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NP Comic for Tuesday, Mar 7, 2023 No real surprises, they beat the small group. Mission focus might mean sparing the cultist is a foolish risk.

NP Comic for Thursday, Feb 23, 2023 Nanase's rogue goes full lawful stupid. Oops, indeed. "What did she just do?" Reactions: Larry's face is consternation, along the lines of "We're screwed" - probably not true, but the situation got more difficult. George's is confusion, "Why would you do that?" Riches is inscrutable, ellipses - He's either pissed, or "I knew she couldn't role play", or "I knew girls can't role play", or "Hey, that's my role!" Difficult to say which. He's clearly not thrilled though. Ellen's response is priceless. "You f***ed up, Honey, I'm explaining how ..." Pretty gentle, really, and hopefully preemptively defuses anyone else's presumably hostile response. Nanase's "Oops" response says she learned something, but it may be overwhelmed by "I knew I hated this." So, for today's comic, she's actually playing a rouge, applying the red to her cheeks as clown style makeup. Which may be appropriate if they have a TPK before they even reach the climax of the module.

NP Comic for Thursday, Feb 16, 2023 In the first panel, Ellen is simply beside herself. Her imaginary fairy self outfit is more risque than is typical for EGS (in fact, seems to defy physics, at least slightly). I'm sure this says something about Ellen's positive body image and being comfortable in her own skin, in regard to how Dan views Ellen seeing herself. Larry's too cute elf seems to say that Larry would enjoy being transformed, if he knew it was an option. I am guessing that this is foreshadowing, and it is going to happen; it may be a messing with Rich moment as well, as he deals with his best friend being transformed. Oh, and she seems to be flirting with him. Oh, dear, what a tangled web! Meta: This NP must be fun for Dan; he has taken several breaks from the main comic, but has not slowed down much on this NP arc. Nothing we've seen so far appears to remove this from canon. It's a fair amount of stage time. Does this elevate the minor character participants' status yet? George still seems like a prop, kind of just there, but Rich and Larry are at least hitting Rosencrantz and Guildenstern levels. Looting on the way out would make more sense logistically. Lugging that weight would hinder them in battle. But, in Riches defense, if they don't loot now, they are likely to get a cut scene when they meet their quest objective, and be unable to loot afterward.

NP Comic for Saturday, Feb 11, 2023 No one questioned the tracks changing. Would it not make sense to leave the treasure, and pick it up on the way out? Perhaps stash the bag and return for it? Could be hors d'oeuvres before the ceremony ...

NP Comic for Tuesday, Feb 7, 2023 Nanase's mystery solving is kicking in. George is apparently practiced at staying in character. Larry does an amusing phase change from player to character.

NP Comic for Thursday, Feb 2, 2023 "Wisdom? Meh, that's a dump stat."

Sketchbook Comic for Wednesday, February 1, 2023 <-- That pretty much says it all.

NP Comic for Saturday, Jan 28, 2023 Rich,George,and Larry are in-character, Nanase is sitting in a folding chair in the game shop. I guess she's having a difficult tome with the concept of playing a role. The red flag discussion does not appear to matter, it's just small talk.

NP Comic for Tuesday, Jan 24, 2023 This comic has a miner issue.

NP Comic for Thursday, Jan 26, 2023 Huh, quotes because they are speaking in-character. That works. Looks odd, but I suppose it's clearer. I'm pretty sure that's what Dan wanted. I, too, would expect Rich's paladin to know something about the scope and kind of evil that the sacrifice pointed to. But his answer is not unreasonable. He's not being obstructionist, it doesn't seem. But, I also don't see that the story is advancing in this comic. George's conclusion does not make sense. The red flag is the intended sacrifice that they already know about. Going into the mine does not change this. What new red flag is George alluding to?

NP Comic for Thursday, Jan 5, 2023 Four more or less normal characters highlight the notion of beauty influencing charisma, in turn influencing persuasiveness. Rich, meanwhile, reacts to their discussion as he recovers from a lightning strike. He appears to get better. FWIW, I'm not on board with where the discussion is heading. Beauty is not the same thing as charisma. Some RPG, it might have been an edition of D&D, broke out physical beauty from charisma as comeliness. Granted, there are correlations. In the age of video accessibility, a good looking politician will tend to do better than one who is not. But it is hardly the whole story. Charisma has to do with credibility and trustworthiness. Self confidence is a big factor, as is competence and track record. Charisma is clearly tied to persuasiveness, but looks is a factor only, and not even the main one, otherwise Mitch McConnell would not be a leading republican, to pick an example. Ultimately, charisma means that you are willing to invest a level of your attention with the person who has it. In this sense, looks is more of an ice breaker than a deal maker, although it could also be a deciding factor if all other things are equal; a tie breaker. Hotness is not a good synonym for looks in this case, because it leans more toward sexual attractiveness rather than appears competent. It is of limited specific utility in persuading others if they do not thing they have a shot with the speaker, and the limits of the topics of persuasion are more immediate, but not really tied to a sense of leadership necessarily - although, they can be. What is most weird about this is that the framework of the comic is presenting a shallow view of looks as charisma as a major influence in how people interact, but, for the most part, they do not. You might appreciate how a server in a fast food facility looks, but if they can't get your order right, you are not going to give them a pass. The saying, 'Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes to the bone' highlights this; someone might look attractive, but when you get to know them, you quickly learn what they are really like and dislike them. Yet this view is not entirely with out merit. We are very visual, much of our interaction is based on visual cues. People project a demeanor through the expression on their face and how they carry themselves. (Blind people compensate and become more sensitive to other cues.) Your outward appearance has some correlation with the person inside. There is yet another side to this, 'Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder'. Not everyone will see 'looks' the same. All kinds of biases and prejudices play in as well, as can relationship. A person you like will seem to look better than someone you do not. Racism and ethnic bias comes into play. Not all persuasion is based on charisma. Neverwinter Nights, based on D&D 3, had a persuasion skill, but also listed an intimidation skill that accomplished pretty much the same thing. So, to me, the train of thought running through the last set of comics misses the mark; I'm not convinced it's even plausible that a skeptical mayor is influenced by a bard's opinion merely because she looks good. Indeed, if he is, that might be a red flag to be wary of a secondary agenda on his part. Why is he granting unwarranted credence to what she says? Larry and George are speaking in-character. It is unclear that Nanase is. Ellen apparently thinks so, too, because she is not speaking for a character, so she must be addressing Nanase. So Rich's reactions: with Larry, he's having a difficult time separating the character from the person, it's too personal; with George, who he does not know as well, he's calming down, better able to accept it, with Nanase and Ellen, he is calm and confused, they are messing with his world view. I have to admit, I'm not a fan of this direction for this comic sequence, but it made me think and in turn define some things that have seemed inconsistent for a long time.

