Grrl Power #182 – A little light dinner speculation
To be clear, Maxima never actually said the stuff about batman on any of the previous pages, but of course there’s been lots of off camera conversations. Obviously Sydney was the topic of a lot of those discussions. Also, don’t worry, what happened with the skilltree will be talked about on the next page.
Speaking of which, I have two versions of the skilltree panel up as wallpapers over at DeviantArt. The original version minus Achilles and the word bubble, and another one with Ding Sydney.
Also on this page, the return of tubey!
Thank you guys so much for all the support over at Patreon. (And Paypal and the Amazon referral link.) When I set up the account over there, I looked around at other comics on Patreon that were in relatively the same “webcomic weight class” and honestly I didn’t really expect I’d actually make it to the $1,000 goal for several months, if at all. In fact I thought it was pushing it a little to even include such a lofty goal, but the fact that we got there in under two weeks means one, I should re-evaluate my weight class I guess, and two, I need to add some more goals because why not. Also while hitting the goal allows me to do the comic full time for a little while, it’s still not enough to live on, but at least now I don’t have to scramble to find a job right away. I won’t bore you with financial planning stuff, but as promised I’ll definitely be doing two comics a week for at least the next several months. So again, thank you everyone for your support, from reading the comic, sharing it on the social network of your choice, to directly contributing financially.
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
Meatspace ComicSeriously these are awesome. Check 'em out!
Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
Dave: You should put in a level on Patreon that would let you do this without a job. Ask for what you need, see if you get it. Even if its 4k a month. 10k. Just put it up there. Other levels in between as you like, but let your fans give you what you need, if they feel inclined as a group to do so.
Yeah I’m going to add some levels to it this week.
Heheh, $50 a month: Name a character after you/let you name one.
Just wanted to say that I love Anvil’s outfit.
Of all the females of Arc, I’d personally probably try and ask Kenya and Gwen out if I had the chance.
Max would be too risky, and we don’t know where Daphne was (or with whom). Probably Peggy too.
Wait, are you saying Peggy is ‘promiscuous’? Or that you would like to get to know her better?
Try dating her, but her close association with Max IS what makes it dangerous, I guess.
I would guess that the intent was that she is ‘too risky’, for some reason? Perhaps guilty by close association with a known rabid feminist with access to fingertip nukes?
I’d agree. The shoulder-straps/suspenders added tend to put more emphasis on…er….um…other parts of her outfit. Yeah, that’s it.
anvil reminds me of zoe from firefly/serenity in that get up. not the colour mind you but the overall look.
What a friend’s kid told me not too long ago: “Shiny. Let’s go be bad guys.”
Arg…. Keeping us waiting!
Comcis have already doubled in speed :P
A little patience for good stuf
You’re absolutely making something good enough to pay for, and you should definitely set a goal such that you can do it full time for money. Come up with some nice rewards for higher levels and you’ll catch your viewers who have the free cash’s attention. Whatever works for you. Bit character in the comic named after the premium supporter, signed prints of the month’s comic pages, whatever. Just like kickstarter, you want to nail down those $20 impulse purchases, and also the $100+ premium buys. The numbers are probably halved for a subscription, since it’s recurring monthly, but you still want to figure out how to capture the people who will be willing to give you more money just in case they’re watching.
I think DaveB is a little to (what’s the word? Opposite of proud) to even concider someone would pay 100 bucks a month :P
The word you are looking for might be ‘humble’
Yea, that one :P
My humility is something I pride myself on.
I am the most humble person in the whole universe. Ask anyone.
{Wierd Al] I’m a million times as humble as thou art! [/Wierd Al]
It seems as tho Dabz is missing the pink hair from behind her ears, may wanna fix that, but she looks just as good without them if you ever think of chopping em off :3
What? Chop off her ears? o_O
Nooooooo…
The pink hair that comes down from behind her ears, it’s missing in the last panel, but looks good nonetheless.
Heh heh, was just messing with ya :D
Can all harems teleport at the same time?
Yup!
5 is the most harem, she can get back down to 1 still, right?
Has she ever forgotten she didn’t have 2, and try to zap her last self?
It’s explained somewhere in a science corner that Harem is stronger, the fewer of her are active.
With just 1 version, she’d be about as strong as Anvil
Still, makes one wonder what would happen if she’d try to off her last copy (aka the perceived original).
Do you mean after removing the others? Remove the last existing version of her?
Or do you mean with the others active, remove the original?
She may be limited to 5 out at once and each is unique but the question is can she have more copy’s available to choose from but only 5 out at once ?
as far as we know those 5 are the ONLY 5 (No extra’s in the wings) But it is possible she’ll have more as she and her powers mature. Remember, she’s only 19.
