Darths and Droids

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Ten-foot laser pole not included.
"Jar Jar, you're a genius!"
—Qui-Gon Jinn (a.k.a. Jim)

What If Star Wars as we know it didn't exist, but instead the plot of the movies was being made up on the spot by players of a Tabletop Game?

Well, for one, the results might actually make a lot more sense, from an out-of-story point of view...

Darths & Droids, is a webcomic created by The Comic Irregulars (David Morgan-Mar and seven of his friends from work), following the footsteps of DM of the Rings (found here), which used a similar premise for The Lord of the Rings. However, while DOTR featured a Railroading GM herding a bunch of bored Munchkin players with an iron fist, Darths & Droids has a more tolerant GM, who's willing to let the players get Off the Rails and contribute to the development of the setting, if that's what it takes to have a fun and interesting game. Indeed, the very plot of Star Wars, with all its inconsistencies and bizarre leaps of logic, comes along because the players constantly force the GM to improvise.[1]

And that's not all; the Irregulars seem to be taking perverse pleasure in actually changing things from how they happen in the movies as much as they can while still being constrained by actual screencaps. This ranges from the ultimately minor "Lost Orb" side-quest, all the way to Darth Maul being a hired bounty hunter who's, at worst, Chaotic Neutral. Even Palpatine seems like a good guy.

In between Star Wars games, the players take part in other games, including one between episodes I and II that bears a strong resemblance to The Princess Bride, and another between episodes II and III that seems to have been a mix of Van Helsing and Twilight. On a related note, Episode IV begins In Medias Res, with the unseen gameplay sessions involving Star Wars Expanded Universe materials such as Dark Forces.

In the blurb for each comic, there are often links to This Very Wiki The Other Tropes Wiki, and there are even comics named after tropes, as well.

The comic is being translated into a variety of languages, including: German, French and others. Notably, some of the translations are pure Gag Dub, including: Pirate, poetry, Zero Wing-esque mangled English and tlhIngan Hol, (Klingon). Nearly all strips from Episode I appear in German.

The players from the original 3 movies correspond to the five basic RPG Player Archetypes, although Morgan-Mar claims it was unintentional.

Characters

  • The Real Man: Jim, initially playing Qui-Gon Jinn, then, after the death of Qui-Gon, Padmé Amidala. He's a gung-ho, enthusiastic player, often blindly rushing into danger. Also prone to humorous misunderstandings of the setting, bizarre and obviously incorrect explanations, and creation of Plot Tumors. His insane plan regarding the pod race must be seen to be believed.[2] So far in Episode IV, his characters (including Captain Antilles, the only one the audience has witnessed) have wound up being Mauve Shirts; but that changed when he started playing Han Solo.
  • The Brain: Ben, playing Obi-Wan Kenobi. He prefers to think rationally before acting, comes up with sane plans, but is quick to resort to fast-talking the GM if nothing else works. Also points out the unlikelihood of situations they run into. At some point since Episode III he stopped coming to game sessions, but he eventually returns for Episode IV. Once Obi-Wan was done in, he started playing a very-well-spoken Chewbacca.
  • The Loonie: Sally, playing Jar Jar Binks in Episode 1. By the time the Episode 2 campaign started, she decided Jar Jar was stupid, and bounced around several characters before mainly settling on C-3PO and Yoda. She's Ben's kid sister, who he once brought to a game session when their parents weren't home. Many of the wacky elements of the setting, such as the Gungans (including her own character), Toydarians, and an elected 14-year-old queen, are products of her wild imagination; the GM seems to have largely left the task of designing settings and alien races to her, in acknowledgment of the fact that she is more creative with such things than he is. Sally is also pure awesome in a can, given that she was able to accomplish the flat-out impossible feat of making Jar Jar Binks likable.
  • The Munchkin: Pete, playing R2-D2. He joined after Jim told him about the game and designed his character in advance using Min-Maxing, resulting in a verbally-challenged non-humanoid robot with insane mechanic skills. For a short time, he filled in for the GM "due to some family emergency or whatever". His style of doing this seems to be...different. He has something of a soft spot for Sally, which makes a lot more sense once she sticks with C-3PO for Episode IV.
  • The Thespian: Annie, initially playing Shmi Skywalker but soon switched to Anakin rather than shoehorning Shmi into the adventuring party. As of Episode IV, she's Leia and Darth Vader. Ben told her about the game in drama class. Her unfamiliarity with typical RPG player behavior results in amusing misunderstandings, such as her mistaking Qui-Gon for a robber when he attempts to search Shmi's house for loot. Her roleplaying tends to be filled with Hidden Depths and moral ambiguity, which sometimes screws with the more straightforward mindset of the other players. As a joke, plays what is considered to be the worst acted character from the prequel trilogy.
  • The Sixth Ranger: Corey, joining the group in Episode IV and playing "Adam Lars"/Luke Amidala (Luke Skywalker). He's Pete's nephew, being just a little older than Sally. He got interested in the group after hearing Pete talk about it, but was stunned to find it wasn't an RPG video game.
Darths and Droids is the Trope Namer for:
Tropes used in Darths and Droids include:

