Shandorian
"We are s-t-i-c-k-i-n-g together as an adventuring party! (Elan)"
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All the fun of Dungeons and Dragons in a bi-weekly webcomic.
< read all 2 reviewsWe are s-t-i-c-k-i-n-g together as an adventuring party! (Elan)
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Jul 20, 2010
- by Shandorian
- posted in Love of Comics & Graphic Novels!
Rating:
Welcome to a world of fighters, wizards, clerics, rogues, and rangers.
+5
Welcome to a world of evil Gods, evil clerics. goblins, and God eating abominations.
Welcome to a world of role playing characters where they are aware that they are role playing characters.
Welcome to the world of the Order of the Stick.
When Rich Burlew first put up the OOTS comics to his site in order to entertain people who come there to read his gaming articles at 2003, he had no idea soon he would just be surrounded by people who wanted to see more of the stick figure D&D characters he illustrated.
The premise of OOTS was simple: to make fun of D&D, a fantasy role-playing system where each player controls one character in a vast world. Burlew created his characters and made them aware that they are D&D characters, therefore being able to make a great deal of fun with the system itself.
Then something else happened. His random plot and comic gained so much attention that he stopped writing articles entirely and kept illustrating and writing the tale of the Order of the Stick- named entirely because Roy, the party leader saw a stick lying on the ground- a tale he is still telling us today.
The general plot is the same as any fantasy story. There is a farm boy, there is his rite of passage, and from the ashes emerges the hero to save the world. The story is the same but its Rich's storytelling that makes OOTS unique. Drawn in the personal stick figure style of his, he manages to move the story forward and present his humorous jokes together perfectly. I will attach some pictures as examples so you get a better hang of it.
Our main character, Roy Greenhilt- is a fighter with an unusually high intelligence (intelligence is not considered a priority stat for fighters in the D&D world) traveling with his party- the order of the stick- in order to defeat the evil lich Xykon. Roy's father had sworn a blood oath of vengeance against Xykon for killing his master, and blood oaths are passed from father to son. The Order of the stick consists: Haley, the female human rogue, greedy to the core; Durkon, loyal and friendly dwarf cleric and also Roy's close friend (the walking medicine chest); Belkar, halfling ranger psychopath, and Varsavious, elven wizard whose gender is kept ambiguous for story purposes (we haven't learned it yet) and as a last Elan, the trigger happy human bard. It is not the party whom you would trust to save your world, but perhaps that is the reason Harry Potter is a common boy, Dragonlance companions are a strange group- it takes a different spirit to be the hero.
And the rest of the comic in how Xykon becomes a threat against the world -he is trying to free a god-eating abomination which can destroy the world and use it to rule it- and Order of the Stick trying to stop him. It is just ANOTHER fantasy story, but it is one of the good ones. The characters, the storytelling, the villain, and the plot- they are all unique and common in the same time. And in my mind that's what makes fantasy worth reading- that the chars/story is common enough I can relate to it and unique enough that I am not re-reading something.
What are you waiting for? Go visit Giant in the Playground, the entire comic is up online.
Its not finished. Joined the rest of OOTS fans eagerly waiting Rich to update.
And if you want to learn more, there are two only print stories too. The origin of PC's and Start of Darkness- the background stories. If you like OOTS, you'll like them both.
Well, may the twelve gods protect you,
Cem
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0012.html
Comic # 12
L-E-V-E-L: Making fun of the general word level and its double usage, this is one of the earliest comics. It also shows through Belkar's commentary the self-aware states of the characters.
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0125.html
Comic #125
Role Playing XP: Most DM's award extra experience points to players who role-play well, and Belkar uses this fact to gain some extra XP.
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0723.html
Comic #723
Father: You have to respect Rich. He uses "I am your father" in context. What else do you want?
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0733.html
Comic # 733
Sending: The spell sending has a 25 word max limit. Another D&D joke, this one made me almost fall from my chair.
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Scotman
July 20, 2010
Wow, Shandorian, these are great! I think yours is the first webcomic review and I'll feature it here as well. I added some more info in the Wiki page on the right. If you're interested, there are several webcomics listing sites. I enjoyed this one that lists the best ones on the Net. They try to be thorough: http://topwebcomics.com/ Thanks!
Shandorian
July 20, 2010
No!!!! the last thing I needed was more webcomics to frantically read everyday... Thank you, the site looks interesting. I have a couple more I read and I'll review those soon.
Scotman
July 20, 2010
Hey, you're getting me addicted so thanks a lot! Thanks for the reviews!
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Quick Tip by Shandorian.
July 13, 2010
Oots is what made fantasy web-comics popular. Drawn in the characteristic stick figure style of Rich Burlew, Order of the Stick started as mainly a place to comment on the latest rules of Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 Edition but now it is a living, breathing fantasy world with heroes, villains, and a scheme to end the world. It still makes fun of D&D, comic 733 making fun of the D&D spell "Sending" and its 25 word limit exceptionally well.
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Shandorian
Ranked #20
Ranked #20
I have recently graduated from college with a Creative Writing degree and I miss the conversation about literature, so here I am.
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About this website
The Order of the Stick 
Author(s) Rich Burlew Website http://www.giantitp.com/comics/ootslatest.html
RSS web feed
Current status / schedule No regular schedule[1] (Currently averaging once or twice a week) Launch date September 30, 2003[2] Publisher(s) Giant in the Playground Genre(s) Fantasy, Comedy, Parody
Author(s) Rich Burlew Website http://www.giantitp.com/comics/ootslatest.htmlRSS web feed
Current status / schedule No regular schedule[1] (Currently averaging once or twice a week) Launch date September 30, 2003[2] Publisher(s) Giant in the Playground Genre(s) Fantasy, Comedy, Parody The Order of the Stick (OOTS) is a comedic webcomic that celebrates and satirizes tabletop role-playing games and medieval fantasy through the ongoing tale of the eponymous fellowship of heroes. The comic is written and illustrated by Rich Burlew, who creates the comic in a colorful stick figure style.
Taking place in a magical world that loosely operates by the rules of 3.5 edition Dungeons and Dragons, the comic follows the sometimes farcical exploits of six flawed adventurers as they strive to save the world from an evil lich. Much of the comic's humor stems from these characters either being aware of the game rules that affect their lives or having anachronistic knowledge of modern culture, which in turn is often used by the author to parody various aspects of role-playing games and fantasy fiction. While primarily comedic in nature, The Order of the Stick features a continuing storyline serialized in one- to four-page episodes, with over 700 such episodes released so far.
The award-winning comic is both a critical and popular success, having received strong praise from reviewers in the comic and role-playing press on the basis ...
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