]

LOL! So very true. I'm still not going to read any of Sanderson's work until he finishes it though, no matter how well written it is :)

I'd stopped reading them before Jordan died--I still haven't read the last two he finished. Well, I started on the 9th book, but quickly realized that it had been so long since the 8th volume came out that I'd forgotten who most of the character were. I had been losing interest in the story anyhow, because the last few books hadn't really been very good, and I just didn't want to have to go back and re-read them to refresh my memory.

[Warren Dew]

How would it color your impression of the comic?
If the comic stopped now, I imagine my impression of the comic would be what it is now, too.

[TimelordSimone]

if *I* was hit by a bus, my last tougth may well be "No! I'll never get to know how oots ends!"

This made me chuckle. Good work sir or madam.

(I have nothing to actually add to the discussion.)

[Hastur Avaddon]

Consider the following story from real life:

Stephen King begins writing the Dark Tower Series.

After getting in 3/7 books, Stephen King decides to take a LONG time off until writing the forth book and onwards.

During this time, Stephen King refuses to tell even old grannies on their death beds whether or not Roland reaches his tower...

Granny dies, (along with many others), doesn't get to read the rest of the book series which comes out some odd number of years later. (After Stephen King almost dies after being hit by some truck driver).

The Moral of the Story:
We should be thankful for what we've got.
(And hope that Rich doesn't get hit by some guy in a truck).

[Katana_Geldar]

I'd be thinking that as well, to be honest.

[Thanatosia]

That would be because Sanderson is a much better author than Jordan is.
I've tried reading some on Sanderson's other works after he was announced to be the torch bearer for the Wheel of Time, and frankly, they didn't seem that good, I just could'nt really get into them.

This had me terrified for the ending of WOT, but when they came out, I was pleasantly suprised to find that I actually prefered them to any of the ones Robert Jordan actually wrote.

I don't think its so much that Sanderson is a better author overall, but somehow Jordans Material with note guidance and Sanderson's writing style somehow combined Voltron-like into something better then either of the two seperately.



Also, along with OOTs, I live in terror every day that something will happen to George RR Martin before he finishes song of Ice and Fire or Jim Butcher before he finishes the Dresden Files. I do so hate that sense of unease that comes from being so deeply involved into an ongoing serries that has yet to be finished.

[veti]

If the comic stopped now, I imagine my impression of the comic would be what it is now, too.

For myself, I don't think that would be true at all.

The sense of an "ending" is tremendously important to how we view fiction. (Arguably, it's the most basic difference between real and fictional stories.) A story that promises and builds systematically towards an ending, and then doesn't deliver it... that's an unusual thing, and it provokes an entirely different kind of interest.

My guess is that most of us would experience it as a mild (to moderate) form of loss, and would go through the usual phases of denial ("It can't be true, it must be a hoax"), anger ("what the ... WHO DID THIS? Let me at them!!"), bargaining ("maybe Rich would continue if we send him money?"), depression, and acceptance (at which point they're simply getting on with their own lives).

As part of the "bargaining" stage, I imagine some of the more creative fans would start up their own fanfic attempts to finish the main plot. Some of these might be good enough to gain a modest following, although based on what we see daily on the forums, my expectations wouldn't be high.

And finally, after a few months, the OOTS would be pretty well forgotten. Only diehard fans would continue to visit, maybe link to their favourite comics from time to time to make a point... but in terms of general buzz and new readers, there would be - none, ever again.

As against that: if the story does finish and successfully wrap up its loose ends, I can see it as a cult classic, gaining a small but steady stream of new followers for decades to come.

[Prowl]

We need to ban buses and trucks to make sure that doesn't happen.

[Warren Dew]

The sense of an "ending" is tremendously important to how we view fiction. (Arguably, it's the most basic difference between real and fictional stories.) A story that promises and builds systematically towards an ending, and then doesn't deliver it... that's an unusual thing, and it provokes an entirely different kind of interest.
I agree with that. However, the story doesn't have an ending right now, so I don't view it right now as I will when I know the ending.

In addition, what the ending actually is will strongly affect how I view the work.

