I disagree, for one main reason: Darths and Droids is a more character-driven storyline, and better for it. In DM of the Rings, every character aside from the DM and NPCs were basically all the same story-disinterested loot-seeking player. Even Gimli's player lost his roleplayer shtick soon once he realized how terrible the campaign was. In this comic, the characters are much more distinct, and thus funnier. Sally is wildly energetic and builds all the crazy worlds and creatures. Annie the dramatist who either takes the story too seriously or makes cheesy moments surprisingly affecting, even dark. Jim turns the voices of reason into voices of insanity. And Pete to me is what R2 would sound like if he were actually intelligible. The campaign is much more subversive than DM's in that way; it's hilarious to imagine Liam Neeson saying Jim's crazy explanations, for one. That to me makes it far more interesting.
Also, it's bad grammar to write: "there's nothing to laugh at because this is a great gaming group. As such, there's nothing to laugh at." Heil grammar!
I can't agree with this review either. Your argument basically boils down to "this story can't be funny because every character is not an asshole" and that you can't enjoy the story of an interesting, enjoyable campaign, only a crap one which is no fun to play, which is a pretty weird statement to make. You're basically saying it's not funny because it's not DM of the Rings. So Jim's rampant idiocy, Sally's hyperactive imagination running roughshod over the unprepared DM, Pete's naked munchkinism, Corey's insistence in trying to play like it's MMORPG, Ben's Only Sane Man exasperation- none of this is amusing to you? You can ONLY laugh at jerkasses being jerkasses to each other? I find it's the opposite- one of the reasons I never stuck with DM of the Rings was that I didn't like any of the characters, and unlike some people I don't like reading stories about people I hate. I actually like this group.
Always expect the worst and you can only be pleasantly surprised.
Agree with ^. DM of the Rings was never really my thing (I should note I read Darths & Droids first) because everyone was an asshole, which got old after awhile. I think that making everyone an asshole can work, but I think that relies on the strength of the writing and the strength of the acting. There is no acting in a webcomic, so that\'s out, and I never really felt that the writing was all that great anyway. There\'s plenty of dysfunction in Darths and Droids, and considerably more varied than \"everyone is an asshole\".
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Not funny because the group is too functional.
Obviously, this series was an attempt to do with Star Wars what DM of the Rings did with Lord of the Rings. It misses, however, what made DM of the Rings funny: the players and the DM were terrible. The DM insists on railroading the players to the point that the game is almost non-interactive, he keeps throwing legions of the same monsters at the players endlessly, and he never gives them any rewards, whether in the form of treasure, magic items, or even recognition of their deeds and their contribution by NP Cs. Meanwhile, the players do not even try to get into the spirit of the game, refuse to pay any attention to the backstory of the campaign, or, indeed, to any of the information that the DM provides throughout the quest, and so on and so forth. No one is having any fun with the game, yet they keep plugging away at it. That is funny.
The problem with Darths and Droids is that this is a fantastic RPG group. The players get deeply involved with their characters and the story, and while they do go off the rails all the time, the DM compensates smoothly, thereby providing them with constant opportunities to participate in the building of the campaign world and the telling of the story. In short, there's nothing to laugh at because this is a great gaming group. As such, there's nothing to laugh at. It's just not funny.