Home on the Strange: The Slap Dance Is Always Better When The GM's Crying

1102 The Slap Dance Is Always Better When The GM's Crying

Sponsored by John Cochrane

To Walter Alexander, the best DM ever.

The Script For Today's Comic!

#21:
The Slap Dance Is Always Better When The GM's Crying
(5 panels)

Panel 1:
(Same as earlier, with Seth leaning in greasily to look at Karla at the GM, while Karla responds, ignoring Tom. There are other people present, as always, including Tanner.)

SETH: " 'I should not be here,' he says. 'The kingdom… the war… but you have won mah heart, cherie. Come closer.' "

KARLA: " 'Oh, Jacque.' "

TOM: "…and that's when I walk in with a haddock!"

Panel 2:
(KARLA is too shocked to speak.)

SETH (stunned): "What?"

TOM: "Flapjack the mage smacks you with a haddock, then puts a clown nose on Seawind the enchantress. 'Ahoy, mateys!' he says. 'What's this? Romance? Yar yar hump hump!' "

Panel 3:

SETH (angrily): "You wouldn't even even be aware of this."

TOM: "Don't have to! I was just wandering the halls randomly." (Rolls dice) "And now I do the Dance of Joy!"

Panel 4:

SETH: "Prince Mannock guts you with his sword."

TOM: "He slaughters an innocent? In front of his true love?"

KARLA (angrily): "He's right. 'This is wrong, prince. Let me escort this wandering one home.' "

Panel 5:
(Close-up on Karla and Tom.)

KARLA: "Well played, but we're still going to talk about this when we get home."

TOM: "I told you I'd play Chaotic Neutral if this didn't stop." 21de

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Ferrett Says

…And so Tom gets his revenge. There have been those who’ve wondered whether Tom is bound to be eternally bested by Karla, and the answer is clearly “no.” Karla’s been up a few, but she’ll be down sometimes, too. So it goes.

The question of what a good relationship is comes into play, though; should happily married monogamous couples argue about this sort of thing? If it doesn’t lead to actual sex, and it happens in plain sight, is it really a problem? It’s the sort of thing where every couple has to draw the line for themselves, and part of Home on the Strange is exploring where – and how – that line gets drawn. There are some who’ve said that Karla should have given in instantly, but I’m not sure that would have been entirely healthy, either.

This comic is rife with references, so I figured I might as well clue you in:

“Flapjack the Mage” is an adventuring companion of mine – he was The Mage With One Hit Point in the worst roleplaying game I ever played in. (The story is one of my favorites, so I heartily encourage you to click the link.”
“Yar yar hump hump” is a World of Warcraft reference slipped to me by Eric Meyer, wherein a guy stumbled upon two people cybersexx0ring it up in a public place, and then decided to join in by pretending he was a horny pirate. Alas, the original link to the forum has been taken down, and I can find no mirror, so such things are lost. Lost in time… like tears in rain. (EDIT: Thanks to JFS for finding it: here it is. It's Yar's Revenge, baby!)
Lastly, the haddock beatings are a clear echo of the Monty Python fish-slapping sketch.

I’d also like to say a fond thanks to Brinkerhoff, our first advertiser, who we gave a month’s worth of advertising to – and a little more, ‘cause the guy was the first person to give us cash. We owe him for that, which is cool, and you should definitely check out his bunnies. I should add, of course, that if you’d like to advertise we currently get a little over 2,000 people showing up per comic, and of course you can always sponsor one to dedicate something to your sweetie.

We’re open to suggestions. And capitalism.