I don't think that failure to have an ending will prevent it from becoming a classic. Coleridge's Kubla Khan is a classic even though it was never finished. In addition, there are completed arcs in OotS already. I suspect the Azure City arc will be viewed as the best story within it long after it's done.

[SPoD]

As against that: if the story does finish and successfully wrap up its loose ends, I can see it as a cult classic, gaining a small but steady stream of new followers for decades to come.

I find that highly unlikely. I doubt anyone coming to OOTS for the first time 10 years after it finishes will take the time to penetrate the dense web of long-obsolete D&D references and pop culture asides that litter OOTS, particularly during the first two books. It just won't hold up well. It's already dated; most people learning D&D today for the first time are learning 4th Edition unless they are being carefully shepherded to 3.5 by an existing player. The very first strip requires you to go back and remember 3.0 rules even...I barely remember those now, and I played it for years!

It will also matter greatly how it is available; will it live on the web forever, or will it come down eventually? Will print versions stay available? (Probably not, since half of them are out of print right now.)

I do think it could gain "interesting footnote" status if Rich goes on to a more successful and/or traditional writing career afterwards. As in, it would give scholars and diehard fans an interesting insight into Rich Burlew, the author, in the context of his other work. But I think anyone who's not reading it as its coming out won't be able to appreciate it in the same way as we do.

[Nimrod's Son]

I find that highly unlikely. I doubt anyone coming to OOTS for the first time 10 years after it finishes will take the time to penetrate the dense web of long-obsolete D&D references and pop culture asides that litter OOTS, particularly during the first two books. It just won't hold up well. It's already dated; most people learning D&D today for the first time are learning 4th Edition unless they are being carefully shepherded to 3.5 by an existing player. The very first strip requires you to go back and remember 3.0 rules even...I barely remember those now, and I played it for years!
I think you underestimate its appeal to people who don't roleplay full stop. Those early strips don't really require much more than a passing familiarity with MMOs or Warhammer or whatever to get the broader meaning. You might miss a specific joke here and there, but that never bothered me. I was reading years before I joined the forums, and at that point I filled in most of the blanks that I'd accumulated. But till then, I'd coped just fine despite knowing pretty much nothing about D&D. In fact, by the New Year arc it had become one of my very favourite serials despite me not really having any real love for fantasy beyond stuff like Lord of the Rings or The Princess Bride.

[SPoD]

I think you underestimate its appeal to people who don't roleplay full stop. Those early strips don't really require much more than a passing familiarity with MMOs or Warhammer or whatever to get the broader meaning. You might miss a specific joke here and there, but that never bothered me. I was reading years before I joined the forums, and at that point I filled in most of the blanks that I'd accumulated. But till then, I'd coped just fine despite knowing pretty much nothing about D&D. In fact, by the New Year arc it had become one of my very favourite serials despite me not really having any real love for fantasy beyond stuff like Lord of the Rings or The Princess Bride.

You still got the pop culture jokes, though, and you still understood that they were D&D jokes, and what D&D is. The post I was responding to claimed that it would be a classic for "decades," as in, 20-40 years. Will non-computer roleplaying games still exist in 20 years? Will people even know what it means? If they do know what it means, will they have any interest in reading about it? Or will RPGs, to them, seem sort of like how we view tales of the pioneers telling stories around campfires: quaint, but not very relevant to our lives.

40 years means my grandchildren. I have trouble believing they'll even understand the ideas of paper or pencils, much less paper-and-pencil roleplaying.

Also, don't underestimate the turn-off factor of the art. There are a lot of comic readers now who won't go near OOTS right now because they turn their noses up at the art, or because it deigns to make inside jokes about a popular hobby. Haven't you ever had to work hard to get someone to consider reading OOTS because it doesn't fit into their preconceived mold of what a good story should look like? Well, imagine how hard it will be 20 years after its done. It will look like a relic of a bygone primitive age of this strange extinct thing called the Internet...no relation to the current Mindweb 3000, of course.

[Vorynn]

... It will look like a relic of a bygone primitive age of this strange extinct thing called the Internet...no relation to the current Mindweb 3000, of course.

