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Oots
''The Order of the Stick'' (''OOTS'') is a comedic webcomic that satirizes tabletop role-playing games and medieval fantasy. The comic is written and drawn by Rich Burlew, who illustrates the comic in a stick figure style. Taking place in a magical world that loosely operates by the rules of the Editions of Dungeons & Dragons#Dungeons & Dragons v3.5, 3.5 edition of the role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''), the comic follows the sometimes farcical exploits of six adventurers as they strive to save the world from an evil Lich (Dungeons & Dragons), lich Sorcerer (Dungeons & Dragons), sorcerer. Much of the comic's humor stems from the characters' awareness of the game rules that affect their lives or from having anachronism, anachronistic knowledge of modern culture. This in turn is often used by the author to parody various aspects of role-playing games and fantasy fiction. While primarily comedic in nature, ''The Order of the Stick'' features a continuing storyline se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stick Figure
Stick Figure is an American reggae and dub band founded in 2005. The group has released eight full-length albums and one instrumental album (Prince Fatty Presents), all of which were written and produced by frontman and self-taught multi-instrumentalist Scott Woodruff. The live band consists of Woodruff, keyboardist Kevin Bong (KBong), drummer Kevin Offitzer, bassist Tommy Suliman, guitarist, keyboardist, and guitarist/backup vocalist Johnny Cosmic and percussionist Will Phillips. History Early career Stick Figure was founded in 2005 as a one-man band by multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer Scott Woodruff. Woodruff, originally from his hometown of Duxbury, Massachusetts, began playing instruments at the age of 9, and was primarily drawn to reggae. His style of layering tracks to create songs was particularly inspired by Keller Williams who utilized a looping method to create music. Woodruff began writing and producing music in 2005, which incorporated roots regga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dungeons & Dragons
''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules, Tactical Studies Rules (TSR). It has been published by Wizards of the Coast, later a subsidiary of Hasbro, since 1997. The game was derived from miniature wargaming, miniature wargames, with a variation of the 1971 game ''Chainmail (game), Chainmail'' serving as the initial rule system. ''D&D'' publication is commonly recognized as the beginning of modern role-playing games and the role-playing game industry, which also deeply influenced video games, especially the Role-playing video game, role-playing video game genre. ''D&D'' departs from traditional wargame, wargaming by allowing each player to create their own Player character, character to play instead of a military formation. These characters embark upon adventures wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paizo Publishing
Paizo Inc. (; originally Paizo Publishing) is an American role-playing game publishing company based in Redmond, Washington, best known for the tabletop role-playing games '' Pathfinder'' and '' Starfinder''. The company's name is derived from the Greek word , which means 'I play' or 'to play'. Paizo also runs an online retail store selling role-playing games board games, comic books, toys, clothing, accessories and other products, as well as an internet forum community. History Paizo was formed by Lisa Stevens, Vic Wertz, and Johnny Wilson in 2002 to take over the publication of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' magazines ''Dragon'' and '' Dungeon'', formerly published in-house by Wizards of the Coast. Paizo publisher Erik Mona is the former editor-in-chief of ''Dragon'', while former editor-in-chief of ''Dungeon'' James Jacobs oversees the ''Pathfinder'' periodicals. The company started producing a bimonthly magazine called ''Undefeated'' in 2003, and in 2004, resurrected t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comedy
Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greece: in Athenian democracy, the public opinion of voters was influenced by political satire performed by comic poets in Ancient Greek theatre, theaters. The theatrical genre of Greek comedy can be described as a dramatic performance pitting two groups, ages, genders, or societies against each other in an amusing ''agon'' or conflict. Northrop Frye depicted these two opposing sides as a "Society of Youth" and a "Society of the Old". A revised view characterizes the essential agon of comedy as a struggle between a relatively powerless youth and the societal conventions posing obstacles to his hopes. In this struggle, the youth then becomes constrained by his lack of social authority, and is left with little choice but to resort to ruses which e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crayon
A crayon (or wax pastel) is a stick of pigmented wax used for writing or drawing. Wax crayons differ from pastels, in which the pigment is mixed with a dry binder (material), binder such as gum arabic, and from oil pastels, where the binder is a mixture of wax and oil. Crayons are available in a range of prices, and are easy to work with. They are less messy than most paints and markers, blunt (removing the risk of sharp points present when using a pencil or pen), typically non-toxic, and available in a wide variety of colors. These characteristics make them particularly good instruments for teaching small children to draw in addition to being used widely by student and professional artists. Composition In the modern English-speaking world, the term crayon is commonly associated with the standard wax crayon, such as those widely available for use by children. Such crayons are usually approximately in length and made mostly of paraffin wax. Paraffin wax is heated and cooled to a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rune
Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets, known as runic rows, runic alphabets or futharks (also, see '' futhark'' vs ''runic alphabet''), native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were primarily used to represent a sound value (a phoneme) but they were also used to represent the concepts after which they are named ( ideographic runes). Runology is the academic study of the runic alphabets, runic inscriptions, runestones, and their history. Runology forms a specialised branch of Germanic philology. The earliest secure runic inscriptions date from at latest AD 150, with a possible earlier inscription dating to AD 50 and Tacitus's possible description of rune use from around AD 98. The Svingerud Runestone dates from between AD 1 and 250. Runes were generally replaced by the Latin alphabet as the cultures that had used runes underwent Christianisation, by approximately AD 700 in central Europe and 1100 in northern Europe. However, the use of runes persisted for spe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cleric (Dungeons & Dragons)
