The Annotated Order of the Stick - A Companion Guide

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Couple of missed things.

In 514, the box Haley is in reads "Imported from Greysky CIty." This is quite accurate, as that's where Haley is from.


In 515, Panel 1, Belkar is lamenting that he can't make the pineapples he is throwing "somehow explode." "Pineapple" is a common slang term for certain types of hand grenades due to a cross-hatched pattern etched on them for easier throwing.

In 514, I left out that detail because she wasn't imported, and the other person with her wasn't from Greysky. I felt it was more just a worldbuilding thing, since the other box near it had Cliffport. In other words, its debatable whether that was a reference to her history or not, since other outliers exist, so I left it out. If people think this is more clear than I do, however, I'll put it in. So anyone else thinks so, speak up. Democracy time!

515, I'll look into including, with the proper fact if I can find it referenced somewhere online to link. Wikipedia time....

Thank you for your contributions!

[F.Harr]

An annotation for OtOoPC's.

Spoiler. Sort-of.

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V's height is listed as 151 cm. According to Frank Harr's Conversion Spreadsheet that's only 4ft. 11 1/2 in. V's SHORT!

[hamishspence]

3.5 D&D Elves in general are short. 5 ft is the average, 4'7" the minimum, 5'5" the maximum, using the random tables.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

An annotation for OtOoPC's.

Spoiler. Sort-of.

Spoiler

Show

V's height is listed as 151 cm. According to Frank Harr's Conversion Spreadsheet that's only 4ft. 11 1/2 in. V's SHORT!

3.5 D&D Elves in general are short. 5 ft is the average, 4'7" the minimum, 5'5" the maximum, using the random tables.

Indeed. Also, since it's one of the bonus books, I'll have to back log it until I purchace them, since I can't review or directly reference the material currently. Added this fact to the FAQ, so that people know.

[F.Harr]

Thanks!

Frank Harr's Conversion Spreadsheet, available only thought Frank Harr: Printer's Pie!

[martianmister]

I always thought that #406 and #462's last three panels are oddly similar in a symbolic way.

[rodneyAnonymous]

There are several circumstantial similarities: Miko is doing the slashing, she is doing it two-handed (similar motion), she is slashing the same chair. What are the meaningful similarities? Symbolic of what?

[Ron Miel]

1st panel - Miko raises her sword, while making a speech
2nd panel - A worried paladin tells her not to do it
3rd panel - Miko strikes

Basically, she didn't learn from her mistakes. She is repeating the same action that caused her to fall in the first place.

[rodneyAnonymous]

Eenteresting.

[thereaper]

#722: Blackwing follows Haley as she falls.

#732: Durkon says "not again" in reference to getting left behind in the dungeon of Dorukan.

[Guy Incognito]

This one's something that even D&D fans might not know, since it applied to the changes made between 3rd Edition and 3.5.
#0001: All the changes to occur in the comic are references to the 3.5 upgrade. Elan gains armor and more skill points; the 3e bard had four skill points and could not cast in any armor, while the 3.5 bard had six and could cast in light armor (i.e. a chain shirt). Durkon, as a dwarf, gains Stability, a bonus to AC against a bull rush. Roy claims to "feel more intimidating;" the fighter gained Intimidate as a class skill.

Belkar's is a little more complex. 3e rangers were generally considered a subpar choice (hence "ranger crap"); they had only four skill points, and their abilities were either weaker (a 3e ranger is locked into two-weapon fighting, which was even weaker in 3e than in 3.5, Favored Enemy provided only half the bonus that the 3.5 version did, so a 20th-level ranger only did +5 damage) or just not there (basically everything but spells, track, favored enemy, and TWF). Belkar got his wish, but unfortunately, he also got hit by a reconfiguring of how weapons worked.

In 3rd Edition, all weapons were designed for Medium characters: a halfling used a short sword the same way a human used a longsword. This was what Belkar would have been doing in the 3e days: using two human-sized daggers as short swords. 3.5 did away with this, introducing weapons that were scaled for different-sized creatures to use. However, Belkar was carrying around two daggers, and instead of being converted to halfling-sized short swords, they became halfling-sized daggers. Hence, "weapon shrinkage."

