"DM of the Rings" - Parts I to XXVI (eh?!) Quiz

Answer: Mechwarrior

The players of "DM of the Rings" are assumed not to know what Lord of the Rings is, and the DM either wrote the adventure himself or just trying to run the characters through this epic adventure. Unfortunately, he's so bent on having things go the way he planned, that he doesn't allow the characters to do ANYTHING that doesn't fit the rigid story.

In fact, the whole point in "DM of the Rings" is to point out how terrible the game becomes (both to the players and the DM) when there's zero room for creativity.

Answer: A woman

Aragorn leads a running gag where Legolas is actually a chick, based on his ambivalently-sexual character portrait. In fact, this leads Legolas to challenge Aragorn to a duel on their very first meeting. Despite the fact that the Dungeon Master is trying to lead a rigid "Lord of the Rings" adventure, it's events like this that make the comic so much fun.

Answer: Gimli

Gimli brings his long-time roleplaying experience to the game, and tries to stay in Dwarf character. Of course, that is exceptionally difficult to do, considering the fact that none of the other players stay in-character for more than two seconds (and that's only when the DM shouts at them to stop breaking characters).

Answer: True

Shamus Young (the writer) comments that "Holy Grail" quotations are the number one killer of suspense and ambience. They're extremely hard to avoid though, especially in a setting so full of clichés as "Lord of the Rings". Of course, "LOTR" is the masterpiece that CREATED all of those clichés in the first place, but the way this game is played out, it's hard to blame the characters for not taking things too seriously.

Answer: Upgrading to PHP 5.0.

Again, players who stay in-character are exceptionally rare during the campaign. In fact, there's scarcely a single episode in the entire comic where the characters do not do something which is completely stupid or out-of-character. This is what makes it so funny! It actually keeps getting better and better, as the players become more and more frustrated with the game.

Answer: Build a giant tree-trunk ram.

The players seem to be going out of their way to avoid solving the riddle of the door (all of the possible answers were things they actually tried!). In the end, they make a severely complicated plan to build a massive ram and break the door with it. Once the DM realizes that they're not going to go the way he wants them to, he has Gandalf scream the answer at them, completely dues-ex-machina. Of course, the riddle of the Gates of Moria may not be the easiest to solve, but they don't even TRY. Not once.

Answer: Gimli

After thoroughly searching Balin's crypt chamber, the players decide that there must be some loot buried inside Balin's tomb. The obvious idea would be to smash into it and grab whatever is there, and who better for the job than Balin's nephew (?!), Gimli. His repetitive hacking at the stone tomb summons the Goblins from the depths.

Answer: Flip off the Orc Chieftain without provoking an attack-of-opportunity.

And it worked! He totally flipped him off. That's the kind of scenario you can expect from "DM of the Rings". See, as the Dungeon Master leads his unwitting characters deeper into the story (or rather, drags them along like excess baggage), they tend to burst into bouts of time-wasting activities to alleviate the immense boredom that one would expect when playing such a linear campaign.

At some point later in the story, someone will comment that it's like watching a movie, not playing a game. Still, it's one hilarious movie!

Answer: The Bunch of Guys of the Ring

You can't expect a lot of creativity from the members of the Fellowship (Errr, I mean, the "Bunch of Guys"). They're not even expected to be creative in this campaign at all, only to gape with awe at the Dungeon Master's divine storytelling skills (* SNOOOORE *). Of course it also means that they're going to come up with the most ridiculous suggestions to turn the story from an epic tale of fantasy and magic into... well... the Bunch of Guys of the Ring!

Answer: +2 to Awesome

Gandalf is like scenery here - a stage prop that makes lots of light and noise when you pull his string. His constant "meddling" makes him quite resented in the eyes of the Fellowship members, who believe that he's only stealing their Experience Points. When the guys reach the Balrog of Moria, they're almost glad to abandon Gandalf and leave him to burn. Ok, they're very glad