Nodwick

Credit to Do Gooder Press

One of the things which originally got me into writing was Dungeons & Dragons and similar role-playing games, from creating characters to writing campaigns. And because I'm always in search of new ways to procrastinate, I ended up looking at the Nodwick comics of Aaron Williams.

Nodwick follows the title character who is employed as a "henchman" by a typical Dungeons & Dragons adventuring party: Yeagar, an overconfident fighter with more brawn than brains; Artax, an intelligent but power-hungry wizard; and Piffany, an honest and kind-hearted but gullible cleric.

Nodwick's job is to accompany the party on their adventures and carry all their loot, but is frequently used by Yeagar to trigger traps and bait monsters, or by Artax to test new spells or potions. This frequently results in him getting killed, requiring Piffany to resurrect him by literally putting him back together with duct tape. As such, the henchman has a rather cynical sense of humour and no fear of death (but it's nice if he doesn't get killed), and holds the group together as a voice of reason.

Most of the humour in the strips derives from the tropes and conventions frequently used in fantasy role-playing games. The comic makes fun of the classes, the monsters, the settings, and anything else associated with the games. However, there's also an element of office humour, with Nodwick being depicted as a clock-punching every-man.

One of my favourite stories in the series is one called Hail to the Thief, which features Bezzler, the party's thief. Hired to disarm traps and pick locks, Bezzler had a clause in his contract in which any loot he stole he could keep, as long as he wasn't caught. Unfortunately, he was so good at what he did that he would end up cleaning out whole temples before the rest of the team could. After a magical helm incapacitated him, he was sent to a sanitarium, and upon his unexpected release, Artax and Nodwick devise a scheme to ensnare him.

The comics themselves can be found here. There is also an archived page featuring character sheets for Nodwick, Yeagar, Piffany, and Artax. They're a bit of an acquired taste, requiring some knowledge of Dungeons & Dragons, but I find Nodwick very relate-able, and some of the comics are absolutely hilarious.