Yeah, but it really comes into it’s own in Epic tier. She’s working toward Withering Stare.
Withering Stare (ranged burst 10, special): The Cynicist casts a glance so full of bitterness and disillusionment at the target creature that he must resist fortitude or die. If target resists they must take 10d6 psychic damage and resist Willpower or be pushed their movement away from the caster over any hazards. If target resists secondary attack they are dazed and take half damage.
If she reaches epic? Sure. But that high level Barbarian with the “Problem Solver” prestige class, meaning he’s got the fortitude AND the surprisingly high Charisma score for extra resistance to wither and withering stare is gonna find her long before she gets enough xp to make that viable. She better hope that Marksman feat she worked into her backstory is enough!
Handguns are a feature of the class, as are cigarettes…Shanna hasn’t put any points into tobacco use, though.
The problem solver barbarian is a formidable opponent, though, and definitely a higher level. Shanna’s only hope is that Xan can keep her alive with his overconfidence stat.
In all seriousness, she’s got incredible Cunning too, and a lot of Guts. But yeah, Taxil has it right: she’s terrible when it comes to the likes of Charisma.
I wonder what her beef with gaming is? Or has that already been explained, and I missed it?
It all stems from her mother being insane, her father abandoning them and she being the only one to care for her. That makes her hate the idea of enjoying things that don’t exist in the real world as she knows it. And men.
I myself was just thinking that JJ don’t seem so ominous now, eh? Well, I mean Shanna has that sexy nose (and I definitely enjoy me some nose)… BUT… well, the prohibitionist temperance thang won’t fly.
No, I think that since this is on the shoulders of an off the rails magical moustachioed man with disturbing faith in what was suppose to be a rhetorical exercise….yeah, I think the vydeo garms get a free pass on this one, miss investigator.
Also, doesn’t her blaming this on gaming like that, something I am sure her new source and ally is a fan of, perhaps strain any sort of loyalty or trust in her judgement he might have?
This is pretty old hat for Shanna. She started the same way in Fans, and it was a long time before she learned to respect the gamer who became her husband. Yeah…she’s damaged.
This Shanna seems to be a little bit more radical in her thinking – I’m not entirely sure why, but I’m gonna bet it has to do with her mom. And violence in entertainment.
Hm… yeah. After browsing the archives for pages she’s been in, I think there’s something kinda off about sepia-world Shanna, and I can’t quite put my finger on it yet.
But preemptively, I’m gonna blame social media and the internet. And TV news.
My guess is that Shanna was a Farmville orphan. Her parents would ignore her all day, while they played Farmville together. Her mother finally lost it, when her dad had a midlife crisis, bought an Xbox, and ran off with a console gamer half his age.
Xan may be right & level-headed, but he’s also a wee bit hurt by Shanna’s sarcasm, which is antagonizing at best. “Demonizing”, jeez.
To clarify, for demonizing you need a third party’s eyes to make the second party look bad in. It may be a thing that Shanna does in her journalism, but she’s not doing it by being sarcastic at Xan.
… unless Xan is referring to his own circumscription of Shanna’s suggested approach in panel 2. Ow! These people don’t mesh well.
Shanna wasn’t being sarcastic, she’s genuinely resentful. “Demonizing” is a pretty strong word but I don’t think Xan is referring only to the “gamer gnome” remark but Shanna’s entire journalistic past as an anti-gaming crusader.
Xan is talking about how to approach the other gamers. His remark concerns either of the two balloons in panel 2 & nothing else. Shanna’s remark about “little gamer gnomes” is genuine sarcasm. She may feel resentful, but she employs sarcasm to convey it.
The latest kerfuffle in gaming has game journalists talking about the death — and more inclusive rebirth — of the identity and term “gamer”, but I just read an article on this site that says we should kill the term and identity in general because the whole idea of gaming is irrevocably tainted by consumerism. The problem is that I could stick “film”, “television”, “radio” and even “journalism” in there and come out with the same assertion, despite certain folks 90’s era allegiance to triple A above all. https://www.jacobinmag.com/2014/09/death-to-the-gamer/
Yeaaa. That’s a real ‘Fair and Balanced’ link there. I have come to how I view the ‘Gamer’ Subculture not from a few blog post but from a life time of reading all sorts of news stories and experiencing the culture directly. It’s fine by me if that is how you see gamers that way, but I respectfully disagree with you in how I view Gamers as a whole.
To be fair, that link is the polar opposite political alignment of Fox News. It’s still ignorantly biased like MSNBC and CNN level of [bleeb] non-journalism.
I don’t agree with the article at all. In fact, I share Xan’s opinion. The article, aside from the Marxist slant, could easily be something Shanna cooked up.
