Hero’s Call
Hmmm… None of the candidates seem especially promising. What do you say we expand our pool of applicants?
Inquisitor — “I’ve been informed that I’m already joining an Uno campaign. Apparently my expertise is needed in playtesting the Draw Two class.”
Kineticist — “Actually, I’ve been working on my own original setting. Long ago, the four nations lived in harmony….”
Witch — “Can we please finally try out the Hell’s Vengeance AP? (Assuming there’s an embargo on antihero PCs. Proper Evil or GTFO.)”
Barbarian — “Anybody else interested in giving Werewolf a shot? Something about the tagline just strikes a chord, you know?”
Sorcerer — “Whatever we’re playing, shotgun fireball guy. No take-backs!”
Warlock — “I’d like to run, but I’m torn between Changeling, Call of Cthulhu, and Demon: The Fallen.”
Street Samurai — “Inventor called dibs on Decker, and Artificer is our Rigger. We still have slots open, but don’t expect pink mohawk. I run a strictly black trench coat kind of Sixth World.”
Anti-Paladin — “I’m not really set up to host. Patches and Snuggles just had a litter, and my place is kind of overrun.”
Druid — “Anybody up for Animal Adventures? I’ve be dying to use my minis!”
Bard — “We’ve talked about it long enough. Let’s finally pull the trigger. All bard party! You can travel the land in your sweet conversion van solving mysteries!”
Succubus — “I mod a private server, but I don’t think it’s the kind of RP you guys are looking for.” 🍆🍑😈
Monk — “I’m barely part of this group. Why would I run? Alchemist has been to more sessions, and he isn’t even a core class!”
Jeremy et al. — “I’m going to miss adventuring with you guys. I mean, it’s been nearly seven years since you first let me join! But Blaze and I are starting college in the fall, and Uchichi is off to art school. Maybe next summer?”
Assassin — “You know what? Screw you guys and the edition your rode in on. It’s what my character would have done.” *slams door*
Swash + Buckle — “Hell yeah we wanna run! You guys are gonna love Dungeons: the Dragoning 40,000 7th Edition!”
Occultist — “So let me get this straight. If I run, I get to roll dice behind a screen? And I can just like… tell you the results?” *heavy breathing*
Arcane Archer — “I’ve been informed that I’m joining an Animal Adventures game. Plus Druid has already painted my mini for me.”
Pugilist — “PUG WILL DEFEAT YOU ALL! NO, YOU ARE ADVERSARIAL GM!”
Ninja — “No I… No. The pain is still too fresh.” *thousand yard stare”
Oracle — “Hey Oracle! You’re a dedicated healer! Why don’t you perform yet another thankless task for all us idiots? Thanks no thanks.”
Cavalier — “My sword is pledged already to another order. War looms upon the horizon, and I have needs hone my skill with the blade.”
Van Helscion — “Would anyone be willing to run Curse of Strahd?”
Lumberjack Explosion — “I’m sure this will come as a surprise, but I’ve always had a soft spot for Mutants and Masterminds. I know, right? Mild-mannered Lumberjack Explosion is into superheroes? Who’d have thought!” >_>
On the off chance that I left anybody out, feel free to shout ’em out down in the comments for today’s discussion! Same deal if you can think of a combo of characters that ought to be gaming together. I’d love to hear what you think their dynamic would look like!
JOIN THE HANDBOOK OF HEROES DISCORD! Do you want a place to game with your fellow Heroes? How about a magical land where you can post your dankest nerd memes, behold the finest in gamer dog and geek cats, or speculate baselessly on Handbook of Heroes plot developments? Then have I got a Discord Invite for you!
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Gunslinger: Wait… If I run the game myself… You guys would play with me?
Gunslinger got excluded from the list? Let it never be said that I can’t stick to a running gag.
Seems like we all want Gunslinger to be Plotslinger.
