The Order of the Stick
Marblegate | Darths & Droids | Table Titans | The Order of the Stick | LFG | The Handbook of Heroes
Comic Corner looks at a different tabletop RPG inspired webcomic each week. This week’s featured webcomic is The Order of the Stick.
The Order of the Stick (OOTS) is a webcomic written and drawn by Rich Burlew that began way back in 2003 and now has over 1000 episodes. OOTS is mainly distributed online through the website Giant in the Playground. In addition, the comic has been collected seven books, including several print-only stories (On the Origin of PCs and Start of Darkness). The strip has appeared for 22 months in Dragon magazine for 22 issues.
Using stick figure style drawing, the comic satirizes medieval fantasy and tabletop RPGs, specifically D&D 3.5.
The main characters are:
- Roy Greenhilt: A lawful good veteran fighter and leader of the party.
- Haley Starshine: A red-haired chaotic good human rogue who is greedy and obsessed with treasure.
- Belkar Bitterleaf: A chaotic evil halfling ranger who kills sentient creatures for entertainment.
- Durkon Thundershield: A lawful good dwarf and cleric who worships Thor.
- Elan: A chaotic good bard who knows a lot about genre conventions and storytelling tropes.
- Vaarsuvius: A true-neutral high-elven wizard who gender is intentionally unclear.
OOTS follows the adventurers of six PCs as they work to save the world from Xykon, an evil lich sorcerer. The main characters are aware of game rules and modern culture, which is used by Burlew to parody RPGs and the fantasy genre in general. The comic balances humor with a continuing storyline that winds through a variety of plot arcs over the 1000+ episodes
Let me know in the comments below what webcomic I should feature next.
