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Kimitsu posted:Of all things, I want to learn more about these class colleges. What sort of things gets you extra credit in Rogue College, stealing test answers? Never attending class and, when challenged, proving that you were there all along.
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Jun 11, 2012 05:14
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I'd really like to visit a Bard College. Just a short visit, as I'm sure it would quickly grate on you.
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Jun 11, 2012 05:17
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Urdnot Fire posted:I'd really like to visit a Bard College. Just a short visit, as I'm sure it would quickly grate on you. Here you go
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Jun 11, 2012 05:18
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I mean, if you wanted a more literal interpretation of that: http://www.bard.edu/
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Jun 11, 2012 13:03
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Kimitsu posted:Of all things, I want to learn more about these class colleges. What sort of things gets you extra credit in Rogue College, stealing test answers?
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Jun 11, 2012 13:28
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If you don't actually catch the kid you basically have to give him the grade, even if you know he's cheating. Or at least that what my school teaching mother told me.
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Jun 11, 2012 17:57
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NihilCredo posted:I had a small (2 hours / week) law class in high school. The teacher allowed full credit to students whom he was confident had cheated on their tests as long as he didn't catch them. Not a joke. But if he didn't catch them, how did he know they cheated?
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Jun 11, 2012 18:09
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Speedball posted:But if he didn't catch them, how did he know they cheated?
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Jun 11, 2012 18:14
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This is the first OotS comis I've been excited about for a long time. I really want to see the gang straight up slap Tarquin down. Go Directly to Baator. Do No Pass Go. Do Not Collect 200gp.
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Jun 11, 2012 22:09
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Simian_Prime posted:This is the first OotS comis I've been excited about for a long time. I really want to see the gang straight up slap Tarquin down. What? Are we even reading the same comic? I want Tarquin to exist, forever.
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Jun 11, 2012 23:42
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ConfusedUs posted:Never attending class and, when challenged, proving that you were there all along. What about attending class and not having anyone realize that you're there?
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Jun 11, 2012 23:53
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ConfusedUs posted:What? Are we even reading the same comic? I hate to say it, but Tarquin is easily the worst character this strip has ever seen. He is aggravatingly terrible, tvtropes-esque villain by numbers. He has never done anything interesting but use jokes as old as the internet (Boom, right here) and halt narrative advancement. This Thog disguise, for example- not going anywhere interesting, since everyone already knows it isn't Thog. All it does is delay the reveal that Tarquin is here. And his almost showdown with Malack was tedious, clumsy writing that went out of its way to diffuse anything interesting. It neither highlighted the tension between the two or developed their relationship. All it did was, again, acknowledge that stories usually go one way, but Tarquin's going the other! Fantastic. Order of the Stick is already far too bulky, especially in its antagonists, and it needs to start slimming down. What, there's the Demons, Nale, Tarquin, Redcloak, and Xykon, not to mention lesser antagonists that will, for sure, crop up with every new locale. Enemies need to start dying, and there's no reason not to start with their least interesting.
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Jun 12, 2012 00:27
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Precambrian posted:I hate to say it, but Tarquin is easily the worst character this strip has ever seen. He is aggravatingly terrible, tvtropes-esque villain by numbers. He has never done anything interesting but use jokes as old as the internet (Boom, right here) and halt narrative advancement. This Thog disguise, for example- not going anywhere interesting, since everyone already knows it isn't Thog. All it does is delay the reveal that Tarquin is here. And his almost showdown with Malack was tedious, clumsy writing that went out of its way to diffuse anything interesting. It neither highlighted the tension between the two or developed their relationship. All it did was, again, acknowledge that stories usually go one way, but Tarquin's going the other! Fantastic. Cool dissenting opinion bro. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Jun 12, 2012 00:48
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Precambrian posted:I hate to say it, but Tarquin is easily the worst character this strip has ever seen. He is aggravatingly terrible, tvtropes-esque villain by numbers. He has never done anything interesting but use jokes as old as the internet (Boom, right here) and halt narrative advancement. This Thog disguise, for example- not going anywhere interesting, since everyone already knows it isn't Thog. All it does is delay the reveal that Tarquin is here. And his almost showdown with Malack was tedious, clumsy writing that went out of its way to diffuse anything interesting. It neither highlighted the tension between the two or developed their relationship. All it did was, again, acknowledge that stories usually go one way, but Tarquin's going the other! Fantastic. Ah, so we're not reading the same comic. Carry on then.
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Jun 12, 2012 00:51
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That sounds really boring and uninteresting. Luckily this story is written by Rich Burlew instead, and so it will be neither of those things. Tarquin is just fun. He's as fun-loving and charismatic as his son, but with the intelligence to use it to his advantage, as well as something nearly no antagonist exhibits: common sense. In a world dominated by magic and casters, he's a melee fighter who has made himself great mostly outside of battle. There's nothing new under the sun, but Tarquin's presentation as an ultra-competent and eloquent antagonist is certainly a breath of fresh air, and should be quite enjoyable to anyone who can appreciate a bit of black humor.
