[Speculation] The Second Generation of the Order of the Stick

[Aron Times]

Since 4E is a gamist system, it comes with a lot of rules that don't make sense but are there to facilitate smooth gameplay. It would thus be a rich source of jokes for a 4E version of the Order of the Stick.

Perhaps the characters would be the children of the Order:

1. Roy and Celia's Child - A windsoul genasi great weapon fighter or tactical warlord. Is the party leader.

2. Elan and Haley's Child - Heavily multiclassed human valorous bard. Has the Jack of All Trades feat and serves as the party's skill monkey.

3 and 4. V's Children - Elves mature at the same rate as humans in 4E but get to enjoy several centuries of adulthood. Perhaps their rapid growth would be explained as a growth spurt or something? They'd probably be in some arcane class.

5. Durkon and Hilgya's Child - Perhaps he knocked her up during their one-night stand in the Dungeon of Dorukan. Who knows? I can see him/her as an invoker, bringing down the wrath of the Asgardian Pantheon down on the unbelievers (Durkon and Hilgya did a lot of smiting).

6. Belkar's Child - Hey, maybe he knocked up Jenny or one of his many lovers. A TWF ranger who dual-wields scimitars (halflings are no longer bound to daggers). Probably stormwarden or pit fighter for his paragon path, and demigod for his epic destiny (a sexy shoeless demigod of war).

What do you think?

[The Blackbird]

That would be pretty cool, but a part of me hopes not. I don't like 4e. Generally I would go with *cool idea*

Son/Daughter of Belkar, if Freddy Crougar and Jason had a baby that would be the result.

[Rotipher]

1. Roy and Celia's Child - A windsoul genasi great weapon fighter or tactical warlord. Is the party leader.

The genasi part would be interesting, but to truly keep with family tradition, shouldn't Roy's kid be a wizard? Roy's grandpa was a fighter and proud of it, Eugene was a wizard who despised fighters, and Roy's a fighter determined to prove he's as capable as any wizard, so by that pattern we wouldn't be due for another Greenhilt fighter until OotS:Generation Three.

Perhaps the kid could be an abjurer, as defense-oriented magic is a feasible compromise between Celia's distaste for killing and the inevitable violence of an adventuring career. The genasi wouldn't need to be the party leader, but would certainly feel very responsible for the other PCs' welfare.

[David Argall]

It just is not going to happen. For starters, the current story is going to last until it is time for 5e.

[Manga Shoggoth]

The genasi part would be interesting, but to truly keep with family tradition, shouldn't Roy's kid be a wizard? Roy's grandpa was a fighter and proud of it, Eugene was a wizard who despised fighters, and Roy's a fighter determined to prove he's as capable as any wizard, so by that pattern we wouldn't be due for another Greenhilt fighter until OotS:Generation Three.

Or could be wise enough to see that both paths have their strengths and weaknesses and become a fighter/magic user.

[Lissou]

Sounds too fanficy to me, if I'm making sense.

What I mean is, first, a sequel to oots? I'm hoping oots ends in a satisfying way that doesn't call for a sequel, so if there is one it would need to have a separate, interesting plot.
... All the characters being children of the previous ones? Seriously? What are the odds? I mean, I can see some of them knowing each other, but Belkar's kid, for instance, if there is one, and since Belkar is about to die, has been conceived or born already, which means that nobody is aware of them. Are they going to just appear and go "hey, I'm here because Belkar needed a child in the sequel, too"?

If there was to be a sequel (I personally hope there won't be one, I can't imagine it holding up to the first story, plus I'd like to see the Giant work on something different after oots is over, if he does keep writing comics.), then I hope the main characters wouldn't all be children of the first PCs, especially when chances are the plot wouldn't call for it.

I mean, it sounds like a "straight to video" Disney movie, you know? The sequel with the same story (or the story backwards) but with the kid(s) of the first one. There is a reason these come out in video directly.

Now, if we're talking about a fanfic thing or just kidding around, that's different, and I would suggest a magic user for Roy and Celia's child, too. Not sure if it would be a male to keep the pattern (Horace, Eugene, Roy) or a female to break it. Also, not sure if sylphs and humans can reproduce, but it's not like a kid can't be adopted.

Elan and Haley could have twins since it's genetic, and I think it only skips a generation with fraternal twins, not identical twins. I'm no specialist, though. If they're twins, they probably should be girls.
Nale and Sabine should then have a kid too if you're also keeping the rivalry thing.