Yay, Assassin is dead and rage-quit from the group! 😀 I’m so happy. Now if only he’d take Swash & Buckle with him. >_>
I notice that Gunslinger isn’t on that list, and I bet he’d love to DM just for the feeling that people are coming over to play with him. I expect his games would be full of excitement and would have something for everyone; he’s a people-pleaser and has seen so much of Handbookworld and interacted with so many people while he was looking for a place to belong. I bet it’d be great (and I’d like to see him get his happy ending).
I hope Jeremy, Blaze and Uchichi have a blast at college and art school. They’re silly kids, but I kind of like them all the same. 🙂
Just … nobody suggest that Questgiver take over DM’ing. Dude’s already overworked and traumatised. He’d make a good assistant for the next DM, though.
I toyed with the idea of a plot where all the “NPC characters” like Quest Giver and Barmaid and Elf Princess got mind-controlled by BBEG and spoke in his voice, implying that they were all played by the GM. Turned out to be too convoluted for the single-panel format though.
I liked seeing them as their own entities, with their own lives separate from the plot. Like when Barmaid, Priest and Quest-Giver were getting baked together and the PCs came walking up to the village.
“Quick! Everybody look uninteresting!” (Or words to that effect.)
😀
I was going to say, surely Elf Princess is down for trying this Mutants and Masterminds thing that she’s heard so much about
I couldn’t imagine a better riding-off-into-the-sunset for those two.
Oh, I posted that under the wrong username. Embarrassing.
I truly expected the punchline to be the Gunslinger taking up the mantle of GM. It makes sense, right? The role of Forever GM is famously the final recourse for the player who’s never managed to get a group together. He’s been running solo games, so it’s not like he’s unprepared for it. And as a bit of a Forever GM myself, it’s a very good gig for those of us who just just of like getting attention.
Let me know if I should delete the other one. 🙂
Uh, yeah, let’s delete the first one! Sorry for the spam! Sometimes “waiting for moderation” posts literally never go up, so I’ve kind of just gotten used to assuming that inputting the wrong name just means the post disappears into the erher.
Really feels like the comic is wrapping up. Is it coming to an end? Or is this arc more about covering the bumps and bruises that come with ending a campaign and starting a new one?
Dude, i got the same feeling! I hope its not since this comic has been a joy to read for years for me.
We’ve talked about it on Discord and the Patreon, but yeah. We’re winding down. Laurel has a new comic that she’s spinning up, and I have my sights set on a semi-autobiographical superhero script.
It’s been such a gorgeous ride. I’m horribly sad to see it end, but I’m excited for you two to get to end it in style and move on to new projects.
Oh, what’s going to happen to the Patreon content? Will we still be able to pledge to the tier to access the, expanded lore?
I believe we’re going to throw all of Handbook’s Patreon content onto the Handbook site itself while the Patreon gets retrofitted for Laurel’s upcoming “Facet” comic.
I don’t think Thief is done stabbing Assassin.
serves him right for trying to backstab her wife.
Yeah, and I’m not sure if that’s in-character or OOC. Assassin and his player have been asking for that for quite some time.
You and me both.
Paladin an Necromancer are such a cute cupple in that pannel <3.
Them not having any time in future ….. shame. I would love to see that romance subplot come to fruition 🙂
SPIN-OFF COMIC WHEN!?
Something like it.
In the Discord.
In the fanart thread.
Right now.
You are the friggin’ best, Rock! Love the shit out of it.
Thank you so much, Claire. ^_^
This is so cool.
I freaking love it <3
Thanks very much.
Heh, I could see Wizard becoming the new DM, but her campaigns would be focused around her NPCs, with the PCs as little more than background characters (played with a DM like that).
With that said, sign me up for Gunslinger as the new Plotslinger!
Absolutely love this comic, thanks for enriching our lives so much!
I can see a little of myself in Wizard, so I can imagine her games would be a lot like mine: complex plots and NPCs with defined motivations that go completely unexplored and ignored by the players, who show up to punch the bad guys and then never look any deeper.
Always thank your GM. It means the world to us. :’)
Inventor: As an artificial intelligence, I believe it would be a bit controversial if I took up the role.
Alchemist: Oh, I got one hell of a homebrew in store for you guys.
