Erfworld: The Battle for Gobwin Knob is a fantasy/comedy story-driven webcomic written by Rob Balder (the author of PartiallyClips) and illustrated by Jamie Noguchi. It is hosted on Giant in the Playground Games,^[1] along with Rich Burlew's The Order of the Stick. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... An author is any person(s) or entity(s) that originates and assumes responsibility for an expression or communication. ... A website (alternatively, Web site or web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos and other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a LAN. A Web page is a document, typically written in HTML... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... is the 341st day of the year (342nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The webcomic genres are the types of themes a webcomic can take. ... Smaug in his lair: an illustration for the fantasy The Hobbit Fantasy is a genre of art that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. ... The word comedy has a classical meaning (comical theatre) and a popular one (the use of humor with an intent to provoke laughter in general). ... In contemporary usage, a parody (or lampoon) is a work that imitates another work in order to ridicule, ironically comment on, or poke some affectionate fun at the work itself, the subject of the work, the author or fictional voice of the parody, or another subject. ... Webcomics, also known as online comics and internet comics, are comics that are available to read on the Internet. ... PartiallyClips is a webcomic created by Rob Balder. ... The Order of the Stick, nicknamed OotS, is a comedic fantasy webcomic based on pencil and paper roleplaying games, particularly Dungeons and Dragons, and its accompanying system, D20 . ...

Erfworld follows a graphic novel format, with a new "page" released every update. A parallel work called Parson's Klog reveals the main protagonist's diary entries. "Klog" appears to be an abbreviation of "booklog," much like "blog" is an abbreviation of "weblog". The setting is Erfworld, a fantasy world that adheres to the rules of a turn-based strategy wargame. The narrative itself is surreal and referential. The comic's humor largely revolves around strategy-fantasy video games, role-playing games, popular culture references, and historical references, with frequent puns and side-gags, as well as letter changes in frequently used names (spidews, dwagons and twolls instead of spiders, dragons and trolls, for example). Trade paperback of Will Eisners A Contract with God (1978), often mistakenly cited as the first graphic novel. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A turn-based game, also known as turn-based strategy (TBS), is a game where the game flow is partitioned into well-defined and visible parts, called turns or rounds. ... This article is about computer and video games. ... This article is about games in which one plays the role of a character. ... Popular culture, sometimes called pop culture, consists of widespread cultural elements in any given society. ... Diversity 111 families, 40,000 species Suborders Mesothelae Mygalomorphae Araneomorphae  See table of families Closeup image of a Wolf Spider Wikispecies has information related to: Spiders Spiders are predatory invertebrate animals that have two body segments, eight legs, no chewing mouth parts and no wings. ... Chinese dragon, color engraving on wood, Chinese school, 19th Century The dragon is a mythical creature typically depicted as a large and powerful serpent or other reptile with magical or spiritual qualities. ... Troll statue in the forest near Geilo, Norway A troll is a member of a fearsome humanoid race from Scandinavian folklore, and its predecessor Norse mythology, as in The Three Billy Goats Gruff [1], the well-known Scandinavian folk tale in which a troll living under a bridge torments some...

Erfworld's plot, setting, and characters are released under a Creative Commons Attribution, Noncommercial, ShareAlike license.^[2] The Creative Commons (CC) is a non-profit organization devoted to expanding the range of creative work available for others legally to build upon and share. ...

Plot synopsis

After a brief description of the origins of Erfworld, the comic begins with the Battle of Warchalking, a military conflict between the forces of Stanley the Plaid and Marbit (and possibly other) forces. The battle ends in defeat for the Plaid, when his warlord is slain. Left without leadership, Stanley the Plaid and his chief adviser Wanda Firebaugh use a powerful and expensive "Summon Perfect Warlord" spell, summoning Parson Gotti to fill the role.

Meanwhile, Prince Ansom, the leader of a coalition against Stanley the Plaid, and Jillian Zamussels, a female barbarian officer in his forces, plan their final assault on Stanley's capital city, Gobwin Knob. Jillian is sent ahead to scout on a flying unit, followed by (unknown to her) heavy ground forces as emergency backup. Zamussels is attacked by a squadron of dwagons, captured, and taken to Gobwin Knob, where Firebaugh interrogates her. The ground forces that Prince Ansom sent to aid Zamussels continue to follow her trail, reporting the situation to Ansom as they learn more about her disappearance.

After concluding the interrogation, Wanda deliberately releases Jillian, confident of her psychological domination of the barbarian, as a trap to try to capture Ansom. The trap fails when Ansom, on the advice of Vinny Doombats, one of his warlords, decides against personally leading the expedition to retrieve Jillian. However, the plan is a partial success in that Ansom does send most of his flying forces, leaving his main force vulnerable to Stanley's dwagons.

Taking advantage of the column's lack of air cover, Parson sends a group of dwagons and warlords to make hit-and-run raids on the approaching column. They surgically target heavy siege units, degrading the enemy's ability to effectively attack Gobwin Knob's defenses. In response, Vinny sends bats to scout, and discovers a ring of dwagons in the nearby forest. Inferring that this ring has been deployed to protect the wounded dwagons from the raiding force, Ansom assembles a force to punch through at the far side (its weakest point) and attack them while they are still damaged.

However, Ansom's force finds nothing inside the circle. The ring formation is a trick (in fact, the wounded dwagons are hovering over a lake, out of reach of non-flying enemy units). Ansom considers his options for salvaging the situation.

Characters

• Stanley the Tool, aka Lord Stanley The Plaid: Overlord of the city of Gobwin Knob, and of the nearly lost Plaid tribe.^[3] He possesses the Arkenhammer, a mysterious tool of divine origin.^[4][5] Lord Stanley is involved in an ongoing war in an effort to find the other Arkentools, believing it is the will of the Titans he control them. Unfortunately for him, this war has reduced his realm from eleven cities to only Gobwin Knob itself.^[6] He had Wanda summon "the perfect warlord" in an attempt to win the battle for Gobwin Knob, which yielded Parson Gotti.^[7][8] In Stanley's first meeting with Parson, Parson convinced him that "tool" was a term of honor. Drawing a connection between this title and his search for the Arkentools, Stanley declared that he should henceforth be addressed as "Tool".^[9] Stanley objects strongly to being called a "bad guy,"^[10] and considers himself to be divinely favored by the Titans.^[11] Stanley's underlings often suffer from his unchecked ego and limited patience, as well as his limited intelligence.

• Wanda Firebaugh: Chief Croakamancer serving Lord Stanley.^[12] She is a patient and skilled manager,^[3] though she is not above using seduction as a means of manipulating others.^[13] She is skilled at many types of magic, but has stated that only Croakamancy (which she uses to animate fighters "croaked" in battle as "uncroaked"^[14]) holds any interest for her.^[15] She was the one who suggested using the warlord summoning spell, and cast the spell that drew Parson into Erfworld.^[8] As a Croakamancer, she was not ideally trained for the casting of the Summon Perfect Warlord Findamancer spell, and the warlord she summoned (Parson) did not match Stanley's expectations.^[16] She has been described by Stanley as a skilled torturer and interrogator;^[17] after questioning Jillian Zamussels, she reported that she had obtained the entire enemy battle plan and that she controlled Zamussels' mind.^[18]

• Parson Gotti aka Lord Hamster: Depicted as the author of the webcomic Hamstard^[19] (actually created by the authors of Erfworld as a meta-background for Parson's character and as an "easter egg"). Parson spends months at a time designing strategy games for his own amusement as an escape from an unsatisfying job and life.^[7] He was summoned to Erfworld by Wanda on Lord Stanley's orders, called by a spell meant to summon "the ultimate warlord". Parson is large by Erfworld standards, standing roughly twice as tall as Wanda Firebaugh.^[9] His name is an anagram for "Protagonist".

• Prince Ansom: Chief Warlord to King Slately^[3] and the leader of a coalition force fighting against Stanley.^[20] He is a skilled leader, but severely lacking in modesty. His crest is a radish. He carries the Arkenpliers, though he is not attuned to them, and thus cannot use their full abilities.^[21] He has a history of personally riding to Jillian's rescue,^[22] and Wanda believes he is in love with her.^[18]

• Jillian Zamussels: A female barbarian and warlord, fighting for the army of Prince Ansom. She has been known to engage in combat even when directed to avoid it.^[23][24] She has an unrealistically oversized sword.^[3] Her personal relationship with Prince Ansom is unclear; she declined Ansom's invitation to join him in his tent, but later that night approached it, stopped, and walked away.^[25] Jillian has a reputation for being frequently captured by the enemy. She chats casually with Wanda after being tortured and interrogated by her,^[26] but later suddenly breaks down and collapses. It is revealed that Wanda is able to influence her feelings and thoughts. ^[27]

• Sizemore Rockwell: A Dirtamancer in the armies of Gobwin Knob.^[3] He is very curious and loves to study all types of magic, but is unskilled in any beyond his specialty.^[15] He has helped Parson learn how magic works in Erfworld (insofar as the Erfworlders themselves understand it), but knows little about military matters.^[28][29]

• Bogroll: A one-eyed twoll who serves as a guardsman in Gobwin Knob and lackey to Parson.^[30] He is loyal and typically good-natured, although a frequent target of the other guardsmen's pranks.^[4] Bogroll was a character in the PartiallyClips strip ^[31], and is the only known crossover between PartiallyClips and Erfworld. His name is a British English colloquialism for toilet paper.

• Vinny Doombats: A count who fights for the coalition, Vinny seems to be a vampire (though sunlight apparently does not harm him). Vinny has few qualms about speaking frankly, in a colorful accent and colloquial slang, to Prince Ansom, to whom he seems to be a top advisor. He has confronted Ansom with his opinion that Stanley's commoner origins, not his military aggressions against several coalition members, are at the root of Ansom's antipathy toward Stanley, while assuring Ansom that this issue would not affect his personal loyalty.^[32] As his name implies, he controls the coalition's bat scouting units.

The word tool may be used as an insult, describing someone who is being used by an establishment willingly (as a sycophant), unwillingly (as one who blindly conforms), or as a geek. Tool was popularized as slang in the 1990s and 2000s by David Johnson, arguably the biggest tool ever... Necromancy is divination by raising the spirits of the dead. ... Undead is a collective name for mythological beings that are deceased yet behave as if alive. ... A warlord is a person with power who has de facto military control of a subnational area due to armed forces loyal to the warlord and not to a central authority. ... A virtual Easter egg is a hidden message or feature in an object such as a movie, book, CD, DVD, computer program, or video game. ... Binomial name L. This article is about the vegetable. ... A zanbatō (斬馬刀, lit. ... Geomancy (from the Latin geo, Earth, mancy prophecy) is a method of divination to interpret markings on the ground or how handfuls of dirt land when you toss them. ... Polyphemus the Cyclops. ... PartiallyClips is a webcomic created by Rob Balder. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A count is a nobleman in most European countries, equivalent in rank to a British earl, whose wife is also still a countess (for lack of an Anglo-Saxon term). ...

Known Arkentools

There are four Arkentools known to be in existence,^[33] but only two have so far been positively identified in the comics.

• Arkenhammer: A hammer resembling a toy croquet mallet. Owned by and attuned to Stanley the Plaid/Tool, the Arkenhammer has the power to control dwagons, to glow brightly, to levitate along with its wielder, and to turn approximately 20 percent of walnuts cracked with it into pigeons. Stanley claims the Arkenhammer has chosen him for divine reasons, and uses this as rationale for his quest to obtain the other tools.
• Arkenpliers: A sword-sized pair of needle-nose pliers. Owned by but not attuned to Prince Ansom, they serve as a close combat weapon and have the power to "turn most Uncroaked to dust". Their hidden powers are currently unknown. Stanley believes that Ansom's attack on Gobwin Knob is divinely directed to bring the Arkenpliers to him.

