RPG World
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| RPG World | |
|---|---|
 The cover to RPG World - The Comic That's in a Video Game, Volume 1: Unlikely Hero Out for Adventure is a parody of Final Fantasy VII's US cover. |
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| Author(s) | Ian Jones-Quartey |
| Website | http://www.rpgworldcomic.com/ |
| Update schedule | Indefinite Hiatus |
| Launch date | 2000 August 27 [1] |
| Genre | Fantasy |
RPG World is a webcomic by Ian Jones-Quartey (a.k.a. Ian J.) that takes place in the environment of a computer role-playing game (RPG). While much of the humor and story-telling focuses on parody of console role-playing game clichés and tropes (mostly about the Final Fantasy series, particularly VII) the story is also meant to stand on its own. The comic is drawn in an idiosyncratic manga-influenced style.
Most of the story, characters and jokes are based on clichés in the console RPG and anime genres. For example, the main character, Hero, has large, blond, spiky hair; amnesia; and wields an oversized sword—traits that are shared with that most preeminent of RPG protagonists, Final Fantasy VII's Cloud Strife. The other characters fit into similar molds. The villains, too, fit a number of archetypes, such as the huge and faceless corporation, the insane and effeminate individual, and the enigmatic man. Other clichés include the tendency of every major character (and often minor ones as well) to have some sort of buried history with one another.
RPG World chapters are called disks, as if it were a multiple-disk game. After every disk is over, Jones-Quartey takes a break by making Jim. The Guy Who Plays RPG World comics. They poke fun at the stereotypes about gamers, i.e. Jim is a slob with a bias for Sony products, who has only one friend, who makes fun of him.
In July 2004, updates became sporadic, culminating in the author declaring RPG World on indefinite hiatus on August 16, 2005.
As of October 2006, there have been no updates from Ian since the declared hiatus started. Ian has said that he will start updating again once he has more time for the comic so that he might end the series properly.
Contents |
[edit] Story
While much of the plot revolves around the group wandering around completing various side-quests, slaying all sorts of monsters, and just generally doing what rag-tag groups of adventurers with unclear goals and good hearts do, there does seem to be some sort of main story behind it all. From what we know at this point, it appears every 1000 years three souls rise that have the power to change the balance between the races: humans, monsters and elves. Last time this happened, the humans won, and so for the last 1000 years humans have had the most influence in the world, while elves and monsters have been in the minority. However, the 1000 years of the reign of the humans are about to end at the Dark Moon, and so once again all sides are striving for domination. Victory in this struggle seems to depend on who possesses the most of 4 mystical keys, and on the three aforementioned souls, which, this time around, happen to be Hero (Human, the main part of the trio), Cherry (Elf), and Diane (Monster), who together form the "Mark of Destiny". Of the 4 keys, the only 2 that are known at this point are the Phoenix Book, which is in the possession of Galgarion, and the Tiger Book, which is currently in the possession of Jeff. The Tiger Book seems to be mostly about military tactics and other plain things of that sort, while the Phoenix Book is more about how to take over the world. It was this book that was apparently the cause for Galgarion's desertion of SEVIL's Special Unit. Both Hero and Galgarion were originally part of this army, both had all their memories wiped clean so that they could destroy their enemies "with extreme prejudice", and both left after the mission in which they were sent to retrieve the Phoenix Book. The book was successfully retrieved, but Galgarion became fascinated by its contents and fled with it, and Hero soon left SEVIL as well. Based on knowledge he found in the Phoenix Book, Galgarion built the Anima Del Breaker, a machine he apparently hopes to use to steal the souls of the three members of the Mark of Destiny. Supposedly, not only can the balance between the races be shifted by such means, but so can the balance between light and darkness. SouthCorp and Galgarion have been working together to use this in order to turn the world into a hellish place, though Galgarion plans to ultimately betray SouthCorp and keep all the power to himself. In the meanwhile, our unlikely heroes are making their way to Galgarion, hoping to avenge their fallen friends and thwart the bad guys' plans. For now, the final boss battle has yet to be fought, and how it will all end is anyone's guess.
