Please Say this is a Joke

[askstoomuch]

ok now a question pops in my head, why doesn't one of the alt who's fighting a kin the leash, makes killing her a whole lot easier ?

[CelineSSauve]

The wording would seem to be unclear. You could be right, or the part about her powers being subdued could be a different part of the sentence.

I find the wording to not be unclear. This is Thunt we're talking about. He planned this 8 years ago and I'm sure he worked out the dialogue first. It seems rather clear that when you hold the leash she can't attack anyone, and does not have access to her powers. When no one holds the leash, she does have access to her powers.

I tend to assume the second meaning because if she did have access to her powers when no one is holding the leash then I feel like we'd have seen them used before this. If not by our Kin then certainly by one of the more aggressive Alts.

Unless the WOTC version's abilities were not really why Thunt was interested in Kin. His version might have other abilities.

Consider the fact that she was kept in an ordinary cage when Goblinslayer was sleeping, or not in town.

[willpell]

The wording would seem to be unclear. You could be right, or the part about her powers being subdued could be a different part of the sentence.

Rereading that sentence, I'm particularly amused by "she can't commit a violent act, especially against the wielder".

I tend to assume the second meaning because if she did have access to her powers when no one is holding the leash then I feel like we'd have seen them used before this. If not by our Kin then certainly by one of the more aggressive Alts.

Unless Thunt just forgot those SLAs exist, or houseruled them out as plot-breakers, or they just aren't that useful in a massive brawl (I don't know offhand exactly what half-breeds can do, but purebloods' abilities aren't that strong - not to mention that Forgath and Minmax are level 3 humans and a half-blood yuan-ti is ECL 12, so even if she has no class levels she's absurdly powerful and it would make quite a bit of sense to gimp her for the sake of the plot; the collar may or may not have been involved).

ok now a question pops in my head, why doesn't one of the alt who's fighting a kin the leash, makes killing her a whole lot easier ?

An even better idea occurs to me - why didn't Fogath cast Dispel Magic on the collar of an alt-kin when they were far enough away to likely be out of range of the theoretical explosion (around a corner would be particularly safe, since a magical explosion might be a burst rather than a spread), thereby finding out whether the supposed exploding enchantment actually exists?

Of course, maybe he did this a million times already....

[Marnath]

Consider the fact that she was kept in an ordinary cage when Goblinslayer was sleeping, or not in town.

That supports my theory, not yours. If she did have powers when the leash isn't held then she would not be kept in a normal cage, it would be a cage that stopped her powers.

[SamWiser]

Consider the fact that she was kept in an ordinary cage when Goblinslayer was sleeping, or not in town.

That doesn't really mean much. She could be completely powerless, and he would still do that. I don't think Goblinslayer would be above caging her just for the humiliation.

[CelineSSauve]

Consider the fact that she was kept in an ordinary cage when Goblinslayer was sleeping, or not in town.

That doesn't really mean much. She could be completely powerless, and he would still do that. I don't think Goblinslayer would be above caging her just for the humiliation.

That supports my theory, not yours. If she did have powers when the leash isn't held then she would not be kept in a normal cage, it would be a cage that stopped her powers.

I'm not saying she's powerless, I'm saying that Thunt's version of...snakepeople might have different powers than those you'd expect from a WOTC snake person. Powers that can't even be used from a mundane cage.

[RocketScientist]

It never even occurred to me that she might only be without powers while someone holds the leash. That really does seem like what it says, though. But then why hasn't she used any powers?

Oops, wait. Kin does say that her powers are dampened by the collar, and she's the only one holding onto it at the time. http://www.goblinscomic.com/07142009/

[CelineSSauve]

Oops, wait. Kin does say that her powers are dampened by the collar, and she's the only one holding onto it at the time. http://www.goblinscomic.com/07142009/

Ah, good catch!

During that scene I'm always watching the... Ogre? Giant? Adorably-cute-yellowish-furry-guy

[Marnath]

Oops, wait. Kin does say that her powers are dampened by the collar, and she's the only one holding onto it at the time. http://www.goblinscomic.com/07142009/

Ah, good catch!

During that scene I'm always watching the... Ogre? Giant? Adorably-cute-yellowish-furry-guy

His name is Pan. He's an ogre, albeit a really big not overly intelligent one. He and Yala together are one of my favorite characters.

[Alecat]

I love that pair too! They're such a great team.

[CelineSSauve]

His name is Pan. He's an ogre, albeit a really big not overly intelligent one. He and Yala together are one of my favorite characters.

I was relatively sure of Yala, but since Yala doesn't speak, where did you get Pan's name from?

(Also, I am really rather horrible with names, terms, titles and such IRL, which is why I tend to dodge them when I can. )

[Marnath]

His name is Pan. He's an ogre, albeit a really big not overly intelligent one. He and Yala together are one of my favorite characters.

I was relatively sure of Yala, but since Yala doesn't speak, where did you get Pan's name from?

(Also, I am really rather horrible with names, terms, titles and such IRL, which is why I tend to dodge them when I can. )

From Tarol.

[CelineSSauve]

From Tarol.

Ah, okay. I wasn't sure if I'd missed it in passing during a strip.

[willpell]

Oops, wait. Kin does say that her powers are dampened by the collar, and she's the only one holding onto it at the time. http://www.goblinscomic.com/07142009/

Ah, good catch!