Winslow Homer: Croquet, 1864 Croquet is a recreational game and, latterly, a competitive sport that involves hitting wooden or plastic balls with a mallet through hoops embedded into the grass playing arena. ... Pigeon redirects here. ... Needle-nose pliers are both cutting and gripping pliers used by electricians and other tradespersons to bend, re-position and cut wire. ...

Boop

One of the more unusual features of the Erfworld universe is that it appears to be censored. When Parson is summoned to the world, he discovers almost immediately that whenever he attempts to use a word that could be considered a profanity it comes out as "Boop". It is clear from Parson's reaction that this is an in-universe mechanic. ^[16] Look up Profanity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

The natives of Erfworld apparently understand that the word represents profanity, but it is unclear whether they understand each boop as the word Parson had intended to use. Sizemore is the only character to have responded appropriately to a word that was "booped out," but it is possible he determined the word's meaning from the context. ^[34]

Recognition

Despite being a "young" webcomic, Erfworld has been recognised by several sources and webcomic authorities. Other webcomics authors such as Howard Tayler of Schlock Mercenary^[35] and Mohammad "Hawk" Haque of Applegeeks^[36] have posted reviews and comments about Erfworld, and it has been cited on numerous webcomic sites such as Comixpedia^[37] and Fleen,^[38] by authors outside the webcomic field such as Jonathan Coulton, ^[39] and by Time-Blog and Time author/journalist Lev Grossman in his articles "Webcomics are the New Blogs"^[40] and "Erfworld: It's a Boopin' Good Webcomic!"^[41] The addition of Erfworld to GiantITP was noted in "First Watch," Dragon Magazine's monthly section on new developments in gaming and entertainment.^[42] Schlock Mercenary is a webcomic by Howard Tayler that follows the adventures of a mercenary company aboard a starship in a 31st-century space opera setting. ... Mohammad Hawk Haque, along with Ananth Panagariya, authors webcomic Applegeeks. ... Applegeeks is a webcomic illustrated by Mohammad Hawk Haque, and written by Ananth Panagariya. ... Fleens are a fictional race from the Zoombinis series made by The Learning Company. ... Jonathan Coulton is a folk rock singer-songwriter. ... Time (whose trademark is capitalized TIME) is a weekly American newsmagazine, similar to Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report. ... Lev Grossman is an American writer, notably the author of Codex. ... The cover of the 300th issue Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products. ...

References

is the 180th day of the year (181st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is now the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 341st day of the year (342nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... is the 180th day of the year (181st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is now the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 180th day of the year (181st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is now the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... September 8 is the 251st day of the year (252nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 180th day of the year (181st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is now the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... Stacked chamber pots A chamber pot (also a john, a chamberpot, a jordan, a po (from French pot de chambre) or simply a potty) consists of a bowl-shaped container with a handle kept in the bedroom under a bed or in the cabinet of a nightstand and used as... Schlock Mercenary is a webcomic by Howard Tayler that follows the adventures of a mercenary company aboard a starship in a 31st-century space opera setting. ... is the 14th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is now the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 180th day of the year (181st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is now the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... Applegeeks is a webcomic illustrated by Mohammad Hawk Haque, and written by Ananth Panagariya. ... is the 341st day of the year (342nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... is the 180th day of the year (181st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is now the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... December 4th redirects here. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... is the 180th day of the year (181st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is now the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... Fleens are a fictional race from the Zoombinis series made by The Learning Company. ... January 19 is the 19th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is now the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 180th day of the year (181st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is now the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... Jonathan Coulton is a folk rock singer-songwriter. ... January 17 is the 17th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is now the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 180th day of the year (181st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is now the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... Lev Grossman is an American writer, notably the author of Codex. ... Time (whose trademark is capitalized TIME) is a weekly American newsmagazine, similar to Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report. ... is the 31st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is now the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 180th day of the year (181st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is now the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 100th day of the year (101st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is now the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 180th day of the year (181st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is now the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ...

External links

• Erfworld
• The main cast of characters