A-E

Pete: You've been practising that sentence, haven't you?
GM: Definitely.

    • Also, the title of this and all the other one-shot comics mentioned under Alternate History.
  • Affably Amoral: The clone troopers. To a man, they are friendly, helpful, and enthusiastic about their jobs—to the point that when it comes time to execute Order 66, they are both surprisingly eager to do the deed (a fact Palpatine comments on), and unfailingly complimentary and sympathetic to the Jedi they're gunning down.
  • Affectionate Parody
  • All Girls Like Ponies: Sally enthusiastically declares that Jar-Jar "has a face like a pony!" and later decides that Gungans all ride on dinosaur ponies.
    • In strip 24 they said they "had to resist very strongly the urge for Sally to say that Otoh Gunga was full of ponies", saying that "at some point in this wonderful fantasy world Sally is building, the GM has to step in with something that requires more response than the players just marvelling at stuff.
  • All Planets Are Earthlike: Firstly spoofed, and then actively averted by the GM in response, resulting in the production of a Single Biome Planet. The GM was trying to get them back on the damn rails so they'd go to Coruscant, not stop off on a planet he hadn't thought up yet.
  • Alternate Character Interpretation: In-Universe—one of the main purposes of the comic is to reinterpret the original characters: Palpatine may be a good guy, Dookû is a Well-Intentioned Extremist, Darth Maul is a private detective and... Jar Jar is... a genius?

Jar Jar: Dis meaning war, wesa needs to have a stronger leader! Mesa suggests Chancellor Palpatine gets emergency powers!
Palpatine: What?!

Palpatine: I needed a lieutenant of unparallelled acumen; but alas, Jar Jar turned me down.

    • Especially in the case of Palpatine, when he saves Obi-Wan Kenobi. They turn the whole reasoning behind the eventual start of the Jedi/Empire conflict upside down; instead of Palpatine slowly corrupting Anakin until he's prepared to attack Windu in Palpatine's defense, it's Anakin playing both sides, eventually convincing Windu that Palpatine is a sleeper agent before showing up when they fight and attacking Windu ostensibly to defend Palpatine against his unjustified attack. They even manage to make Palpatine's killing of Windu into a fairly awesome moment for Palpatine.
  • Alternate History: In this world Star Wars was never made, producing a few cultural changes, the biggest of which is that there was no upsurge of interest in science-fiction in Hollywood during the 70s and 80s resulting in Star Trek remaining an obscure 60s show instead of the massive movie and TV franchise it is in our world. Then there are alternate histories within alternate histories within alternate histories within still more alternate histories in the other fictional comics that exist in the world of Darths & Droids and worlds within the worlds.[3]
  • Always a Bigger Fish: Of course. Summon Bigger Fish!
  • Ambiguously Jewish: Darth Maul.
  • And That's Terrible: Spoken by Jim as a part of Blatant Lies.
  • Anti-Hero: Weirdly enough, Palpatine so far. Throughout most of the series he's been portrayed as a Reasonable Authority Figure and even saves Obi Wan during the escape from Grevious' ship, but it turns out the Peace Moon really was a weapon. Though he only made the plans to act as a deterrent, like MAD in the Cold War.
  • Anti-Villain:
    • Darth Maul and Jango Fett are private detectives. They're really only antagonists because the players screwed up, which is repeatedly lampshaded in The Rant.
    • Palpatine is slipping into this role as he's increasingly manipulated into shooting dogs that may or not need shooting.
  • Apocalypse How: In a Class 4 example, how did Mustafar become a molten volcanic planet? It was originally Naboo. The Trade Federation took over the planet and moved it into the orbit of a nearby gas giant, causing increased tidal activity and, in turn, volcanic activity, all so they can smelt it and build the Peace Moon. However, ultimately it turned out that most of the population survived, Theed was protected by a force field, and the planet itself was liberated offscreen by Jar Jar who then moved it back to its original orbit.
  • Arc Fatigue: Kind of. While catching up on the plot during his In-Universe two-year absence, Ben comments "Is this the Peace Moon plans? Still?" (Pete: "But the real ones this time!")
  • Arc Welding: Welded by the strip's writers. In the Gamemaster's campaign:
    • General Grevious is Chancellor Valorum gone completely mad. Though he was loony even in his Chancellor days.
    • Mustafar is a smelted down Naboo for use as the Peace Moon.
  • Are We There Yet?: Jar Jar in this episode.
  • Armor-Piercing Question: While Obi-Wan and Yoda are discovering the Jedi Temple massacre:

