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Thread: Interview Questions For Rich
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2015-04-23, 08:42 AM (ISO 8601)
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Interview Questions For Rich
In another thread I thought of a question that I thought of a question I'd ask Rich in an interview. So it got me wondering, if there was a collective Forum interview of him, what questions would you want to ask?
There is no guarantee he will answer any of these, of course. But you never know. Maybe he will here. Maybe a member of the media who interviews him in the future will read this and pick some of these questions.
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2015-04-23, 08:44 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Interview Questions For Rich
To answer my own question (begging the break in decorum of two posts in a row):
Rich likes, I think, to discuss the concept of Power in his comic. Some are very obvious (most obvious: 657, but really it is everywhere.) Maybe he meant for this to be a subtle one.
I think it'd be a great interview question for Rich. "OotS appears to have Power as a theme throughout the narrative. What interests you about this topic and how did you develop your own views on it?"
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2015-04-23, 10:39 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Interview Questions For Rich
"Rich, why is double posting against the rules of the forum?"
I've always wondered that.Last edited by littlebum2002; 2015-04-23 at 10:51 AM.
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2015-04-23, 10:51 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Interview Questions For Rich
I would like to write a long piece explaining to outsiders what is so awesome about OOTS. That mainly revolves around how much OOTS says about the human condition. I would struggle to write that on this forum because I would feel constrained by forum rules. As long as this piece remains unwritten I am unsure a question for the Giant would actually surface.
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2015-04-23, 05:03 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Interview Questions For Rich
I have a suggestion that has received mixed reviews from my peer group, to explain Unholy Blight and Evan's Spiked Tentacles.
Vaarsuvius was Neutral Good in this comic:
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0011.html
That's how Unholy Blight worked on vir despite vir alignment as True Neutral should have allowed V to overcome it rather easily, if not bypass it entirely.
What pushed V into True Neutral?
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0020.html
Evan's Spiked Tentacles of Forced Intrusion.
Then the Chimera screamed out "the horror... the horror!" V was shocked and guilty, though, because of vir's lack of emotional involvement at this point, did not share this with the rest of the party. Vaarsuvius forsook Conjuration and made it vir barred school, instead of what was previously V's second barred school, illusion, which explains why V hardly ever uses this school and is actually behind Elan as far as that school is concerned. Invisibility was also not cast until after the Linear Guild was dealt with the first time, so V could well have gained a level since #20. V does later say that he chose Conjuration as his barred school before "the rules of the universe have since been rewritten," but probably ve simply didn't check the rules in the 20 strips from the 3.5 update to vir's attack on Trigak. This explains the shift in V's alignment as well as why ve no longer uses Conjuration. It also gives us sort of a prelude to V's second (possible) alignment change with Familicide, which is from Necromancy, Conjuration's evil twin.Spoiler: Check Out my Writing!
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2015-04-23, 08:09 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Interview Questions For Rich
In what way do you see "Power" as being a theme of OOTS? Because I kinda don't know what you're talking about, but I might if you extrapolate on what you see as the theme. Generally speaking, I think of themes as being things you can sum up in declarative statements, such as, "Your family is who you decide your family is, not strictly those to whom you're biologically related."
Because it's obnoxious and encourages thread-spamming.
Vaarsuvius was never Neutral Good—you're just reading too much into the artwork in strip #11. Neutral characters still take half damage from Unholy Blight. She/he either failed the Will save and took half damage, or made the save and took one-quarter damage (but as an elven wizard with low hit points, that reduced damage still "hurt" as much as Haley or Elan taking whatever damage they took).
In general, it's a fallacy to look at the comic and declare that the most statistically probably outcome of an event is necessarily what is occurring, especially if doing so contradicts stuff that's explicitly stated elsewhere. Is it less likely for a Neutral character with good Will saves to take significant damage from Unholy Blight? Sure. But it's still possible, and in this case, it's what happened, because anything else would have cluttered the joke.
There was also no switch to Conjuration as a barred school, so much as I didn't decide what V's barred school was until later when I needed to eliminate teleportation as a possible plot-killer and forgot about the spiked tentacles. However, if you really need it to all fit together smoothly, just assume that anytime V is seen casting a Conjuration spell in the early part of the strip, he/she is actually casting Shadow Conjuration and everyone around her/him is failing their saving throw.
