Lo, storytelling is the backbone

[Kastor Macleod]

After viewing the 300 or so pages of the comic i must say that i am impressed with the story and share that with you. It seemed innocent enough at the beggining, i wondered for weeks, reading what many people wrote about Order of the stick, didn't know what was the hype, the first 10 + pages were collorles and seemed like every other online comic (about games/d&d) i've had a chance to see, but then it got good, really neverwinter (1) good....
The comic has a plot that suprises, just when i think it got a bit thin , it twists and makes me chuckle all over again. In my opinion, it has a better story than Nwn2, which dissapointed me like a promise never kept.
Did you notice a strain of similarity between some of the characters from Nwn2 and Ots?
Neeska somewhat resembles Haley, Grobnar strongly resembles Elan, Bishops's lust for destruction is similar to that of Belkar's, i know they are both chaotic something, but still... Sand is a spitting image of Varsuvius, only less beliveable. Only the dwarf and Roy have no Nwn2 counterparts that i'm aware of (although Roy, in his early pages, seemed like the bald dude in the nwn2 prologue, the town mayor or something) Is it just dumb coincidence, or did Order of the stick have an impact on the imagination of the Nwn2 creators?
Even the king of shadows looks like it spawned from the deicidal Snarl.

I liked how the characters grew trough the story, they're not stone or marble figurines that do not bend and never break, they instead feel humanlike enough to keep the story interesting. Unlike some characters, vg cats characters for example, Leo and Aeris that never grow or change, caught in this 'the simpsons' loop where they stay the same forever. Don't get me wrong, i like that comic, it just came as a good example. Here, in Ots, when i find myself wondering about what some character is going to do, based on my previous reading experience, i often find myself being right, but not in a way i've imagined, there's always an amusing explanation or a twist within a twist. The characters change enough and still remain loveably same enough.

Finally, i think that the guy(/s) who write(s)/sketch(es) (i don't know what is an appropriate term for doing a comic) this comic should be hired to create the story behind the Nwn2 expansions. I want my neverwinter back!

[Freelance Henchman]

Did you notice a strain of similarity between some of the characters from Nwn2 and Ots?

Actually yes, a little, though I wouldn't accuse the NWN2 guys of plagiarism just yet. Belkar and Bishop especially seemed very similar due to their strong Evilness.

[Yechezkiel]

I came for the stereotyped D&D humor, I stayed for the plot!

[Caractacus]

I came for the stereotyped D&D humor, I stayed for the plot!

As did I. Spot on.

[phobiandarkmoon]

They're similar because they're the same classes. That's about it.

[Tolkien_Freak]

I came for the stereotyped D&D humor, I stayed for the plot!

I came because I had nothing better to do, I stayed for the plot!

[Elfanatic]

I saw a banner of the Order of the Stick saying "hot dwarf-on-dwarf action", and my curiosity got the beter of me :smallwink: .

But I stay for the plot, and the hope that someday there will be hot elf-on-elf action.

[David Argall]

I came for the stereotyped D&D humor, I stayed for the plot!

Stayed for the plot? It's a cliche plot already well known to us. It's being done well enough, and things become cliches because they are good, but the plot is about the last thing you worry about in a webcomic.

One problem is that a web comic has a high death rate. You read webcomics for the plot and you are just going to get engrossed about the time the comic goes away. We have good reason to hope OOTS will be an exception, but somebody may offer the writer a paying job or he gets bored, or... OOTS may never reach that climax.

Then there is the matter of this being in daily/weekly dribbles. That just does not fit the longer needs of a plot. It can be done, and is done, but the strip format is not the book format.

Stick around for the humor and the characters. The plot is just a bonus.

[Twilight Jack]

Stayed for the plot? It's a cliche plot already well known to us. It's being done well enough, and things become cliches because they are good, but the plot is about the last thing you worry about in a webcomic.

One problem is that a web comic has a high death rate. You read webcomics for the plot and you are just going to get engrossed about the time the comic goes away. We have good reason to hope OOTS will be an exception, but somebody may offer the writer a paying job or he gets bored, or... OOTS may never reach that climax.

Then there is the matter of this being in daily/weekly dribbles. That just does not fit the longer needs of a plot. It can be done, and is done, but the strip format is not the book format.

Stick around for the humor and the characters. The plot is just a bonus.

I'm going to have to take exception with this particular comment, David.

The plot is cliched? Only in the sense that every plot is cliched. Yes, it functions through a parody of well-known fantasy roleplaying tropes, but the overall plot (a band of heroes thrown together to save the world from overwhelming destruction at the hands of a merciless mastermind who seeks the might of Brand X MacGuffin) is only cliched when viewed in the macrocosm. Overarcing plots of this type are legion within the action/adventure genre, it is true (and not just fantasy. Any season of 24 also fits the bill, here). But when deconstructed, any plot is nothing more than a series of connected events in a roughly linear progression. As with so many things, the devil is in the details.

And that's what keeps me coming back to The Order of the Stick. Every cliche is visited upon, but it is always presented in an unexpected or eye-opening manner. The Giant is not merely following the model and tossing in some jokes. He's illuminating the model by toying with it and defying its boundaries. The humor is a part of that, yes, but he's taken it much farther than that for which you're giving him credit.

I could cite numerous examples within the plot itself, but since they're already past, you could easily point out any one example I can give as having been done somewhere else first. I won't bother. Instead, I refer you to this forum as a whole. The prevalence and depth of speculation and wrestling with meaning, with no easy answers upon which the community can overwhelmingly agree, has a name in the academic parlance. It's called literary criticism. Rich is stepping outside the box in a big way, and nothing proves it so much as the fact that no two members of this community seem to agree upon the direction in which he's striding.

[TheNovak]

[Pure Truth.]

Hallelujiah! You speak with clarity, truth, and absolute conviction. You, sir, are a gentleman and a scholar.

Also, I don't know about anyone else, but I enjoy webcomics for their plots. It's Walky! had me hooked (and the forums helped sort through the confusion towards the end), Sluggy Freelance used to keep me enthralled with its storylines (up until the one with Torg and Alternate Zoe and the demons, 'cause after that, Pete's creative juice seemed pretty much spent), and even the short little bursts of plot in PvP entertain me more than the standard, gag-a-day strips. And above them all stands OotS, stoic, godlike, untouchable in its creative awesomeness. I love this comic's story, and I love that I can never, EVER freaking get a prediction right.

So, yeah. I came for the humor, stayed the plot, and I'm damned proud of it.

[Twilight Jack]

Hallelujiah! You speak with clarity, truth, and absolute conviction. You, sir, are a gentleman and a scholar.

Don't forget dead sexy, devilishly handsome, and possessed of a subtle and biting wit . . . oh, and quietly humble.



So, yeah. I came for the humor, stayed the plot, and I'm damned proud of it.

Really? I came for the nudity and the wardrobe malfunctions. Equal opportunity sexual objectification, that Rich Burlew is a genius!

[Belkar's Left Foot]

<truth>I came because someone begged me to look at one because they thought I would love it and it was one of the best comics on the internet, they did not lead me wrong</truth>