Why is it web-comics rather than web-fiction?
Is that what fanfiction is? The text-only equivalent of webcomics?
People like funny stuff. Is funny easier to do with a visual medium?
People like pretty things. But one of the most popular webcomics out there is xkcd, and Penny Arcade was popular even before it looked awesome. (Of course, back then, Penny Arcade had a lot less competition.)
Is pure text fiction significantly harder to serialize than a comic strip? The only serialized fiction I know of is Othar Tryggvassen's Twitter. (By which I am fascinated, as previously discussed.) There has to be something else like that out there.
Does anyone blog fiction? There's Banter Latte and Short Little Stories, (both, oddly, by comics bloggers, at Websnark and Damn Good Comics, respectively) but that's not quite what I mean.
Webcomics, at least the serious/story variety, tell a continuing story over a series of installments. Does anyone use blogs to do a similar thing?
Does anyone read them?
(I would mention Doctor Cataclysm, but that's clearly not fiction.)
Showing posts with label comic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label comic. Show all posts
Friday, May 02, 2008
Friday, April 04, 2008
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Serial Distractibility
Just as I decide to do NaNoWriMo, I start spinning out another campaign setting, this time a desert ruins exploration deal, in the style of the West Marches. I probably won't get far enough to actually be able to run it, but it'll keep me from using my downtime to work out bits and pieces of the novel.
Which I'm currently worried is not stupid enough to make a really good NaNoWriMo entry.
And this is in addition to planning campaigns way off in the mists of time, for next summer. Which are at least guaranteed to get run, unless I come up with some really cool idea two weeks before kick-off time and decide to go with it instead.
In other news: Roy is screwed. Check out that second sentence.
Which I'm currently worried is not stupid enough to make a really good NaNoWriMo entry.
And this is in addition to planning campaigns way off in the mists of time, for next summer. Which are at least guaranteed to get run, unless I come up with some really cool idea two weeks before kick-off time and decide to go with it instead.
In other news: Roy is screwed. Check out that second sentence.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Odds, Ends, And More Hex Map!
When it rains, it pours, right? I get four posts one day, and then . . . nothing. I could say that I didn't have anything worth writing about, but I always have things worth writing about.
The current Scary Go Round storyline is quite excellent. Drug (and jam) addled wannabe superheroes is a concept I can always get on board with. To get the full story, you'll want to start roughly hereabouts.
Similarly, progress on the hex map continues apace. I have developed a number of resolutions, regarding the shape of the campaign it will make. I am going to try to include the proper amount of treasure, more interesting and challenging encounters, and the occasional PC death. I had a sharp focus on the story side of my last game, largely because several of my players were interested in that and the others didn't much care as long as they were getting what they wanted out of the game. But there are other skills, and I plan to discover them, and their uses.
In that light, I've resolved not to have an over-arching grand plot. No plans for a final confrontation, no single villain behind all the evils. There will be villains, evil, and plots aplenty, but I won't have any single thread connecting everything from the beginning.
There will be threads, certainly, but I want this campaign to be more free-ranging. Whether or not a villain gets promoted from random underground foe to major arch-villain will, hopefully, be based more upon player interest than long-term GM plan. I do like the over-arching plot technique, but because both of my successful campaigns featured it heavily, I'd like to try something different.
Oh, and gnomes. I think gnomes are going to be a major part of the next campaign I run. Gnomes rock.
The current Scary Go Round storyline is quite excellent. Drug (and jam) addled wannabe superheroes is a concept I can always get on board with. To get the full story, you'll want to start roughly hereabouts.
Similarly, progress on the hex map continues apace. I have developed a number of resolutions, regarding the shape of the campaign it will make. I am going to try to include the proper amount of treasure, more interesting and challenging encounters, and the occasional PC death. I had a sharp focus on the story side of my last game, largely because several of my players were interested in that and the others didn't much care as long as they were getting what they wanted out of the game. But there are other skills, and I plan to discover them, and their uses.
In that light, I've resolved not to have an over-arching grand plot. No plans for a final confrontation, no single villain behind all the evils. There will be villains, evil, and plots aplenty, but I won't have any single thread connecting everything from the beginning.
There will be threads, certainly, but I want this campaign to be more free-ranging. Whether or not a villain gets promoted from random underground foe to major arch-villain will, hopefully, be based more upon player interest than long-term GM plan. I do like the over-arching plot technique, but because both of my successful campaigns featured it heavily, I'd like to try something different.
Oh, and gnomes. I think gnomes are going to be a major part of the next campaign I run. Gnomes rock.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Grand Literary Tradition
"Vampires, ghouls, and werewolves shall all be permitted to be used when handled in the classic tradition, such as Frankenstein, Dracula, and other high-caliber literary works, written by Edgar Allan Poe, Saki, Conan Doyle and other respected authors whose works are read in schools around the world."