EDIT: To be clear, it is entirely possible that at the time I drew strip #11, I thought of V as Good. I don't remember. I'm saying that the continuity of the narrative is that V has always been True Neutral, and nothing in strip #11 contradicts that.Rich Burlew
Now Available: 2023 OOTS Holiday Ornament plus a big pile of new t-shirt designs (that you can also get on mugs and stuff)!
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2015-04-23, 08:24 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Interview Questions For Rich
"Might MitD's base creature be copyrighted by a company other than Wizards of the Coast?"
(I mean, of course, my actual ideal question would be "What is MitD?" but since the chances of getting that answered are 0, I'd at least like an answer to "what copyrighted creatures can we consider?")
Grey "It's worth a shot" WolfLast edited by Grey_Wolf_c; 2015-04-23 at 08:26 PM.
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2015-04-23, 08:34 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Interview Questions For Rich
Based on the response to a previous question, I wonder what the Giant would say the most important theme of the comic is.
Cuthalion's art is the prettiest art of all the art. Like my avatar.
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2015-04-23, 08:51 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Interview Questions For Rich
So I think there are the explicit references to power: see Vaarsuvius's quest for ultimate arcane power, Xykon's speeches on power, the debate by combat about how Roy'a intelligence was a form of power, etc.
I do think on a metafictional level there appears to be something foucaldian happening, especially evidenced in the most recent book, where you seem to be examining the power of narrative structure. I don't have a great argument prepared, but I think this would be a decent start for an academic paper analyzing Order of the Stick.
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2015-04-23, 09:58 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Interview Questions For Rich
Thank you for answering.
I see what you're saying. Interesting you chose that statement, as none of the characters seem to have very good relationships with their parents!
Reading the comic I take from it you have ideas about Power that get expressed both directly (perhaps no more so then Xykon's "Power is Power" speech is in 657) and yet is that same message also shown when Roy is using his knowledge skill ranks in combat in 808 - power is yet again power. Other examples are there too.
At the same time, it seems you view power is only power if people have earned it. Not only did V not earn it, but neither did Bozzok by all accounts.
I'm not precisely sure how I'd fit that up into a declarative statement, but hopefully I have been clear enough to communicate what I'm attempting to say.
Cheers
Edit: Oh, I wrote this before reading Ridley's reply, but yeah. At least someone else sees essentially the same thing...Last edited by Gusion; 2015-04-23 at 10:00 PM.
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2015-04-23, 10:31 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Interview Questions For Rich
Creatures can't be copyrighted. They can be trademarked, in certain circumstances, though most monsters that appear in works of copyrighted fiction are not.
The main theme of the comic is, "I'm glad I have a job where I can work in my pajamas."
Well, I would say that those sort of examinations of power are more a function of the D&D game itself than anything that especially interests me. I address them by way of critiquing the game, and especially the people who play it. D&D, as an abstraction of reality, tends to simplify the messy analog world with discrete blocks of numbers that can be compared and contrasted. A character's life choices can then be sorted as "optimal" or "suboptimal" easily, and those who favor optimization techniques are quick to denigrate any choice that is suboptimal. And then they'll go a step further and tell me that I am writing the story wrong because the characters in it do not follow the current trendy optimization technique, or I dare to show a fighter as being the equal of a wizard.
Of course, the real world doesn't work like that. Who's more powerful, a fighter or a wizard? Who's more powerful, an art therapist or a tree surgeon? It's a nonsense question, because "power" in the sense that D&D players use the word does not really exist in our world. Therefore, it's a fairly meaningless thing to worry too much about. In the real world, power takes many forms, but none of them "trump" all the others the way that people think that wizards trump all other classes. Power is whatever helps you get what you want, and not everything that represents power to one person necessarily has any use to anyone else. Who's more powerful, a fully armed marine or a fast food worker? What if I told you that all the marine wants is to sleep next to her husband who's 7000 miles away, something the fast food worker does every single night? Now who's more powerful? Who optimized their life to get what was really important to them? Who's more powerful, an investment banker or a guy who gets to work in his pajamas? There are no clear cut answers, and everyone's choices are their own to make—and not for others to judge as being "suboptimal."
And to bring it back to D&D, optimizers usually make the flawed assumption that what everybody wants is for their character to be able to steamroll the monsters as quickly and efficiently as possible, when in fact what some people want might be to tell the story of a deeply flawed hero who bumbles their way through every encounter, while what other people might want is to not spend more than ten minutes making their character so they can spend more time sleeping next to their husband. Power is about priorities, and there are no objectively superior priorities in life or D&D.
