Is the end nigh?

[Paragon Badger]

So, Roy is frozen in carbonite... Azure City fell in the most climactic arc of the comic yet. It looks bad for our heroes.

Does that mean that Oots is nearing its end?

Most classicly structured stories come in three parts; Act 1, the introduction of the characters and plot. Act 2, the Climax, when everything goes wrong and the dramatic tension reaches its zenith. And Act 3, when the story is resolved.

And we've all seen that Rich knows story structure.

So, is the story inbetween Act 2 and 3?

[Wooter]

I doubt it. Rich is talented enough that he can make up his own story structure and make it work.

[Andre Fairchilde]

I'm not spreading any rumors - because I don't know anything. But I thought I heard something was coming for 4th ed, like a story resolution.

[Gopher]

Let's not forget there are still TWO more gates. It seems like it would feel a little weird if they didn't visit them all over the course of the story.

[tenguro]

from the FAQ (sorry I dunno how to do the little box thing)

Q:How long will OOTS last? How far in advance do you have OOTS planned?

A: Pretty damn far. I have ideas for story arcs that will last at least five years, though I don't have individual strips written more than a few days or weeks ahead. Keep in mind that although OOTS has a joke-a-day, it has plotlines that are set up far in advance of their resolution. OOTS does indeed have a finite lifespan, however, and I already know what the last panel of the last comic will be, so don't expect it to linger around forever. Top

So the end is no were in sight.

[Raging_Pacifist]

Well, seeing as how we haven't seen the others in quite some time, they could already be dead. As bad as this sounds it is possible. So that would leave two OotS members left; a kill machine that can't kill, a bow wielding rouge and possibly an at least 3rd level sorcerer sylph. I think they'd be done for. So yes I agree.

[The Extinguisher]

I've always prefered the classic 5 act Shakespearen structure, which would put us somewhere in the vicinity of the end of Act III, start of Act IV.

And it seems a bit more likely, looking at the trend of the books.
And there are five gates. Easy to see the connection there.

[Paragon Badger]

from the FAQ (sorry I dunno how to do the little box thing)

Q:How long will OOTS last? How far in advance do you have OOTS planned?

A: Pretty damn far. I have ideas for story arcs that will last at least five years, though I don't have individual strips written more than a few days or weeks ahead. Keep in mind that although OOTS has a joke-a-day, it has plotlines that are set up far in advance of their resolution. OOTS does indeed have a finite lifespan, however, and I already know what the last panel of the last comic will be, so don't expect it to linger around forever. Top

So the end is no were in sight.

Unfortunately, the FAQ has a date on when it was last updated... but not when each question was awnsered.

The first comic started in 2003... So, unless you could tell me when Rich awnsered that question- the comic could foreseeably go on somewhere between 2008 and 2013. :smalltongue: I pray its on the latter end. :smallbiggrin:

Edit: My point is... Azure City was pretty climactic in scope. Climax usually heralds an ending to come. :smalltongue:

[monty]

The first comic started in 2003... So, unless you could tell me when Rich awnsered that question- the comic could foreseeably go on somewhere between 2008 and 2013. :smalltongue: I pray its on the latter end. :smallbiggrin:

It says "Updated 3/4/05," which would put it between 2008 and 2010. Hopefully, he changed his mind in the past 3 years.

[Rethorn]

Climaxes herald the end, yes, but the question is the end of what. Everything is too unresolved for a storyteller of Rich's magnitude to end the story here. All that we will see ending, I think, is this story arc. In fact, we have. When Rich took his break the story arc ended, immediately after the Azure City climax. The last climax prior was when Xykon was "destroyed."

[Morgan Wick]

from the FAQ (sorry I dunno how to do the little box thing)

Q:How long will OOTS last? How far in advance do you have OOTS planned?

A: Pretty damn far. I have ideas for story arcs that will last at least five years, though I don't have individual strips written more than a few days or weeks ahead. Keep in mind that although OOTS has a joke-a-day, it has plotlines that are set up far in advance of their resolution. OOTS does indeed have a finite lifespan, however, and I already know what the last panel of the last comic will be, so don't expect it to linger around forever. Top

So the end is no were in sight.

In addition to all else people have said, keep in mind that this was before his illness, and also pay attention to the "at least" which no doubt has grown, if Rich has kept getting new ideas.

I believe OOTS consists of two or more "stories" (or "sagas") and the battle for Azure City was the end of the first "story". (Yes, I count Dungeon Crawlin' Fools as part of the first "story", since it's not much of a story in itself, though they could be split.) This isn't the end; it's the beginning of the sequel, if OOTS were a movie.

[Trazoi]

I think there's still an awful lot more to happen. There's too many plot points to wrap up nicely within the next year or so.

First, there's two more gates. Story logic indicates that they'll have to visit both of them. There'll be a conflict at both, with probably the final (or at least the penultimate) confrontation at the last gate.

