Knights of the Dinner Table Bundle of Trouble Volume 3

Brian Jelke

Steve Johansson

Jolly Blackburn

David Kenzer

Kenzer & Company

Knights of the Dinner Table: Bundle of Trouble Vol. 5

Kenzer and Company

Hoody hoo! This 128-page perfectbound trade paperback contains all four issues worth of classic strips from Knights of the Dinner Table #135 to #138, crammed between two covers! It's always a great time to pick up these hysterically funny strips, so don't miss out on this incredible addition to any gamer's bookshelf!

Knights of the Dinner Table: Bundle of Trouble Volume 40

David S Kenzer and Brian Jelke

We ve got a great batch of issues assembled for this volume of Bundle of Trouble (#147-#150) including the celebratory double-issue, #150! There s a lot crammed into this volume so I ll only highlight some of my personal favorites. Issue 147 continues the on-going story line centering around the Wurld of Hackcraft from the previous volumes. I had a lot of fun working on the parody of WOW. One thing I really liked about it is the fact it spans across many groups/characters in the MuncieverseTM many of which we seldom get to see playing and interacting together. I also enjoyed Hard Eight s meddling in the action and the behinds the scenes management of the overall game. This issue also kicks off a new BlackHands story arc Nitro taking a rare departure from his game of choice (HackMaster) and running his group through some Cattlepunk. I tell you, as a writer, sometimes you just hate a storyline. Maybe it fights you when you re trying to beat it into submission and get it in the deadline cage, or maybe it just doesn t turn out the way you had envisioned it. I ll confess that at the time I really wasn t happy with this arc. But having just re-read it, I have to say I m really proud of it. I don t often laugh at my own work but I found myself doing so many times on this one. The edition wars sparked by the new edition of HackMaster that spans the issues in this volume were of course inspired by the real world knee jerking to D&amp;D 4e. Edition wars are just part of our hobby and they make great fodder for KODT. They also made a great excuse to revisit Hard Eight s Gamer Gulags when there was an uprising and Wes was taken hostage. Issue 150 happens to have a few of my favorite strips. The sequel to B.A. s pirate campaign was meant to be a 5 to 6 page nod to, Luck of the Macaw from issue #5 of KODT. But like so many strips it took a life of its own. In fact a LOT of material ended up being culled and put to the side. Maybe we ll see further adventures of the HackBeth and her crew down the road. The strip, I Believe, I Believe began as a short idea submitted by reader (Joseph Trowbridge). When I gave it to my wife and asked her to expand upon it for KODT#150, it turned into something that would impact KODT for years to come. The fact that Patty has a wicked sense of humor and a bit of a mean streak is made clear here. That mean streak got pulled into Torment by Proxy , which I wrote AFTER seeing what Barb had turned in. It was an interesting side of Patty one that we ve actually seen hints of over they years (The Mommy Mommy, I wet myself ring tone for example). But I Believe, I Believe brought it out in the open and shed some light on it. Some readers noted that KODT#150 was something of a Rise of the Women affair with the guys getting their just reward. -Jolly Blackburn