Of course, Belkar's daggers seem to be no smaller than the daggers everyone else uses. Who knows?

[Storm_Of_Snow]

I remembered to look it up - in Strip 55: The creature described as "And I don't even know what that one is supposed to be" is a Wolf In Sheep's Clothing, first appearing in the 1st edition Monster Manual II (aka. the one with the Tarrasque).

[Dr. Simon]

Two things -

Belkar's line about the ogres "making a very agreeable thump when they hit the ground" in 212 is a quote from Babylon 5 (as per the name of this website), where G'Kar is enthusing over a fight that he and "King Arthur" have just had with some ruffians threatening an old woman - "No moral ambiguities, no hopeless battle against ancient and overwhelming forces. They were the bad guys, we were the good guys, and they made a very agreeable thump when they hit the floor!"

The titles of Dungeon Crawlin' Fools may be, tenuously, a reference to the Frank Zappa song "Dancin' Fool".

[littlebum2002]

Probably something to add to the "will add in the future" is explanations for the names of the strips. For instance, strip #2 is called "second grade all over again", probably because Elan was picked last in second grade as well. (Already taken care of)

Of course, that's a huge undertaking, but it would be nice to see it eventually.

[Sir_Leorik]

I remembered to look it up - in Strip 55: The creature described as "And I don't even know what that one is supposed to be" is a Wolf In Sheep's Clothing, first appearing in the 1st edition Monster Manual II (aka. the one with the Tarrasque).

The Wolf-in-Sheep's-Clothing first appeared in S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, where it was one of many odd-ball monsters appearing inside an alien starship that crashed into a kingdom, and was buried by rubble. It was collected, along with many other monsters that first appeared in "Dragon Magazine" or various adventure modules, in Monster Manual II.

[Nimrod's Son]

The titles of Dungeon Crawlin' Fools may be, tenuously, a reference to the Frank Zappa song "Dancin' Fool".

Rich has said before that the title of DCF wasn't a reference to anything.

[thatSeniorGuy]

This was pointed out in the main thread for #928:

I feel the need to point out that this isn't the first time an OOtS member communicated obliquely with V, which makes me think they have some combination of pre-arranged codes for things and practice with ad-libbing in ways they all understand (i.e. "Xykon" just means "a caster" and in this case, V probably ad-libbed "is chilly today" to point out he meant the caster wearing a piece of clothing useful for cold weather). This exact style of exchange (down to the confirmation of "I understand.") occurs in comic 716 between Haley and V.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

This was pointed out in the main thread for #928:

Nice find! I'm gonna be doing an update with may of these findings soon, stand by! Also, I'd like to start interpreting the update titles soon! Anyone want to help me head that project?

[Ron Miel]

I think many of the titles are pretty straightforward. Do we really need to point out that 1 New Edition refers to the upgrade to 3.5 rules?

Anyway, here's a start, just the ones that need annotation, IMHO.

3 See Spot Spot
A series of reading primers for American children tell stolries about the children **** and Jane, and a dog named Spot. They are full of easy to read sentences such as "See Spot play with the ball."

6 The Cleric is 'In'
A parody of the Peanuts comic strip. The character Lucy pretends to be a dolctor, and gives advice to Charlie Brown. She sits by a sign saying "The Doctor is IN"

9 I am Curious, Elan
A reference to the films I Am Curious (Yellow) and I Am Curious (Blue)

20 Arcanolypse Now
A reference to the film Apocalyse Now combined with the word arcane. The movie's dialog includeds "I love the smell of napalm in the morning... smells like victory" and "The horror, the horror" which are referenced in the strip.

28 Just Like on Three's Company
Three's Company was an American sitcom. Much of the humour derived from comic misunderstandings, and double entendres.