During that scene I'm always watching the... Ogre? Giant? Adorably-cute-yellowish-furry-guy

During that scene I'm wondering what the heck the huge white irregular blob in the foreground in front of the turnstile is....

[SamWiser]

I think that's the hair of the grey skull lady. You can see her clearly in the previous page.

[cwellsx]

It seems to me that Goblins is "fair use" and "parody".

Its purpose is to parody Dungeons and Dragons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use#F ... and_parody

[willpell]

It seems to me that Goblins is "fair use" and "parody".

Its purpose is to parody Dungeons and Dragons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use#F ... and_parody

It completely is that. If Wotco picked a fight, Thunt could win. He would, however, bankrupt himself in the process. All hail our glorious justice system.

[RedwoodElf]

It seems to me that Goblins is "fair use" and "parody".

Its purpose is to parody Dungeons and Dragons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use#F ... and_parody

It completely is that. If Wotco picked a fight, Thunt could win. He would, however, bankrupt himself in the process. All hail our glorious justice system.

Well Thunt would need to contersue for legal costs and damages for defamation (they would be accusing him of stealing "their" ideas)

As far as I know ,the Silkscales are something unique to the Goblins world (Being apparently a naturally evolved race, rather than twisted magical creations of some mad wizard)

[ActsStupidly]

Before anyone puts their foot in their mouths again(as I've been seeing this entire thread). Here is a Wikipediea link for OGL, I make a direct pointing to the externals/ reference links *Points points points* as being extremely informative on this matter. Particularly the Wizard's link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Game_License

Also, as has been said before, if someone were to use Thunt's artwork to get money without Thunt's approval that would be a breach of Thunt's own copyrights. Its a two sided coin, heck a spin-off series in Thunt's world comes to mind. Now Thunt could ASK WTOC if he could use their stuff and I'm pretty certain they wouldn't mind. They may want cash though seeing as they are now owned by Hasbro and are a business and would be entitled to royalties. HOWEVER, I do know WOTC has been NETOROUSLY LENIANT with this sort of thing for fear of TSR's fate and has actually been why they have been able to popularize D&D nowadays. Finally, I would like to mention a few D&D movies(mostly small time independent films or from small studios from outside Hollywood), as I saw requests somewhere along the line so here's a link for Dorkness Riseing and I should probably mention the Scy-fi TV channel movies.

[CelineSSauve]

HOWEVER, I do know WOTC has been NETOROUSLY LENIANT with this sort of thing for fear of TSR's fate and has actually been why they have been able to popularize D&D nowadays.

Which is why I was surprised with them now devolving back into TSR, but that does appear to be the case when one threatens legal action for a monster in the SDR who is being parodied (which is the Cease and Desist that Thunt mentioned got him started with the removal of things).

Finally, I would like to mention a few D&D movies(mostly small time independent films or from small studios from outside Hollywood), as I saw requests somewhere along the line so here's a link for Dorkness Riseing and I should probably mention the Scy-fi TV channel movies.

Before you get the fine folks at ZOE in WOTC's TSR-esque crosshairs: they are using Pathfinder, not D&D.

EDIT: Actually, now that I've woken up a bit more. I do remember that the 3.5 books were used in the second movie. The adventure I got from Kickstarter was using Pathfinder, though. Odd...

[mortissimus]

Maglubiyet is a much bigger problem.

Not necessarily. The name, without the accents, is just Ma─ƒlubiyet which means loss or defeat in... Persian I think? So if you just change it to the word with the accent mark it's still more or less the same name, it's just a foreign word and not a direct lift of the proper name and it now means defeat which is pretty much on the nose for a god of goblins.

Google says Turkish.

As has been pointed out however, the general problem is not one of being right, but one of a lawsuit being way to much hassle for the little creator. Which means that the limits are not set by logic or even law, but by WOTC's legal department. Therefore it would make sense to get a deal on what may and may not be done before retconning the comic. Or another strategy would be to discourage lawsuits by banding together with other webcomics and raise hell about WOTC's strategy, thus making it less profitable for WOTC.

[RocketScientist]

There's no harm but some extra time involved for Tarol & Danielle to change anything trademarked, and it gets rid of a potential problem for them. There are at least three different kinds of mythological snake-people (echidna, lamia & naga), so losing yuan-ti isn't a big deal, and that is the one I would expect them to have to most concern over. And it's easy to rename Maglubiyet if need be. He can make something up, or use one of the many war gods from mythology. I kind of think we're over-worrying here.

[mortissimus]

Like Tyr, Odin, Thor and Freja who among their responsibilities included war. Also famous for naming Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Want a day named after you? Being a war-god appears to be a good way.

[Sizemore Rockwell]

Like Tyr, Odin, Thor and Freja who among their responsibilities included war. Also famous for naming Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Want a day named after you? Being a war-god appears to be a good way.

As it happens, Odin sacrificed an eye to drink from the Well of Wisdom. So for goblins, there could be Growdim, who sacrificed an eye for...something more goblin-y.

[brnforce]

I find this kind of idiocy very funny. I never played DnD when I was younger, but after reading Goblins for many years I started wondering if it would be fun. I looked at the online tabletops, and I remembered my brother getting into Warhammer. He was Skaven (which I always thought was really cool lol)

Now? Ha! I will never put money into their dumb pockets. I'd rather they fail miserably.