DM of the Rings CXIII:
It’s a Trap!

By Shamus Posted Friday Jun 15, 2007

Filed under: DM of the Rings 135 comments


Skulls!
More Skulls!

Traps are a great way to distract players when they manage to wrest the conversation from your grasp, or when they ask you to pony up for your share of the pizza.

 


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135 thoughts on “DM of the Rings CXIII:
It’s a Trap!

  1. Eorl de Jonge says:

    this is a great one shamus

  2. baac says:

    A great part of the movie… that made no sense at all. Sigh.

  3. baac says:

    Oh, and “Conan’s Codpiece” was outstanding…

  4. Rob says:

    Excellent! “Conan’s codpiece”, triggered by negotiations, ST vs. ridiculous contrivances… I’m in stiches!

  5. capitain says:

    Well. Now it does make sense.
    Great one!

  6. angora says:

    I loved Gimli’s comment. Too funny.

  7. Stella says:

    Great one! Not my favorite, but my DM used it before too. Keep it up.

  8. TalrogSmash says:

    Only six responses?! I’m up way too early. An UNHOLY bowl of captain crunch!

  9. Darkenna says:

    *snort* Robust… *cough* culture… *wheeze* *dies*

  10. Parzival says:

    Wow. I’ve never posted this close to the top before (currently I’m looking at 6, but it will probably be lower). I must think of something suitably pithy and original to say! Uhm…. Uh… Great comic!

  11. haashaastaak says:

    maybe there is a bin of just finger and toe bones. Or disassociated vertebrae. Maybe there’s a trap door leading down to the room of pelvises.

    I never understood why they wasted so much work shooting a scene that was nonsensical. I know in some movies it is the only kind of scene they have, but the majority of the Lord of the rings actually advanced the plot

  12. Clyde says:

    “Skulls fall, nobody dies!”

  13. Susano says:

    I did spend this scene wondering “What the hell was *that* about?”

  14. Parzival says:

    Okay, serious comment now. (Well, semi-serious.)

    Love the “Granny’s dead. Let’s lop off her head…” bit.

    But my favorite line is…

    “It’s like we’re in a big bowl of Cap’n Crunch!”

    And yes, this sequence in the movie never made sense to me. What was this… a last joke by the oathbreakers? We’ll serve the heir of Isildur to end our suffering, but only after we tried to kill him with an avalanche of skulls?!? Huh?
    As much as the Paths of the Dead sequence was nice and heroic in the movie, Tolkien’s original version where the Dead simply silently follow Aragorn to the Stone of Erech is a lot more evocative and chilly.
    But then, we wouldn’t have had such a great comic if it weren’t for PJ “snazzing it up.”

  15. DocTwisted says:

    Well, granny’s dead… let’s behead her corpse and throw the head into the trap… ::Dies::

  16. Nob the Hobbit says:

    Read this entire comic through a little while ago after a friend pointed me here… brilliant stuff, man. Brilliant stuff.

  17. MOM says:

    I wonder what Peter Jackson thinks of this comic. SOMEONE has surely pointed it out to him.

    1. osh says:

      IIRC, in the DVD commentary Jackson even makes the exact same joke about seperate traps for each body part.

  18. Cenobite says:

    I am now SO HAPPY that I never spent a dime on the extended version of the trilogy. This is the first that I’ve heard of this scene. Forget all of the charges of railroading that DMs often are accused of. This is much, much worse. This is Hollywood railroading the books.

  19. Wraithshadow says:

    I always figured it was something to the effect of, “Right- we’ll serve you. No use for this place anymore, might as well destroy it. Oh- by the way, we hate you, so we’ll destroy this place in a really passive-aggressive way that might kill you in the process.”

  20. Sarah says:

    Ah, Shamus, you’ve done it again! As others have confirmed, this scene made the least sense of any in the movies. (and it didn’t have a good sword reveal, either) I would have gladly traded it for any of a dozen others omitted, that would have made a real contribution to the story. Thanks for giving it what it deserved!

  21. scldragonfish says:

    Okay. Did not see the skulls coming. Thank You.

    You managed to make me laugh while I wait for my ebay auction to end.

    *drooling* game systems…

  22. Tamsyn says:

    I’ve read them all and this is the funniest yet, 5 laughs out loud!

  23. Carl the Bold says:

    I laughed at the “I wonder how long it takes them to reset the trap every time it goes off” line.

