Dungeons & Dragons Codexery

The Order of the Stick

A stick-figure webcomic satirizing Dungeons & Dragons.

It is distributed online through Giant in the Playground, and ten book collections have been published, including print-only prequel stories.[1] On September 29, 2003, Rich Burlew's personal gaming site hosted the first installment of The Order of the Stick.[2]

Quick Facts

Author
Rich Burlew
Publisher
Giant in the Playground
Began
29 September 2003
Genre
  • Fantasy
  • comedy
  • parody
  • adventure
  • drama

Facts from the source article.

Key facts and history

Burlew initially intended the strip to have no plot, but began laying down hints of a storyline by strip #13.[2] The strip appeared in Dragon magazine from December 2005 until its last print issue in September 2007.[3] The comic is created using Adobe Illustrator, and the art style has been upgraded several times, including adding volume to characters' limbs in strip #947.[4][5] New strips were initially released twice each week, specifically on Mondays and Thursdays.[6]

Revenue from advance orders for the initial collected edition enabled Burlew to become a full-time writer, after which he raised the release frequency to three strips weekly.[6] Starting in 2007, the webcomic's release schedule became unpredictable because of the creator's persistent medical issues.[6] A break from September through December 2012 occurred after Burlew's right hand suffered an injury that cut its tendons.[6] During December 2019, Burlew announced that the narrative would conclude following a single additional book; he observed that the two prior volumes each required five years to complete.[7]

A version of the comic began appearing in Gygax Magazine in January 2013; that publication ceased in 2016 following a legal conflict.[8]

What the cited sources add

Burlew's 2019 news post confirms the next arc will be the final volume and that the last two books each took five years to produce.[9] The Giant in the Playground Games site describes On the Origin of PCs as an 80-page black-and-white prequel first printed in August 2005.[10] The same site lists Start of Darkness as a 112-page black-and-white prequel with a color insert, first printed in May 2007.[11] The Giant in the Playground Games site notes that On the Origin of PCs answers questions like how Haley left the Thieves' Guild and why the group is called the "Order of the Stick"[10]

The Start of Darkness product page states it reveals the secret origins of Xykon, Redcloak, and the Monster in the Darkness.[11]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "The Order of the Stick" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Giant in the Playground" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "The Order of the Stick" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Burlew, Dungeon Crawlin' Fools, Author Commentary, p. 20.; Burlew, Dungeon Crawlin' Fools, Introduction, p. 5. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "The Order of the Stick" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The Best Webcomics 2015", 14 February 2015; Paizo Publishing Creates Strategic Alliance with The Order of the Stick creator Rich Burlew , Paizo.com, September 30, 2005. Retrieved on November 10, 2007; Burlew, "The Order of the Stick: Goo goo g' chuul", Dragon, December 2005; Burlew, "The Order of the Stick: I.D. Required", Dragon, December 2005; Burlew, "The Order of the Stick: Save vs. Rods, Staves, and Schadenfreude", Dragon, February 2006 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "The Order of the Stick" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Burlew, "How do you make the OOTS strips?", Giant in the Playground FAQ, 2005-03-04 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "The Order of the Stick" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Burlew, Rich, "The Crayons of Time: Doodles on the Sketch Pad of Eternity", The Order of the Stick, 2006; Burlew, Start of Darkness, p. 36. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "The Order of the Stick" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The Best Webcomics 2015", 14 February 2015 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "The Order of the Stick" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Burlew, "12/2/2019 News", Giant in the Playground News, 2013-09-29 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "The Order of the Stick" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gilsdorf, "A New TSR to Launch Gygax Magazine Saturday", Condé Nast, 25 January 2013 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Burlew, "12/2/2019 News", Giant in the Playground News, 2013-09-29. facts only, no text reused. giantitp.com
  10. "Giant in the Playground Games". facts only, no text reused. giantitp.com
  11. "Giant in the Playground Games". facts only, no text reused. giantitp.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article The Order of the Stick (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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