The Order of the Stick

[The Giant]

http://www.GiantITP.com/resources/Teaser.gif

[Bogotter]

Hmmmmm what could this be? A running cartoon? That would be fun.

[Daveric]

I think that halfling needs to learn how to spell. ;)

[The Giant]

The Order of the Stick is here! LINK (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript) to the first strip.

[Daveric]

Just read it. Awesome! ;D

I'll definetly be reading it as their adventures continue. (I like the bitter halfing) ;)

[RawBearNYC]

I have to say, as I was testing the script, I got alot of enjoyment out of it, over and over again. It's got a great South Park sophistication about it.

[Gannes]

It's got a great South Park sophistication about it.
Ummm, isn't "South Park sophistication" a tad oxymoronic? :-/

[RawBearNYC]

Ummm, isn't "South Park sophistication" a tad oxymoronic?Only to the unsophisitcated cartoon afficianado. :P

[Ashlock]

I only just now noticed the cartoon, Rich...and it's great! Good stuff, good stuff. How regular will it be? Did I miss that?

[The Giant]

Probably every 5-7 days. I have a few done already, but I am deliberately waiting on posting them for now.

[clarkcd]

Great stuff! ;D

[The Giant]

Hey guys, I posted a second Order of the Stick strip. Since Ray set it up so that I can update it myself, I won't have to wait for full site updates to show you new ones. Yay!

So if you just click on Comics, it will take you to the most recent strip.

[Maj]

YAY!!!

You might want to consider including a number to indicate what strip the reader is on - in case they miss one due to away-from-the-computer-ness or something.

:D

[The Giant]

That's a good idea, Maj. I will do that on future strips. ;D

[Russell_fly]

More good stuff. :D Does anyone else think Elan looks vaguely like Rich? Hmmmm.

[The Giant]

Except for the fact that Elan does not wear glasses or have a goatee, and I do not have blonde hair. But other than that. ::)

By the way, updated the two strips to have "issue numbers" and copyright notices on them (force refresh if you need to).

[Russell_fly]

I said vaguely . :)

[Daveric]

HeeHeeHee

They're ninjas!

Hey Ray....Ninja!

[Russell_fly]

"I just saw the future of comic strips and it's The Order of the Stick. "Hilarious!"

- writes Russell Leighty of no particualr authority

[Gannes]

"Wait! I think I just failed a Listen check!"

I think I may have a new favorite line, Right up there with, "It's only fire! It can't chase you!"

[Bogotter]

I love the new cartoon. Very funny. I love bards and Elan is hysterical. The world is his muse!

[Ashlock]

Another great one, Rich! Sometime I'll have to share with you some of my cartoons of days past....

[The Giant]

I just posted a new comic. Enjoy. ;D

[Bogotter]

Heehee......

"Ogres!"

"Nice Spot Check."

Too funny.

[Daveric]

A true visionary :D

[Russell_fly]

#5 and going strong! :D

[The Giant]

And now #6 is up! "What adventurers really think of clerics."

[Daveric]

Tell me about it. Two adventures, and I've used 46 freakin' charges on that wand of cure light wounds.

[Daveric]

Oh, excellant comic again Rich ;D

[WampaX]

At least the Band-aid status now isn't as bad for the good cleric as it was in 2ed . . . gah ::)

[Nappy]

I love the Order!!! They're so adorable!! The Giant is brilliant!! The free swords in Elan cracked me up so much! Can that really be a way to get weapons in to our real game?! ;D

[The Giant]

As penance for our service outage, a bonus OOTS is up right now. Enjoy #7 as Durkon communes with his deity.

[Ashlock]

Another great one. Man, I could easily envision these in Dragon magazine.

[The Giant]

OK, so two things:

1.) I put up strip #8 up just now. Haley gets some screen time.

2.) In an effort to standardize when everyone can come look at new strips, I am going to try to put new strips up Wednesday and Sunday nights, from now on. That way, there will always be one fresh for you Monday morning when you get to work and decide to slack off and check my site instead of doing your job. I aim to make your life easier. ;D

[Bogotter]

Cool 2 per week! Just out of curiousity....how many episodes are done ahead of time? How many do you have ready right now?

[The Giant]

I try to have 3 ready-to-go at all times, so whenever I post one, I sit down and create a new one. That way if I get swamped, I have be at least a week before I get in trouble. So yeah, I've got 3 more ready right now. (But you can't see them yet!) :P

[WampaX]

The Humor . . . the humor . . .

[Bogotter]

I try to have 3 ready-to-go at all times, so whenever I post one, I sit down and create a new one. That way if I get swamped, I have be at least a week before I get in trouble. So yeah, I've got 3 more ready right now. (But you can't see them yet!) :P

Out of curiosity.....how long does one typcially take to make? Are they done in Photoshop or some other similar program?

[The Giant]

They are done in Adobe Illustrator, which is a vector-based art program. The time they take varies wildly, based on how many new characters there are (such as the ogres) and how many of the regular character pics are in positions I've already used. I have a "library" document where I have 10-12 poses for each character, which I use as the starting point for every pic. Time is usually between 1-3 hours, although lately it's been on the 1-1.5 hour side, since I am getting more and more pics in my library each time.

Not counting, of course, the time it takes to come up with the joke and nail down the exact dialogue. That varies too much to even say; I have ideas that I have been sitting on for weeks because I can't get the punchline right.

[Bogotter]

I've recently gotten my hands on the Adobe suite of software and I've been pawing my way through Photoshop. I have Illustrator too but haven't loaded it yet. Is there a steep learning curve on it? Meaning......without knowing what I'm doing what can I expect to accomplish with Illustrator that I can't with Photoshop?