    And am I the only one that thinks it looks like that line was spoken by Cap’n Barbosa?

  24. Count_Zero says:

    I must confess, the only proper response when a trap that will drop thousands upon thousands of skulls on you (or a similar sort of trap), is “Oh Crap,” or some minor punctuation related variation thereof (like “Oh. Crap.” or “Oh, Crap.”)

    Don’t believe me? Just ask Hellboy!

  25. … Wow. I am so glad I never watched the Extended Edition of ROTK.

    I mean, this isn’t as stupid as a flaming Denethor running the length of an entire city before plunging off a cliff, but it’s right up there in the same league.

  26. Gary says:

    Long time reader, first time poster. I must say that I adore this strip of yours Shamus. You take humor and storytelling to new heights.

    I had to struggle SO hard not to laugh out loud SEVERAL times during todays strip! I’m at work Shamus, you’re killing me! LOL! My head nearly exploded from holding in the laughter.

    This was a work of true genius completely explaining a rather oddball scene, much like you did with Aragorn recieving Narsil reforged in the middle of the war camp. Both priceless bits of movie mocking.

    Keep them coming, I’ll never get bored.

  27. elda says:

    well this brightened up my day. thanks shamus. no matter how crappy my day is, i can atleast take comfert in the fact that i’m not getting thousands of skulls dropped on me.

  28. Tuccy says:

    Long-time lurker, first-time poster…

    Have to admit two things – 1) I have never played Dungeons and Dragons or alike (though similar moments can be found in strategies etc. as well)
    2) I haven’t found the courage to watch LoTR III. The battle for Helm’s Deep somehow ruined it for me, with all those Elven archers, shieldsurfing, ents and Faramir completely out of character, Eomer banished etc.
    Now, I am determined to watch the movie – as soon as this great comics series ends. I will watch all three movies in fact and I will be laughing my head off insanely – dot only due to this comics, but also thanks to things as “They’re taking the hobbits to Isengard” clip.

    Keep up the good work!

  29. jbrandt says:

    Well, they DID ask for “all the stuff.”

  30. Roxysteve says:

    Dear Mr Young,

    Re: Today’s comic: V. droll!

    Yrs etc.

    Steve.

  31. Madalch says:

    Quick! Grab them and put them in the Horadric Cube! We can reroll our rare items!

  32. Marty says:

    I’ve always found dungeon-based traps to be totally contrived in D&D… This comic just puts the icing on the cake, tying together how it’s silly in both movies and adventure modules.

    Very funny.

    PS – On a side note, why does everyone love Tomb of Horrors, anyway? Worst. Module. Ever… (for those of us old enough to remember).

    By the way, the Dungeon Crawl Classics line (Goodman Games) is really wonderful. They combine the nostalgia of playing those old TSR-style modules, but with actual plot, NPC motivations and realism (ie- No asking why a displacer beast would be hanging out in some random dungeon room…)

    I never really liked kick-in-the-door style role playing, but Dungeon Crawl Classics actually makes it fun!

    I have no affiliation with Goodman Games other than being a satisfied customer.

  33. bruce says:

    Between us all, we must cover every panel of this episode. Did one one else like the “maybe they have another trap which just drops arms and legs”. That’s the one that got me the most.

  34. Scarlet Knight says:

    “Marty Says:I've always found dungeon-based traps to be totally contrived in D&D…”

    What!? Do you have no sense of tradition man? Why, some of my fondest memories are of being trapped underground with water, or sand, or pudding pouring in & slowly filling up the room…

  35. jperk31260 says:

    I thought the dropping skulls were shot for the vidio games and just put in the extended edition because they had the footage and someone said “Why not?”.

  36. Marmot says:

    I recall having watched the Extended Edition of Return of the King, but somehow this scene didn’t stay in my memory! Did skulls really happen on them or Shamus seized some other scene for his own purposes?

    Otherwise awesome :)

  37. Tola says:

    …I’m sorry, you’re going to have to enlighten me on this scene. This is not one I’ve seen.(They showed LOTR on TV some time back.)

    Help?

  38. anachronist says:

    Hey, has anyone else noticed that the Aragorn character has actually been trying to role-play more than usual, and Gimli less than usual? His comment “This is the first trap I’ve ever encountered that could be triggered by negotiations” indicates he was trying to get immersed in the game-world, but the silliness of this trap ejected him back into the meta-game world.

