This story arc is really turning me off the comic. Granted, I’ve only been reading it for like 3 months so this might be par for the course, but this just seems like a very different kind of comic.
Would I like to check out Dread the game, sure, but I’m not gonne read much more of the c*ck-tease tripe.
It’s a nice story arc, except that it seems you’re just making up more bad stuff about the players for pleasure an on purpose… I’m a bit bored by this gratuitousness, to be honest. You’ve done so much better…
As a tabletop RPG, somehow, I am not at all attracted to Dread if this is the kind of experience one might have. I hope this is just because of this particular scenario and not the game in general.
It sounds too much like that :
“You don’t know your character, you had nothing to do with the situation you’re in, death can come at any time if you do something wrong but you don’t know what you’re supposed to do. You try to walk in that direction because it seems as good as any ? Oooh, sorry, you’re dead. you didn’t even see what killed you. Thanks for playing.”…
You clearly have no impact on anything, not your backstory, not your character, and even though your jenga checks are based on a “skill” fo a sort (although that’s a stretch), you have no way of even guessing the consequences of what you’re doing.
I fail to see the point in doing anything, given this.
Why even play such a game ?
It’s like watching the DM tell a story. You might as well go to the movies : In the same genre, Saw or Cube (as silly and implausible as they are) don’t pretend to give the viewer a choice.
But I digress…
If this is going somewhere, if this is the story you want to tell, far from me to stop you.
While this story arc is great, it doesn’t explain the game of Dread very well. I can see where you would be turned off from the game solely from reading this story.
The game, in general, is extremely player driven. You have a questionnaire you fill out, that is your character sheet. Some truths can be established from the questions, such as ‘How did your brother die?’, which means your character had a brother and he’s dead, but all the details are left up to you.
In this way you create the physical and psychological make-up of your character. Of course in this story the players wake up with some amnesia, that’s just one of many possible routes a story of Dread can take.
The central focus of Dread is that you play a horror story, which is meant to be very short, it will have a definite end point but because it’s only a one or two session game it’s expected that at least a few characters will die.
The Jenga action resolution system is there to build tension. But your character will have some skills, which you will have explained in your questionnaire, so if you are an acrobat who wants to walk over a slim ledge, you won’t need to pull from the tower, whereas someone less skilled would have to pull.
So I hope this helps a little, Dread is an amazing game and is worth a look, especially with Halloween only a week away, this would be a great one-off experience for roleplayers looking for something a little different.
@SirGamingScotsman – You Sir, are correct there. I’m not doing the best job in the world at illustrating the nuts & bolts of Dread itself. That is my only regret so far, honestly. It is a fantastic game and sum it up wonderfully.
Folks have expressed their interest in the game and I hope it becomes a go-to for groups (like you said, especially around Halloween).
I wish you had digressed at “It’s a nice story arc†because the rest of your dribble gratuitously contradicts your first 5 words.
If you don’t like the arc, keep your fool mouth shut. It’ll move on to something else eventually…the rest of us love the shit out of it and we’re tired of seeing jerks shoot their mouths of just for the sake of hurting. What benefit do you give Brian with your criticism? What good does it possibly do? I can tell you this, if the tables were turned, and we all hated this arc, HE WOULD STILL RUN IT. This is his world. We chose to play it. If you don’t like it feel free to fuck off.
As far as the game…it’s so very silly to create an opinion based on a comic strip. Try it before laying judgment. It’s no different from a Tomb of Horroreque one shot dungeon crawl except you pull blocks instead of roll dice. By your definition, half of all RPG would be better suited to watch in movie form which is just stupid. Not to mention complaining about the scenarios in the game…it’s called DREAD for Christ’s sake. It’s not Super Happy Fun Time circle jerk w/Jenga…
Now go ahead and deconstruct everything I’ve just said in a vain attempt to get the last word.
So you’re responding to what you think is a troll by being a troll?
