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The Order of the Stick #D
Snips, Snails, and Dragon Tales
After years of waiting, the Order of the Stick comics that first appeared in Dragon magazine have been collected in one volume! Follow the print adventures of Roy, Elan, Haley, Vaarsvuius, Durkon, and Belkar as they traverse a dangerous subterranean dungeon filled with swarms of puffins, breakfast cereal mascots, and one heavily templated snail. The then-monthly strip was filled with endless roleplaying hijinks (at least until it ended). But now you can enjoy every published strip, along with a whole book's worth of all-new goodies. Check it out:
* All 22 original The Order of the Stick strips that ran in the print version of Dragon® magazine from issue #338 (December 2005) to the last issue, #359 (September 2007).
* Author commentary on the experience of creating strips for the legendary gaming publication.
* 8 additional never-before-seen strips that were planned for future issues, before the magazine was canceled.
* Edition Wars: Invaders from the 4thEdition Dimension: After the events of the magazine comics, our heroes are attacked by their mirror duplicates from a brand new dimension! Can the Order defend their old way of life from these strangely balanced invaders?
* Stick Tales: As the Order sails toward the Western Continent, they tell stories to pass the time, including Elan and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hoodlum, and The Tragedy of Greenhilt, Prince of Denmark. Classic literature, ruined in the way that only The Order of the Stick can!
* The latest issue of the best-selling The Adventures of Julio Scoundrél comic book, “Julio Scoundrél and the Curse of the Mummy Queen!”
* Extra mini-stories and other stuff that we haven’t even mentioned yet!
* All 22 original The Order of the Stick strips that ran in the print version of Dragon® magazine from issue #338 (December 2005) to the last issue, #359 (September 2007).
* Author commentary on the experience of creating strips for the legendary gaming publication.
* 8 additional never-before-seen strips that were planned for future issues, before the magazine was canceled.
* Edition Wars: Invaders from the 4th
* Stick Tales: As the Order sails toward the Western Continent, they tell stories to pass the time, including Elan and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hoodlum, and The Tragedy of Greenhilt, Prince of Denmark. Classic literature, ruined in the way that only The Order of the Stick can!
* The latest issue of the best-selling The Adventures of Julio Scoundrél comic book, “Julio Scoundrél and the Curse of the Mummy Queen!”
* Extra mini-stories and other stuff that we haven’t even mentioned yet!
112 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2011
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227 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
December 16, 2024
Edition wars aren't always a bad thing. Would read a premise such as this more often, especially when it involves editions that we've moved on from - that are, as some would say, "obsolete" - so that nobody really cares anymore and they can be seen even-handedly.
I rather liked the Gygax magazine strips, too. It's nice to see some lower-level adventuring perspective with these guys.
The rest of the stories were, by Order of the Stick standards, so-so. Three stars, three and a half...
I rather liked the Gygax magazine strips, too. It's nice to see some lower-level adventuring perspective with these guys.
The rest of the stories were, by Order of the Stick standards, so-so. Three stars, three and a half...
August 19, 2011
A great addition to the Order of the Stick series. If you don't know what that is, don't read this book. This is niche book, and I'm rating it as such. If you do read the Order of the Stick, then it is on par with the rest of Rich Burlew's work, though it is strictly superfluous. As a book of random other things Burlew has worked on while writing his main story, it is very well done and follows interesting tangents. The promises to be all about humor and no main story line, and it delivers spot on. If you've read the other OotS books, read this one. If not, you have a different problem, and that's not reading Order of the Stick.
August 30, 2019
The book is very great.
August 24, 2012
A funny book, and I'm glad I read it, but it just doesn't hold up to the story-driven main series.
A number of short stories in comic form with no real connection fill this book. The Dragon magazine strips stand out for being more heavily about mechanics than the rest of them, but overall, everything is decently well written and funny. The standout for me was Roy's version of Hamlet at the end of the book - probably my favorite part, and definitely a great high note to end on.
A number of short stories in comic form with no real connection fill this book. The Dragon magazine strips stand out for being more heavily about mechanics than the rest of them, but overall, everything is decently well written and funny. The standout for me was Roy's version of Hamlet at the end of the book - probably my favorite part, and definitely a great high note to end on.