  39. Awesome, simply awesome.

    And I am so going to use that skull trap :D

  40. -Chipper says:

    Shamus,
    My appreciation is growing for your talent at taking the strange movie departures from the book & turning them into comic gold. Let’s see how many that you skewered that I can name: Aragorn’s fall of the cliff, Elrond presenting the sword in Rohan, shield surfing, of course the skull avalanche, Sauruman’s death… I’m sure there’s others & when pointed out I’ll go D’oh!

  41. Nick_Soapdish says:

    forget the comic the post script commentary is the highlight for me. Damn stingy GMs never pony up for their share of the pizza!

  42. Da Rogue says:

    Why I didn’t see this coming I don’t know. Great job Shamus; oh and about the flaming Denethor comment, He didn’t run the entire length of the city, the tomb was actually semi-close to the edge that he ran off of.

    1. WJS says:

      You’re kidding, right? The great spire of rock runs from the mountain all the way to the walls, and the mausoleum was on the other side of the mountain. We saw earlier in the film how far they traveled away from the palace. They cut to just before he jumps off, but if they had shown him going all the way back it would have taken over ten minutes! (100d6 fire damage under d20 rules, fyi) Even just the spire looks to be hundreds of meters long.

  43. Mike says:

    To me, this nonsensical plot device came about because the legions of dead had been saving this trap for generations. They had never sprung it on anyone, so when faced with the prospect of cooperating with Our Heroes and never using it they decided to let it fly to get their money’s worth.

  44. james says:

    my first post: absolutely hilarious!

  45. Catri says:

    Hee! Poor Granny.
    “I wonder how long it takes them to reset the trap every time it goes off…”
    :) I just about woke the baby laughing!

  46. Al Shiney says:

    Loved it, Shamus … I totally snarfed thinking about what the “sorting room” scene would have looked like for the dead:

    Shift Supervisor: “Ok, heads go in this bin, arms and legs in that one over there, and torsos in the big one in the middle!”

    Dead Guy # 2: “Why we gotta chop up all these arms and legs, parts is parts”

    Dead Guy # 3 (in his best Joe Pesci voice): “Hey, I got a wing!”

    Brilliant strip, I too failed to remember the skull scene and now I’m glad.

  47. Colin says:

    Absolutely pimp!

  48. Shamus, that one was brilliant from top to bottom!

  49. Roger the Shruberer says:

    OH, NO!! Not traps triggered by negotiations!! We’re screwed for certain this time!!

    Whatever would players do if they actually had to watch what they said to NPCs.

    Hilarious stuff, Shamus! Keep it coming.

  50. James says:

    Actually, Shamus gives the scene much more meaning with Aragorn’s demand for their treasure. It would not be surprising if the Dunlendings were head-takers, like the Celts:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celts#The_Celts_as_head-hunters

    Thus, their greatest treasure would be the severed heads of their enemies. The Paths of the Dead in which the Army of the Dead reside probably were part of an ancient temple complex where the whole of the Dunlending people brought the heads of their enemies (not all of them, mind, just the really important ones).

    So, when Aragorn demanded their treasure, the Dead obliged…

    In the movie, it represents the collapse of the temples, filled with the taken heads from millennia of warfare, as the Dead abandon their accursed home…

  51. Mrs T says:

    I’ve actually watched the whole trilogy with the directors commentary turned on, and the writers actually made fun of this scene too. I can’t remember if any of the three took the blame for it.

  52. gahazakul says:

    HA HA HA HAHHAHAH HA AHHHA AHHAHAHAHAHA…

    OMG…lol…

    when i came came to the “bowl of capn crunch, i burst out laughing, so much so that i scared the crap out of my daughter…

    lol…lord help me…

  53. Telas says:

    One of the best yet, Shamus.

    “Save vs. ridiculous contrivances”…. beautiful.

  54. harrowed1 says:

    Come now, you should of had them botch that negotiations roll! Having something random, and stupid, nearly kill the players, due to a totaly unrelated skill roll botch, is a fine tradition in gaming going back decades! Where’s your sense of nonsensical GM tradition boy?!
    For shame shamus! FOR SHAAAAAAAAAME!!!!

  55. Dannerman says:

    Marty Good shout out to Dungeon Crawl Classics! The ‘Forest of Lanterns’ module is hilarious! You get to turn the characters into kids and have them attempt to survive a fairy tale – it’s just brilliant.

