Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (
More info?)
Sea Wasp <seawaspobvious@obvioussgeinc.com> wrote in
news:431C8359.4070800@obvioussgeinc.com:
> Joseph wrote:
>> Matt Frisch <matuse73@yahoo.spam.me.not.com> wrote in
>> news:q23oh19j8s4sq4rdcb8njgn82hthpjfva0@4ax.com:
>
>>>So, that's a retraction then. Thanks.
>>
>>
>> Hardly, I find Order of the Stick to be terrible.
>
> While I find it brilliant, and funny. Of course, I'm one of the
> real
> target audience -- a long time gamer who's progressed through all of
> the different incarnations of the game. OOtS won't be funny to
> outsiders at ALL. (If you think you're an insider, and you don't find
> it funny, I think you had all sense of humor surgically removed.)
And here is where the divergence of opinion comes from. I came into the
hobby from a Narrativist viewpoint (though I quickly developed a taste
for Simulationism). I entered AD&D from reading the early Dragonlance
novels in the 80's. I get significantly less enjoyment reading and
certainly playing strong Gamist material. And Order of the Stick
parodies the most hard core Gamism; that's not a subject I find
interesting or funny. Quite frankly, RGFD has been in the grip of
dominant Hard Core D&D Gamism for a long time, so I can see why some
gamers here are attracted to it.
> I also note it is now a
>> commercial property.
>
> As are many of the best strips -- Schlock Mercenary, Sluggy
> Freelance, etc., all making money. In fact, I think virtually ALL
> webcomics found on the popular sites are monetary ventures. Some make
> their creators nothing. Others, like Sluggy, Schlock, and
> SomethingPositive, make enough so that it's their creators' main
> source of income.
Yes, but I reserve my right to critique these strips. I admit that I
take a tiny bit of extra notice of the commercial ones.
>> I agree with you here, but my stack is comic books. I just find these
>> gamer strips to be worse than Garfield.
>
> Then you must not be the target audience. Most of the better
> known
> gamer strips -- OOtS, RPGWorld, etc -- usually manage at least SOME
> funny stuff, often a lot of it, and Garfield hasn't managed that for
> at least 10 years.
You know what got me going on this topic; it was Singer's comment
>Robert Singers <rsingers@finger.hotmail.com> wrote in
>news:Xns96BF7A68BA2C8rsingers@IP-Hidden:
> Face it, anyone here who doesn't read Order of the Stick regularly
> deserves constant abuse.
See, I often have impulses to resist that kind of thinking.
>>>>And some of these comics are not very good at all, but they have
>>>>greater value
>>>>than things like Dork Tower or Order of the Stick
>>>
>>>Greater value? This is not deep philosophical thought. By all means,
>>>show us a comic with "value"...this should be funny.
>>
>>
>> Aesthetic value is my concern here.
>
> If you're talking about VISUAL aesthetics, you have a point. But
> then, that isn't the goal of these comics, either.
I don't like the plots or characters either even as a parody. I get no
entertainment value from it. And the goal of laughing at the foibles of
Gamist D&D play is to me cheap and easy.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram