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Eric: Don't want no Fancy Funeral -- just one like ol' King Tut!
(From Nodwick. Click on the thumbnail for full sized contractor blues!)
From Order of the Stick we move to the other side of the "life from a fantasy adventurer's" aisle -- Aaron Williams's Nodwick. And I think today's is a perfect representative of what I like about this strip.
For one thing, at least on the Gamespy version of this, the strips are self-contained. We have setup and proceed to execution, examining a theme pretty solidly inside of seven panels. And those seven panels tell a lot. We get the essential trope -- the construction of a "tomb" which is actually a dungeon -- and develop it through real world concerns. Contractor disputes. Tomb Depot. Cost overruns. Adventurers sacking the thing before it's done. And denouement, of course. This would actually make a good basis for several weeks worth of strips, but Williams presents it with a core brevity that's hard to beat.
In ways, it's what puts Nodwick over their fellow Dork Storm Press publishee, Dork Tower. DT is good, but there isn't that same essential brilliant distillation of the point. In ways, Nodwick's been my favorite of the "game based comics" as a result.
The other side of all of this is something Nodwick and Order of the Stick share in common -- both deal with the foibles of fantasy gaming -- OotS through the mechanics side of it, Nodwick through (through lack of a better word) the implied sociology of a world based on adventuring. However, neither fall into the trap of being extended Murphy's Rules derivations.
Murphy's Rules, for those who don't know, is a series of comics published for years and years and years by Steve Jackson Games, most recently in Pyramid Magazine. They're generally single panel cartoons drawn to point out the ridiculous elements of adventure games. The legend of the strip points out the rule in question, and the strip takes it to its logical (and absurd) extreme. For example, a recent Murphy's Rules pointed out that in the classic game Nethack, your character can equip shirts, robes, helmets, gloves, boots, shields, and body armor, but not pants. The accompanying cartoon I leave as an exercise for the student.
Murphy's Rules is often funny, but gaming comics all too often fall into the trap of being Murphy's Rules all the time. Every crucial point comes down to some way the game system has either failed or is exploitable. Nodwick typically eschews that tack -- the point is, there's a lot of implicit banality in being a henchman and living in a D&D style world, without feat checks ever being involved.
Anyway -- the whole concept of Tomb Depot makes me laugh. So there.
Posted by Eric Burns-White at April 21, 2005 1:40 PM
Comments
Comment from: imtroubl posted at April 21, 2005 2:26 PM
How odd, first Eric posts a commentay entitled "A Problem Statement" where he states that he will post a variety of topics not neccesarily about webcomics. Then, lo and behold, what are his next three snarks about? Webcomics. I guess his whole rant was able to release the building stress and allowed Eric to get his writing shoes back on the right feet. Here's to the posts. Long may he Snark! Of course the next 3 snarks will have nothing to do with webcomics at all. You have to maintain that balance on the fine edge of sanity after all.
Comment from: neongrey posted at April 21, 2005 2:28 PM
Damn you, imtroubl, for stealing the very comment I was thinking. :P
Comment from: TheNintenGenius posted at April 21, 2005 2:49 PM
Damn you, Eric. Now I'm going to have King Tut stuck in my head for the rest of the day. I hope you're satisfied.
Comment from: quiller posted at April 21, 2005 3:09 PM
Nothing wrong with having Snarks of 3 of my favorite comics in a row. Actually, seeing Nodwick here reminded me that it was indeed Nodwick day. The Thursday only updates get forgotten until late sometimes.
Comment from: miyaa posted at April 21, 2005 5:16 PM
I should point out that this particular comic was originally produced in Dungeons magazine, which he uses for his fillers when he's not able to make his original webcomics. (He does have a book out that features all of these compact comics, through. It's one the few reasons people will read Paizo's Dungeons and Dragons magazines.) His webcomics are no less compact (and really good) in content even through they represent an ongoing series. He's also pretty good in wrecking musical instruments!
Comment from: Meagen Image posted at April 21, 2005 5:43 PM
I drew a sketch of a Nethack Samurai who was doing really good at the time. True to the game, I didn't draw any pants on her. The character ended up ascending.
I should scan that sketch and put it on DeviantArt one of these days...
Comment from: Kate Sith posted at April 21, 2005 6:14 PM
...buried with a donkey!
...he's mah fav'rite honky!
Comment from: Wednesday posted at April 21, 2005 6:34 PM
GRARGH @*!! NETHACK
Comment from: Ray Radlein posted at April 22, 2005 5:23 AM
I'm giggling at the notion of drawing pictures of Nethack characters or monsters. The rough-hewn walls of the dungeon, the flickering circle of torchlight, and, standing in the center of it all, a brooding and sinister capital letter "P"...
Comment from: Charles Duffy posted at April 22, 2005 8:01 PM
This reminds me a great deal of the game Lock and Key by Adam Cadre. I wish I could say why -- but that would spoil (a very big part of) the gimmick.
Ahh, hell. If you want to know why they're so similar, and don't mind missing out on the suprise at the beginning, look here.
Comment from: Joshua Gelbard posted at April 22, 2005 9:47 PM
It's amazing how hard Nethack is. I don't think I'll ever ascend, because every time I have a character doing well, one of those nasty succubi literally screws him over. Or something like that.
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