[edit] Characters
[edit] Heroes
[edit] Party members
- Hero
- The spiky-haired party leader. His weapons include various types of swords. An unlikely hero out for adventure, the naive and innocent Hero has no memory of his past other than a brief service in the SEVIL army. He has no idea what his real name is, so his name became "Hero." While an expert at fighting and solving side missions, Hero has a hard time understanding more abstract concepts like love, much to Cherry and Diane's chagrin. Hero is somehow able to tap into a mysterious power due to the "modifications" that were done to him while he was a member of SEVIL, although he managed to show this power even when SEVIL-die, a substance that prevents the use of those powers, was injected into him. It's later said that the power he uses is known as the Tastacore (alternate spelling: Tastachore), the life energy of the world, which, in his case, allows him to draw power from the bonds with his friends. Although only elves and monsters are known to wield it, he might still be a factor that will affect the upcoming war between the races, along with Cherry and Diane.
- Class: Warrior.
- Race: Human
- Attacks: X-Strike Jumping Slash (#300), Swordyuken
- Cherry Blossomfeather
- The sarcastic thief/summoner/archer. She is later revealed to be an elf, and even later revealed to have been born as the "Sacras One", as shown by a mark on her lower back/hip area. At some point she was temporarily transported to some strange place where a presence apparently connected to the Sacras addressed her, but the whole incident is still shrouded in mystery. The attention flooding over her is what caused her to run away from her village. Cherry was the first party member to meet Hero, when he interrupted her attempt to rob an innocent traveler. Though she initially agreed to accompany Hero on his quest for the money, Cherry quickly found herself attracted to Hero, in part to his free and innocent nature. Because Diane also has feelings for Hero, Cherry sort of considers her a rival, especially after Diane goes and kisses Hero while in South City, henceforth leading to a catfight between the two. She seems to be aware that she is only a character in a game, due to her powers as the Sacras One. Often points out logical fallacies throughout the comic (i.e. observing that there's no reason that they can't jump over a tiny pile of rocks which blocks a passage in a dungeon, only to be insulted and ignored by the other characters).
- Class: Thief. Later, summoner.
- Weapon: Dagger. Later, crossbow.
- Tech: Summon - Angst-Filled Teen, Nexion, Dilton the Intern, Shida
- Diane
- Originally a monster like her brother Rabble-Rouser, but her parents gave her a potion which made her a human. Her mother, who died giving birth to Rabble-Rouser, was a demon, too. After her father remarried, she ran away from home and ended up in the care of Misty, a harlot. Years passed, and Diane had to fill in for Misty after she fell ill. Diane was first recruited by Hero during her first day on the job, mistaking him as a "customer", but has since fallen in as a standard party member. She has a healing ability named "Kiss", along with being the party's resident Mage. Her primary weapon: a staff. Unlike Cherry, she has no problem acting on her feelings for Hero, leading to friction between the two girls and confusion for apparently loveable Hero. However, she and Eikre have a love-hate relationship, and she managed to rope him into posing as her husband when they came to her hometown, most likely to avoid her father and stepmother forcing another arranged marriage on her. It's most likely that she was once arranged to marry Hero, as her father claims he was once going to show her a suitor from SEVIL. There are several other hints to this. She was originally named Lienne, until the comic's "player" renamed her at the stereotypical naming screen.
- Eikre
- He had a super-cool, uber-damaging move before he joined the party, but then decided "not to use it any more." A penchant for horrible puns and the phrase "the ladies" are Eikre's trademarks. He used to have a crush on Cherry, but now it seems he pines for Diane. At first, all evidence pointed to him being Galgarion in disguise, but near the end of the first disk, it turned out to be just a series of misunderstandings. Eikre hails from the town of Ubelton, where the economy is based on performing evil deeds and the training to perform evil deeds. He would have been content to be a bad guy had Jeff not learned the power of true evil and killed innocent townspeople, including Eikre's mother. Since then, he has vowed to rid the world of evil. Eikre is also described as the "bishonen."
- Class: Rogue.
- Weapon: Dagger. Later, Dual Knives.
