Pros: Hilarity; funny characters; oddly endearing style; handy gaming extras
Cons: Not the most amazing artwork; extras mostly relevant to “HackMaster”
Rating: 4 out of 5
First published 4/24/2001
Knights of the Dinner Table is a hilariously torturous journey through a long, winding amusement park. The laughs build up on each other. The stories go on for a while, keeping you giggling with each part of the joke. It’s a gaming comic book (and more), and it’s well worth a read.
KoDT runs stories about a number of continuing characters with hilarious personalities. They’re the extremes of gamerdom, sure, but it’s hard not to recognize something of each of them in the people we game with (or even, uh-oh, ourselves). We cringe a little when Bob gets all paranoid about possible traps in the dungeon room. We wince (or maybe cheer) when Brian derails the GM’s plans with his intimate knowledge of all the weird little corner-case rules. And we roll our eyes when B.A. comes up with some really bizarre new idea for how to run the game.
There are even foot-notes for those occasions when you’re missing the back-story to lend context to what you’re reading. Better than that, these aren’t needed all that often.
Of course, comics aren’t the only things you’ll find in KoDT. There are interesting editorials and mail from the readers. Unlike some magazines I could mention, the makers of KoDT take reader mail seriously rather than making fun of their fans – an unfortunately refreshing change these days. You can send mail for this section by either email or snail mail. There are also pages of readers’ announcements.
Some of the advertisements have accompanying KoDT comics to go with them, making them much more entertaining than your average magazine’s ads. More amazingly, I found that many of the ads were for things that actually interested me! That’s rare, too, these days.
ometimes you’ll find references to interesting web pages on roleplaying, or information about new games that are coming out. Sometimes there are little comic strips written by fans, or industry rumors and news. You can find out which conventions the KoDT staff can be found at.
Perhaps most amusing to me is that the characters of this strip have long been playing a game called Hackmaster. Thanks to Kenzerco Hackmaster is becoming a reality, and you can now order your very own copy! A great deal of supplemental Hackmaster material has also been added to KoDT.
KoDT has a huge fan following, and I can see why. This is a fun set of strips, interesting and hilarious, well worth reading. Pick up a copy at your local gaming store today, and see what all the fuss is about!
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