[WampaX]

Man, what I wouldn't give for full working copies of After Effects, Premier and a good Digital Recorder . . . and a compute to handle all that well.

DVFX was the most fun I've had in a college course.
My Group's project. I am the narrator for both the movie and "makng of."

http://swiki.cc.gatech.edu:8080/dvfx2001/45

[The Giant]

I've recently gotten my hands on the Adobe suite of software and I've been pawing my way through Photoshop. I have Illustrator too but haven't loaded it yet. Is there a steep learning curve on it? Meaning......without knowing what I'm doing what can I expect to accomplish with Illustrator that I can't with Photoshop?

Illustrator has, in my opinion, a steeper learning curve than Photoshop. That is because Psp can be learned by screwing around on existing photos; you can learn by trial and error. Illustrator, OTOH, is all about creating from scratch most of the time. The vector pen tools are pretty counterintuitive, and you kind of need to know what you are trying to accomplish before you begin. I know plenty of professionals who use Photoshop daily but bring their Illustrator questions to me.

[RawBearNYC]

I use a different program: Paint Shop Pro by Jasc Software. Largely because it's cheaper (used to be free), than it's commercial cousin. It's very powerful, tho. It can do about 85% of what Photoshop does (stop scoffing Rich), including using Photoshop plug ins. It also has all the vector based graphics tools built in. I think there's an annoying learning curve with all graphics software (I think it's the nature of the tool and an inherent counterintuitiveness of graphic editing).

As a side note (maybe this whole post is a side note), Alex Lindsey of DV Garage has been doing a regular weekly spot on TechTV's show Call for Help on useing Photoshop. Their website, http://www.techtv.com/callforhelp has all of the tutorials he's done. Most of them have, lately, had to do with fixing photos, but I've enjoyed some real gems in there (Unsharpen? it's the win!).

[The Giant]

Oh yeah, Unsharpen Mask is the way to go when sharpening phots. Oddly, it's name sounds like it would make a photo less sharp, but it doesn't.

And the Sunday night strip is up.

[Daveric]

Hmmmmmm. Just what exactly is that bard up too now, I wonder? ;D

[Bogotter]

LOL! Good comic. Reminds me of when James Bull, the minotaur, was turned into a woman by one of those!

Question though.....I've been thinking this whole time that Vaarsuvius was a female.....but in this last strip he/she was called V-man. So Vaarsuvius is a guy?

[Ashlock]

Question though.....I've been thinking this whole time that Vaarsuvius was a female.....but in this last strip he/she was called V-man. So Vaarsuvius is a guy?
Yeah? Not sure how you can tell, but I assumed he was male, too. Maybe the name? Nahh...he just seemed it.

[Bogotter]

Yeah? Not sure how you can tell, but I assumed he was male, too. Maybe the name? Nahh...he just seemed it.

I thought it was a girl though. I was thinking of Vaarsuvius as a Velma type from Scooby Doo....the book wormy type girl. In episode 3 Haley was talking to Vaarsuvius about the color of her boots....for some reason I thought Haley was trying to talk with the only other female in the party about style and how they didn't match. That's what made it funny to me.....when Vaarsuvius couldn't relate.

[Daveric]

It's not that hard to figure out which of the characters are male and female (although some are tricky). It's just a matter of looking for Rich's carefully added in features. (usually a bit of cleavage, long hair, or showing of the belly button) ;)

[The Giant]

I have no problem with Vaarsuvius' sex being ambiguous. He/she is an elf, after all.

All you can infer from the last strip is that *Roy* thinks Vaarsuvious is male. ;)

[Bogotter]

I have no problem with Vaarsuvius' sex being ambiguous. He/she is an elf, after all.

All you can infer from the last strip is that *Roy* thinks Vaarsuvious is male. ;)


Cool.....I like that you didn't tell us either way. That way I can keep the same image in my head that she is female.....at least for the time being!

Do you like how I even had to quote her diaglogue from a specific strip number? You know it's doing well when people are quoting the strip and reciting episode numbers!

[Ashlock]

It's just a matter of looking for Rich's carefully added in features. (usually a bit of cleavage, long hair, or showing of the belly button)
Hey! As a long-haired guy, I resent that! >:( ;)

[RawBearNYC]

It's PAT!

[Bogotter]

It's PAT!

So what would happen if Pat (or Vaarsuvius) put on the Girdle of Masculinity/Femininity? Hmmmmm?

[WampaX]

Wait . . . Rich, you had me all the way up to the point where the party left a magic item. Parties don't leave magic items, even if they are cursed and will bring great doom upon their heads for even thinking of possessing such an item.

The reality of the strip is broken for me now . . . :P

Good job so far, the real test comes around issue 100, but we should have a new edition to make fun of by then ;D

[The Giant]

It's not that hard to figure out which of the characters are male and female (although some are tricky). It's just a matter of looking for Rich's carefully added in features. (usually a bit of cleavage, long hair, or showing of the belly button) ;)

Daveric, I would point out that your OWN AVATAR has long hair. So :P.

[RawBearNYC]

Sorry, Bogotter, I don't know if Rich was using these when you guys played years ago, but he's been using stick figure minis against us for a while, and i've come to learn that all of his female avatars have apparent breasts.