August 8, 2020
This, the third print-only collection of OOTS, contains non-canon and supplementary tales that don’t fit into the main OOTS story. While fun and amusing, it's not as driven as the main strip's storyline.
The core of the book consists of the entire print run of the alternate universe OOTS strips that appeared in Paizo’s Dragon magazine. These strips are a fun throwback to the format of the early online strip: a nondescript dungeon crawl in which Burlew riffs on game mechanics and lore. As explained in Burlew’s commentary, however, the fun was cut short when Wizards of the Coast ended Paizo’s license to publish Dragon, and the strip culminates in a touching sendoff to the storied gaming magazine.
In addition to the Dragon strips, we are treated to another non-canon story that, again, harkens back to Burlew’s early penchant for poking at the foibles of game mechanics. Here Burlew deals with the then-current update of D&D to 4th Edition and the conflict between proponents of the new system and the editions that came before. Since the online strip had long since launched itself into an epic fantasy campaign, Burlew did not want to bog it down with these types of jokes, so he sidelined them here. But this is no throwaway, as, much how the Dragon strips became a love letter to Dragon itself, this story turns into a love letter to all of tabletop gaming. Underneath all the jokes, Burlew has a deep love for the pastime which he only wishes to spread to more people, and to be sure, it’s not often that I can read any of his comics without wanting to do some gaming myself.
Finally, we have what may be the only portion of the book that can be considered in-canon with the main online strip, as it appears to take place while the OOTS party is at sea approaching the Western Continent, between main books 4 and 5. Though even here, that is only a framework for the stories within the story that the party members tell each other to pass the time. It’s almost like Burlew’s take on the tale-within-a-tale telling in some of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman arcs, such as World’s End. They are clever and entertaining, but, like the rest of the book, ultimately ancillary to the main storyline.
The core of the book consists of the entire print run of the alternate universe OOTS strips that appeared in Paizo’s Dragon magazine. These strips are a fun throwback to the format of the early online strip: a nondescript dungeon crawl in which Burlew riffs on game mechanics and lore. As explained in Burlew’s commentary, however, the fun was cut short when Wizards of the Coast ended Paizo’s license to publish Dragon, and the strip culminates in a touching sendoff to the storied gaming magazine.
In addition to the Dragon strips, we are treated to another non-canon story that, again, harkens back to Burlew’s early penchant for poking at the foibles of game mechanics. Here Burlew deals with the then-current update of D&D to 4th Edition and the conflict between proponents of the new system and the editions that came before. Since the online strip had long since launched itself into an epic fantasy campaign, Burlew did not want to bog it down with these types of jokes, so he sidelined them here. But this is no throwaway, as, much how the Dragon strips became a love letter to Dragon itself, this story turns into a love letter to all of tabletop gaming. Underneath all the jokes, Burlew has a deep love for the pastime which he only wishes to spread to more people, and to be sure, it’s not often that I can read any of his comics without wanting to do some gaming myself.
Finally, we have what may be the only portion of the book that can be considered in-canon with the main online strip, as it appears to take place while the OOTS party is at sea approaching the Western Continent, between main books 4 and 5. Though even here, that is only a framework for the stories within the story that the party members tell each other to pass the time. It’s almost like Burlew’s take on the tale-within-a-tale telling in some of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman arcs, such as World’s End. They are clever and entertaining, but, like the rest of the book, ultimately ancillary to the main storyline.
August 25, 2019
A side quest (kinda) for OotS fans -- a hodge-podge of strips & stories, which is going to be the most fun for Order of the Stick fans. If you don't know the characters, but have some knowledge of D&D, you'll still have some fun. There are Burlew's strips he did for Dragon magazine, plus some standalone stories. My favorite bit is Stick Tales, in which the characters retell very familiar stories -- we get re-workings of Jack & the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, Goldfinger/Bond flicks in general, and Hamlet.
June 1, 2019
This book contains the original Order of the Stick panels published in Dragon magazine, as well as a section in which the characters are impressed upon to switch to the 4th edition rules, and some fun stories at the end. It does not provide any valuable additions to the main story line, or offer much character development, but it is still great fun!
