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NP Comic for Thursday, Mar 23, 2023 Seems that Larry would already know subdual vs lethal damage. Odd question. In spite of this, Ellen explains, then realizes she jumped to conclusions. George saves the day, sort of. This seems to me to be too much detail, bogging down progress. If you know this material, this explanation is unnecessary. If you don't it's not enough to really explain it. It's kind of a weird mechanic anyway. The gist is that beating something up inspires loyalty. There may be some truth in that in the short term, but in the long run, you are only making enemies and setting up future challenges to authority. In terms of simply not killing things, though, it works.

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 Saturday, Mar 4, 2023 Smells a little like a plan, even if that wasn't what they were cooking at the beginning. The legend of Nanase may survive the first encounter!

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 Tuesday, Feb 14, 2023 No, Nanase, you're supposed to roll the dice, not tumble yourself! Good thing she saw the wire. That could have been a quick session.

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."

NP Comic for Saturday, Feb 4, 2023 Why goblins are goblins, and someone looting off screen.

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 Saturday, Jan 21, 2023 Rich reaches a life changing conclusion, seeks a new direction with a dazzling background, then blunts it with indecision. Ah, new Rich, we barely knew you. Commentary says that he won't be as insufferable.

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 Tuesday, Jan 3, 2023 Rich is struck by a lightning bolt. He will be missed. Did you know that the TSA will not allow you to carry a pick axe with you on a plane?

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 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 10, 2022, wherein, Ellen names the recently introduced cleric, and skeptical George behaves skeptically. Not much else happens. 'Marik' seems like a reasonable random fantasy name to pull out of your butt when you're on the spot. Not sure why George would be skeptical. Perceiving she's gone off script? The mayor is not happy about their theory. Zorro, the traditional fictional character, is spelled with two 'r's; still, Zoro could be a valid name.

NP Comic for Tuesday, December 6, 2022 Everyone is jumping aboard Larry's theory, but George knows that this is not what happened. What is George really doing? He does not seem like he would derail Ellen for kicks. Maybe wants to see how she handles the stress? Weird, and I eagerly await the follow-up. Nanase is applying her sleuthing skills to assist her leap to the wrong conclusion. She impressed Rich, although he doesn't know it.

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 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 Saturday, November 12, 2022 Piano note pitch is based for a good portion on the length of the wires inside (also tension, which is how they're tuned, and some of the low keys are weighted with a wire wrap). Things that are called 'pianos' that are diminutive, like toy pianos, are generally not pianos. Every size reduction by 1/2 should shift the notes up one octave. this sounds like a reduction of two octaves, so you could still hear it and recognize the tune. The mechanical constraints of the tensioners and frame would be questionable, but these could have been compensated, left thick enough to do the job. Alternate materials is a possibility, but steel wire is used for a reason, able to be put into tension and not fail. Almost any other metal will be subject to eventual metal fatigue. Titanium should produce an even higher pitch. So, are Fry and Leila are implicated in the abduction? It is not the new school year, so not October, therefore no Oktoberfest, so no. I'm going to guess that George is not a fan of The Chicken Dance. Why would a chicken need a bed at all? Was Mirabel possibly a person transformed into a chicken? Not used to perching?

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!

Duplicate post, please delete

NP Comic for Thursday, November 3, 2022 George assumes Ellen is Elliot, wacky high jinks don't actually ensue. Also Elliot only appears in George's imagination. He really needs to walk into the store. Actually, George thinks Ellen is transgender; he doesn't know about magic transformations in general (probably assumes Cheerleadra is a special case as a superhero). Elliot appearing in the store, even later, should convince him he's wrong. Maribel, the chicken has quarters. That is weird. Maybe they have corn vending machines? She likes old school video games? Something like Frogger, but with a chicken? (thus providing yet another answer to the perennial question).