If you take a gander at http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=news;action=display;num=1060497491 you'll notice this. Even the Dwarven Female in full plate has them :) Varsuvvius has a rectangular torso, he's a dude :P

[The Giant]

You don't know that. You are only drawing that conclusion based on previous examples. For all you know, I deliberately decided to create a sexually-ambiguous elf; in such a circumstance, I would clearly break my own "rules" on how I drew them. :P

[RawBearNYC]

Ahh, but you see, there is no sexual ambiguity. Women have bumpy torsos, men have rectangular. There'd be no ambiguity if the torso is rectangular, it's a guy :P

[Bogotter]

Ahh, but you see, there is no sexual ambiguity. Women have bumpy torsos, men have rectangular. There'd be no ambiguity if the torso is rectangular, it's a guy :P


V-Man will always be a woman to me. ;D

[The Giant]

Strip #10 is up...and focuses on Vaarsuvius, oddly enough.

[Enricko]

V-Man will always be a woman to me. ;D

I want to ask why is this so important that the elf is a woman, but I'm slightly affraid of your answer. :-/

BTW, great strip, Rich.

[Bogotter]

I want to ask why is this so important that the elf is a woman, but I'm slightly affraid of your answer. :-/

BTW, great strip, Rich.



Only because in my mind I have thought since the beginning that Vaarsuvius was a female and to suddenly see her referred to as V-man was a bit jarring to me. In the grand scheme of my life....it bears little weight....but I was pleased that Rich planned on keeping it ambiguous.

[Enricko]

That's reassuring! :D

[Daveric]

I love that the halfling is drooling in his sleep. :) It's these little touches that help make the strip great. Another winner. :)

[Nappy]

Great monologue for V-man...er...V-person! Once again a real gem, Rich!!! ;)

[The Giant]

Thanks!

New strip up now, too.

[RawBearNYC]

evil ranger, EVIL RANGER!!! MUA-HA-HA!!! tee hee hee

[Enricko]

"Hate monsters... with class levels..."

Arf arf! Fantastic!

[Bogotter]

OK so I'm ashamed to admit that after I read the strip I ran to the PHB and looked up Unholy Blight.

:)

[The Giant]

Ha, well, as long as you got the joke before you looked it up. I was hoping the lines about their "pure hearts" not being able to withstand the evil magic would telegraph the joke without needing specific knowledge of the spell.

[WampaX]

Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil . . .
Too many Evil Clerics to run . . .
Having Unholy Blight flashbacks . . .

I find that the Dwarven Cleric failing His Will Save to be unreasonable :D

[Tae_Kwon_Dan]

I have a certain Dwarven Cleric who thinks otherwise.

*cough*Slay Living*cough*

[The Giant]

Please, guys, give me some credit. Unholy Blight still does partial damage on a successful saving throw. You'll notice that the cleric is knocked out, not just sickened, so it stands to reason that he may have well made his saving throw, but been low on hit points.

Don't screw with the master.

[Bogotter]

It just occurred to me that someone should make up a parity of Oh Holy Night and call it Unholy Blight. So I guess that would be me:

UNHOLY BLIGHT

Unholy Blight
A cloud of greasy darkness.
It is a power used to smite good enemies.

Long lay the world
In sickness and in darkness
As it appeared
A cold, cloying miasma

A thrill of choke
The evil world rejoices
For the righteous gag
A new and glorious spew

Fall on your knees
And hear the paladins retching!
Oh die! You swine!
Oh die! You good aligned.

Oh die! You SWIIIIIIIIIIINE!

Oh die! Unholy Blight!

[The Giant]

Another new strip up, and one of my favorites so far.

[Daveric]

I must say that I grew up watching Abbot and Costello, and the "who's on first" sketch was one of the funniest things I've ever heard. Even to this day I am still captivated by it's play on words. ;D

To see it done for D&D just brings joyous tears to my eyes. ;D Great job Rich. This strip will go down as a classic.

[Medesha]

Giant, your comic is awesome! I love reading it. Any chance we could get an index instead of just "back to first"? Sometimes I miss a few and I don't want to go all the way back to the beginning and flip through. Great job!

[The Giant]

I'll talk to Ray, shouldn't be that tough, though...

Thanks for the compliments, M. ;D

[Josh_Kablack]

That's the best one yet Rich.

[The Giant]

Thanks, Josh.

By the way, #13 is up.

[Maj]

So why is it called the Dungeon of Dorukan if Xykon created it?

;)

Keep it up, sweetie.

http://majik.be/smilies/maj.gif

[The Giant]

Why indeed?

dunh dunh DUNNNNNNH!

;)

[Medesha]

I played a character exactly like Haley once, only she said "loot" instead of treasure. It just kept slipping into the conversation. Great work, Giant!

[Josh_Kablack]

Thanks, Josh.

By the way, #13 is up.

You're welcome,

and by the way, I'm sorry but #12 is still the best one yet :p

[The Giant]

Watch it, you're going to give me a complex. I'll go mad trying to live up to past glories.

[The Giant]

#14 has arrived. After this long, it's about time they stopped to rest for the night.

[Ashlock]

http://ashlock.org/Images/Gifs/Smileys/laugh.gif

Oh, man, that's one of the best! And also one of the most applicable to my PCs! Hee hee....

[another] Good one, Rich.

[Ashlock]

So I share Order of the Stick with all seven of my players. Five out of seven of them love it. The remaining two are harder to please, but they find it mildly amusing.

However, when I sent them #14, I got this back from one of those two:

All right. Now this one made me laugh out loud.

Just thought you should know. :)

[The Giant]

A touch late, but #15 is up now.

[Bogotter]

Das a gud one!


Roy's father is great!

[The Giant]

Thanks. Proof that in a world where the afterlife is a tangible fact, you can NEVER escape your parents. ;)

[WampaX]

I'm going to be the first to say that . . . this one wasn't all that funny to me. Its hard for a Web Comic to continually outdo itself week after week.

