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Parable - 31 - HD
🕑 Added 2019-11-08 17:25:12 +0000 UTCEDIT - A couple of corrections
"A few"? It's going to take more than "a few" for Susan to make sure every NPC in town looks like someone she likes, darn it!
Commentary
I was originally considering general transformation potions you'd expect me to include, but they didn't feel specific enough to video games. They were just transformations I'd generally include.
And one could argue that these aren't that different from that, but I personally enjoy the video game context.
I was having trouble making Rhoda look distinctly dog-like in the last panel. I tried floppy ears, but I didn't like how they looked with her hair (or in general). Ultimately, I went for a corgi look, which sadly means no long tail, but happily means enormous ears and a nice fur pattern.
And now for something extremely nerdy
Panel one, reminds me of the Wabbajack from Skyrim. The Wabbajack was a magic staff that did random things, up to and including temporarily turning NPCs into small animals. How it did this, however, involved "disabling" NPCs, and some NPCs, such as generic bandits, were selected at random from leveled encounter lists, and...
Okay, this is getting a bit technical. Less technical, there were NPCs who, if you turned them into chickens for a bit, wouldn't be the same NPCs when they came back. A bandit would still be a bandit, but they would be a randomly selected bandit from a list of possible bandits.
In-universe, this potentially meant turning a male elf bandit into a chicken, and them going from a chicken to a female humanoid cat bandit. Or a lizard bandit. Or maybe the same bandit as before, but potentially with different equipment, because equipment was also randomized.
Naturally, I realized all this after experimenting with trying to mod in my own transformation magic based on the staff, and noticing that bandits were coming back from chickenification in different forms.
Comments
IvyReed
One Kitty/Cat heist later and the resulting alchemical explosion transforms everyone the entire game world (maybe even plants or the mountains too). :D That's what they get for trying to make unregulated cat potions!
ZekeStaright
There are Corgi's with tails though
Terra The Wizard
panel 2 sums up a lot of stuff i ended up with after messing with games
Dan Shive
The loot crate comparison didn't even occur to me until after I'd finished the comic. I've just been trying to give Dea Elsee a "Mr. Crabs from Spongebob" sort of vibe, and those disclaimers seemed to fit :D
Brooks Moses
In answer to Dan's rhetorical "What are you doing?" question of Tedd in the comments under today's story comic: "It's more dramatic this way!" :) Also, Dan, the basic wooden rods you're looking for are called "dowels", and indeed there should be a selection in most hardware stores and hobby shops. They usually come in three-foot lengths, but are easy to cut down to basic wand size. (Edit: Oh, I see this has already been said. Ah, well.)
Ed Abrams (aka The Superdak)
Dan: Hold my beer...
John Trauger
I have simple tastes. I just want to see what happens when Rhoda drinks a mana potion....
John Trauger
As much as DLC and In-App-Purchasing is being parodied here, at least the game is not hawking loot crates...
jubs
My money is on Angela Gossow.
McZed
"Pup".
McZed
... And once again I have to wonder what Grace sounds like in Dan's head.
Matt R
Dog girl Rhoda...that works almost too well
Stephen Gilberg
Eh, from this angle, we wouldn't see much of a tail anyway. Yay for corgis!
coredumperror
Panel two is wonderfully dumb and I love it.