So I guess what I'm getting at is that power doesn't interest me at all per se, but the ongoing and habitual mischaracterization by a subset of my readers about what constitutes power does. I suppose it's the D&D version of, "Money can't buy happiness."
No, that's just something that matters to Xykon. Not everything a character says is intended to be the author's point of view.Rich Burlew
Now Available: 2023 OOTS Holiday Ornament plus a big pile of new t-shirt designs (that you can also get on mugs and stuff)!
~~You can also support The Order of the Stick and the GITP forum at Patreon.~~
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2015-04-23, 11:09 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Interview Questions For Rich
Does either side of Elan's biological family have a last name?
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2015-04-23, 11:23 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Interview Questions For Rich
What is Rich short for? Richard? Richy? Richelieu? Richington? Richatiningarrinowgrobglob?
But seriously I appreciate that you are providing us with these insights here.
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2015-04-23, 11:40 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Interview Questions For Rich
Long shot, but I might as well go for it: has Master Fyron's son been retconned out of existence or not? He's totally absent from SoD, but is mentioned again by Roy in a comic that came out after or around the same time as its release.
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2015-04-24, 02:15 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Interview Questions For Rich
What inspires you? Is there any other work out there in particular that you feel influenced the way you tell your story?
Which strip was the most fun for you to make?
What's your favourite breakfast cereal?I participated!
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2015-04-24, 04:15 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Interview Questions For Rich
It's because OOTS made him rich, rich, rich.
(found that while googling and the image of taking a bath in money made me laugh, but joke apart, money was used for backers rewards including reprints :o)
Anyway checking this question, Google tells me that Rich is 40 years old, while pictures of him just don't.
Which leads to my question to Rich: What kind of undead are you?Posting from France
Sorry for my accent.
Thanks to neoseph7 for my avatar (Allen Walker from D.Gray-Man)
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2015-04-24, 05:39 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Interview Questions For Rich
These are old photos. He's no longer seen because of his seclusive life style in Tibet.
Real Rich Burlew is no longer amongst us. What we seen now as him is actually a reclusive group of ghost writers and cartoonists hired and annually replaced by Ookoodook, so they can sell OotS merchandise.Last edited by martianmister; 2015-04-24 at 05:41 AM.
Spoiler
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2015-04-24, 05:47 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Interview Questions For Rich
What precisely is (was?) the Sapphire Guard? It's no secret Azure City has paladins, but apparently very few know about the Guard. Before the battle, Hinjo exempts the "newbies" from sapphire-guarding, which implies they're not all members. I guess there'd have to be a lot of dedication before they were inducted, because the secrecy and ghost-martyrdom are pretty serious responsibilities. Having enough levels for fear-immunity seems like a basic requirement.
Assistant Treasurer of the Haley fan club
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2015-04-24, 06:39 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Interview Questions For Rich
Again, thanks for the response; I'm particularly glad you read this thread before it got predictably silly.
You've been successful (congratulations, of course) in your choices including the ability to work in your pajamas, as you mention above. I think we've all heard the phrase, "Money can't buy happiness," even though in American culture it is largely ignored. Does this view on this application of power largely being a matter of priorities come from a specific personal experience?
Cheers!
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2015-04-24, 01:17 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Interview Questions For Rich
If it's important and I haven't revealed it thus far, then obviously it will have some form of significance in the story and I would have no reason to tell you now. And if it's not important, then it's not important. Not all the i's need to be dotted nor the t's crossed.
I went into this a bit in the introduction to War and XPs, actually. The biggest formative influence was probably Robert Lynn Asprin's Myth Adventures series, though they don't always hold up to my adult sensibilities. Ambush Bug. Babylon 5, obviously. Avatar: The Last Airbender, but I've only gotten time to watch the first season of The Legend of Korra. Recently, I've been really loving Brian K. Vaughn's Saga and G. Willow Wilson's Ms. Marvel, and catching up on the new Doctor Who as much as I can. I don't really get to watch/read as much stuff as I used to, though.
I don't know that "fun" really enters into it as much as "satisfying." And for those, it's the ones where I've been imagining and laying the foundation for a singular surprise for years and I finally get to pull the trigger. Girard's pyramid blowing up one panel after Xykon arrives was a big one, as was Malack's vampire reveal. Anything where I know the strip is going to shock everyone. I've been imagining the scene for MITD's eventual reveal for like nine years now, so I expect that may be the best of them all.