If Harem’s bodies only age when they are taken out (and that pretty much has to be true or else it leads to problems with absent bodies having to eat and go to the bathroom… never mind that, it leads to problems of how they *breathe*), then she should keep at least one body in reserve and never use it. Then whe she gets very old, take it out and double her lifespan.
Depending on when she thought of this idea, the extra body might even be child age, which could become useful in some situations, especially for spying; if you watch Detective Conan you know a child with an adult’s mind can get away with a lot.
Well, her bio implies that it’s a duplication technique as a side-effect of her teleportation (or vice-versa – her teleporting is just un-making a body at location 1, and creating a new one at location 2) so they can’t be “stored” at an age… Well, not without putting one in some form of stasis, but how would that affect her mind?
(Likewise on the whole “forget she only has one body and zap it away” option – they have one mind between however many brains, so at the very least she should notice that she’s only got one viewpoint/set of eyes)
Whether they’re “stored” or “created” is irrelevant. The point is that when she brings one out it’s in exactly the same condition it was when she put one in (consider not just eating and breathing, but clothes and dyed hair as well). So if there is one which she rarely brings out, she could use it to extend her lifespan since it will stay at whatever age it started as.
Note that they are only unique because she’s kept them around and made the unique. If one were to get destroyed/killed she could replace it, but the replacement would be ‘plain’.
I think that’s what’s meant. The last existing one trying to off herself.
As she can create copy’s of herself, is there a requirement of one of her being out? From zero can she make one ?
This will depend on the storeing meathod and her muti brain single consciousness.
After death can her “wi fi” aspect be sufficient to create a fresh copy before it fades out.
Or can a copy in storage be enough to live and think without a copy being out?
She could be a very hard to kill character.
Sydney’s reaction to Dabbler doing that, place your bets.
$20 says she freaks then 20 questions on how it works.
Dabbler doing what? You need to be specific.
the eye pop
I don’t think she will be grossed out, startled maybe. Which would immediately morph into “Oh COOL!!” as she kind of a tom-boy and full on nerd.
followed by halos trying to do the same to her eye possibly (aware she’s still organic) to get a cyber eye herself
I’m wondering whether Dabbler can still see out of the cybernetic eye after she’s removed it.
I have no doubt she can
It communicates with the receiver in her brain via eye-fi.
Is the operating system it runs on called eye-OS?
If she ever had to load updates into it, would it be considered an eye-patch?
If she ever has to take it out, does she keep it in an eye-pod?
When she has to work on it she sets it down on an eye-pad.
It has several warning and announcing sounds she calls eye-tunes.
*Giant hammers rain down on O.B.s and Gamesman’s houses*
HAMMER TIME! Can’t Touch This! Duh duh de-duh de-duh de-duh!
o boy your going to make him eye-rate
Muir space-station’s toilet lands on Gamesman’s head.
So I’m a Reaper now? Hmm… that has some interesting possibilities.
Yep, oh and your day job is a plumber!
Cool plumbers can make serious money and nobody suspects a plumber. Just need to alter my pants a little for the requisite buttcrack visual.
Hey Dave, if you add an Amazon.co.uk referral link I’ll be happy to use it. I’m pretty sure you can do that the same as the .com version.
He does. You can find the link in the box above the tip jar over that way —–>
That’s .com not .co.uk
Ahh, my bad.
Not a bad idea, I’ll see if I can figure out how to do that.
How about a .ca for is canadians?
I hit the submit button, then saw that I did “is” instead of “us.”
Much shame.
Maybe if we pay him enough he’ll give us an edit function? ;)
I’m curious to see how much food/alcohol they order. The superhuman metabolism could be fascinating!
I am guessing pretty much what an athlete of their size and build would eat. Cause whatever powered Maxima’s blast, it was not pizza. Not unless she gets hers with extra anti-matter anchovies.
Well she probably still needs chemical energy to power her powers.
But I do wonder if the amount of exercice they do, which is undoubtly more than a normal human (even if they don’t have that much more muscles) is in relation to the amount of food they eat.
Or if the need for food is more in relation to the amount of muscles (which would mean they compare to atletes in this)
Ah, but what if their energy processing was much more efficient. Splitting an atom provides quite a bit of power, so a lesser version of the same process would provide a lot of energy without the big boom, but would not require too much more food to support the biological processes.
They’re possibly gonna order more than SG-1 did in that one episode, each.
If mass-energy conversion is involved in the process, they could get all the energy they need from nothing more than their own bodies’ waste products.
ah yes – the Mr Fusion ™ add-on
With Dabbler? Could already be built-in.
Couple of drops of water a day would be more than enough energy
There is no such thing as a ‘lesser version’ of atom spicing.
