D&D / Tabletop Webcomics: What Were the Giants?

[Kobold Catgirl]

So, this is a pretty simple question, in my view. There have been a ton of D&D webcomics over the years, though in my view, the number sort of started to drop around 5-10 years ago. Dork Tower, Order of the Stick, Nodwick, Full Frontal Nerdity, DM of the Rings, YAFG...

My question is this: What do you think are the most important (or best-quality) webcomics about tabletop gaming?

This isn't necessarily about comics that have D&D-esque worlds, mind—it's about webcomics that directly set out to satirize tabletop games or the tabletop gaming hobby. So, Order of the Stick and Goblins count, but Hero Oh Hero doesn't, even if the influence is pretty obvious at times.

[KahnyaGnorc]

Nodwick and Full Frontal Nerdery are definitely both up there.

[DerNils]

DM of the Rings and nowadays Darths & Droids is almost perfect, it being an actual translation of tabletop antics in Long form.

[thejeff]

Despite reading a lot of webcomics, the only D&D/gaming one I read now or can even remember reading regularly is OotS.

Goblins, I guess, though I gave up on it quite awhile ago. I loved the initial premise of D&D adventures from the monsters point of view, but lost interest the more it followed the adventurers instead.

[Kobold Catgirl]

I figure I'll bump this and see if anyone has any more opinions.

[Neurophage]

Keychain of Creation back when it was still being updated. Exalted hasn't had a lot of visibility in the tabletop scene, and having a webcomic so perfectly about what Exalted is (or was during, late second edition) about was a real treat.

[AceofMoxen]

Flip side is amazing.

Goblins has gone to some really interesting places.

[Dragonchess Player]

Erfworld was pretty big for a while (2006-2019), IIRC. It started (mostly) as parody/satire of gaming (and other pop-culture, like Dance Dance Revolution), but evolved a bit as it went on.

Currently, I mostly just follow Order of the Stick.

[Andostre]

I forgot all about Erfworld! Thanks for the reminder. I thought the first arc was great, but (as happens all too often), they took a hiatus, and I never thought to go back.

I still follow Order of the Stick and Goblins, and that's it. For OotS, I feel like it's approaching its end, and I want to see it through. But with the current update rate, there's no telling when that will be. Not that I think Burlew should go faster, as I'm sure it's an intensive process and it takes time to make a quality strip, but I have to acknowledge that if I didn't have that 'stick it out to the end' feeling, I might not still be reading it.

I also still follow Goblins, because...

AceofMoxen wrote:

Goblins has gone to some really interesting places.

But again, the updates feel few and far between. Also, I've forgotten so much of the backstory that the current strips sometimes reference, which isn't very satisfying when they reference them.

I wonder if the fact that I don't follow nearly as many webcomics as I used to makes me notice the slower update schedules of the ones I do follow?

[Kobold Catgirl]

Goblins is kind of a hot mess, but it does feel like it gained something since Elli came out. It has more heart to it, seems to be leaning less on gratuitous death and grotesque injury to show consequence.