Did nobody catch the planscape torment parallel in 1265?

[bertrc]

I don't know how necro-posting is viewed, so I am starting a new thread, rather than commenting in the official comic page thread for 1265

I just searched the forum, but did not see anybody give this a shout out.

in comic # 1265 (https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1265.html), the Quinton plays an ad to have a wonderous fantasy adventure. Nobody seemed to comment on the parallel in one of the greatest D&D RPG games of all time -- Planescape:Torment


In that game, there is a sidequest around a "modron cube" that you can eventually open. It teleports you to a fantasy adventure simulation that Mechanus created with three difficulty levels, where you can battle through a dungeon and fight a boss. (Apparently, Mechanus wanted to try to understand why people liked such things)


Yes, there the comic uses it as a joke, but it seems too similar to have just been a coincidence. I wonder if Rich was giving an easter-egg like shout out to Planscape:Torment. :-D

[Tubercular Ox]

Nobody seemed to comment on the parallel in one of the greatest D&D RPG games of all time -- Planescape:Torment

Actually, I thought about it, but the cubical modron was not wielding the crossbow so I lost heart.

[bertrc]

Actually, I thought about it, but the cubical modron was not wielding the crossbow so I lost heart.

All I can say is: :elan:

[Lord Torath]

Heh, that's pretty clever. I don't know if Rich ever played Planescape: Torment or not.

As far as Thread Necromancy, yes, it's frowned upon on in The Playground. You can read about it (and other exciting topics) in the Forum Rules (https://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=89687).

Welcome back to the Playground!

[Mad Humanist]

I logged it as a "generic fantasy". https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/242487/games-order-stick?itemid=9141120#9141120

Could you enlighten me as to how it can be uniquely identified? You could check https://rpggeek.com/.

[Tubercular Ox]

Well, this is not going to be a screaming great likeness, but there is a Modron Maze (https://torment.fandom.com/wiki/Modron_Maze) in Planescape Torment, which is set up as a game that Modrons encourage others to play, and the particular game is a dungeon delve. But Planescape Torment itself is a dungeon delve.

So to the extent that it is a Modron encouraging the party to play a game they are already playing, they're similar.

[Mad Humanist]

Well, this is not going to be a screaming great likeness, but there is a Modron Maze (https://torment.fandom.com/wiki/Modron_Maze) in Planescape Torment, which is set up as a game that Modrons encourage others to play, and the particular game is a dungeon delve. But Planescape Torment itself is a dungeon delve.

So to the extent that it is a Modron encouraging the party to play a game they are already playing, they're similar.

My eyes are blinded by the visuals and ads and the text is unreadable. So I think I will pass on that one. What I would need to change my geeklist entry is a game that clearly matches that comic panel better than any fantasy rpg or rpg-like game.

EDIT: Okay I think I found the game this thread is referring to: https://videogamegeek.com/videogame/70414/planescape-torment I had assumed it was an RPG rather than a video game for some reason. Based upon that description I am not seeing any evidence it fits the panel better than any other fantasy game.

[dancrilis]

I don't know if Rich ever played Planescape: Torment or not.

It is reasonable to assume that he did. (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=826001&postcount=169)

[Mad Humanist]

It is reasonable to assume that he did. (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=826001&postcount=169)

Are we talking about the same game?I don't see any "cube heroes" in the images associated with the game I found on videogamegeek?

[Kish]

Yes, that's Planescape Torment. I'm not sure why you'd expect videogamegeek images to comprise an exhaustive account of everything in a CRPG.

I don't know that the modrons and ads are a reference to the actions of the modrons in Planescape Torment, but it's certainly at least as likely as anything Hilgya does being a reference to Dwarf Fortress, or a game about building a bug being the same as a game about making lightning strike a tree.

[Tubercular Ox]

Are we talking about the same game?I don't see any "cube heroes" in the images associated with the game I found on videogamegeek?

Okay, still not arguing that the likeness here is anything more than tangential, but the way into the Modron Maze is a tiny doll of a cubical Modron (or Quadrone if you want). One of the options the toy gives you is to play with it, and the Giant's post is the text the game spits out if you choose to do so. Another option the toy gives you is to fiddle with its limbs, and if you fiddle with its limbs in the right order, you're teleported into the Modron Maze.

Now that I know the Giant is that into Planescape Torment, I'm going to say the scene in Order of the Stick was definitely informed by the Modron Maze. And then Rich ran with it and went somewhere else, so it pushes a button for Planescape Torment fans, but I don't know if it's a reference per se. Well, no, it's a reference to ads inside games advertising games, but life is complicated.

It was cruel of Rich not to give the crossbow to the quadrone, because a quadrone wielding dual crossbows is a playable character you can recruit inside the Modron Maze. (It has four arms)

[Crusher]

I don't know how necro-posting is viewed, so I am starting a new thread, rather than commenting in the official comic page thread for 1265

I just searched the forum, but did not see anybody give this a shout out.

in comic # 1265 (https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1265.html), the Quinton plays an ad to have a wonderous fantasy adventure. Nobody seemed to comment on the parallel in one of the greatest D&D RPG games of all time -- Planescape:Torment


In that game, there is a sidequest around a "modron cube" that you can eventually open. It teleports you to a fantasy adventure simulation that Mechanus created with three difficulty levels, where you can battle through a dungeon and fight a boss. (Apparently, Mechanus wanted to try to understand why people liked such things)


Yes, there the comic uses it as a joke, but it seems too similar to have just been a coincidence. I wonder if Rich was giving an easter-egg like shout out to Planscape:Torment. :-D

I don’t really have anything to add you haven’t already covered, other than to note that I totally forgot about that part of Planescape: Torment, which is too bad because that game was astoundingly good.

[Precure]

I think it's just a reference those rpg-lite games you see on free app ads.

[Aquillion]

I don’t really have anything to add you haven’t already covered, other than to note that I totally forgot about that part of Planescape: Torment, which is too bad because that game was astoundingly good.
My favorite part was the slips of paper you get as random loot in the maze which, when read, literally just say "you now have a better understanding of what's going on!" or words to that effect.


My eyes are blinded by the visuals and ads and the text is unreadable. So I think I will pass on that one. What I would need to change my geeklist entry is a game that clearly matches that comic panel better than any fantasy rpg or rpg-like game.The Modron Maze is a specific dungeon in Planescape: Torment (a sort of extradimensional and optional one.)

Its theme is basically that the Modrons learned about fantasy dungeon crawls and built this big experiment to understand what attracts people to dungeons. But Modrons don't really... understand people, so they set up this big randomly-generated dungeon full of stuff like useless bags of coins labeled COINS and the like, with an Evil Wizard Construct for the villain.