RPG World is a popular
webcomic by Ian Jones-Quartey. The comic was started in
August 2000, and updates 3 days a week - Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. It was recently promoted to a
Keenspot comic after a year on the regular
comic hosting service,
Keenspace. RPG World is drawn in pencil and ink, and colored in Photoshop 6. Ian is currently a senior in high school.
RPG World is an RPG portrayed as a comic - the characters in the RPG are the main focus, as they go along on their quest, "whatever that may be." The comic stars four main characters:
The hero: A nameless warrior, searching for answers. Like his hairstylist's other customer from FF7, Cloud, he is an ex-soldier of an evil corporation, who was brainwashed and fired. He searches the world to vanquish the evil war horde, and gain allies to his party.
Cherry: Cherry is a thief, who joined the hero early on because of her desire for money. Her history is shadowy and mysterious, but she is the only one in the party who has common sense, e.g.: she can't understand battle transitions, she is amazed she doesn't die when shot at point-blank range with a rifle, and she doesn't understand how she can heal all her wounds after a few seconds of sleep in an inn. She has confessed her love for the hero before, yet the game reset and her confession turned out to never happen.
Diane: Diane joined the party as a harlot wandering the streets of "Town #1," but soon forgot about her hourly rate when she developed affection for the hero. She ran away from a noble lifestyle of quarreling parents, and was found by other harlots. But she found she is actually a mage, after being given a magical staff by a wise old man.
Eikre: Eikre is a rogue who joined the pary during a tough battle. He is attracted like a magnet to Cherry, although all his attempts to woo her fail miserably. He seems very suspicious, though, because he appeared before the party right after the villain, Galgarion (see below), took a potion to make himself more appealing towards the party (Galgarion also finds Cherry cute).
Dragobo: The cute fuzzy thing - a mix between a chocobo and a dragon. It hatched from an egg after the hero and Cherry killed its mom. (How sad. I hadn't thought of it that way.)
Reka: An expert on machines, she works with her crew of robots in her futuristic sea-faring ship. She wants to avenge her father, killed by Galgarion. She supposedly speaks with a British accent, so she says "bugger" and "blimey" occasionally.
Galgarion: The main villain of the story. He wants the good party's soul, for some generic evil reason. He is also an ex-soldier of the evil coporation that the hero was employed at, and has possession of the legendary Phoenix Book. He has a major crush on Cherry.
Howard (Wigglebottom): A "mubble." (Not a moogle, because Ian doesn't want to be sued by Squaresoft!) He sidetracked the party by offering to help the party, then ran away with the Dragobo, to find the rest of his kind, which was locked up in cages by the evil cat-girl, Detestai.
Detestai: An evil cat-girl, followed by her anthropomorphic grunts, Larry and Earl. She used to be Galgarion's girlfriend, but Galgarion dumped her. Her plan to capture all the mubbles were foiled by Howard and Dragobo. Detestai has a split personality - when she has glasses on, she is a total bitch; when her glasses are off, she is a total angel who loves to hug cute things (like the Dragobo).
Evil Soldier #347: An NPC who was fired by Galgarion. He decides to reveal Eikre as Galgarion in disguise. He meets up with Plum on his journey.
Plum: A human-hating elf. She wants to find the party for her own reasons. She meets Evil Soldier #347 on her journey.
"Times Are Tough" Guy: "TAT" Guy is an NPC living in Town #1. He is doomed to a life at the bar, repeating the phrase "*Sigh*. Times are tough." Cherry finds a way to have a long conversation with him, anyway.
RPG World has a wide following, including a sub-web-comic made by members of its forum, titled RPG World World. The RPG World Show is also in the works - a vocal rendition of the episodes of RPG World.
After its first year, the "first disc" ended, and a mini-series called "Jim" started. Jim is the guy who plays RPG World, and the mini-series is made with actual photos of "Jim." During his intermission between discs, he finds that bias between game consoles is bad, strategy guides are evil, and never to do drugs!
RPG World will probably continue for a few more years, until the game is over. Until then, you can read it at http://www.rpgworldcomic.com .