Either you splice it, or you don’t
Offcourse, they’d also need proteins to build other proteins from. It’s still a body afteral
Mmm, I could follow the original intent. Some energy source greater than biological but less energetic than nuclear. But if you do interpret it literally, one could take it to be something like moving an atom to a different orbit. That is a lesser way of manipulating an atom than spitting it. Which is what chemistry is all about. Jiggling atoms and molecules around into new configurations.
If super powers utilised some highly efficient chemical reaction, it could provide lots of energy, but still fall short of a nuclear bomb going off.
I think I need to re-do the odds for Sydney’s New Best Friend… the field is leveling, and rapidly. It’s anyone’s race!
When Dabbler poped out her Eye and the waitress freaked I lost it full out laughter out loud busting a gut!!! :) Gods reminds me of growing up in the Veterans bars when you never knew when someone was going to pop off an arm or leg and beat someone up.
Huh, I wouldn’t expect everyone there to know what a skill tree is. In fact, I would expect most of them not to know – even if Maxima “used to be a geek,” not all geeks do every form of geeky behavior, and the kinds of skill trees you’re talking about are relatively recent.
That depends on when she started being a ‘used to be’ geek, does it not?
1. Not being a geek and/or a nerd doesn’t mean you don’t play video games. Many well-known games that don’t fall into the “geek game” category have been using them in some way.
2. Final Fantasy X is over a decade old now, and while I won’t claim it’s the the first game with a skill tree, it’s the oldest that I know of(for a fact).
3. Even before then, there’s many games that had skill trees that were merely not segregated with it’s own GUI system.
The concept of the skill tree should be pretty self-evident. People have been using those since before video games. It’s a flow chart in essence. Do you have fireball? Yes, path A, No path B. If they don’t know, it should be an easy enough concept for most.
Yeah, D&D has a skill tree/progression as well, and you could graph it out similar to what Sydney has. (If this class, at this level, you get choice A, B, or C – at later level you get choice A+, D, or E, assuming you chose A, etc.) I’m not sure if wargames had something formalized, but the idea of a ‘veteran’ group having more weight is probably worked into some of them.
Yes a lot of table top games had skill-trees just not charted out like that. Most of the information would be in text form so you needed books and manuals to keep track of it. The best players and GMs memorized them.
Diablo had a skill tree and came out in 1996. Most role-playing games tend to use a skill tree to work with their leveling system.
I’d be suprised if you find anyone of her age or below that doesn’t know what a skill tree is these days
Popping to say that the “Ding” version is now my wallpaper. Also, I’ve probably re-read the entire comic four times or so now since I discovered it a little over a month ago, still laugh my ass off when doing so.
Dude, you’ll be re-reading it at least once a month in the future.
This is worth paying for. I am unemployed and can’t pay for a while if then. Sorry I can’t be there for you when you need me. TT Thank you for a wonderful free product.
Hmmm…now we know that Dabbler having two different color eyes is because of a cybernetic!
Let’s just hope she doesn’t keep an eye on Sydney…
We don’t know if the reason for the different colours is because she was born with different coloured eyes and just chose to make the cyber the same colour as the one she ‘lost’
Yup, self-disassembly at the table, while eating is even worse than smoking while eating… unless you are alone in the privacy of your home, den, lair, cave… whatever.
Don’t count on that: stupid government down here is planning on making it illegal to smoke in your own home (already near-illegal to smoke in your car, or if you have kids, or go outside, or be in a populated area)
They are planning on forcing the country to go smoke-free by 2025, not by making cigarettes illegal, just by raising the price to $50 a packet and making it illegal to actually smoke them (legal to purchase, illegal to use)
I though they’d nixed the Home/Car thing because of the same amendment that requires the cops to get permission or a warrant to search them.
Nope, they are pushing it even harder (cops can give the driver a ticket if anyone is not buckled in)
The not smoking at home thing is pushing things too far.
An Englishman’s home is is castle, after all. And I guess an Antipodean’s home is is beach hut?No, bad dog! Stop teasing the colonials.But, seriously, the seat-belt thing is a good law. I have been in two countries whilst they transitioned from suicidal to sane, and the difference between things before and after is huge. Although that is supported by damned statistics, I have seen the difference first hand. A big drop in instances of friends, relatives and neighbours suffering serious injury or death in road accidents.
Once you have a close friend kill his father by being launched from the back seat, in a crash, crushing both their skulls, you realise just how big a difference to their family the simple act of putting on the seat belt would have been. My friend survived, with permanent injuries, but he now will not let a vehicle he is in move off unless everyone is belted. He does not want projectiles flying around and killing him.
And now I live in yet another country which does not actively enforce any seat-belt laws. And am again seeing folks regularly suffering much more serious injuries in accidents than they would have without the seat belts. Same thing goes for motor-cycle helmets. This is a small village, but yet again I am seeing folks being buried who should have survived a crash.
