The true nature of Tarquin

[KingFlameHawk]

I have been reading posts of people talking about Tarquin's nature and why he acts the way he does and after looking at the most recent comic I have come to a realization and I may have figured out what Tarquin actually represents in the world of DnD conventions. He is less a deconstruction of the lawful evil alignment but is more similar to Miko. Were Miko is the avatar of every player who played a Paladin the wrong way, Tarquin is the manifestation of every bad dungeon master ever. Basically T is a DM desperately trying to railroad a group of player characters to follow his narrative instead of letting them create their own. This really came to me in the latest comic were T says
"It has become clear to me that the only way you will accept your proper role is for me to utterly crush you here and now. So I am going to murder your lowlife girlfriend, burn this ship and everyone on it to ash, and chop off your hand. BECAUSE THAT IS HOW THESE THINGS ARE DONE!"
reading these words I imagined a DM saying them to a group of players because the were not following the story he set in front of them so he decided to do a TPK and restart.
What do you think?:smallconfused:

[WindStruck]

What's more, Tarquin more specifically is a DM PC trying to railroad the party. That would certainly explain all the random "ass pulls" people have been complaining about. It's all possible with the liberal application of the DM Fiat. :smallbiggrin:

[The Fury]

I doubt that was what was intended, but it's an interesting interpretation.

[Steward]

I'm not sure if Tarquin was intended to be the DM of this game but what he's trying to do in this current storyline is a pretty good description of what it feels like to be (clumsily) railroaded. Unfortunately for Tarquin, he doesn't actually control the story and he can't just drop rocks on everyone -- not that he's not trying!

[NerdyKris]

I'm not sure if Tarquin was intended to be the DM of this game but what he's trying to do in this current storyline is a pretty good description of what it feels like to be (clumsily) railroaded. Unfortunately for Tarquin, he doesn't actually control the story and he can't just drop rocks on everyone -- not that he's not trying!

I think you're confused. People are saying he represents a bad DM. There is no DM in Order of the stick, and there's no players. It's just a story taking place in a world that follows D&D rules.

[Zubrowka74]

Of course he is not the DM. He's just the symbolic representation of the concept. And the DM PC idea is good too. But that's all over-analysing, right? Right!

[JHShadon]

If that is true, then would Julio be the manifestation of all of the good Deus ex Machinas?

[Boring McReader]

Reducing him to a DM stand-in devalues the more universal themes of this story, but it's a good analogy all the same. Both are control freaks overly concerned with a fictional setting.

[Dimitri666]

Brilliant, just brilliant. I recently played a campaign where the DM had an annoying overpowered DMPC (a dwarf, no less) which he used to constantly railroad the plot. Man, it felt like he put Tarquin in the campaign. Except, you know, for the Magnificent Bastard part which makes him such a great character.