Ben: Sally, this is serious. You need to play it seriously.
Sally: Just because you do everything Dad tells you to!
Ben: What? No I don't!
Sally: Why are you studying medicine then?!

Obi-Wan: Let's see. You stole the plans for a symbol of peace. You're allied with (a) a known megalomaniacal warlord and (b) a criminal sociopath. You have not one, but two, armies at your disposal. You've captured me -- unfairly -- and are holding me with no means of escape. And you're monologuing.
Count Dookû: I am monologuing?!

    • And in Episode 356:

Poggle the Lesser: ... trespassing, destroying assembly line equipment, sabotaging factory computers, flatlining 6 droids, killing 15 Geonosian factory workers -- [gasp!] -- and parking illegally on a steam vent.
Padmé Amidala: To begin with, this case should never have come to trial. The steam vent was inadequately signposted.

    • And in Episode 558:

Mace Windu: Nute Gunray is behind everything... the Jedi Archives, the clone army, my apartment block....

  • Ascended Extra: Anakin started as a random kid made up on the fly when the players went off the rails, the GM had not even thought up a name for him. Later, Annie took over the character for herself.
  • Ascended Meme: The question whether or not Annie was pregnant during the campaign corresponding to Revenge of the Sith was a topic of a hot debates on the Irregular Webcomic forum, and ultimately it was referenced in the comic itself.
  • Author Filibuster: On everything from annoyances in gaming to the evils of capitalism. Most of it is thankfully confined to the author rants, but it slips through occasionally in dialog. Of course, it could be the player's thoughts filibustering through as the character they're playing.
  • Avenging the Villain: Jango Fett's reason for opposing the PC's, though the person he is trying to avenge, Darth Maul, wasn't exactly evil.
  • Awesome but Impractical: When going through Luke's character sheet, "Survival: Snow" is one of his skills, along with "Survival: Desert", "Survival: Forest", and "Survival: Swamp". Leia's player questions how a character who spent his whole life in the desert ever learned to survive in a snowy climate, not to mention that he doesn't need it.[4]
  • Badass Army: Yoda's assessment of the clone army
  • Bad Boss: Grievous, who kills his own minions just because one of them interrupted his monologue.
  • Bathe Her and Bring Her to Me: Inverted.

R2-D2: For my reward, I wish to be cleaned and oiled by your most beautiful handmaiden.

  • Beard of Evil: Spoofed. Jim immediately assumes Sio Bibble Bubble is evil just because he has a goatee. Jim's suspicion of the GM pulling this trope continues into the second game, and has expanded to include Senator Organa, of all people, in this strip.

Jim: Don't think I haven't noticed your goatee.

Qui-Gon: Fine. But we're not taking Bubble. That goatee is a death sentence.
Obi-Wan: Uh... don't you have a--
Qui-Gon: No.
Obi-Wan: Can I see your character sheet for a--
Qui-Gon: You may not.

    • Made even more hilarious when the GM's notes for the Princess Bride campaign had a side note about Count Rugen:

Has a goatee! Should be fun when others don't believe Jim that he's evil.

