Dude, where`s my battle?

[Oxymoron]

I`m dissapointed. I was really looking forward to seeing Roy and the gang kicking some titanium ass, but we only saw V in action. Come on! Those elementals was awsome, and all we got was some lame comments about how the battle went. What`s next, Xykon riding towards the players on his dragon mount blasting his spells, and in the next strip we see the Oots sitting in a tavern bragging about how epic the battle was. Rich, I`m soooo dissapointed in you:smallfrown:

[BisectedBrioche]

Seeing as it would consist entirly of Roy hitting them with his sword I don;t think there would be much to see.

[TigerHunter]

Rich, your comic rocks and never disappoints.

[Oxymoron]

Seeing as it would consist entirly of Roy hitting them with his sword I don;t think there would be much to see.

OMG, Roy`s father is haunting the forum!!!!!

[Twilight Jack]

My dear Sweet Sorrow:

I'm quite certain you will get all the battle you can stand in the next dozen strips. As far as beings of the elemental plane of titanium are concerned, please keep in mind that Vaarsuvius just vanquished three of the five of them single-handedly. Watching Durkon, Haley, and Elan band together to handle one elemental would have been the real disappointment. V can handle three, so to watch the other five handle two would have either been dull and far too easy or else made V look flatly superior to the rest of the party. So, we skip it.

There are still thirty thousand hobgoblins, my sweet honest politician, not to mention undead galore (with another zombie for every gobbo that falls). There are archers and seige weaponry and zombie dragons (oh my!). Finally, there's at least one Xykon, a Redcloak, and a MitD.

These next few strips look to be positively dripping with epic battle.

So fear not, ye socially successful D&D player, Roy shall swing his sword again.

[Oxymoron]

My dear Sweet Sorrow:

There are still thirty thousand hobgoblins, my sweet honest politician, not to mention undead galore (with another zombie for every gobbo that falls). There are archers and seige weaponry and zombie dragons (oh my!). Finally, there's at least one Xykon, a Redcloak, and a MitD.

These next few strips look to be positively dripping with epic battle.

So fear not, ye socially successful D&D player, Roy shall swing his sword again.

Why can`t I get my D&D group to roleplay like that?

[Twilight Jack]

Like what?

[Oxymoron]

Like you`re poetic ramblings about my dissatisfaction. My players only metagame and treat my NPCs as mere obstacles in their way from XP and loot.

[Twilight Jack]

So drop a great wyrm red dragon on them with extreme prejudice, and don't describe any of the action; just roll dice and announce hit point loss and other effects in strict game mechanical terms. Once you've achieved total party kill, look around the table and say, "Now then, did everyone see what I did there? Did that look difficult for me? All I had to do was grab some numbers and text out of this Monster Manual here and roll some dice. If all you care about is numbers and text and how arbitrarily powerful those little numbers make your 'character', then go play WoW.

"Everyone else, let's write up some new characters and tell a booping story."

That would never work, you say? Well, it's an extreme and desperate technique with an admittedly low chance of real success, to be used when all else fails. If your players can't appreciate this, find another group of people with whom to play.

[Strengfellow]

My old DM used to get each one of us to write up a full backgtound to our characters or he would provide us with such and had a full quarter of our XP gained from roleplaying.
Well to be precise there would be +/- XP dependant on good roleplaying or lack thereof.

[bluish_wolf]

Why can`t I get my D&D group to roleplay like that?

Being poetic can sound really bad if not done properly, so don't force it on everyone.

[Oxymoron]

I`ve already found the ultimate punishment for my groups metagaming. I`ve let my older brother play with us. He always insists on playing a wizard/fighter/rouge and generally nerfs the whole party. He always uses at least a minute throwing any dice, always telling everyone in detail what his next action is going to be. It drives them crazy (me too, but it`s totally worth it to watch them squirm.) Here is a photoshopped trading card of him that a friend of mine made.

http://gallery.bensin.org/d/6064-1/svein-trading-card.jpg

[fwiffo]

I`ve already found the ultimate punishment for my groups metagaming. I`ve let my older brother play with us. He always insists on playing a wizard/fighter/rouge and generally nerfs the whole party.

Is his name Noromyxo?

[brian c]

Being poetic can sound really bad if not done properly, so don't force it on everyone.

good lord, agreed. there's a girl in my group now who's just playing her first d&d game and she tries a bit too hard...

[Tharr]

Maybe the battle should be then shown by MITD view.

[ahriman]

Maybe the battle should be then shown by MITD view.

What battle?