    On the Tomb of Horrors, though – I think although it was utterly, blatantly unfair it’s still a great laugh to tell stories about it with other gamers afterwards. “So how did you get killed?” kind of thing.

    Oh, and Shamus – good one with the comic! Although I did actually enjoy alot of the extended versions of the films all I could think of in that scene was; ‘Whoa! They seem to be in a computer game now…’ I was expecting a countdown timer to appear in the corner of the screen. (Those were load-bearing skulls!)

    (I fell for the ‘Crown and the Sceptre’ thing, by the way. The DM actually had to show me the module at the point because I refused to believe I wasn’t allowed a saving throw of some kind. Don’t think anyone in the group survived to the Demilich bit.)

  56. Phlux says:

    So a skull is worth what, a couple of coppers? how far to the nearest shop again? The players have a fortune on their hands and don’t even realize it!

  57. Scarlet Knight says:

    NOW we know where the “Bring out your Dead” collection guy from Monty Python’s Holy Grail brings his deposits.

  58. Vrym says:

    Every panel of this one was gold. I want to pick a favorite quote from it, but I can’t decide.

  59. Vrym says:

    Oh yes, and as far as the subject of Aragorn starting to roleplay more…

    I would venture that it’s directly related to the moment when he realized he could get loot by doing so. :D

  60. BlueFaeMoon says:

    Shamus, I just wanted to take a moment to let you know I got here through a link in one of your comments on buzz.nm, and I’ve spent the better part of this afternoon reading your whole DM of the Rings comic. Holy crow, it’s hilarious. My son and hubby are adamant D&D geeks (and so it has leeched into my skin through proximity), and we are all big LOTR fans. Which is why I’ve been laughing so hard. :) Keep up the great work! We’ll all be checking back for new installments.
    See ya ’round the internet. ~ Fae

  61. oldschoolGM says:

    RE: The extended cut of LoTR. Yeah, this scene was pretty lame, but there was a lot of other good stuff in there that made it worth getting IMO. Off the top of my head, the extended Treebeard scene and extended Aragorn palantir scenes were nice. The Annatar scene was off-putting to me though, since Sauron is supposed to be permanently unable to take a “fair form” after the fall of Numenor.

    RE: Tomb of Horrors. I’d never run it with characters in an ongoing campaign, that would just be unfair. But it’s kind of fun running it with one-shot throwaway characters played by players who have never done it before.

  62. oldschoolGM says:

    Oh yeah, and great comic again Shamus. The Cap’n Crunch bit, especially, had me snickering.

  63. Tsetut says:

    Sheer Brilliance. And I liked the last part, distract the players when they ask for your pizza money. Heh. Good times.

  64. Romanadvoratrelundar says:

    @Bruce, I did like that line, too. And he says it with that perfect puzzled Orly face.

  65. melchar says:

    I was right, Shamus -did- make better use of the skull trap than the movie did!

    In re – ‘Tomb of Horrors’, I ran a group thru it a couple years ago and didn’t TELL them it was ToH. I gave the descriptions straight [having handwritten/copied all the relevant parts] and they didn’t know it was a module at all.

    And no one died. They noticed the hidden writing in the entry tunnel – and NEVER opened or used an obvious door. Ever. They would search until they found a secret or concealed door/tunnel/etc – and use that. They flat out avoided 90% of all traps and monsters. It was astonishing.

    [Because if you do use that line of reasoning, you -do- beat the Tomb!] The only tough fight they had was with the demi-lich – and they had enough oomph to take him down fast. I was most impressed.

  66. ravells says:

    Shamus,

    have you ever stopped to consider that Jackson et al. are probably reading your strip, chuckling quietly and posting under pseudonyms?

    It’s famous enough by now, I’d warrant

    Ravs

  67. ravells says:

    lest I be mistaken, I’m not any of them.

    R

  68. ravells says:

    pps

    But I think they should be asked!

    Ravs

    oh ‘eck there’s me sounding like Gandalf.

  69. ravells says:

    pps

    This probably isn’t the place for it, but I would like to know how your neighbors who suffered that awful tragedy are doing. If you could tell us how they’re doing now, I’d be grateful. If they need a whip round to restore the garden back to its former glory, I’d be willing to make a donation as I’m sure virtually everyone here would – paypal is a wonderful thing and now you have this huge audience, you can make it count. Alternatively I can send you stuff from London which you can’t get there, just name it (within reason – my budget doesn’t run to Rolls Royces)

    Ravs

  70. ravells says:

    ppps.

