Guest Comic by James Stowe of Sidekick Quests
Chapter: Season Four
Todays guest comic arrives courtesy of James Stowe of the excellent webcomic Sidekick Quests.
I love how he nailed Brett’s tone and personality.
James is an exceptional illustrator, writer, all-around great guy, and his comic is amazing. As a fan of his work, Sidekick Quests is so very much worth your time and I love how James is focusing on kid-friendly, gaming-related comics. We need more of these, in my opinion, and James really sets the bar high. Based on some of his recent tweets, he is working on a Sidekick Quests game and I for one cannot wait to get my hands on it as soon as it is available.
MOUSEOVER: Is there a troll under the bridge, Brett? No but there is one at the table. WHAT IS THAT ON THE FLOOR, BRETT!? IT’S YO FAAAAAACE!
I played with a DM who went into that sort of detail at the table. I decided that enough was enough when he started going into epic detail about a king’s clothes The third time that night he went into too much detail” mode). I got up and started making a lasagna. From scratch.
Meat or vegetarian (i ask cause Vegan takes lnger cause there is more prep involved
Careful.delicious lasana might be construde as a reward for his extreme descriptiveness. I defi intely wouldnt object to a PC forging a lasana to eat during the game.
Heh. Invite me to your game. I’d be happy to forge two or three. No worries. 🙂
I dunno. I’d be happy to have a GM who goes into that kind of detail. I find it interesting. How much fun is it to roll dice and kill the 20th goblin? To have a world that makes sense, and which lives/breathes outside of the players? That is interesting, especially if the GM is good enough to make you feel part of it.
If a player did that to me, I’d cut out all the details. Next encounter? Five goblins. You killed them? Uh oh, here comes ten more. You beat them too? It’s a troll! You won. Great! Here comes five skeletons…
There is kind of a happy medium there. You can describe the awesome bridge spanning the deep canyon in two sentences and move on. Or, you can have something ACTUALLY HAPPEN there. But cut scenes at the table are just crap. Especially when they have minimal plot value and are just there to let the DM stretch his “frustrated novelist” muscles.
I currently have one of those types.. And can occasionally BE one of those types, though we both try to reign it in. Sometimes, though, you put a TON of hard work into the architecture of this castle, AND DAMMIT, THEY ARE GOING TO LISTEN AND ENJOY AS YOU EXPLAIN THE HISTORY OF THE STONES USED TO FRAME THE DOOR TO THE THRONE ROOM!
“he used the skulls of his enemies in the construction of my throne room. The names of those enemies are as follows…”
O’Donnell, Murphy, O’Connor, Boyle, Gallagher, Gilroy, Campbell, Fitzgerald, McLaughlin, Doyle, Brennan, Daly, Collins, O’Reilly, Dunn, Sullivan, Craig, McConaughy, Kelly, McCauley, O’Neil, Quinn, McNally, Walsh, O’Carroll, Connelly, Donnelly, Moore, O’Malley, O’Dougherty, Farell, Byrne, Wilson, Hughes, Maguire, Kennedy, Kane, O’Hearn, Lynch, McCarthy, Cleary, Burke, Malone, Ryan, O’Brien, and Nolan.
When DM spends a crud load of time talking about some one clothes. I either strip him naked or set his clothes on fire, well thats how I roll. Either way game on either I’m dead or the kings dead. Mostly the guy was spending that long on the clothes because he had something in his pocket you want.
It just feels so weird for James to use the world “bullshit” in a comic. My wholesome image of him is shattered!
Never give murderhobos a story unless you don’t mind if it burns down, falls over, and sinks into a swamp.
Yes, this. I was assuming that this critical bridge was going to be falling into the chasm by the end of the scene.
Stowe plays in my Sunday game group, and he’s every bit as much fun at the table as he is in his comics. Maybe more.
Why isn’t he talking about those evil eyeballs grazing on the hillside? Seems like a tactical detail that might take priority over the local price of processed goat’s milk.
Wait.. framed in dragon bones? I cast CREATE GREATER UNDEAD on the bridge.
You have sprung a trap. A mob of horny grandmas attack with +20 dentures.
Players like Brett piss me off. While yes, I don’t want to waste 5 or 6 hours worth of a Campaign solely on exaggerated details, I don’t want something so boring and simple either.
As a DM, I try to make my descriptions fitting and detailed enough that people can get an idea without stretching it.
As a Player, I want description. I want to immerse myself into the details of the landscape and I hate it when DM’s don’t put the time or effort into it.
Thanks for the opportunity to contribute to your fantastic comic, Brian. I can honestly say that I have been on both sides of this one. The Drover Bridge details were taken directly, word for word, from a DND campaign I ran 2 years ago. I am still known as the “Bridge DM” to several members of that troop so I understand the desire to just move on to the killings already.
Perfect timing! It is apparently Teach Your Kids to Game Week (http://www.rpgnow.com/rpg_teachkids.php?filters=0_0_0_0_0_44530), and while I bookmarked Sidekick Quests to read a long while ago, I’d yet to start. I will do so this evening, my seven year old by my side…
He’ll have to wait a few years to read today’s guest comic 😉
That makes me stupid happy. I didn’t know about Teach Your Kids to Game Week. I’ll have to put something together for it. Thanks, Anne.