Will Save World for Gold

[Celestia]

It does bring up an interesting question. If Ardon isn't the progatonist, who are we supposed to be rooting for?

Who says the story needs a protagonist?

[eschmenk]

I'm not sure how much longer I'll keep reading the comic. I would prefer a traditional protagonist to root for and the humor doesn't appeal to me much, so I'm not finding much of a reason to continue. Other people have different tastes, tough.

[ImperatorV]

I'm not sure how much longer I'll keep reading the comic. I would prefer a traditional protagonist to root for and the humor doesn't appeal to me much, so I'm not finding much of a reason to continue. Other people have different tastes, tough.

At this point I'm mostly still in it out of habit. I'm used to checking every weekday after all.

[Draconi Redfir]

It does bring up an interesting question. If Ardon isn't the progatonist, who are we supposed to be rooting for? Most of the story seems to center around Ardon, and while the other cast members are better people, they're far less likable/interesting. The only other real candidate is Odie, and he's an insufferable idiot (on top of being dead). The others are nice enough, but the plot is never really driven by their stories. They're much more reactionary characters. Ardon is the one who is always moving the plot.

it's always possible for the protagonist to change. with odie dead and Ardon (presumibly) off the deep end, it could always go to Ell with peanut and possibly fourtyfize joining in. their story arcs have more or less been completed by now, so it's possible that they'll develop new ones such as hunding down ardon and/or geting revenge for odie or something.

[Anteros]

it's always possible for the protagonist to change. with odie dead and Ardon (presumibly) off the deep end, it could always go to Ell with peanut and possibly fourtyfize joining in. their story arcs have more or less been completed by now, so it's possible that they'll develop new ones such as hunding down ardon and/or geting revenge for odie or something.

The problem with that is they're collectively about as exciting as watching paint dry. 45 is basically a set piece who barely even participates in conversation, and Peanut is completely one-note (although I like the note). El is fine as a straight man, but she needs interesting characters to work with.

I'm not sure how much longer I'll keep reading the comic. I would prefer a traditional protagonist to root for and the humor doesn't appeal to me much, so I'm not finding much of a reason to continue. Other people have different tastes, tough.

This arc has been unusually dark in tone. Probably intentionally. I'm hoping we change back soon. I think it's probably a necessary evil to get the plot to where it's been building to for a long time.

Who says the story needs a protagonist?

It's a character driven story. I'm trying to think of one of those that's actually good with no protagonist and coming up empty.

[Ibrinar]

It does bring up an interesting question. If Ardon isn't the progatonist, who are we supposed to be rooting for? Most of the story seems to center around Ardon, and while the other cast members are better people, they're far less likable/interesting. The only other real candidate is Odie, and he's an insufferable idiot (on top of being dead). The others are nice enough, but the plot is never really driven by their stories. They're much more reactionary characters. Ardon is the one who is always moving the plot.

I can't say I care particularly deeply what happens to any of them, which is a drawback for keeping me engaged but it is possible to keep me entertained enough to keep reading without character investement and at this point it is still enough.

[eschmenk]

The problem with that is they're collectively about as exciting as watching paint dry. 45 is basically a set piece who barely even participates in conversation, and Peanut is completely one-note (although I like the note). El is fine as a straight man, but she needs interesting characters to work with.

I think the idea is that if they actually would take on Ardon and become the story's protagonists, that would be a major change for them. They would not be acting the same as they have been acting until now, so your complaints would hopefully not be relevant (even though I agree with them). That's especially clear in the case of 45. So far, he only wants to passively observe Ardon. Well, of course that's boring. If he were actively battling Ardon instead, that could be much more interesting. It's just that so far I haven't seen any signs that the author intends to make such a change.

This arc has been unusually dark in tone. Probably intentionally. I'm hoping we change back soon. I think it's probably a necessary evil to get the plot to where it's been building to for a long time.

Is it unusually dark now? Maybe I'm not remembering correctly, but the current arc isn't seeming all that much more dark than normal to me. Perhaps part of the reason it seems so is because something roughly as bad as the current scene was already baked into the story. (We already knew that Ardon was going to do something to Groffnar at some point. We knew it would be bad enough that Groffnar would have killed Ardon to prevent it if doing so would have worked. We've see lots of other examples of bad behavior from Ardon and have heard about even worse, so it's not surprising that it was pretty bad.)

It's a character driven story. I'm trying to think of one of those that's actually good with no protagonist and coming up empty.