    (I so much don’t want be Gandalfish…although I always played a wizard)

    I’d be happy to donate $100 to the garden fund for all the pleasure you’ve given me with your comic strips. I’m sure people here can do much better.

    I just need an email address

    Ravs

  71. trigear says:

    I actually saw this coming… this was one of those classic cartoon moments, a la

    E Fudd: “OK, wabbit, wet me have it.”
    B Bunny: “Are you sure, doc?”
    E Fudd: “I said, WET ME HAVE IT!”
    B Bunny: “OK, you asked for it.”

  72. ravells says:

    pppps.

    Oh! and when the pond is restored can we have the ducks back? I think Frank would like that.

    Ravs

  73. brashieel says:

    I remember watching that scene and going “Why all skulls? They could have used other bones… wait, why is this in here at all?”

    The sad part is that it makes MUCH more sense in this context. It’s a desperate attempt by the DM to get his plot moving again.

  74. superfluousk says:

    The “just skulls” thing confused me, too. I mean, what?

  75. SSMcBeattie says:

    I like this comic… Although it makes me a bit sad, cause I’ll probably never be able to play pen and paper again..

    Being an old ‘female’ gamer – there aint no openings for a 2nd edition girl no more :(

  76. Mordecai McGillicuddy says:

    Some great one-liners in this one. Best comic in awhile, Shamus. “I wonder how long it takes them to reset the trap.” Beautiful. :)

  77. RHJunior says:

    They left out the Harrowing of the Shire… to make room for THIS?

    Augh.

  78. Tola says:

    They left out the Harrowing of the Shire… to make room for THIS?

    Augh.

    They’d have had to shoot extra scenes showing how pitiful Saruman had become, then.(Which is the first sign that something was up.) Maybe Mr.Lee objected, maybe they thought ‘The audience won’t buy this'(The whole thing, including the ‘Saruman as street beggar’ does seem a little…’off’ even in the books.) I don’t know.

  79. Laithoron says:

    Conan’s codpiece… Cap’n Crunch…

    I literally laughed until I had tears in my eyes.

    2nd funniest strip ever right after Agent Smith showing up to give Aintagorn the sword.

    Classic!

  80. Dave says:

    Pony up for pizza..

  81. Penny7b says:

    “Conan’s Codpiece” is a great exclamation. I’m going to have to start using that. (Totally ignoring the fact that Conan very rarely wore anything that would be likely to have a codpiece, but you know.. Man I am such a nerd today.)

  82. ChristianTheDane says:

    @Tola

    It is from the extended edition i think.

    Also, great strip. Surely somebody must have told him that it made no sense to have a tidal wave of pure skulls :)

  83. FhnuZoag says:

    They left out the scouring of the shire for a very simple and obvious reason – the ending of the third film was long enough as it is, without inserting a post-climax bit of storyline that would just confuse and irritate the audience, once the main antagonist has already been defeated.

  84. Zippy Wonderdog says:

    It might make sense if you look at it from a different perspective, maybe Peter Jackson really just wanted to play Call of Cthulhu.
    surely an avalance of skulls would’ve rated a SAN check in that.
    As for getting the sword so late in the game, I think it was ready beforehand but when they went to film the scene someone dropped it so they where like “oh crap, uh, lets shoot the scene and we’ll fix the sword later” :)

  85. James says:

    RE: Getting the sword late in the game, it’s all a part of Jackson’s transformation of Aragorn from “The Eager King-to-Be” to the “Reluctant King.” The shards of Narsil were extended in the movie from a subtle symbol of the fracturing of Dunedain power to being a direct symbol of not only fractured Dunedain power but also Aragorn’s all-too-human fear of failure as king, vis a vis his being able to handle Sauron and the One Ring.

    Thus, rather than being a Dunedain superman (as the Dunedain like Aragorn and their close blood relatives such as Boromir and Faramir were in the novel) audiences watched a reluctant, unsure Aragorn become more certain of himself and his power, and the weakness of the Enemy, through the movies. The reforging of Narsil at that point in the movie coincided with Aragorn’s growth, and presenting it to him at the time he did in the movie showed that Aragorn had become sure enough in his power, and his right as king, to go on toward his destiny.

