Monthly Archive 09/2008

Aldran Extra Protection, With Wings!

Sorry for another long wait for a comic. I don't really have a good excuse other than being addicted to playing Dwarf Fortress and Mass Effect for the past week or so.

Anyway, as for today's comic... Hopefully this will resolve some of the heated disputes in the comments. I realize that "shoulder wings" probably aren't shown in the most realistic context they could be, but given the style I have to work with, that's about as close as I can get. Besides, trying to say this comic is "realistic" is just downright silly in any manner.

Next topic: Games. First and foremost, I beat Mass Effect today. I wholeheartedly recommend this game. I'll try not to spoil anyone, but the end battle was orchestrated so well that throughout the entire sequence, it made me feel uneasy. It made me feel as if I really needed to rush to save the day, even though there WAS no timer. And in the end, everything gets wrapped up so well. Although it leaves us with a bit of a cliffhanger, it still feels complete. All in all, a VERY good game for any RPG fanatic, such as myself.

Secondly, Dwarf Fortress. For anyone who's played it, then you probably know why I'm addicted to it. For anyone who hasn't, I suggest you look into it. It definitely takes some getting used to, but once you get into it, there's no way back. As for my fortress, things are going pretty well. Too well, in fact. My fortress has ballooned from 7 dwarves to 55 in just over a year, and thirty of them arrived in a SINGLE wave of migrants. I'm expecting mass starvation to set in any day now...

He Believes He Can Fly

This comic is brought to you through a combination of four things: 1) School work taking up my time. 2) Spore and Dwarf Fortress taking up my time. 3) A number of other writing projects (one of which I will discuss later on in this post). And 4) A block the size of a house with "WRITER'S" written on it.

I've had this scene in mind for months. And I mean waaaay back before I had even hit issue #30. But when I finally get to the point that I can show it off, I come screeching to a halt. Although really, this isn't much of a surprise. Past experience has shown me that it happens with anything I write. Either way, here's today's long overdue comic.

Oh, and for all those arguing about stuff in the comments, fine, but don't start flaming each other, whether you mean it or not. Things have a tendency to be taken differently over the internet. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Play nice.

Now, on to what I mentioned up above. I've been working on a bunch of writing projects and one of them is a homebrew D&D campaign. But I have a bit of a problem with it. I don't know a lot of D&D players in real life (in fact, I don't know ANY), and since I'd like to playtest my campaign sooner or later, I can't exactly do it by myself. I have a couple friends online who could help, but I'd like to test it with more than just two PCs. This is where you guys come in. The campaign itself isn't finished yet, and I'm not sure when it will be ready for testing, but if you're interested in helping me out nonetheless, then I'd be grateful. And you'd get a first-hand look at what I've been working on.

We'd probably be playing on a play-by-post board (most likely Giantitp), and here's a few other things to keep in mind if you're interested:

- I don't really have a lot of experience as a DM. I can act as a fine player, but I haven't done a lot of DMing before. Not saying I don't know how, but don't expect me to be perfect.

- If you haven't figured it out from my comic already, I'm a storyteller. Thus, my campaign is very heavily story-focused, so expect a lot of role-playing. Also, if you have a tendency to shudder at the very thought of a DM railroading you, you might want to avoid me. I try not to use railroad tracks as much as I can, but I like having a coherent story as well. So in short, if you're planning on joining, make sure you can role-play.

- It's based on the 3.5 edition of D&D, since I haven't had much exposure to 4e, and I know the rules of 3.5 far better. I haven't changed many rules, but like I said, there's a lot of story to take in.

- I plan big. As in, going from very low-level characters into high-level heroes. The XP distribution might be faster than a normal DM, but I do it to prevent the game from slowing down and make sure there's a steady sense of progress.

Anyway, if you're interested, then stay posted, or shoot me an email or something. If you have any questions, go ahead and ask. Oh, and thanks in advance to anyone interested.

And He Doesn't Mean Illidan

I'm actually kinda proud with how this one turned out. It was a simple design, but having to draw new poses and different effects for every panel was a pretty long process. And with my writer's block, the dialogue took forever to hammer out. But in the end, I'm rather satisfied. So enjoy today's comic.

As for all the feedback I've received about my campaign, I'm greatly appreciative, and certainly honored that there's so many people willing to play. The "handbook" that I'm preparing is almost finished. I just need to edit it and clarify some things. Basically, the "book" is a document file with a complete history of the world and all the provinces, along with some background on the dominant religion. It'll be for the use of the players, since it's assumed that their characters already know most or all of the information contained within. As soon as I finish with the so called "handbook," then I'll finish up the house rules and the campaign should be just about ready to go.

But if you're looking for some more specific details about the world, here's a few things to think about:

1) I haven't added or really removed any of your standard D&D races, nor done anything radically different with the fantasy genre. So there's still Elves, Dwarves, Humans, Orcs, blah blah blah. I may have changed a couple things to do with some races, and put a bit of a different spin on some of the Elves, but all in all, it's still pretty standard fantasy.

2) On that same note, it isn't a low-magic campaign. Wizards and Sorcerers and what-have-you are pretty common around the world, and seeing spells is certainly nothing that would work anyone up. Seeing someone summon a 50-foot demon from the lower circles of hell... Well, that might be a different story.

3) It's part water. In fact, it's a big part water. Since the region of the world that the campaign takes place in is a great deal of islands and water, naval adventures are going to be common. I haven't finalized exactly what rules I want to use for combat and navigation yet, but it'll probably be something home brewed from a variety of sources. And I'll make sure it's not horribly complicated too, for the sake of the players, and myself.

4) It has nothing to do with Anti-Heroes. It's all 100% unique from the little old comic here.

If you have any other questions about the campaign in general, along the lines of the things I listed above, then post in the comments, send me an email, or even send me a PM on the Giantitp forums and I'll answer it as fast as I can.

Don't Go Toward the Light

I'm bad at this whole update thing, aren't I?

Anyway, I was tempted to make a reference to Michael and the Jackson Five for issue #123, but couldn't find any room for it. Oh well.