Evilouge
With this the Evil Sam story comes to close and I’d hazard a guess that this arc generated more conversation than any previous tale. I think the subject matter hits close to home for folks on several levels. We’ve all experienced heartbreak and many of us have been on the receiving end of a grudgey DM (or have BEEN the grudgey DM).
Commenters took sides, argued points (like adults which is awesome), and discussed the motivations of the characters involved. For me, it is a dream come true to see people reading my little comic and talking about the characters the way I talk about comics I love. Call it a fanboy reaction but it makes me smile.
No doubt some of the actions of the cast in this arc will affect stories to come.
Speaking of stories to come, December is upon us.
I’ll see you on Friday.
Brian
Great story. I’m looking forward to December.
Well, that wrapped it all up neatly. That was a cool arc, but I won’t be sorry to see Evil Sam go. It was interesting to see Grudging Douchebag GM vs. Girl with Douchey Boyfriend, two people who have caused me angst in my own past. (Back in high school anyway, when I had lots of angst.)
This was a great end to the storyline, absolutely loved it. It’s great, you’re great! d20monkey is something I look forward to every MWF. 🙂
Hey girl!
Never miss a chance for a hey girl.
Also, Sam, she is not your friend. She is now the ex-friend who is still inexplicably in your game despite your mutual best efforts to screw even that up. If she dumps douchebro in favor of someone who hasn’t actually assaulted you, then maybe she might be a friend again, someday. If you guys work that out.
So yeah, Brian. I guess I am emotionally engaged with your characters and whatnot. Congrats and well done.
Indeed. Great finish, and it seems like Sam has someone crushing on him too… lol
Interesting storyline; I enjoyed following it over the past few weeks. We had a situation arise in one of the games I play in where two players started to date each other. It was clear that once that relationship fizzled, one or both of the players would have to leave the group. The relationship did end after a few months and one of the players had to leave. It’s a tough situation, especially when you’re in the group but cannot control the outcome in any way.
So what stage of grieving is Trevor in at the moment?
1. Denial
2. Anger
3. Bargaining
4. Depression
5. Acceptance
😉
Well done, sir! Can’t wait to read on…
Glad this went over well. So Klaus Kringle going to make another appearance?
Heartfelt applause. Nicely done, Brian!
Lovely epilogue.
Well done, sir. It’s been great to watch these characters develop through this arc, and I look forward to December and beyond.
“December is coming”
*snicker*
Well, I was wrong. I was figgering Sam was going Fourthcore but instead he was just going for the grudge TPK. On the other hand, I’m continuously amused by We All Grieve in Our Own Way.
It is hard to be involved with a gamer. I was once DM for my now X wife. She says she misses it, and I have invited her into the fold many times (only to slaughter her unmercifully) and she has declined. I still have all of her old characters, but not the dice, she got them back after I defiled them! There were lots of good memories there, and we still share them. Now, I pass on the geekness to my son.. and all is right in the world! Keep up the GREAT work Brian!
I believe Trevor may now officially be my favorite character. Must remember to try the “grieve-grab” maneuver at some point.
Just found this from Weregeek yesterday, making my way through the Archives. Great work, Brian!
Loving the comic but I gotta say, this arc left a bad taste in my mouth. I thought better of Sam than to expect the Nice Guy(tm) reaction from him. I mean, he crushed on the girl for forever and a day, never said a damn word to her about it, and yet still seemed to feel he had some kind of claim to her, enough to feel heartbroken and betrayed when he found out she was with someone else. WHICH SHE HAD EVERY RIGHT TO BE. And instead of taking it like a grown-up, he decided to be a raging asshat about it and take it out, not only on her, but on all his friends. Not cool.
Now, granted, from his one appearance her boyfriend does appear to be a douche. I certainly wouldn’t date him. But, uh… not Sam’s choice. At all. Not his business. At MOST, he can be angry that his friend didn’t stand up for him against someone who physically hurt him, but also bear in mind that a) she didn’t see the confrontation, and b) neither we nor Sam saw what happened once they left. They may have had a screaming fight about it in private, he doesn’t know and didn’t bother to find out.
So essentially he set out to punish the girl he claims to care about (and his other friends in the process) because she didn’t live up to all his hopes and dreams – including those he never bothered to mention to her. That’s poor.
Kristy: I completely understand where you are coming from. There are times when it is hard for me to write characters like Sam with an uncool/immature reaction to situations.
I hope the arc doesn’t spoil the rest of the series for you. Trust me when I say regarding Sam and Sam/Mel, it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
🙂
The way I see it, there are two possibilites:
She’s in the relationship entirely willingly, in which case, yeah, Sam has no right to Nice Guy ™, but HER BOYFRIEND ASSAULTED HIM AT HIS WORKPLACE WHILE DOING HIS JOB AND SHE IS STILL WITH HIM. I’m sorry, but if your significant other goes around randomly beating the shit out of innocent bystanders, and you chose to stay with him, you are not a good person. You have every right to do it, and your “friends” have every right to abandon you for it, and indeed they should. By choosing to remain friends or continue dating a violent individual, especially in light of an attack on your close friends, you are giving tacit approval of their behavior. In which case Sam should have thrown her ass out of the table and out of his life, no “heartbreak” necessary. No, she can’t control her boyfriend’s behavior, but he doesn’t have to deal with a “friend” who will not only stand idly but give approval to an individual who is not only violent, but violent towards people she purports to care about.
Alternatively, she’s with him because she feels like she can’t leave, in which case the relationship is abusive and her friends are oblivious and victim-blaming. Woe-is-me DM ought to be given a hard dose of reality in that case, and I wouldn’t fault Mel at all for leaving the table over it. If this is the case, I’d caution the author to treat the subject carefully, since domestic abuse is something is both really easy and really dangerous to fuck up writing about if you don’t educate yourself heavily. Having been in an abusive relationship myself, I’m particularly sensitive to this topic, but it’s still both weighty enough and common enough that you don’t really want to make light of it.
Yeah, Grey is not “A douche”. He’s a violent psycho who needs to be locked up before he kills someone.
Archive diving (again). There were parts I really loved about this arc, parts that I didn’t. My `main’ complaint is how Sam seems to be understood to be the `bad guy’ in the arc.
Sorry, no. Mel, supposedly his friend (and `secret crush’) is dating a douche-bro. Fine, that’s her choice…makes me think a lot less of her but there ya go. However, Douche-Bro PHYSICALLY ASSAULTS Sam at his place of work, and not just a push or a shove…and NONE of his friends does or says anything except go, “Gee, kinda sucks to be you, sorry, Sam. Just saying.”
Not a single one of them stands up for or even stands by him. He deserves it, he’s only a weak worthless little nerd, right?
So why should Sam stand by them…or their characters? Of course, Sam sort of wimps out and kinda proves their point…you can’t save the unwilling so why even try?…by letting Mel and Brett get away with their meta-gaming. Even Evil DM Sam is kind of a wimp.
Of course, if it had went the way I’d have preferred, we wouldn’t have 4 more years of comics, so all in all, it’s a good thing I’m not the one writing it! Sam would have wiped the party…legally…the group would have disbanded, Mel would be married to Douche-Bro and have 3 screaming rug-monsters in her trailer, and Sam would have been hired by WotC as their Official Convention DM. His dice bag would bring all the cosplay girls under his table!