The conflict between the gods and the elemental princes in the story is more of a greek pantheon conflict vs. Titans sort of thing rather than 4e’s Gods vs. Primordials setting.  Of course, one can say that the 4e creation myths strongly parallels that of the greek tradition.

In any case, though this conflict is mainly in the background right now, it was a subject of the novel that I originally was thinking about before I started this webcomic.  I took bits of that outline and used it for the overall story for this current work.

Someone make sure to remind me to stat the Fate Titan sometime though.  It’s supposed to be an epic level controller with time/dice twisting abilities, but I haven’t statted it out yet.

Did you guys read through all of the anecdotes given by people who entered the Village of Hommlet giveaway?

I did.

And I have to say, that there is some funny stuff in there.  Also, some stories that are a tad odd.  Some are outright bizarre.

If anyone wants to still contribute stories to that list even though the contest is over, please feel free 

Even though Familiar Ground is primarily a gag-a-day type of comic, there is an overall story which might be confusing for newcomers.

Here’s a summary of what’s happened so far:

• The story starts in the middle of a quest for an artifact, near the gate of bones and cave of whispers
• Toad has revealed that he doesn’t know everything about his hat
• Their humans have disappeared after being attacked by elemental creatures
• Sasha reveals that she and her human were sent to secretly watch over Toad’s wizard
• Apparently there’s an apocalypse coming up and Toad’s wizard is involved, but the prophecy is not clear exactly how
• The group found a possible clue to an apothecary in Tuskany
• They traveled several weeks to get to the city
• Sasha splits from the party to secretly follow her human husband
• Toad and Coco encounter a strange seer that revealed where their humans are, as well as impart a warning about needing to leave the city by nightfall
• Toad and Coco sell some of Coco’s hair to earn some gold and buy a ritual book and other supplies
• Coco encounters a “doll” named Tony that warns him that Toad’s wizard is not to be trusted
• Toad recruits the help of a Gnome Artificer(?)
• Toad and Coco unwittingly frees a fiery giant-like spirit that grants wishes
• Coco makes a wish to be able to shapeshift without his human’s help and loses his celestial nature
• Toad makes a wish to restore Coco’s celestial nature, but he promises to deny mercy to the next god that begs it from him
• A street bard reveals Sasha’s story that she used to be an elven princess that was  trapped in a cat’s body
• Sasha’s husband, a Soul Harvester, is apparently working for one of the Councilors and has been drinking himself to a stupor on a regular basis
• Coco and Toad notices that many of those attending the festival are…odd
• The gang reunites at dusk at the apothecary’s place

I think that about summarizes what’s happened so far in terms of story.  Did I miss anything?

Larry Elmore, R.A. Salvatore, and Ed Greenwood play D&D using the essentials rules with Chris Perkins DMing.

Parts 2 to 10

By the time you read this, the Village of Hommlet giveaway is over.  I’m probably waiting for an email confirmation from the winner.

Thanks to all of you who entered.  Your stories have entertained (and sometimes shocked or disturbed) me suitably.

—–

Now that the guys are back together, the story can once more progress as a group.  It’s been several months of real time, but only about a day in terms of the actual story.

We’re slowly meandering towards the apocalypse that isn’t.

—–

Oh, and for those that want to see what D&D is all about, WotC is throwing yet another world wide game day for the Red Box Basic set release.  Check your local game store.  More info can be found at Wizards of the Coast.

Tonight at midnight (Pacific Standard Time) is the cutoff point for the Village of Hommlet giveaway.  Get your entry in right now!

For those that don’t know what a tannery is, it’s just a place where animal hides are prepared.  They remove the fat, flesh, and hair in order to make leather.

Oh, and the pre-modern method of preparing them involves urine, dung and perhaps letting the skins putrefy.

I’m not kidding.  There’s a reason why towns used to put them away from residential areas or outside the town proper.

When I first saw the D&D 4e monster manual, I noticed the curious absence of normal animals.  There were no plain panthers or elephants in the book.  Most of the “normal” animals were represented instead by fantastic versions of themselves: fey panthers, thunderfury boar, and feymire crocodiles.  Sure, there were a few normal animals like grey wolves, but the fantastic versions seemed to dominate.

I guess having your heroes killed by normal animals isn’t heroic enough?

Tell that to a party of 1st level 3e characters facing a brown bear (a fair fight in terms of CR)…there’s like a 50% chance it’ll be a TPK.

Today is National Banana Lover’s Day.

Or at least, that’s what some other cartoonists tell me.

Of course, it can just be all part of an elaborate practical joke…but nevertheless, don’t be surprised if you see a few more bananas in some strips today from other comics.

Here’s a few strips that have bananas in them:

The Wannabe Pirates

Promises Promises

Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic

Capes & Babes

Life’s a Witch

Beartoons

Neko the Kitty

For those keeping track, that’s three councillors mentioned so far (out of the sixteen councillors currently sitting on the city council): Ciliegia, Volpe, and Gatto.  I’ll admit that these are clues to the general outline of the overall story, but it’s probably so vague at this point that’s it’s not worth trying to figure out right now.

Only six more days to get your funny story or joke in for http://www.familiar-ground.com/2010/08/17/dd-free-village-of-hommlet-4e-adventure/

I’ve talked about Dwarf Fortress before.  It’s like a combination sim strategy game combined with a roguelike, and uses ascii graphics.  When you play it, your screen looks sorta like the matrix with random symbols flowing across your screen as you move.  It can be quite confusing to play, at least, until you get used to the learning cliff of the game (it’s not a learning curve, it’s a cliff).

Anyhoo, I just realized that although the game had many intricate details, down to injuring specific body organs, the child rearing simulation portion of the game could use some work.  For instance, dwarven babies and children do not drink water or milk (though both are in the game).  They only consume ale.

Now that’s just strange.

Not only do they consume ale, but they do so straight from the barrel.  I mean these tiny little babies and children drag huge barrels of ale around with them sometimes so they can drink them at their favorite statue garden (or goblin trap as the case may be).

Not sure if it’s intentional (it might be) or if it’s just waiting for further development (the game IS still in an unofficial beta), but it does paint dwarves in a particular light when it comes to alcohol consumption if their young’uns prefer ale in their sippy cups.