Wait, you actaully think it’s weird to be required to wear seatbelts in the car?
Do you WANT to smash your face into something at 150G (12 tons of force)? Cause that’s what happends if you don’t wear a seatbelt and crash at 30mph.
But I guess that’s america. You guys shut down the country after someone trys to give you cheap healthcare. Can’t be suprised about this one
I think you are barking up the wrong continent. Pretty sure Guesticus is from down under.
Seatbelts are a requirement down under.
And as an asthmatic, a smoke-free country is fine by me. Means less lung cancer too, which is also good.
Australia, New Zealand same sort of ballpark. ;-)
Was just pointing out how cops don’t always need a warrant/whatever to fiddle with your car (or what Adamas said)
I doubt that will happen but if it does just tell them it’s pot. lol
Personally I don’t care what you do to your own lungs but I have problems with cigarette smoke. It can lower my immune system to the point my asthma can be triggered by a stray cat hair (well dander really). And while you might think that isn’t a big deal, spending the next 2-12 hours on oxygen and gasping for air is neither fun nor healthy. Smoking around other people effects THEIR health whether you want to admit it or not. And almost ever smoker I’ve seen thinks is perfectly okay to toss their butts on the ground where ever they are.
Oops sorry, you might be a considerate smoker but it’s kind of a hot topic for me.
No need to apologize
The problem is, they are taking away peoples’ choice, even to smoke in their own homes, they have even gone so far as remove all forms of advertising, and that includes putting the cigarettes in plain packaging (and before you say “that’s not such a big deal” imagine if they did that with bottles of soda, or bags of fries/crisps), and that was after slapping photos of blackened lungs and mouth ulcers all over the packets
Radical idea. How about proposing an alternative law? Allow anybody who disapproves of someone smoking in their presence to spit on them. It has the advantage of expressing strong disapproval of the other person’s anti-social act. And we know that social disapproval is a very strong tool to discourage unpleasant behaviour. Yet it is proportionate, in that it offers a not-dissimilar risk of spreading a nasty disease to the other individual.
only if I can punch the guy spitting on me.
I don’t smoke. Personally I think it’s a disgusting habit, and growing up my mom smoked and she always rolled down the window when driving so we wouldn’t have to deal with it. It wasn’t so bad in the summer or in California. But in the Utah and Idaho winters it was torture. So yes, I am very much averse to smoking myself. That and it stinks and is expensive, it kills your taste buds, and there’s cancer.
All of that said, if I walk into an area with a smoker lighting up, I don’t freak out or try to make them feel bad. This is because I’m not a horrible person. I think smokers are getting the unfair end of the stick, they’re getting treated like a scapegoat and I personally am sick of it. Yes, yes, there’s the threat of cancer hurting them and the people around them. So when did we forget a collapsing government wasn’t as damaging to the country? This trying to force the smokers to not even smoke in their own homes is…ridiculous.
Damn my mistakes. I meant when did we decide a collapsing government wasn’t as damaging, not the other way around.
Okay I never said I was a rabid anti-smoker just that I had serious concerns about having it around me. I no more want to ban smoking in you private homes than I want to ban the internet because some of the stuff out there is “Bad”. I do many things that aren’t exactly healthy but they only effect me. That’s where I draw the line. I can leave (and will) a restaurant if people are smoking in it. And unless someone invented force fields no “Designated Area” is going to help. I won’t say anything to you or harass you in any way for smoking but I might mention to the owner why I left. If they don’t want my business that’s fine.
Kids smoking second hand is one of the main causes of astma.
Rolling down a window is not enough to deminish this effect
Given that smoking is a form of assaulting everyone in the room or down wind of you, punching smokers should be an acceptable response.
My sister in law is in hospital frequently and struggles to leave. Need help to chase smokers away from the hospital exit and wait till the air clears before she can leave. Smoke at the exit has sent her back in for another night before.
Only if they get too hit back since that’s pushing things.
I remember a commercial where a guy was outside at a stadium watching a baseball game and he lights up. Then the entire stadium stops what they’re doing to make him feel horrible. I remember watching it thinking: how did they get all those a–holes in one stadium? I’m still a little prickly on how smokers are treated even though my mom stopped smoking a long time ago. (She even did it cold turkey, several misfires, then one try and she never went back.)
Despite what my suggestion above might imply, I am indifferent on people smoking in my presence. In fact I have a tradition of smoking cigars when I attend GenCon (not that I have been able to afford to go for years). One of my friends works on a US military base and brings a box of Cuban cigars especially for that purpose. Other than that though, I have never smoked.
