3 dec 2016: GobGod's choice

[Krulle]

preliminary permalink: http://www.goblinscomic.org/12032016

So, now that Fumbles and Minmax are taking over decision making in that group, what will happen?

It is my obsessive hope that from here on out, we get new Goblins pages every Friday. Let's do this.

[Perellion]

I was trying to start a related topic so i will use this one.

In the last comic they have explained a new rule in goblin's "elections" for chief...acording to that rule, the actual leader mark the new one in the right eye. And two pannels after that you can see the face of Minmax, with his right eye marked.

To me, it appears that Complains is going to be the new chief, at one point in the future he is going to die (maybe sacrificing himself to save the party like chief did, maybe to avoid turn completely into a demon) and, acording with the goblin god's choice, Minmax will heir the title...

Or am i overthinking?

[nikohl]

Well, maybe. Complains did give Minmax that mark, after all.

[Krulle]

But it was definitely not a mark of friendship or a mark of leadership.
It makes MM look like he does not know when to duck...

[Perellion]

First: I haven't read anywhere that the mark has to be of friendship.

Second: Give them time. If friendship or loyalty are needed i think they need to exist in the succession "ceremony".

[(^_^)]

Uhm... Is it just me, or "page corruption" is decreasing.

Also, clearly Fumbles is only thinking goblin in this group. If Teller can have visions hinting at who should be new Chief, they should decidewho amongst them would make worst Chief, then make that person into Teller and *then* try to figure out who 'to chief'.

[GazC]

"Thunt" danglies are back on the last panel.

[Krulle]

Likely an instance of visible time savers.
Copy'n'paste of the previous instance....


Or it hints at Thunt being the unholy one....

[0z79]

preliminary permalink: http://www.goblinscomic.org/12032016

So, now that Fumbles and Minmax are taking over decision making in that group, what will happen?

It is my obsessive hope that from here on out, we get new Goblins pages every Friday. Let's do this.

To Thunt: Good luck on the once-weekly thing! Please don't beat yourself up if you can't make that. I know this is just coming from a filthy car battery, but please understand that for every one of us that posts for you to take care, there's a least a dozen of us nodding along. Hopefully.

[SUGauthor]

My prediction, they make Big Ears the teller, he sees that Dies is the best choice for Chief (you know, because he is), and he's just far too lawful to not choose him, they have to go find Dies, finally connecting the Dies story to the main one.

[hypothetical]

I was trying to start a related topic so i will use this one.

In the last comic they have explained a new rule in goblin's "elections" for chief...acording to that rule, the actual leader mark the new one in the right eye. And two pannels after that you can see the face of Minmax, with his right eye marked.

To me, it appears that Complains is going to be the new chief, at one point in the future he is going to die (maybe sacrificing himself to save the party like chief did, maybe to avoid turn completely into a demon) and, acording with the goblin god's choice, Minmax will heir the title...

Or am i overthinking?

I was thinking exactly the same thing.

[Baphomet]

So I don't see "Lil-Minmax" in the room with holes. It also looks like the floor in the room we see it entering through the green barrier is purple, while the room we are shown from Minmax's perspective has a grey floor. Maybe the barrier brought the rock and Minmax to different rooms?

[Glemp]

Good catch - maybe the room's trap destroyed it? Presumably it's to do with the light shafts - always touch or never touch them. I guess Thac0 will be the first one through since he specialises in agility.

[Gift Fastidious]

I would think Thaco would be the best choice for teller? He's the oldest, which isn't good for a chief but seems fine enough for a fortune teller if we go by Young-and-Beutiful's example. If anything it's perfect for someone whose job it is to remind everyone about traditions. Plus I think monk just seems like a better class for a fortune teller than a paladain, mostly because I figure that those roles both come with a lot of responsibility and it could be too much to hold both.

Paladains seem like they need to be out on the front lines or even out doing random good deeds even when the rest of the group stays behind at camp. Tellers appear to be all about staying back to support the core of the group and constantly advise everyone. I could easily see someone feeling stretched thin trying to both journey about and also constantly help in managing the warcamp. That, and cleric/monk (or divination wizard/monk?) seems like a pretty solid multiclass combo that would let the party have another healer.