Durkon and Hilgya... ugh, I don't like this theory that she got pregnant and we heard nothing about it... At any rate, such a kid would have been raised away from the others and should probably be seeked by Nale's offspring or something, and then they can be torn between the two parties.

A kid of Belkar's... Not sure if they'd be good or evil. True Neutral would probably be funniest, since Lawful good would be an extreme, and in that prospect similar to Chaotic Evil.

As for V's kids... I like them, really. But... would the gender ambiguity be kept? I'd feel better about making it clear one is a female and the other a male... At worst, not making it clear who's who. Or that whole gender-ambiguity could be completely replaced with a joke on Elan and Haley's twins (if there are twins) and not knowing which is which, or having them change clothes or whatever.

So, here are my ideas. Might be worth writing some fanfics but it would probably be best to wait until oots is over.

[Onyavar]

It just is not going to happen. For starters, the current story is going to last until it is time for 5e.

Even if OotS next generation will have to wait until 8.2e - that won't prevent an interesting storyline.

Has anybody thought about the child of Daigo and Kasumi to be part of the party? What class could he/she(?) become?

[V'icternus]

... All the characters being children of the previous ones? Seriously? What are the odds? I mean, I can see some of them knowing each other, but Belkar's kid, for instance, if there is one, and since Belkar is about to die, has been conceived or born already, which means that nobody is aware of them. Are they going to just appear and go "hey, I'm here because Belkar needed a child in the sequel, too"?

Keep in mind, people often come up with unimaginitive reasons for why the party is travelling together, and sometimes, when "Bob" dies, "Bob II", his long lost brother/son/nephew/cousin/uncle's cousin's son's neice's grandfather's former roomate's best friend's daughter's boyfriend/whatever arrives on the scene, weilding the same weapons, having the same XP total, and having the same skills.

Now, imagine if a party, simply put, won the campaign. But the players want to play again. Then, they all decide that their characters had children. (Remember, many D&D players are an unimaginative lot...) I doubt that, out of all the problems that might arrise from having all their children be a party, the reasons for their existance and their travelling together would be one of them. It would simply be another joke.

Still, I don't really want a sequal... (Though I might once it's over. :P )
I'm sure it'd be fine to just through in the occasional 4e joke now and then...
Or, perhaps, once this "campaign" is over, there will be another "Pop!" scene, like from #1, wherin they are all upgraded, and comment on their new powers/new rules for the universe/V being much less powerful all of a sudden (unless all that Dragon XP kicks in...)
And of course, the loss of all prestige classes/most multiclassing.

[Volkov]

If the order dies, it's at the hands of team evil. Imagine a level 33+ Xykon, an level 27 Redcloak, and a level 7 cleric, level 7 wizard, level 10 mystic theruge Tsusiko. Which would be their probable level gain from killing the order and various other adventurers.

[The_Void]

I think it's kinda odd for all the members to be children of the Order of the Stick. I think:

- Roy/Celia's daughter (Wizard, Lawful Good)
- Elan/Haley's kid (Ranger, Chaotic Neutral)
- Kazumi/Daigo's kid (Paladin, Chaotic Good)
- Suvie/Kyrie's kid 1 (Druid, Chaotic Good)
- Suvie/Kyrie's kid 2 (Warlord, Chaotic Evil)
- Nale/Sabine's kid (Rogue, True Neutral)

[Scarlet Knight]

Now, if we're talking about a fanfic thing or just kidding around, that's different, and I would suggest a magic user for Roy and Celia's child, too. Not sure if it would be a male to keep the pattern (Horace, Eugene, Roy).

They will have a son named Oscar. He'll be a MU, but the conflict will be that he has wings and wants to fly, unfortunately Roy has a phobia that Oscar will crash and be killed...

Nale and Sabine should then have a kid too if you're also keeping the rivalry thing.

A tiefling cleric of a fertility goddess...

A kid of Belkar's...

Jenny shows up with a short, foul-tempered child sporting a bad haircut who wants to be an angry stand-up comic...

[Snake-Aes]

That brings a question... If we have half elves, half orcs and even half ogres, why not half halflings(that sounded so odd) and half dwarves?

Half Halflings could be called "threequarterlings"!

[Woodsman]

There is a half-dwarf race somewhere, called a "Mul," as they're sterile like mules.

Elan and Haley could have twins since it's genetic, and I think it only skips a generation with fraternal twins, not identical twins. I'm no specialist, though. If they're twins, they probably should be girls.

You can't be more genetically likely to have twins (If how I wrote that makes sense).

