| Title: | Order of the Stick (see below) | |
| Author: | Rich Burlew | |
| Rating: | 
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If you play D&D, you need to read Order of the Stick. If you don't play D&D, but like character driven graphic novels, then Order of the Stick is for you too. And finally, what the author is doing is telling a good - and funny - story. If that appeals, then you'll enjoy it as well. You'll miss a bit of D&D related humor, particularly early on in the story, but the rest holds together well and will appeal.
Here's a link. Get started: http://www.giantitp.com/Comics.html
That may keep you occupied for days. There are years of the story to read out there, for free. Knock yourself out.
In fact, in book form, there are now 7 volumes. They are named and numbered thusly:
- D: OOTS: Snips, Snails, and Dragon Tails
- -1: OOTS: Start of Darkness
- 0: OOTS: On The Origin of PCs
- 1: OOTS: Dungeon Crawlin' Fools
- 2: OOTS: No Cure For The Paladin Blues
- 3: OOTS: War And XPs
- 4: OOTS: Don't Split The Party
Burlew published these books one at a time, and the older ones gradually went out of print, but he got a lot of funding via a famous Kickstarter, and now they are all back in print and available from his distributor.
There is a lot of fun wrapped up in these books, and some very good story telling. Six main characters drive the plot, with numerous supporting characters and quite a few villains as well. The story arc is large and complicated, involving dragons and magic and quests and, well... it's a D&D campaign told in pictures featuring stick figures. That might sound lame, but it really isn't. (The Kickstarter campaign was supposed to raise about $58K. Instead it raised $1.2 million. Yes, really. It's not lame at all, and the proof is in over 14,000 backers of that campaign who love with Burlew does.)
As I write this, Burlew is recovering from a hand injury, so he isn't updating the web site with new content right now. I am guessing he will start back up again sometime after the beginning of the year, and I will be thrilled to see how the story continues. I'll also be buying new books as they come out. This is great stuff.
Give it a shot on the website, from the link above. If you like it, the books are definitely worth owning, and now you can.
