Pick #18: Darths & Droids

If you have ever played Dungeons & Dragons - or Dark Dungeon 2nd Ed. - and at least have a working understanding of the Star Wars saga... then this webcomic is for you. Darths & Droids follows two players who play... Jedi knights - a young Obi Wan Kenobi and his master. Except - the players are obviously not aware of the Star Wars saga, but they are instead hard-core dungeon bashers. What the players say is put in text baloons above the photo's of the heroes - and what the hard pressed GM says is put in yellow baloons and squares.

Jedi Master: "All right! So who do we kill?"
GM: " You're first level. You're just here to negotiate."
Jedi Master: "I can't negotiate with a sword! I need a blaster!"

The players are real nerdy - like real life ones, sorry guys - and they help make up the universe as it goes along. Who'd have guessed that you could parry plasma bolts with your laser sabre because the players outgeeked the GM?

The seven makers of this parody are not as of yet affiliated with Lucasfilm, so they don't earn money with it - but they are at it for well over 400 strips. And they plan to do all of the movies - their way. The comic appears three times weekly - sunday, tuesday, thursday.

You don't even have to really like Star Wars - though it helps. How come I missed this? Just found it. And just had a lot of great snorts.

Pick #13: DM of the Rings

Probably you will have seen at least one of the Lord of the Rings movies. Maybe you appreciated the Leni Riefenstahl like filming, and maybe you thought the movie captured the spirit of the books much better than could be expected. Or maybe you had to show you really liked the book better, and had to nag.

No matter what, if you kind of know the idea of Lord of the Rings - and have role played a fantasy game at least once or twice - you may recognize this. DM of the Rings is a comic series - about 150 parts long - which follows Lord of the Rings as if it's an adventure played by role players and their GM. It's pretty silly. And great fun.

Sam: "I'm not a hobbit either"
Frodo: "Don't be daft, of course you are"
Sam: "No Sir. It says right on my character sheet. I'm a halfling."
Frodo: "It also says you rolled a 5 for intelligence."

The series was created by Shamus Young, who is a self acclaimed nerd and programmer. He's also a prolific blog writer. Have a look... after you work is done. Or you may be stuck.

Pick #12: Doraleous & Ass.

Doraleous - not Dolores, although the mistake is an understandable one - is a knight. Not the brightest, but he is a brave, commanding, realistic (euh...) and a slight bit grumpy knight. An animated knight, to be exact.

Not animated as in undead, but as in an animated web based series of short movies. Together with his associates Mirdon the mage, Neebs the elf, and Drak the almost naked dwarf,  he goes where no... animated knight has gone before. Or something like that. It's really a bit silly.

And that's where it gets funny, once it's really silly. Sometimes it's a bit slow, but when it's getting steam there are quite a few laughs. Like when they're hanging shackled in a dungeon and start singing "I see a grub...". Or when the blue version of the lady of the lake tries to convince Doraleous that a twig is really the powerful Zephyr blade he's looking for. Which it is probably not. Or... well, you catch the drift.

Doraleous & Associates have a solid fanbase, and are well into their second zany season.You can find them at The Escapist, here.

Dark Dungeon Comix [#17]