- Attacks: Slice, Double Slice, Backstab, Backslash, Soulfire
- Dragobo
- A young, dragonlike creature hatched from an egg. He uses signs to communicate. According to Wilfrod the Dragobo Farmer, he is a rare "Fighting Dragobo"; however, other than Eikre, the party has shown little interest in developing his natural abilities. Early in the quest, the party fell for a scam by Howard that cost them Dragobo and 3000 pieces of gold. In reality, Howard needed Dragobo's help to free his people. After the side-quest, they became good friends, and went separate ways, although they met again when Howard fell out of a plane and joined the party.
- Class: Cute Fuzzy Thing
- Attack: Kick that Guy's Ass Attack
- Race: Dragobo (no correlation to Squaresoft's Chocobo, we're sure)
- Reka
- A wrench-wielding heroine who creates powerful robots. Cute, smart and British, Reka is the captain of a ship crewed by intelligent robots and is based on the character Lucca from the SNES game Chrono Trigger. She joined the party because Galgarion had supposedly killed her father when she was younger, although he denies that. She was killed by Galgarion in comic #400. Her last words were "You...murderer."
- Class: Science Pirate
- Weapon: Wrench
- Attack: Whack
- Tech: PDRHED-01
- Dual Tech: Fire Wrench
[edit] Other major heroes
- Evil Soldier #347
- 347 used to work for Galgarion, before Galgarion fired him, destroyed his village and took the souls of his wife Calla and their children. Now he wanders the land with Plum looking for a way to take revenge on his former master. He also has really, really bad eyesight, constantly mistaking a tall plant for Plum.
- Plum Windrock
- An elf, who was sent by the Head Chancellor of Langoria to find Hero, but somehow got tangled up with Evil Soldier 347 instead.
- Howard Wigglebottom
- A "Mubble," no relation to moogle. Howard is a mubble, a cute fuzzy little race of beings that live in the forests of RPG World. He has joined the party to save the soul of his friend Azif, and the "light energy" of his girlfriend Caroline, which were both stolen by Galgarion when he attacked the Mubble Village. Howard may look cute, but he's one tough little guy. Of course you would be too if you'd survived a drop from an airship, and were forced to undergo the mental duress of having to wait for weeks on end in the Menu Bar for non-active players. He once enlisted Dragobo in a battle to free his fellow Mubbles, whom Destestai had kidnapped to make a theme park, as part of a side quest. Up until then, he despised humans, but after finding out they were "morphing cat creatures", he lost his prejudice. He also has an unnamed revival spell, which he used after Dragobo was defeated by Earl and Larry.
- Race: Mubble
- Class: Cute Fuzzy Thing
- Tech: Summon - Big Mubble
- Rabble-Rouser (Reginold)
- A Breakdancer class monster and Diane's little brother. A pickpocket and a breakdancer, Rabble-Rouser claims to be the hippest of the denizens of South City. He is almost always hanging out with Popsicle, whom he hits on, and Glenn, who is more or less his right-hand monster. Rabble-Rouser pretended to dislike humans, but deep down, he knew that he was half-human, due to lack of shoulder horns. This was confirmed after he joined the party, when Diane called him by his real name and showed him his baby picture and a picture of their family.
- Race: Monster
- Class: Breakdancer
[edit] Villains
[edit] Major villains
- Galgarion
- The main villain of the comic and fictional game. The main bad guy, and all-around evil personality, with an extreme crush on Cherry. He used to be in SEVIL with Hero, and is one of the only two people to have left, as he ran away in the aftermath of a mission after reading from the Phoenix Book and deciding to take over the world with it.
- Attacks: Evil Fire, Evoke Aroth, Dismiss Summon
- Jeff
- Jeff is the secondary main villain. Once a friend and classmate of Eikre, Jeff lost himself too deeply in the ways of evil after reading the Tiger Book. Eventually he went crazy and went on a killing spree, with one of the victims being Eikre's mother.
- Detestai
- Galgarion's ex-girlfriend who has the ability to become an anthropomorphic cat. She has a horrible case of back-hair. Detestai appears to have a split personality that changes in correlation to her glasses (a gift from Galgarion). This seems to be related to Gundam Wing's Lady Une's split personality by glasses.
[edit] Minor villains
- Earl and Larry
- Detestai's underlings, who happen to be morphing cat creatures (not werewolves, a common misconception), and get killed fairly often, having a total of nine lives. Currently they both only have 2 left.