Comics Code, as revised 1971
When you're writing the Comics Code, irony is optional.
Credit where credit is due: I found this quote in Reading Comics, by Douglas Wolk.
Comics Code, as revised 1971
When you're writing the Comics Code, irony is optional.
Credit where credit is due: I found this quote in Reading Comics, by Douglas Wolk.
Monday, August 06, 2007
A Sign of True Excellence
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Schism Is Back
Seriously! Schism! It returns!
It's a science fiction story comic. Updates on Saturdays. And after six painful months, it has finally started updating again!
With any luck, it won't slip back into inactivity again. But for now--joy!
It's a science fiction story comic. Updates on Saturdays. And after six painful months, it has finally started updating again!
With any luck, it won't slip back into inactivity again. But for now--joy!
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Links Ahoy!
Now here's an interesting website: 9 Degrees of Bloggeration. Scott Duster blogs about the blogs he finds as he chains through the links, Kevin Bacon style. So far, there's a lot of Spain.
In the spirit of the thing, I found this blog through Today's Rock Stars, which tracks the profligate use of rock star metaphors to describe people decidedly non-rock star. Which I found through a link from the proprietor's other blog, the Silent Penultimate Panel Watch, which tracks the overuse of the silent penultimate panel in newspaper cartoons. Which I found through Narbonic. Actually, the director's cut, but you don't want to go there if you haven't read the original strip.
Trust me. You want to start with the first strip and just keep on going. There be plots ahead!
In the spirit of the thing, I found this blog through Today's Rock Stars, which tracks the profligate use of rock star metaphors to describe people decidedly non-rock star. Which I found through a link from the proprietor's other blog, the Silent Penultimate Panel Watch, which tracks the overuse of the silent penultimate panel in newspaper cartoons. Which I found through Narbonic. Actually, the director's cut, but you don't want to go there if you haven't read the original strip.
Trust me. You want to start with the first strip and just keep on going. There be plots ahead!
Monday, June 18, 2007
Jam!
Happy now.
Because strawberry jam that makes the sea steam is far from the wackiest thing Scary Go Round has ever pulled. So awesome.
Also: only good can come of cream. This I have learned.
Because strawberry jam that makes the sea steam is far from the wackiest thing Scary Go Round has ever pulled. So awesome.
Also: only good can come of cream. This I have learned.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Friday, April 27, 2007
This Pleases Me
Can I take a moment to call out the current Something Positive story arc? Written by Eric Burns.
It rocks.
Especially today's. It's just . . . so perfect. The Watching Hour, indeed.
I love watching people learn to play roleplaying games. The moment of realization. "Wait, you mean I can be . . . ?"
And Fred is my favorite character. So, yeah. Bring it on.
It rocks.
Especially today's. It's just . . . so perfect. The Watching Hour, indeed.
I love watching people learn to play roleplaying games. The moment of realization. "Wait, you mean I can be . . . ?"
And Fred is my favorite character. So, yeah. Bring it on.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Don't Do This!
Does anyone else read Erfworld: The Battle for Gobwin's Knob?
Is anyone else really ticked off with it right now?
Skipping time, I can deal with. Skipping a battle, I can deal with. It was obvious what was going to happen; it didn't need to be shown.
What I can't deal with is this "Charlie" nonsense.
Creating suspense by arbitrarily hiding things from the reader isn't cool. Unless you've got an in-text reason for why the reader doesn't know everything (significant) that the character does. (i.e., the unreliable narrator)
Unless, of course, it's not going to be important. We never hear about Charlie again, so why waste a page showing who he is? This, I somehow doubt, because if it wasn't going to be important it wouldn't have come up at all.
Plus, it'd edge dangerously close to telling, rather than showing. The characters talking about how unreasonable Stanley is, rather than showing how unreasonable he is.
Upshot: Irritating. I like Erfworld, but this sort of thing had better not happen on a regular basis.
Is anyone else really ticked off with it right now?
Skipping time, I can deal with. Skipping a battle, I can deal with. It was obvious what was going to happen; it didn't need to be shown.
What I can't deal with is this "Charlie" nonsense.
Creating suspense by arbitrarily hiding things from the reader isn't cool. Unless you've got an in-text reason for why the reader doesn't know everything (significant) that the character does. (i.e., the unreliable narrator)
Unless, of course, it's not going to be important. We never hear about Charlie again, so why waste a page showing who he is? This, I somehow doubt, because if it wasn't going to be important it wouldn't have come up at all.
Plus, it'd edge dangerously close to telling, rather than showing. The characters talking about how unreasonable Stanley is, rather than showing how unreasonable he is.
