# Order of the Stick - Book 6 Discussion Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 3, 2014, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-6-discussion-thread/682755 "2014-03-03T16:07:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 173
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-6-discussion-thread/682755/3442 "2017-05-27T13:53:37Z")
The title is “catching up”, not “caught up”. We don’t know how long he’ll keep up this pace. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2017, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-6-discussion-thread/682755/3443 "2017-05-29T18:51:32Z")
[1074](http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1074.html) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2017, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-6-discussion-thread/682755/3444 "2017-05-29T18:59:13Z")
I’d love to see a little more detail on just what Andi’s thinking right now. That last panel can be interpreted in many different ways. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2017, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-6-discussion-thread/682755/3445 "2017-05-29T19:48:18Z")
> [@Mr\_Shine](#): > > Thread title “Catching Up”. Not yet Burlew, not by a long way. Could you give us a ball park figure on what you would consider adequate? Would five hundred pages a week be enough for you? ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2017, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-6-discussion-thread/682755/3446 "2017-05-29T19:49:01Z")
That last panel made me crack up so much! ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2017, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-6-discussion-thread/682755/3447 "2017-05-29T20:16:06Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Could you give us a ball park figure on what you would consider adequate? Would five hundred pages a week be enough for you? The pace of the last 2 is a good start. 5 or 6 more like that before settling into a one a week average would be reasonable. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2017, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-6-discussion-thread/682755/3448 "2017-05-29T20:31:52Z")
The ship/giant arc is actually pretty good, or at least insightful. It’s about leadership, which is actually just a bombastic word for management. Andi walks us through what a good worker/terrible leader looks like. Bandana in contrast is… an adequate leader. Not great, not quite good. But not bad either. Adequate. She listens to the concerns of her underlings and takes steps to address them, leaving them placated if not necessarily happy. What she didn’t do was _anticipate_ and _preempt_ their concerns. The issues were brewing for a while after all. When Bandana snapped at Andi, she acted like a colleague, when it would have been better to issue orders while perhaps leaving the door open for discussion at another time. That’s what the head cook has to do. Her management style was frankly fine under most circumstances. But if there’s a disgruntled underling, a savvy boss will head off their bad behavior. Or to put it in another way, tough luck. Sometimes you encounter dysfunctional co-workers. Good managers prioritize fixing the problem rather than the blame. Bandana understands that. If she was better than adequate she would have addressed it earlier. Roy isn’t exactly a perfect leader either, though I think he grasps the fundamentals better than Bandana. Both have room to grow. And even Andi isn’t completely clueless as seen on the last panel. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2017, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-6-discussion-thread/682755/3449 "2017-05-29T23:04:09Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Could you give us a ball park figure on what you would consider adequate? Would five hundred pages a week be enough for you? Was that an option? I’m voting for that one! ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2017, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-6-discussion-thread/682755/3450 "2017-05-30T02:23:34Z")
No need for straw men. A steady pace and plot movement would be fine, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2017, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-6-discussion-thread/682755/3451 "2017-05-30T05:28:44Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Could you give us a ball park figure on what you would consider adequate? Would five hundred pages a week be enough for you? What pace was Burlew cranking them out at, during, oh, I dunno, the last half of what became No Cure for the Paladin Blues or Don’t Split The Party? That pace seemed to please a lot of people. (When he stuck to it, anyway.) I just want some consistency, and maybe an update rate faster than one a month. Then again, it’s free, at least until Burlew makes this O-Chul story available for sale. Another part of it is that, while I don’t hate or dislike the Mechane’s crewmembers, I really don’t give much of a shit what happens to them, or how they grow as people. I am hoping that their character growth will matter with respect to the main plot. I guess he could end them like he did the Resistance and that Elven hit team, but that would really seem like the prior 12 months of this was a bit of a waste. I do care what’s going on with the Snarl, Team Evil, what happened to Serini, whether Lauren got mind-wiped by the Snarl, what are Lee, Nero and Cedric going to do next, etc… I have faith that the eventual book will tie in all of this shipboard drama, as well as Durk’s “This was your life,” passages, but right now, I’m finding it difficult to care. Oh well, I was supposed to be on hiatus anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2017, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-6-discussion-thread/682755/3452 "2017-05-30T05:38:16Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > No need for straw men. > > A steady pace and plot movement would be fine, thanks. It’s not a strawman. As I pointed out above, Burlew released over a hundred pages of new material this month. And yet people are complaining about his slow pace. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2017, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-6-discussion-thread/682755/3453 "2017-05-30T09:08:17Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It’s not a strawman. As I pointed out above, Burlew released over a hundred pages of new material this month. And yet people are complaining about his slow pace. That’s disingenuous - you’re aware people are complaining about the slow pace of the main comic, specifically. And it’s not just a complaint about the number of pages produced, it’s a complaint also about the pace of the action in those pages. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2017, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-6-discussion-thread/682755/3454 "2017-05-30T09:26:21Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It’s not a strawman. As I pointed out above, Burlew released over a hundred pages of new material this month. And yet people are complaining about his slow pace. I can’t read it, I can’t buy it. As far as I’m concerned it doesn’t exist and is completely irrelevant to complaints about the main comic speed. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2017, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-6-discussion-thread/682755/3455 "2017-05-30T14:03:38Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > That’s disingenuous - you’re aware people are complaining about the slow pace of the main comic, specifically. And it’s not just a complaint about the number of pages produced, it’s a complaint also about the pace of the action in those pages. OOTS isn’t some sort of gift to the world, it’s how Richard Burlew earns his living. The stuff he sells ARE the main comic. The O-Chul comic is one he took payment for several years ago, and has been working to honour his obligations to his paying customers. The online comic is a loss leader, to draw in customers who will buy his books. If you don’t like the content, or the frequency of updates, then you are entitled to your money back. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2017, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-6-discussion-thread/682755/3456 "2017-05-30T17:09:34Z")
> [@Mr\_Shine](#): > > I can’t read it, I can’t buy it. You can’t read it because you didn’t buy it. Which is the usual practice in the publishing world. Burlew is an exception in that he allows people like you to read some of his work for free. And you’re whining he doesn’t give you more free work. You want more of Burlew’s work? Pay for it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2017, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-6-discussion-thread/682755/3457 "2017-05-30T17:18:50Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > That’s disingenuous - you’re aware people are complaining about the slow pace of the main comic, specifically. And it’s not just a complaint about the number of pages produced, it’s a complaint also about the pace of the action in those pages. No, it’s not a complaint about the pace of the action. As I’ve pointed out, nobody complains about the pace of the action when they read these stories in book form. Burlew, in fact, often adds extra pages into the story in the books. The complaint people are making isn’t that the story has too many pages; they’re complaining that the pages aren’t coming fast enough. If Burlew stopped posting pages as he produced them and simply kept everything in his office until he released them in book form, there wouldn’t be complaints like this. You’ll notice nobody complained about the pacing of _How the Paladin Got His Scar_ (or _Haleo and Julelan_ or _Spoiler Alert_ or _Uncivil Servant_). Because Burlew released them as finished works. If he had released them one page at a time, people would have been complaining about how page 18 was pointless and didn’t advance the story. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2017, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-6-discussion-thread/682755/3458 "2017-05-30T17:35:56Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > If Burlew stopped posting pages as he produced them and simply kept everything in his office until he released them in book form, there wouldn’t be complaints like this. They’d be more like the George R. R. Martin complaints 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2017, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-6-discussion-thread/682755/3459 "2017-05-30T18:00:58Z")
No, sorry, Mr. Dibble. All of that crap has fuck-all to do with complaining about the slow pace and plot stall of the published comic. That’s what we’re discussing here, not all of his other work. And sure, I’m not paying for it. But I still get to complain about it. Same as you and me get to complain about anything else we want to. After all, you didn’t pay to read the posts you’re bitching about. I at least have suggested a viable alternative path that would alleviate these kinds of complaints. You’re just whining about people complaining. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2017, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-6-discussion-thread/682755/3460 "2017-05-30T19:59:00Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > I don’t think protagonists can count on the nick-of-time property of the Mechane to rescue them from their problems. They have to work those out the hard way. That doesn’t wash to me. Julio is a protagonist. That’s why he can do all the Narrative Law stuff. Sure, he’s not a protagonist in this story, but he is in his own. There’s really no way for it not to take them where they need to go at the right time, because that’s what will happen in the story. If they don’t make it to the place they are trying to get to, it will still be the exact right place at the right time. If not, then the world ends. I mean, I guess they could show up early. But the ticking clock set up makes this difficult. The other guy teleported there. And that’s why this ship stuff feels so slow. We’ve got a ticking clock, but we’re taking time out for this whole other plot. It’s a story within the story, while the PCs have this battle that doesn’t even actually tie in to the overarching plot. They’re just an enemy that would happen to be in that location. Throw in that the actual production has been slow, and all the momentum feels lost. I’m not even sure it won’t be a lull even in book form. This part of the story isn’t even about the PCs. They’re the backdrop to Andi and Bandana’s story right now. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2017, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-6-discussion-thread/682755/3461 "2017-05-30T20:18:32Z")
> [@](#): > > If he had released them one page at a time, people would have been complaining about how page 18 was pointless and didn’t advance the story. What do you mean? That’s when O-Chul first attempts peaceful negotiation with the hobgoblins! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-6-discussion-thread/682755.md?page=172) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-6-discussion-thread/682755.md?page=174)