Imma gonna go crawl into my cave and pull a rock across the entrance to seal out the world now. The future is scary!

[Narren]

If it ended today I imagine we'd be all be washed away in a deluge of fan-fiction.

[Nimrod's Son]

You still got the pop culture jokes, though, and you still understood that they were D&D jokes, and what D&D is. The post I was responding to claimed that it would be a classic for "decades," as in, 20-40 years.
He said cult classic. I'm quite certain it'll never go mainstream, but I see no reason why it couldn't get to the stage where it's talked about fondly in twenty years time by those in the know. Changing technology isn't going to erase people's love of swords and sorcery or a good story altogether.

I mean, Monty Python's full of British pop references of the seventies, but that doesn't stop an American teenager enjoying it today. Sure, it's the exception rather than the rule, but we still haven't seen just how good OotS is going to get just yet.


Will non-computer roleplaying games still exist in 20 years? Will people even know what it means? If they do know what it means, will they have any interest in reading about it? Or will RPGs, to them, seem sort of like how we view tales of the pioneers telling stories around campfires: quaint, but not very relevant to our lives.
Or will we actually be sat talking round campfires, because we're all living in a post-apocalyptic wasteland and all technology has been rendered useless? I'm afraid I really can't say at this point. :smallwink:


Also, don't underestimate the turn-off factor of the art. There are a lot of comic readers now who won't go near OOTS right now because they turn their noses up at the art, or because it deigns to make inside jokes about a popular hobby.
Well, I have an art degree and I can say quite honestly that the unique artwork was one of the main reasons I kept reading for more than the first couple of strips, crude early style notwithstanding. And some more recent strips have been nothing short of beautiful, visually. I really don't think you can accurately claim that the art is putting people off in vast numbers, any more than you can say the same thing about South Park, for example.

[Valley]

Mystery Science Theater 3000 has been gone...how many years? Yet it will never die. They even have clubs on Second Life where they play MST3K and related material in VR theaters 24 HOURS A DAY!

And those theaters are never emtpy. Oh, they are never packed but they are NEVER empty.

And maybe, one day, when the money runs out, this site may die. But the Order Of The Stick has already entered and spread outwards, into the internet in the forms of tropes, YouTube videos, fan act...

They talk about it in other web comics! Order Of The Stick is forever!

[Narren]

Well, I have an art degree and I can say quite honestly that the unique artwork was one of the main reasons I kept reading for more than the first couple of strips, crude early style notwithstanding. And some more recent strips have been nothing short of beautiful, visually. I really don't think you can accurately claim that the art is putting people off in vast numbers, any more than you can say the same thing about South Park, for example.

I can't cite any numbers, but some people do take issue with the art style. And I know many that take issue with South Park's art. I hate to sound snobby and say they don't "get it".....but I don't think they do. If OotS had a different style of art, it would be a totally different comic.

[NerfTW]

I'd be more concerned for the forums at large since The Giant runs them & if he's not doing OotS any more I can see him probably not keeping them up either.

The Giant isn't the only person running the forum. And he's certainly not running the actual backend on some personal computer in his living room that needs to be watched constantly. Besides there likely being someone who could take over, there's also the ability of any admins to simply make a sticky post redirecting people to a new forum they have control over.

The internet is decades old. This has happened hundreds, if not thousands of times before. I've seen more than one forum lose it's only admin, and the front page filled with threads pointing any new users to the new location.

[Particle_Man]

Eh, Alice in Wonderland had some "local" references and is still read today. I imagine OOTS could be done that way (although maybe 50 years from now there will be an "annotated" OOTS collection to explain 3.0/3.5 references, and some local pop culture references).

To the OP, I guess it would be kinda like a really really cool D&D campaign that ended suddenly. It would suck.

[Particle_Man]

Overall though, I think he read the abridged WoT and went out of his way to avoid making the same mistakes. I wonder how many books Jordan intended for the material that Sanderson is presenting to take... probably 10.

There is an abridged WoT? Tell me more . . . what books does it cover?