Pete: I'm not Railroading you here.

Padme: Say it with me now:
Anakin & Padme: "I made it all up..." "to turn Palpatine against the Jedi..." "and now I'm all powerful."

General Grievous: "The caterpillar sees not its destiny, except by fullfilling it. Only by shedding our previous bodies can we become beautiful butterflies."

  • Call a Smeerp a Rabbit: Since this is an universe where Star Wars is just a tabletop campaign, the weapons only have normal names with, as Jim puts it, "techy words in front"; hence, lightsabers are only referred to as Laser Swords.
  • Call Back:
    • "Do you remember?"
    • If you start from here you can see that Anakin went through every single step of the journey to the dark side. There are not enough Roleplaying XP points in the world.
    • Even better: Vader completes ALL of equally long steps to the light side (with no forum notice or comments), and Anakin completes all but the last one of the steps to the light side (possible hook for episode 7?)
    • A more humorous one shows up in episode 720: Chocolate dice!
  • Calvin Ball: The rules of the system are very unclear, but this is intentional, as they've said that they're not using any established system. Based on analysis from several strips, it appears to combine the following aspects:
    • The basic d20 mechanic from any d20 system (d20 + modifier versus target number to beat).
    • A Merit/Flaw system (Pete's Short and Mute flaws for extra skill points).
    • A reputation system, probably similar to the Wizards of the Coast Star Wars d20 system. For instance, Pete got a Periscope for -2 to Reputation.
    • Force Powers and other skills, including combat skills (Parry), appear to need investment with skill points, and it operates like any standard d20 mechanic (see above).
    • A highly complicated grapple system (clearly a Shout-Out to grappling in D&D 3rd Edition).
    • A Class system that permits Multiclassing (Padme with a Rogue/Monarch)
  • Canon Sue: In-universe: When Pete's running the game, he tends to overplay the awesomeness of R2.
  • Can't Argue with Elves: The concept is tossed around here.
  • Captain Obvious: Ric Olié as played by the GM.
  • Captain Oblivious: Mace Windu
  • Captain's Log: Obi-Wan summarizes his subplot most succinctly in #521, with obligatory Shout-Out to Star Trek.
  • Card-Carrying Villain: Most of the villains from the films are actually anti-villains or even anti-heroes. In Episode III, however, this trope is played horribly straight by General Grievous.
  • Celebrity Paradox: Explicitly acknowledged, and lampshaded the heck out of it; one annotation goes further on to imagine this hypothetical world without Star Wars, even including a strip, cast page, FAQ and episode list from a fake Harry Potter equivalent of the comic). Taken a level further when we learn that in the hypothetical world of the Harry Potter comic, the equivalent is a comic based on The Sound of Music. That world in turn is shown to have its comic equivalent be based on the first X-Men movie, and more.
  • Character Development: Both the PCs and the players. Sally has grown from Annoying Younger Sibling to Crazy Awesome, and Pete seems to be shedding his Jerkass tendencies as well.
  • Chekhov's Gag: In Darth Maul's Flashback, we see a droid on the trade federation star ship asking the hologram Palpatine if he wants a drink, which looks like a gag. In Jango Fett's flashback, it's revealed that that was actually Jango giving a code phrase to Maul.
  • Chekhov's Gun: The morale bonus Pete gives because watching R2 fly is just that cool. It later comes back to throw a wrench in his Killer GMing.
    • The reason why the Senate boxes are shaped like Frisbees.
  • Chekhov's Gunman:
    • The butler droid on the Trade Federation ship, who is actually Jango Fett in disguise. He is Darth Maul's partner.
    • One-Scene Wonder Chancellor Valorum, who later reappears as General Grievous.
  • Chekhov's Skill: The impossibly awkward scene where Anakin gets thrown off the shaak on Naboo was him practicing his Riding skill. It comes in handy in the arena on Geonosis.
    • Luke's counterpart "Adam Lars" has survival skills for all sorts of terrain on his character sheet - even snow, which is noted as implausible on a desert planet. Luke visits planets with each of those terrains in the movies. Even better, they may have even been set up as such in-universe by the GM - Corey obviously isn't acquainted enough with roleplaying to set up his own character sheet, so the GM may have given him things planned to be useful down the road and justified it with Adam being raised by Crazy Survivalists.
  • Chewbacca Defense: What else would Jim use during the trial on Genosis?
  • The Chosen One: Anakin of course, as spoofed in a Genre Savvy manner here. Drink!
  • Cloning Blues: Inverted; clones are far superior to droids, at least according to Jango.
  • Cloudcuckoolander:
  • Comically Missing the Point: "Right...I'm glad I'm a recording and didn't hear that."
  • Composite Character: Some things from the movies get merged in this telling: Chancellor Valorum and General Grievous, Naboo, Mustafar, and possibly Alderaan. A lesser version is at the beginning of Episode IV, where random Rebel Troopers are used to represent Captain Antilles until the scene where the real Antilles appears, getting throttled by Vader.
  • Concept Art Gallery: On the Fan Art page.
  • Continuity Nod: In and out of universe: Underwater oxygen extraction apparatus and grappling hook.
  • Cosmetic Award:Your journey to the Dark Side is now complete! Achievement Unlocked!
  • Cranial Processing Unit: Mentioned with reference to how strange it is that C3PO still works when his head is grafted onto a battledroid.
  • Crazy Survivalists: Beru and Owen in the campaign corresponding to A New Hope.
  • Critical Failure: Jim, twice in a row, with the second supposedly having 1 rolls pre-rolled out. This convinces Jim to just let his character pass, so he can roll up a ninja character (the GM vetoes that).
  • Cross Player: Sally (as several characters), Annie (as Anakin), and formerly Jim (as Padmé). In other words, exactly half the cast. Take into the account that Pete's character doesn't really have a gender, and we're left with exactly one player who has a character that was consistently the same sex as he is. Averted so far with the roles they play in the original trilogy.
  • Cultural Translation: Frequently a necessity when the fans translate the comics into various languages.
  • Dangerously Genre Savvy: Gunnery Captain Bolvan knows that just because an escape pod doesn't have any life forms in it doesn't mean it shouldn't be shot down. Too bad for him that Pete disabled guns before leaving.
  • Deadpan Snarker:
    • The GM.

