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Marten - Human/Bard (Lawful-Neutral) - The archetypal Hapless Pawn of the Higher Powers

18 (7.7%)

Steve - Human/Fighter (Lawful-Neutral) - Freelancer sell-sword

16 (6.8%)

Pintsize - Halfling/Rogue (Chaotic-Good) - The source of most of Marten's everyday problems

10 (4.3%)

Faye - Human/Barbarian w. secondary crafting skill-set (Chaotic-Good) - Trying to find a place in the world

26 (11.1%)

Hannelore - Human/Cleric (Lawful-Good) w. Berserker alt persona (Chaotic-Evil) - Primary weapon is shovel

30 (12.8%)

Dora - Human/Merchant (True Neutral) - Treasure-hunter in her spare time

10 (4.3%)

Claire - Human/Mage (Lawful-Good) - In the final stage of her studies for her Mastery

21 (8.9%)

Marigold - Orc/Fighter (True Neutral) - A cobbler's daughter who wants to be a barbarian

11 (4.7%)

Dale - Human/Fighter (Lawful-Good) - Wants to be Lawful-Evil but can't pull it off

7 (3%)

Bubbles - Human/Paladin (Lawful-Good) - Yet another travelling warrior seeking redemption

35 (14.9%)

Emalai the Chaotic - White Elf/Summoner (Chaotic-Good) - She's just strange all the way down

14 (6%)

Momo - Wood Elf/Ranger (Lawful-Good) - Marigold's long-time partner and thinking-brain Elf

19 (8.1%)

Mai - Dark Elf/Rogue (Chaotic Neutral) - Down on her luck and trying to find her feet again

17 (7.2%)

Other (please specify)

1 (0.4%)

Total Members Voted: 37

[BenRG]

Okay, having drawn a blank for anything else, I've decided (pray pardon the intellectual nepotism) to put up a poll based on my post on the 'RPG Role' thread.

Some character tidbits:
Hannelore's character would be difficult to role play as she has a distinct dual personality. Under extreme stress, she tends to snap into a 'Dark Hanners' psyche that's a blood-thirsty berserker. However, normally she's meek and in every way plays the part of a priestess of Virga, the Goddess of Purity. She is the daughter of John the Wise, the Grandmaster of the Mage's Guild and Queen Beatrice, a very, very Lawful-Evil Dark Queen. She has an Summoned Imp as a familiar called Winslow. Hannelore is functionally exiled by Queen B after an... incident caused by her dark Alter.

Bubbles is a Paladin working with the blessing of Weld, the God of Metal-crafters. She's a typical Paladin who is looking to redeem herself from unspecified past sins.

Notable NPCs are Jim (the merchant who runs most of the facilities in the party's base town), Veronica (Marten's mother as well as a courtesan & rogue), Jolly Tai, the head librarian of the town's branch of the Mage's Guild and Cossette, a clumsy bar-wench at Jim's tavern who tends to be one of those NPCs who always hears and passes on the first hook for the adventure to come.

Steve, Marten and Pintsize have been travelling together for a while, looking for work (or marks, in Pintsize's case) wherever they can find it/them. Nowadays, Marten works at Tai's library; he, Claire, Momo and Emalai tend to get sent on lots of weird 'fetch-and-carry' missions by Tai who lacks the work ethic to do it herself.

• A Dora-focussed party would be looking for hidden treasure/lost temples and the like;
• A Marten-focussed party would be aimless wanderers dragged into various high-level events much against their will and intent;
• A Hannelore- and/or Bubbles-focussed party would be very much looking for redemption and thus trying to aid the imperilled in any way you can.

As for me? I selected: Dora (Party Leader), Marten, Faye, Hannelore, Pintsize and Bubbles. You'd be surprised at the weird stuff Marten gets dropped in his hat when busking and the mysterious maps that people tend to leave in his room at Dora's Inn! Woohoo! They're off on another unsupervised adventure!

[brasca]

Have to wonder if the couple having an argument includes a shaggy haired boy who kept eyeing Bubbles and a short haired girl who kept calling him an idiot. 

Somehow I think having Sam tag along is going to inadvertently lead to the revelation that Bubbles has a crush on Faye.  Sam will notice and ask because she's a kid and doesn't know any better. 

[OldGoat]

Damn...in panel 1 Sam looks like Jesper Pate.

Sounds like Pioneer Valley is kind of a Marin County East.

[shanejayell]

The Canabis co-op bit also sounds like Vancouver. And as I have bought a book from him here, I KNOW he's visited. 

[SmilingCat]

My Party: Pintsize, Faye, Hannelore, Claire, Bubbles, and Emalai

Obviously there's the idea of the optimal configuration of meatshield, rogue, healer, caster. Faye, Bubbles, and Emalai's summoned creatures can take the front. Pintsize does the rogue stuff, Claire provides fire support. Hanners heals people.