July 8, 2019
So this is definitely not for people who aren't The Order of the Stick fans. Nothing in this volume relates to the main story, and really are just fun things Burlew wanted to do and get paid for it, not including the strips he did for Dragon magazine. I have no problem with that though! The extra stuff is so fun. I'm happy to finally add this volume to my collection.
June 15, 2018
Liked this one. It's an homage to all these great literary tales and plays. Most of them really fit the characters. Hope there's more of these kinds of tales!
April 6, 2019
Fun little collection of Order of the Stick comics. Especially loved the fairy tales and retelling of Hamlet.
March 21, 2017
A nice OOTS book if you are an OOTS fan. Otherwise, not remarkable.
The book is composed of a lot of independent story, in and out of canon, such as "what if the OOTS met their 4th edition D&D counterparts?".
The stories are nice if you already know the characters and the world. But if you aren't invested in the OOTS, it would probably be better to read the online comic first.
The book is composed of a lot of independent story, in and out of canon, such as "what if the OOTS met their 4th edition D&D counterparts?".
The stories are nice if you already know the characters and the world. But if you aren't invested in the OOTS, it would probably be better to read the online comic first.
May 5, 2012
Snips, Snails, and Dragon Tales collects various Order of the Stick Material not related to the main strip / story. It stands completely alone and doesn't affect events in the rest of the OotS collections. This is the third "print-only" OotS book, featuring material not available on the website.
As with the other print-only collections, this trade is in greyscale due to cost concerns (except for 2) below, which were from a color magazine and have been reproduced that way).
It contains:
1) Julio Scoundrel and the Curse of the Mummy Queen: A seven page story featuring Julio Scoundrel, presented as an issue of a comic book, complete with mock-up letters page.
2) The Magazine Strips: All strips written for Dragon magazine, including some that were previously unpublished. Reprinting these was the author's original motivating factor behind this collection.
3) Edition Wars: Our OotS team (based off of D&D 3.5 ed. rules) faces off with their counterparts derived from D&D 4th ed. rules.
4) Stick Tales: Retellings of classic fairy tales, OotS style.
As the descriptions above likely convey, this collection is focused squarely on the comedy. Your enjoyment will stem from the appeal of these ideas. I found it all entertaining, but nothing mind boggling. I expect those more familiar with D&D and the rule variations between editions will enjoy 3) more (although I did like it).
All in all an amusing enough collection and worth a read, but I'd only call it a must buy for completists or die hard D&D players.
As with the other print-only collections, this trade is in greyscale due to cost concerns (except for 2) below, which were from a color magazine and have been reproduced that way).
It contains:
1) Julio Scoundrel and the Curse of the Mummy Queen: A seven page story featuring Julio Scoundrel, presented as an issue of a comic book, complete with mock-up letters page.
2) The Magazine Strips: All strips written for Dragon magazine, including some that were previously unpublished. Reprinting these was the author's original motivating factor behind this collection.
3) Edition Wars: Our OotS team (based off of D&D 3.5 ed. rules) faces off with their counterparts derived from D&D 4th ed. rules.
4) Stick Tales: Retellings of classic fairy tales, OotS style.
As the descriptions above likely convey, this collection is focused squarely on the comedy. Your enjoyment will stem from the appeal of these ideas. I found it all entertaining, but nothing mind boggling. I expect those more familiar with D&D and the rule variations between editions will enjoy 3) more (although I did like it).
All in all an amusing enough collection and worth a read, but I'd only call it a must buy for completists or die hard D&D players.
July 30, 2013
Julio Scoundrel. A nice enough story, and occasionally funny, but not really what I'm reading an Order of the Stick comic for [6/10].
The Dragon Strips. Rich correctly susses out that we've bought this book for the Dragon strips. They remain amusing, and the eight new ones fit right in with the style and "storyline". The last couple of strips, remembering an awesome magazine that WotC decided to gut, are still great [7/10].
4e. The 4e strips were unfortunately not as funny as I'd hoped. It's mostly a long fight with occasional jabs at the game system. The black & white artwork is also quite muddy [5/10].