I know the next one will probably knock my socks off, so I'll stick around. ;D

[The Giant]

That just tells me you have a decent relationship with your parents. ;)

No, seriously, I don't expect everyone to fall on the floor laughing every time. As long as I get more positive feedback than negative, I'm happy.

[WampaX]

Perfect Strip for Thanksgiving, though.

[Ashlock]

Of course, once you get a standard going, it's bound to get hard to live up to. Most of them are great.

Funny, 'cause the last episode I thought was the funniest (that and the inspire competence one), while I thought the "up a level, down a level" episode wasn't particularly funny, just amusing. But that's only in comparison to what you've got going.

I think I find the more slapsticky ones to be funniest. With action of some kind and short, hilarious comments here and there.

[The Giant]

Perfect Strip for Thanksgiving, though.

One of my fans from another message board said the same thing: "It's the family holiday strip!! The older relative comes to visit, complains about college tution, says a lot of stuff that gets ignored, complains that you never call, then leaves!"

[WampaX]

Exactly what I was refering to . . . just not in so many words. :D

[Bogotter]

I sort of agree with Ashlock....some of the earlier ones were my favorites (like the inspire competance one and the hotline to thor).......and then people started raving about ones that I find only minorly amusing. (Up a level, down a level) This latest one tickled my funny bone again and others didn't like it as much.

It's weird....but cool.....that your audience appreciates different things.

[The Giant]

Yeah, I kind of find it encouraging. I mean, I've had a dozen people tell me a different one is their favorite; that says to me that I'm doing something right!

[WampaX]

Well, whatever you are doing, keep doing it. :D

[Ashlock]

Yes, do!

Oh, and my fiance adores the halfling. Keep him coming! ;)

[Bogotter]

Elan and Vaarsuvius are my favs!

So when will we be seeing these in Dragon?

[Tae_Kwon_Dan]

"I have deep rooted emotional problems. Die Die!" Thus far is my favorite line.

[WampaX]

OotS #16
A good demonstration of the comedy "rule of three."

[The Giant]

As Medesha requested, there is now a drop-down menu at the bottom of the comics page so you can hop back a few easily.

And of course, # 17 is up too.

[WampaX]

Please, Rich, Continuity. ::)
First Elan is on the right, then on the left, then back on the right.

Still with teh funny, though. :)

[The Giant]

It's not continuity, it's movement between panels. You'll notice Belkar also drew his daggers between the last two panels; since he can draw and move as a move action, and he drew, therefore he had time to move.

Plus, I set it up the way that the dialogue needs to go. :P

[Bogotter]

You latest strip had me rolling. I love it. It's so funny when you take the mechanics of the game and illustrate it literally. Very funny.

Good job!

[WampaX]

Yeah, I've always been bugged by that doubled up SA . . . always seemed rather odd. Now, it is imortalized in humor.

[Kai]

Bravo! :D

[Medesha]

As Medesha requested, there is now a drop-down menu at the bottom of the comics page so you can hop back a few easily.

http://www.verylargehats.com/love.gif

I did 113 damage to a pit fiend once with the surprise/initiative combot...at 10th level! Loved the comic, GitP!

[Nim]

Hey all, GitP you know me from Fluid Fantasy as Sampetra. I personally love the sunder. I mean, imagine that in your latest campaign (literally!). Actually, that could be very neat. Perhaps it is the famous "Troll Pointy Thing of Fakeness". Trolls lure you in with fake, easily breakable but good-looking swords and then stab you with the real things.

[The Giant]

New comic is up!

[WampaX]

Very Cunning indeed . . .

It just hit me, it being commercialism time and all, I mean, X-mas time, I mean, well . . . you get the idea ;) . . .

Both Chimeras would make great plushies. ;D

[The Giant]

I'll get my marketing division right on that. ;)

[Ashlock]

Ahh, the good ol' eyelashes and lips to feminize something.....very cute!

Good one.

And I'd be happy to purchase a plush chimera. :)

[The Giant]

Ahh, the good ol' eyelashes and lips to feminize something.....very cute!

Well, don't forget, that's almost certainly NOT what female chimerae look like—it's just what Elan thinks they look like.

[Bogotter]

I'll buy a plushy chimera too.

But I'd rather have the transexual ogre complete with belt. :)

Great comic. I love the evasion panel....very funny.

[The Giant]

But I'd rather have the transexual ogre complete with belt. :)

I didn't need to know this about you...

But seriously, if I ever figure out a way to do plushies, Haley and Elan are at the top of the list. They would just be sooooo cute.

[Tae_Kwon_Dan]

Okay, winking at the 4th wall and saying "Evasion" has now become my all time favorite moment in the strip.

Priceless.

[Daveric]

This strip reminded me a lot about our group. ;D

Very nice! :)

[Medesha]

Elan is rapidly becoming my favourite character. And the "Evasion" moment is classic.

[Nim]

"He's not useless, he's . . . use-impaired." or maybe "Bluff Bluff Bluff Bluff the Stupid Ogre!"
If you do make the plushies, put that on Elan's tag.
"Technically, I do not sleep."
That one goes on V-man's.
"Bwa ha ha! I have deep-seated emotional problems! Die! Die!" or "Well, I just figured we'd wander around, kill some sentient creatures because they had green skin and fangs and we don't, and then take their stuff." would be good for Belkar.
"Grr. Roy smash puny kobolds (I have an MBA, you know)." for Roy.
"The Boots of Speed were totally powerful, but they were, like, lime green." or "My daddy was a first edition thief. It runs in the family." for Haley.
"A lich is binding ghouls? Turn Undead!" for Durkon.