It would take excellent writing because something else (e.g., humor, quirky characters) needs to keep the reader interested. That's not easily done, especially not for long. If humor is carrying things (e.g., Calvin and Hobbes) there often isn't a story as such. If there is a story, and you enjoy it, then you tend to think of the main characters as protagonists, even if they only thing they are winning at is life.

[Emperor Time]

So I guess this means that the final villain that the heroes need to defeat and kill will be Ardon himself.

[Celestia]

Calling now: Somehow, Ardon is going to totally pull a Lelouche.

[wobner]

Spoiler: wow, didn't see that coming.

Show

I thought for sure Ardon was just going to demand he tell him what the guardian spirit had said, or something similiar. That was extreme. I know I shouldn't be too surprised, but somehow I am.

[Kantaki]

Really, Ardon? „Should've given me free stuff, dwarf“?
That's your excuse?
As if it wasn't clear from the moment you saw Groffnar talked to the Guardian how this would end.

[Celestia]

Really, Ardon? „Should've given me free stuff, dwarf“?
That's your excuse?
As if it wasn't clear from the moment you saw Groffnar talked to the Guardian how this would end.

I read that as him just being pithy. From Ardon's point of view, this was a long time coming.

[eschmenk]

Well, that was a bit worse than I was expecting, but still not totally out of character for Ardon. Still, some things seem to be off as far as the guardian's predictions are concerned. Groffnar seemed to think Ardon had made a mistake, but should have known better unless the guardian didn't give him the details. I'll be disappointed if we don't get more information about the prediction.

I read that as him just being pithy. From Ardon's point of view, this was a long time coming.

IDK. To me, it's as if Ardon doesn't remember the prediction. Maybe the author didn't expect the readers to remember?

[Leewei]

This story sure seems to be going the "everything's burning and Ardon has lost his hat" route.

[Kantaki]

This story sure seems to be going the "everything's burning and Ardon has lost his hat" route.

„And any plan where you lose your hat is?”

[Anteros]

He's really off the deep end now. He's done things like this a few times before, like when he murdered the gnome, but never so many things in a row. I don't really see how he could even be redeemed at this point unless we use the fact that he has no soul as an explanation like a Buffyverse Vampire.

[wobner]

okay, that explains it slightly, i guess. sort of.

Couldn't just ask him to let you in...?

[Celestia]

He really is a turd.

[Anteros]

He really is a turd.

Hard to argue against that.

[Lizard Lord]

Quick! Everyone tweet to LSN that Ardon is your favorite character!

[Celestia]

Huh. So the destruction of the castle did nothing to the gargoyles. Neat. I've always been annoyed by that cliché.

[Anteros]

Quick! Everyone tweet to LSN that Ardon is your favorite character!

He is my favorite though. He's just a turd anyway.

[stsasser]

Quick! Everyone tweet to LSN that Ardon is your favorite character!

He is my favorite though. He's just a turd anyway.

Ardon is the most entertaining turd in the bowl.

The gargoyles are my favorite character.

[Anteros]

So...Dire must be a lot more powerful than we've seen before if he can stand up to them all in a straight fight and expect to win. Ardon still has a gargoyle up there, right? We all know the party can't accomplish anything without him.


Also, how incompetent was Groffnar? He's a level 18 fighter in level 30 gear, yet he dies to a level 4(?) adventurer with trivial effort, even when he knew it was coming. I know it was fated and all that, but at least make him work for it.

[JumboWheat01]

Gravity is a GREAT equalizer.

[Anteros]

Are items that grant flying a thing in 4e? He's decked out in epic gear, right?

[JumboWheat01]

There's probably something simple like a Ring of Feather Fall at the very least, but not everyone has the common sense to sleep with their gravity-fighting items just in case.

Plus he was hanging out with dwarves for a while now, right? Not much call for flying items among dwarves, I'm sure.

[Ibrinar]

I find it weird that a lower level mob with the help of a single ability can apparently kill him in one action without him being able to do anything.

[Celestia]

Do note that he had been fighting off an entire army before that scene. We don't know how much stuff he had used or how much damage he had taken. It's possible that he was running on fumes by that point. And the fall also didn't even kill him. Ardon had to finish the job.

[Draconi Redfir]

I find it weird that a lower level mob with the help of a single ability can apparently kill him in one action without him being able to do anything.

gargoyal only had to get him high enough that othger gargoyles would get involved. Groffnar then spent sevral rounds fighting off Dire's Gargoyles while Ardon's continued to go up.