The Order of the Stick

The Order of the Stick
From Left to Right: Belkar, Vaarsuvius, Elan, Haley, Durkon and Roy.
Author(s)	Rich Burlew
Website	http://www.giantitp.com/comics/ootslatest.html
Current status/schedule	Three-a-week (on average) [1]
Launch date	2003-09-30
Publisher(s)	Giant in the Playground
Genre(s)	Fantasy, Comedy, Parody

The Order of the Stick is a comedic fantasy webcomic based on pencil and paper roleplaying games, particularly Dungeons and Dragons, and its accompanying system, d20. While it is principally published on the web, four book collections have been published, including two print-only stories (On the Origin of PCs and Start of Darkness). It appeared monthly in Dragon Magazine from issue #338 (December 2005) up until the magazine's final print issue, #359 (September 2007).

Surveys of webcomic site traffic held in May 2007 and again in November 2007 placed The Order of the Stick as one of the 10 most widely-read webcomics in existence.

The comic is drawn and authored in a deliberate stick figure style by Rich Burlew, a graphic designer and game designer living in Philadelphia. While the stick figure art is usually created on a computer, accounts of historical events have been portrayed in hand-drawn crayon to distinguish them from events in the strip's present. The series has also received one art upgrade (humorously portrayed in the comic) although, as with most comics, minor modifications to the drawing style occur continuously.

Fictional world

The world the characters inhabit is similar to that depicted in Dungeons & Dragons, complete with functional magic and monsters. A significant portion of the humor of the strip is based on the characters being aware of the game rules which govern their lives—they discuss their hit points and class levels, the chances of random encounters, call themselves "PCs" and other characters "NPCs," stop in the middle of combat to check their "to hit" modifiers, and even get "role-playing bonuses" (possibly from an unseen Dungeon Master) for fabricating involved or tragic backstories for themselves. Whether the events that transpire in the comic are happening as part of a game of D&D by unseen players, or are actually happening in a universe where the natural laws happen to conform with the rules of D&D, is not made clear in the comic itself; to date, there have been no references to any real-world people playing out the events that the readers witness. The introduction strip found only in the first book collection strongly suggests that the rules of tabletop gaming are simply part of the natural laws of the universe that the characters live in. The characters also frequently display awareness that they are in a comic strip (breaking the fourth wall).

Despite its ostensibly medieval nature, the OOTS world is rife with anachronisms, both social (such as college admissions standards for the Evil Ivy League) and technological (such as coffee makers). The characters sometimes make references to real-life persons (such as Michael Jackson) or pop culture in general. D&D's various books also seem to exist in the comic's world; for example, at one point Redcloak went through various monster books to choose which undead minions to summon, and Julio Scoundrél chose his Dashing Swordsman profession from a third-party sourcebook.

Three main areas of the world's geography have been mentioned: the Northern Lands, the Southern Lands, and the Western Continent. The Northern Lands resemble medieval Europe in setting, but the ethnic distribution seems to more closely parallel that of contemporary United States, with a wider variety of native skin colors than was present in medieval Europe. For example, Roy Greenhilt and his family have dark brown skin, and are not referred to as coming from a different area or having a different cultural background to the characters with light skin. Other characters, such as the lawyer Phil Rodriguez, show a third (light brown) skin color. Non-human races which are often player characters in D&D, such as dwarves and gnomes, have both dark- and light-skinned members as well. The people of the Southern Lands have a significantly different culture, with nations loosely based on various real-world Asian cultures, such as feudal Japan, China, and India. As the Western Continent has only been mentioned and not seen in the comic, it is unknown what its inhabitants might be like, though they may be based on ancient Mesopotamians.

There are three main pantheons of gods in the OOTS world as well: The Northern Gods, worshipped by the dwarves and humans living in the Northern Lands, are based on the Norse gods, while the Southern Gods (often referred to by their worshippers as the "Twelve Gods") are revered by the people of the Southern Lands and are based on the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac. The third set of gods, called the Western Gods, are based on the deities of the ancient Near East, such as Marduk; only one of their worshippers, the Oracle of the Sunken Valley, has been depicted in the comic so far. A fourth pantheon, called the Eastern Gods and based on the Olympian gods of ancient Greece, was destroyed at the dawn of time by the Snarl and is thus unknown to most inhabitants of the world.

The elves and goblins have their own gods, as well, such as Vaarsuvius' God of Knowledge and Redcloak's Dark One; they are mentioned to have been "raised" to godhood rather than having existed before the universe. As is usual in D&D, the gods are demonstrably real; Thor and others have appeared in the comic several times. It is stated in Start of Darkness that each pantheon has greater control over the geographical area after which they are named, as Tiger (one of the Southern Gods) prevents Thor from directly intervening in events transpiring outside his territory. Another god, "Banjo the Clown," was created by Elan; though Banjo was nothing more than a hand puppet, Elan was able to use it to create small examples of divine power, apparently because any god in the OOTS world gets power based on the number of its worshippers; however, because Banjo never gained more than a handful of followers, he quickly lost power.