Her mother was insane. Her Mom slowly descended into fantasy land, but stopped coming back up for air. She served Twinkies for dinner at least once, and would rather go unicorn hunting with her 7 year old daughter than hold a job or upkeep the house. If I remember right she destroyed their house in one of her bouts of “playfulness.” Might be a bit different in this universe, but doesn’t seem that way.
Or maybe she does….man…T, I wish you were still offering the comic on a CD or DVD. Going through and putting it all on a thumb drive so I can read it offline is so much work…
And I would totally buy a print copy. Only problem is gifs and voice overs.
Keep in mind that her mother is most likely schizophrenic, and schizophrenia has it’s onset in the twenties, usually. Her Mom was probably a good mother who liked to play with her child who one day started not being able to differentiate between fantasy and reality. Shanna is also probably worried that she may also go insane, because it is genetic.
From they way she’s been holding onto this anger of her, I fear the systems of the early stages of schizophrenic (or some other disorder) could start soon.
It’s an issue with imagination as a whole. Shanna’s basic logical error at the Start of Faans and throughout GA is that enjoyment of fiction directly correlates with and directly causes mental illness. Her mother has about a dozen schizoid style illnesses that all seem to be triggered by the latest pop-culture craze.
And if that is the reason Shanna hates fiction and gaming products, and she keeps pushing this issue, everyone around her will look at Shanna and conclude that SHE’S gone insane as well.
Again no sign of her warning him about possible incoming corporate death monkies!? Please, in the comics to come let it be that she told him off “camera” or I have to conclude that she is too scatterbrained to play in this league. (I know she knows its a thing and cares cause she warned the last guy! Please let it have happened off camera. Pleaaaase… :( )
Yeah, there’s no way we could have represented every moment of their conversation in here. Xan, though, is already a paranoid sort– remember how much trouble Shanna had to go through just to get into his apartment– so he’s slightly less in need of a warning that somebody might come after him than Joel, whose job more or less requires him to be accessible to everyone who can pay an admission fee.
(To be clear, I mean that I think Shanna did warn him someone might come after him for his activities and his response was on the order of “So what else is new?”)
This page is for those who got a little too drawn in by this most recent Saturday’s AAA.
I’m calling it, Shanna’s charisma, possibly wisdom too, is her dump stat and MAYBE one rank in Diplomacy.
It’s a good thing she can rely on her STRE- wait, no.
Actually her main stat is BITTERNESS.
Main stat? more like only stat. Every free point went into this.
It’s a horrible build but 3 more into bitterness and she can do that thing where plants actually wither.
… in her presence. Dang it.
Yeah, but it really comes into it’s own in Epic tier. She’s working toward Withering Stare.
Withering Stare (ranged burst 10, special): The Cynicist casts a glance so full of bitterness and disillusionment at the target creature that he must resist fortitude or die. If target resists they must take 10d6 psychic damage and resist Willpower or be pushed their movement away from the caster over any hazards. If target resists secondary attack they are dazed and take half damage.
If she reaches epic? Sure. But that high level Barbarian with the “Problem Solver” prestige class, meaning he’s got the fortitude AND the surprisingly high Charisma score for extra resistance to wither and withering stare is gonna find her long before she gets enough xp to make that viable. She better hope that Marksman feat she worked into her backstory is enough!
Handguns are a feature of the class, as are cigarettes…Shanna hasn’t put any points into tobacco use, though.
The problem solver barbarian is a formidable opponent, though, and definitely a higher level. Shanna’s only hope is that Xan can keep her alive with his overconfidence stat.
I love you people.
In all seriousness, she’s got incredible Cunning too, and a lot of Guts. But yeah, Taxil has it right: she’s terrible when it comes to the likes of Charisma.
I wonder what her beef with gaming is? Or has that already been explained, and I missed it?
It all stems from her mother being insane, her father abandoning them and she being the only one to care for her. That makes her hate the idea of enjoying things that don’t exist in the real world as she knows it. And men.
Men?
It’s raining them.
Sounds messy.
Hallelujah.
Men don’t exist in the world as she knows it. That’s why it’s sepia-colored.
In Faans, Shanna convinced herself she was a lesbian, even though she’s not.
(Re-reading this chapter for my own purposes, finally chanced on this comment.)
Ohhh, you meant “hate the idea of enjoying men (sexually).” I read that as “hate men.” Very different things.
She likes them bulky.
She took the feat that lets her dump her strength into Intimidate, but she doesn’t have any Strength so she’s just a poor player. c:
Luddite Shanna is on the verge finalizing her dastardly plan to destroy all fun in the normal-verse but will Berten get there in time?
