Annotations Every Day - Written by T Campbell & Flo Kahn - Illustrated by John & Jason Waltrip
Guilded Age
The Saga of the Working Class Adventurer – New comics every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday!
Jailbird
Charlie Davis
An all-ages comic about a recently escaped prisoner's struggle to understand the outside world, and vice-versa. Also, a magic cape!
Whomp!
Ronnie
A depressed, portly, hirsute anime fan stumbles through life in the ever-pursuit of chicken nuggets and other life-shortening indulgences.
Anarchy Dreamers
Emily Ree
Sparkly undead kids fight society's worst Nightmares in this pastel-punk urban fantasy coming-of-age!
The Witch Door
Anni K.
Katariina Lehto discovers her neighbor is a witch called Jousia Muotka. Jousia introduces Katariina to the strange people and places beyond the witch door...
Starhammer
J.N. Monk, Harry Bogosian
A teen girl inherits a powerful alien artifact and proceeds to make a series of increasingly poor decisions
Knights Errant
J.R. Doyle
Wilfrid's humble quest for revenge becomes bigger and bloodier by the day.
Wilde Life
Pascalle Lepas
Oscar decided to rent an old haunted house, and that's when things got weird...
Between Failures
Jackie Wohlenhaus
The low stakes adventures of an assorted group of 20 somethings trapped in the declining years of American retail. They are naughty and say lots of swears.
Star Impact
Jack McGee
A young, energetic woman fights her way up in the world of super-powered boxing after discovering the mighty gloves of her missing idol!
Never Satisfied
Taylor Robin
Lucy Marlowe, a magician's apprentice, competes against other apprentices for an important, magical, Goverment Job.
Awaken
Koti Saavedra/Flipfloppery
Superpowers, monsters and conspiracies. Piras, the spoiled Dameschi heir, fights to recover his identity after becoming a terrorist!
The Automan's Daughter
Mike Stamm
Aisha Osman and her uncle Siddig outwit bikers, spies and kidnappers while gearing up for a showdown with the formidable Widowmaker mecha.
Empowered
Adam Warren
A sexy superhero comedy (except when it isn't) about the never-ending struggles of a plucky but very unlucky young superheroine.
Guilded Age
T Campbell, John Waltrip, Florence Machina
Welcome to the saga of the working-class adventurer! Enjoy the complete story with new annotations daily!
The Lonely Vincent Bellingham
Diana Huh
Vincent is an unkind man looking to disappear, and finds himself in the care of a vampire and her two wicked children.
Sister Claire
Yamino
In the troubled aftermath of a great war between Witches and her fellow Nuns, novice Sister Claire just wants a purpose.
The Sanity Circus
Windy
Magic, monsters and mysteries await in the odd city of Sanity. It's up to Attley and a colorful group of characters to find out just what is going on.
Cassiopeia Quinn
Gunwild, Psudonym
A cute, pantsless thief is pursued across the stars by a buttoned-up military officer in the spacey, laser-filled future.
This is Not Fiction
Nicole Mannino
What do you do when the person you're in-love with is an anonymous romance novelist? Get your best friend to hire your worst enemy for help!
Dumbing of Age
David M Willis
Joyce has been homeschooled her entire life until now, when she's suddenly a freshman in college! Things don't go well.
Devil's Candy
Rem, Bikkuri
A lush fantasy about boy genius Kazu Decker, the girl he constructed for his 9th grade science project, and the world of devils and monsters they live in.
Alice and the Nightmare
Misha Krivanek
Alice finally attends University to learn to collect the dreams of humans, meet new friends, and deal with a pesky reflection along the way.
Monster Pulse
Magnolia Porter Siddell
Four kids run afoul of a creepy secret organization's experiments, which turn their body parts into fighting monsters. Part sentimental coming-of-age story, part monster-training shonen manga, with just a bit of sci-fi body horror.
Monsterkind
Taylor C
Wallace Foster, a young, bright-eyed human social worker, has his entire world view rocked when he's suddenly relocated into a city primarily inhabited by monsters.