[Krulle]

My prediction, they make Big Ears the teller, he sees that Dies is the best choice for Chief (you know, because he is), and he's just far too lawful to not choose him, they have to go find Dies, finally connecting the Dies story to the main one.

I found your question on Twitter, and wanted to repeat it here:

@Thunt_Goblins Does Dies have to be there in order to be named Chief? If they saw him as the best choice, could they do it remotely?

That is an excellent question that I will let the comic answer.

You may be on to something.

[Hjerne]

The Thunt danglies do appear to be a cut and paste. kAnd Minmax's armor is now green. I don't remember but were we waiting for that because of a past Oblivious grab?

And although it has nothing to do with what is going on in the comic I hate when people draw doors that have a hinge side that comes up to a point. It is literally impossible to open and close such doors unless they lay flat against the outside of the wall. If they are like a standard door and in the space between the two walls then as you approach the pointed part the thickness of the door becomes wider than the width of the opening so that it can not be pivoted through the opening.

If the point is on the latch side it works just fine.

[Glemp]

MM said that there was a green wall (a big glowy one, specifically) in panel four, the one he explores. That triggered the armour shift. By the by, in the last panel you can see MM's head isn't outlined all the way around - is that a stylistic thing or a goof?

[Beeskee]

Clan of the Cryptic Fall - is this the first that we've heard their clan name?

[RocketScientist]

No, Chief said the clan name when he announced his titles to intimidate Kore.

Did I miss something where it said the old chief marks the new chief? Didn't Y&B tattoo the markings on Chief when she named him?

I think Dies would have made a good teller. The ability to see some of the future might let him relax somewhat. But I'm guessing that's not going to happen, since he's not there, and so far they don't know that he's still alive.

[Krulle]

MM said that there was a green wall (a big glowy one, specifically) in panel four, the one he explores. That triggered the armour shift. By the by, in the last panel you can see MM's head isn't outlined all the way around - is that a stylistic thing or a goof?

I think his head is only partially through the green force-field wall.... In some cases we do not see the wall touching his head/skin, but we see e.g. the chin a few centimeters before the wall, so there's no need to outline it that thickly there.
Doesn't look like a healthy neck-position, but artistry sometimes wins over the health of the characters.


"Clan of the Cryptic Fall" has been mentioned first on this page, like RocketScientist said.
Riss also mentions the clan to Dies Horribly in preparation for the chiefing ceremony.


[edit]got around to transcribe:

► Show Spoiler

Big Ears: Okay, so who's gonna be the new chief, and who's gonna be the new teller?
Complains of Names: Well Thaco should be the chief. After all, he was the GobGod's choice, originally.

Big Ears: And what does that mean?
Complains of Names: Oh, "GobGod" is just a quicker way to say Goblin God.
Big Ears: No, not that. Thaco wasn't chose as chief, Chief was. He was the son of Kills a Werebear, the greatest chief we ever had. He was the obvious chocie.

Complains of Names: Ears, the Teller had a vision, showing that making Thaco chief would divide the clan between those who want Thaco as chief, and those who want the son of our present chief. The divide would have eventually destroyed our clan. So she named the newly born youngling, Chief and declared him to be our divinely chosen leader.
Big Ears: So... Chief was never meant to lead us? The whole thing was a lie?

Complains of Names: Chief leading us, saved our clan.
Minmax: Uh... hey, you guys? There's a big, green, glowy wall over there.
Big Ears: No, a lie saved our clan!

Complains of Names: Okay fine! A lie saved our clan! Is that so bad?
Big Ears: No. It's just great! We might as well change our name from Clan of the Cryptic Fall, to Clan of the Big Fat Lie!
Fumbles (Senor Vorpal Kickass'o): So... Should we touch the wall? Complains? Thaco? Should we touch it? I think we should touch it.