Fables. I had very low expectations for these, which seemed even more like filler than the Scoundrel and 4e sections …
Elan and the Beanstalk. … and then this first one was hilarious, in part because of its funny reflections on the OotS characters, and in part because of the way everyone is constantly interrupting and reshaping the story [8/10].
Red Riding Hood & Golden Eye. More what I expected from the fables. These are kinda "bleh". Sorta funny, but sorta dull -- and sadly no interruptions.
The Tragedy of Greenhilt, Prince of Denmark. But this last one is another hit, a palpable hit. The satire of the play itself is funny, but the references to the characters and to D&D bring it up to the next level. Again, very funny [8/10].
Overall, a worthwhile book, mainly on the strength of the Dragon comics, The Beanstalk, and Hamlet.
The Dragon Strips. Rich correctly susses out that we've bought this book for the Dragon strips. They remain amusing, and the eight new ones fit right in with the style and "storyline". The last couple of strips, remembering an awesome magazine that WotC decided to gut, are still great [7/10].
4e. The 4e strips were unfortunately not as funny as I'd hoped. It's mostly a long fight with occasional jabs at the game system. The black & white artwork is also quite muddy [5/10].
Fables. I had very low expectations for these, which seemed even more like filler than the Scoundrel and 4e sections …
Elan and the Beanstalk. … and then this first one was hilarious, in part because of its funny reflections on the OotS characters, and in part because of the way everyone is constantly interrupting and reshaping the story [8/10].
Red Riding Hood & Golden Eye. More what I expected from the fables. These are kinda "bleh". Sorta funny, but sorta dull -- and sadly no interruptions.
The Tragedy of Greenhilt, Prince of Denmark. But this last one is another hit, a palpable hit. The satire of the play itself is funny, but the references to the characters and to D&D bring it up to the next level. Again, very funny [8/10].
Overall, a worthwhile book, mainly on the strength of the Dragon comics, The Beanstalk, and Hamlet.
November 12, 2011
Snips, Snails, and Dragon Tales collects together Order of the Stick strips that are not connected to the storyline of the online web comic. It includes the complete run of strips from the back of Dragon magazine as well as a number of new strips - a series of strips detailing the Order's encounters with their 4th edition counterparts and a series of fractured fairy tales with the Order's members as the main characters making up the bulk of the collection. Overall, a very funny collection - the strips from the Dragon and the 3rd vs 4th edition strips in particular had me rolling with laughter. As entertaining as the main storyline of the OOTS is, its clear that humor takes a back seat to the story. In the strips collected here, Rich Burlew is focusing on humor, and doing an excellent job.
October 28, 2014
This is an Order of the Stick book, but not in standard continuity. The heart of it is the 22 strips that he did for Dragon magazine, which had little internal continuity, owing to the new reader problem -- except for the last three, which are a lament on the magazine's death. (One appears in the original form for the first time; the Wizards of the Coast disapproved of it.)
So, he added more filler. A Julio Scoundrel tale. Some bonus strips for the Dragon ones -- and a segue into a tale where they meet up with their 4th edition counterparts. (His most requested story line. After all, the first Order of the Stick comic was about characters undergoing a transformation to 3.5.) And when they trade stories, they are amusing in both what they choose to fracture beyond recognition and how they do it.
Lots of humor. Plus Burlew's accounts of writing stuff.
So, he added more filler. A Julio Scoundrel tale. Some bonus strips for the Dragon ones -- and a segue into a tale where they meet up with their 4th edition counterparts. (His most requested story line. After all, the first Order of the Stick comic was about characters undergoing a transformation to 3.5.) And when they trade stories, they are amusing in both what they choose to fracture beyond recognition and how they do it.
Lots of humor. Plus Burlew's accounts of writing stuff.
June 14, 2012
While jokes about game mechanics have always been a part of The Order of the Stick webcomic, the author has always done a good job of finding a balance in the ongoing series. Jokes are just as likely to be made about the personality traits of the main characters or the ongoing plotline as they are to be made about system mechanics.