    The Aragorn of the novels would have taken pity on the Aragorn of the movie much as Frodo in the movie took pity on Gollum…

  86. Cake says:

    Shamus, why in the world is there a link to this page on the top of this page? I know you tried to explain what it was, but I still don’t get it, please elaborate.

  87. Tsetut says:

    Anachronist says: Hey, has anyone else noticed that the Aragorn character has actually been trying to role-play more than usual, and Gimli less than usual? His comment “This is the first trap I've ever encountered that could be triggered by negotiations” indicates he was trying to get immersed in the game-world, but the silliness of this trap ejected him back into the meta-game world.

    I think Aragorn said that. I love the robust culture comment too, its priceless.

  88. James says:

    Tola (78) said:
    “They'd have had to shoot extra scenes showing how pitiful Saruman had become, then.(Which is the first sign that something was up.) Maybe Mr.Lee objected…”

    Actually, Christopher Lee is a huge fan of Tolkein’s books, and re-reads them annually. He also met Tolkein once.
    He always wanted the Scouring and the death of Saruman, and threw a great big (and very deserved) hissy fit when PJ didn’t include the death of Saruman in the theatrical version.

    I personally like the Scourging, but agree that it would make the third movie waaaaay too long and anti-climatic. I’d still like to see it shot, tho.

  89. Proteus says:

    That “jackpot!” scene was the dumbest, _dumbest_ addition to LOTR that Peter Jackson made. I’m glad you gave it the attention it deserved, Shamus. Your rendition made more sense — at least someone noticed how stupid it was.

    That said, it was about the only thing that Jackson added that I loathed. Unlike the first three chapters of “Star Wars”. ;)

    That said, you gonna do “Star Wars” next when this well runs dry? We want to see Dave play!

  90. Shamus says:

    Cake: On the front page, only the yellow box shows. You gotta click that link to come here and see the comic. This is so the front page isn’t filled with comics. The front page loads faster this way, it saves bandwidth, and makes the “other” parts of the site easier to read.

  91. CuChullain says:

    Has anyone else noticed that Legolas looks like death-warmed-over in panel 6?

    A little worrying for a member of a race that does not die and doesn’t sleep much.

    Another excellent strip btw, Shamus.

  92. Tola says:

    On Legolas:I…THINK the shot’s taken from another part. I feel sure I’ve seen it earlier in the comic(Helm’s Deep?).

  93. mortellan says:

    Wow I like a few other posters have never seen much less read about this scene before. Weird I -thought- I had watched all the Extended Editions.

  94. Tom says:

    HEY HO SILVER, AWWWWAAAAY!

  95. Alasseo says:

    Penny7b@81
    Actually, I believe that most of the time (in the films at least, been too long since i read the stories) a codpiece was all Conan wore. If you want, you could dignify it with the term “loincloth” though.
    That said, “Conan’s Codpiece is a great exclamation, and has been added to my collection of Conan related sayings…

  96. Woerlan says:

    Best trap’s still the one that was never intended to be a trap. Like the Garbage Chute of Death in one issue of Knights of the Dinner Table.

  97. damien walder says:

    97??? Holy Mother of Carpentry…
    Shamus, took some time off the web (A whole month) but this site was one of my first visits (Return of the Nerdling). Glad to find no “CEASE AND DESIST” letters posted.

    Something I’d like to share with the readers and yourself,
    besides the fcat that I had no knowledge of the effing waterfull o’skulls (“extended” version? extended just by a head, I should say) until you revealed it (and I mistook it for a digital sample from something like Goonies or Raiders of the Lost Ark, the genre to which it truly belongs. I don’t doubt PJ has had on his cork board the card with “rain of skulls”, or “river of bones” with a hundred tack holes it has gathered from rejection to rejection. Didn’t make “The Frighteners”? bump it along…
    Could have been better used in Kong, at the island, near the sacrificial site.

    Now, try any anagram server (I use the one at wordsmith.org, but they have limited bandwidth) and type (The) Lord of the Rings.

    I got some pretty funny coincidencal phrases, including “Nerdish Log Fort” and “Herd for Long Sit” – both of which ring true (heh!) in light of Tolkien subcultchah and the onerous task of watching longer versions of the films.

    Anyway, not to kill your server, I’ll check in but not leave comments. But you should know I love this comic and that the next coffee mug I buy will have a d20 on it.

