OOTS #1168 - The Discussion Thread

[The Giant]

New comic is up.

[Resileaf]

Bureaucracy wins once again.

[KishouTheBadger]

Lol, the dwarves are so calm to the fact that half their members are vampirized but foolish enough to think they can work together to find out the strange noises.

I almost pity the fools, but they are treading on "too dumb to live" territory here.

[hroþila]

That was funny.

Anyway, it seems there's only 14 clan representatives visible, plus the cleric of Dvalin, plus possibly one more representative that should fit in that table but that didn't appear on panel. And obviously no Thundershields. It would seem that, after all, only the most prominent clans (whether currently or at the time the council was established) get a seat. Yay!

That said, I wouldn't be surprised if one of the Thundershields got a seat in the next few comics. As in, "occupy their seat", not "get the right to seat at the council."

[bibliophile20]

I second the "too dumb to live" comment; if a majority of the chamber is under a Dominate effect, that should send a pretty massive red flag!

[RyanW1019]

Wow. Don't dwarves get a racial Wisdom bonus or something? And isn't Wisdom supposed to increase as you age?

Edit: I have been informed that they do not.

[Fyraltari]

That’s way too accurate for my liking...

[FFKonoko]

Their reaction would have been fine...if only it hadn't agreed with the "AFTER todays vote" part.
Well, can't have there NOT be any problem going on, for the dwarves to burst in and fix.

[hamishspence]

Wow. Don't dwarves get a racial Wisdom bonus or something?

No racial Wis bonus for dwarves:

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/races.htm#dwarves

[Mechalobster]

I second the "too dumb to live" comment; if a majority of the chamber is under a Dominate effect, that should send a pretty massive red flag!

That is a pretty serious accusation. One that will need weeks of investigation, which will occur after they vote about how Dvalin should vote to end the world.

The system works!

[Psyren]

"Let's have the vote first, abide by the result, and then look into whether the vote could have been manipulated by outside forces" is depressingly on the nose.

[Fyraltari]

Wow. Don't dwarves get a racial Wisdom bonus or something? And isn't Wisdom supposed to increase as you age?

Ah but these are politicians, you need a negative wisdom to join.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

That said, I wouldn't be surprised if one of the Thundershields got a seat in the next few comics. As in, "occupy their seat", not "get the right to seat at the council."

Nah, that can't happen.

They're all standing.

"Let's have the vote first, abide by the result, and then look into whether the vote could have been manipulated by outside forces" is depressingly on the nose.

One can't help but get the feeling Rich is trying to get us all banned by dangling current politics in front of our noses.

But I will be strong and resist the discussion of the obvious parallels.

Grey Wolf

[Fyraltari]

This council is meeting around the remains of one of their oldest and most powerful ennemies. That's pretty badass. And mean-spirited.

[Nazzo, the 102nd]

The runes at the top of the 3rd panel say "follow the law". That's my guess.

[Peelee]

That’s way too accurate for my liking...

Mr. Bean managed to get international, multicultural appeal due to the fact that he effectively acted like a small child, which is a fairly universal characteristic.

I believe the Giant tapped into a second universal characteristic, ineffective bureaucracy.

[The Pilgrim]

Sounds reasonable.

Rich has already stablished that the clan elders don't want to be there, they think this is all a waste of time. Sounds reasonable they want to end the meeting as soon as possible and get back to their caves. They do not realize that Dvalin is going to ask an important question and not a trivial issue.

[Cicciograna]

Interesting to note the curative effect on Roy of the Legacy Weapon. First panel, he looks bruised and hurt; second panel, he's no wound.

Thought that would affect him only when he himself is surrounded by the green aura, but apparently the fast healing (regeneration?) is active even just holding the sword (and the sword is manifesting the aura, panel 1).

[Fyraltari]

Mr. Bean managed to get international, multicultural appeal due to the fact that he effectively acted like a small child, which is a fairly universal characteristic.

I believe the Giant tapped into a second universal characteristic, ineffective bureaucracy.

Heh, could be worse. It could be effective bureaucracies that are universal.

[Peelee]

Heh, could be worse. It could be effective bureaucracies that are universal.

Don't give me nightmares.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

I do like that the priest of Dvalin is less than pleased about this. I'm guessing they have no say in the proceedings beyond the channeling.

Grey Wolf

[woweedd]

HA-HA-HA-HA! Depressingly accurate. It's kinda a cop-out, but, then, this is probably just the result of Rich writing himself into a corner vis-a-vis Domination being visible to begin with.

[Lvl45DM!]

I am laughing so hard at this.
"That seems like a fine compromise!" is such an amazing demonstration of the Golden Mean fallacy at work, but the cherry on this glorious comedy sundae is the dwarf who is looking forward to being proven wrong.
What a champion

[D.One]

Dumb Bureaucracy: Hel's most trusted ally.

[Dungeon-noob]

I'm going to be unreasonably optimistic and say that the council's attitude makes perfect sense. Obviously, the council has worked so well over the last centuries, succesfully resolved so many disputes, and generally functioned well within its rules of respect and compromise that they are unable to see how this could possibly go wrong.

For historic evidence, i present the old roman republic, among others, which functioned very well within an honor and goodwill system, until the honor and goodwill were taken out of the equasion.

[knag]

One can't help but get the feeling Rich is trying to get us all banned by dangling current politics in front of our noses.

Never have I had a greater urge to break the forum rules. I had actually written a post, but your forbearance fortified my discretion.

[warmachine]

This Brit is finding this too similar to the current EU referendum, so I can't laugh. Which is a problem because I have to keep on laughing because I daren't start crying.

[Kantaki]

Murphy, Roy, Murphy.
Seriously, have you learned nothing during your time as a adventurer?
You are travelling with a bard for Thor's sake!

[Peelee]

HA-HA-HA-HA! Depressingly accurate. It's kinda a cop-out, but, then, this is probably just the result of Rich writing himself into a corner vis-a-vis Domination being visible to begin with.

Imean, he's had years to plan things out and fine-tune and change. I'd be surprised if the Domination plan not having any outs just kind of snuck up on him, and instead, this was always how it was going to work out. Even you call it out as "depressingly accurate," so it seems like the route of "keep the train rolling and use a bureaucracy joke" was a pretty good call.

[Fyraltari]

I'm going to be unreasonably optimistic and say that the council's attitude makes perfect sense. Obviously, the council has worked so well over the last centuries, succesfully resolved so many disputes, and generally functioned well within its rules of respect and compromise that they are unable to see how this could possibly go wrong.

They can see the vampire, they can see the swirling in the other people's eyes and they can see the vampire leaning in to feed the Councilwoman's lines to her yet they treat "they're being dominated" as something that has yet to be demonstrated. Under no circumstances does that attitude makes sense.

For historic evidence, i present the old roman republic, among others, which functioned very well within an honor and goodwill system, until the honor and goodwill were taken out of the equasion.