As a kid, I liked Frankenberry, but I can't have it anymore because it's not vegetarian. I eat boring adult cereals now.
I stopped doing personal appearances at conventions back in 2007, so any pictures you see of me online are probably no older than 32. However, buyers of Blood Runs in the Family will note that Stick Figure Rich is starting to get a little bit of grey in his beard. I should probably update my avatar here to that one.
The Sapphire Guard would have been a secret society, separate but overlapping with the general clergy and paladins of the Twelve Gods. All members of the Sapphire Guard are clerics or paladins of the Twelve Gods, but not all paladins of the Twelve Gods were members of the Sapphire Guard. Only those who could be trusted with the secret of the Gate would be inducted. There will likely be more detail in the upcoming O-Chul solo story, which will go out digitally to all Kickstarter backers when it's done but will also certainly be compiled for print someday.
It comes from the sum total of my life experiences, which I'm not going to go into detail about here.Rich Burlew
Now Available: 2023 OOTS Holiday Ornament plus a big pile of new t-shirt designs (that you can also get on mugs and stuff)!
~~You can also support The Order of the Stick and the GITP forum at Patreon.~~
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2015-04-24, 01:32 PM (ISO 8601)
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2015-04-24, 01:32 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Interview Questions For Rich
OK, that's weird. I'm going to have to ask Rawhide why I have two avatars now.
Kids, this is what doing a webcomic will do to you. Just say no to webcomics!
EDIT: Looks like this has been fixed now. Two avatars enter, one avatar leaves.Rich Burlew
Now Available: 2023 OOTS Holiday Ornament plus a big pile of new t-shirt designs (that you can also get on mugs and stuff)!
~~You can also support The Order of the Stick and the GITP forum at Patreon.~~
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2015-04-24, 01:33 PM (ISO 8601)
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2015-04-24, 01:38 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Interview Questions For Rich
Rich Burlew
Now Available: 2023 OOTS Holiday Ornament plus a big pile of new t-shirt designs (that you can also get on mugs and stuff)!
~~You can also support The Order of the Stick and the GITP forum at Patreon.~~
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2015-04-24, 01:39 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Interview Questions For Rich
Im curious, how often do you find yourself planning out the specifics of one or more strips in a row, compared to just coming up with something on the spot that you think is clever?
Or, I guess another way to phrase it would be are you more of a spontaneous writer or do you find yourself sitting down and having to seriously think about it before something good comes to you?“Evil is evil. Lesser, greater, middling, it's all the same. Proportions are negotiated, boundaries blurred. I'm not a pious hermit, I haven't done only good in my life. But if I'm to choose between one evil and another, then I prefer not to choose at all.”
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2015-04-24, 01:39 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Interview Questions For Rich
I thought one picture where you're wearing some kind of bracer on your right hand was no more than 3 years old because of your injury, but looking at it, it was posted in 2008! Somehow it makes more sense :D
Stopping public appearances in a good way to show that your avatar gets older instead of you! I never managed to reproduce that Dorian Gray's trick myself. Guess you need an artist to do a portray of you at some point...
Thanks for that serious answer to a silly question anyway!Last edited by Quild; 2015-04-24 at 01:40 PM.
Posting from France
Sorry for my accent.
Thanks to neoseph7 for my avatar (Allen Walker from D.Gray-Man)
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2015-04-24, 01:43 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Interview Questions For Rich
Those are from even earlier, when I sprained my wrist. That was what gave us Sprained Wrist Theater.
Rich Burlew
Now Available: 2023 OOTS Holiday Ornament plus a big pile of new t-shirt designs (that you can also get on mugs and stuff)!
~~You can also support The Order of the Stick and the GITP forum at Patreon.~~
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2015-04-24, 01:51 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Interview Questions For Rich
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2015-04-24, 01:52 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Interview Questions For Rich
For those inclined to create such things, how do you feel about fanfiction or other non-commercial derivative works based on the OOTS universe? (I'd presume that your position on commercial derivative works is the obvious one).
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2015-04-24, 02:03 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Interview Questions For Rich
Has there ever been a low-point in all this where you wondered if it was all going to be worth it, where you just wanted to stop and move on? What got you through it?
Last edited by Cristo Meyers; 2015-04-24 at 02:03 PM.