I need to stall for time until I actually finish reading a book, so let me quickly tell you about The Order of the Stick. This brilliant Web comic, also affectionately known as OotS, pokes gentle fun at role playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons. Though you’ll get more of the jokes if you know a little bit about D&D, it’s still very funny, compelling and thoroughly endearing even if you don’t.
The strip is drawn using cutesy, colourful stick-figures – a conscious design choice by its creator, Rich Burlew, as opposed to a lack of skill like other entertaining-but-crudely-drawn Web comics (*ahem* xkcd *ahem*) – and tells the story of a band of adventurers on a quest to thwart the evil plans of Xykon the Lich and his goblin minions. Along the way, they also cross paths with “NPC’s” or “Non-player characters” in the vernacular, the odd monster, and even a kind-of bizzaro anti-Order called “The Linear Guild”.
Although the comic is coming up on 6 years old at the end of September, now’s the perfect time to jump in because the previous story arc has just concluded, and a new one begun with 673 (you can catch up the other 672 later!) Check it out, or else you’ll be missing out on one of the best Web comics ever.