Characters

Main article: Characters of the Order of the Stick

The comic's central protagonists, known collectively as "The Order of the Stick," are:

• Roy Greenhilt (Human Fighter, Lawful Good): A reversal of the "dumb fighter" cliché, specialized in the greatsword. Competent and shrewd, Roy is the Order's long-suffering leader and the instigator of most of their adventures. Also is recently deceased.
• Durkon Thundershield (Dwarven Cleric of Thor, Lawful and non-Evil ): Fights with hammer and shield, and a broad assortment of divine spells (such as calling lightning from the heavens). Durkon is wise and sturdy (if afraid of trees), but is often taken aback by his companions' exploits.
• Vaarsuvius (Elven Wizard, Non-evil): Brilliant and powerful, though somewhat lacking in people skills and at times overtly pedantic. Vaarsuvius' gender is deliberately ambiguous. Vaarsuvius' effectiveness is often hindered because of his/her unnecessarily verbose manner of expressing him/herself.
• Haley Starshine (Human Rogue, "Chaotic Good-ish"): The Order's second-in-command, as well as their resident archery expert and lock-picker. Generally deceptive and materialistic, Haley occasionally displays a surprisingly altruistic side. She has had a longtime romantic crush on Elan that has only recently led to a relationship.
• Elan (Human Bard/Dashing Swordsman, Chaotic Good): Elan is the happy-go-lucky, childlike member of the Order. He always means well, but relies mainly on his considerable charm and fool's luck to get him through life. Elan fights with a rapier as well as bardic music and illusion spells, often ineffectively. He is currently in a relationship with Haley.
• Belkar Bitterleaf (Halfling Ranger/Barbarian, Chaotic Evil ): An erratic and vicious yet lovable killer, ruled wholly by his impulses, Belkar fights with two daggers and would happily kill fellow party members for XP.

The comic's central antagonists include:

• Xykon (Human Lich Sorcerer) is an extremely powerful lich sorcerer whose plot to conquer the world is putting the entire universe in danger. He tends to have a rather lax attitude and short attention span, and is rarely a serious character.
• Redcloak (Goblin Cleric), Xykon's second-in-command, is a very powerful goblin cleric (and high priest of the goblin deity The Dark One) who is almost always a more competent leader than his boss. He holds a deep grudge against humans (particularly the Sapphire Guard), whom he views much as they view goblinkind.
• The Linear Guild is an opposing adventuring party with a changing roster of 'evil opposites' of the Order's members, led by Elan's twin brother, Nale.
• Miko Miyazaki (Human Monk/Paladin) was a paladin of the Sapphire Guard, who mistakenly believed the Order to be in league with Xykon. Currently deceased after destroying Soon's Gate.

Critical Reaction and Awards

Due to its deep understanding of roleplaying (and, specifically, Dungeons and Dragons), The Order of the Stick has been hailed as "'must' reading" for comic readers who play such games. While critics sometimes cite the insular nature of in-jokes regarding the D&D rules that crop up regularly (especially in the early part of the comic's run), the comic is just as often seen as being accessible to casual readers without such gaming knowledge. The comic has been praised for its "shrewd writing" and "increasingly intricate and cleverly scripted adventures",, as well as its execution.

The comic's stick figure art has received more mixed reviews, with some critics praising its "surprisingly expressive art" while others denounce its simple geometric characters as only "good for someone who isn't really an artist". Burlew has defended his art style several times in public statements, stating that it was chosen deliberately rather than due to lack of proficiency at drawing and pointing out that the primary goal of comic art is to communicate the actions of the characters, which his style does as well as any other. Burlew has also addressed similar criticisms of his art within the comic several times, either by contrasting his usual art with more realistic drawings [2] or by simply putting self-deprecating dialogue regarding his style into the mouths of characters [3].

The Order of the Stick has been nominated for eight Web Cartoonist's Choice Awards, of which it has won five. It was named Best Gaming Comic and Best Long Form Comic in 2007, Best Fantasy Comic in 2006, and tied for Best Fantasy Comic in 2005. No Cure for the Paladin Blues, the comic's second print compilation, won a 2007 Gold ENnie award. The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art in New York City included The Order of the Stick #443 in its first webcomic-only exhibit, Infinite Canvas: The Art of Webcomics.

Publications

The Order of the Stick books are published by Giant in the Playground Games, a small press publishing company formed by OOTS creator Rich Burlew. The books are widely distributed to both online and brick-and-mortar retailers in the hobby game market, as well as to comic book direct retailers.

In order of publication:

• The Order of the Stick: Dungeon Crawlin' Fools (2005) ISBN 0-9766580-0-3. Volume 1, strips 1-121, 120 pp. full color.
• The Order of the Stick: On the Origin of PCs (2005) ISBN 0-9766580-1-1. Print-exclusive prequel, "Volume 0", 72 pp. black-and-white.
• The Order of the Stick: No Cure for the Paladin Blues (November 2006) ISBN 0-9766580-3-8. Volume 2, strips 121a-300, 244 pp. full color.
• The Order of the Stick: Start of Darkness (June 2007) ISBN 978-0-9766580-4-7. Print-exclusive prequel, "Volume -1", 96 pp. black-and-white with color insert.
• The Order of the Stick: War And XPs (expected After Christmas 2007). Volume 3, full color.

The game

In partnership with APE Games, Giant in the Playground released the first OotS game, The Order of the Stick Adventure Game: The Dungeon of Dorukan. The game, which was released in September 2006, utilizes both cards and a board and has strong influences from games such as Talisman and Dungeon!, as well as the less known "Kings & Things".

The Dungeon of Dorukan is designed for 2-6 people, aged twelve and older. Each player controls one member of the OotS team to explore the dungeon and hunt down Xykon. The player is able to train their chosen member with a variety of shtick cards. Each character provides a different gaming experience, but the players always have the ability to either aid or harm their team mates.

A second, stand-alone game, The Order of the Stick Adventure Game: The Linear Guild, is set to be released by APE Games in the Fall. Players will be able to take on the parts of Nale, Thog, Sabine, and other members of the Linear Guild in their own dungeon adventure, or they can combine the materials in the game with those from the Dungeon of Dorukan set for a massive Order of the Stick vs. Linear Guild head-to-head adventure.

External links

• The Order of the Stick
• Giant in the Playground
• OotS APE game page
• OotS Adventure Game: The Dungeon of Dorukan at BoardGameGeek