[Rotipher]

Twinning does, indeed, tend to run in families IRL. That doesn't mean it's inevitable, or that it'll skip a fixed number of generations, only that twins and the relatives of twins are statistically more likely to produce twins in turn. Interestingly, identical twins' genetic predisposition is for having identical twins, and fraternal twins', for fraternal only. So Elan or Nale would be more prone to father identical twins than the average human male, but no more likely to sire non-identical twins than any other guy.

IIRC, the results of a human/dwarf pairing depends on the campaign setting. On Athas, it produces "muls", but in the Forgotten Realms, such a couple will have only dwarf children. Hence, some FR dwarven men deliberately seek out human brides, to help stave off their race's population decline despite a chronic shortage of dwarf females.

Perhaps, instead of Belkar's child, the OotS:2G could include one of Mr. Scruffy's offspring? It could be the familiar of one of the other PCs.

[Morgan Wick]

You do remember what Rich said about 4e on the main page, right?

[T-O-E]

Surprisingly, this has been brought up before.

[Red XIV]

- Kazumi/Daigo's kid (Paladin, Chaotic Good)

Wait what?

[Reverent-One]

Wait what?

Paladin's in 4e don't have to be lawful good. They have to be the same alignment as their diety though.

[Dixieboy]

Paladin's in 4e don't have to be lawful good. They have to be the same alignment as their diety though.

Even in 3.5 all alignments could be paladins if proper sourcebooks were applied though.

[TSED]

Pfffft, V is still around. Why would its children go off and adventure unguarded?


Durkon is likely still alive, but not guaranteed.

(This is all assuming they don't, you know, die or something).


THAT BEING SAID:

Nah, not really. This really would be more satisfying without any sequels. If we had another adventure in OotS-land, I'd rather it be TOTALLY NEW characters. Maybe cameos from these guys would be cool, but... do not want.

(Frankly, I'd prefer OotS to last forever anyways, oh well.)

[Raging Gene Ray]

Sounds too fanficy to me, if I'm making sense.

What I mean is, first, a sequel to oots? I'm hoping oots ends in a satisfying way that doesn't call for a sequel, so if there is one it would need to have a separate, interesting plot.
... All the characters being children of the previous ones? Seriously? What are the odds?

Agreed...I also don't like the idea of all the children happily following in their parents footsteps.

I'd like to see Haley and Elan's kid develop a lawful streak. Still good, but they would only have faith in the system because their parents' previous Chaotic acts enabled them to live a good life where the system included them.

Roy's child should be a magic-user in keeping with the pattern. Roy would be disappointed that s/he didn't become a fighter, but would still let them to their own thing for fear of becoming like his father. Then the child would inadvertently make Roy feel stupid with magical achievements that Roy can't understand...character development ensues.

If Hilgya has a child...how it turns out would be determined by whether or not she's the type to abandon it to be raised in a mission or an orphanage or some place like that or if she raises it and tells him or her all about how horrible Dwarven society is.

[Berserk Monk]

It just is not going to happen. For starters, the current story is going to last until it is time for 5e.

Don't you think that's a little unrealistic. This story won't end until at least 9th edition.

[Silverraptor]

Don't you think that's a little unrealistic. This story won't end until at least 9th edition.

Nah, he's just playing it safe.

[Mystic Muse]

Don't you think that's a little unrealistic. This story won't end until at least 9th edition.

let's just say it's 8 years per edition. (a rough estimate. that's another eighty years so there's two problems with that theory. 1 Rich won't even be able to write the comic that much longer and two I don't think the world is gonna last another 80 years. (like I said. a rough estimate. could be as little as another 8 weeks as far as I know)

I think another OOTS would be neat but it couldn't have the same storyline. Xykon coming back? also redcloak's son/daughter/niece/nephew /3rd cousin twice removed/WHATEVER should be in the order this time and one of the order's kids should be evil. not belkar's or hilgya's though. that'd be too predictable.(okay so technically hilgya isn't in the order big deal)

[cheezewizz2000]

All this junk about patterns (fighter-wizard-fighter-wizard) is folly! This is the most likely scenario:

(Spoilered, just in case Rich has actually had this idea)

Spoiler

Show

Roy and Celia's child would clearly be a Gish! The elemental heritage would probably produce a kid with sorcerous powers and she/he would have a good enough relationship with his/her father to want to follow in his footsteps a little. Hence Roy and Celia's child would probably go on to become a Fighter/Sorcerer/Eldritch Knight, in keeping with Rich's tendancy to stick to core classes and DMG prestiges

[Dagren]

Paladin's in 4e don't have to be lawful good. They have to be the same alignment as their diety though.