El Goonish Shive
Dan Shive
WARNING: This comic often ignores the Laws of Physics
Lighter Than Heir
Melissa Albino
A young Volant woman joins the military in an effort to upstage her war-hero father.
Kochab
Sarah Webb
A YA F/F fantasy comic about Sonya, a lost skier trying to survive a snowy wilderness and find her way back to her village; and Kyra - a fire spirit trying to fix the home that she let fall apart around her.
Go Get a Roomie
Clover
Experience the queer journey of an upbeat hippie and the friendships she makes along the way! A tale of self-discovery and love of many forms.
Ghost Junk Sickness
Studio CARTRIDGE, Laura Lee
Two hunters try to survive and end up being pushed to pursue a deadly bounty dubbed "The Ghost".
Kiwi Blitz
Mary Cagle (Cube Watermelon)
Steffi thinks she can use her kiwi mech to become a superhero. This idea turns out to be very stupid.
Hazy London
Scotty
A story about messy relationships. From friendly foes to crazy families. Nothing is black and white, just full of color. But, all colors can get a little hazy...
Atomic Robo
Brian Clevinger, Scott Wegener
The robot punches monsters and bad robots and one time he was a cowboy.
Astral Aves
Moon Cabal
A fantasy coming-of-age following the adventures of Astra The Black and friends, as they navigate the mysterious world around them. It's politics, adventure, and the supernatural; oh, and crazy hair.
Tigress Queen
Allison Shaw
A barbarian warlord and a pampered prince try to avoid a marriage alliance that could end decades of violence.
Nerf Now!!
Josué Pereira
A cute webcomic about fanservice, video games, and... love. Mostly video games, though.
Real Science Adventures
Brian Clevinger
Spin off stories and other adventures from the world of Atomic Robo!
Godslave
Meaghan Carter
Edith has been thrown into the dangerous world of modern-day Egyptian mythology. Fighting monsters and dealing with family drama of godly proportions.
The End
August Brown, Cory Brown
Two aliens crash a sci-fi convention and accidentally take seven nerds on an adventure that spans the galaxy!
Caramel Corn
Potchimew
Sarah is the only human left in a world full of mythical creatures and monsters. All she wants to do is live a quiet life, but everything changes when she meets her guardian angel, Jacob.
Lilith's Word
inkPangur
If you had the power to make any wish come true using just one word, what would you say?
Sufficiently Remarkable
Maki Naro
Two young women living in Brooklyn discover that you're always coming of age.
Girl Genius
Phil Foglio, Kaja Foglio
In a time when the Industrial Revolution has become an all-out war, Mad Science rules the World...with mixed success.
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
Stand Still, Stay Silent
Minna Sundberg
A few generations after the end of the world, a small, poorly financed research crew is sent out to rediscover whatever is left of the forbidden old world in the south.
Fireweeds Moors
Gato Iberico
A cat-headed man and a girl with a sandwich hankering accidentally end up in a myth-infused country where magic chalices are a really big thing.
[un]Divine
Ayme
A highschool senior thought giving up his soul for a demon was a good idea. It wasn't.
Widdershins
Kate Ashwin
A series of light-hearted Victorian-era adventure stories featuring grumpy bounty hunters, accidental thiefkings, and more, in England's magical capital city Widdershins!
Star Trip
Gisele Weaver
Jas is a human taken from her home planet on a trip across the galaxy she will never forget.
Love Not Found
Gina Biggs
Abeille is on a quest to find someone who wants to do it the old-fashioned way in a time when touching has become outdated.
Sam & Fuzzy
Sam Logan
Troubled by gangster rodents, lovesick vampire stalkers, or confused ninja assassins? Don't panic! Sam and Fuzzy are here to help. (For a reasonable fee.)
Wychwood
Varethane
When Tiara's pyrokinesis is finally noticed, she is captured by a magical research organization for study. If she cooperates, she could be helping to save humanity from a dire threat - but can she trust them?