But really the appeal is where all of that breaks down. Hanners is probably too freaked out by blood to be an effective healer. Claire probably prepares too many castings of read magic and comprehend language (for reading texts and the creation of elaborate puns out of dead languages) to be proper artillery support. Pintsize is Pintsize. Nobody's really sure what Emalai is doing. So mostly it's Faye and Bubbles stressing out about holding the team together, and they bond over their mutual frustration. They end up banging.

[gprimr1]

Having lived a year in Amherst, 1 town over from Northampton, that is such an accurate depiction of the area.

[Penquin47]

And another victim of Jeph's insistence on everyone having short hair.  *sigh*

[BenRG]

You know, oddly enough I should have seen Sam's new haircut coming. Not only does Jeph have a near-neurotic need for girls with short hair (because, as he's said before, he's into necks) but because Sam is a sword-fighter. Look at portraits of ancient knights like King Henry V. They all wear pudding bowl haircuts because it's easier to fit into a helmet.

As for the 'day off school' thing...? Well, I'm beginning to see why there might be an issue with kids being unready for focussed academic studies by the time they reach college. That said, I'm genuinely surprised that a level-headed guy like Jim would do something like this. I'm guessing that the school was arranged by his ex-wife.

[Storel]

Faye! Such language in front of a kid! 

The cannabis co-op thing sounds very Berkeley, too. More Berkeley than Marin County these days -- nobody can afford to live in Marin County any more unless they've got way too much money to be doing hippie stuff like co-ops.

As for the 'day off school' thing...? Well, I'm beginning to see why there might be an issue with kids being unready for focussed academic studies by the time they reach college. That said, I'm genuinely surprised that a level-headed guy like Jim would do something like this.

I suspect that Jim doesn't know Sam's taking a day off for this, and I doubt he'd approve.

Also, I strongly suspect that Sam cut her hair herself and her dad doesn't yet know about that, either.

[DaiJB]

So. You.
Loud-mouthed brat.
Ask nicely.
OR SHUT YER FACE.

Jeez, you break and enter, jump on Faye and wake her out of a sound sleep.
Is she permitted a little breakfast or coffee?

[Akima]

Dora has form as an RPG magic user. Not to mention that she used to be in a witches' coven. There was a dream-sequence strip where she polymorphed Marten and Faye into rabbits, but I can't find it at the moment.

Also, I strongly suspect that Sam cut her hair herself and her dad doesn't yet know about that, either.

It looks a bit too tidy for a self-inflicted haircut, especially the clipped part below the bowl-cut edge.

[hakko504]

My party: Marten, Steve, Bubbles, Mai, Claire & Faye.

I was considering Momo instead of Faye, but I went with the original 3 and some great supporting characters.

Took me a while to realise that Emalai was a weird spelling of Emily...

[Zebediah]

I can assure you that the Northampton public schools have no such policy, despite my son's occasional attempts to convince me that they do.   

(Yes, I know, Sam attends PVPA. But if she was in the public school system she'd be in the same school as my son.)

[Mr. Doctor]

Hhahahahaha, what an awful haircut. At least it got me a nice smile when I woke up.

Also, as long as youn keep him by your side. Pintsize as a rogue would be pretty awesome.

[BenRG]

Sam is in royal company in her taste in hairdos! The guy was a pretty badass knight in shining armour from all accounts!


Portrait King Henry V

[Storel]

(Yes, I know, Sam attends PVPA. But if she was in the public school system she'd be in the same school as my son.)

Sorry, PVPA? Pioneer Valley something something? I can't make the PA into anything having to do with schools...

Oh, wait, maybe Private Academy?

[BenRG]

Just in case someone is keeping score, the current questing party favoured by forumites who have voted on this week's poll is:

• Bubbles
• Hannelore
• Faye
• Claire
• May
• Momo

An all-lady squad that is actually, by some strange coincidence, quite well-balanced.

[hedgie]

Much better balanced than the Pathfinder group that I'm in, since our cleric is an evil necromancer and we don't have a mage.

[Nepiophage]

(Yes, I know, Sam attends PVPA. But if she was in the public school system she'd be in the same school as my son.)

Sorry, PVPA? Pioneer Valley something something? I can't make the PA into anything having to do with schools...

Oh, wait, maybe Private Academy?

http://www.pvpa.org

[Storel]

(Yes, I know, Sam attends PVPA. But if she was in the public school system she'd be in the same school as my son.)

Sorry, PVPA? Pioneer Valley something something? I can't make the PA into anything having to do with schools...

Oh, wait, maybe Private Academy?

http://www.pvpa.org

Aha, thanks. And how do we know the name of Sam's school, anyway? Was it mentioned in some strip I've forgotten, or is this the only school in Pioneer Valley?

