Keychain of Creation

The (somewhat) simpler art style of The Order of the Stick attracts a lot of imitation. The quality of the writing is much harder to match than the distinctive art however. Keychain of Creation is the first I've found with similar quality.

Many of these strips let the game drive the jokes. That cuts people unfamiliar with those games from the audience--not that big of a deal, there's nothing wrong with having a specific topic. More importantly though, it doesn't substitute for a story. A story provides continuity between strips. It gives the characters depth and reality. If you just want to make a quick commentary on the rule book a comic doesn't add much.

Keychain of Creation scatters a few comments on the mechanics, but these are quickly suppressed by the story (even faster than Order of the Stick's story took over). For example The few references to the world are either explained in the comic or simply enough to deduce. No more outside knowledge is required than for any other fantasy story. When background is required it's often takes a complete and self-contained story of its own.

While the artwork is only stick figures, it is sufficiently detailed. The character poses change between panels; no feeling of cut-and-paste is formed. The characters are highly detailed for stick figures. Most of the clothing contains ornamentation. Several characters appear in passing and one main character routinely shape-shifts. Backgrounds also usually contain a few extra details.

Keychain of Creation uses large pages, usually enough to completely encapsulate the anecdote. Updates are also twice weekly. As a result, the story and characters are well-defined and coherent without paging through the archive. Certainly worth reading.