OOTS #862 - The Discussion Thread

[jere7my]

You're kinda using weasle words to make your point valid. Neither "Shot towards him" or "general vicinity" is valid for the feat. So instead, Haley learned that Tarquin could catch arrows that she would otherwise have hit him with. That's much better.

It's not weasel words to postulate that Rich doesn't look up the rules details of every action his characters take. It certainly doesn't contradict the strip title, as you were claiming.

I don't think poring over rulebooks is a particularly helpful tool for interpreting the strips, because, as far as I can tell, Rich tells the story first and worries about rule details second. Did Haley "hit" Tarquin? Quite possibly. Could Rich have Tarquin catch an arrow that was clearly not aimed at him, say to save another character? Sure, why not? Rules wonks would get all bent out of shape, but it wouldn't hurt the strip. (I'll remind you that we don't actually know what feat Tarquin is using.)

They are helpful, because unless he has reason, Rich does have the setting follow the rules of the setting. As I said before, there's nothing which needs to be added here to explain the situation. Haley hit Tarquin, then he used his feat to change that to a catch. There's no need for Rich to ignore the rules of the setting here. There's no humor value and no story value to be gained. So there's nothing supporting your speculation that Rich broke or ignored the rules in this case.

There's also nothing supporting your assertion that Rich followed the rules in this case, except "That's what he does, except when he doesn't." The difference is I'm offering a number of potential speculations, whereas you're stating that there's only one possibility.

Could? Sure. Did? Nope. Tarquin could have called a retreat, but what did he do? Charged forward!

Again, I was responding to someone who said there was nothing the Linear Guild could have done to affect the ambush. That's clearly wrong, and I'm pleased you agree with me.