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Jun 12, 2012 00:57
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I agree with his core point that the strip could use some trimming down in terms of antagonists, but I find it really hard to believe someone finds Tarquin less interesting than Nale. I am so sick of Nale, instead of a trope satire Nale is literally just 'the trope, it's a joke, get it!' and I'm really hoping Tarquin provides a final, permanent solution to him so we can get move onto the other elements.
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Jun 12, 2012 01:10
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Tarquin was a breath of fresh air after what felt to me like a long dry spell in the comic. I had been getting bored with it and almost quit, but then this cool villain showed up who's fun and actually not stupid. His whole backstory and planning intrigued me especially, as splitting up his party to basically control the world is a pretty nifty idea. But Nale is the worst, yeah.
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Jun 12, 2012 01:20
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Nale is just a vehicle to allow Sabine to be involved in the plot.
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Jun 12, 2012 01:31
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I think precambrian has some good points, Tarquin being the calculated opposite of a cliche isn't really very clever subversion, and a lot of his shtick is completely padding.
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Jun 12, 2012 01:33
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Spiderdrake posted:I agree with his core point that the strip could use some trimming down in terms of antagonists, but I find it really hard to believe someone finds Tarquin less interesting than Nale. I am so sick of Nale, instead of a trope satire Nale is literally just 'the trope, it's a joke, get it!' and I'm really hoping Tarquin provides a final, permanent solution to him so we can get move onto the other elements. Alright, I'll concede that Nale is worse. Thing is, he's really forgettable as an antagonist, more of a delay, really. He's aggravatingly pointless other than another plotline where the Order fights their evil doubles (like right now). I liked Tarquin at first and he was a breath of fresh air. He was a villain who had a theatrical sense that fit the world he was in. He knew the heroes always won, so he made sure that his place in the story meant a lifetime of gain before his end. He openly acknowledges that his end is coming, now that Elan's in the picture, and he's okay with that because them's the breaks in his world. He was a rejection of "realism", because his world was fundamentally unrealistic. But then he stopped being an interesting character and became a winking reminder to the reader that this story takes place in a comic strip. Now, he's a one-trick pony. His character has already been reduce to "here's a cliche- NOT". Burlew stopped playing the joke straight and added a laugh track.
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Jun 12, 2012 01:41
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The problem is that after he formed the new Linear Guild, we shouldn't have seen Tarquin for a long goddamned time, until we'd sorta forgotten about them and they could show up out of nowhere to cause mayhem. Tagging along to the very next location the Order heads to is overexposing him.
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Jun 12, 2012 01:54
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Even if Tarquin is a one-trick pony, his presence as a villain may very well make Nale redundant, and we can finally get rid of him.
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Jun 12, 2012 02:08
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Tarquin's just an act villain, like Kubota. More memorable, more useful as a tool to develop the other characters (though I feel he did precious little to add depth to the dynamics between Elan, Haley, and Nale), more entertaining, but still ultimately temporary. If he survives this chapter of the story he still won't be carrying on to the next - which is for the best, since his shtick is entertaining in short doses. He's not being overexposed, he's being wrung out before he's dropped. Nale's not a great character. He was conceived when the story didn't really stretch further than the first dungeon and the one gate, and ever since the story expanded in scope it's been hard to find a place for him. There is value in characters and plot threads that have been around since the start of the story though, especially when you close in on the ending and want to have some major arcs to wrap up to add weight to events. He may have been baggage for a lot of the story's middle, but if he's been carried this long he won't be spent before he's most useful to the narrative. Killing him now, especially just to be replaced by Tarquin, feels like it would just be admitting he was a bad idea to keep running with and that Rich is cutting his losses. Some stories and authours make a habit of defied expectations and big twists, but this isn't one of them.
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Jun 12, 2012 02:25
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CapnAndy posted:The problem is that after he formed the new Linear Guild, we shouldn't have seen Tarquin for a long goddamned time, until we'd sorta forgotten about them and they could show up out of nowhere to cause mayhem. Tagging along to the very next location the Order heads to is overexposing him. I agree with this. "Swooping in to steal it from them" only works if you wait for them to GET "it." What's more, there would be tension involved if we didn't know where Team Tarquin was, because we'd watch the Order explore the pyramid never knowing when Team X or Team Tarquin was going to show up. Granted we still have some of that since we still don't know when Team X is going to 'port in, but I think there could have been much more if you'd left Tarquin and Company offstage for longer than he did. I'm looking forward (waaaaaay forward) to reading Rich's explanation for this decision the in author's notes of the next book.
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Jun 12, 2012 02:27
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Dolash posted:Tarquin's just an act villain, like Kubota. More memorable, more useful as a tool to develop the other characters (though I feel he did precious little to add depth to the dynamics between Elan, Haley, and Nale), more entertaining, but still ultimately temporary. If he survives this chapter of the story he still won't be carrying on to the next - which is for the best, since his shtick is entertaining in short doses. He's not being overexposed, he's being wrung out before he's dropped. Exactly. That's what I meant by my earlier quote - not "I hate Tarquin", but "Tarquin is a memorable villain, and I'll enjoy seeing him get his comeuppance from our heroes."