Criticism is by its nature bound to be critical. I don’t see anything objectionable in Elro’s post. I’m enjoying the arc (don’t think I’d want to play Dread though) but Elro is entitled to voice that he isn’t and the reasons why.
Otherwise the comments page just becomes a big ‘circle jerk’, as you so eloquently put it.
“Right, Colmarr, as Matt Roberts is entitled to his post. Your post is essentially a slightly more polite version of Matt’s post, but at Matt instead of Elro… Which is your right, as is the point, but still…”
What’s being show is just ONE way to tell a story. You can tell the story pretty much anyway you want. Also, death can come from anywhere at any time. That’s why the game is called “Dread”. Sorry for the snark, couldn’t help myself.
You’re doing a great job with this arc, man. The twists that you’re bringing are great, and like others have said, this one wrenched the emotions. Well done.
Holy cripes Batman!
I love this story arc. What more, I would LOVE to have this as an adventure I could run. The idea that your questionnaire is essentially left blank and gets filled in as you play is awesome.
Question about Dread rules though. After a failed pull, is the tower set up clean and pretty so pulls are easier again for a while, or are the bricks already pulled somehow left out so pulls are consistently harder the further you go into the game?
I was reading through the rules the other day. IIRC, anytime the tower falls, it is set back up, and a set number of pulls have to be made by the moderator. I forget how many pulls per progress in the game though.
Thanks. Just something I was curious about as I saw how the arc was progressing. I’d be more interested in the game if there were more local gamers, but maybe one day I’ll manage to get to a convention and try it out.
The GM could pull as many as he wanted, but the rules state that 3 blocks are pulled for every player that has died, and if you started with less than 5 players a further 3 blocks are pulled for every player less than 5.
So playing with 4 players and one died due to the tower falling over, after setting the tower up a gain you would pull 6 (3 for the dead character + 3 for having only 4 players total).
If the GM knocks over the tower that’s fine, you just rebuild it and make any necessary pulls. As part of the rules for Dread the GM sits away from the table where the tower is, to avoid them knocking it over. The GM never makes any pulls during the game, only the players.
The game encourages that only the players make pulls, even when the tower falls during normal play and needs to be rebuilt, of course the rule for a character dying if the tower is knocked over is suspended during the rebuild.
In the one game of Dread I played, the GM asked us as players to each pull a block after it fell the first time. All actions became a minimum of 2 pulls.
I’m not sure whether that’s his own ruling, but it ratcheted the tension up quickly.
If anything, reading the comments this is a great story arc. It has provided such differing views on its pacing and impact. To rpovoke a reaction, both for an against, surely has to be a commendable achievement in any medium.
Personally I am loving this arc. I anticipate the end since this is how the comic has progressed so I’m not too worried about the seemingly slow pace. For me it has added to the tension.
I know it will end but I don’t know how or when. Afterwards I hope we might get some xmas arc stories on the go again.
This is great. I was thinking, as I read this, that it could use some dramatic music. So in lieu of making my own, I searched YouTube and found this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeEDQMLtyGY — I think it’s a pretty good background for this comic.
Starting on the video at 0:10 — read from the third panel on…with a slow transition to the next panel. Once the song builds, interpret that as the next installation of the comic.
This is really great, Bill. I often have music (or ideas for music) playing while I work on this kind of comic and you found something that truly conveyed the moment. Thank you reading.
Just wanted to stop by saying that this is the one webcomic I’m really looking forward to all the time. You’re doing great work here. Oh and yes, I’m so going to play Dread with my folks 😉
Hmm…this game certainly seems to have a very innovative resolution mechanic. Unfortunately, the horror genre does not interest me enough to buy a game dedicated exclusively to it.
Oh man i feel like i just got hit by a bus. I did not see that coming. I love the detail on the dress. Keep up the mix of funny, serious and pure genius. Can’t wait tell Friday to see whats going to happen next.