Paranatural
Zack Morrison
Superpowered middle schoolers fight evil spirits in their rural hometown. Come for the jokes, stay for the cast, the creatures, and the mystery that ties them all together!
Goodbye to Halos
Valerie Halla
Cuddles, gay flirting, weird feelings, and magic-fueled knife fights - it's an adventure across the queer multiverse!
Cut Time
Juby
Rel and her trusty avian friend Fugue are on a quest to save a world that's lost track of time. Follow them and their new recruits, in a story written with help from the stars.
Bicycle Boy
Jackarais
A cyborg named Poet wakes up in the post-apocalyptic desert with no memory, no limbs, and no idea why he keeps getting punched.
Demon's Mirror
Harry Bogosian
Based loosely off of "The Snow Queen", a story by Hans Christian Andersen, we see things take a different turn as the demons become central characters, and the side characters stick around. Yup, that's the only differences. Enjoy!
Guilded Age is co-written by T Campbell & Flo Kahn, and illustrated by John Waltrip. Site design by Samantha Kyle. Fonts by Blambot.com.
Stay up to date with Facebook or Google+, or use our RSS Feed!
Privacy Policy
Guilded Age does not claim ownership of any of the corporate branding that appears in this comic, nor does it claim any affiliation, partnership, or endorsement of any kind.
They are used strictly as an artistic choice for the set dressing of the comic.
They are used strictly as an artistic choice for the set dressing of the comic.
Ho. Ly. Shit. That’s quite the bombshell to drop. The berserker curse exists cause Byron’s player wanted a really cool but tragic backstory?
Basically, you come to the table with the backstory for your PC. Your GM raises his eyebrows, unconvinced by some backstory. Since you insist, the GM goes with “all right, throw it in”. Since you annoyed him, your GM will end up deconstructing every little detail of your PC backstory and rubbing it in your face.
Unconvinced by some backstory details
Now I realize that Brother Homon is actually the worse kind of NPC, he’s the dreaded GMPC.
You win a free reroll (I can hardly award internets, but I’ll use what I can)
certificate attached:
http://www.d20monkey.com/comic/holiday-break-2015/
The Marty Sue, dread curse of the gaming table… and sign that you need a new DM. I wonder if our protagonists can help with that…
When we saw the interviews with the Five before they went in the tanks, I wondered if this would be a story about what role-playing means to us. You could see that each of the Five had some particular interest they wanted to explore, in depth.
Incidentally, when I create a character, I often give them a backstory that involve parents who are alive and well and more or less supportive of the character. It confuses the heck out of people.
It’s the greatest when a character decides completely of their own volition to do whatever adventurer thing it is they do. Especially in the face of loving parents. “We’ll support you in anything, you’re such a great child.” “Nobody in this town understands me!!!”
For some reason that reminds me of Little Britain, specifically the wee town of Llandewi Breffi.
I love when players do that. It gives me murder fodder for the big bad.
“By the way, the worst thing cursing your world came about because your hubby needed a tragic backstory.”
That’s about as bad as someone pulling the drama tag.
The drama tag for this story got pulled a LONG time ago.
That’s about how RP tends to go…
“You’d think that the worst cursing would have been in Frigg’s backstory. But no, it was Byron.”
+1 =)
I AM YOUR GOD, AND MY NAME IS NOT WALT DISNEY.
HR’s expression in the second panel is creeping me out, precisely because it looks so benign, maybe even kindly, on the surface, as though he thinks he’s being a benevolent god by telling her this.
*second-last panel
I would vote for him to be President.
In a way, he thinks he is. He did make a fun and wonderful thing, after all! Thousands of lives, wonderful vistas, love, joy, families, all these things started with him…just…there are some…bugs, in the system. and, well, the whole war thing, but that’s there to keep things interesting, is all! who wants a boring story, anyways?
Seems like a classic example of Tragic Byrony.
There’s nothing in this game that can’t be solved with fire and Byron.