But my dad has got a variety of cancer associated with smoking. And both my parents have Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Which is likewise linked to smoking. Which they both used to do. It reduced their effective lung capacity to 30% normal. So they have difficulty walking without wheezing or conducting any strenuous activity at all. Both conditions are treatable and have responded. But I still cannot say I am a fan of smoking, and understand those who are more vocal about their dislike.
I will say this, Peggy has some nice looking tattoos. Now let’s see if Dave is up to drawing them consistently every time we see her in a sleeveless or shirtless appearance. :)
Big cast, lots of small details that will need to appear consistently on many of them. I think we can expect some lapses. But Dave is good at fixing things he misses and folks enjoy joining in the process by continuity-checking.
As for keeping their look consistent, he will often be able to apply them as a texture, much as he does with the orbs. Typically when he can’t it is because he is trying something new and interesting.
Haha, lmao at the waitress, they told her to be ready for anything didn’t they?
It’s like trying to make something idiot-proof.
You just think you managed it, then there comes a Ralph Wiggum-type.
In this case, we have Dabbler and Syd, aka Chaos Theory personified.
I have never understood the whole fainting thing about gross or body stuff. My own brother who rides big motorcycles, works out, fixes cars and plays pool in bars gets queasy when they take a sample of his blood. I’ve given over 8 gals of blood, been robbed at gunpoint, been beat up and spent time in jail. Not once did I get even light-headed. I have seen people flip out when any of these things happen. I saw this big biker dude faint dead away before they even got blood from him but my 5′ middle age mom gave over 14 gals without once even flinching. It’s weird.
I found out early-on that although I am not too squeamish, my mmm, tolerance is not good enough for me to become a medical professional. Age seven, I was accompanying a surgeon on his rounds (as you do), seeing him inspect wounds and the progress patients had made post-surgery. All very interesting and no problem to an inquiring mind.
Then we found my limit. The scene is etched onto my mind because of the extremely contrasting colours. The patient was a black guy (I am not being casual there but specifically descriptive, black skin not brown), lying on crispy clean white bedding. He explained that he had been bitten by a Doberman. The surgeon peeled off the dressing covering the wound.
The bite had taken a huge chunk out of his leg, clearly exposing a big length of white bone. The effect being a white field, with a black leg, huge reddy hamburger-like wound and a white bone in the middle. I had to stagger off and flop down on a chair, feeling very faint.
For me, small stuff not a problem. Running blood, stitches, scars things like that. But I have an upper limit beyond which I turn away. Even for fictional stuff. I never have seen what they do with the whirly skull chopper machine in autopsies, for instance.
Everyone reacts differently to those things.
In my experience it actually is the thoughtest, most baddass persons that react the strongest to blood or wounds (I mean actual baddass, not just claiming to be one)
Dave you magnificent bastard! I may have severe laryngitis right now, but you had me howling with laughter! Now it hurts and I’m still left giggling! Dabbler strikes again! *marks a point in her collumn, plus one in Max’s and one in Anvil’s, for sheer hilarity!* Also, they better get Sydney’s AoE modifier slots ID’d ASAP or else things could get…interesting.
One can guess that Dabbler is going to be doing that little horror show trick more often after that response.
And for the first time ever I think Dabbler is kinda cute. I have a thing for missing eyes or limbs – perhaps this is one of the reasons why I like Peggy so much.
Speaking of, yay! Peggy is in a panel! Now give her more lines! Then a spinoff series!
I like Peggy, and would be happy to see more of her. But, of that particular grouping in particular, and of any of the Archon staff we have seen so far, the one I would like to get some more in-depth exposure would be Gwen.
Obviously goth girls have an appeal. But beyond that I find her niche in the organisation to be interesting. Super hero stories featuring strong magic users abound (Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme being a primary example). Likewise issues of what happens when mundane folks hang around supers have been covered. Be it identity-parade challenged Lowes Lane or the central (non-super) hero in Magellan.
But Gwen is in an interesting position, being only an amateur magic wielder in a critical position in a major super organisation. She is not alone. Dabbler can use magic, and Zephan Zoeng has extensive knowledge and access to artefacts. But Dabbler is an alien who is unwilling to share her technomagical knowledge. Reasonable though that is, it is bound to generate suspicion and wariness within government. The fact that she has a handler supports that.
Clearly Zephan will be the turn-to guy to provide answers on the mysteries-that-man-is-not-meant-to-know. His artefacts are an unknown at the moment but, however useful, he is not a true magic wielder. Which puts that spotlight on Gwen, who does not have the power and experience to back up such a role.
The powers that be would probably want to keep Zephan in an armchair role. Knowledge is too important to risk in the field. Not when there is any means of communication to eliminate the risk. And artefacts are pretty much specialised. Either they can do something or they cannot. Everything that they cannot be used for will fall on Dabbler or Gwen to resolve. And governments resent having to rely on specialists out of their control.