Did I miss anyone? Got better ideas?

[Nappy]

I agree with Daveric!!!! ;D We do have quite a bard!!!

[WampaX]

Three spells in a row? I don't buy it . . . must suspend . . . belief for the humor's sake . . .

So, been watching Urotsukidôji: Legend of the Overfiend, I see . . . ;) <shudders from repressed memories>

[The Giant]

I can honestly say I have no idea what that is.

[Tae_Kwon_Dan]

Be glad. ;)

"I love the smell of bat guano in the morning. Smells like victory." ;D

[Bogotter]

Very funny strip Rich. That Evan guy needs some serious therapy!

[WampaX]

Giant,
Traditional hyper-violoent, animated, japanese hentai.
It was actually the first, I think . . . vintage 1987.

[The Giant]

Never saw it...my only muse was Kubrick.

[Daveric]

I never saw the movie either, but being an anime fan, I know the flick in which he speaks. ;)

Anywho...Nice strip Rich. Hmm, that didn't quite come out right...oh well. :P

I meant to ask, what level are these guys,(not that it really matters), or what range of levels are they?

[The Giant]

I'll never tell!!!

OK, really, I won't ever choose a specific level. I don't want to be tied down from using a certain joke just because it requires a 9th level spell and they aren't high enough, or having them run away from a foe that is CR 2, or what have you.

[RawBearNYC]

I'll never tell!!!

OK, really, I won't ever choose a specific level. I don't want to be tied down from using a certain joke just because it requires a 9th level spell and they aren't high enough, or having them run away from a foe that is CR 2, or what have you.
Good!!!

It took me a bit to stop wondering those questions, but I enjoy the fact that a single goblin is as threatening as whatever that thing is.

[Daveric]

Fair enough. :)

[WampaX]

Giant,
The Apocalypse Now references did not escape mine eye . . . I was refering to the violent, tentacle porn.

Urotsukidôji is on par with Meet the Feebles for disturbing images and content . . . at least in my book.

[The Giant]

Ahh, see, I wasn't intending it to be porn. I was just trying to think of the most painful-sounding spell name I could come up with, and I used Evard's Black Tentacles as the starting point.

Although your use of the plural "references" makes me happy, because it means at least one person caught the second one. ;)

[Nappy]

Wow, another great one Rich! Didn't realize Vaarsuvius was that powerful... ;) Now I want to play a spellcaster!!!!!!

[Nim]

V-man was always my favorite, now you see why!

(And I know that while everyone else including the chimaera noticed the porn-sounding spell name, V did not. Cause he is probably an asexual life form or somethin'. ;))

[Bogotter]

Cause he is probably an asexual life form or somethin'. ;))

Ahem.......SHE!!!!

[Josh_Kablack]

Could we have a quick-jump link added to the "Cast of characters page"..?

And I consider the first Urotsukidôji required viewing, just like Apocolypse Now. Come to think of it, there are some major common themes between them, after you can get past the gross-out shock value.

[RawBearNYC]

Could we have a quick-jump link added to the "Cast of characters page"..?
I'll have to think about it, but probably not.

[The Giant]

There's already a link at the bottom of every single comic to the Cast of Characters, and honestly, it's not something one needs to read more than once. I wouldn't worry about it.

[RawBearNYC]

Actually, Rich, I made the same mistake you did as well. He was asking for the drop down tht appears on all comic pages to appear on the Cast of Characters page. Not a faster way to get to CoC.

[WampaX]

Oddly enough, Josh, I have watched the former and not the latter. Yet, I can pick out quotes, scenes, and pick up on parodies of it at the drop of a hat.

I will give Urotsukidôji credit in the desensatizing department. Not much else can compete after viewing certain scenes. It also really does have a good backbone of a story . . . its just that the rest of the images that are attached to that backbone combine to form something else.

[Josh_Kablack]

Actually, Rich, I made the same mistake you did as well. He was asking for the drop down tht appears on all comic pages to appear on the Cast of Characters page. Not a faster way to get to CoC.

Yeah, that's what I meant. A single link to go from Cast of Characters to Strip 1 through X.

I don't really care about going from strip X to Cast of Characters any faster (heck, isn't that already there?)

[The Giant]

Ah. I'll leave this wholly in RawBear's hands as to whether he can/wants to do that, then. I do know that the CoC page is not part of the automatic-numbering script, so it may be more work for him than it is worth. But, if he's feeling energetic, it might happen. ;)

[RawBearNYC]

The CoC page is a static page, while the comic page is a script. A quick cost benefit analysis is that there's not enough return involved in making the static page less static. I don't see lots of people heading over to CoC, and it's only one link harder to click the comics link on the side, or the Most Recent Strip link at the top.

[WampaX]

Reguardless . . . dun dun DUN!
;D

[Daveric]

Hilarious. Who da halfling had me rolling. ;D

And Elan at the end...

Classic. Another great strip! ;D

[Nim]

I really think "Who da man?", etc. is a bad idea. Don't get me wrong, using it here is good, but I mean the person who invented it was stupid. "Who da woman" just doesn't have the same ring to it. Neither does "Who da halfling", although it is funny.

[Nim]

"What you talkin' 'bout, Haley?"
^
|
Classic OotS now!

[RawBearNYC]

Yeah, I liked the Gary Coleman reference.

[The Giant]

And oddly, Belkar is about the same height as Coleman.

Coincidence? Yes.

[Tae_Kwon_Dan]

Another great strip! :D

[Bogotter]

Belkar is starting to remind me of Earl Woodfoot. Any inspiration there?

[The Giant]

Belkar is starting to remind me of Earl Woodfoot. Any inspiration there?