Boy, it must be really rough to have your campaign completely derailed...

    • R2-D2

Pilot: General Glevious has gone mad! He'll kill us all!
R2: In other news, grass is green.


Obi-Wan: Your path to the Dark Side is complete!
R2: Achievement Unlocked!

R2-D2:"...Ramming speed."

F-J

"Zam... If only you could see what I've seen with your eyes. I've seen things you wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser gate. All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in the rain... Time to die. (beat) Rosebud..."

Palpatine: And who shall judge who is wicked? Who else is to die?
Anakin: Anyone who disagrees with me, for starters.
Palpatine: I disagreed with you just now, Anakin.
Anakin: Well obviously not you, Chancellor.

    • And another one, again if the comic lasts long enough to cover Jedi:

Palpatine: This is fun; perhaps I should install a huge bottomless pit in my quarters for no apparent reason.

    • This speech by Valorum pretty much flat out tells you what his eventual fate will be, but you'd never realise it the first time through.
    • And then comes a piece of dialogue from Anakin/Annie about Padme/Jim. Considering how much development Annie plans out for her character and how involved she gets into them, this could be both, either, or neither foreshadowing or in-character anxiety.

Anakin (describing an in-character dream): You die in childbirth.

    • "You are NOT wearing the queen's dresses." Guess who Jim ended up playing as about a movie later?
    • Grievous to Kenobi: "I see your future. Divorced from your flesh, your moth-robes fall empty."
    • One of R2-D2's flaws to support Pete's Min-Maxing is Tastes Good To Dragons. The DM says he can keep them. Know what'll happen to R2 in the Dagobah swamp?
    • In episode 186 Palpatine orders Maul to team up with the Jedi:

Maul: I work alone.
Palpatine: That's not what it says on your card.

GM: The people have elected a wise queen, who is 14 years old. And the Trade Federation, planning to take over Naboo, have landed their entire invasion fleet on the opposite side of the planet.
The Rant: "Make it the actions of a GM and a bunch of gamers and, as many things about this movie, it all starts to make a lot more sense."