[The Pilgrim]

That's not true, and plenty (almost all) of the loose ends were tied. They might not have been to your satisfaction, and they might not have been tied in a fully explicit way (some were implicitly obvious). But this thread is not the place to discuss this anywho.

Don't listen to him Vorynn, if you want to watch LOST, it is a great show, and I definitely recommend it. It isn't a perfect show, but it is really worth watching.

Almost of the loose ends were tied? Well, tell that to those guys:

Unanswered Lost Questions
http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6099973/unanswered-lost-questions

Just one of the miriad of videos spoofing the loads of **** the writers threw at the audience without ever bothering to give them any sense. Most of them aren't really important, but it proves that the scrpit was being written on the run. All of Seasons 4 and 5 (and most of Season 6) were just filling material that can just be bypassed without it affecting the ending in any way. And that's almost half of the show!. It was just a soap opera, a bad written soap opera, not a real story like Babylon 5 or (to this point) this webcomic.

I suppose that the finale could be satisfactory for someone who was following the show for years, had forgotten almost all of the loose ends, had a heavy sentimental investment in the show and really had a need to swallow any ending offered (much like if Rich ended the OOTS with some cheap device like "all was a dream", a LOT of the fanbase would cheer at it anyway).

But for someone watching it now, from DVDs, all straight, the ending is just ****.

Anyway, not the place for a Lost flame, certainly.

[CaptainIreland]

Anyway, not the place for a Lost flame, certainly.

I liked Lost, so I'm ok with the occasional derail. It's part of what inspired the thread.

Lost didn't have a satisfying ending at all in terms of the mythology they built. I have a working theory about what happened to it, the short version is that the island was always intended to be purgatory, and that Darlton was upset when literally everyone guessed that about 4 episodes in, so they said, "No, they're all alive, this isn't purgatory, it's sci-fi," and threw a bunch of sci-fi out there to convince everyone of that, and then had no idea how to end it, so they went back to their original ending (just tweaked to not appear to be liars).

Lost is a great show, and I highly recommend it even now. But yeah, don't expect some kind of grand conspiracy or clear bad guy to solve everything that had happened, and you'll still need to puzzle out some answers yourself.

[The Pilgrim]

That's a fine theory, indeed. Much better than mine (that the show was planned for 4 seasons, then at the end of Season 3 they choose to lenghten it to make more money, and it derrailed).

To be honest, I do not regret having seen Lost. My initial comentary, through, was as a reference to a forum member who mentioned that the ending of an history weights a lot for him.

[ThePhantasm]

Unanswered Lost Questions
http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6099973/unanswered-lost-questions

All the mysteries in that video were answered except for like 3 or 4. I don't have the time to rebut or explain them all but people have blown the "LOST didn't reveal everything" dealio way out of proportion.


Most of them aren't really important, but it proves that the scrpit was being written on the run. All of Seasons 4 and 5 (and most of Season 6) were just filling material that can just be bypassed without it affecting the ending in any way. And that's almost half of the show!. It was just a soap opera, a bad written soap opera, not a real story like Babylon 5 or (to this point) this webcomic.

That's fine if that is your opinion. I think you are wrong, and you've missed a lot about what was important about LOST, but I certainly can't convince you in this thread.


I suppose that the finale could be satisfactory for someone who was following the show for years, had forgotten almost all of the loose ends, had a heavy sentimental investment in the show and really had a need to swallow any ending offered (much like if Rich ended the OOTS with some cheap device like "all was a dream", a LOT of the fanbase would cheer at it anyway).

I watched the entire show from the DVDs beginning to end twice, and I'm a big fan of the show. I know about all of the mysteries, was part of most of the large LOST sites, etc. I'm more than critical of some aspects of the show. So don't insult my intelligence like I'm a blind fanboy. There's no need to go out of your way to persuade people to not watch the show either, like it is some big gimmick or ripoff. Let them decide for themselves, man. Give them your opinion and move on.

Again, this isn't the place for this anywho. The guy got two different opinions on LOST, let's drop it.