There is no fun in boring world, that’s why they play in Arkerra.
https://static.erfworld.com/comic/Book%201/26/026.jpg
That’s in Awkewa, though. A common mistake.
Better reference to Boring World would be http://www.c.urvy.com
Ah, you beat me to it.
I myself was just thinking that JJ don’t seem so ominous now, eh? Well, I mean Shanna has that sexy nose (and I definitely enjoy me some nose)… BUT… well, the prohibitionist temperance thang won’t fly.
That dog won’t fly at all.
Will Snowy White escape the dungeon in time to tell Jock about the new plan?
Oh sorry, that’s Barton. Dick Barton, Special Agent! :-)
I’ve demonized enough subgroups to know it always gets result, the sad trolls that read webcomics LOVE me.
Uh, who are you?
Put out or get out?
go hard or go home?
That’s what she said?
In his car, Berten is listening to NPR where there is a discussion about coffee temperatures.
http://drmcninja.com/archives/comic/28p13/
“Why does that sound so *famil*… oh.”
No, please. Don’t bring them here.
Bring who? Though if you say it, I suppose someone will get offended and jump into this comment thread. D:
Okay: panel three – Xan’s beak right next to Bandit’s schnoz. IT’S A MATCH! A NOSE MATCH!
Now, someone light a match to Shanna’s nose.
Spoiler: JJ Berton is driving the speed limit, on his way to buy some fried chicken and mustache wax.
…If he’s a messy enough eater with fried chicken, he won’t need mustache wax…
She’s a hard-nosed, old fashioned investigator, willing to do whatever she needs to to get to the truth.
He’s a tech savvy internet sleuth, who smells lightly of old Cheetos.
They don’t like each other but they’ll need to learn to work together to expose the true secret beneath a seemingly harmless game.
Catch Shan and Xan on the midnight lineup!
…and they fight crime!
…and gaming.
Well, one of them does.
I’ll…just leave this here.
>_>
No, I think that since this is on the shoulders of an off the rails magical moustachioed man with disturbing faith in what was suppose to be a rhetorical exercise….yeah, I think the vydeo garms get a free pass on this one, miss investigator.
Also, doesn’t her blaming this on gaming like that, something I am sure her new source and ally is a fan of, perhaps strain any sort of loyalty or trust in her judgement he might have?
This is pretty old hat for Shanna. She started the same way in Fans, and it was a long time before she learned to respect the gamer who became her husband. Yeah…she’s damaged.
Though a lot of their heated arguments was her crushing on him and trying to hide it even from herself.
Well, yeah. :-)
Shanna… what… the… HELL!
Honestly, she sounds like reporter that blames D&D for serial killers or something.
This Shanna seems to be a little bit more radical in her thinking – I’m not entirely sure why, but I’m gonna bet it has to do with her mom. And violence in entertainment.
Hm… yeah. After browsing the archives for pages she’s been in, I think there’s something kinda off about sepia-world Shanna, and I can’t quite put my finger on it yet.
But preemptively, I’m gonna blame social media and the internet. And TV news.
I am also going to blame those things for the little word confusion event I just experienced – I said radical, but I meant extreme.
I do recall she mentioned at one point that part of her mother’s dementia included waiting for her letter from Hogwarts.
Perhaps the escapism of fantasy gaming and such seems a bit like a slap in the face.
My guess is that Shanna was a Farmville orphan. Her parents would ignore her all day, while they played Farmville together. Her mother finally lost it, when her dad had a midlife crisis, bought an Xbox, and ran off with a console gamer half his age.
What? These things happen.
In fact Shanna is doing all this to get her mother into one of those tubes. She knows it is the only way to give her the life she wants.
She is just very good at hiding it – Veeeeeery good.
I…don’t have any gold stars. But I made you one out of paper. It’s yellow….
Does it have copious amounts of glitter plastered to it?
That is a very interesting idea. Perhaps HR will offer Shanna a Faustian deal, except it is her mother that receives power and wish-fulfillment.
Shanna is REALLY bad at working leads.
I hereby pronounce this comment as a bearer of Icon Win.
Bossmob incoming…
Kite left and spam range attacks and he goes down easy.
In Sepia World people even the biggest of bosses go down easy when your ranged weapon is a handgun. Unless they have that Cocaine buff….
Um, not exactly, that would be the PCP and/or morphine combo.
Xan may be right & level-headed, but he’s also a wee bit hurt by Shanna’s sarcasm, which is antagonizing at best. “Demonizing”, jeez.
To clarify, for demonizing you need a third party’s eyes to make the second party look bad in. It may be a thing that Shanna does in her journalism, but she’s not doing it by being sarcastic at Xan.
