OOTS #1217 - The Discussion Thread

[Metastachydium]

Meta isn't sustainable, we'll be back to (1) or (2) by the next comic.

(Prove me wrong)

Hey, I resent that! I'm absolutely sustainable.

[Rogar Demonblud]

As long as we have enough bone meal, you mean.

[Skull the Troll]

Everyone is assuming that them finding monsters means "Someone's been marking doors wrong" when it could be that the dungeons just have had new monsters move in. It is a known phenomenon.

[Let'sGetKraken]

Everyone is assuming that them finding monsters means "Someone's been marking doors wrong" when it could be that the dungeons just have had new monsters move in. It is a known phenomenon.

Yeah, this may well be self-replenishing, which would make marking the doors doubly-important - you wouldn't be able to tell when you've cleared one dungeon pathway.

[pendell]

Yeah, this may well be self-replenishing, which would make marking the doors doubly-important - you wouldn't be able to tell when you've cleared one dungeon pathway.

I recall that in the original Tomb of Horrors there was an ethereal host of demons who re-set the tomb's puzzles and monsters on a constant basis, so you couldn't rely on it remaining solved for more than a day at a time. You had to finish it in a single sitting, or start over from scratch. Which, given this was originally created for tournament play, is pretty reasonable.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Jason]

It depends on what they find. If it's something with a hoard that has obviously been gathered over years they will know it didn't just move in yesterday.

[Let'sGetKraken]

It depends on what they find. If it's something with a hoard that has obviously been gathered over years they will know it didn't just move in yesterday.

Very true, yeah! I'm guessing they're going to notice something is off.

I recall that in the original Tomb of Horrors there was an ethereal host of demons who re-set the tomb's puzzles and monsters on a constant basis, so you couldn't rely on it remaining solved for more than a day at a time. You had to finish it in a single sitting, or start over from scratch. Which, given this was originally created for tournament play, is pretty reasonable.

Yeah, it's a little unbelievable, but a good way of managing it from a balance standpoint and to handwave the resets.

[Petrocorus]

Well-played... not to mention they invented search engine optimization.

And this is how i learn the word "spam" actually existed before the internet and it refer to a food.

[Fyraltari]

And this is how i learn the word "spam" actually existed before the internet and it refer to a food.

In fact, this skit is the reason internet spam is called that.

[arimareiji]

Yeah, this may well be self-replenishing, which would make marking the doors doubly-important - you wouldn't be able to tell when you've cleared one dungeon pathway.

The devils et al may be in the details: Do they simply poof into existence, do they bring a U-Haul, or do they replenish the old-fashioned way? :-/

[Dion]

The devils et al may be in the details: Do they simply poof into existence, do they bring a U-Haul, or do they replenish the old-fashioned way? :-/

By “old fashioned”, you mean the DM rolling on the random encounter table?

[Riftwolf]

I have never found a copy of The Silmarillion in the original Vulcan.

Wait, Vulcans are Space Elves. The elven ships fly on a tangent to the surface, not because of flat-earth logic, but because they're sailing at escape velocity! And the grey rain curtain being peeled back to reveal white shores under a swift sunrise is just Frodo tripping balls from oxygen starvation.
(I never really got the last bit of LOTR describing what Frodo saw, as there was no way for it to be written in the Red Book that's meant to be the conceit for the whole story.)

[Let'sGetKraken]

The devils et al may be in the details: Do they simply poof into existence, do they bring a U-Haul, or do they replenish the old-fashioned way? :-/

Secret hidden dungeon, right next to the U-Haul park! Come on down for the fate of the world, at only $19.95/day!

[Girl Wonder]

I think I like panel #10 the best. You could take Minrah's cross look to be a glance of frustration back in the direction of the escaped Greyview, but I prefer to think of her glaring at her hammer, thinking 'How could you let me miss twice in a row like that?'

[arimareiji]

By “old fashioned”, you mean the DM rolling on the random encounter table?

That works, although tbh I was implying that they form the monster with two backs. (^_~)

[hroþila]

Interestingly, Tolkien changed hid mind again later on and decided that Arda was always spherical but he didn't live long enough to rewrite everything

I'm a bit late but I really enjoy how the last few HoME books are, to a significant extent, just Christopher Tolkien freaking out like "nooooo dad it was fine the way it was, why did you want to change everything"

[Fyraltari]

I'm a bit late but I really enjoy how the last few HoME books are, to a significant extent, just Christopher Tolkien freaking out like "nooooo dad it was fine the way it was, why did you want to change everything"

The saddest part is that I'm sure that if the Professor was still alive today, 47 years later, he'd still be rewriting everything from the ground up.

[KorvinStarmast]

I'm a bit late but I really enjoy how the last few HoME books are, to a significant extent, just Christopher Tolkien freaking out like "nooooo dad it was fine the way it was, why did you want to change everything"

I think that Tolkien discovered that no creation is ever complete (along his motif of story tellers be creators from On Fairy Stories) yet he could not stop tinkering.
PS: Han shot first.

[Jacky720]

The saddest part is that I'm sure that if the Professor was still alive today, 47 years later, he'd still be rewriting everything from the ground up.

Lord of the Rings 5th edition?

[KorvinStarmast]

Lord of the Rings 5th edition?

He'd be on the nineteenth revision of Túrin Turambar's tale, I suspect ..

[WanderingMist]

I'm a bit late but I really enjoy how the last few HoME books are, to a significant extent, just Christopher Tolkien freaking out like "nooooo dad it was fine the way it was, why did you want to change everything"

"Because I wanted the languages to seem natural, the story was just an excuse for them to exist in the first place"

[bunsen_h]

Lord of the Rings 5th edition?

Heh.

[Peelee]

That works, although tbh I was implying that they form the monster with two backs. (^_~)

Ahh, the majestic Doublebacked Therblewonkasaurus.

[Let'sGetKraken]

"Because I wanted the languages to seem natural, the story was just an excuse for them to exist in the first place"

You're not wrong at all! Glad he did, though. Can you imagine how different fantasy would be as a genre without him?

[Jason]

Wait, Vulcans are Space Elves. The elven ships fly on a tangent to the surface, not because of flat-earth logic, but because they're sailing at escape velocity! And the grey rain curtain being peeled back to reveal white shores under a swift sunrise is just Frodo tripping balls from oxygen starvation.
(I never really got the last bit of LOTR describing what Frodo saw, as there was no way for it to be written in the Red Book that's meant to be the conceit for the whole story.)

Sam wrote the last few pages of the narrative of the Red Book, so it's him taking a bit of artistic license, based in part on an earlier dream Frodo wrote about having had in the house of Tom Bombadil.

The movies give the description of "a far green country under a swift sunrise" to Gandalf as what he tells Pippin that you see when you die. He would know.

[Fyraltari]

Sam wrote the last few pages of the narrative of the Red Book, so it's him taking a bit of artistic license, based in part on an earlier dream Frodo wrote about having had in the house of Tom Bombadil.

The movies give the description of "a far green country under a swift sunrise" to Gandalf as what he tells Pippin that you see when you die. He would know.

It may not even be Sam taking artistic license, the books are supposed to be the work of Gondhorrim scholars based on the hobbits' writings.

Also: the bit where a fox wonders what hobbits could be doibg camping is probably artistic license too.

[Jason]

It may not even be Sam taking artistic license, the books are supposed to be the work of Gondhorrim scholars based on the hobbits' writings.

Also: the bit where a fox wonders what hobbits could be doibg camping is probably artistic license too.

That part with the fox was probably written by Bilbo, so it's more in the tone of The Hobbit.

[arimareiji]

That works, although tbh I was implying that they form the monster with two backs. (^_~)

When your jokes are so obscure even you're not sure you get them any more... argh.

Looking back, now this is bugging me. Does anyone remember for sure whether it was Shakespeare who coined "the beast with two backs" as a dysphemism for two people engaged in intimate relations?

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Does anyone remember for sure whether it was Shakespeare who coined "the beast with two backs" as a dysphemism for two people engaged in intimate relations?

In English, possibly, but the phrase is older than Shakespeare.

GW

[mjasghar]

(Early comic ) Belkar and Thog are the epitome of Lawful Good and we know it!

According to Gygax they are