Sorry for the late post everybody – the lateness of today’s comic is in no way related to the experiment I did with the coloring styles. If anything, it was actually produced faster this way.
After reading last comic’s feedback, I saw that a lot of you seemed to agree that the watercolor style was ideal for the “fantasy” parts of the comic while the digital, cleaner colors were better suited for the “real life” parts of the comic. Personally, I like the way it looks – but due to time constraints I couldn’t manage to get rid of the red underlining that can be seen in the comic.
Still, I like it, so for next Monday I’m gonna try the same styles, but with no red lines. Opinions, anybody?
Good hunting;
O
1st comment!!
I think watercolor looks awesome!!, I love the way you colored the blood in Weretiger’s hands!
I like how the fantasy is in paint and the “real” world is coloured…digitally? hehe
point is, sure, keep going 8D
ALSO: carlos look epic
definitely diggin’ the watercolor. I would love to see you keep using it for the fantasy parts, gives it a different feel from the “real world” stuff.
I like the watercolor. And I didn’t even notice the red lines until you said something. You truly are one of the most talented artists that I think I’ve ever seen. You should start your own comic book.
I have a solution for the whole “Oh, so now I know I’m looking for something.” mentality.
I write down their AC, Will, Fort, Ref, and Passive Perception / Insight so I can say, “Roll a d20″ and then just add it for myself. It’s also fun to tell them to roll when there’s nothing to roll for.
Indeed. That’s something you learn when you master Paranoia: make random rolls just to maintain tension, have players make rolls for nothing, etc. Of course, when you master Paranoia, you’re expected to act kinda sadistic. But I think it’s a good school for basic gamemastering tricks, even for overall lenient gamemasters (of which I am, outside of Paranoia).
When I DM/GM, I am always surprised at the fact that no one I know makes checks unless I tell them what check to make. I as a player on the other hand, am always making checks on my surroundings.
Oh, and I am not sure, but which system are you guys playing in the comic again?
@Azureink: We’re playing Pathfinder. http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG
the watercolor style really suits the fantasy comics indeed. Gives them that touch that makes a great difference. The contrast in style with “real life” comics works out fine.
Your comics are totally awesome, O. Keep on with the good stuff ^^
Schmorgluck, are there any online references for DMing Paranoïa? I got myself the XP edition and it seems like a true departure from the usual “play with your team mates” mentality.
As for making checks in secret: I’d do ‘em for most notice skills (listen, spot, search, sense motive) and those “success is not obvious” checks (such as tying someone down, sabotaging equipment, disarming a bomb!)
looks great
Nope, Spikes, I don’t know any resource I can point you to. Mostly I go with the mood with this game.
Here are my core rules in mastering Paranoia:
Rule n°1: when in doubt, go for the funny.
Rule n°2: when not in doubt, try to go for the funny anyway.
Rule n°3: don’t hesitate to kill a PC for a good joke.
Rule n°4: don’t hesitate to kill a PC for a bad joke either.
Rule n°5: keep in mind that it’s way funnier when PCs kill each other.
Oh, and arbitrarily saving a PC from an unsufficiently funny death is a trick to consider – even (wait, ESPECIALLY) if it’s a setup for a twisted death down the road.
And a final word: if somehow your players manage to find a way for their PCs to survive that is even funnier than all the demises you had considered, then let them. You’ll get them anyway, sooner or later.
1st panel: classic
al: sort of abstract 2nd
3rd: frightenin, drugs drugs involved.
4th: great. but with this dark underlining sort of transcendental. like i their shape/world-shifting or teleporting. or before a flash?
great artwork, wrong mood. sorry. you gain so much skill that you need to be more careful. the masters mere touch is a like a giants stroke for the pupil
I like the style juxtaposition of the two realms of fantasy vs reality with a different style. I have to agree with your assessment that the clear digital style fits the real realm while the more exaggerated detail oriented painting style works for the fantasy realm. Good Work O!
i cant see the red lines
I love the way you’ve done this. The water colour for the RPG and your usual style for the ‘real’ world. Very cool.
There used to be a time when rolling dice and the numbers on a character sheet meant something to the players… Now it seems that every roll but the attack roll is the responsibility…No…the privilege of the DM/GM. You can roll a skill check on anything you want whenever you want. Whether there is a tangible result is up to the DM/GM. Not whether you can try a skill check or not. Unless the rules have changed that much without me knowing.