[jwhouk]

She told Momo when they met.

Sent from my NXA8QC116 using Tapatalk

[snufflebottoms]

That hair cut is awful.

I mean yes, women/girls can look good with short hair. They certainly don't ALL need it though.

But that hair cut is just awful.

edit: at least Jeph agrees

[Thrudd]

Just did the finale for the "Fellowship of the White Star" campaign yesterday. 10 Year story arc/campaign
My table was as follows
My 17 Cleric who is a sister in a rather militant sect of the RC church [hates undead, despises men in general NG], A 20 cleric/wizard who is the focus of a cult of self , and thinks of himself as a minor god [he died but some idiot brought him back CN], A 17 Bard [reporter for some little Dakota paper CG], A pair of gunslingers 19, 20 [ A British gentleman adventurer NG and a New York lawyer CG] also we had an NPC -  Vladimir Tepes [spellcaster warrior and vampire lord LE]

[Perfectly Reasonable]

It will grow out. Won't it?

I wanna see Sam tour Union Robotics and be forcibly restrained from trying all the machine tools.
Or not.

[Sullivan]

Don't hold your breath. Hair growing out seems to happen in the QC universe even more slowly than the rest of in-story time.

[Neko_Ali]

Sigh.. Sam is going to be their first insurance claim, isn't she?

[Squiddlywinx]

Okay, constructive criticism:
The perspective for the machine arm has some Back to the Future poster funkiness going on and it took a good minute or so to figure out what was supposed to be happening.
 

[Penquin47]

I like the shorts.

[St.Clair]

Yeah, I know, ha ha comedy strip, but.
An unrestrained child or teenager in an industrial shop is incredibly dangerous.  For everyone.

[BenRG]

From Faye and Bubbles' reaction in panel 3, Sam literally launched herself forwards and slid into the gap under the drill's support arm in one smooth movement. This isn't surprising as Sam has a history of being so focussed on her immediate goals that she loses track of her environment (like the time she took a swan-dive off of a cliff in the forest to catch a snake).

I think that we are working towards the first time that Faye is forced to really tell Sam off for misbehaving which, I think, will probably come as an enormous shock to her. We've had indications before that Sam has too few friends and too few emotional connections. Because of this, she has difficulty maintaining any kind of balance with them. In her mind, people either like her or hate her and her idea of 'like' seems to be synonymous with 'play with me in the way I want, when I want and for as long as I want.'

Sam isn't 'spoiled' in the classical sense of the word but I get the impression that she's somewhat self-raised because of the time demands of Jim's career. She wouldn't be the first girl to come out wild as a result.

Yeah, Jeph was right: Bubbles' shorts don't work on her; too short.

[hedgie]

My table was as follows
My 17 Cleric who is a sister in a rather militant sect of the RC church [hates undead, despises men in general NG], A 20 cleric/wizard who is the focus of a cult of self , and thinks of himself as a minor god [he died but some idiot brought him back CN], A 17 Bard [reporter for some little Dakota paper CG], A pair of gunslingers 19, 20 [ A British gentleman adventurer NG and a New York lawyer CG] also we had an NPC -  Vladimir Tepes [spellcaster warrior and vampire lord LE]

Nice.  Group I'm in is only level 8-9 at the moment.  We have a dhampir cleric who is our necromancer, and has a skeletal minion who serves as a fighter (NE, obviously), and she's about ˝ a healer.  Our ranged dps consists of a monk (zen archer) and a gunslinger.  We also have a dwarf fighter/ranger and a rogue to round out the melee.  My elf witch is essentially stuck being the other ˝ healer (although next level, she'll basically be the primary healer), and arcane offense. 

[hakko504]

Somewhat OT, but with all this talk of Pathfinder anyone who wants to try the RPG should drop by humblebundle this week as they are having a pathfinder sale. I recommend at least spending $8 to get the GM guide if you're new to running a RPG campaign.

Also, I recently completed the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Rise of the Runelords campaign for the 4th time. It's basically a campaign from the RPG condensed down to a card game, but which still feels a lot like a real RPG. And if I learned anything from that, it's that you need a balanced party. The recently released app (iOS/Android/Win) has made it a lot easier to try different combinations of characters. So far it seem like having a lot of magic users is a better idea than to have a lot of fighters - magic can kill most things and work their way through barriers. Fighters have a lot more problems with intelligence based tasks and very few ways of boosting those checks.

[hedgie]

*sigh*  If only I weren't skint at the moment.

[Milayna]

Nobody can pull off a bowl cut. Mullets, SOME people can, with just the right styling. But bowl cuts? NOBODY.

[Jakk Frost]

Seems to me like Bubbles is wearing shorts that match Faye's jacket/sweater, further subtly implying a growing relationship between them, maybe. 

