The Campaign Builder's Guild

I've said it before, but Rich is a genius with storytelling. Before you agree, let me be clear: this isn't just my way to say that I really like OotS a lot. So I'll say it, on record, as an aspiring graphic storyteller: Rich is a genius at storytelling. He has an overriding philosophy that he relies on for most, if not all, of the artistic decisions in OotS; the most important elements are not the ones that are shown, but the ones that aren't shown. This applies to everything from the recognizably minimalist style that he uses for the strip (which allows the reader to fill themselves in as the missing details), to a few gags that relied a lack of information, and much more. With that in mind, reconsider the last panel of:

Quote from: Loch BelthaddExplosive runes!

Notice how the lack of explicit information effects the pace of that part of the comic. "time" seems to stop just long enough for the reader (and, in effect, Xycon as well) to register what exactly is going on. Also notice that this is the last panel of that particular strip. while the pacing for that last panel wouldn't allow for anything after it (another panel would pressure the reader to continue on), there's also the issue that the next panel just couldn't work in the same strip. The fact that it's missing only adds to it's impact.

So, I say again, Rich is a storytelling genius.

Edit-- with all of that in mind, enjoy my favorite example of that:

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0402.html

I totally didn't see this coming.

[spoiler]The question was not if but when.[/spoiler]

Xykon just got... DENIED

Holy wowzers... Xykon is freaking crazy angry... Putting your hand in O-Chul's mouth, then casting Meteor Swarm...? That is both horribly evil and the end product is equally horrible, for the janitor who has to clean it up!

That is actually a pretty nasty technique.
Hmm, how long until a DnD team tries to copy him? :p

You mean you don't think this came up in Rich's game already?

I can't access the site. Can someone post it?

Yeah, that was pretty crazy.  Hopefully we're pretty much wrapping up this arc now and get to a new one.
Loch, image should be attached below.

Oh, and I don't think it was the monster in the darkness that teleported V and O Chul out. I think it was the fiends... they seemed to want V not dead.

I'm pretty sure it was the monster. The fiends specifically mention that they are powerless on the material plane.

Yea the fiends can't directly interfere except when making deals. That's not to say that it couldn't have been someone else but I personally think it was the MitD (who I still think is a grue :P).

We don't know what spell was used to get the out of there. It could have been a Wish, a Limited Wish, a Miracle , a teleport spell, a time stop, the psionic version of time stop, hell it could have been a basic Dimension Door.

Point being, there's a lot of things it *could* be...

Still I'd bank on the Monster In the Darkness or the fiend's indirect intervention (through an invisible Imp perhaps...?).

Quote from: Elemental_ElfStill I'd bank on the Monster In the Darkness or the fiend's indirect intervention (through an invisible Imp perhaps...?).

An imp can only teleport itself and about 50 lbs (remember the whole ordeal with V and Qarr).

Quote from: NomadicYea the fiends can't directly interfere except when making deals. That's not to say that it couldn't have been someone else but I personally think it was the MitD (who I still think is a grue :P).

Hey, you got that idea from me! :p

Quote from: NomadicUnless they are just being teleported to somewhere else inside the city then it couldn't have been a non-epic teleport spell due to cloister.

 I thought the cloister only affected entry into and not leaving out of the city... How else would Redcloak's teleport work?

Quote from: NomadicAn imp can only teleport itself and about 50 lbs (remember the whole ordeal with V and Qarr).

I assumed the fiends would give him a magic item that either increased his capacity, decrease the weight of the two or allowed him to cast a different spell.