A very funny prequel to the main plot of OoTS, starring everyone's favorite adventuring group. My favorite bits are the Durkon backstory, of course, because dwarves (and especially dwarven clerics) rock. :D Nice introductions to everyone, with judicious decisions made about who gets lengthy explanations and who doesn't. If you want to know why Belkar is a maniac, you won't find out here, but if you want to know about Roy's family issues, this is the place to see it. ( )

(Alistair) Do you follow The Order of the Stick?

Well, you probably should, if you possess any combination of the following: a) an interest in role-playing games; b) an appreciation for good webcomics; or c) a functional sense of humor. Otherwise, you're missing out on a lot of great entertainment.

But this is not supposed to be a puff piece for the webcomic itself; it's supposed to be a review of the second OOtS book - in universe-internal order - On the Origin of PCs. Yes, even though it's Volume 0, like it says on the right, it's the second. Start of Darkness, which relates the origins of the NPCs (for which, in this context, non-gamers, read antagonists) in much the same way this one does the PCs (you guessed it, protagonists), is Volume -1. This quirky and possibly retrofitted volume-numbering scheme is perhaps the one quibble I have ever heard regarding these books, except possibly that the virulently anti-pun may groan excessively upon discovering that all the titles in this series are dreadful puns on existing well-known book titles.

But those trivia aside, unabashedly positive review. It's a great webcomic. This is a great addition - did I mention that all the content is new, not-seen-on-the-web material? Well, I did now. - to a great webcomic. If you haven't read it on-line yet, go and read it now, so that you know the characters well enough to enjoy this book. Then run, do not walk, to your local gaming store, bookstore, or web browser - use the link in this post, of a kindness - and buy a copy. Read it. Delight in Redcloak's preface. Enjoy the new material in glorious grayscale "Past-O-Vision". Then go and immediately buy all the other books. It's that good.
( http://weblog.siliconcerebrate.com/cerebrate/2008/09/on_the_origin_of_pcs_rich_b... )

(Amy) It is an odd thing to read a prequel for a book one has not itself read, of a webcomic of which one has read fewer than a dozen strips, based on a game one has never played...

...and enjoy it wholeheartedly with nary a second's hesitation. I'm not sure if that speaks more to my personal geek cred or to the universal appeal of this comic; probably somewhere in between, really. But I loved it, and look forward to acquiring more of the collections, and perhaps even (*gasp*) reading the webcomic, though lord knows I don't need any more of those to follow on a daily basis...
( http://weblog.siliconcerebrate.com/zenos-library/2008/10/the_order_of_the_stick_... ) ( )

Rich Burlew's OOTS is one of the best internet comics. It's deceptively simple-looking art disguises a great humorist and great story-lines. Although you do need to know something about role-playing, and the more you know about Dungeons and Dragons in particular, the more you will enjoy the comic.

On the Origin of Species is the story of how the Order became a adventuring party. The strips have not been (and will not be) published in internet. The short stories themselves are not as funny as the webcomic, but if you enjoy OOTS a lot, you will find this album very much worth your while. ( )

http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript

http://paizo.com/store/byCompany/g/giantInThePlaygroundGames ( )