Yeah, but does CG even exist in 4e? I read otherwise.

[Lissou]

Keep in mind, people often come up with unimaginitive reasons for why the party is travelling together, and sometimes, when "Bob" dies, "Bob II", his long lost brother/son/nephew/cousin/uncle's cousin's son's neice's grandfather's former roomate's best friend's daughter's boyfriend/whatever arrives on the scene, weilding the same weapons, having the same XP total, and having the same skills.

Now, imagine if a party, simply put, won the campaign. But the players want to play again. Then, they all decide that their characters had children. (Remember, many D&D players are an unimaginative lot...) I doubt that, out of all the problems that might arrise from having all their children be a party, the reasons for their existance and their travelling together would be one of them. It would simply be another joke.

Still, I don't really want a sequal... (Though I might once it's over. :P )
I'm sure it'd be fine to just through in the occasional 4e joke now and then...
Or, perhaps, once this "campaign" is over, there will be another "Pop!" scene, like from #1, wherin they are all upgraded, and comment on their new powers/new rules for the universe/V being much less powerful all of a sudden (unless all that Dragon XP kicks in...)
And of course, the loss of all prestige classes/most multiclassing.

If it was the depiction of an actual game, maybe. But the giant has stated that even though the world follows DnD rules, the characters don't have players. As a result, the players can't decide to play again.

Also, it stays a webcomic, and, well, you know the difference between reality and fiction: fiction needs to be believable (to some extent).

[V'icternus]

I know there are no actual players. I'm just saying that the new party all being related to/the children of/at least incredibly similar to the old one isn't really too far-fetched. Their adventure has shown many cliche's (often used as very funny jokes), like, say, starting in a tavern...

And as for realism, well, that depends what kind...

They mention the Monster Manual, for one thing. This seems to lead to the beleif that there is a book filled with monster stats existing outside the known universe, and that people might sometimes be able to take a sneak peek at it.

But yeah, I didn't actually mean to imply that there were players. I just wanted you to imagine that there were, and see how it would work if this transferred to the OotS.
The new characters would probably even meet up with some of the old ones as NPCs, or, you know, ghosts/spirits/demons/whatever. It's not too hard to envision a "generation II" that looks almost exactly like the original.

It'd need a new name though... hmm...

"Legion of the Stick"?

"Guardian's of the Stick"?

"Fellowship of the Stick"?

"Bunch of guys of the Stick"?

Meh, it doesn't matter anyway... I'm not really looking forward to a sequel, and wont be until this series ends, in which case it shall be vigorously demanded until my fingers are sore and bleeding.

But yeah, if it is ever to occur, I don't see the realism of it being too much of a problem in any regard... it can all be worked around (or turned into a joke).

(Ooh, an idea! Belkar has a son... however! He rejects this son as he's a flower-sniffing, bunny-loving pansy! (AKA 4e Beastmaster Ranger (Martial Power)))

[Snake-Aes]

I know there are no actual players. I'm just saying that the new party all being related to/the children of/at least incredibly similar to the old one isn't really too far-fetched. Their adventure has shown many cliche's (often used as very funny jokes), like, say, starting in a tavern...

And as for realism, well, that depends what kind...

They mention the Monster Manual, for one thing. This seems to lead to the beleif that there is a book filled with monster stats existing outside the known universe, and that people might sometimes be able to take a sneak peek at it.

But yeah, I didn't actually mean to imply that there were players. I just wanted you to imagine that there were, and see how it would work if this transferred to the OotS.
The new characters would probably even meet up with some of the old ones as NPCs, or, you know, ghosts/spirits/demons/whatever. It's not too hard to envision a "generation II" that looks almost exactly like the original.

It'd need a new name though... hmm...

"Legion of the Stick"?

"Guardian's of the Stick"?

"Fellowship of the Stick"?

"Bunch of guys of the Stick"?

Meh, it doesn't matter anyway... I'm not really looking forward to a sequel, and wont be until this series ends, in which case it shall be vigorously demanded until my fingers are sore and bleeding.

But yeah, if it is ever to occur, I don't see the realism of it being too much of a problem in any regard... it can all be worked around (or turned into a joke).

(Ooh, an idea! Belkar has a son... however! He rejects this son as he's a flower-sniffing, bunny-loving pansy! (AKA 4e Beastmaster Ranger (Martial Power)))

Groupies of stick

No, wait, that sounded bad.

Get rid of the stick.

Brotherhood of the Twig?

[Scarlet Knight]

"The Sticklets"?