- Attacks: Swipe, Big Pow, & Double Slashy
- The Dragobo-Nabbers, Tonya & Hawk
- Absolutely no relation to Team Rocket. Hawk attended the same High School in Ubeltown with Eikre and Jeff. Hawk and Eikre both trained their Dragobo, ExoDragon, to fight and steal for their final class project. ExoDragon is one of the few, if not only, Dragobo who can talk.
- Captain Rabogee and Pirates
- Captain and crew of the S.S. Crust; Employeed by Galgarion and Southcorp to kipnap Hero and the others while they were at sea.
[edit] Non-playable characters
- Times are Tough guy
- Notable for repeatedly and only saying "*sigh* Times are Tough". He lampoons the stereotype of a typical RPG townsperson who will repeat the same line of dialogue no matter how often he or she is spoken to.
- Cherimoya
- Cherry's older sister. Because of Cherry's powers, Cherimoya was left in the shadows. At first, she hated her, but eventually Cherry managed to convince their father to pay attention to the older sister.
- Taesa & Erad
- Diane and Rabble-Rouser's parents. Erad met Taesa, a monster, while stationed at South City. They fell in love, but legal problems and social stigma forced them to kepp it secret. Eventually, Taesa became pregnant. Due to complications, a human/monster birth would be fatal for her species. She and Erad went to a witch doctor for a potion that would make the child completely human. Erad had to bleed fron his forehead, which left a permanent mark. The potion worked, and Diane was born. Taesa posed as a human until she was five. She was pregnant again, and the potion had to be used. However, Taesa went into labor prematurely, ending with her death and the birth of the clearly half-monster Reginold. Erad took Reginold to an orphanage in South City, we he grew up as Rabble-Rouser. Since then, Erad had been trying to raise Diane to be sophisticated, but the monster genes in her made her favor things like playing in mud.
- Kapta
- Diane's stepmother. Around the time Erad married her, he had been trying to force Diane into an arranged marriage. Diane hated Kapta, and Erad started to question if they should have married so fast. While they argued over it, Diane ran away from home.
- Piddo and Podder-Head
- Two of Reka's beloved robot creations, Piddo and Podder-Head, though made only out of 'gears' are really all heart. They considered Reka their mother. After her death, they stayed behind with a guy who apparently has connections to Hero. They've managed to work out the kinks of a time machine that was meant to be a toaster, and are prepared to save Reka.
- Evil Soldiers
- Flunkies of Galgarion. Identified by number. The most notable among them are #363, #565, and of course #347.
[edit] Non-game characters
- Jim
- The guy who plays RPG World. He is depicted through a series of live action still photographs. Jim is an everyman, sitting alone in his basement three days a week playing his favorite video game as slowly as he can on a television that regularly switches from black and white to color and back. He is a metaphor for everyone who's ever held a controller, for everyone whose tried to resist the urge to look at the strategy guide... and failed. He's you. He's me. He's Jim.
- FA: `Jim' #1
- Jim's Friend
- Jim's only friend, he frequently makes fun of Jim for being a stereotypical gamer. Often seen pointing at Jim and giving the dire warning "If you ever do (blank) again, I'll kill you." He has since departed to do missionary work, but is still remembered fondly by Jim.
[edit] Important terms
- SEVIL (We Bad)
- The true nature is still shrouded in mystery, but apparently it is meant to protect the rights and freedom of all humans. Its Special Unit was meant to destroy SouthCorp, but failed due to the actions of "the two deserters", Hero and Galgarion.
- Southcorp
- A corporation of monsters located in South City. Galgarion is currently working with SouthCorp, but plans to eventually betray them.
[edit] Crossovers
Once had a run-over with Adventurers which eventually resulted a joint venture between the artists, Starsomething.
[edit] Collected Editions
- Jones-Quartey, Ian. (2004) RPG World - The Comic That's in a Video Game, Volume 1: Unlikely Hero Out for Adventure. Publisher: Keenspot Entertainment. ISBN 0-9722350-4-3
[edit] External links
[edit] RPG World Forums
http://forums.keenspot.com/viewforum.php?f=50 - Still alive and fighting to this very day
