Order of the Stick - Book 6 Discussion Thread

[Alessan]

@Alessan

That’s a very valid point.

I don’t know. Maybe we’ll see how whatever he went through affected his personality. Or maybe the Zeus of the Stickworld is different from the one we’re familiar with. A lot will depend, in fact, on the next few strips, where I assume we’ll get to spend some time with Thor, and learn how closely Burlew’s gods adhere to their mythological counterparts.

OK, now that we’ve gotten to know Thor a bit, while he’s definitely Chaotic Good and a bit of a dudebro, he’s also highly intelligent, patient, laid-back and compassionate - all character traits not normally ascribed to the Thor of myth and legend. I think we can assume, based on that, that the gods of Stickworld can differ quite significantly from their classical namesakes.

[MrDibble]

@Alessan

OK, now that we’ve gotten to know Thor a bit, while he’s definitely Chaotic Good and a bit of a dudebro, he’s also highly intelligent, patient, laid-back and compassionate - all character traits not normally ascribed to the Thor of myth and legend.

They are, however, almost all character traits I’d associate with the *MCU *Thor (at least, at the current point in his arc) I’m wondering if there’s been some subliminal influence there over the last few years - *this *characterization of Thor doesn’t seem like he would let an entire village get killed while distracted by a prayer for spells, for instance.

[Alessan]

@MrDibble

They are, however, almost all character traits I’d associate with the *MCU *Thor (at least, at the current point in his arc) I’m wondering if there’s been some subliminal influence there over the last few years - *this *characterization of Thor doesn’t seem like he would let an entire village get killed while distracted by a prayer for spells, for instance.

I think at this point we really have to start thinking of the first book - before Rich realized he was writing a fantasy epic - as being only semi-canonical, especially when it comes to throwaway gags.

Besides, that doesn’t contradict my point: if Stickworld Thor isn’t a dumb hothead, then maybe Stickworld Zeus isn’t an imperious horndog.

[dtilque]

@MrDibble

They are, however, almost all character traits I’d associate with the *MCU *Thor (at least, at the current point in his arc) I’m wondering if there’s been some subliminal influence there over the last few years - *this *characterization of Thor doesn’t seem like he would let an entire village get killed while distracted by a prayer for spells, for instance.

It’s not subliminal. Burlew has out right said that his Thor is based more on the Marvel comic than the Norse myth. And I agree with the semi-canonicalness of those early jokes. And for that matter, even some of the more recent jokes.

[MrDibble]

@Alessan

I think at this point we really have to start thinking of the first book - before Rich realized he was writing a fantasy epic - as being only semi-canonical, especially when it comes to throwaway gags.

I’m happy to agree, but people keep referring to them in relation to current stuff - also, how do we know what’s intended as throwaway with someone who likes foreshadowing as much as Rich does?

Besides, that doesn’t contradict my point: if Stickworld Thor isn’t a dumb hothead, then maybe Stickworld Zeus isn’t an imperious horndog.

Oh, I agree on this point completely.

I just was curious what others might think about possible outside influence on character development.

[MrDibble]

@dtilque

It’s not subliminal. Burlew has out right said that his Thor is based more on the Marvel comic than the Norse myth.

I don’t doubt you, but a cite would be nice.

[Chronos]

I’m not up on god stats in more recent editions, but in 2nd edition, player character ability scores all ranged from 3 to 18 (maybe 19, if you were a race that had a bonus to that stat), and deity ability scores all ranged from 20 to 25. So the Dudebro God of Weightlifting would obviously have a Strength score of 25, but even his intelligence would be greater than that of any mortal (except for a rare few who started with really good rolls and the right race and found one of the super-rare books that increased an ability score).

[Alessan]

@Chronos

I’m not up on god stats in more recent editions, but in 2nd edition, player character ability scores all ranged from 3 to 18 (maybe 19, if you were a race that had a bonus to that stat), and deity ability scores all ranged from 20 to 25. So the Dudebro God of Weightlifting would obviously have a Strength score of 25, but even his intelligence would be greater than that of any mortal (except for a rare few who started with really good rolls and the right race and found one of the super-rare books that increased an ability score).

According to the 3rd Edition sourcebook Deities and Demigods, Thor’s stats are as follows:

Str 92, Dex 29, Con 32, Int 25, Wis 28, Cha 28.

