DM of the Rings XLIII:
Rail-Rodian

By Shamus Posted Friday Dec 22, 2006

Filed under: DM of the Rings 33 comments

Stubby. Frodo is a stupid name. I wish I was a Rodian.

When railroading players, ALWAYS have a backup plan in case they derail the plot. By tradition this backup plan is, “Put players back on rails.”

 


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33 thoughts on “DM of the Rings XLIII:
Rail-Rodian

  1. Carl the Bold says:

    He’s back! Shamus is back! It’s a Festivus Miracle!!!

  2. Crusader Corim says:

    Hooray rails!

    Maybe they’ll get a choice when they get to Rohan.

    Go with the Riders, or the Paths of the Dead?

    Just kidding, no choice, go on the Paths.

  3. theonlymegumegu says:

    Oh no, is the game totally screwed? Or is the DM cleverly hiding his thickly disguised plot? Did he expect Dave and his buddy to leave, knowing they’re total gits? Or does he not know what he’s doing? Till next time! BWAHAHAHAH!

    This comic is awesome.

  4. nigel says:

    finaly! i’ve been waiting forever!

  5. Will says:

    Great, so now you’re telling me everything from the Big Split to Floating Off into the West was just Tolkien winging it? I’m crushed. Truly crushed.

  6. bkw says:

    I’m wondering what you’re going to do about the Merry and Pippin thing. Or lack thereof, as the case may be …

  7. Kevin says:

    Whoo hoo! Another comic!

  8. Pixy Misa says:

    Yay! New server comic! ;)

  9. Pixy Misa says:

    Darn. Maybe this will work?

  10. Pixy Misa says:

    Okay then!

    Yay! New server comic! ;)

  11. ChristianTheDane says:

    Yay!

    I half expected them to say something about getting extra xp by doing sidequests or something :)

  12. MH says:

    I honestly thought this website was Shamu’s Young.

  13. Anyone Else having problems viewing the comics ?

  14. Pixy Misa says:

    What sort of problem are you having, Goblin?

  15. The pictures aren’t displaying, even if I right click, and do a “show picture”

    and the link in properties appears broken :(

    It seems to be the same for all of them now :(

  16. Jurrubin says:

    Hmm. I’m seeing all the pics just fine from the normal links as of this post’s timestamp.

  17. Oleyo says:

    I also do not see the comic image, though I see the title.

  18. Zuci says:

    Hey, if you are having issues viewing the comics, try using another browser, for some reson opera just refuses to see that last few, but IE works fine.. imagine that O_o

  19. haashaastaak says:

    I get the same result. Opera does not show me the pictures, but Firefox has no problem. I waited and waited and waited and waited… and then I forgot and then here it is: a late present. Just like the one Smeagol got; I feel thin and stretched already.

  20. Auroness says:

    Odd. I cannot see it in Firefox, but I can in Safari. But then again, I have almost gotten used to Mac seeing the internet differently.

  21. Parable says:

    I had been able to see the comics before but for some reason when coming on today i found they’re missing. I’m using Firefox and never had this problem before. Oh bother.

  22. Ahhh, Firefox I think Requires a PlugIn that sorts usual Image Issues

    However I’m using IE 7 and still cannot view the pictures…….

  23. Shamus says:

    I’m still working on this.

    To those of you who cannot see the images: Are you viewing them from the site, or the feed?

  24. haashaastaak says:

    The site. but for me it is firefox si and opera no on the images. running windows xp.

  25. Parable says:

    Wow, for absolutely no reason i can once again see the pictures. Woohoo!

  26. They’re BACK !!!! YEY !!!!

  27. Osric says:

    Gimli is the player after my heart.
    To the others, the ones who WANT to play Star Wars it’s “one of those green things” — Gimli even knows they’re called Rodians!

    Running gags like “Dave” (Err, you mean Frodo.) “Whatever” are great too. XLIII comics in and going from strength to strength! :-)

  28. Jim P says:

    I just found this photo comic today, I’m reading it from the beginning! I’ve been playing D&D since 1983 or so. Great stuff!

  29. ultimate rper says:

    seriously this dm is not smart

  30. Leyomi the Parodier says:

    This reminds me of whatever happens when I DM a campaign. Either I make a single mistake and everyone decides to quit(one of our other players is a seasoned DM himself, his standards are somewhat high), or I leave to go to th bathroom and it all goes to hell in an amusing way and everyone decides to quit in disgust at me and I spend the next half-hour sitting at the base of the hill watching the sunset trying to console myself and- okay, I’ll shut up now.

    But seriously, it’s almost funny when the players didn’t notice that they did exactly what you intended them too, and all you were really doing was seeing how well you could manipulate people. I am sometimes cruel and detached, I will admit.

  31. Leyomi the Parodier says:

    *Infodump!*

  32. Otters34 says:

    This is so late it scarcely matters, but I’m seriously amazed at how well-chosen the screen caps are. Gimli’s dour sideways look(s), perpetually silly-looking Aragorn, Legolas the spaz, grand work.

    Thanks for taking so much time and effort to put into this. That this scene was a grand, exciting end note to a movie turned into a glorious farce is the icing on the cake.

    “The rest of the party plans to head south and…uh…

    Do some other stuff.” To be fair, that was probably way more planning than they would have done on their own. Though speaking of the south makes me wonder how it would be to visit Harad…

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