  • Funetik Aksent: Many NPCs, but Dookû has the silliest one. Tarkin is given one in Episode IV.
  • Gambler's Fallacy: Pete is a firm subscriber to this due to his steadfast belief that dice have memories, can be "cursed" or "blessed", and can have the 1s prerolled out of them.
  • GASP: Collective ones from the Geonosians and the Republic Senate so far.
  • Gender Swap: It's more for pronoun purposes, but in Darths & Droids, C-3PO is referred to as female.
  • Genius Ditz: Jim is a real ditz in RPG, genius otherwise. See here to see him put the GM in his place when the GM uses the word "vergence" wrong, because he's doing Ph.D in geophysics. And later, he even works out the insane conditions that would make a planet like Naboo physically possible to patch up George Lucas' the GM's overlooking basic physics in the earlier strips. But lest we forget the second half of this trope:

R2-D2: It's tough holding a grudge against someone who doesn't even notice.

Jim: And that stuff about Pete being the Archangel Gabriel, where did that come from?
Annie: Yeah by that stage I was just making up the stupidest things I could think of.
...
Jim: They were vampires! You can't make vampires good! They're evil, they have to be killed, that's all there is to it! [...] And vampires do not sparkle in the daylight!!

  • Honor Before Reason: Sally challenges Dookû to a contest of lifting things with the Force as a way of capturing him without needing to risk killing him, relying on the idea that Dookû will be honourable to agree to it.

Yoda: I don't want to kill you. Settle this with a Force Arm-Wrestle we will!
Dookû: A... what?
Yoda: Whoever lifts the biggest thing wins!
Dookû: Zis is ridiculous. Raise your sword.
Yoda: But this is how honourable Jedi settle things. Are you honourable?
Dookû: Ah begin to regret zat Ah am...

    • Also the reason (in this universe) for the reason for the lightsaber duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan. The rest of the party is going evil (except Sally), but Ben refuses.

Ben: I wrote "Good" on my character sheet and I jolly well meant it! Unlike some people!

Anakin: Can I have your (Obi-Wan's) laser sword if this ends badly? Try to toss it as you hit the lava.

Qui-Gon: I don't know. Flirt with him or something.
Padmé: He's nine years old! Do you know how creepy that is?

  • Jerkass: Pete's stat-obsessed, railroading, and killer GM attitude is quickly turning him into this. And he can't even understand why the other players are starting to hate him. He does apologize afterward, and admits he genuinely enjoys playing with the team.
  • "Join the Army," They Said: Hilariously used by a droid, of all things, here.

K-O

Padmé: I swing on my chain and kick the Nixon as it tries to attack.

"Are you calling me <something undesirable>?"
"Are you?"
"Are you?"
"Maybe."

    • Lampshaded a second later. "It also causes deja vu."
  • Meaningful Name: Ben, Annie, and (until he takes over Padmé) Jim. In-universe, Annie's case is a coincidence because the GM named Anakin before she came aboard.
  • Min-Maxing: Pete
  • Mondegreen: In-Universe—as a Running Gag, Jim keeps making mincemeat out of the GM's phrasings. "To Naboo soil" becomes "Tuna booze oil".
  • Mood Dissonance: The frequently stark contrast between what's happening in the game and what the characters are talking about outside the game. Taken to extremes here.

So... anyone wanna shoot some space pool?

Sally: (to Pete) I love it here. A beautiful desert cruise with wonderful friends. And you.

Jim: If we could only see his facial hair.

  • Off the Rails:
    • The wacky plotting of the prequel trilogy is "explained" as the PCs wreaking havoc upon the GM's original story.
    • This comic references a campaign Annie ran between Episodes 2 and 3 which went off the rails when the guys decided to attack the vampire and werewolf NPCs who Annie insists were friendly. At that point she said "what the hell" and ran with it.
  • Omake: The aforementioned bonus "alternate universe" comics.
  • Once For Yes, Twice For No: R2 is supposed to communicate this way (via Pete's PDA).
  • One of Us: Quite literally.
  • Opening a Can of Clones
  • Our Monsters Are Different: In Annie's supernatural campaign between Episodes 2 and 3. The other players didn't appreciate how she wound up messing with their expectations.

Annie: For the last time, you weren't supposed to kill those NPCs.
Pete: They were vampires and werewolves! What else do you do with them?

P-T

  • Painting the Fourth Wall: Whenever an action scene occurs, the borders become angular and irregular, giving a sense that something frantic is happening.
    • This one does a pretty good job of reflecting the sense that while there is a pattern, the characters are having trouble following it, much like the reader may have difficulty with the page layout.
    • And when Pete becomes a temporary GM, resulting in the entire droid factory sequence, the titles for strips 333 to 353 switch from short and punny to extremely long and formal, reflecting the change in GMing style and mood. At least a few of them double as attempted defenses of the contrived Ass Pulls Pete was pulling to try and kill everyone else and make R2-D2 seem cooler.
    • The GM's descriptions of the surroundings were initially written into the comic, but eventually the writers settled on a convention where they'll occasionally just show the scenery and have you assume that the GM (or Sally) is describing it. It works surprisingly well. (See Take Our Word for It below.)
  • Pardon My Klingon: Seen here.

Annie: Wow, I almost regret leaving the translator off for that.

Jango Fett: You. Killed. My. Partner.
 Grievous: Cyborgs. Under. My. Command!
The Writers: WHY? DOES? GRIEVOUS? STILL? HAVE? A? BUNCH? OF? INTERNAL? ORGANS???

  • Put on a Bus: Sally also wants Jar Jar to be hit by a bus.
  • Railroading: When Pete takes over the GM role.
    • The regular DM is fairly good at avoiding this, though his reactions to the PC's decisions make it very obvious when they veer off the path he had hoped they would follow... which is more often than not.

GM: Can I see your skill level in Not Taking a Hint? I think you must be cheating.

  • Ramming Always Works: This strip, which follows Pete missing everything in the entire battle.
  • The Rashomon: Punned in the title of a strip where Jim recounts his own version of events that the GM has already plotted out, wildly contradicting the GM's version.
  • "Real Life" Writes the Plot: At the start of Revelation of the Sith, Annie is having relationship issues with Jim, which seems to be influencing the way she plays Anakin. Of course, since this is Annie, she has managed to stay completely in-character.
  • Recap Episode: For a new player, it covers the events of the first three campaigns.

Corey: Can I replay this Cutscene later?

"What's a bongo?"
"It's a fishing lure."

    • Mace Windu has no idea what's going on.

Mace Windu: Why doesn't anyone ever tell me about stuff??

    • Jim's constant suspicion of "Bubble".
    • Summon Bigger Fish. A variation involves Jim deciding to cast Summon Bigger Fish, the GM giving some semi-logical reason for why he shouldn't do it, and Ben yelling "That's your reason for not letting him do that?"
    • A minor one involves the various ways the "Peace Moon" could be used for an attack.
    • "Hey, [character], why don't y--" "They can't hear you." "HEY, [CHARACTER]!"
    • Where oh where are the space dreadnoughts bristling with atomic missiles?
    • The ten-foot pole.
    • Pete's custom dice (including binary, a "one-proof die", and one that looks like a case of Noodle Implements in just one die...)
    • Side references to the mysterious "splanch" organ.
    • The deep, backstory-rich NPC's the GM makes getting killed off anticlimactically.
    • Jim's characters have been subject to They Killed Kenny - see entry below.
  • The Scottish Trope: The game referenced in the footer of this strip. It's FATAL.
  • Shaped Like Itself: episode 1111:

Pete: This is like... a betrayal.
GM: Being betrayed is like a betrayal?

"Cyborgs under my command!"

Boba: Why couldn't you just shoot him?
Jango: What sort of criminal mastermind would I be if I did that?

    • And here, Nute Gunray says Ben, Jim, and Annie should be shot instead of eaten by beasts.
  • Stop Helping Me!: Used by Annie against Pete on this page.
  • Strange Minds Think Alike: In episode 697 Corey wonders why droids aren't simply called robots, just like Jim did back in episode 3.
  • Summon Bigger Fish: The Trope Namer, although Jim only thinks it's that trope.
  • Sure, Let's Go with That: Jim, as Padmé, puts a hairpin in his mouth in-character. When Ben applauds his idea to pick the lock, Jim notes that's a better idea than his (which was faking a medical emergency, of course).
  • Sure Why Not: Half the plot is based on this, thanks to the GM's free hand with his players' inventions. It's used verbatim when Qui-Gon comes up with a patently ridiculous explanation of the Force involving midi-chlorians, and when Sally invents, off the top of her head, The Dark Side. Conversely, it's used by Jim when the other players assume Padmé is pregnant after some very vague roleplaying.
    • Many descriptions of creatures (mainly from Sally) and terrain (from Jim, who's a geologist) also happen this way.