I will state something positive about your work, but then swiftly turn it around into something negative. My comments will then turn to how infantile I find you, your choice of games, and the game rules.
I’m loving this story arc… There are people who don’t understand that horror and tragedy have a place in a good story. Sometimes these make the best stories… especially when there is sacrifice and redemption. Tabletop RPGs don’t have to be about the players always winning all the time, one shot games like this one can be awesome with the right GM and players.
Honestly keep up the good work. Love this one… Loved the Cthulu arc too… hope you get back to that one at some point.
Me too, Uziel. My copy of the book is on its way, and I’m definitely going to run a Dread game for my next local convention (Gamicon, Iowa City, March 2013).
And Brian – LOVE this story arc. The haters can go eat troll shit in a centipede circle, as far as I’m concerned.
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Damn, Brian. Damn.
This story arc is really turning me off the comic. Granted, I’ve only been reading it for like 3 months so this might be par for the course, but this just seems like a very different kind of comic.
Would I like to check out Dread the game, sure, but I’m not gonne read much more of the c*ck-tease tripe.
Cock tease tripe? Wow. Well I wish you all the best in finding comics that float your boat. I’ll keep telling the kind of stories I want to tell.
I agree totally Mad H. I demand satisfaction, all this money I pay each week to read this free comic……..Wait a minute!
Way to cut deep Brian. Love it by the way.
Okay snipers, line up your sights. Now, aim right for the feels!
Son of a whore. I got something in my eye. Beautiful work, Brian.
Is there a translation for that Russian there?
I think that’s what he wrote in the artist’s comments.
It’s a nice story arc, except that it seems you’re just making up more bad stuff about the players for pleasure an on purpose… I’m a bit bored by this gratuitousness, to be honest. You’ve done so much better…
As a tabletop RPG, somehow, I am not at all attracted to Dread if this is the kind of experience one might have. I hope this is just because of this particular scenario and not the game in general.
It sounds too much like that :
“You don’t know your character, you had nothing to do with the situation you’re in, death can come at any time if you do something wrong but you don’t know what you’re supposed to do. You try to walk in that direction because it seems as good as any ? Oooh, sorry, you’re dead. you didn’t even see what killed you. Thanks for playing.”…
You clearly have no impact on anything, not your backstory, not your character, and even though your jenga checks are based on a “skill” fo a sort (although that’s a stretch), you have no way of even guessing the consequences of what you’re doing.
I fail to see the point in doing anything, given this.
Why even play such a game ?
It’s like watching the DM tell a story. You might as well go to the movies : In the same genre, Saw or Cube (as silly and implausible as they are) don’t pretend to give the viewer a choice.
But I digress…
If this is going somewhere, if this is the story you want to tell, far from me to stop you.
While this story arc is great, it doesn’t explain the game of Dread very well. I can see where you would be turned off from the game solely from reading this story.
The game, in general, is extremely player driven. You have a questionnaire you fill out, that is your character sheet. Some truths can be established from the questions, such as ‘How did your brother die?’, which means your character had a brother and he’s dead, but all the details are left up to you.
In this way you create the physical and psychological make-up of your character. Of course in this story the players wake up with some amnesia, that’s just one of many possible routes a story of Dread can take.
The central focus of Dread is that you play a horror story, which is meant to be very short, it will have a definite end point but because it’s only a one or two session game it’s expected that at least a few characters will die.
The Jenga action resolution system is there to build tension. But your character will have some skills, which you will have explained in your questionnaire, so if you are an acrobat who wants to walk over a slim ledge, you won’t need to pull from the tower, whereas someone less skilled would have to pull.
So I hope this helps a little, Dread is an amazing game and is worth a look, especially with Halloween only a week away, this would be a great one-off experience for roleplayers looking for something a little different.
@SirGamingScotsman – You Sir, are correct there. I’m not doing the best job in the world at illustrating the nuts & bolts of Dread itself. That is my only regret so far, honestly. It is a fantastic game and sum it up wonderfully.