NP Comic for Saturday, Dec 31, 2022 "I've been working on the railroad, all the live long day ..." To be fair, it is supposed to be a quick game. It needs to stay on the rails.

NP Comic for Thursday, Dec 29, 2022 I like the shading on the D20. In spite of the plan Rich laid out, Larry role played flirting ... with disaster. Or not, since Ellen gave him a pass before he rolled. To Dan's last comment, when the laws of physical reality develop holes, they should be darned, just like socks (not exactly like socks; quantum strings vs thread, and a much larger darning egg). This should keep our universe inside, and those other universes outside. Who knows what a chocolate in the peanut butter situation would lead to?

NP Comic for Thursday, December 22, 2022 I like that Rich was reasonable in this comic and made an actual useful suggestion. Perhaps he learned something while he figured that out and framed it with words. Larry was certainly not expecting that; great cringe opening based on 'he knows his friend'.

NP Comic for Tuesday, December 20, 2022 Bogging down in details. Maybe there's a point.

NP Comic for Saturday, Dec 17, 2022 Nanase's smile in panel 2 is genuine, based on the circumstances, though it looks like a forced smile of someone covering up their displeasure, it looks too forced. I don't think we've ever seen her smile this broadly. That actually bodes well, it means she is not dwelling on her mom riding her about stuff, which seem to be the background of her psyche. She has a severe disconnect between her public face and what's going on inside; I think she barely lets Ellen in, to the best of her ability. Girl needs counseling. It will do her some good to get away from home; sadly, she will likely commute. Mom is watching out for her, mom wants her to do well, but they have a toxic relationship; mom is domineering, and fails to recognize, praise, and reward; withholds love and support. In all fairness, parenting is harder than it looks. Sadly, Bird Speech never happened.

NP Comic for Thursday, December 15, 2022 Larry yells "Bard Speech!", Ellen explains that he needs to explain what he wants to say. It would be funnier if he said "Bird Speech!".

NP Comic for Tuesday, December 13, 2022 Ellen is handling her modified script well. Well played, Rich. Do they go after Marik now, or give him another hour to do mischief?

NP Comic for Saturday, Dec 3, 2022 Well, that's solved. Time to pack up and go home. ... But, since the cleric was just for fixing the fall down the stairs, he's not involved at all. I guess "za?' means "Oh, my, this is taking an unexpected turn. I am sooo surprised.", because, face it, that never happens when running an RPG.

NP Comic for Thursday, Dec 1, 2022 Seems like the guard had a legitimate reason for being missing. The bard asking questions seems reasonable, not getting why it is a point of minor drama in the last panel. Kind of a, "OK ..." topic. George, who suggests it, stated early on that his character is lazy. But it does have an oddity, which in hindsight is carried over from previous comics; the character's names are not used. It's not, '<the character's name>' ', it's 'the bard'. Similarly, in previous comics, the players refer to each other by their player name. "Nanase fell down the stairs", "I turn to Nanase (and say ...)", "My mission is to find out more about your girlfriend?" (Rich refers to the player, not to the character) ... Because , just before that, Ellen said, "You've been tasked with learning more about Nanase" ; OK, George named his sorceress 'George', Larry's bard is refered to as 'Larry', in the same comic, Nanase's character is referred to as 'Nanase', ah, Ellen addresses this issue, and George officially names his sorceress 'George'; Rich's character has not been addressed; but in the September 24 NP comic, Ellen states that they will be using their real names for their characters. Guessing this was to avoid a layer of potential confusion from the story line, "Which one was <character name>?". It feels odd, but it does read easier. As Ellen says (paraphrase), "By the time you figure this out, we'll be done."

NP Comic for Tuesday, November 29, 2022 Your train has left the rails. Really, Larry should have probably figured out exactly why the cleric suddenly appeared.

NP Comic for Thursday, November 24, 2022 Happy Thanksgiving! ... at least, if you are in the US ... and not indigenous ... 'and this is why we can't have nice things' ... "... but the table you are playing on had blood on it when we got it at an estate sale ..." odds for four ones in a row, 1/160,000 I do like that Rich appears to be actually engaged in the game. Huzzah!

NP Comic for Thursday, November 17, 2022 "We are saving that chicken" (for dinner tomorrow).

NP Comic for Thursday, November 10, 2022 Huh, Rich gives a genuine compliment, and Nanase struggles to respond. ... She's familiar with real magic, wonders how it relates to 'magic' in the game context. They think her response is spot on for a person with no clue. I guess it is.

NP Comic for Tuesday, November 8, 2022 Nanase is channeling Susan and Diane. Check for the guard that happens to be a rooster. She ran off with him, flew the coop!