Jim: Large ring objects imply a very young planet. Barren, with rugged topography. And volcanoes!
GM: O-kay... *scribble scribble*

Anakin: So, what are you up to?
Grievous: My armpits in incompetence!

"I vow never to hurt you. Ever. I won't be jealous, or arrogant, or manipulative towards you." That's going to turn out well.

    • Also, Pete:

R2-D2: I'd be half-way to taking over the Republic by now: I'd add a backdoor control mechanism, outsource production to three independent contractors on Kamino, ensure the Senate are distracted by some meaningless invasion somewhere, and cover my tracks with fake blueprints.
beat
R2-D2: What?

    • And from Jim:

Padmé: Yes. I will help you bring Anakin to justice. After all, you are the only thing standing between Anakin and complete domination of the galaxy. On his own, obviously, without me faithfully by his side. Seeing as I'm Good.
Obi-Wan: Indeed.
Padmé: I'll just go and talk to him in advance and make sure he's not ready for you.

Annie: Um, okay... Let me just get into the right mindset.
Qui-Gon/Jim: With my mini-chlorines in your blood, you can't lose.
Anakin/Annie: Yippeee!
Annie: Sorry, wait. That line doesn't work at all for this character.

Padmé: (To Obi-Wan) Did you throw away a perfectly good blaster?

  • Time Skip: Attack of the Clones takes place after two years of "real time". There's another two-year time skip between episodes II and III, and presumably there will be more two-year time skips between the other episodes.
  • Timmy in a Well: Spoofed in this strip.
  • Title Drop: Palpatine does one... sort of... in this strip. Not quite done in this strip.
  • Tomato in the Mirror: Possibly Mace Windu, who seemed shocked when Anakin stated that he's Gunray's sleeper agent.
  • Too Many Halves: In this strip, Jim improvisationally describes Wookiees as being "kind of half-ape, half-dog, half-yeti hybrids." Pete notes that this makes them one-and-a-half times as big as you'd expect.
  • True Companions: For all their bickering, it's clear that the GM and players really do love gaming together.
  • Turn in Your Badge: While the actual phrase doesn't occur, the Jedi Council suspends Ben and Annie.
  • Tyke Bomb: Boba seems to be becoming one.

U-Z

Anakin: Do we hear the people sing?
Padmé: Is it the song of angry bugs?

Yoda: Remedial course in Jedi Ethics, you need.

    • Done out of character to Annie by Pete.
  • Why Don't You Marry It?: In episode 678 C-3PO asks R2-D2 why he doesn't marry his beloved dreadnought. Turns out R2-D2 thought about it.
  • Women Are Wiser: Annie spends most of her time rather closer to Terra Firma than the rest of the group. It's later revealed that outside of the group, she's not quite as reasonable and completely together as it might seem. The fact that Ben is slightly more reliable than she is, both in character and out, helps balance it out as well.
  • Wretched Hive

Pete: Oh how I love stock descriptions.


And, of course, all Star Wars tropes apply whenever they spring up in the collaboratively-developed story.

  1. ↑ It's interesting to note, of course, that this is perhaps more appropriate for this comic rather than DM of the Rings since The Lord of the Rings is recognized for the coherence and quality of its plot (eagles perhaps excepted), whereas Star Wars, particularly the prequel trilogy... isn't.
  2. ↑ He's also pursuing a master's degree in geophysics. In Pete's words, he relaxes by doing things that let him turn his brain off
  3. ↑ Harry Potter, The Sound of Music, X-Men, Aliens, The Wizard Of Oz, 300, Avatar, Terminator, Jaws, Casablanca, The Muppet Movie, Inception, Pirates of the Caribbean, Back to the Future and Futurama.
  4. ↑ Yet.
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