First Encounters

Table Titans #1

by Scott R. Kurtz, Cory Casoni (Editor), Steve Hamaker (Illustrations)

The Winotaur, gaming's greatest prize, is up for grabs, and the Table Titans intend to win it! Join Val, Alan, Andrew, and newcomer Darby as they embark on adventures, both at and away from the table, in their quest for gaming glory. All that stands between the Titans and the Winotaur is a new Dungeon Master, a rival gaming group, and their own insecurities.

The world's mightiest adventurers just rolled initiative on their First Encounter! A terrible beast is plaguing the City of Haverford. Citizens are going missing nightly, the garrison is lost, and help is out of reach. Can the Table Titans put aside their pride to save the fictional town of Haverford-and in the process, their friendships?

Table Titans Volume 1: First Encounters collects the first year of the hit online comic from Eisner and Harvey Award winning cartoonist, Scott Kurtz. It is a spin-off of Kurtz's other webcomic, PvP. It chronicles their adventures of playing Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). D&D publisher, Wizards of the Coast, have partnered with Kurtz so that Table Titans can feature official D&D products.

Genres: Comics, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Humor, Graphic Novels Comics, Dungeons and Dragons, Gaming

80 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2015

About the author

Scott Kurtz has been self-publishing his comics to the world wide web since 1998. His work has been nominated for the Harvey Award and in 2006 won the prestigious Eisner Award for best digital comic.
He co-founded the new webcomics.com with his peers to help promote and develop the independent work of online cartoonists.
Mr. Kurtz lives in Dallas, TX with his wife Angela.
PvP is read globally by over 150,000 daily readers.

Reviews

[Chris Conley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this as a Christmas gift. Good call. It's exactly the sort of hilarious, absurd and generally goofy romp that I enjoy. Now, I have to wait for Volume 2. Well, I might need to break down and read the web comics, which likely won't stop me from eventually buying any physical version that gets released (Hello, Looking for Group).

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this graphic novel. Story is excellent and the artwork is stunning! A group of friends get together to play Dungeons and Dragons but the story also takes you into their game play and takes you along on their D&D quest! Looking forward to Volume 2.

[cauldronofevil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Are all new comics derived from web-comics now?

This copy appears to be signed by the artist.

I’m a fan of Knights of the Dinner Table from way back, so gaming humor is very familiar to me. That said, I don’t know the modern gaming humor has the same charm.

Oh, and the comic is huge - almost but not quite Treasury size.

A group of gamers gathers at a local game/bar/cafe to play an unnamed fantasy RPG (D&D). The group is competing for a prize trophy. Another group shows up - their rivals - the Dungeon Dogs. Trash talk ensues.

When it’s time to play, they find that their dungeon master is the worst. Then they gain a fourth player who is a complete newb.

The game proceeds half at the table and half drawn ‘in the world’.

The characters get to a town and after convincing the guards to let them in, they find that the villagers are about to make a blood sacrifice. The cleric thinks he can talk them out of it.

Attention yokels!

He becomes the sacrificial victim. Before they can be burned alive, the mayor throws them into jail.

At home the cleric suggests they quit playing the ‘Encounters’ and just play at home.

Next game the characters are taken out of jail to meet the mayor. The mayor says the town is. Being terrorized by a demon. Thanks to the over enthusiastic newbie they are charged with bringing the corpse of the demon to the mayor in exchange for their release.

There are definitely a few laffs to be had here.

They are given provisions and set out for the woods. They try to use food to bait the demon and are attacked by blink dogs. Defeating the dogs they take the carcass’s back to the town. They are greeted as heroes.

It definitely assumes you have some pretty deep knowledge of D&D. Blink Dogs and Cantrips aren’t very common.

The next morning they are all thrown in the dungeon as there has been another murder and they are all considered either the murderers or charlatans.

With the help of the blink dog puppy they found, they escape and are on their way out when they find a Displacer Beast attacking the mayor (Alistair).