35 Rogues Gone Wild!
Parody of the Girls Gone Wild series.

36 Building a Better PC Trap
References the saying "to build a better mousetrap"

39 Date with Destiny
A date with Destiny is a phrase usually referring to an inescapable fate. Here it refers to Eugene arranging a romantic encounter (a date) while giving a prophesy (destiny)

40 The Gods Must be Busy
References The Gods Must Be Crazy


43 What's Behind Door #2?
References a gameshow hosted by Monty Hall, where the contestant was offered a choice of three doors. Behind one door was the star prize, a new car, while the other two concealed a goat.

59 The Shot Heard Round the Dungeon
The phrase Shot heard round the world is used to describe several different historical events.

85 The Elder Puppet
Reference to the "elder gods" in the works of H.P. Lovecraft

95 Dead Men Tell Tales
The usual phrase is dead men tell no tales referring to killing a witness in order to silence him.



That's a start.

[littlebum2002]

Another "Comic Title" comment:

Comic 167 is titled "Don't question the color of the bag". The Bag of Tricks comes in 3 different colors, each of which contains different animals.

Roy's bag (even though it is tan) has the properties of a grey bag of tricks, in that it releases cats, rats, weasels and badgers. However, in the last panel it releases a Rhino, which is only contained in the Tan bag of tricks. So Roy's bag doesn't actually follow the rules for any particular color of bag of tricks, thus "Don't question the color of the bag"


Already taken care of

[Ghost Nappa]

Roy has apparently flipped through heavy metal albums before.


Edit: Potential minor plot hole regarding Bonus Material:

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In Comic #665b (a bonus comic in Don't Split the Party), Belkar mentions the story of Hamlet by name. In Snips, Snails, and Dragon Tails Elan, Haley, Belkar and Roy tell stories upon the boat ride that occurs between #672 and #673 in the final section of the book. Roy's story is a re-telling of Hamlet. No one in the party recognizes the story, and Belkar accuses Roy of ripping the story almost straight from his own life.

[thereaper]

925, third to last panel. Blackwing is carrying Haley's bow.

[Gift Jeraff]

I've been meaning to give this a longer read than I have, but still I applaud what you've done!

[martianmister]

9 I am Curious, Elan
A reference to the films I Am Curious (Yellow) and I Am Curious (Blue)

I don't think so.

[Angel Bob]

^ For that record, I doubt "The Cleric is 'In'" references Peanuts specifically -- the phrase "the doctor is in" is fairly commonplace, to my knowledge, and it was neither coined nor popularized by Charles Schultz.

The rest of those titles, though... Geez, I didn't realize how reference-heavy the comic was in its early days. It's rather amusing.

[Dr. Gamera]

I don't think so.

Why don't you think so? I'm aware that the films are So Not Appropriate for a Family Forum Like This One, but their titles seem to me to be surely the reference for the title of that strip.

[Dr. Gamera]

^ For that record, I doubt "The Cleric is 'In'" references Peanuts specifically -- the phrase "the doctor is in" is fairly commonplace, to my knowledge, and it was neither coined nor popularized by Charles Schultz.

Surely "The doctor is 'in'" was popularized (though not coined) by Charles Schulz. It's hard to substantiate the popularization of a phrase with such common English words, and hard to find a thoroughgoing examination of its etymology with a Google search, but a Google image search on the phrase makes it clear what position it occupies in pop culture.

[Storm_Of_Snow]

Why don't you think so? I'm aware that the films are So Not Appropriate for a Family Forum Like This One, but their titles seem to me to be surely the reference for the title of that strip.

Considering the title for the strip where Roy met his mother in Celestia, anything's possible.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

So with my updating, I've hit a snag...where should I place the title of the strip references? Do you folks like the way I have each update, or should each fact of an update be a new bullet? Thoughts?

[littlebum2002]

1. I think this works for now. One bullet for every strip would be...overwhelming.

2. You should do it the way the archive does it. However, I wouldn't bother putting the strip titles in unless you have something to say about them. Adding the title for every strip just seems like too much work.

2: Second Grade all over again. The title of this strip refers to how Elan (presumably) always got picked last in second grade.