Upshot: Irritating. I like Erfworld, but this sort of thing had better not happen on a regular basis.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Best. Webcomic. Evar.
Seriously. Yeah, I'm writing two posts in a row about the same thing, but Girl Genius is Just. That. Awesome.
It's got mad scientists. It's got robots. It's got constructs. (Oh, man, does it have constructs.) It's got wacky Germanic accents, a circus, lunatic heroes, hats, plumbers, and a talking cat.
Mostly, what it's got is win.
All the characters have clear, unique voices. I can hear these people, the way they talk, and they all talk in a distinctive way. There's heavy use of dialect, which is normally a bad thing, but in this case it's cool. (My theory is that it's a large group of characters that all use the same dialect, so you don't have to learn a different one for each individual character. And it's very funny, the way they talk.)
It also exercises my plot sense, (like spider sense, only for plot rather than danger) in an extremely satisfying way. Everything that happens feels right, but it never feels boring. It's always, "That's exactly what has to happen! Awesome!" and never, "Gee, I kinda saw that coming." It escalates a lot, with plot twists galore, but it never feels cheap. It's exciting, and frustrating, but in a seriously awesome way.
It's got major character death that doesn't feel like a lame plot device! It's crazy!
Yeah, so, read it. NOW!
It's got mad scientists. It's got robots. It's got constructs. (Oh, man, does it have constructs.) It's got wacky Germanic accents, a circus, lunatic heroes, hats, plumbers, and a talking cat.
Mostly, what it's got is win.
All the characters have clear, unique voices. I can hear these people, the way they talk, and they all talk in a distinctive way. There's heavy use of dialect, which is normally a bad thing, but in this case it's cool. (My theory is that it's a large group of characters that all use the same dialect, so you don't have to learn a different one for each individual character. And it's very funny, the way they talk.)
It also exercises my plot sense, (like spider sense, only for plot rather than danger) in an extremely satisfying way. Everything that happens feels right, but it never feels boring. It's always, "That's exactly what has to happen! Awesome!" and never, "Gee, I kinda saw that coming." It escalates a lot, with plot twists galore, but it never feels cheap. It's exciting, and frustrating, but in a seriously awesome way.
It's got major character death that doesn't feel like a lame plot device! It's crazy!
Yeah, so, read it. NOW!
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Webcomics You Should Read
Scary Go Round
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: This is a good comic. Very funny. Lots of weirdness. (Not as much mad science as it used to have, sadly.)
XKCD
You're probably already reading this, but if you aren't (and you like this blog) you probably should be. (If you hate this blog, I'm not going to be much help.) It has a lot of jokes that I don't understand, because they involve advanced math, but the jokes that I do understand are unbelievably funny.
Order of the Stick
Again, you're probably already reading this. If you aren't, you should start soon, or there is no hope for you or the human race. I'm serious. This is a really, really good comic. Lots of Dungeons and Dragons jokes but, hey, another reason for people to play D&D.
Narbonic
This one's actually over, but they're re-releasing it, with commentary, one strip a day, so it's going to be around for another six years. However, you should read the whole strip plain first, because otherwise, you're quickly going to learn a lot of major plot points. Plot points the comic builds up to over years of strips. Needless to say, this is a really awesome comic. Mad scientists are always awesome.
Looking For Group
Another one I've mentioned before. It's only gotten more awesome.
Special School
This one's maybe not quite as good as the others, but it's good and getting better. (And, seriously, "not as good as the Order of the Stick" almost doesn't count as information.) It's about superheroes. It references the evil overlord list. In a word, awesome.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: This is a good comic. Very funny. Lots of weirdness. (Not as much mad science as it used to have, sadly.)
XKCD
You're probably already reading this, but if you aren't (and you like this blog) you probably should be. (If you hate this blog, I'm not going to be much help.) It has a lot of jokes that I don't understand, because they involve advanced math, but the jokes that I do understand are unbelievably funny.
Order of the Stick
Again, you're probably already reading this. If you aren't, you should start soon, or there is no hope for you or the human race. I'm serious. This is a really, really good comic. Lots of Dungeons and Dragons jokes but, hey, another reason for people to play D&D.
Narbonic
This one's actually over, but they're re-releasing it, with commentary, one strip a day, so it's going to be around for another six years. However, you should read the whole strip plain first, because otherwise, you're quickly going to learn a lot of major plot points. Plot points the comic builds up to over years of strips. Needless to say, this is a really awesome comic. Mad scientists are always awesome.
Looking For Group
Another one I've mentioned before. It's only gotten more awesome.
Special School
This one's maybe not quite as good as the others, but it's good and getting better. (And, seriously, "not as good as the Order of the Stick" almost doesn't count as information.) It's about superheroes. It references the evil overlord list. In a word, awesome.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Missing Reference
This is an awesome comic strip.