Knights of the Dinner Table: Bundle of Trouble vol. 43

(A compilation of KODT issues #151-154) This volume of Bundles of Trouble starts off with the return of a character who had been absent from the pages of the comic for almost, nine years! The subsequent issues deal with how the Muncieverse deals with that character s return from death and the events he sets in motion. I thought running the original editorial (in part) would be appropriate here. If you don t like spoilers you might want to read the strips in this issue first and then come back (although the cover and title of this issue are pretty much a spoiler in themselves). The big question on many readers minds the last two months has been Is Gary Jackson alive? Issue #149 cruelly ended with a bit of a cliff hanger as a familiar looking shadow of somebody from the past greeted Jo Jo Zeke. Since then we ve been flooded with emails and posts on our forums as to what the shadow really meant and exactly who it was. There have been some interesting theories. One of the most popular is that the shadow belonged to Timmy Jackson (all grown up). Others still proposed it was a dream sequence and Jo Jo was in a drunken stupor. Okay so now it can be finally told Gary IS alive. I won t give away all the hows and whys here most of that will be revealed in the coming issues as the tale unfolds. I will say this Gary s return has been planned for 8 years and wasn t something just recently contrived. In fact, if you go back to the strip with Gary s funeral in issue #55 (We ve Become Orphans), the first clues are right there. The fact is we ve been laying down clues in the strips for the last 8 years. Those paying close attention may have noted the newspaper Sheila was reading in Issue 137 for example . Or the intern, Jack Grayson , who has been listed in the Table of Contents of KODT for the better part of 5 years (Waco once commented about Jack, He s good. He s Gary Good.) That last panel in issue 149 (BOT Volume 43) had been a long time coming. And when the Hard Eight story arc escalated a year or so ago when things kicked into gear, we feared we had tipped our hand and readers would figure it out. And of course last March when the strip appeared with Jo Jo brooding over an unopened bottle of Scotch on the anniversary of Gary s death it was a bit of sad irony (and quite by coincidence) that Gary Gygax happened to pass away a few days after that same issue went to press. Our fear was that readers would wrongly assume the strip (and the story arc around it) was somehow trying to bank on the news. Speaking of Gary Gygax, when he learned we had killed off Gary Jackson back in 2001, he gave me a hard time about it. He liked the character, he explained. Steve Jackson thinks he s Gary. But everyone knows he s me. he joked in an email. The truth is (as I ve written many times), Gee-Jay was initially based on MANY people I ve known over the years both in the gaming industry and out (including a former boss I once had who referred to himself as Top Cat). Since that time he s managed to grow and become a unique personality in his own right, I think. At any rate, it s good to have him back. Let the games begin. And apparently, (based on emails), a lot of you agree. One other thing I d like to mention about that original issue just as we were going to press, news arrived that Dave Arneson (co-creator of D&D) passed away. We knew we couldn t let the moment pass without some sort of nod to the man who had helped bring so much magic and friendship into our lives. A likeness of Dave was added (that s him raising a beer to Gary as he jumps the shark ) by the Fraim Brothers. Jolly R. Blackburn

Knights of the Dinner Table: Bundle of Trouble vol. 44

Knights of the Dinner Table: Bundle of Trouble vol. 45

This Bundle of Trouble covers some great issues, 159-162. We start out with one of my favorite covers, an homage to the television show Chuck, whose assistant director, David Trotti, is a KODT fan. He introduced many Kenzer and Company Easter Eggs into the background setting on the show, including putting the logo on a phone booth in a foreign country, using Kenzer and Company forum members screen names on a wipey board in a hospital scene, and putting fake Hackmaster video games in the Buy More.  In addition, this issue provides us with a continuation of one of my favorite Cattle Punk storylines. In this issue, Gordo becomes emotionally overwrought as they approach a town and where the townsfolk open up on the cattle herd with Gatling guns. His reaction to the slaughter is priceless. Other highlights of these issues are Brian getting his hands on Dave s character El Mardico for $50, after deducing that the magic user has been invited into the Circle of Sequestered Magicks, the Knights trying to desecrate a statue of Lord Barringer while trapped in Bag Wurld, and Dave s beloved El Ravager makes his grand entrance as El Ravager the XVIII re-uniting the Untouchable Trio as Bob and Brian play new versions of Knuckles and Burgundy Lotus. Pete gets even more immersed in the Wurld of Hackcraft, to the point of hiring Squirrely to mine for gold for him. Nitro is summoned to Gamer Court for his Gary Con fiasco. Gary Jackson and Off the Grid games meet in Jo Jo Zeke s studio apartment and discuss his resurrection, and the fact that he didn t win the Gary Jackson look-alike contest. We also see the Knights panicking as the lights go out and Prowler terrorizes them, robbing them of some of their favorite dice, including Fitz, leading to the fated expedition into Prowler s lair. Bob is dragged to his doom as the guys panic, leaving him there.  Enjoy this Bundle of classic strips. Relive the  excitement of Bag Wurld and the hilarity of Gordo s named cattle being turned into sausage. And, if you ve never read them before, I assure you, you re in for a treat. Enjoy!

Bundle of Trouble Vol. 46

Bundle of Trouble Vol. 48

Bundle of Trouble Vol. 49

Bundle of Trouble Vol. 51

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