Random Encounter is a theoretical Web Comic idea by EdgeOfOblivion. Originally an idea for a game, that idea was eventually scrapped - between competing ideas for other games and a frustration with trying to make appropriate sprites, mostly.
The main reason for this? Almost all of the main characters are monstrous or otherwise non-human in nature. The story begins in a small mountain village of orcs and trolls, save for one adopted inhabitant: Anya, an abandoned Harpy raised by the villagers. When General Rubeus Dolmo, xenophobic leader of the King's army, is alerted by his scouts of the village's existence and a trove of stolen weapons used by the orcs' half-executed excuse for a local militia, he leads a force to assault the village and kill its inhabitants, forcing Anya and two of her friends to flee. With only a mysterious amulet bearing unreadable runes as their hint as to why Dolmo attacked or where to go, the trio sets out into the world to meet their destinies... but it may not be that simple.
As you can see, the story is rather thoroughly finished - that paragraph above is essentially the prologue, leaving you ready to jump into Act 1 Chapter 1. The problem is that story is all I have - I'm not a good enough artist to draw the comic myself. As such... I'm interested in any aspiring comic artists out there who are interested in working on a project and encourage them to contact me. Just... edit this page and leave a note somewhere or something.
A short character list (a full list would be quite long):
- Anya: A Harpy orphan raised in a village of orcs and trolls. Optimistic, intelligent, and curious, she and her companions are born adventurers... which comes in handy when a lunatic burns their village to the ground. She has an Orphan's Plot Trinket that serves as their only clue of where to go next...
- Gribbli and Gorbach: A slightly dense Fire Troll and a roughhousing Orc, Anya's childhood friends and companions when they flee their village after Dolmo's attack.
- General Rubeus Dolmo: An Axe-Crazy Knight Templar who also happens to be the commander of King Oveirbon's military. He's also completely off his rocker... though this doesn't stop him from being extremely deadly in a fight. Sanity not required for combat skill, apparently. Has a sock puppet named Vincent that he talks to, and it talks back.
- Callisto: A Blue Dragon exiled from Dracon, the dragon homeland.
- Captain Durthar Hadaver: A dead pirate who still "lives" as a skeleton on his haunted ship, Fated Gold.
- Alaster Tibegathshka: Hadaver's former first mate, who dabbles in Necromancy and now exists as a zombie. Goes by the name "Tibgawl".
- Reinheardt D'Timaun: A showoffy Daunlyn swordsman.
- Dorian: A Minotaur from the city of Labyrinth.
- Ulrich: King of Dragons and ruler of Dracon.
- Lugau: A Golem who serves the Dragon Monarchy. Contains the soul of a dead human monk.
WARNING: ANYTHING PAST THIS POINT IS STORYLINE SPOILERS. POSTED ONLY FOR REFERENCE, HUMOR, AND BECAUSE I'M BORED OUT OF MY SKULL. MEANING ALSO THAT ANYTHING IN SPOILER BLOCKS IS AN EVEN BIGGER SPOILER. SO...... YEAH.
Random Encounter will theoretically eventually provide examples of:
- All Trolls Are Different: In Anya's home village there are at least two different species of troll - green-skinned Forest Trolls and red-skinned Fire Trolls, of which her friend Gribbli is the latter. Ice Trolls, Sea Trolls, and Rock Trolls all eventually appear as well.
- Always Chaotic Evil: How Dolmo views monstrous races, how the Daunlyn and Daelyn view the Dusklyn (not without merit in some cases), and a few other situations.
- An Ice Person: Callisto, being a Blue Dragon. She is most definately not an Ice Queen however, even of the defrosting sort, being friendly and cultured from the moment she's introduced.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: The symbol of power for the King of Dragons is not a crown but rather a golden Gauntlet that greatly increases the wearer's strength and magical power. This means that the King of Dragons is generally much stronger than his peers. A set of silver arm/tail bands serves the same purpose for the Queen.
- Ax-Crazy: Rubeus Dolmo, leagues beyond anyone else, but also Galbad, Matron Mastanger, and Aethena.
- Cute Monster Girl: Anya, Marilith, Merzu, and Kazzandra among the central characters, more among the minor ones.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Voras, above anything else in the story. Also true of a few of the Dusklyn, though the majority of the race are fairly unpleasant.
- Dark Magical Girl: Merzu.
