The Order of the Stick

[Sir_Elderberry]

http://giantitp.com

Now that the link is behind us, who else here reads OotS? I think it's a great webcomic, on par with xkcd for sure. Considering that most of the webcomics I read (C&H, xkcd, PA) aren't really plot-focused, it makes a good counterpoint to that.

I'm not sure what the spoiler policy is for webcomics, so I'm just going to state this rather plainly:

Plot details follow, discussion of current and past arcs follow. You are warned.
(Exception: Some of us haven't read the published-only books, so maybe those still deserve tags.)

Spoiler:

So, what about the most recent strip? I kind of assumed Roy wouldn't be raised quite that easily, but now I'm intrigued as to what their questions will be. I'm also starting to feel really sorry for Vaarsuvius.

[Jahoclave]

I really enjoyed these last few strips here.

[felltir]

Yes, I agree it's rather good. However, I HADN'T READ THE MOST RECENT STRIP!

Thanks for the spoilers, foo'.

[JayDee]

Spoiler:

I kind of assumed Roy wouldn't be raised quite that easily, but now I'm intrigued as to what their questions will be.

Spoiler:

I really don't see any reason to think he will be raised easily. Even if they don't screw up the question asking (I wouldn't be surprised if Red Cloak is given as the answer to "who can raise Roy for us" or something,) it's quite possible inevitable likely that there will be complications.

(Exception: Some of us haven't read the published-only books, so maybe those still deserve tags.)

Get your act together and read then. Now. Start of Darkness especially, because it is far funnier than it has any right to be.

[Sir_Elderberry]

I know, I know. I can't find them though. Amazon.com doesn't have them, and I don't live near bookstores. In desperation, I turned to piracy, but it seems not even the Internet has them. Gah. One day...

Spoiler:

I really don't see any reason to think he will be raised easily. Even if they don't screw up the question asking (I wouldn't be surprised if Red Cloak is given as the answer to "who can raise Roy for us" or something,) it's quite possible inevitable likely that there will be complications.

Spoiler:

Yeah, this is why I wasn't very confident of their ability to just walk up to the oracle and get a rez out of him. I think where the plot will go kind of depends on the questions. Personally, I just want to know what Belkar asks. Or Celia even. (Assuming Haley does the obvious, "raise roy" question.)

[JayDee]

I know, I know. I can't find them though. Amazon.com doesn't have them, and I don't live near bookstores. In desperation, I turned to piracy, but it seems not even the Internet has them. Gah. One day...

Um, anything wrong with buying them from the Giant in the Playground online shop? A friend of mine bought them all from there not long ago (as well as the fantastic game.) I bought mine from my Local Comic Book Shop, so I imagine you could buy from an online one of those, too (hell, you could buy them from mine if you want ...)

[Kizyr]

Um, anything wrong with buying them from the Giant in the Playground online shop? A friend of mine bought them all from there not long ago (as well as the fantastic game.)

Second recommendation for buying them straight from the GitP shop. They're really the most reliable source. There're also a few other benefits.
A few years back,
Me: I was hoping you might have copies of the second book to sell here.
Rich: I know, sorry. We weren't able to get it through our publishers in time. It'll be available at our shop next week... If you want to place an order now, I'll make sure to sign yours when I ship it out.

So, yeah, when I got the second book in the mail, it was already signed. I dunno if I'd pester him with it now, but if I ran into him again at another convention, I might ask.

Order of the Stick is my second-favorite webcomic (8-Bit Theater being my first). I've been following it since sometime before they even made it out of Xykon's dungeon at the beginning. KF

[SecondTalon]

Yes, I agree it's rather good. However, I HADN'T READ THE MOST RECENT STRIP!
Thanks for the spoilers, foo'.

Gee, a thread about a webcomic that updates on a schedule talking about the most recent strip? What are the odds of that?

Pardon me if I appear to have no sympathy for your plight, but I see nothing in the logs about this thread being reported for unspoiled spoilers.

Anyhoo... I read the entire archives in a couple of days after playing the boardgame. While it works well as a long narrative, a day-to-day format doesn't seem to help it much, in my head. Which may be why I never got in to it at the begining.

[Sir_Elderberry]

I know, I know. I can't find them though. Amazon.com doesn't have them, and I don't live near bookstores. In desperation, I turned to piracy, but it seems not even the Internet has them. Gah. One day...

Um, anything wrong with buying them from the Giant in the Playground online shop? A friend of mine bought them all from there not long ago (as well as the fantastic game.) I bought mine from my Local Comic Book Shop, so I imagine you could buy from an online one of those, too (hell, you could buy them from mine if you want ...)