[Jonathan_Chance]

@dtilque

It’s not subliminal. Burlew has out right said that his Thor is based more on the Marvel comic than the Norse myth. And I agree with the semi-canonicalness of those early jokes. And for that matter, even some of the more recent jokes.

Because I have to.

Nordic Halloween - Scandinavia and the World

[The_Other_Waldo_Pepper]

@Chronos

I’m not up on god stats in more recent editions, but in 2nd edition, player character ability scores all ranged from 3 to 18 (maybe 19, if you were a race that had a bonus to that stat), and deity ability scores all ranged from 20 to 25. So the Dudebro God of Weightlifting would obviously have a Strength score of 25, but even his intelligence would be greater than that of any mortal (except for a rare few who started with really good rolls and the right race and found one of the super-rare books that increased an ability score).

As far as I can tell, 2nd edition Legends & Lore presents a Thor who of course has a Strength of 25, but who only has an Intelligence of 18 — same as his Wisdom. (And, naturally, Heracles had a 25 Strength and an 11 Intelligence and a 9 Wisdom.)

[dtilque]

@dtilque

It’s not subliminal. Burlew has out right said that his Thor is based more on the Marvel comic than the Norse myth.

@MrDibble

I don’t doubt you, but a cite would be nice.

This is a Wayback cite: here so it may take a while to load. The quickest way to find the relevant quote is do a search for “Marvel”.

I guess I should quote it for the lazy among you:

@Rich Burlew

Yes, exactly. More to the point, everyone knows who Thor is, even if they haven’t read D&D books for years. So I picked Thor because he had a big hammer and wore a hat with horns. That is all the internal logic I required when choosing, because I don’t care about the things you apparently care about, like whether the alignment printed in the D&D book for Thor was 100% appropriate, or what the long-dead people who invented Thor portrayed him as. Those things are utterly irrelevent. I care more about the Marvel Comics version of Thor than I do about what is printed in Deities & Demigods.

In the OOTS world, Thor behaves exactly as I say he does, and no other way.

[Alessan]

So that resolves any questions one might have regarding the gods’ personalities.

[MrDibble]

Cool, thanks.

[Chronos]

As an aside, that quote was from before the Marvel Comics version of Thor had five hit movies. Or even one. Just for context.

[dtilque]

@Chronos

As an aside, that quote was from before the Marvel Comics version of Thor had five hit movies. Or even one. Just for context.

That may be, but that doesn’t mean the Thor of the current arc wasn’t influenced by the movies. I haven’t seen the movies, but from various comments on the GitP forum as well as here, it appears they have.

[Chronos]

Influence, sure, but the point is that the movies certainly aren’t the only influence, and that the Giant is also drawing on some subset of the many decades worth of comics history.

[Jophiel]

I took Burlew’s comments as more “I care so little about adhering to Norse mythology or old editions of Deities & Demigods that the Marvel version is probably closer” than “I am using the Marvel version [comics or movies] as my Thor template”.

It would be like me writing a comic with elves and responding to criticism with “I give more of a shit about the Keebler elves than your bitching about Tolkien or Scandinavian myths”.

[Measure_for_Measure]

5x5 alignment guide: https://www.reddit.com/r/DnDBehindTheScreen/comments/37vo3q/a_short_guide_to_gdming_5x5_alignments/

5x5 chart: 5x5 Alignment Chart - Imgur

5x5 pie chart: 5x5 Alignment Easydamus - Imgur

5x5 alignment meme with English counties. I don’t get the subtexts either:

Orange Geomatics

More helpful 5x5 meme: The Ultimate 5x5 Alignment Chart

More memes I don’t understand: 5x5 alignment chart | Tumblr

[DesertDog]

@Jophiel

It would be like me writing a comic with elves and responding to criticism with “I give more of a shit about the Keebler elves than your bitching about Tolkien or Scandinavian myths”.

Works for Groenning in Disenchantment. I walked in partway through an episode and pointed to Elfo. “What’s that?” thinking he was a yard gnome or something.
“An elf?”
“That is an elf?”
“A Keebler elf.”

Made perfect sense.

[Little_Nemo]

@DesertDog

Works for Groenning in Disenchantment. I walked in partway through an episode and pointed to Elfo. “What’s that?” thinking he was a yard gnome or something.
“An elf?”
“That is an elf?”
“A Keebler elf.”

Made perfect sense.

On the various nature of trolls.