    D Walder, Toronto, Canada
    (where are the rest of you typing from?)

  98. Jaja says:

    A litle something about conan’s codpiece…
    I distinctly remember Arnie wearing a striped one in one of his Conan movies…or was it in ‘Red Sonja”? Anyway, it was one of the funniest things I’d ever seen.

    Wonderful as always, Shamus – regretfully, though, I can’t get the mental image of Arnie in a red-and-gold striped coddy out of my head. Maybe I should picture..I dunno, Gimli maybe – instead.
    Or maybe not.

  99. marcus says:

    Have been keeping up to date with your comic every other day. Have been finding it dead funny. I like the way the plot appears random from the character’s point of veiw.
    Keep it up!
    p.s. as an Englishman I would like to know what “pony up” means?

    Regards
    Marcus

  100. Caius says:

    I never took the time to think about how odd it was to have a mountain of skulls tumble down on the characters during the movie, but now it does seem a bit over the top.

  101. Shamus says:

    Pony up = “pay for”.

  102. Librain says:

    Jaja, I find it helps to take the red and gold striped loincloth and imagine a girl wearing it. A tall, slender, blonde wearing nothing but a striped loincloth. Given the context, I suggest Legolass.

    Librain
    “I’m not arrogant, I really am that good.”

  103. Salen says:

    Awesome! Its the skull trap from the Extended version of the movie! I wonder if Aragorn’s saving throw he’s talking about would be a Constitution Save, or maybe a Will Save.

  104. Osric says:

    Oh I _was_ glad to see the way you handled this. Surely no scene in the whole movie trilogy can unite the fans’ opinions as much as this one.

    What did surprise me was that the GM was offended by the players’ reactions — the same reaction that all of us would have!

    In the early days (I found you on comic #6) it seemed like the GM was you, despairing of the players. As we’ve come along, and the players’ personalities have developed, it seems like the GM has too, and is now heading for being just as dysfunctional as the players are.

    … All except Gimli, whose player is me, and demonstrates exactly the way roleplaying should be done even in the midst of the carnage wrought by the twinks/munchkins/powergamers. :o)

    Cheers!
    –Os.

  105. Bagpuss says:

    reminds me of a certain trap in the Age of Worms Adventure Path, which used a similar number of iron balls, if the PCs were to collect them and sell them all the wealth actually worked out more than enough to retire from adventuring at about 4th level.

  106. Dennis says:

    A propos of nothing, I can’t wait for the future comic where the PC who plays Merry has a huge fight with the DM over the allocation of XP for killing the witch king among the Merry character and the Eowyn NPC.

  107. Marcus says:

    Thank you Shamus for translating “pony up” for me.

  108. Max says:

    BEST. COMIC. EVAR.

  109. Dave says:

    The sixth panel had me in stitches. I had to close the comic and I still laughed every time I though of it. Well done!

  110. Antiquated Tory says:

    Just echoing what so many others have said above. Every panel was gold in this one. And I’ll definitely use a few lines in my own gaming. ST vs ridiculous contrivances, indeed!

  111. ZachsMind says:

    “…first trap I’ve ever encountered that could be triggered by negotiations.”

    That just became my favorite eleven words clumped together.

  112. Jim P says:

    I don’t need to spring traps on my players, I just grab a DM book, a big pile of dice and thumb through the book laughing evily. Then I say I need more dice. It’s this point my players start paying attention more. Voila!

  113. Didub says:

    “This is the first trap I’ve ever encountered that could be triggered by negotiations

    I love it,

  114. Spektyr says:

    Maye they have another trap which just drops arms and legs.

    OMG I just about peed myself.

  115. Chris says:

    “Oops, Granny’s dead, let’s lop off her head and chuck it into the big bin to be dropped on adventurers”. Hilarious!

  116. OK, so, like, I wasn’t going to bother commenting on any of these strips, since they were all pretty much made about a year ago…

    … but then I came to this one. Now, I am the kind of person who can find something really funny, but actually laughing over it is not really my thing, not sure why. “Normal” comedy doesn’t really do it for me. I guess my sense of humour tends to lean more towards things that are just really really bizarre.