Oddly enough, had you asked me a few weeks ago, yes. I didn't have any way of getting money there over the Internet, and my parents are rather paranoid about such things. (I did have an Amazon.com gift certificate, which is why I mentioned it.) However, I have a debit card now, so that's actually doable. Thanks for making me relook the situation.

Gee, a thread about a webcomic that updates on a schedule talking about the most recent strip? What are the odds of that?

To be fair, OotS isn't on a schedule.

[SecondTalon]

Yeah, I forgot it's on a "Updates randomly three times a week" schedule, which I don't think is consistent in that. Whoops. Hey, Felltir, I apologize for being overly bitchy.

[felltir]

Yeah, I forgot it's on a "Updates randomly three times a week" schedule, which I don't think is consistent in that. Whoops. Hey, Felltir, I apologize for being overly bitchy.

No problem.

[Sir_Elderberry]

Since it's early in the morning of a new strip, I'm spoilering my thoughts on today's strip.

Spoiler:

Woah. Belkar, you tiny fire-breathing avatar of death. How could you? (Well, I see how he could, said oracle was getting pretty annoying really.)

Someone on the GitP forums pointed out that because of the memory charm, it's possible that Haley and Celia won't even remember this to punish Belkar. It kind of depends on how much of the magic stays intact after the Oracle's death.

[Naurgul]

I think I'm getting a little annoyed with the Order of the Stick. The jokes of the individual strips are still good enough (well, not consistently, but still) but there just is no end in sight. Everything they do seems for naught and while at some point it seemed like things would start to be wrapped up, we're still here, the plot barely moved since Roy's death.

Spoiler:

For instance, I liked how the whole joke with how Belkar's prophecy played out, but in retrospect I hated the fact that yet another thing that could help them has gone wrong and now they're basically back to square one.

[Maseiken]

Spoiler:

Yeah, it's funny, but wasn't this strip supposed to be plot-driven now? Maybe there should be a separate strip called "Belkar shits all over everyone's plans"

[Kizyr]

Spoiler:

Disagreed. I think what Belkar was doing for most of today's strip effectively proved that the oracle was, in fact, utter crap and had nothing of value to say. Like with any oracle, the answers are too vague and open-ended to be useful.

I mean, he's not even a cleric.

Not sure if he deserved to get knifed, but he had it coming, and the party is better off getting on their way. KF

[Belial]

Spoiler:

Disagreed. I think what Belkar was doing for most of today's strip effectively proved that the oracle was, in fact, utter crap and had nothing of value to say. Like with any oracle, the answers are too vague and open-ended to be useful.

Then you missed the point.

Spoiler:

That knowing smirk on the oracle's face as he died, and the "worth a try".....

He knew Belkar was going to kill him, from the first time Belkar asked the question. All the crazy vague explanations were just half-assed, futile attempts to save his own life.

[Kizyr]

Then you missed the point.

Spoiler:

That knowing smirk on the oracle's face as he died, and the "worth a try".....

He knew Belkar was going to kill him, from the first time Belkar asked the question. All the crazy vague explanations were just half-assed, futile attempts to save his own life.

Hm, I must've been more tired this morning when reading the strip than I realized.

Spoiler:

In that case, I'd say the oracle's death was inevitable. No sense blaming Belkar for things that're out of his chaotic evil hands! KF

[Sir_Elderberry]

Spoiler:

Well, just because the oracle knew he was going to do that doesn't mean he didn't do it on his own free will. Anyway, I can see why some people might be irritated that the past few strips about the oracle are all for nothing now, but remember...we haven't seen the rest of the arc. Nothing says that after they kill the oracle they just leave without any further events occurring. There's a point to this yet. I have faith.

[Quixotess]

Spoiler:

Like, for instance, someone comes to raise the oracle and they say "Hey, look at this dead pile of bones! That's TOTALLY him.

Or alternatively it could advance the characters considerably. Celia and Haley let Belkar get away with killing the gnome guy, because we know they're not very good enforcers, and Haley's slipping over into Neutral anyway. But even they might balk at this and if they don't, Roy saw it, and Roy is decidedly Lawful Good, AND he has the word to activate the Mark of Justice. Maybe the mark can hear him even if no one else can.

But yeah, I'm anxious for Roy to get raised. This is like Haley's speechlessness--okay, let's move on now!

Of course, the epic battle sequence that took place after Haley got her speech back was so completely worth it. I have faith. And it's been updating quite rapidly.

[Belial]

Maybe the mark can hear him even if no one else can.

!!!!!!!!!!!

[22/7]

To be honest, I've got no issues with the strip at this point. I know it's been a little slow lately, but at the same time, it has to be slow, what with the party being split up and all. A small encounter usually takes between 1 and 3 strips anyway, split that three (well, actually four) ways and, well, the plot line will seem to move slowly. That said, he's already said that he's got the story arcs in mind, so...

