Webcomics You Should Be Reading: “Full Frontal Nerdity!”
I admit it. No need to twist my arm behind my back and make me cry “Uncle! Uncle! Oh Uncle, why would you twist my arm like this? What have I ever done but love you!!!”…Ahem. I admit to you I am a nerd. A dweeb. A dorkus-milorkus. I have from time to time sat at a table with nothing more than a pile of books, dice, pencils, and Mountain Dew, all to play an evenings worth of Dungeons and Dragons. I have from time to time, fired up a video game system to bring death and destruction with linked Ions Cannons. I even admit that I know that Ion Cannons are primarily used to destroy shields in the X-Wing vs. Tie-Fighter series… so saying I would use them to bring death was a false statement. Nerdy enough? Thought so. My collective of FOMAFers… I return once again to tickle your faces, as I bring you another webcomic to toss into your web feeder gizmo-gadgets. I bring you “Full Frontal Nerdity”!
Born as a sister comic to the popular Nodwick series by Aaron Williams, Full Frontal Nerdity takes the “Gamers at a Table” concept to fruition. Updated every week, Aaron delivers a ton of yuck-yucks to those of us who have spent an evening or two under the thumb of a wicked DM. For those of you who don’t know what a DM is… you may want to wikipedia “Dungeons and Dragons”. Don’t worry, I’ll wait. Back? Good. You may have noticed that “Full Frontal Nerdity” doesn’t have an entry on said online encyclopedia… so, consider the history lesson here over. How about instead we open up the floor to the humor.
FFN places us (generally) at the table of three live (plus one webcam dude) gamers. The jokes generally stem from traditional things we nerdy-nerds tend to deal with. From the DM who invents problems and can’t out-think his players, to the players who simply swing their axe at any problem that comes to them. Aaron obviously knows his RPG jokes down pat. While certainly less accessible then some of my other picks, it didn’t take long to scour through the archives of FFN to determine I had to share it with you. There’s enough pop culture reference as well as ventures outside the gaming, that are too good to pass up. It also didn’t hurt that my fellow Unshaven Comic creator (and my roommate, and one of my best friends of 15+ years….) told me about it, and even helped pick the list of examples to share with you. What list you say?
You walk down the dimly lit corridor. You notice cobwebs flickering in the torch light, in every corner. The dungeon smells of sulfer, rotting meat, and Calvin Klein’s Obsession… And then from out of the darkness a horrible giant list of comics confronts you!!
Roll 2D20, and see if you make your will save before checking these out:
- It’s so true, is it not?
- Gasp! Nerds out on the town. Smart Nerds…..
- I don’t like Dragonball either, but this makes a point.
- 80’s cartoons bring a certain death with them.
- -10 to everyone’s CHA.
- I won’t let you down, gentle reader, a comic about boobs.
- Synchronicity
- Give me some money, I want this now.
The Breakdown:
Drama: Have you ever been in a game where the DM
is all super serious, and every time you tell the group that your
character is getting drunk and farting, he just looks at you with cold,
steely eyes… as if to imply you are somehow ruining the atmosphere?
Humor:
In that same game, have you ever tried to use your character’s horrible
flatulence in an attempt to smoke out the Orks hiding in the forrest
only to find out that the Orks are totally hot for you and your
horrible funk?
Continuity: And in that same game, does your DM
collect all the character sheets so you don’t accidently “lose” your
crappy level one half elf who took “Barding” on the skill tree instead
of “Perception” leading you to suck like vacuum whenever it’s time to
fight something?
Art: Simple, effective, but nothing special. Did I just break my joke string to critique the strip? Damn.
Archive:
D and D is on it’s 5th edition. Full Frontal Nerdity has been going on
since 2001, according to the date stamp on the first strip.
Updates:
Every new book day. If you get that reference, +4 to your INT. -3 to
your CHA if you call me out on making a comic book joke in an RPG
webcomic article.