The cleric is one of the standard playable character class in the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game. Clerics are versatile figures, both capable in combat and skilled in the use of divine magic, a form of theurgy or thaumaturgy. Clerics are powerful healers due to the large number of healing and curative magics available to them. With divinely-granted abilities over life or death, they are also able to repel or control undead creatures. Clerics also have specific 'domains' which usually align with the character's alignment and the god that cleric serves. Whether the cleric repels or controls undead is dependent on the cleric's alignment. It is the only class to be included in every edition of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' without a name change. Publication history ''Dungeons & Dragons'' The cleric character class first appeared in the original edition of ''Dungeons & Dragons''. In the original edition, the class is described as gaining "some of the advantages from bot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, which later became fantasy literature, fantasy literature and drama. From the twentieth century onward, it has expanded into various media, including film, television, graphic novels, manga, animation, and video games. The expression ''fantastic literature'' is often used for this genre by Anglophone literary critics. An archaic spelling for the term is ''phantasy''. Fantasy is generally distinguished from the genres of science fiction and horror fiction, horror by an absence of scientific or macabre themes, although these can occur in fantasy. In popular culture, the fantasy genre predominantly features settings that reflect the actual Earth, but with some sense of otherness. Characteristics Many works of fantasy use magic (paranorma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dwarf (Dungeons & Dragons)
A dwarf, in the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy roleplaying game, is a humanoid race, one of the primary races available for player characters. The idea for the ''D&D'' dwarf comes from the dwarves of European mythologies and J. R. R. Tolkien's novel ''The Lord of the Rings'' (1954–1955), and has been used in ''D&D'' and its predecessor ''Chainmail'' since the early 1970s. Variations from the standard dwarf archetype of a short and stout demihuman are commonly called subraces, of which there are more than a dozen across many different rule sets and campaign settings. History The concept of the dwarf comes from Norse and Teutonic mythology. In particular, the dwarves in the Germanic story '' The Ring of the Nibelungen'' and the Brothers Grimm fairy tale "Rumpelstiltskin" have been called "ancestors" of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' dwarves. Along with giants, dwarves were one of the first types of non-humans to be introduced into the ''Chainmail'' game, the forebear of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rogue (Dungeons & Dragons)
The rogue, formerly known as the thief, is one of the standard playable character classes in most editions of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game. A rogue is a versatile character, capable of sneaky combat and nimble tricks. The rogue is stealthy and dexterous, and in early editions was the only official base class from the '' Player's Handbook'' capable of finding and disarming traps and picking locks. The rogue is also able to use a "sneak attack" ("backstab" in previous editions) against enemies who are caught off-guard or taken by surprise, inflicting extra damage. Publication history Creative origins The abilities of the thief class were drawn from various archetypes from history and myth, but clear debts from modern fantasy literature can be traced to characters such as J.R.R. Tolkien's Bilbo Baggins, Fritz Leiber's The Gray Mouser, and Jack Vance's Cugel the Clever. In his article "Jack Vance and the D&D Game", Gary Gygax stresses the influence t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Panel (comics)
A panel is an individual frame, or single drawing, in the multiple-panel sequence of a comic strip or comic book, as well as a graphic novel. A panel consists of a single drawing depicting a frozen moment. When multiple panels are present, they are often, though not always, separated by a short amount of space called a gutter. Newspaper daily strips typically consist of either four panels (''Doonesbury'', ''For Better or For Worse'') or three panels (''Garfield'', ''Dilbert''). These panels may all be of the same size, but many skilled cartoonists, such as Bill Watterson, Danny Vasquetto, Leonard Waldstein, Humphrey Powell, and Ginny Thomas vary the size and number of panels in each daily strip. The horizontal newspaper strip can also employ only a single panel, as sometimes seen in Wiley Miller's ''Non Sequitur (comic strip), Non Sequitur''. In Asia, a vertical four-panel arrangement (''yonkoma'') is common in newspapers, such as with ''Azumanga Daioh''. In a comic book or gra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cliché
A cliché ( or ; ) is a saying, idea, or element of an artistic work that has become overused to the point of losing its original meaning, novelty, or literal and figurative language, figurative or artistic power, even to the point of now being bland or uninteresting. In phraseology, the term has taken on a more technical meaning, referring to an Phraseme#Clichés, expression imposed by conventionalized linguistic usage. The term, which is typically pejorative, is often used in modern culture for an action or idea that is expected or predictable, based on a prior event. Clichés may or may not be true. Some are stereotypes, but some are simply truisms and facts. Clichés often are employed for comedy, comedic effect, typically in fiction. Most phrases now considered clichéd originally were regarded as striking but have lost their force through overuse. The French poet Gérard de Nerval once said, "The first man who compared woman to a rose was a poet, the second, an imbecile." ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