… unless Xan is referring to his own circumscription of Shanna’s suggested approach in panel 2. Ow! These people don’t mesh well.
Shanna wasn’t being sarcastic, she’s genuinely resentful. “Demonizing” is a pretty strong word but I don’t think Xan is referring only to the “gamer gnome” remark but Shanna’s entire journalistic past as an anti-gaming crusader.
Xan is talking about how to approach the other gamers. His remark concerns either of the two balloons in panel 2 & nothing else. Shanna’s remark about “little gamer gnomes” is genuine sarcasm. She may feel resentful, but she employs sarcasm to convey it.
HEY!! I RESEMBLE THAT!!!
…he looks so dashing behind the wheel.
The latest kerfuffle in gaming has game journalists talking about the death — and more inclusive rebirth — of the identity and term “gamer”, but I just read an article on this site that says we should kill the term and identity in general because the whole idea of gaming is irrevocably tainted by consumerism. The problem is that I could stick “film”, “television”, “radio” and even “journalism” in there and come out with the same assertion, despite certain folks 90’s era allegiance to triple A above all. https://www.jacobinmag.com/2014/09/death-to-the-gamer/
Yeaaa. That’s a real ‘Fair and Balanced’ link there. I have come to how I view the ‘Gamer’ Subculture not from a few blog post but from a life time of reading all sorts of news stories and experiencing the culture directly. It’s fine by me if that is how you see gamers that way, but I respectfully disagree with you in how I view Gamers as a whole.
Or, we could not link Fox News level bias urine yellow journalism here at all, thanks.
To be fair, that link is the polar opposite political alignment of Fox News. It’s still ignorantly biased like MSNBC and CNN level of [bleeb] non-journalism.
I don’t agree with the article at all. In fact, I share Xan’s opinion. The article, aside from the Marxist slant, could easily be something Shanna cooked up.
I wonder how much more Shanna’s going to be rude and condescending to people whose help she needs before it blows up in her face?
Assuming we’re not counting the incident with Carol, of course.
Just until she’s “reborn” as Kur’ik, I’ll bet.
What is her issue with gaming? Did a game kick her in the shins when she was a child? Yes, I am aware of the recent events in gaming.
Her mother was insane. Her Mom slowly descended into fantasy land, but stopped coming back up for air. She served Twinkies for dinner at least once, and would rather go unicorn hunting with her 7 year old daughter than hold a job or upkeep the house. If I remember right she destroyed their house in one of her bouts of “playfulness.” Might be a bit different in this universe, but doesn’t seem that way.
It’s later revealed that her father was the one who burned the house down, leaving Shanna on her own, to take care of her mom.
That’s right. if she has the same history I doubt Shanna knows it was her dad.
Or maybe she does….man…T, I wish you were still offering the comic on a CD or DVD. Going through and putting it all on a thumb drive so I can read it offline is so much work…
And I would totally buy a print copy. Only problem is gifs and voice overs.
Keep in mind that her mother is most likely schizophrenic, and schizophrenia has it’s onset in the twenties, usually. Her Mom was probably a good mother who liked to play with her child who one day started not being able to differentiate between fantasy and reality. Shanna is also probably worried that she may also go insane, because it is genetic.
From they way she’s been holding onto this anger of her, I fear the systems of the early stages of schizophrenic (or some other disorder) could start soon.
It’s an issue with imagination as a whole. Shanna’s basic logical error at the Start of Faans and throughout GA is that enjoyment of fiction directly correlates with and directly causes mental illness. Her mother has about a dozen schizoid style illnesses that all seem to be triggered by the latest pop-culture craze.
And if that is the reason Shanna hates fiction and gaming products, and she keeps pushing this issue, everyone around her will look at Shanna and conclude that SHE’S gone insane as well.
Um, Fans!Shanna? Could you come back and give your alt-self another blast with the stun gun? Maybe it will… rearrange things?
changed my mind, he looks like Penk, not Bandit.
Again no sign of her warning him about possible incoming corporate death monkies!? Please, in the comics to come let it be that she told him off “camera” or I have to conclude that she is too scatterbrained to play in this league. (I know she knows its a thing and cares cause she warned the last guy! Please let it have happened off camera. Pleaaaase… :( )
Yeah, there’s no way we could have represented every moment of their conversation in here. Xan, though, is already a paranoid sort– remember how much trouble Shanna had to go through just to get into his apartment– so he’s slightly less in need of a warning that somebody might come after him than Joel, whose job more or less requires him to be accessible to everyone who can pay an admission fee.
(To be clear, I mean that I think Shanna did warn him someone might come after him for his activities and his response was on the order of “So what else is new?”)