How will Gwen cope with that situation? What sort of personality does she have? What are her goals and ambitions? How does she interact with the rest of the team? In particular her other magical colleagues.
Yup, lots there that we have not even begun to scratch the surface of.
From what we’ve seen so far Zeph is acting as Gwen’s Master as well as her superior in ARCHON’s Intelligence branch.
Dude, you know you’re making us want an off-shoot comig just from Gwen’s perspective, right?
If Dave manages his finances well enough we might even have a chance on it.
Dabbler might be stingy with the tech, but she might be open with the magic stuff.
Not to seem petty, but would you mind giving us a pure skill-tree? Without any background and people? Would also be awesome, thankies!
The wallpapers give you a pretty good look at it. I may eventually post a clean version of it once some of the things on the skilltree are confirmed in the comic.
I have spent some time looking over the skill tree and I am scared. From what I can tell the hex in the center represents Sidney’s current power level which looks to be 1/3 the total. That being said if she is ranked as a 6 now using only 1/3 her full power if she ever get all the skills activated she will be a terror. If the progression is leaner that would make her an 18 at full power however taking into account the number of skills still open leads me the think its more of a geometric progression which would make her some where between a 24 and 28. GOD HELP US ALL!!!!!
2/7 if you look at the downloadable wallpapers of the skill tree. Of course one of the big features many games do is unlock a mount. So when her progress heptagon is complete she will be able to summon her pony!
or get her Cutie Mark
Or dragon… Or giant centipede. Perhaps the mount of her choice.
Knowing Syd? Maximum chaos…
She’ll take an Old God.
Perhaps she will get a “Mount of her Choosing”?
Watch out Max!
or maby she will pick Hiro for her “mount”
I’d love to see something like the tentacle attack from the video game Prototype when she combines either her shield/tentacle or pew-pew/tentacle…
oops miss spelling I meant to say “linear progression” my bad.
Of course you know how Arianna is going to see this: A team member with an actual skilltree will be merchandising gold among the role playing crowd. And if Syd’s skilltree can’t be seen on TV all the better, it means she can create a fake one that isn’t going to give away any national secrets.
Bets. Simple as that.
Bets on where and when Syd will ding and what she’ll choose.
Her own RPG?
Take the role of Sydney in Archon. They won’t even have to come up with dumb excuses to give the main character a progression system. It’s brilliant
In-comic RPG? I want a real-world RPG!
I’m gonna go with…yeah, you’ve been under-estimating your weight class. By rather a lot, unless I miss my guess. If you start doing this full-time, then between your excellent art, your very good sense of humor, and the strong narrative undercurrents that really, really make SENSE, even if they’re never mentioned, you probably ought to start thinking in terms of Megatokyo, or something equivalent (at the very least, you should think of it for a long-term goal. You’re not at that level of popularity yet, but with a little marketing, a little advertising, and perhaps a site redesign, you could easily get there.
You have a knack for storytelling, and so far you’re one of very few people who can tell a story, leave things out (like the conversations about Sydney), and then later mention them and have them be believable. I’d be very surprised, for instance, if you had too many readers who questioned the Batman speech at all–it just sounds too natural and too probable.
I have to admit to being somewhat skeptical when I first read what you were trying to accomplish here, but you seem to be pulling it off. Your ultimate success has yet to be determined, of course, but…yeah, you could make this work. Especially if you can get yourself into a position of looking at potential merchandising in your own right, and devote some serious time and energy to this project. So rock on, man.
Even though Dabbler mentions that the TV cameras couldn’t see the skill tree, there’s the possibility that one or more of the *reporters* could have memorized it, just like Dabbler did.
Just consider a reporter with Full Eidetic Memory. Some people would see that as very dangerous to themselves…
… unfortunately I’ve met far too many reporters and self-proclaimed journalists to believe in non-negligible odds on that one
not to forget all the ones that carry paper and pencil/ pen who know how to draw
The inside would be easy to remember. 7 orbs each connected to every other orb. But good luck remembering all the little things coming out of the orbs themselves
I stand corrected Sir 2/7 it is. How ever that just makes it worse. With the linear progression she is still close to 18 the geometric now puts her at or over 30 or above. I don’t know about you but the idea of some one with Syds personality having power second to GOD makes my ass pucker and my knees weak.
She does that to me too. But… you make it sound like a bad thing?
Not necessarily, unless she gets powers that could destroy a star with a whisper, eradicate a solar system with a snap of his fingers, or ‘think’ a planet from its orbit.
It’s like putting a big red button there, clearly marked with ‘DO NOT PUSH. UNIVERSAL INSTANCE-RESET!’.