Risk/Reward: So, this one time, I made this
dwarf with an INT of 7. On purpose. Every time the group gained XP and
hero points, I would up my STR or my DEX. Never my INT. I loved this
dwarf. Why? Because every opportunity I got, I would run at whatever
the DM set in front of us, and just start swinging my axe. Bone Dragon?
No problem. Stone Giant? The more the merrier. Destroyer? Bring him on!
It pissed the DM off so much she threatened to kill off my character
several hundred times, in a given quest. So, finally she put a huge
staircase in front of us. My dwarf charged ahead. The staircase ended
around a bend, and my dwarf fell to his doom. I told the DM when he got
to Dwarf heaven, he would simply run for the gates and swing his axe at
them. I was never asked to game with those people again.
So,
have it nerds… go forth into the woods with your heads held high as
you have completed another quest. For any who comment below, you will
be given 1000 XP.
I just had a nerdgasim. Sooooooo many memories came flooding back……….the preasure, oh god the shear nerd preasure!!!!!!!
I'm sorry Marc. This comic looks great and all, but I don't read any webcomics that don't have an RSS feed. The good news is that now I have a new article topic for my blog, "Webcomics That Should Have an RSS Feed." (if someone finds a feed for this, let me know, thx)
Man oh man this one is just awesome! I will be reading these for the rest of the day in hope of getting all caught up with the nerdy fun! I love this stuff! Just what I needed to lift my spirits today!
I played D&D back in 1974, when it was still being published as pamphlets! I was a hardcore role player in Junior High, to the point of preferring the "Empire of the Petal Throne" to D&D. Does anybody besides me remember "EPT" now? I even went to some Con in Geneva, WI and got James Ward to autograph my copy of "Metamorphosis Alpha!" That book as well as most of my other Role Playing Paraphernalia is just the stuff of memory now. This was a funny reminder of some of the most treasure moments of my youth. Thanks. ( I wish I had my copy of Metamorphosis Alpha. That was a cool game. But I was such a crappy DM! Oy.)I even wrote a comedy sketch about my role playing experiences for "The Johnny Strange Flashlight Players, 3D Radio Theater," oh my, nearly twenty years ago. I'll have to see if I can find that. It's certainly proof that I'm a King-Nerd.
"It's certainly proof that I'm a King-Nerd", No proof needed Russ ! ; )
Are you implying that anyone who posts comments to ComicMix is entitled to the honorary title, "King-Nerd"? Or just that I've provided enough proof already?
Technically speaking Russ, you said you were "A King-Nerd", not "THE King-Nerd". I suggest if indeed we want to all fight over who has the bragging rights to being "THE King-Nerd"… a contest be formed. Or we can just give it to Mark Waid right now.
Oh, I'm certainly not claiming the title of "King-Nerd" or "Nerd-King" is singular. There can be many nerd kings! The question is, how is the title of "King-Nerd" claimed or conferred? I think this is a subject that should be taken up by the Secretary of Geek Affairs, Wil Wheaton.http://www.paulandstorm.com/archives/geek-madness…
Yeah that's definitely a web comic I should be reading. Flippin' hilarious and appears to be SFW at the same time. Awesome. Oh, and while we're reminiscing, thank you for GM'ing something other than D&D. I still have the 2d20 I purchased specifically for playing Mutant Chronicles. And I still have no idea what MST is supposed to represent.
MST is Mystery Science Theater. Or MST3K, Mystery Science Theater 3000. Has anybody come up with a role playing module for Mystery Science? "We've got Movie Sign!"
Actually Russ, Kristo is asking about MST in Mutant Chronicles. In that RPG, MST stood for Mental Strength, or the capacity for one's character to withstand nerve gas, tests of willpower, or for use in certain magics.
Glad you liked this one to chief. All the strips that Aaron Williams works on (Nodwick, PS238) are all pretty fantastic. It's another crossing of multiple 'Geek Circles', roleplaying and webcomics.
I enjoyed this though I never really got a chance to role play. My character was cannon fodder, spent most of her time twiddling her thumbs in the tank and listening to two of her comrades have a pissing contest.
Most RPG games end up being pissing contests, sadly.
Sadly, this could be said for much of life.