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Jun 12, 2012 05:38
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Change of subject: Xykon knows that Redcloak killed Tsukiko. He says at one point in Start of Darkness right after killing Right-Eye that not knowing is not the same thing as not caring. So, the question is: How much does he really know about what's going on with Redcloak, the phylactery, the Ritual, and the Plan, and what's he planning to do about it?
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Jun 12, 2012 09:01
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DrakePegasus posted:That sounds really boring and uninteresting. Luckily this story is written by Rich Burlew instead, and so it will be neither of those things. I think the thing is that the pacing of the comic has been ridiculously slow, we've already grown fatigued of Tarquin; he's  incarnate. Yes, we get it, he subverts every single cliché possible. Can we move on? Can we do something about the plo-... oh, what's that? The strip ends with Tarquin having a 5-year old analyze his plan to find any obvious fault? Well, that's fine too I guess.And yeah Nale is the worst can you kill him already?
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Jun 12, 2012 14:42
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Come to think of it is every major problem I have with the comic directly related to Elan? Is he that guy who is the GM's best friend so the story always revolves around him and eger other players are like "can we move on please?"
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Jun 12, 2012 14:56
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greatn posted:Come to think of it is every major problem I have with the comic directly related to Elan? Is he that guy who is the GM's best friend so the story always revolves around him and eger other players are like "can we move on please?" For me it is; I quickly got bored of Elan and Thog's adventure, got exasperated with the Terkla subplot, loathe anything having to do with Nale/Linear Guild (although Sabine is cool since she's obviously part of a bigger plot), pretty much dislike his wacky/4th wall shtick, and I'm tired of Tarquin already. I mean there are a whole bunch of other characters (which is also a problem in and of itself). Burlew can do interesting things with them, too.
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Jun 12, 2012 15:27
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Tarquin is fun, but he's had entirely too much screentime. Whoever said he needed a break between joining the guild and attacking was right. Instead of making his reappearance meaningful, he's just continuing to do the same "welp, I know the tropes too, lol" stuff. It'll probably be worth it when he gets wrecked by a bigger villain, but at the moment he's become boring, and that's basically the worst thing that can happen to a villain like him.
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Jun 12, 2012 17:26
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I think part of the reason he's boring is that the pace of new strips is so incredibly slow. Tarquin hasn't been around for much more than half a book (about Miko levels), but because we're getting an update a week if we're lucky, he's been around for nearly a year, so we're bored.
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Jun 12, 2012 20:52
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When was the last update?
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Jun 12, 2012 22:41
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loving ages ago. edit: baaah! Did anyone even update that? Nilbop fucked around with this message at 22:55 on Jun 12, 2012 |
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Jun 12, 2012 22:47
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Two days ago.
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Jun 12, 2012 22:49
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I'm a pretty big fan of Tarquin/Elan and their relationship. It doesn't push it too meta a la Community, and I love that they both have the same awareness and boyish enthusiasm for being characters in a fantasy, despite being on opposite ends of the alignment spectrum. The only time Elan's plot ever really dragged for me was the whole island adventure with the ninja half-orc who was in love with him, but honestly, the other plot happening with Haley and Roy's corpse was pretty underwhelming too, I think when the party's that fragmented it just doesn't flow as well. Still, worth it because it eventually resulted in V's soul-spliced rampage, one of the best moments in the comic. I don't really care if Rich adds to the cast because I don't really want him speeding towards a final conclusion, I want him to take his time and meander and get sidetracked so I can keep reading OOTS for years  . Why people are always like "ugh gently caress this desert bullshit GET ON WITH IT" confuses me, because it's about enjoying the characters interacting and being jokey and having fun, not the amazingly engaging plot of 'heroes out to stop big bad guy from using MacGuffin to destroy world.' Why they want to rush to the end of that generic plot they themselves have basically campaigned through at some point is beyond me.
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Jun 17, 2012 08:31
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Wolfsheim posted:Why people are always like "ugh gently caress this desert bullshit GET ON WITH IT" confuses me,[...] Personally I think it has less to do with the plot/characters and more because Rich's update schedule is reaching Dresden Codak levels, so when we see a new comic it feels like they've been around for an eternity in this region without that much happening. I'm sure it would flow a lot better for someone reading it in one of the books or for people finding the comic in a few years and just going through the archives.
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Jun 17, 2012 10:17
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At least there's a good reason for the slow updating, though. All that extra work to get the kickstarter reward stuff done would take a bit out of anyone's schedule.
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Jun 17, 2012 15:05
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:At least there's a good reason for the slow updating, though. All that extra work to get the kickstarter reward stuff done would take a bit out of anyone's schedule. Speaking of which, it's been nearly a week now (for a Kickstarter update, too). I hope Rich is okay.
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Jun 17, 2012 15:16
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He got like over a million dollars, you'd think he could hire some temp workers.
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Jun 17, 2012 18:02
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Looking back on it, this comic has a lot of arcs that are boring as hell to read when they aren't in book form and you can just power through it. It's more noticable after the paladin-boogaloo. It is kind of funny, how people were calling Xykon a villain-sue before and then Tarquin arrives to show how it's really done (To be clear I quite like Tarquin, but goddamn)
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