Homestesque
is a forum adventure based loosely on Homestuck. It's a reader-driven D&D session based on Homestuck, and features four kids playing an MMORPG called SQuest that's a tad more realistic than they thought it would be.
Although the medium and art style mimic Homestuck, 'Stesque is entirely original in terms of characters, plot, setting and species. It takes place in the same universe as SBurb, and many of the mechanics (names on 13th birthday, captchaloguing, strife specibus systems, etc) are the same. 'Stesque also incorporates a whole bunch of new laws based on D&D, though.
Now three threads long. Updates stopped for several months in favor of the making of [REDACTED], something big related to the comic.
On March 30th, 2014, author PaperHelmet canceled the adventure, citing burnout and "REDACTED" ending up too much to handle (?????). He moved on to a new adventure, M.S.T.T.E.
This comic provides examples of:
- Accidental Proposal: The glass trinkets. It's cleared rather quickly, and the trinkets are then used for an actual, intentional proposal.
- The Alleged Computer: Tyler has an Unbelievably Shitty Laptop with a CRT screen.
- Author Avatar: Paper Helmet turns up on the forum to capture lurkers or (occasionally) obey reader commands. It's usually not included on the mirror, though. There have also been forum parties.
- Cast of Snowflakes: Crowd scenes are fun for this very reason.
- Cool Shades: Dash of the Landstar Order. His name is even an anagram for "skater shades".
- Damsel in Distress: Played with by the Damsels. They are picked at random from the group when the game starts and can be of either gender. They are supposed to sit out the game until rescued and are passed over for getting character classes and powers, but the Resistance isn't willing to just sit idly by and wait. Lastly, the Big Bad, the Mistress, is just another Damsel who was corrupted by a set of artifacts she found.
- Hipster: Huck is of the "more obscure than thou" type. Tyler shows strong shades of this when Huck preemptively slights his taste in music, and they get into Passive-Aggressive Kombat over it.
- Improbable Weapon User:
- Being of the same universe as Homestuck, not surprising. We have hatKind, bassKind, clockKind, lighterKind, blockKind, hckystckKind and oilcanKind, to name a few.
- Subverted by Sarah. While it appears at first that she uses fistKind for incredible kung-fu skills, she actually uses clockKind to channel those same skills. It turns out she has wristwatches on every limb, allowing her to use any part of her body as a weapon. Take away her watches and she loses her martial arts...
- Overly Long Name: Kristina Alyssa Regina Athena Gooseberry IV. Huck Phineas Irving Sterfing.
- Parody Sue: Lampshaded for Sarah in the linked intro above. She doesn't have the standard tragic
Mary Sue past. Instead, she has the awesome one. Plus, instead of overshadowing her friends, she's stuck Out of Focus, playing Damsel in Distress for most of the adventure. On the other hand, her necklace is a major plot trinket inside the game, and Sarah has some idea of what that means, making her very special after all.
- Puzzle Boss: The doll from the Cave of Baby Steps. It just needs a hug.
- Say Your Prayers: Sarah prays to the others after the Matriarch turns up.
- Shout-Out: Clint wants you to know that fezzes are cool.
- Squishy Wizard: Andre Cementi, but Reggie is so fragile that he frequently hurts his tongue just talking.
- The Stoner: Zig-zagged by Kristina. She has a pot addiction but it's really a punny addiction to archaeology and urns. On the other hand, she does collect some psychedelic mushrooms when digging for later.
- Take That!: After a discussion about the secret-keeping skills of eight-year-olds in relation to secret bases:Last time a large group of you left that way, a younger DAMSEL nearly blurted it out in front of M'S LEFT HAND, so you can never be too careful.
- Third Line, Some Waiting: The plot focuses mostly on the core three and the Damsels, but also shows a second session being started.
- Valley Girl: Sammy Copper, like, ends every sentence in a question mark? even if its like, not a question?
- Verbal Tic: Rather than the Leet Lingo of Homestuck, Homestesque uses verbal tics and alternate spellings to represent accents.
