Web Comics

[Adam]

I just posted a Lord of the Rings related video over in the Non-Music Videos thread, and that reminded me of one of my favorite web comics, The DM of the Rings. Basically, it's a humorous spin, using screencaps from the movies, on the fact that fantasy roleplaying games all have their roots in LotR, but LotR itself would make for a horrible RPG campaign.

Rather than make this a thread all about one particular comic, I thought I'd leave it open...what web comics, if any, do you read? I have around thirty in my RSS reader, and a handful of others that need to get RSS feeds so I don't need to remember to check them periodically.

[Adora]

Hero is a webcomic with a difference. You mouseover the images to read the text, so the whole thing flows more like an illustrated novel... or maybe it's a textual'd comic? I dunno. Point is, it's pretty, different, and very good.

Edit: Just to add, the comic's style is based on Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino, which is where it gets its domain name from.

[Qingdai]

Standard strip fare:
Perry Bible Fellowship No actual bible in strip.

tao of geek

girls with slingshots

[Ensign Steve]

I also read (and make some of my avatars from) Perry Bible Fellowship.

Also xkcd, which my crptogeeky coworkers and I print out and pin all over our cubes and giggle like schoolgirls at the punchlines.

And ... hmm. Well, there used to be a few more, but I think I'm down to those two right now.

[fragment]

Thanks for pointing me to a way to waste a few hours of my life this afternoon, Adam!

Another PBF reader here, wish it was updated more often.

[beyelzu]

adam,

im reading dm of the rings right now, thanks for posting it, and it has made me chuckle repeatedly

It’s not a “small figurine”. It’s a “beautiful, hand-crafted figurine of a water nymph”. Yes, this seems silly. Of course it’s hand-crafted. Everything is in a pre-industrial world. I’m telling you: It doesn’t matter if it’s not worth two coppers and weighs as much as a brick, your players will fight over that figurine if you make it sound exciting.

[beyelzu]

Originally Posted by dm of the rings, the awesomely funny and nerdy webcomic adam turned us on to

The Truth About 20-Sided Dice:

There are a limited number of “twenties” in any given d20. That is, no matter how many times you roll a d20, you cannot roll another twenty once the supply has run out. These twenties can only be replenished by rolling a corresponding one with the same die. Thus every gamer is duty-bound to protect their supply of good rolls. If a friend rolls a twenty using your die, not only have they stolen your good roll, but they have doomed you to the extra one required to replenish the twenty.

Some players get excited when they roll several twenties in a row, concluding the dice are “hot”. Don’t make this blunder! This is like driving your car for 400 miles without gassing up, and then concluding that your car is a perpetual motion machine. After a few good rolls, pass the die off to an unwitting companion and let them charge it up for you.

Statisticians have known about this behavior for years. They call it “the probability seesaw”. Unlike the bell-shaped curve, in the seesaw system the odds of rolling high or low is directly proportional to what has been rolled in the past. They usually pretend this isn’t true. If a statistician hands you a die insisting that “any given roll has the same odds of rolling a one or a twenty”, it means he’s handing you a depleted die in the hopes of taking advantage of you. Don’t fall for it!

Now the secret is yours. Please put this knowledge to good use*.

*By “good use” I mean, “take advantage of other players”.

it is totally funny cuz it is true

[curses]

First thing I do every morning is read:
questionable content, a comic about a bunch of hipster friends
Married to the Sea It's not always funny, but it's worth the look every day just in case

and

Sinfest, God, the Devil, and their respective mortal fan club. Funneh stuff. Buddha makes guest appearances, too.

Honorable mention goes to Joy of Tech, be warned it's pretty Mac-centric.

[Watser?]

I check out xkcd and Sinfest regularly and a couple of Dutch ones, this one is where I got my avatar and has no text so you can understand it too
Bunbun

[Kyuss Apollo]

Some great suggestions so far. I have been lookin' through the archives of Bob the Angry Flower lately. Another great way to waste yo time.

[viscousmemories]

Originally Posted by curses

questionable content, a comic about a bunch of hipster friends

That's really cute.

[Adam]

Good suggestions, everybody.

Adora, I love the artwork, but the text hidden in mouseovers gimmick is driving me nuts. I think it bothers me that it defeats my tendency to skim quickly over text when I read, which may have been the artist's intent, I suppose.

Curses, I'm a huge geek, but I love QC.

xkcd and sinfiest go without saying.

A couple others I really dig lately are overcompensating which is done by the same guy who used to do When I Grow Up and Wigu, and A Softer World which is absurd goodness with photos and captions.

[curses]

Yay! Fellow QC fan!

I guess this is as good of a thread as any to post these in. This is the only way to make me read Family Circus. It's image heavy, sorry y'all.

show spoiler

[Adam]

I'll one up ya on on ways to make the Family Circus palatable. i don't believe it's actually been 8 years since King Features made them stop doing this. I got some captions accepted in there somewhere.

The Comics Curmudgeon likes to complain about Family Circus too (who doesn't?).

[curses]

Nice one, Adam! The Family Circus needs all the help it can get. The only comic I can think of that's worse is Cathy.

[Ensign Steve]

AAAAAAACK!

[Ymir's blood]

I'd seen the Lovecraft Family Circus before but it's been awhile. Count me as another Questionable Content reader, though because of you linking to it awhile back.

[Adam]

As bay has discovered, one of the funniest parts about DM of the Rings is the comments the author writes about each comic...here' today's:

“Parlay” is the French word for “everyone else is flat-footed and bare-handed”.

[beyelzu]

from order of the stick

"if their positions are overrun, have them fall back and join another squad. I don't want anyone trying to be a PC out there"


made my inner nerd giggle.

[Novowels]

achewood is fantastic, but you have to know the characters for it to be truly funny. Some people hate that.

Dresden Codak is also good, as is the aforementioned xkcd.

Soft spot in my heart for minus, Dinosaur Comics, and White Ninja as well.

[seebs]

Someone already got to Bob the Angry Flower. I read Metanoia, of course (:: Metanoia ::), and Kagerou for that matter (Kagerou - "Everybody's out to get me, but I feel all right.").

Also...

PvP
Sinfest
Real Life
Ctrl+Alt+Del
Penny Arcade
Count Your Sheep
Filthy Lies
Something Positive
Sexy Losersl
Doctor Fun
Extra Life
Goblins
GPF
Absurd Notions
Kevin & Kell
Sinfest
8 Bit Theatre
Scary Go Round
Freefall
Wapsi Square
Schlock Mercenary
Looking For Group
Greystone Inn
Partially Clips
VG Cats

... There's been others, but those are the ones I haven't totally given up on.

[Shake]

I check out xkcd every now and then; usually I've forgotten about it and someone will link to a strip and I'll remember how much I like it.

WTTF (Welcome to the Future) is drawn by the son of a co-worker of mine. Here's one of my recent favorites:

[curses]

Ooh, I forgot two: Red Meat and Two Lumps. That last one is a strip about two cats, so don't get your hopes up by the title.

[Beleth]

Beyelzu already mentioned Order of the Stick so I'll just put in a thumbs-up for the other comic on that same site, Erfworld.

I like WTF Comics too, but there are a lot of inside jokes in it that only EverQuest players will get.

[Adam]

I completely forgot Red Meat existed. I love that comic.

Erfworld isn't bad. It's more story based than joke based, but I did chuckle when the orlys first showed up.