    The last time I actually LOL’d (I never use “LOL,” probably because I rarely actually do it) was when I was reading through the Resident Evil 4 official walkthrough out of boredom and came across this (muchly paraphrased by me) part: “You move into the center of the kitchen. Suddenly, an enemy bursts out of the roaster in the corner and lurches towards you. While on fire.” I dunno, that kind of thing just made me be all, WTF!? and just laugh for like five minutes on end. I mean, what kind of moron thinks to himself: “Oh, Leon is coming to kill us all! I think I will hide inside this roaster. … hum, it’s rather warm in here…” And that was just from, like, two sentences in a walkthrough written by a guy who apparently didn’t find it funny or even remotely strange that this guy just suddenly burst out of a roaster on fire.

    Anyway. That was sometime near the end of last year. After that, I didn’t really find anything to be actual LOL material. Until I read this strip. Seriously, I COULD NOT stop laughing throughout the whole thing. I’ve read most of the comments posted in all of the previous pages, and frequently people have mentioned laughing til their stomachs hurt or tears came out of their eyes, and I thought they were just exaggerating, cause that kind of thing just does not happen to me. UNTIL TODAY! My stomach literally started hurting cause of laughing so much, and I was starting to get tears in my eyes.

    So in summary: Congratulations, you’ve not only managed to make me actually post a comment, but you actually made the person who, like, never laughs, laugh uproariously. As my friend Tracy would say (whom I’ve sent the link of this comic to but warned her not to read until after her finals are over): You == WIN.

    *wanders off to re-read the strip and hopefully not wake up the entire household from laughing, although they already think I’m insane*

  117. Even a -1 total at “Save vs. ridiculous contrivances” with the average DC being 19 would still increase player survivability by what I imagine will prove to be the first statistically meaningful 110%. Except in my games, of course ;) . And being able to increase it would be worth Feats. Especially given the way I roll. (Let’s just say that I get a 20 on average every 5 times I roll. This is balanced out by 1 every 20 times and 2s-4s being statistical anomalies.)

  118. dyrnwyn says:

    they should include figurines of LOTR character in Captain Crunch

  119. Bagh33ra says:

    I would be laughing, except this is the first that I’ve heard of this scene. Apparently I’ve only seen the theatrical release, and never the extended version.

    I could have lived happily to the ends of my days, never knowing this scene ever existed in the movie.

    Thanks. :(

  120. Saoirse Young says:

    *is laughing so hard her family is once again questioning her sanity and wondering why she’s crying*

  121. Ciryandor says:

    I’m not as queasy about hating this scene as others would be; as it was just right that with the true king showing himself, none may force them to follow, my only rant about it would be that they could have just made the stone structures tumble. And they probably used skulls because it’s much more convenient to roll a few thousand eggs like marbles than model crumbling edifices w/ skeletons. Unfortunately it would not fit the theme either. Bah, the limits of computer technology.

  122. A Girl Named Jessie says:

    Too bad you didn’t throw Admiral Ackbar in the scene yelling out “It’s a trap!”…at least you used his line for the title.

  123. Leyomi the Parodier says:

    Perfect close-up of Legolas there.

  124. Merc369 says:

    XD I nearly pissed myself reading this! Great work!

  125. ComfyDenim says:

    “Captain crunch”
    Mwahahahahahahahahaha
    brilliant!!
    Simply Brilliant!

  126. silver Harloe says:

    I kind of assumed the skulls were the skulls of the undead dudes themselves. Why they’re falling? No clue. Something to do with them leaving the cave I guess. Weird.

  127. Toaadam says:

    Ha ha! This is the funniest comic of your series, Shamus!!

  128. Kelly says:

    Okay, so I’ve been reading this whole thing and having a good time, but this is the first page that I starting completely cracking up during, went back to read it a second time out loud to myself, and was laughing so hard I could barely say the words. Gimli’s comments about the “robust culture” and dropping Granny’s head on adventures is absolutely priceless! I just had to comment on this page, oh man.

  129. Glenn says:

    “I wonder how long it takes them to reset the trap”

    I thought the same thing in the sand-drained-spiral-staircase-trap scene in Indy IV…

  130. Mooseboy018 says:

    The funny thing is that Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Phillipa Boyens have a very similar conversation in the DVD commentary. lol

    Peter Jackson explained his theory about there being a specific room for each body part in the moment, and they just opened up the “skull room”. XP

    @Ciryandor
    They weren’t CG. The skulls were small models even in the wideshots.

  131. Chris Rivan says:

    Hee hee! “Bowl of Captain Crunch.” Oh God, my chest! Hee!

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