What can I say? I like my halflings jaded and angry.

[Bogotter]

You forgot greedy and coniving!

I'm just happy Zeke and Early got along well. It would have sucked to be on his bad side.

[Nappy]

Belkar is quickly becoming my favorite OotS member, taking over Vaarsuvius!!! I like his cute orneriness....

[Nim]

NOOOOOOOOO! Don't abandon the V-man! :o

[RawBearNYC]

Roy's mine, not sure why, tho.

[Nappy]

Hey Nim, he can be all yours. If indeed Vaarsuvius is a "he". ;D

[Nim]

No . . . sob . . . Ye hath abandoned the One of the V! :'(

[Nim]

On another note: Belkar has some SERIOUS personality problems. Once he gets outa there, someone send 'im to a shrink!

[Bogotter]

No . . . sob . . . Ye hath abandoned the One of the V! :'(


I have not abandoned Vaar as my favorite.....though I fully beleive she is female. :)

I think Elan is my second favorite.

[Nim]

Hey, I'm cool with the One of the V being female, long as you keep her as your favorite.

[Bogotter]

Hey, I'm cool with the One of the V being female, long as you keep her as your favorite.


I promise!

[Daveric]

I have to side with Nappy. Belkar is my favorite, followed closely by Durkon. What can I say, I have a thing for the stunties. ;)

Oh, and Haley's pretty cool, too. Heck I like them all ;D

[The Giant]

My goal is to never have one be the "best" all the time. If I notice everyone saying they like the same one best, I'll probably increase the others' screen time. It's an ensemble piece!

[Daveric]

"Discount mercenaries" Hah ;D

I like Xykon's dark (evil) blue backdrop. ;)

Can't wait until the Order meets the dark, mysterious "secret" weapon, and the revelations of the evil bad guys dark, insidious plans. bwahahahaha

;D

[Denbar]

Giant, you definitely have a talent for comedic writing. (Stick, ACE, others)

Ever try making $$ off of your ability?

[Nappy]

Yeah Daveric!! Belkar is cool. My faves are him and V.

Even from this side of the earth, I'm reading OotS and cracking up...I really like "your evilness". Hee.

[The Giant]

Yay Nappy! The Order of the Stick has officially gone intercontinental!


Ever try making $$ off of your ability?

Sure. Give me $100.

(pause)

Well, I tried. ;)

[Denbar]

Sure. Give me $100.

(pause)

Well, I tried. ;)

Heh!

I mean, I could easily see TOOTS carried by some hobby mag.

Of course, not having tabletop gamed in some time now, I don't know if the hobby still supports a lot of mags!

;)

[Nim]

TOotS, actually. Think of it like a book title.

[The Giant]

I usually drop the initial "T". I just call it OOTS. I realize that there should be upper and lowercase, but honestly I can't be bothered to release and then repress the Shift key. I'm just THAT lazy.

[Nappy]

Yay Giant!!! You've redefined my Mondays and Thursdays!!! ;D

[Nim]

Actually, my Mondays and Thursdays didn't really need redefinition . . . but whatever. Thanks anyways.

[clarkcd]

Are we getting an OotS tomorrow, it being Christmas and all? I don't mind getting it early but I don't know what I'd do if I had to wait an extra day...

[Medesha]

Elan and Hayley are my picks, personally.

[Maj]

Haley rocks. Totally, undeniably, 110% rocks.

This last strip (literally) with Elan, though so reminded me of one incident in my solo game that I laughed until I cried. Way to go, Giant.

http://majik.be/smilies/maj.gif

Pre-Edit: Right in the middle of this post, you put up #26, so it's #25 that made me collapse into a reminiscing heap on the floor. #26 just made me collapse into a normal heap. ;)

[Bogotter]

Heeehee....naked tumbling. How funny!

[The Giant]

Voice of Mod: Nothing to see here, just purging the N/A glitch.

[Jan]

The new episode is the funniest thing I have read in a long time! Kudos to you Rich!

[Daveric]

I enjoy the little details, like everyone's eyes being closed, and the smile Elan got at the end when he learned that Durkon's spell was a "touch" spell. ;)

[xthemage]

It just keeps getting better... Kudos, that's all I can say.

[Medesha]

Heh heh...Hayley rocks so incredibly much.

[Daveric]

Too funny. ;D

[Flame_of_Ashside]

I Have never laughed so hard in my life as I have at the "Order of the Stick" Mainly because I see some of our players in the characters you use. thank you for the laughs wish it was 4 times a week!!! keep up the good work. :-*
Flame

[The Giant]

Hey, thanks Flame, and welcome to the site!

4 times a week?? That ain't gonna happen, at least until I can figure out how to support myself solely by this website (read: never). ;)

[Russell_fly]

Rich,
Any plans for an "Order of the Stick" 2004 calendar? That might bring in a few bucks.

As Yogurt said in Space Balls: "merchandizing" ;D

[RawBearNYC]

LOL, I <3 Haley!!!!

[Daveric]

It was like that time when Alestan found the diamond on the cleric's body and no one saw me pocket it. Oops ::)

[Nappy]

Diamond??? What diamond?? :P

[Maj]

You know, I've pulled Haley's trick before... I had this old Toyota that wouldn't lock, and in order to safeguard my stuff, I put it inside an empty box of "feminine products" on the floor of the back seat. People broke into my car a couple of times, but they never touched that box.

Ahh... The joys of being a rogue. And a female one at that. ;)

http://majik.be/smilies/maj.gif

[Ashlock]

Woo-hoo! Psionics in OotS.

Good one, Giant. I love illithids.