This book is not as balanced. Half of the book is based on game mechanics jokes, either as the collected one page one off strips that appeared in Dragon magazine or the "edition war" short story. The Stick Tales section is a little closer to the usual strip, but even then it feels like it's leaning too heavily on game mechanics jokes.
Over all, I liked it well enough, but I like the story collections better.
This book is not as balanced. Half of the book is based on game mechanics jokes, either as the collected one page one off strips that appeared in Dragon magazine or the "edition war" short story. The Stick Tales section is a little closer to the usual strip, but even then it feels like it's leaning too heavily on game mechanics jokes.
Over all, I liked it well enough, but I like the story collections better.
July 29, 2016
Snips, Snails, and Dragon Tails is more a curiosity than anything else. It collects all of the comics written for Dragon magazine before its demise, and like the previous two collections, nothing in those strips is required to understand the ongoing story in the Webcomic. Since there were only 30 of those strips, he padded out the rest of the book with some one-shot stories, one-page gag strips, and other content that don't really belong in the OotS canon. I liked a good bit of it, but what makes the Webcomic shine is his ongoing story, and the content in this book isn't really a part of it. Like On the Origin of PCs, I feel like this book is really aimed toward folks who can't get enough of the series (though his final strip for Dragon was kind-hearted and poignant).
August 24, 2011
Entertaining, but really for diehards and completionists, the strips in this book fall more-or-less completely outside of the main web storyline. Four main parts: (1) an adventure comic book form story, (2) the collected strips from Dragon magazine, (3) an encounter between the 3.5 rules party from the strips and an alternate universe/dimension 4.0 rules party (probably the best part of the book), and (4) a retelling of some classic stories with the characters.
August 27, 2012
If you're not a fan of the OOTS webcomic, you should skip this. If you are, then this has a lot of good stuff. There is a collection of comics from Dragon Magazine that I hadn't seen before, and a few classic stories redone OOTS style, including fairy tales, Hamlet, and James Bond. There were a few laugh out loud funny moments, and I enjoyed reading it, but this isn't as good as some of Burlew's other work and most of the jokes are inside jokes to gamers.
April 15, 2013
This is a collection of "other" OOTS stories from several different sources. While I love the other OOTS books, i really struggled to even finish this one. None of these stories fit into the continuity of the regular strip, so it can be skipped. I really only recommend this to die hard fans or collectors.
August 6, 2011
A hilarious collection of the standalone strips that appeared in Dragon Magazine along with other new material to fill out the book.
The "Edition War" story was pretty funny, but I think the best strips are in the Stick Tales section.
Heck, they're all good.
The "Edition War" story was pretty funny, but I think the best strips are in the Stick Tales section.
Heck, they're all good.
January 12, 2014
I finally got my hands on this book! Burlew never fails to disappoint; I'm not sure how he manages to keep up such a high jokes-per-page density. I know next to nothing about D&D and still found the section criticizing 4E amusing. StickTales is excellent.
June 10, 2022
Retroactive Review (10 Jun 2022): Collecting the previously exclusive stories written for Dragon Magazine, this book also includes several additional stories that were mostly amusing (I did think Burlew's parodying of 4th Edition D&D was a bit silly and uncreative, though).
January 6, 2015
Some of the strips from Dragon magazine were underwhelming, and the Julio Scoundrel story was just ok, but I really liked the re-told fairy tales (and Shakespeare). The 4th edition crossover was pretty fun as well.
August 14, 2011
Good, mostly for completists, though.
September 1, 2011
I don't think you'd appreciate this much if you aren't already a fan of the Order of the Stick, but if you are, it's super-fun.
August 28, 2011
Always clever, but I prefer the bigger storyline.
September 13, 2011
Fun book that contains the comics from Dragon, and some bonus comics. The retelling of Hamlet was well done.
September 24, 2011
A very quick amusing read - collects all the Dragon Magazine strips, and then adds a bunch of really funny material as well. Worth it for the die-hard OoTS fan.
October 22, 2011
I had to read a page at a time just to savor it. I laughed out loud a lot at the last story. Genre, spanning, self-aware, intelligent, exciting, etc.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews