El Goonish Shive VII: The Comic is 20 Years Old, but the Cast is Still 18

[KillianHawkeye]

Regardless of whether or not the audience forgot that Nanase can casually fly around, I read that part as though Nanase was only just now realizing the unusual juxtaposition between her real self and her character. That's something that I think is interesting enough to think about.

Unfortunately, she didn't get a chance to continue that train of thought, and we instead veered into discussion about nonlethal attacks. Oops.

[Anonymouswizard]

Honestly, considering how D&D magic works, it might be easier for Nanase to have no magic than to deal with that. It might also be Dan's reminder that despite literally every member of the main cast having magic*, it's not actually meant to be that common in the EGSverse.

Interesting to note that rogueNanase isn't wearing armour. I mean, I'd assumed this wasloosely based on D&D5e, but maybe Dan's just mixing what he's heard about every edition with generic fantasy anime. The non-lethal takeouts rule feels like 5e's pulled hits rule crossed with 3.X's death by massive damage. I'm guessing this game gives rogues some kind of minor boost to unarmoured defence.

....

What are the odds that this NP storyline is a stealth advert for Dan doing an EGS RPG Kickstarter? Practically zero? Darn.

* Barring Diane, who'll almost certainly get it because half-elf.

[Rater202]

* Barring Diane, who'll almost certainly get it because half-elf.

Dine has that "be more convincing" spell.

[Anonymouswizard]

Dine has that "be more convincing" spell.

See! So many people have magic that people are losing track!

[Rater202]

Well... I guess Voltaire got those changes to Immortal Law that he wanted.

[Vinyadan]

Well... I guess Voltaire got those changes to Immortal Law that he wanted.

Immortals now allow spamming and multiple accounts!

[Devlerbat]

I genuinely don't get why their channel would be spammed with this? Is it to taunt Elliot (by Voltaire) and/or warn Susan (by Jerry)? Or is this just something that is all over the place and/or internet?

[Fyraltari]

Well... I guess Voltaire got those changes to Immortal Law that he wanted.

What makes you think this is related to Immortals? It might be those Uruyoms Heka fought.

[Anonymouswizard]

What makes you think this is related to Immortals? It might be those Uruyoms Heka fought.

I mean for all we know the students at Moperville South think she's Diane under an alias and have repressed resentment about the cafeteria stunt.

[Windscion]

Well, if this does relate to the immortals, I would expect Zeus (aka not-Jerry) to be the one doing it. The reason is that he has a motive: changes in immortal law could have a profound effect upon Susan and her friends. So he might see fit to hint at what may be coming, seeing as Jerry bound him to be her ally.

[Devlerbat]

Zeus (aka not-Jerry)

Right, my bad. I forgot that his new life had a new name already revealed.


But is there any reason Zeus can't just tell her? I thought the new immortal laws were supposed to be less restrictive and, in the past, just telling people things would count as guiding them.

[Windscion]

But is there any reason Zeus can't just tell her? I thought the new immortal laws were supposed to be less restrictive and, in the past, just telling people things would count as guiding them.

Immortal law may need to always have restrictions. Recall that Griffin-side "Ancients" cannot lie. That's their schtick. So if less restrictive in one direction, more restrictive in another. My rationale for this is somewhat speculative, but I would expect that limitations are part of what keeps them stable. Mortals are already beset with limits on every side. Immortals may need to build some into their laws.

[Rater202]

Observation: Susan apparently hasn't checked the site in a while...

"Less Freedom to Move" might be why the implicit Immortal(reborn Pandora?) had to physically open the door instead of phasing through or traveling through the astral realm.

[DavidSh]

Now I wonder if this means 4 more days of comic time until D-Day, and how many years of real time that is.

[Celestia]

Deus-D-minus-4 clearly refers to Zeus.

[Rater202]

Deus-D-minus-4 clearly refers to Zeus.

Oh, it's a cypher.

That was bugging me.

"We're clearly supposed to be figuring this out but..."

[Fyraltari]

Oh, it's a cypher.

That was bugging me.

"We're clearly supposed to be figuring this out but..."

I mean it's less a cypher and more "Zeus wanted to name his account Zeus but someone already did that and he gave up numbering at Zeus37 so he picked the next clearest thing."

[DavidSh]

I would have thought 'D' - 4 would be '@'. But that's just the American Standard Code for Information Interchange.

[Kish]

The alphabet: probably slightly more intuitive to most people than ASCII.

[Manga Shoggoth]

The alphabet: probably slightly more intuitive to most people than ASCII.

Could be worse. Could be EBSIDIC.

[Vinyadan]

I love that, if you put your mouse over the "DEUS-D-MINUS-4" balloon, the alt-text will read "ourf-014".

[Windscion]

Could be worse. Could be EBSIDIC.

Should be EBCDIC, IBM's (in)famous encoding that was so secret their employees had no idea how it worked.

[tyckspoon]

I love that, if you put your mouse over the "DEUS-D-MINUS-4" balloon, the alt-text will read "ourf-014".

That's just the file name of the comic - page fourteen in the "Our Future" storyline/arc segment. Previous page is ourf-013, next page will presumable be ourf-015. It's not an easter egg.

[Vinyadan]

That's just the file name of the comic - page fourteen in the "Our Future" storyline/arc segment. Previous page is ourf-013, next page will presumable be ourf-015. It's not an easter egg.

Yup, that's why I like it.

[DavidSh]

If I recall correctly, the Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code makes some kind of sense if you are working with punched cards. But it has been quite some time since I have had to deal with those things.

[Manga Shoggoth]

Should be EBCDIC, IBM's (in)famous encoding that was so secret their employees had no idea how it worked.

Sorry - I can barely remember it, having managed to just avoid it when I started in IT. There were too many acronyms, even in those days.

If I recall correctly, the Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code makes some kind of sense if you are working with punched cards. But it has been quite some time since I have had to deal with those things.

...In fact this is the first time I've had the acronym spelled out for me.

I imagine if someone needs a card punching, Susan is quiie capable if doing it.

[Anonymouswizard]

It turns out that the actual change is that they're allowed to own mobile phones now.

[Gnoman]

Having a little trouble parsing the body language in this one. I read the slump in panel 4 to be basically despair, like he'd been hit with the crushing weight of what Susan told him. But the dialogue doesn't really support that reading.

[Fyraltari]

Having a little trouble parsing the body language in this one. I read the slump in panel 4 to be basically despair, like he'd been hit with the crushing weight of what Susan told him. But the dialogue doesn't really support that reading.

His retirement's just been postponed by a few centuries, how would you react?

[Kish]

He spelled out what's going on himself: Susan just told him that the laws immortals have gone by have changed, and he's just so sick of change, this being something that will affect him specifically in his government job, as well as everyone generally who has to deal with immortals. What's the mystery here?