Nicely done! Thought I could get away with giving these guys a mention in some other characters’ lines.
Always felt like I missed the mark with Monk and Alchemist. They just didn’t have enough of a shtick to hang my hat on. :/
I think you did fine with Alchemist. Sure, he often kinda defaulted to being a shopkeeper, the fact he sold potions and other magical stuff meant you got a good number of punchlines outta him. Plus his tumor familiar and mutation thing meant he was a good default for “gross” subject matters.
Plus his design in general is pretty cool, like the 3d goggles and such.
Monk on the otherhand, yeah, not much beyond the ‘small brawler’ shtick which Pug basically took over. Him never really interacting with the other characters didn’t help.
In retrospect, I maybe could have made Monk the poster-boy for martial / caster disparity or underpowered builds. There was that one comic where he tried to be Wizard’s apprentice. And it could have been fun to have a running suboptimal gag.
Speaking of Monk…
Please check the fanart thread in the Discord.
Saw it. Loved it. Wish I’d thought of the gag. XD
I’m glad you liked it.
I had to laugh at the Animal Adventures. Because I have still have the Kickstarters and all the expansions. And not a single miniature has been painted.
I’ve always leaned heavily on hubby when I needed a break. He runs Ravenloft and Top Secret when I’m not running the main campaign.
Only have been able to talk a couple others into running. One did a kickass Marvel Superheroes game and the other did a garbage (everything thrown in and jumbled together) Star Wars campaign.
Jumbled Star Wars? Like… I can play a Vulcan or a Xenomorph or whatever?
He probably would have let you. He only had a very superficial knowledge of the Star Wars universe at the time and was easy to persuade. I ended up with a Verpine engineer (tall, skinny insectoid) and hubby was (of course) an Ewok stowaway.
Wizard and I empathize.
*slides Mouse Guard core rulebook over to Druid* I think you may like this.
On a side note, I’ve wanted to run Hell’s Vengeance and Hell’s Rebels back to back and have one party appear as the villains in the other.
Villains get to kill the old heroes? Oh man… I’d have such mixed feelings!
I love the fact you didn’t actually choose which version of Werewolf or Changeling, but did for Demon. What’s wrong Warlock, you don’t like the Matrix?
I figured Demon was a little obscure. Wanted to make the Google easier on folks.
I’m really gonna miss this comic. It’s been one hell of a ride, and I’ve enjoyed it a lot. Godspeed on your next projects, and good luck!
Also, Gunslinger steps up. Calling it now. I’ve been in his shoes; too many ideas, never enough games, games keep dying…what’s left to do but take up the mantle yourself?
Me too, man. Me too.
looks like all of them want to run (from the responsibility)
Everybody out here using Dash action.
Patches and Snuggles had a litter?! Share pics NOW!
Can’t risk the internet. That amount of cute could overload infrastructures.
Obviously the best candidate is…..Rouge. As repayment for banishing her from existence along with Summoner through no fault of her own. =P
Heh. I imagine a whole, “You’re free, Genie!” scene for her. Followed by punching Summoner square in the gut.
welp, i haven’t posted much but i have enjoyed reading. When they are available i would absolutely like to read your following works. and i’m kinda on the gunslinger runs so they have to play with him train.
Well hey, I’m coauthor on the first ~80 pages of Laurel’s next project.
But keep an eye on the Discord. I’ll make sure to plug my future biz there.
Been here from the beginning. Sad to see it come to an end – required reading for my playgroups, especially the new players. Thanks again.
Actual deadtree Handbook of Heroes when?
Thanks for sticking with us, Dark! It’s been a blast.
As for a physical book… I hope we can do something like that one of these days. If you’re on the Discord, that’s where we’d likely make the announcement.
So does a new writer and artist have to take over in order for this comic to keep running? That would sure be the expected level of meta.
Is that a thing? Do webcomics ever actually do that?
That is in fact a thing, though obviously not common. One webcomic that I read, Exiern, did that. I don’t know the exact details, but the original creator is no longer involved at all, and others have taken up the comic