So it was “Byron’s” fault then eh. Interesting.
fault is kind of a strong word. I’m fairly certain that Byron didn’t anticipate that the NPCs in the game would turn out to be real people with lives of their own.
Just shoot the crazy guy, Syr’nj. I know your first instinct is to gather information, but you’ll be better off for it.
I second the motion.
All in favor, say ‘Aye’.
Eye
Aye
Wait, why does it sound like the Five, their Sepia Selves, were in on HR’s evil scheme?
“We get to be campaign writers? Sign us up!” Of course, they’re less campaign writers and more Cortez’s first wave of destroyers of civilization, but eh, six a one.
Well, they had to be in on it to some extent. It’s not like he kidnapped them and put them in those tanks.
But how much influence on actual world-building they’d get to have, I don’t think even HR knew that.
I think their consciousnesses are stuck in the tanks. He may even have tried to remove them, only to find them bound to the game. He might even be trying to kill them to get them *out*.
I think it was mentioned earlier on, when it seemed HR was just covering an experiment that had gone wrong rather than going full-blown villain, that they’d tried to extract the Five and failed. The impression I had at the time was that there were signs pulling them out might kill them – but it might also be that once they were in, pulling them out would do too much damage to the project.
The world-building magic is clearly interactive.
HR is making things out as if Arkerra was entirely written and created as a computer game, but it makes one wonder- even with the de-rezzing/deleting stuff of Cyberia, with 5 volunteer players VR-locked in life-support tubes- if HR might actually be wrong and Arkerra was a real world on its own and he was simply some sort of magical invader tapping into it.
After all, even he doesn’t understand the magick he uses. Remember: “I keep adding two plus two and getting Orange.” http://guildedage.net/comic/chapter-12-page-19/
It’s an idea I’ve come across before – somebody creates a fictional world, a lot of other people become invested in that world, and then that world comes to life and starts existing in its own right as a parallel universe. The creator (or co-creators as the case may be) retain some ability to control events through their writing (or whatever)… but on the other hand, is the world expressing control over the creator by influencing their writing?
The Five do appear to have had privileges to have world-influencing backstories most players don’t – Syr’Nj herself, for instance, is a) a race that probably wasn’t available to players before the wood elf expansion, and b) she got to be royalty of that race. It’s possible that the wood elves simply didn’t exist in the game before her player got podded. I’d be willing to bet Frigg’s player is responsible for the Sisterhood, too, and Gravedust may be responsible for dwarves just as Syr’Nj is for wood elves.
HR seems to be aiming to get creator privileges while actually living inside the universe… a position that does effectively make him godlike. However, it might prove that now that he no longer has code access in Sepiaworld, he’s lost those creator privileges. He’s written himself in with a lot of powers, but I have a suspicion that he’ll find out that he doesn’t actually have the control he thinks he does.
Or maybe giving him back those privilges is what Carrol is meant to work on before she gets in?
I predict a “the cake is a lie” moment for Carol.
Specifically the Caroline kind.
I doubt dwarves were invented by Gravedust, considering they’re an integral part of the Savage Races, though he was able to bend the rules by “faction-changing” without the requisite race change as well. Syr’Nj was able to play a Wood Elf despite them not being available yet. (though Shit Elves seem to have been, since I think E-Merl is just a Shit Elf played as a half-elf. There’s plenty of half-things running around on RP realms as it is)
The Cult probably existed at the beginning of the game, but it was Byron’s player that invented the berserking curse. Since he was plugged in, though, it became a “reality” applied to the cultists. First they were just annoying mobs to murder in quests. Nameless, faceless, etc. Then berserking came into the game, Brother Tom started using it against the infected and then started infecting people, now it’s the Big Thing of the Expansion.
Example, for the first two years or so, the (mindless) undead, Cult of the Damned, etc. were all just quest mobs/backstory in World of Warcraft (emphasis the MMO, not the previous games) that otherwise didn’t mean anything. Then came Naxxramas and they were the big bads. Everyone forgot about them for a while during BC, then they were THE expac, not just a new raid.