[Maj]

For some reason, I half-expected the Illithid to introduce itself as Josh.

;)

[WampaX]

I was thinking the same thing, Maj.
I half expected a flapjack wearing rabbit to hop by in the background. ;D

[Quillion]

I love the whole joke about not being able to call them mind flayers or illithids because they are no longer OGC.

I hope some day to see Order of the Stick in Dragon Magazine.

[Josh_Kablack]

Rich, obviously you've never played Scrabble using the OSPD. Otherwise you'd know that "zxqxuwy" is not "a type of fish" but is instead a "a unit of currency in the former Netherse republic".

Qintar, xi, etc.... it's always a type of currency in a former republic ;)

[davericsdamsel]

I think all the characters personalities shine through with simple strokes.

Nice job Rich.

: ) J

[Russell_fly]

More nude scenes please.

[Nappy]

I like how heartburn was equated with Belkar...oh cute little fuzzy footed Belkar.... ;D

[The Giant]

Today's strip is coming any minute...Ray is posting it because I was stupid and lost track of what day of the week it was.

[The Giant]

And it's up now. Go read it.

[Russell_fly]

Love Mr. Rodriguez's hairdo. Oops. I mean, spooooky hairdo.

[Denbar]

Elan missed a chance to Inspire the lawyers to help rescue Roy!

"Litigate, Litigate, Litigate against the....squid guy!"

;)

[Daveric]

Great strip. I especially enjoyed the behold- err, umm...Eye Tyrant at the end. ;)

[WampaX]

Bite it and never let go, Rich. 8)

[The Giant]

Bite it and never let go, Rich. 8)

This totally perplexes me...did "bite it" become a good thing at some point? ???

[WampaX]

Well, you have those wonderful titles that appear only in the message board scrawl (are you ever going to put those titles in the drop menu?). I was refering to this latest one.

Biting and locking the jaw is usually comedy gold, especially if it is a small furry critter, Re: The Gods Must Be Crazy II or several WB cartoons.

People just doin't seem to think like I do . . . which is probably a good thing. ;D

[The Giant]

Oh, I get it.

I don't really think of those as "titles" for the strips though. I put them there largely because most people aren't going to remember what number is next, and I wanted people to be able to go to the message board and see whether there is a new strip or not.

[WampaX]

Well, most of those "titles" are as creative as the comics they accompany. I like 'em, anyway.

[Daveric]

Strangely enough, I thought of them as the titles as well. :-/

[Bogotter]

Yup they are episode titles to me too!

[RawBearNYC]

*scratches head* what are?

[WampaX]

The scrawl over the home page of the message boards usually has an " OOTS## - The Title of the Newest Strip Here" somewhere in it. Just sit and watch for a second or two, you'll see it.

[RawBearNYC]

Oh, people actually read that? *smirk*

[The Giant]

Just goes to show, the ONE part of the website I don't need you to put up for me, you don't bother reading. ::)

By the way, I like the new personal caption, Ray.

[davericsdamsel]

what can lace doilies do? Cuz my nana has quite a few of those..........

;)

Jenny in Taipei

[Bogotter]

WOOHOO! I'm honored to be immortailized in the OoTS strips!

I always knew there was more to those doilies. They just looked too innocent. ;D

[Daveric]

Great comic, very funny. I love the fact that of course, Belkar and Haley's feet don't even touch the ground. Tee Hee ;D

[WampaX]

I, too, have been immortolized in OotS.
Sadly, my question was sent right before Haley's scouting mission was over, so the answer to it became painfully obvious. :P

[Daveric]

I like the new banner Rich, with the OOTS people. And I like that it changes too, with each new viewing/refreshing of the page. Lots of different choices, too, since I had 5 minutes to kill waitng for a phone call...

I did notice that they appear in a random order, with some (like the charging goblin) appearing more frequently (4 times) over other more 'rare' images; such as Haley running away with 2 bags of loot, trailing gold coins (1 time). It definetly felt like I had pulled a rare or unique, as opposed to a common. ;D

Nice touch.

[The Giant]

Ray can confirm or deny this, but I believe they are 100% random, so that everytime you refresh the page, you have an equal chance of seeing any given pic.

But thanks, I really like it too, and plan on adding more versions from time to time, as a little surprise.

[RawBearNYC]

Yeah, there's no "weighting" done with any of them. Each of them has an equal chance to appear. But keep checking back, Rich can suprise us with new ones any time he wants.

[WampaX]

#34 "Wait, I think I have another +1 somewhere . . ." is bang on what one of the old group used to do in 2ed. To be fair, he was mostly dead tired when we played, but he still provided so many hilarious times.

"Its a hit . . . no, wait, its a critcal miss . . . I mean critical hit . . ." all the while holding the die up to his eye to see the number he just rolled.

[The Giant]

Have you ever seen this scenario?

Player: I hit, uh, AC 23.
DM: Hit.
Player: No, wait, AC 24.
DM: Still a hit.
Player: No! Wait!, AC 26!
DM: Oh, in that case, you miss. ::)

[WampaX]

Yep, that was one of the scenarios we would run through from time to time. Once he got his mitts wrapped around the old Rod/Wand of Force, we only asked if he rolled a 1. :D

Damage was another rmatter entirely . . . especially if it was a critical.

[Daveric]

#34 doesn't sound at all like our sessions ::)

[oak]

I'm a bit new to the whole message board (1st post in fact), but I'd like to say thanks to Rich for putting out a most excellent and superb comic, as well as rather interesting takes on *everything*. I dig the site, dig the articles, and I wait diligently every monday and thursday for a new OotS to come up on my computer screen. Keep up the good work! ;D

[The Giant]

Hey Oak, thanks for the praise and welcome to my site!

