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Nodwick | |
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Cover art for Nodwick Chronicles V Tour of Doodie. | |
Author(s) | Aaron Williams |
Website | comic |
Launch date | April 1998 First strip |
Genre(s) | Fantasy, role-playing game, comedy |
Nodwick is a comic strip created by Aaron Williams, based around the conventions of fantasy role-playing games, in particular Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). It debuted in Dragon magazine issue No. 246 (April 1998), first with short strips, and later receiving a second strip in Dungeon magazine, making fun of one of the adventures published in each issue. In Dragon No. 270 (April 2000), Nodwick was expanded to a two-page spread and replaced Knights of the Dinner Table as a full-page comic that served as a parody of D&D adventuring. It later became a single page strip, related to the issue's theme; later, the strip was removed from Dungeon, but still appeared in Dragon, now unrelated to the main theme of the issue, until Dragon ceased print publication late in 2007.
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th century and into the 21st, these have been published in newspapers and magazines, with horizontal strips printed in black-and-white in daily newspapers, while Sunday newspapers offered longer sequences in special color comics sections. With the development of the internet, they began to appear online as webcomics. There were more than 200 different comic strips and daily cartoon panels in American newspapers alone each day for most of the 20th century, for a total of at least 7,300,000 episodes.
Aaron Williams is a cartoonist.
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making regarding character development. Actions taken within many games succeed or fail according to a formal system of rules and guidelines.
The titular character, Nodwick, is a henchman (as opposed to a hireling) in the employ of a typical D&D-style adventuring party. Nodwick is published in Dragon magazine and on Nodwick.com, along with a "sibling" comic, Full Frontal Nerdity . Nodwick and the adventurers he works with were given statistics for the 2nd edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) rules as part of the Giants in the Earth article in Dragon No. 270. A Nodwick card game is also available.
A henchman is a loyal employee, supporter, or aide to some powerful figure engaged in nefarious or criminal enterprises. A henchman is typically relatively unimportant in the organization, a minion, whose value lies primarily in their unquestioning loyalty to their leader. The term henchman is often used derisively to refer to an individual of low status who lacks any moral compass of their own.
A bi-monthly comic book was published by the author, which ran for 36 issues before its cancellation. The strip has since become a back-up strip in Nodwick's more popular sister title PS238 , although collections of the comic book are available as trade paperbacks. [1]
PS238 is a comic book that follows the lives of both teachers and students at an elementary school for children with super powers, which the comic calls metaprodigies. Issue #0 was published in November 2002. PS238 is written and drawn by Aaron Williams and published by Do Gooder Press. Until issue #20 it was published by Dork Storm Press and Henchman Publishing. In December 2006 Aaron Williams started posting the comic page by page on his website. The online version was updated Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Hero Games created a PS238 role-playing game using their Champions game system.
In comics, a trade paperback is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually presenting either a complete miniseries, a story arc from a single title, or a series of stories with an arc or common theme.
A "reinvented" version of Nodwick and his adventuring group have also appeared in a City of Heroes based comic strip as the superhero team "Q-4orce."
City of Heroes (CoH) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game which was developed by Cryptic Studios and published by NCSOFT. The game was launched in North America on April 28, 2004, and in Europe by NCsoft Europe on February 4, 2005, with English, German and French servers. In the game, players created super-powered player characters that could team up with others to complete missions and fight criminals belonging to various gangs and organizations in the fictional Paragon City.
Nodwick
Yeagar
Artax
Piffany
The bard is a standard playable character class in many editions of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. The bard class is versatile, capable of combat and of magic. Bards use their artistic talents to induce magical effects. The class is loosely based on the special magic that music holds in stories such as the Pied Piper of Hamelin, and in earlier versions was much more akin to being a Celtic Fili or a Norse Skald, although these elements have largely been removed in later editions. Listed inspirations for bards include Taliesin, Homer, Will Scarlet and Alan-a-Dale.
An elf, in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, is a humanoid race, one of the primary races available for player character. Elves are renowned for their grace and mastery of magic and weapons such as the sword and bow. Becoming physically mature by the age of 25 and emotionally mature at around 125, they are also famously long-lived, capable of living more than half a millennium and remaining physically youthful. Possessed of innate beauty and easy gracefulness, they are viewed as both wondrous and haughty by other races; however, their natural detachment is seen by some as introversion or xenophobia.
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, the Half-elven are the children of the union of Elves and Men. Of these, the most significant were the products of couplings between the Eldar and the Edain.
There's also an evil group who closely resembles the party, however, this group doesn't employ a henchman, except for their first appearance, when they tried to loot the Henchmen Cemetery. [10]
The group was defeated by the party in two separate occasions before they turned to worshipping Baphuma'al, and their power has been raised by the evil god.
The party has also run into various characters from classic D&D adventures and novels, such as Raistlin Majere from Dragonlance, Elminster from the Forgotten Realms, and Count Strahd von Zarovich from Ravenloft, as well as the game's creators, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. They've also encountered characters who appear to be from other sources as well (a pageful of cameos including Xena and Harry Potter in one issue, Death from The Sandman appearing in another, Spider-Man being chased by an amorous Lolth in a comic strip in Dragon Magazine, etc.).
Other roleplaying comic strips:
Dork Tower is an online comic created, written and drawn by John Kovalic. It chronicles the lives of a group of geeks living in the fictional town of Mud Bay, Wisconsin. Mud Bay's design is strongly influenced by the author's home town of Madison, Wisconsin. Topics have included role-playing games (RPGs), comic books, video games, and fandom in general. The comic strip began in January 1997 and has made appearances in publications like Dragon magazine, Shadis, and Comic Shop News. Starting in 2000, the strip began web publication roughly three times a week and is featured in Pyramid. The bimonthly comic book made its first appearance in 1998 and features continuing storylines. It has recently gone to full color with issue #32, and it is collected in trade paperback.
The fictional character Vecna has been named as one of the greatest villains in the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game.
The tiefling , in the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy roleplaying game, is a humanoid race. Originally introduced in the Planescape campaign setting in the second edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, they became one of the primary races available for player characters in the fourth edition of the game.
Lolth is a fictional goddess in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Lolth, the Demon Queen of Spiders, is the chief goddess of drow elves. She is also known as the Spider Queen and the Queen of the Demonweb Pits.
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The Order of the Stick (OOTS) is a comedic webcomic that satirizes tabletop role-playing games and medieval fantasy. The comic is written and drawn by Rich Burlew, who illustrates the comic in a stick figure style.
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Robilar is a powerful warrior who serves as commander of Rary's forces in the Empire of the Bright Lands. Created as one of the very first half-dozen characters to explore the original Castle Greyhawk dungeons, Robilar eventually became one of the fictional world's most powerful and compelling characters.
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The paladin is one of the standard playable character classes in most editions of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. The paladin is a holy knight, crusading in the name of good and order, and is a divine spellcaster. From 1st through 3rd edition, paladins were required to maintain the Lawful Good alignment.
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Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil is an adventure module written by Monte Cook for the 3rd edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game, set in the game's World of Greyhawk campaign setting. It was originally published by American game company Wizards of the Coast in 2001 as a sequel to the 1985 Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) module, The Temple of Elemental Evil.
The Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game has spawned many related products, including magazines, films and video games.
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