The group has had all their weapons confiscated, so Caraway, the one-eyed soldier attacks the Displacer beast and is immediately wounded. With the help of the Blink dog pack they drive the Displacer away and the cleric heals Caraway. Confronting the mayor they see that he has made a deal with the Displacer long ago to save Caraway and himself if he later led others to the beast. Caraway has the mayor arrested.

The characters are given supplies and sent on their way.

That was actually pretty well done. It told the story of how D&D can become more competitive than it is worth (something that made me give it up in the 70s) and was a pretty clever scenario on its own.

Player Vs Player History tells about the four characters in the story and the web-comic they started in. Then we five pages of comic strips about the characters. Its actually pretty funny.

Table Titans in the Mines of Madness looks like the reprint of another story.

That’s chaotic effed-up, dude.

If you ask me, nothing’s as real as when you remember it.

The Table Titans Development is a sketchbook.

Tales from the Table is stories by players that were submitted to their web-site.

One, maybe two are amusing. The rest are the type of groany things that happen in badly run games. I think you can read the first story and skip the rest.

So this was much better than I expected it to be and much better than it had any right to be. I will likely donate it because while it is fun, I don’t think it will be worth multiple readings and two, the thing is HUGE and will not store well even among my ability.

But if you get a chance and this type of thing amuses you it’s definitely worth a read.

4 stars

[Angele Joubert-Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story was surprisingly well done! I haven't seen a story told quite like this. For people like me who are just barely scratching the surface of DnD, I felt like this was an extremely fun way to immerse myself in the genre while learning a few things. It felt relatable.

[Ben Stoutenburgh · Rating 4 out of 5]

:)

[April Funk · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it, and want to read the next books. But I do think that the story was a bit confusing. Lots of jumps, and I think it’d be easier to understand with more dialogue between the characters

[Jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great artwork. Enjoyable storyline. I look forward to catching up on the series.

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kurtz perfectly captures what a roleplaying game can feel like, while toying with the concepts of gamer cliches like the min-maxer, the roleplayer, the newbie, etc. Table Titans is part adventure story, part character development. Alan, Val, and the rest of the crew have their own hangups and problems, and there's a lot of subtext in certain scenes.. For example, there are hints of a larger story behind the animosity that Alan has with Kate, the leader of the rival "Dungeon Dogs" group. While real-life drama occurs, their D&D characters are embroiled in a mystery of their own, alongside traps, puzzles, and violent encounters. The result is a story that takes place in two different worlds: one where our protagonists are heroes, and the other where they are just everyday people.

Full review here at Geekundspiel.

[Ham · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've played D&D maybe four times in my life and mostly it consisted of making fun of my brothers. But this comic was so funny and endearing it made me wish I'd been more of a nerd growing up. (Who am I kidding, I was plenty nerdy, but I wish I would've embraced my inner dork.) Loved the art and the story. Might try to find myself a D&D group. Definitely will be following this series. Warning: It's got mild language and some blood. Not for little kids. I had to do some quick editing when reading it to my six-yr-old.

[Bmeyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book up at PAXSouth this year and I'm really glad I did. It's a delightful and absorbing comic that reflected almost every DnD group I've ever played in. I love the curvy and confident Val Bronzebottom most of all.

[Dayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good comic that displays the fun of roll playing.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I backed the Kickstarter of this after seeing the comic online. It's kind of odd buying something when it's available for free, but this is that good. Roll on Volume 2

[Drew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, funny, and engaging!

[Kat Schwan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super cute comic for those of us who LOVE to game.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good story. But kind of oversized and expensive, as short as it is. Interesting backstory and D&D anecdotes. But it doesn't seem worth the $20 price tag.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic read for those that love D&D or RPG's of any brand. Wonderful characters and there is so much here to be explored with these characters.

[Frederick Tan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Table titan tells the story of a trio of friends who are into D&D tabletop games. This book feature their adventure to a village Haverford. A so so plot and story. Average at best.