Customer Reviews

Knights of the Dinner Table: Bundle of Trouble, Vol. 1

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

You have the money to buy them all!

I have never been a huge comic book fan. My younger brother was, but despite all his prodding over the years growing up, I never took to many titles with the notable exception of Neil Gamian's Preacher and Dave Sims' Cerebus.

However, I always enjoyed role-playing games, starting from the old D&D red and blue books we brought to my Catholic grade school in the late 70's and early 80's. I left the hobby for quite a while after high school in order to concentrate on education, marriage and career development, but I returned after the advent of the new edition 3.0 rules for D&D.

This comic brought the graphic novel together with the rpg in a way and style I could really enjoy and relate to. It revolves around several (fictional!) groups of role-players in the Muncie, Indiana area; most notably the eponymous "Knights of the Dinner Table" consisting of GM B.A. Felton, his "role-playing" oriented cousin Sara, power-gamer Brian and hack-n-slash specialists Bob and Dave.

The artwork is extremely simplistic, and oft-repeated. It is the dialogue, character interaction and storylines that make this a terrific series. If you've ever enjoyed role-playing, then you should really check this book out. The first thirty issues of the comic are in volumes 1-10 of "Bundles of Trouble", and if you enjoy those, you can do like I did, and find the rest in individual back-issues at or below sticker price on a comic book website. You won't regret it.

KODT is awesome. If you have ever slung the old gaming dice in the past or currently game with your friends, give these comics a look. Funny, funny stuff. A+

First off, this product probably won't be particularly funny to people who have never played role playing games. The art isn't particularly great (sometimes a character stays exactly the same in each frame of a story) but once in awhile an image is surprisingly good in capturing an emotion (a character throwing over a table for instance). However, the art is certainly serviceable, and in spite of the minimalist approach when it comes to character 'movement' between frames, it works very nicely.

The key element that makes this a treasure for those who love role playing games is that they've all heard stories, or even participated in games, like the ones in these comics. The group depicted in this collection is one in which the gamemaster, B.A., and his players are mildly antagonistic towards each other but still generally have a good time and are obviously friends. A running theme is the players assuming that anything mentioned is important (a gazebo, a cow and a rock all play starring roles in different strips). The group also has the inherent resistance to change of many groups (change to rules, different games, etc).

All in all, my only real complaint is that it just felt too short and I would have probably preferred to get 2-3 times the strips in one book even with a higher price.