Folks have expressed their interest in the game and I hope it becomes a go-to for groups (like you said, especially around Halloween).
I wish you had digressed at “It’s a nice story arc†because the rest of your dribble gratuitously contradicts your first 5 words.
If you don’t like the arc, keep your fool mouth shut. It’ll move on to something else eventually…the rest of us love the shit out of it and we’re tired of seeing jerks shoot their mouths of just for the sake of hurting. What benefit do you give Brian with your criticism? What good does it possibly do? I can tell you this, if the tables were turned, and we all hated this arc, HE WOULD STILL RUN IT. This is his world. We chose to play it. If you don’t like it feel free to fuck off.
As far as the game…it’s so very silly to create an opinion based on a comic strip. Try it before laying judgment. It’s no different from a Tomb of Horroreque one shot dungeon crawl except you pull blocks instead of roll dice. By your definition, half of all RPG would be better suited to watch in movie form which is just stupid. Not to mention complaining about the scenarios in the game…it’s called DREAD for Christ’s sake. It’s not Super Happy Fun Time circle jerk w/Jenga…
Now go ahead and deconstruct everything I’ve just said in a vain attempt to get the last word.
Well said Matt
So you’re responding to what you think is a troll by being a troll?
Criticism is by its nature bound to be critical. I don’t see anything objectionable in Elro’s post. I’m enjoying the arc (don’t think I’d want to play Dread though) but Elro is entitled to voice that he isn’t and the reasons why.
Otherwise the comments page just becomes a big ‘circle jerk’, as you so eloquently put it.
Entitled?
Hardly.
“Right, Colmarr, as Matt Roberts is entitled to his post. Your post is essentially a slightly more polite version of Matt’s post, but at Matt instead of Elro… Which is your right, as is the point, but still…”
What’s being show is just ONE way to tell a story. You can tell the story pretty much anyway you want. Also, death can come from anywhere at any time. That’s why the game is called “Dread”. Sorry for the snark, couldn’t help myself.
You’re doing a great job with this arc, man. The twists that you’re bringing are great, and like others have said, this one wrenched the emotions. Well done.
I for one love this story arc!
Interesting turn of events…
This just goes to show, Dread can be a cold-hearted bitch in the right (or wrong) hands. Love the story arc!
Holy cripes Batman!
I love this story arc. What more, I would LOVE to have this as an adventure I could run. The idea that your questionnaire is essentially left blank and gets filled in as you play is awesome.
Great arc. This one gave me chills. And I really want to try Dread now.
Really enjoying the arc.
Question about Dread rules though. After a failed pull, is the tower set up clean and pretty so pulls are easier again for a while, or are the bricks already pulled somehow left out so pulls are consistently harder the further you go into the game?
I was reading through the rules the other day. IIRC, anytime the tower falls, it is set back up, and a set number of pulls have to be made by the moderator. I forget how many pulls per progress in the game though.
Thanks. Just something I was curious about as I saw how the arc was progressing. I’d be more interested in the game if there were more local gamers, but maybe one day I’ll manage to get to a convention and try it out.
The GM could pull as many as he wanted, but the rules state that 3 blocks are pulled for every player that has died, and if you started with less than 5 players a further 3 blocks are pulled for every player less than 5.
So playing with 4 players and one died due to the tower falling over, after setting the tower up a gain you would pull 6 (3 for the dead character + 3 for having only 4 players total).
Ok, that’s sounds cool, but what happens if a DM with fairly nerve-damaged(i.e. shaky as hell) knocks it over?
If the GM knocks over the tower that’s fine, you just rebuild it and make any necessary pulls. As part of the rules for Dread the GM sits away from the table where the tower is, to avoid them knocking it over. The GM never makes any pulls during the game, only the players.
The game encourages that only the players make pulls, even when the tower falls during normal play and needs to be rebuilt, of course the rule for a character dying if the tower is knocked over is suspended during the rebuild.