I have no idea who or what The Witcher is. I don't care. It'd probably be funnier if I did know, but the beautiful thing is, I don't have to know.
This strip is still hilarious.
I have no idea who or what The Witcher is. I don't care. It'd probably be funnier if I did know, but the beautiful thing is, I don't have to know.
This strip is still hilarious.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Needs To Be Said
I'm not planning on seeing 300.
It's probably a good movie. I don't care.
The "Look we have computers! Shiny!" thing not promising. When Time does a piece on how your movie is a "sign of things to come" in the movie industry, because it involves technology, that's not good. It indicates that the movie's focus is on the shiny, shiny graphics, which is where we get things like Phantom Menace.
Of course, it's also where you get thins like Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, and that was a good movie. It was all about the shiny, shiny graphics, but what it was showing was cool enough that it was good. Giant robots attacking New York? Good. Vaguely Spartan MEN! MANLY MEN! talking about how "free" they are? Not so much.
Mostly, I'm kind of off Frank Miller. Since I figured out that his subtexts weren't limited to weird crypto-fascism, "but he's a genius!" hasn't seemed like much of an excuse.
Because if what you're doing is evil, being really good at it doesn't make it any less evil. Depicting women as sex objects, as accessories and plot devices for the male characters, as anything less than human, is evil.
Because it ties into and supports a culture that says, "women can't . . ." because they're women. A culture that says they're not as smart as men, or not as stupid. A culture that restricts human potential based on gender, and that's evil.
It's probably a good movie. I don't care.
The "Look we have computers! Shiny!" thing not promising. When Time does a piece on how your movie is a "sign of things to come" in the movie industry, because it involves technology, that's not good. It indicates that the movie's focus is on the shiny, shiny graphics, which is where we get things like Phantom Menace.
Of course, it's also where you get thins like Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, and that was a good movie. It was all about the shiny, shiny graphics, but what it was showing was cool enough that it was good. Giant robots attacking New York? Good. Vaguely Spartan MEN! MANLY MEN! talking about how "free" they are? Not so much.
Mostly, I'm kind of off Frank Miller. Since I figured out that his subtexts weren't limited to weird crypto-fascism, "but he's a genius!" hasn't seemed like much of an excuse.
Because if what you're doing is evil, being really good at it doesn't make it any less evil. Depicting women as sex objects, as accessories and plot devices for the male characters, as anything less than human, is evil.
Because it ties into and supports a culture that says, "women can't . . ." because they're women. A culture that says they're not as smart as men, or not as stupid. A culture that restricts human potential based on gender, and that's evil.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Inspirational Lunacy
We're going to pretend that I actually posted this on time yesterday, instead of today, half an hour late. I got distracted -- first by Diablo 2, then by the Oscars.
Mostly, I blame the snow, and the general irritation that it has caused. Because I didn't get to play D&D today, which means I didn't get to GM, which means I didn't get my weekly fix. And I need that, man. If I'm going to play with people I don't like, I at least need to get the GMing out of my system. I need the outlet. That's something I learned, a while ago. I play better when I'm GMing my own game.
But that's not what I'm writing about, today. Well, I am, but it wasn't my intention. My intention was (and is) to post about this excellent new comic that I found. (Link through Dr. McNinja, if anyone cares.)
Scary Go Round. I'm only about halfway through the archives, but so far it's been excellent enough to be worth recommending. Even if that first half is the only part worth reading, you should read it, because it's really good. It starts out as a comic about British college students, and turns into this weird, surreal thing that involves robots and architectural disasters and bad science. Mind you, it turns weird pretty quickly, but at least it starts out looking normal.
It's also got wacky inventors. How can you not love a comic with wacky inventors?
Mostly, I blame the snow, and the general irritation that it has caused. Because I didn't get to play D&D today, which means I didn't get to GM, which means I didn't get my weekly fix. And I need that, man. If I'm going to play with people I don't like, I at least need to get the GMing out of my system. I need the outlet. That's something I learned, a while ago. I play better when I'm GMing my own game.
But that's not what I'm writing about, today. Well, I am, but it wasn't my intention. My intention was (and is) to post about this excellent new comic that I found. (Link through Dr. McNinja, if anyone cares.)
Scary Go Round. I'm only about halfway through the archives, but so far it's been excellent enough to be worth recommending. Even if that first half is the only part worth reading, you should read it, because it's really good. It starts out as a comic about British college students, and turns into this weird, surreal thing that involves robots and architectural disasters and bad science. Mind you, it turns weird pretty quickly, but at least it starts out looking normal.
It's also got wacky inventors. How can you not love a comic with wacky inventors?
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