[veti]

You still got the pop culture jokes, though, and you still understood that they were D&D jokes, and what D&D is. The post I was responding to claimed that it would be a classic for "decades," as in, 20-40 years. Will non-computer roleplaying games still exist in 20 years? Will people even know what it means? If they do know what it means, will they have any interest in reading about it? Or will RPGs, to them, seem sort of like how we view tales of the pioneers telling stories around campfires: quaint, but not very relevant to our lives.

Compare "The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy". It's over 30 years old. It starts off with joking about digital watches, fercryinoutloud. If that were all there was to it, you'd never have heard of it. But because there's so much more, in layers that can be appreciated even today, it still attracts new fans to this day.

"The Rocky Horror Show". "Blazing Saddles". "The Naked Gun". All full of contemporary references from past decades, and spoofing movies that have long since gone way out of fashion, but all still popular.

[Nimrod's Son]

I can't cite any numbers, but some people do take issue with the art style. And I know many that take issue with South Park's art.
Oh, sure, I expect a lot of people do. I'm just saying it hasn't hurt South Park in terms of popularity or even creating a legacy, so there's no reason to assume OotS can't continue to be popular just because it's full of stick figures. It'll rest on the storytelling, ultimately.

[Psyren]

(I haven't actually read either of Brandon Sanderson's follow up books... I am waiting until he FINISHES the damn series, because I refuse to get burned the same way again if he gets hit by a bus. C'mon Brandon, one book to go, you can do it!).

Honestly, Sanderson's involvement improved the series. He took hedge-clippers to a very large number of the loose threads dangling about the narrative, banished both Rand and Perrin's emo forms, and doesn't spend nearly as much time describing dresses.

I still love Jordan, but I'll also tactfully say that he had very good taste in choosing a replacement. :smallsmile:


I find that highly unlikely. I doubt anyone coming to OOTS for the first time 10 years after it finishes will take the time to penetrate the dense web of long-obsolete D&D references and pop culture asides that litter OOTS, particularly during the first two books. It just won't hold up well. It's already dated; most people learning D&D today for the first time are learning 4th Edition unless they are being carefully shepherded to 3.5 by an existing player. The very first strip requires you to go back and remember 3.0 rules even...I barely remember those now, and I played it for years!

This is a scary thought but one I ultimately agree with. Hell, there are people whose first D&D game is/will be Daggerdale of all things.

[CrazyBlue]

There is an abridged WoT? Tell me more . . . what books does it cover?

Up until The Path of Daggers.

Enjoy. (http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=386600)

[t209]

I could feel terrible if OOts Never ends. especially if Gobbotopia to be conquered Azure City to be taken back and portal to be sealed.

[Onyavar]

HEck, if *I* was hit by a bus, my last tougth may well be "No! I'll never get to know how oots ends!"

Would be exactly my thoughts, too!

Currently, I follow 30 webcomics. Only 3 of those would leave me with a sad/bitter feeling if they abruptly stopped.

But OotS is the one that MUST reach its proper ending. I'd say there's no other announced-to-end webcomic with such a deep and well-planned story. It's the Harry Potter of Webcomics - only that Rowling finished her series by now, while Burlew still has some way to go.

[Skavensrule]

Currently, I follow 30 webcomics. Only 3 of those would leave me with a sad/bitter feeling if they abruptly stopped.

But OotS is the one that MUST reach its proper ending. I'd say there's no other announced-to-end webcomic with such a deep and well-planned story. It's the Harry Potter of Webcomics - only that Rowling finished her series by now, while Burlew still has some way to go.

Agreed, This comic and Girl Genius are the only two that I would be heartbroken if they didn't finsh. Get-Medieval and Narbonic were on that list but both of them finished years ago. Freefall would be on the list if I thought there was even a chance that it would finish (one of the oldest webcomics out there and less than a month has passed in "Comic Time", aaarrrrrrggghh).

[Hiesatai]

I'd cry for a bit honestly. Then I suppose I'd do what everyone else here would: Come up with my own ending in my head. Every unresolved storyline, every character relationship, all of it, down to the last little detail. All of that would form in my head. If I could translate it to words and pictures, I, like many of you, would share my thoughts and the story that was completed in my head.