Also, about the most recent strip, god Bless Belkar.

Oh, and go buy the game if you enjoy the strip! It's a lot of fun (and significantly better once you've read the strip).

[JayDee]

I'm very happy with it at the moment. Since Roy died we've been in 'first half of the book' mode. Right now it feels like we are getting plot movement.

Spoiler:

Now I have to try to remember look up exactly what that mark of justice did...

[Quixotess]

New comic is up, and HEEHEEHEE, I was wrong but I was right!

I love this rapidfire updating! Love it!

[Vaniver]

I think OotS has my favorite art of the webcomics I read (although Girl Genius is close). I'm hating how slow the page has been for me lately, but it's not like I don't have a minute or two to wait for it to load (is that just me?).

Spoiler:

I liked the Oracle While the vengeance is sort of satisfying, I'd like to see him rezzed eventually.

[Maseiken]

Spoiler:

Oh my god, I take it back, that is friggin' AWESOME

[JayDee]

Vaniver: It's not just you. It's slow enough that I've given up and come back to it a day or two later once or twice.

[Sir_Elderberry]

Spoiler:

Oracle, you magnificent bastard. See the future? Know you can't change your fate? Just make sure the other guy gets owned afterwards.

EDIT:Mark of Justice explained.

[Thadlerian]

Spoiler:

Oracle, you magnificent bastard. See the future? Know you can't change your fate? Just make sure the other guy gets owned afterwards.

EDIT:Mark of Justice explained.

Thanks for that one, I had a hard time understanding today's strip until I re-read that previous one. Now I can appreciate it in its magnificent punchlineness.

[phlip]

I had pretty much the same reaction as Belkar did, at the bottom of today's strip... a few panels of "Wait, what?", before I put 2 and 2 together...

Very well played.

[Kizyr]

Spoiler:

One thing to note... I think Rich has been pretty unabashed in getting across the whole "Belkar is evil" thing. Not that he's evil in a funny way--which is the assumption a lot of times, and probably what it was at first--but that, when it comes down to it, he really is downright evil and probably deserves to get killed himself.

This might've been coming for a long time as a way to finally kill Belkar.

And, I'm still not sure if Roy will ever get rezzed. KF

[Sir_Elderberry]

Spoiler:

One thing to note... I think Rich has been pretty unabashed in getting across the whole "Belkar is evil" thing. Not that he's evil in a funny way--which is the assumption a lot of times, and probably what it was at first--but that, when it comes down to it, he really is downright evil and probably deserves to get killed himself.

This might've been coming for a long time as a way to finally kill Belkar.

And, I'm still not sure if Roy will ever get rezzed. KF

I think Belkar is sometimes evil in the funny sense, like Bender, and sometimes evil in the "Wow, you're...evil." sense, like when he stabbed the gnome earlier. Either way, I doubt he dies. The story just wouldn't be the same without him.

[Gojoe]

Order of the stick is BRILLIANT. I love what they did to bel. He totally deserved it.

[Yakk]

Spoiler:

Mark of Justice: He'll get sicker and sicker until until he'll be incapable of hurting anyone.

Hmm.

Spoiler:

So he's not dead.

In essence, a bunch of this is the PCs trying to do things that won't work, but if they didn't do you'd be very confused.

Hmm!
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0298.html
Didn't he just make an oath on his sword? I guess it isn't as binding as his Dad's, and he did die trying to pull it off.

[Jessica]

I love that. Likemyorangeballshafling is the best town name ever.

[Sir_Elderberry]

Hmm!
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0298.html
Didn't he just make an oath on his sword? I guess it isn't as binding as his Dad's, and he did die trying to pull it off.

His dad made a Blood Oath. There was all kind of magicks involved that bound his spirit to it. That's just Roy going "I'm gonna do this!"

[4=5]

I love that. Likemyorangeballshafling is the best town name ever.

I think it was lickmyorangeballshafling

[Sir_Elderberry]

I love that. Likemyorangeballshafling is the best town name ever.

I think it was lickmyorangeballshafling

It is, thus, "No, seriously, give 'em a good once-over".

[Maseiken]

Do you think he just called in a bunch of Kobold buddies to form it, or are they genuinely settled in and are going to live there the rest of their lives?

[Vaniver]

Do you think he just called in a bunch of Kobold buddies to form it, or are they genuinely settled in and are going to live there the rest of their lives?

My guess is that they'll at least change the name, if they stick around.

But it would probably be wisest to not be someplace where Belkar can find and murder them, assuming the party finds a way to lift the curse instead of putting him out of his misery (or prolonging it, they might be cruel).

[Quixotess]

New comic is up, and I'm pretty sure I'm not happy. Too gross.