But that’s a good thing! (you just have to make sure the button *actually* does something harmless or funny)
I’m a day late in posting this (I never miss this comic otherwise!) but MAN I LOVE DABBLER EVEN MORE!
Seriously, that’s just absolutely hilarious!
Never too late to profess your love for the Dabbles :D (or any of the characters, including the traumatized waitress)
Looks like there may be a problem on Top Web Comics, on their comic rankings page. Although it may just be an issue at my end. But Grrl Power’s picture banner is not displaying, even when I refresh the page. If it is a general problem, it is worth getting it sorted out, as that is reducing the impact of prime advertising.
It works for me. Maybe it is just you. Try waiting a while, restarting your browser, using another browser, or rebooting your device.
I would have titled this strip “If the eye offends thee….”
I am surprised there are no orbs in use. Not a trivial exp hunter like me.
Even the constant use of true sight should help.
I am pretty sure that any advanced game system will not reward pointless boring use of abilities with experience. Doing interesting, innovative and genuine problem solving tasks however would gain significant experience. In practical terms and in finding ways to unlock less obvious capabilities.
In fact the sooner that the principles of shape-shifting software are applied to the next generation of games the better. I want games that require players to think for themselves, rather than just go to a wiki and look up the optimum solution or path for any given problem.
It would have multiple rewards, principle amongst which being the satisfaction from coming up with the solution yourself. It also allows variety to problem-solving, as people will not be able to just copy someone else’s answer. And it will encourage games to auto-adapt the difficulty to suit a particular player. Presenting a graduated increase in difficulty which matches their play-style and capabilities.
Continually failing and hitting a brick wall at something you are not good at is not fun, and is the principle reason behind why cheat options develop in the first place. So adaptive games need to anticipate that problem and provide a solution. Simply skipping that and is a poor, unsatisfying option. But giving an alternate route, using skills that the player has shown competence with does provide a better way.
Of course some times you want to just kick back and do something less challenging, just for a change of pace. But time-sinks which require mind-numbing repetition for its own sake? Bleh.
Just to clarify, I am suggesting that the games change the playing environment, rather than just the underlying code (although that is a useful addition to prevent players from using bots, so would not hurt).
D&DO (and CoH to a lesser degree), and I am sure others, have started down this path. For instance randomising layouts of dungeons/missions, putting traps, devices, mobs etc in different positions on each play through. But they tend to be quite weak randomisation. For instance fitting together small maps semi-randomly chosen from a limited pool of pre-made maps. Or following predictable layouts of patterns. So that a cheat program can give advice on which routes to follow, buttons to push and so on.
It needs to be complex enough to defeat such cheating but not so complex that players feel frustrated with a lack of progress.
One of the ways to do this that I’ve seen other places (notably, Kristen Darken on the Whateley Academy forums- it’s her idea, mind) is to completely replace all the questline generation with RP from players. Similar to how EVE online has it’s player-run world, you could setup a fantasy (or whatnot) MMO where the first players start out with, say, an axe, and a wooded wilderness. They clear trees, use the lumber to build buildings- kinda Minecraft starting outs. But then, as it’s a Massive persistent world, as they start on their bigger workings or find that they especially enjoy the mining part of the game, they could then start telling new players to ‘gather 10 boar’s meat’ in exchange for lodgings, or clothing or whatnot. Keep going, with bigger groups and more diverse class-based skillsets possible, and you eventually have factions that would develop, economies that would grow… And it becomes a game where, to get those 10 boar’s meats, you could either hunt, or trap, or steal, or bargain, or use illusions to fool, or join a caravan to travel and find somewhere to get them for something you do have… And you have a fully dynamic world.
All players really need are mechanics- they can make the story themselves if there are enough of them.
City of Heroes allowed players to completely create their own missions for other players to run. Which worked very well. Providing a huge variety of interesting content, over and above that created by the developers. But, intrinsically, the mechanics remained the same. Albeit from a more restricted range of options than the developers had access to. So, at the end of the day, it is just more of the same at its core.
Of course, until we develop better AIs there is a limit to how much can be achieved by programs. So drawing on players to do such instead is a very useful option, as you say.. For instance allowing players to design content, plus replace some of the game characters with behind-the-scenes players and introduce ‘games master’ players who can manipulate the environment in a way that will maximise the fun for all.
So a scenario might be designed with the following elements:
* A traditional hero group to go in and defeat the villains. They have no prior knowledge of the layout of the mission (which should be randomly generated as much as possible so that players who have previously run the mission, either as heroes or villains, will not be able to spoil too much for others who have not).
* A master-mind played by a player who has access to floor plans for the whole complex (having ‘built’ it), monitors showing key locations and a bunch of minions and traps at his disposal to use as he sees fit. He will be given an overall fiendish objective to achieve and can deal with the interfering heroes as he sees fit.