[Porthos]

Back to the original complaint, there's always a chance that the battle vs the titanium elementals could be shown "bouns strip" style in the next book. :smallsmile:

[BisectedBrioche]

I`ve already found the ultimate punishment for my groups metagaming. I`ve let my older brother play with us. He always insists on playing a wizard/fighter/rouge and generally nerfs the whole party. He always uses at least a minute throwing any dice, always telling everyone in detail what his next action is going to be. It drives them crazy (me too, but it`s totally worth it to watch them squirm.) Here is a photoshopped trading card of him that a friend of mine made.

http://gallery.bensin.org/d/6064-1/svein-trading-card.jpg

The face needs shading with the burn tool <_< >_>

[Tolkien_Freak]

Wow, look how off-topic this discussion got.

ON-topic:

Why waste a strip on Roy, etc. fighting an elemental when we're probably going to be sick of battle strips by the time the battle's over? It probably wasn't all that impressive, anyway.

[Puck]

Why waste a strip on Roy, etc. fighting an elemental when we're probably going to be sick of battle strips by the time the battle's over? It probably wasn't all that impressive, anyway.

Because I sat through a bazillion strips wandering back and forth between the forums and the cartoon playing "Secret Decoder Ring," and drummed my fingers through how many strips listening to Haley's inner goth? It took a half dozen strips to get through dinner one time, and now I'd like some satisfaction on the action angle.

I would LOVE to get sick of action scenes, right now.

Throw them at me until I vomit, please.

[Black_Light83]

well oxymoron you need to learn that roy and the gand cant alwais handle everything so you need to learn that V kicks ass:smallbiggrin:

:vaarsuvius: > :roy:

[Oxymoron]

Learning is a cross-class skill for me

[Demented]

Learning is a cross-class skill for everyone.
Profession (Learner) however, is not...

[storybookknight]

My dear Sweet Sorrow:

I'm quite certain you will get all the battle you can stand in the next dozen strips. As far as beings of the elemental plane of titanium are concerned, please keep in mind that Vaarsuvius just vanquished three of the five of them single-handedly. Watching Durkon, Haley, and Elan band together to handle one elemental would have been the real disappointment. V can handle three, so to watch the other five handle two would have either been dull and far too easy or else made V look flatly superior to the rest of the party. So, we skip it.

There are still thirty thousand hobgoblins, my sweet honest politician, not to mention undead galore (with another zombie for every gobbo that falls). There are archers and seige weaponry and zombie dragons (oh my!). Finally, there's at least one Xykon, a Redcloak, and a MitD.

These next few strips look to be positively dripping with epic battle.

So fear not, ye socially successful D&D player, Roy shall swing his sword again.

A cogent and eminently courteous answer, much akin to one I would have made myself. However, I would like to add that while it might have been exciting to see people fight elementals, I doubt that it would have had much of an element of humor, whereas "paper beats rock", "I don't wanna fight in the shade!" and in general both of those strips are in the tradition of the OOTS we know and love - D&D humor, with all the occasional inanity, bad puns, and good-natured ribbing that represents. OOTS, like D&D, is about having fun, with the story serving (I think) as a backdrop for the interaction between players, or in this case, between author and audience. Comics only about the campaigns of D&D often come off as hackneyed and stale; in this case I think the move to the next scene was both elegant and appropriate.

Also, Twilight Jack, since when do people know how to write (politely, even!) in the Comics forum? I'm utterly shocked! You're going to give the site a good name if you keep this up :smalltongue:

[Oxymoron]

Twilight Jack, my sister was so impressed by your politely and courteous answer she wants to marry you:

http://gallery.bensin.org/d/5635-1/kriss-trading-card.jpg

[Black_Light83]

dude i got dibs!!!

[Kayura]

I`ve already found the ultimate punishment for my groups metagaming. I`ve let my older brother play with us. He always insists on playing a wizard/fighter/rouge and generally nerfs the whole party. He always uses at least a minute throwing any dice, always telling everyone in detail what his next action is going to be. It drives them crazy (me too, but it`s totally worth it to watch them squirm.) Here is a photoshopped trading card of him that a friend of mine made.

http://gallery.bensin.org/d/6064-1/svein-trading-card.jpg

Dude, my husband does that ****, but he always insists on playing a pscionicist. It takes him an hour to RP shopping for his character's travelling clothes because he has to describe the fabic and cut to the very last detail.It's mind numbing.
I'm all for RolePlaying your character, but there are limits.

Kayura

[tmacdevitt]

OMG, Roy`s father is haunting the forum!!!!!


Dude you made me snicker!