Adventurers!
| Adventurers! | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Mark Shallow |
| Website | http://www.adventurers-comic.com/ |
| Current status/schedule | Finished |
| Launch date | 2000 December 1 [1] |
| End date | 2006 October 9 |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy, Parody |
Adventurers! is a webcomic authored by Mark Shallow and hosted by Keenspot. The comic is set in the world of a stereotypical console role-playing game filled with every single cliché imaginable. Though crudely drawn, it vigorously lampoons a wide variety of RPG games. Adventurers! is the oldest and most likely the best known of the comics of its narrow subgenre of console RPG parodies.
The characters show varying degrees of awareness about existing inside a video game. The protagonist is the hero Karn, complete with gravity-defying hair and a big sword. He seems not to be blessed with much intelligence, but he does have an innate understanding of how his reality works. He's the source of endless frustration for his sarcastic mage sidekick Ardam, who is highly intelligent and rational in a world where buildings on fire won't burn down until the heroes' actions trigger it. These two are accompanied by an eclectic group of party members as they journey to defeat the evil villain Khrima.
As yet another nod to the console RPGs it parodies, the comic's strip numbers maxed out at 999 (the number being a common maximum for attributes, attack damage etc. along with 9999). Two years' worth of strips were numbered #999, with sub-numbers to indicate in which part of the Final Battle story arc they fall.
On October 9th, 2006, the comic concluded, revealing that it the player was in fact a character from Mark Shallow's other webcomic, Antihero for Hire. Work on a series of printed books is currently underway.
Characters
Party Members
- Karn
The protagonist, a fighter driven to near obsession by RPG staples such as gaining levels.
- Ardam
One of the first two party members, a long-suffering mage who flatly refuses to accept the logical fallacies of the game world.
- Drecker
The third to join the party, a thief with a growing distaste for mountains (due to the mind-boggling amount of mountains encountered throughout the game).
- Karashi
A ninja and Drecker's girlfriend.
- Tesla
Gun-obsessed ranger and Ardam's adoring fangirl.
- Gildward
Comically weak bard with at least one surprisingly powerful ability.
- Chookie
Almost completely useless (more so than Gildward), but "it doesn't matter because I'm cute!"
- Spybot
Short for "Killer Evil Death Spybot 5000", a robot that makes little secret of its motives. Generally speaks in variations of "-Beep- Destroy -Beep- Kill."
- Lumi
Joining the party late into the game, a good-natured cleric.
Khrima's Army
- Khrima
The game's primary villain (a title eventually challenged by Eternion) who seeks to conquer the world.
- Argent
- Mizuna
- The Axe
- Blanc
- Cody
- Kemmit & Meck
Other Villains
- Rio
- Garshask
- Whizrom
Eternals
- Eternion
- Infinel
- Maxima Termis
- Imposis
- Invisin
- Endless
Plot Summary
Crossovers
Once had a run-over with Ian J.'s RPG World which eventually resulted a joint venture between the artists, Starsomething.
At the end of the comic, it was revealed that Wrench from Antihero for Hire, one of Mark Shallow's other comics, was the person playing the game.
External links
- Official Site
- Adventurers! Statistics - Statistics and Character profiles