* Police, marine units and villain mobs, robots and monsters will be NPC computer controlled, but can either be issued new orders by the games master (changing their default behaviours to some other options, eg patrol, search and arrest or shoot on sight). Or they can be individually taken over by the games master or any volunteer assistants he authorises. They will be expected to play their part, rather than operate to their own agenda. Disruptive players (or abusive games masters) could obviously be reported and banned from participating if appropriate.
* A couple of key hostages have scripted responses, but would be best played by the games master or his volunteer assistants, so they feel like real people. The better the role-playing the more realistic the experience for all concerned. It also allows each run of the game to play out very differently depending on how the hostages behave.
* The games master can manipulate the complex in response to cunning plans by any of the hero or villain players. For instance if they want to collapse a strategic tunnel they can attempt to use their powers or improvise with explosive materials stored in the base. If their actions seem reasonable, he can trigger the collapse (even if the game normally does not have powers harming the walls).
I have got to remember that we’re on twice a week now. (Good thing I check every couple days for the comments anyway!)
why are they all looking at the viewer in the top panel? except for the dab it looks odd to me
They aren’t looking at the viewer rather the viewers position is between them the table were Syd and the others are siting. They are in effect keeping an eye on her. This can be seen in the next panel when the view shifts 180 and we now see Syd and friends.
Man, The Ding image would make a great GIF with the othe rone.
Well I became a Patreon. I also nominated Grrl Power for WatchMojo.com’s top 10 web comics. It would be good advertisement if you make it into the video once they make it.
https://watchmojo.com/suggest/top%2010%20web%20comics
Nicely done.
I am myself waiting to see what happens when she finally makes it back to the comic shop after remembering “Duh! I forgot whether I made the deposit at the bank with all the bank robbery excitement!”
Sooo…to sharpen the point, when was the last time in the comic we’ve seen Sydney actually carrying the money-pouch that was holding those deposits?
Without even going back to look at it again, I don’t remember Sydney still holding the pouch even at the point when the “bank robbers” made their attempt. My conclusion is that Sydney managed to just barely get the deposit enacted when the compost connected to the rotary oscillator.
Of course, anyone may feel free to actually LOOK at the comic back that early & prove me a liar…
Yeah, yeah, ok. Just because of myself I DID go back in the comic & look. The staged robbery was already in progress when Sydney walked into the bank. Also, if Sydney managed to make the deposit or not wasn’t shown either…If she did, it happened “off screen” during the wind-down of the events. Knowing how ADHD Sydney is during her “quiet moments,” I’ll have to rescind my earlier conclusion.
Having made many deposits before I can say there is most likly a deposit slip in the bad identifying who it belongs to. The bank will treat it like a night drop basically depositing it and holding the bag (with deposit receipt in it) till someone picks it up.
did you mean “in the bag” not “in the bad”
Yes unfortunately my ADD tends to cause problems as I am two to three words ahead of my typing.
Joel: You didn’t. The police called while you were out asking if I could come down tomorrow and identify the bag and claim it. Do you know why they were talking about a HazMat team?
Sydney: Well, I sort of puked when the situation got really stressful. Did you know that I almost got shot?!
Joel: Let me guess; you had already stopped for your usual lunch. That explains it. Hey, it’s 6 o’clock. Its probably on the news. Let’s see. [ Turns the shop TV from showing the latest Direct-to-BlueRay cartoon to the news. ]
Suzi (on screen): Thank you Peter. This is Suzi Wen at the site of Archon, the latest branch of the military, a police force of superheros. I first encounter this group at this afternoons bank robbery. [ Cut to footage from inside the bank, swiped of of YouTube, as Suzi continues the voice over. ] As you can see here, one of the senior officers of ArcSwat, LtCol Leander, the tall woman with the golden skin tone, does most of the work stopping the bank robbery, but also notice the young woman who is being held hostage. [ No audio this time. Swear-fest leads to the equalizer kick. ]
Peter [ voice-over, groaning ]: Oh dear. What the!? [ Just watched the tongue-flip ]
Suzi: Some may recognize this woman from the live interview this afternoon after the robbery was over, but it turns out that this young woman has super powers herself and was recruited into ArcSwat this very afternoon. [ Footage from the press conference, everybody seated at the table, then the PPO firing line and Dabbler, Sydney and Achilles starting at, well, nothing. ]
Joel: Wait a minute! Is that why the phone has been ringing off the hook for you this afternoon?! What is going on here?
I am sure that Dave will really Sydney moment the heck out her return to the comic shop and the impending invasion of the comic nerds! (Say. That. With. Pride!)
It really is a credit to his writing that such a moment is so highly anticipated.