In the one game of Dread I played, the GM asked us as players to each pull a block after it fell the first time. All actions became a minimum of 2 pulls.
I’m not sure whether that’s his own ruling, but it ratcheted the tension up quickly.
I do like the wedding eyepatch.
That was my favorite part too.
The one day I remember to check for mouseover text without Twitter reminding me…
If anything, reading the comments this is a great story arc. It has provided such differing views on its pacing and impact. To rpovoke a reaction, both for an against, surely has to be a commendable achievement in any medium.
Personally I am loving this arc. I anticipate the end since this is how the comic has progressed so I’m not too worried about the seemingly slow pace. For me it has added to the tension.
I know it will end but I don’t know how or when. Afterwards I hope we might get some xmas arc stories on the go again.
This comic is a seriously good read.
Nice use of a thesaurus there, ignoramus.
to be clear, this was meant for tripe guy…I just don’t know how to click reply links…
This is friggin’ amazing. The haters can go sit on a dick joke and spin.
Wow. This story arc made me buy Dread. Can’t wait to play a Halloween game.
This is great. I was thinking, as I read this, that it could use some dramatic music. So in lieu of making my own, I searched YouTube and found this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeEDQMLtyGY — I think it’s a pretty good background for this comic.
Starting on the video at 0:10 — read from the third panel on…with a slow transition to the next panel. Once the song builds, interpret that as the next installation of the comic.
Brian: You’re crushing it.
This is really great, Bill. I often have music (or ideas for music) playing while I work on this kind of comic and you found something that truly conveyed the moment. Thank you reading.
Just wanted to stop by saying that this is the one webcomic I’m really looking forward to all the time. You’re doing great work here. Oh and yes, I’m so going to play Dread with my folks 😉
Hmm…this game certainly seems to have a very innovative resolution mechanic. Unfortunately, the horror genre does not interest me enough to buy a game dedicated exclusively to it.
Oh man i feel like i just got hit by a bus. I did not see that coming. I love the detail on the dress. Keep up the mix of funny, serious and pure genius. Can’t wait tell Friday to see whats going to happen next.
Dammit, Brian! Stop stabbing me in the feel-hole!
I failed my save; heartstrings have snapped. Tell all of the cute bois that I loved them….
I’m really enjoying the arc, the art, the storyline and the use of Dread. Keep up the good work!
oh you sneaky bastard… i love it!
I HATE YOU BRIAN I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU
*sobs at her computer*
I will state something positive about your work, but then swiftly turn it around into something negative. My comments will then turn to how infantile I find you, your choice of games, and the game rules.
And nobody will give a shit. (Loving this story!)
I’m loving this story arc… There are people who don’t understand that horror and tragedy have a place in a good story. Sometimes these make the best stories… especially when there is sacrifice and redemption. Tabletop RPGs don’t have to be about the players always winning all the time, one shot games like this one can be awesome with the right GM and players.
Honestly keep up the good work. Love this one… Loved the Cthulu arc too… hope you get back to that one at some point.
OH shit that’s evil. I’m enjoying this story arc a lot! Can’t wait to see the next installment!
Nice twist, and by nice I mean evil and mean. I’m loving it 😀 good job Brian
Damn. Love this arc.
Who is cutting onions at work??
Just brilliant Brian!!
Hey, what’s with the lack of substantive mouseover text on this one! I’m a mouseover text junkie!
Me too, Uziel. My copy of the book is on its way, and I’m definitely going to run a Dread game for my next local convention (Gamicon, Iowa City, March 2013).
And Brian – LOVE this story arc. The haters can go eat troll shit in a centipede circle, as far as I’m concerned.
……..I’m sorry, I love a horror story more then the next guy but god damn. Well played…….*Slow applause*
I know I’m super late to the party, and I’m probably necroposting…
But I just love this so much and I kinda needed to get that out there.