Then there's a whole bunch of stuff that needs to be resolved for each character. Haley needs to sort out the issues with her father, Elan's still got the Linear Guild to deal with, Durkon's got his own clan, and V's got to reach "ultimate power" (and we also need to see V's mate).

I don't think that can happen in a hundred or so strips from the current position, so I feel it'll still go on for some time. If the next gate also takes as long to deal with as the one at Azure city, there's plenty to go yet.

[Waspinator]

Actually, we know that they'll be going to at least one more gate for certain:
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0331.html

[FujinAkari]

I'm not spreading any rumors - because I don't know anything. But I thought I heard something was coming for 4th ed, like a story resolution.

This has no basis in reality :P

[Ancalagon]

I think the giant stated somewhere the comic will go far beyond Azure City.

All the stuff about 4th can be considered rumour, I guess.

[Kish]

So, Roy is frozen in carbonite... Azure City fell in the most climactic arc of the comic yet. It looks bad for our heroes.

Does that mean that Oots is nearing its end?

Most classicly structured stories come in three parts; Act 1, the introduction of the characters and plot. Act 2, the Climax, when everything goes wrong and the dramatic tension reaches its zenith. And Act 3, when the story is resolved.

And we've all seen that Rich knows story structure.

So, is the story inbetween Act 2 and 3?
I think the presence of two more gates is more meaningful than Star Wars similarities.

The story is unlikely to end until it's been to both Girard's Gate (next) and Kraagor's Gate.

Rich has never indicated that he has any plans that have anything to do with 4th edition D&D.

[FujinAkari]

Rich has never indicated that he has any plans that have anything to do with 4th edition D&D.

Indeed. Remember guys, the comic started in 2003, shortly after 3.5 came out. To say that Rich was pacing the comic to end at the same time 4th edition came out, when 4th Edition hadn't even begun to be -planned- yet, is just silly :P

[Nerd-o-rama]

I've always prefered the classic 5 act Shakespearen structure, which would put us somewhere in the vicinity of the end of Act III, start of Act IV.

And it seems a bit more likely, looking at the trend of the books.
And there are five gates. Easy to see the connection there.
Agreed with this. The conquest of Azure City and the destruction of its gate was the archetypal Act III climax. Big, flashy, a change in the story's direction, and very very bad for our protagonists.

And bear in mind, even in your Star Wars example, the end of ESB was only 2/3 of the way through the trilogy. We've still got a while to go. The conquest of AC seems to probably be anywhere between halfway and 2/3 of the way to the end of the comic, and that only applies if Rich goes with a classical 3 or 5 act structure instead of something more open-ended. And even then, the last half or third of the story arc may take much, much longer to tell as he goes into more and more detail.

[BisectedBrioche]

If we're going by "standard" plots then this is the moment where;


Bond is captured and put in a deathtrap
The Empire Strikes Back
The evil adviser kills the misguided king and you move on to disk 3 of 4

[Plactus]

In the notes for No Cure for the Paladin Blues, Rich mentioned that he had "enough major plot left to fill up another four books," not counting the prequel books. So the fall of Azure City was probably about the halfway point of the story.

[David Argall]

We had a thread of guesses as to the total number of strips and 1000 was rather on the low side, with 1500 deemed possible. Since we are not even to 550 yet, there is a long way to go.

We will get to the end of Azure City about 660-680.
We will likely have a Western continent book of about 200 featuring Elan and Nale, and Haley's dad.
We will have the final book gate of about the same size.
We may have a full book diversion as well.

But right now, we are more like half-way.

[gm_rand]

Edit: My point is... Azure City was pretty climactic in scope. Climax usually heralds an ending to come. :smalltongue:

I've heard that after a climax taking a nap...I mean a little down time can make for another climax or two later depending on the writer.

I have a feeling Rich has a lot more story to tell and we wont get and abrupt artsy "fade to black" with no real resolution like some other popular series. I’d guess we have a year and a half or two left easy provided any extenuating circumstance don’t occur like the fall of society as we know it, another ice age, the death of the internet do to some mega virus or the end of the world. For some of us those last two would be one in the same.

[Paragon Badger]

I've heard that after a climax taking a nap...I mean a little down time can make for another climax or two later depending on the writer.

I have a feeling Rich has a lot more story to tell and we wont get and abrupt artsy "fade to black" with no real resolution like some other popular series. I’d guess we have a year and a half or two left easy provided any extenuating circumstance don’t occur like the fall of society as we know it, another ice age, the death of the internet do to some mega virus or the end of the world. For some of us those last two would be one in the same.

If that's a reference to Sopranos, the point was;

Tony's life goes on, but it'll be a slow descent into paranoia.

:smallsmile:

Edit: As for the '2 gates are left!' idea... remember that one is very well-concealed in illusions. I'm betting that, if anything, either Team Evil or the Order will stumble upon it by accident- rather than going through a long arc to discover it.