Feel free to hang around and talk about nothing particularly crucial to the fate of the universe, as we do. :)

[Bogotter]

Firstly.....this latest comic was hilarious. That happens all of the time! Great job.



Have you ever seen this scenario?

Player: I hit, uh, AC 23.
DM: Hit.
Player: No, wait, AC 24.
DM: Still a hit.
Player: No! Wait!, AC 26!
DM: Oh, in that case, you miss. ::)

Yes this happens too but I think DM's have more of an issue with it than players. Players seem to want to be able to show just how great they rolled or how great they are so it's not enough to know that they hit....they want to know how much they hit by!

Same thing with damage.

Player: I hit AC 19.
DM: You hit and kill the ogre.
Player: But I didn't roll damage.
DM: What's your bonus damage?
Player: +6
DM: He's dead.
Player: <Rolls the dice> Total of 15 damage!
DM: He's still dead.



Also welcome OAK! One of my old D&D characters for one of Giant's campaigns was named Oak.

[oak]

Thank you for all the hearty welcomes! ;D

I just about died upon seeing today's new strip. It was such a familar sight, that I nearly choked on my morning cereal! As playing a dwarven fighter for the first time in 3E (yeah I know. What? He hasn't played a fighter? Wierd.) I forgot many of the feats that I took, not to mention the +4 dodge bonus vs giants and the +1 to hit vs. goblins and orcs that my dwarven fighter had.

Needless to say, Velkki died three times, and then shortly thereafter, the adventuring party found him, alive (but hurting) somewhere further down the tunnel.... Strangely it was always after a fight with some trolls...

LOL

[Tae_Kwon_Dan]

#34 "Wait, I think I have another +1 somewhere . . ." is bang on what one of the old group used to do in 2ed. To be fair, he was mostly dead tired when we played, but he still provided so many hilarious times.

"Its a hit . . . no, wait, its a critcal miss . . . I mean critical hit . . ." all the while holding the die up to his eye to see the number he just rolled.

Ahhh Mike, he actually made the Arturick Shovel Awards over at WotC two different times. Both for this example and Rich's example of always saying what he hit even if he knew he was well over the the AC.

Good times . . . good times.

[WampaX]

#35 - Rogues Gone Wild! reminds me of that old KODT when Dave ran Sarah's character . . .

Still funny, though :D

[davericsdamsel]

do they all have belly buttons?

;)

:-*

[Ashlock]

Episodes like today's OotS (#35) is such that I cannot pass it along to my players or we'd lose about five of them as fans of the comic. :(

[The Giant]

Oh well. If they're really that sensitive that they can't take a joke about stereotypical male attitudes, then they probably were going to be offended eventually anyway.

[Orion]

Oh! :rotflmao: That's prolly the best laugh I'll have all day!

[crazy_bout_fantasy]

Hi im new here and i think order of the stick is amazing and very funny i was just wondering if you could tell me if its the person who owns the site that
makes it. thx

[The Giant]

Hey, CBMF! Welcome to the site. I'm Rich, and I am indeed the owner of the site and the creator of its content, including the Order of the Stick. Glad you are enjoying it. ;D

[crazy_bout_fantasy]

hi was just wodering what you used to create your charecters. :P

[RawBearNYC]

hi was just wodering what you used to create your charecters. :P

I'm guessing it's a truly warped and twisted imagination.

[davericsdamsel]

Episodes like today's OotS (#35) is such that I cannot pass it along to my players or we'd lose about five of them as fans of the comic. :(

May I ask why?

I also think that by now your "players" might be logging in on their own? And they can probably decided for themselves what they like or not with out you "censoring" for them.

respectfully,
Jenny

[The Giant]

hi was just wodering what you used to create your charecters. :P

I use Adobe Illustrator 10, which is a vector-based drawing program for my Mac. I don't recommend it for beginners, though; despite the fact that the end cartoon is fairly simple-looking, the program itself is very complex. That's years of experience at work to make those drawings that bad. ;)

[crazy_bout_fantasy]

ok thx :P
p.s do you know how many oots strips there will be or

[Ashlock]

May I ask why?
Sure thing. But lest I be misunderstood, I really like OotS. It's refreshing. It's such a selective little comic but really damned funny. So you see, I want to share it with my friends. And they do enjoy it.


I also think that by now your "players" might be logging in on their own?
No, it's okay. You can call them players. ::)

But no, they're not logging in here. As I've told Rich, they wouldn't be frequent visitors, but even the possibility of their presence would prevent me from freely posting on the message boards, which I really want to be able to do.


And they can probably decided for themselves what they like or not with out you "censoring" for them.
It's just that I would like them to keep on liking the series. This particular episode, as I see it (I stress that), doesn't so much make fun of stereotypes as it does purvey them. That's just how I see it. Male and female stereotypes. I like Haley...but she's such a ditz here. Why must the only female be this way—as usual? (No, Bogotter, V is not female—sorry!)

And I know that several of the women in my gaming group would just give a heavy, frustrated sigh at seeing this one. Just one more place they have to see this trend, it's tiresome. Don't get me wrong. I think Rich has good intentions, and I'm not digging deep on this one. My friends like the comic. I'll keep sending it to them, but I'd rather not lose them on it. That's all. :)

Let's not get into big discussion on this one. It's not worth it. All is well.

[Bogotter]

V is female.

[The Giant]

Let's not get into big discussion on this one. It's not worth it. All is well.


Too late. If you are going to call me a purveyor of stereotypes, we are going ot have a discussion of it.

But on another thread...