Ah, I wondered why it looked a bit “Sketchy” The red lines… Good job with the coloring though. It looks awesome. I was worried, because it’s normally posted before my last class in school… and it wasn’t up… I’m happy now though. <— (Is easily pleased)
The color differences is like a cheesy dream sequence for the fantasy stuff, with brief fourth wall breaking real world sections. I LOVE IT!
My PCs used to watch so carefully for me to roll the secret checks, they’d jump all over it and start searching/spotting everything. So I used to roll fake rolls and “write” results down. Really freaked them out.
Loving the water color O.
I must agree, the art style and interpretation is simply amazing, this is one of your best comics yet even ff it is not as “epic” as others
Hehe… I demand (or rather humbly request) that Weretiger fixes his hand with the RPG equivalent of Gaffa Tape – just like they did in ‘From Dusk Till Dawn’.
I think the fantasy-panels in the comic might have a bit too much of the white haze/blur layered on top of it. The first panel in the Botch comic looked a lot sharper, and more “real” in a way: I really liked the look of that one! As someone mentioned: the blur gives it the “cheesy dream” effect.. and I’m not sure if you’re after that. :p
Watercolor is awesome
I’m wondering when Weretiger will snap and attack Dwarf and Elf. And accidentally roll some twenties while doing so…
That’s exactly what I wanted to see
Wonderful!
i think you should keep the red lines, i dident notice first few time then when i looked closer i could see them, i think it gives it more depth
I’m addicted to your comic so much, I keep thinking about it at night…. I’m not addicted… *twitch* *twitch*….
Anyway, at this point I would highly recommend Al’s PC take up an alchemy/potion making profession, or atleast focus on healing/first aid. Whatever they call it in Pathfinder. I’ve got a goal to get into Pathfinder when I have freetime….. Gonna be awhile….
whats up with dwarfs head? is he possessed or something?
great comic, and I love the style ^_^
While I love the colouring, my inner creepy geek is bursting out to make a little rant about this ‘logical’ spot check. If you don’t want to read, skip the rest of my post.
In my opinion, I’d keep the players making the spot checks or any other kind of checks for that matter. The reason it’s on the character sheet is to let every D&D gamer enjoy rolling their d20s on the things they are good at.
Now, even if they failed, yes they’ll know they’re missing something but as long as the DM says an unquestioned, out-of-the-blue “Please make a spot check”; the players will not know what that was for and THAT’S the beauty of it all. If they are half decent players they’ll probably start running every scenerio in their heads; whether they just failed on noticing treasure, or a hidden hatch, or monsters or lasers or ninjas. And if they are truely decent D&D players, they will know when to split metagaming the knowledge of their failure and know to suffer DM wrath when they don’t.
This also benefits newbies similar to Al’s position. I feel really bad for Al right now. It’s like he’s in the worst Mao card game ever, where nearly every time it’s his go, he gets screwed over. Just because no one tells him anything until it’s too late. And I know he needs to be the underdog of these D&D comic strips to explain the joke; but it’s getting to the point where I want to punch elf and dwarf myself. But I digress. Every newbie starts off with the basics, “How do I attack? How do I not get hit?”. And often build their characters around that logic, they don’t know about these checks or how crucial they are initially, and they won’t know if they are not made to roll them and kick themselves for not putting ranks in them.
I guess in O’s case, he’s playing with a bunch of friends that knows a game inside out. So there’s no newbies around. But where I currently play, it’s associated with a college society; and they have newbies rolling in each year. So I guess each to their own, but I just had to let it out a bit. Sorry.
It is not bad but it lacks contrast, the colors are pale, dull. I understand that’s how watercolor is supposed to look like, but you can alter this digitally, no? It needs a bit more lively colors, it is fading slowly to black and white, hehe.
Not black and white, no. Better make that gray.
this last line is the only thing thats made me laugh today xD
Maybe I should have mentioned this the last time, but I rather like the red underlining.
To me, those little red lines that show trough are actually reminders of the fact that this comic is hand-drawn. It adds to the authentic feel, so to speak.
With all those clean-cut digital comics around, it’s nice to see some old-school craftsmanship.
(Yes, I know that plenty of comics draw their art the ‘old school’ way. Fact is, I like it when I am reminded of that fact at times. It’s hard to keep hand-drawn and fully digital apart, at times..)
Just a little remark — the hatch seems to be way closer and also differently rotated in the last panel than in the first panel that features it (closer and rotated towards Weretiger).
I hope he gets some Xp, for his hand :s
Definitely keep up the water colors for the rpg. It gives it so much more character.