KODT is the only vaguely gaming item that I have purchased consistently and regularly for many years. I think the first edition I have is number 21 and in real terms its format hasn't changed a great deal from that day to this.
The Knights themselves are an invention of Jolly Blackburn, written as a filler for Shadis magazine many years ago. The strip was actually syndicated by TSR for their own Dragon magazine - this is where most of us wil have gotten their first taste.
For those not in the know its a comic strip about the dysfunctional doings of a gaming group, and it's surrounding community including the local store, the Games Pit. Also involved are Hard 8 - the company that produce "Hackmaster", their game of choice and its many and varied execs including one Gary Jackson, a kind of rockstar games developer, with more than a few character flaws.
There are a few off-shoot groups, itinerant gamers and assorted hangers-on, many of whom have played lesser or greater parts over the years. Some seem to drop in and out randomly, some you feel are bit-part players who take centre stage for a short while. The characterisation is the thing that makes KODT great (The art certainly isn't the greatest, though it has improved over the years). You really have an affinity for the individuals that make up the main group. I won't go into details as you should read it yourself but all of the gaming tropes are there - I'm sure we could all recognise many of these guys from our teenage gaming groups, warts and all.
Of course most people reading this will know that Hackmaster is a real, and quite serious game produced by Kenzer and co. I have no experience of the newer game but the older edition was a wonderful thing to behold - a direct parody of 1st edition AD&D (Not sure of the full details but their was a deal struck which had something to do with TSR or WOTC releasing the Dragon Magazine CD ROM but not getting Blackburn's permission to reprint the strips). If you can get hold of the Gamemasters Guide and Players Handbook I would thoroughly reccommend it - a great read - Nuclear Winter Fireball anyone?!
Anyway I won't go on terribly much - as I say I reccommend the magazine for the strips alone (The rest is mainly filler to me now) - The best thing you could do is pick up some of the Bundles of Trouble; anthologies of 3 or 4 issues giving just the strips - This would definitely be the direction I would take if I were starting buying them again now.
Until the next time - may all your hit be crits!!
Carl
Here's my 25mm KODT minis - There is a good chance they will never get painted!