Complains of Names: Whatever. I'm just saying that Thaco should be our new chief.
Thaco: Nope. I'm to old for now. Goblins live for about thirty winters and I'm twenty six winters old. I think we should follow by bloodline and make Complains the new chief.
Minmax: I'm gonna throw Lil-Minmax at it.
Fumbles (Senor Vorpal Kickass'o): Oh, good idea.

Complains of Names: Me? no, I can't. I broke our traditions, back at the warcamp and got labeled an "Empty Goblin", remember? I'm forbidden from holding a position of power.
Thaco: Okay, but I actually think that Chief was asking you to replace him.
Complains of Names: What? He never asked me that.

Thaco: Every monster chief has a mark of leadership over their right eye. I saw the way that Chief marked you.

Complains of Names: Come on, Thaco, that... wasn't a mark, it was.... His hand was bloody, that's all it was.

Thaco: And what if you're wrong, Complains.

Thaco: What if asking you to lead us, was the last thing he ever did?

-

original of panels 8,9

Having had to reread it all in detail, an observation and question arose:
All of the GAP-Goblins broke the traditions, by taking levels.
Aren't all of them considered to be "Empty Goblins" now?
It may well be that they need to elect Dies Horribly as the last remaining war-camp Goblin and non-adventurer as new chief of the Clan of the Cryptic Fall...

Now they need a teller (which is also a position of power, and therefore forbidden for the GAP-Goblins) just to see if Dies is still alive.

[/edit]

[SUGauthor]

Having had to reread it all in detail, an observation and question arose:
All of the GAP-Goblins broke the traditions, by taking levels.
Aren't all of them considered to be "Empty Goblins" now?
It may well be that they need to elect Dies Horribly as the last remaining war-camp Goblin and non-adventurer as new chief of the Clan of the Cryptic Fall...

Now they need a teller (which is also a position of power, and therefore forbidden for the GAP-Goblins) just to see if Dies is still alive.

Taking adventuring levels isn't against their laws, mainly because their laws were written in first edition and apparently it wasn't possible for them to take adventuring levels back then. They made a pretty big point of it at the time.

[Glemp]

On the next page after SUGauthor's link, we see the GAP together with Complains in front and centre. Seems like a pretty big hint.

[Krulle]

Breaking the laws and breaking the traditions are two different things.

Having broken the tradition can be enough to be seen as an "Empty Goblin" that'll be forgotten and no statue can ever be carved in their memory.

Chief's wording is:
"When you used our clan's treasure, you fought like an adventurer. And that means that when you eventually die, you'll be forgotten like an adventurer and no statue can ever be carved in your memory." (underlining by me)

All of the GAP-Goblins are fighting like an adventurer. They all are "Empty Goblins" now.
Chief's wording uses "rule", which is not necessarily "law", but just a tradition formulated as "rule".
There remains ambiguity here. We will likely know after one of the upcoming pages....


BTW: we finally have some minor wordings we can nitpick/discuss about.
Goblins are traditionally NOT like adventurers, and those who want to be, are seen as adventurers, just someone who's here, has a short-lived, limited impact on us all, and will immediately be forgotten when the next one comes along.


Edit: for more reading: Saves a Fox and Grem discuss Goblin Adventurers too:
http://www.goblinscomic.com/12212009/
http://www.goblinscomic.com/01042010/ (Grem: You stopped being a Goblin as soon as you started being like them. As soon as you start taking XP, you disrespect every Goblin who's been killed by an adventurer.)
http://www.goblinscomic.com/01112010/
(these pages are consecutive, you can use the comic's next/back button instead of clicking the links here)
Saves' father would disapprove if he knew, that's why Saves' does not keep any magical items.
She knows she's breaking with tradition. To save her people.

[Glemp]

I have a feeling the GAP are going to have an argument about this either soon or at the village, of tradition vs. progress. Given Thunt's views, I'm pretty sure progress will win if only through pragmatism.

[SUGauthor]

On the next page after SUGauthor's link, we see the GAP together with Complains in front and centre. Seems like a pretty big hint.

I really hope not, he's probably the worst choice for chief. He's super angry, and honestly kind of dumb, which is a really bad combination for leadership.