- The Dragon: Vincent to Dolmo in Act 1, Aethena to Vincent in Acts 3 and 4.
- Dragon with an Agenda: Oh so very much Vincent.
- Elemental Powers: The four Elementals and their respective Gemstones.
- Energy Being: What Xiergaum and the other Vortex Sages supposedly were before the merging.
- Enigmatic Minion: There are no words for how much this applies to Vincent.
- Eyepatch of Power: Anya.
- The Fair Folk: Fey are split into two groups - the Lesser Fey, which are semi-mortal and elf-like; there are three types: the Daunlyn, the Daelyn, and the Dusklyn - and the True Fey, who follow the more traditional Celtic-mythology rules for their kind.
- Forced Transformation: Transformation magic is used regularly within the story, for various reasons ranging from creating monstrous super-soldiers to crippling an enemy to granting a wish.
- General Ripper: Guess.
- God Save Us from the Queen!: Grand Matron Mastanger. Mal-In-Ra probably counts as well.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Anya is a Harpy (half-bird), Kazzandra and the rest of her village are Driders (half-spider); a few others.
- Healing Hands: Mandei/Marilith and the King both have some training from the clergy and thus can heal.
- He Who Fights Monsters: Dolmo. The story is intended to be somewhat of a desconstruction of the trope, as well.
- Hidden Elf Village: Anya's home. Guess what happens.
- Kill It with Fire: Gribbli and Ulrich.
- Knight Templar: Dolmo again.
- Large Ham: Dorian, Captain Hadaver, General Dolmo.
- MacGuffin: Anya's pendant in Act 1. Subverted in that Dolmo doesn't really want it, it was just intended to lead her to Voras. The Elemental Gems in Act 3 and the Shrine of Perfection in Act 4 are straight examples.
- Made of Iron: Dorian and Ulrich figuratively. Emari literally.
- Mad Scientist: Zhira.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: Lots of Zhira's creations are magically-tweaked crossbreeds. The nastiest of the lot is Ectat: half salamander, half basilisk.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Grand Matron Mastanger, Lyllith, Vincent Val'Muertas.
- Our Dragons Are Different: There are three types of draconic species: gargantuan, animalistic Wyrms; cunning, cruel predator Wyverns; and highly-intelligent but smaller and weaker Dragons. These are further divided into various clans and species.
- Our Elves Are Different: Technically they're The Fair Folk, but the Lesser Fey are generally called Elves in casual conversation.
- Our Demons Are Different: Voras is a Daemon - a guardian entity. Most humans however can't tell the difference between that and Demon - a malevolent spirit - so he gets some bad press. Lyllith and her Children fit better into the second category, however.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: Wryx, the Poultergeist; Ahrek Onam, the Wraith; Lenore, the Guardian Ghost.
- Our Orcs Are Different: Gorbach's tribe is pseudo-nomadic hunter-gatherers who do very little pillaging.
- Our Souls Are Different
- Our Vampires Are Different: Aethena.
- Our Zombies Are Different: Skeletal Captain Hadaver and zombielike Tibgawl.
- Punctuation Shaker: Wryx'tan Ul'thras, Vincent Val'Muertas, Leezthra Ul'thras.
- Rebellious Princess: Mandei; are you surprised at all?
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Aethena and Lorraine, respectively; color-swapped as Aethena is blonde and wears a blue cloak over a white dress while Lorraine is redheaded, uses Fire magic, and wears a white-and-red robe.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Ulrich the Dragon King is not content to sit on his throne when he learns of Dolmo's rampaging, and immediately leads the expedition to the Temple of Eons to consult the daemon Voras. The human leader, King Oveirbon, starts out a subversion... but once he discovers his Rebellious Princess has allied with the monsters and had herself changed into one he becomes significantly more active. Especially since it gets worse shortly after.
- Start of Darkness: All of Act 2 is supposed to be one for Vincent.
- Talk Like a Pirate: Captain Hadaver, obviously; Tibgawl subverts it.
- Tomato Surprise: Anya was born human. Given how she feels about them, this is none too reasurring.
- The End of the World as We Know It: Here referred to as The Day The World Died.
- Apocalypse How: Class 1. A Wizard Did It (literally... well except he was more Evil Sorcerer than Wizard).
- Time Skip: About two or three years between Act 1 and Act 3. (Act 2 is a Flash Back.)
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Plan to have it Deconstructed.
More to come.