(Like a woman wearing the top of a set of men's pajamas, while her husband/boyfriend wears the bottoms.)

[BenRG]

Actually, I get the impression that Sam was hurrying them along so much that Bubbles dragged on the quickest thing that she could drag on and not leave the apartment technically 'naked'.

[OldGoat]

I think that we are working towards the first time that Faye is forced to really tell Sam off for misbehaving which, I think, will probably come as an enormous shock to her.

Agreed.  Faye's about to drop the Workshop Safety Rules hammer.

Sam may be undirected, but she's not developmentally delayed.  There may be a few rough spots, but the carrot of being able to hang out at a robot workshop will draw her in to doing it Faye's way.  It looks like she's going to be more than willing to follow Bubbles's direction, too.

[Jakk Frost]

Actually, I get the impression that Sam was hurrying them along so much that Bubbles dragged on the quickest thing that she could drag on and not leave the apartment technically 'naked'.

Not sure about that, since she didn't put a coat or shirt on.  Plus, if I'm not mistaken we have seen Faye wearing those shorts before.  I admit I could be wrong, but this still seems like an intimate, if perhaps inadvertent, clothes-sharing situation.  (as opposed to a non-intimate clothes borrowing situation.)

[Tova]

I'll buy it if you can link a comic with Faye wearing those shorts. Otherwise, maybe it's wishful thinking.

[comicalArchitect]

What if Union Robotics actually ends up taking Sam on as an employee? She's 14, which means she can work in Massachusetts.

[Tova]

They only just had a conversation about whether they had the budget for food, remember?

[comicalArchitect]

They only just had a conversation about whether they had the budget for food, remember?

Oh, yeah, true.

[Penquin47]

Sam may be allowed to work, but I'm pretty sure a robot repair lab would fall under the category of jobs people under the age of 16 cannot be employed in by federal law.

1. Any manufacturing job (maybe relevant, maybe not, but they specifically mention that they are not allowed to work, for instance, powered woodworking machines, which I would assume would translate to Sam could not use any of the machines to make robot parts).
7. Work performed in or about BOILER OR ENGINE ROOMS or in connection with the MAINTENANCE OR REPAIR OF THE ESTABLISHMENT, MACHINES, OR EQUIPMENT. - can't work on the machines or equipment.

In addition, there's this from jobs specifically forbidden to anyone under 18:
HO 14* - Power-driven circular saws, bandsaws, chain saws, guillotine shears, wood chippers, and abrasive cutting discs.

So while, if Faye and Bubbles ever get to the point where they can hire a receptionist or secretary, there's no reason Sam couldn't do that, it'll be awhile before Sam can be allowed to really do much for the business - even if they *could* pay her.

[brasca]

That hair cut is awful.

I mean yes, women/girls can look good with short hair. They certainly don't ALL need it though.

But that hair cut is just awful.

edit: at least Jeph agrees

She's young.  How many people go through their lives without pictures of haircuts and fashion choices they later regret?

Given Sam's reaction this may be one of those times when Corpse Witch was actually right about kids hanging around her place. 

And I can sympathize with Bubbles.  I used to have short shorts and needed to be careful what underwear I wore underneath.

[Wackd]

Where has Jeph been discussing Sam's hair/Bubble's shorts? I'm a sucker for author commentary.

[Tova]

There's the short line of text below the bottom right corner of each comic.

"Not sure about those shorts, Bubbles."

Then there's a bit of text just below the comic navigation links.

"the worst haircut..."

[Thrudd]

Slightly off topic again - Not Pathfinder in the least - Modified 3.5 OGL based on Ravenloft, horror by gaslight. Mind you the modification of the era [1904-1914], lots of guns, dynamite, madmen, tinkers, scientists gunslingers, and cabals.

(click to show/hide)

Web page needs major updating and the earlier adventures are less structured and filled out.
Latter adventures get  much heavier combat challenges.
The neato thing about the campaign though is that it is 95% true to history at that time so it is much easier for players old and new to buy into the setting and know it intrinsically.
Also it is not Pathfinder 
http://www.fellowshipwhitestar.com/

[Neko_Ali]

Yes... when you are with those two, you are a babysitter Bubbles....

[OldGoat]

Well, it IS almost Halloween.

[BenRG]

It's kind of surprising that Bubbles doesn't know that Faye occasional lets her childish side out (especially around Sam). I'd ask Bubbles to 'lighten up' but that would be to completely misunderstand the nature of the character, wouldn't it?

I'll tell you what I'm hoping for: The pay-off. this entire week's strips to date has had the feeling of scene-setting. I'm hoping that Jeph is planning to do something important with Sam's visit other than a series of sight jokes from her childish enthusiasm and sense of fun. Maybe Sam, being a teenager and having no sense of boundaries, is going to ask questions that Faye and Bubbles wouldn't normally address?