Title: 1HP Club
Type: Webcomic
Year: 2022-?
Country: Unknown (comic published in English)
Genre: Dungeons & Dragons (fantasy/action/adventure/slice-of-life/comedy)
Status: Ongoing (review as of chapter 130)
Platform: Webtoon (read here)
Appropriate for 30+?: Yes
My rating: 4/5 stars
(Rating scale: 5/5 = masterpiece, 4/5 = quite good, 3/5 = mostly good, 2/5 = bleh, 1/5 = I regret ever being exposed to this series, 0/5 = affront to humanity)
1HP Club is a webcomic series about a group of adults playing Dungeons & Dragons. That's it, that's the premise. However due to a combination of eye-candy art, rapid pacing, engaging action scenes, and interesting characters, 1HP Club actually manages to be a surprisingly fun and easy read.
There are a number of works out there that take place in the D&D (or similar) universe, ranging from the live-action Dungeons & Dragons: Honor among Thieves, the animated The Legend of Vox Machina, and webcomics like The Weekly Role. However 1HP Club takes the approach of primarily taking place in the D&D universe but occasionally pulling back to a (also fictional) table-top setting. In my opinion this dual-setting is handled quite well and overcomes the issues frequently inherent to D&D fiction that primarily focus on one or the other: bouncing between table-top and in-game action helps facilitate good pacing and avoids "downtime" in both settings, helps ease the issue of "suspension of disbelief" (because not only is it "just a story," it's "just a story within a story"), and adds padding to character development (because every character also has a character playing them).
Do you need prior knowledge of D&D for this series to make sense? Not necessarily, but without at least some basic knowledge of game mechanics and/or general tabletop gaming experience readers are likely to miss at least a few references, plot points, or jokes; the series isn't quite a parody, but it does assume prior D&D knowledge. However even the completely uninitiated may still find the action/adventure plot and eye-candy art to be more than sufficient to enjoy the series. On the topic of art, I really like how it's handled: both the table-top and in-game settings done in a colorful and aesthetically-pleasing style, but the table-top characters look more like normal people while the in-game characters are more attractive with some occasional mild cheesecake (interestingly of the male characters only, which is strangely refreshing given that nearly all non-romance fantasy series are more about sexualizing their female characters).
Ages of the table-top characters and in-game characters aren't mentioned, but they act and look to be in the 20s-30s range. There's no content "objectionable" to older readers, and while zany antics abound, they're thankfully of the standard D&D/role-playing variety. It shouldn't take more than the first ten chapters or so to figure out if this is a series you'll enjoy or not, and with each chapter being about a one-minute read, why not give 1HP Club a try?
As with all my reviews, the above is nothing more than my personal opinion. Have you read this series? What did you think? Post in the comments!
First time I've ever heard the words "inclusive" and "eco-sustainable" used with the intent of condemnation.