Current Storyline

Xaq · Post by **Xaq** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 9:56 pm

I was just wondering if anyone was interested in discussing the current storyline of the comic. Whether it's happening in the real world or in a "game fantasy", the plot is starting to thicken... just who was that guy in the white coat and gloves, and why are he and his minions after Mark? Why hasn't he seen Sarah in so many years? What did Joel do to him to make him so angry?

Any speculation?

One post wonder · Post by **One post wonder** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 10:38 pm

I am fairly sure that this is not meant to be happening in the real world. I mean an organized army of geek hunters is just a little too far out there. My guess is that they went and made their own type of game. Earlier in the comic, it was made clear that Sarah liked to play characters completely different from her, and I believe that this is a good example of that. All we know about the guy in the white coat is that he is clearly in charge of capturing Mark. Though he seems to command at least a dozen hunters, I get the feeling that he is not at the top of his chain of command. Until we have more info, he is just filling the necessary role of a generic bad guy. The situtation between Mark and Joel is a bit harder for me to figure out, though. I can see an arrogant jackass as being a character that would be easy for Joel to play, and perhaps as Mark got more used to the geek culture, he became a little less submissive and a kind of friction between their two characters just evolved a bit over time.

Wow, this is the post that officially makes me a geek... Speculating the way characters are role playing in a web comic...

Thunderhowl · Post by **Thunderhowl** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 8:58 am

I totally think it's them playing a futuristic game with Alina drawing the comic from their character's perspectives as she's done in the past. I'm delighted with that, since it's my favorite part of the comic so far. I heartily enjoyed the D&D arc with Mark as the Half Orc and all.
I think the Hunter is being used as the archvillain's mooks because it's something they can relate to, and gamers have always taken things that scare them and given them stats so they can defeat their fears, at least In Game.
If it wasn't for that tendency, Call of Cthulu wouldn't exist!

LordofArcana · Post by **LordofArcana** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 6:51 pm

Does today's strip remind anyone else of the Matrix? While I was reading today's strip I kept kept thinking of a scene near the beginning of the first movie where Neo had gotten forced into a car by the other good guys and he has not the least idea of what is happening. Of course I could just be imagining things.

McManus · Post by **McManus** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 8:45 pm

Cthulhu has stats? Oh yeah, 1d6 investigators per round X)

I like the current story line, and I think Thunderhowl is right, prolly playing a tabletop...

McM

One post wonder · Post by **One post wonder** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 8:52 pm

I think the trench coats, sunglasses, and all the black clothing create more of a matrix feel than any part of the plot.

Dustman · Post by **Dustman** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 8:58 pm

Hmm... you know, I was going to say it's a dream, but come to think of it, I find it odd that no one's been referred to by name yet. It's all been pronouns, except for calling Mark "Mr. Smith," and unless I'm mistaken we don't know Mark's real last name yet. I think it's been a rather subtle and clever way of keeping the mystery up, by not using OOC names or IC names, but Sarah leaping into the fray with a katana does kind of give it away, eh?

But on the other hand, it might--just might--be a vision of the future. I would have thought it's too early in the comic to be leaping ahead like that, but on the other hand I always thought that if any of the "crew" were going to get taken out by the hunter it would be Dustin, then Abbie. The big friendly guy is always the first one to go, and Abbie's not a serious enough character to keep around longer than Sarah. And we've seen neither appearance nor even mention of either of those two since this storyline started.

But hey, this isn't a horror movie, it's a web-comic. That being said, this is probably either a tabletop session or a dream sequence; which one is kind of a toss-up.

Narf the Mouse · Post by **Narf the Mouse** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 9:07 pm

I'm going to go out on a limb and say 'Sometime in the future'.

One post wonder · Post by **One post wonder** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 10:33 pm

Actually Dustman, the message that Mark got at the beginning was signed with "-S". Sarah's picture was also shown in a comic either right before or right after. Not sure which.

Thanatos5150 · Post by **Thanatos5150** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 1:36 am

One post wonder wrote:Actually Dustman, the message that Mark got at the beginning was signed with "-S". Sarah's picture was also shown in a comic either right before or right after. Not sure which.

That means nothing.
After all, Sarah could be playing a charecter named "Samantha" or "Ms. Silverman", even potentially "Mrs. Smith".

I've been known to favor writing charecters with the same first initial as myself, even, sometimes, using the same first name. (MY name is "David", by the way)
Once for kicks, I even gave one charecter the same initials I had. (His name was Daniel Eugene Franklin II)

Sarah's picture was shown right after.

I'm betting its in-game.
I'm further betting that Alana is extending the "which is it" speculation just to mess with our MINDS!
*Dons silly-looking tin foil skull cap*

Dustman · Post by **Dustman** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 9:23 am

And as for the picture, that could've been her in-game persona. "Mr. Smith" saying that she's really different from how he remembered her is one bit of evidence against the tabletop theory, though.

Lunaroki · Post by **Lunaroki** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 9:47 am

Dustman wrote:"Mr. Smith" saying that she's really different from how he remembered her is one bit of evidence against the tabletop theory, though.

Not really. Often times when creating characters for an RPG two players will establish that their characters used to know each other a long time ago, which logically leads to at least one of them changing quite a bit in the interim.

Dustman · Post by **Dustman** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 7:02 am

I know, but I wouldn't think Mark would be that skilled at playing to his character yet. Then again, as Joel said, I guess he is pulling off the "chain-smoking bum" routine pretty well. So maybe I've just got my head stuck up my impeller wedge again.

DM_Topher · Post by **DM_Topher** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 12:19 pm

LordofArcana wrote:Does today's strip remind anyone else of the Matrix? While I was reading today's strip I kept kept thinking of a scene near the beginning of the first movie where Neo had gotten forced into a car by the other good guys and he has not the least idea of what is happening. Of course I could just be imagining things.

I got a Shadowrun vibe... Alina may have taken some inspiration from the new Shadowrun video game as the basis for the new plot.

I think it will probably turn out to be either the players imagining their characters in the game world, and at some point the comic will jump to the players sitting around a table. Or possibly it's live-action and we're presently seeing an "imagined" version of the reality, until something happens to break the mood... like someone sits on a tack or a cop comes along and starts bothering the players.

Narf the Mouse · Post by **Narf the Mouse** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 1:20 pm

I'm saying nope, 100% real.

McManus · Post by **McManus** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 2:07 am

Nah... Cant be real... :p Just cant..

Narf the Mouse · Post by **Narf the Mouse** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 2:29 am

McManus · Post by **McManus** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 4:58 am

Because its a comic about gamers and geeks... Its far too early to make some weird jump into the future where everything is so rpg-ish... Imho.

Tom the Fanboy · Post by **Tom the Fanboy** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 5:54 am

My vote has been in game since the start of this chapter, now it is doubly so since the other player characters showed up. Unfortunatelyit still counts as one joke.

LordofArcana · Post by **LordofArcana** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 10:27 am

It seems to me that it would be incredibly unlikely that this were to be the actual future. The athletics that the group has been pulling off seem a bit too much for what people would actually be able to do, but PCs do that kind of stuff without thinking about it; I don't think that any of us would want to do backflips off a car that someone is driving. This webcomic seems a bit too realistic for the characters to be pulling off such stunts outside of a game.