Maybe not the Dwaves themselves, but WHO the Dwarves are? Like, obviously they were always planned to be in the game, but Gravedust wrote their history: The place mystics have in their society, and the attitudes and past of the society. He’s why the Dwarves are aligned with who they are, when traditionally they are on the “Good” side.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Gravedust created a new character class, though.
I’d kind of like to see a line by line result of the system ai reading his backstory.
“Gravedust is part of Savasi mystics.”
*computer builds a temple, inhabits it with other mystics, and their acolytes, social customs, etc.*
“This order is based around balancing the living and the dead, and helping souls to pass on.”
*computer adds ghosts, spirits, souls , mythology about all of that. Side add – new character class*
“His order is dying out.”
*computer…pauses…tries to look up “dying out,” only finds the components…looks at all the past work, get’s cranky, and re-stages the murder of all the padawan at the jedi temple, before taking a meteor hammer to the Savasi religious sites. [damn meatbags]*
Truly, this is worthy of a Vexxarr and Carl moment (vexxarr.com).
I wholly approve. :D
I’ve been thinking that Gravedust created just the mystics with his backstory(and all the repercussions of that being a fact). The dwarves would have had a big enough place in the game already with their gripes about their mountain I’d think that it’s maybe unlikely his character was the source of dwarves in the game at all. The Five definitely rewrite code everywhere they go though.
I’m not sure about that. It’s been a while, but I recall Gravedust being surprised that the Savosi had joined the World Rebellion, suggesting that it was recent enough to have happened after launch. It’s possible that the Savosi were created by Gravedust, and then they got assigned to the World Rebellion to balance against the sky and wood elves that were coming in for the Gastonian alliance faction.
It’s also possible, though, that Gravedust’s player knew this, but specified that Gravedust himself wasn’t aware.
That theory has been put forth before, and it still seems unpalatable to me. From a storytelling perspective, it’s sooo much more effective to have a user-generated world spinning out of (its creator’s) control and calving off into a different plane of existence, than to just have it be another plane right from the off and the supposed Demiurge just clumsily tapping into it a little.
While the former is somewhat plausible, the latter makes for a much better story.
Life, uh, finds a way.
Consider the worlds the Dark Powers craft when they punish a Darklord.
There was at least one novel suggesting that the world exists already, yet is “empty” until it picks its victim.
That would be sort of a compromise between the two.
When Worlds Collide
The hovertext has a Russian accent.
Thanks, I read it again, and true, it sounded in my head with a Russian accent.
A no-prize for both of you.
Oh my god, it’s Stan Lee!
Can I get your autograph?
“Funny strange, or funny ha-ha?”
“Both work, don’t you think?” ::hoses her with purple-black nastiness::
*adds Ghostbuster DLC*
::Syr’Nj counter-hoses with purple-white nastiness::
Did HR go in just to try to wake them up? Why else would he be telling her these things? It’d also explain why he’s trying to kill everyone. I think he’s wrong though. He simply merged worlds–not made any. He is about to be let down big time when he realizes he isn’t a god, but a simply traveler.
he’s a trespasser, actually, since he doesn’t believe that this world is real. Everyone else KNOWS it’s real.
He’s a weak god. His creation has escaped his influence.
Usually the GM doesn’t manifest until the very end…. you know… Pizza delivery time.
She… actually considered the possibility? Well, shit, I was just joking. :D
So is Frigg the only reason the Order of the Bloodshot Eye exist? Is Syr’nj/Gravedust/Best the only reason some third example exists?
Gravedust is probably the only reason the dwarven race is a political mess.
So…god is a middle aged manager guy with a moustache.
This explains so much.
She’s going to murder the shit out of him for that comment.
Well I imagine she will give it her very best attempt at least.
One does not simply murder the shit out of the demigod of life and death.
….Huh.
And appropriate avatar strikes again.