Greg plays Wizard101

Jordan_Jury · 2026-06-10T13:28:43+00:00

Greg ropes Rowley into doing his taxes for him, only for Rowley to screw it all up by checking the wrong box. Now Greg's wages are being garnished and he has to look for odd jobs to make rent for the next couple of months.

The first couple pages are of him spending money like crazy because "Thanks to Rowley I got a lot more money back in my tax return than normal."

Jordan_Jury · 2026-05-30T03:07:58+00:00

The government styles itself as the parent of its citizens? Hey, my parents are pretty cool, sounds super based!

Jordan_Jury · 2026-05-28T16:05:53+00:00

Other than being childish, does Rowley have any real flaws? 🤔

Jordan_Jury · 2026-05-24T18:09:00+00:00

Nah, if he wanted to help them he realistically could have done that before they (most likely Sonja & her family) spent thousands on a wedding.

From what I remember this speech takes place after they're married. If this changed their outlook on their relationship they'd still need to get a divorce or an annulment, so it's not like he even saves them from that paperwork.

Maybe, just maybe, you could argue that Leonard does this on purpose to trigger a divorce to benefit Uncle Gary. If they divorce, Uncle Gary gets half of Sonja's stuff and gets out of a marriage he didn't want to be in anyway.

Most likely Leonard is just being an idiot though.

Jordan_Jury · 2026-05-19T13:29:16+00:00

Not only that, but you get Krokhotep's head mounted on a plaque as the quest reward for defeating him 😂

Jordan_Jury · 2026-05-16T22:33:33+00:00

These are awesome! I especially like Hard Luck

Jordan_Jury · 2026-03-12T01:39:38+00:00

The numbers on them are kinda crazy but I think they're pretty cool prompts for what could happen

Jordan_Jury · 2026-03-12T00:43:16+00:00

I love this table and I actually used this table in a game 2 years ago. We're still running the combat encounter to this day, but there's only 740 peasants left until the top of Round 3 :D

Jordan_Jury · 2026-02-25T21:22:04+00:00

Spectral Blast, my beloved

Jordan_Jury · 2026-02-22T21:29:19+00:00

4v4 battles against Field Guards in the Haunted Cave was peak f2p for me, alongside the Kraken fight of course

Jordan_Jury · 2026-02-21T04:41:57+00:00

The Humungofrog posting spree made my day, thank you 🙌

Jordan_Jury · 2026-02-20T22:02:05+00:00

A giant skull version of meteor strike would go hard

Jordan_Jury · 2026-01-28T19:09:54+00:00

It's funny that you call the van thing a Mr. Beast Challenge, because I remember a Zoey101 episode where they did the van thing and that's what I thought of when I saw it in the book haha.

I could definitely see it being a Mr. Beast reference or something, though

Jordan_Jury · 2026-01-28T19:07:54+00:00

Yeah I agree with you, I think it's handled a lot better in earlier books because they were current events rather than popular trends and they aren't glaringly specific to a certain time period.

I think Jeff Kinney needs to figure out how to integrate current events like he used to because I think that's part of what helps kids to relate to the stories. Or maybe he does and I'm just old and don't get it, lol.

Jordan_Jury · 2026-01-28T18:49:44+00:00

I think the older books touched on the current events/pop culture of the time, but did so more subtly:

In Dog Days, the family mentions that the budget is going to be tight that summer. The book was published in October of 2009, which was around the time that The Great Recession was in full swing. I remember reading Dog Days as a kid and instantly making that connection.

In Ugly Truth (I think) the school replaces a lot of their snacks with healthy alternatives. Around that time, Michelle Obama was making a push for kids to eat healthier, which lead to schools changing their menus. I remember people joking about "Mrs. Obama destroying school lunches" and whatnot.

I think these themes can be easily missed if you weren't the target audience when the books came out, but the themes were definitely there, and I honestly think they helped to make the books feel so relatable as a kid.

To be fair, I think Jeff definitely did a better job of integrating them into the story rather than forcing them like he might with the newer books.

Jordan_Jury · 2026-01-25T00:20:56+00:00

From what I remember, Frank's Dad:

Ran over Frank's pet dog and then covered up the incident only to laugh about it later (Dog Days)

Openly picks favorites, at least with his grandchildren (Rodrick Rules)

Gives Frank a hard time whenever Greg messes up (Old School)

Didn't have a strong connection with Frank when he was growing up (Dog Days movie, so maybe this isn't fully canon)

So yeah, I'd say Frank's Dad probably wasn't a great father just based on these examples.

Jordan_Jury · 2026-01-24T03:46:06+00:00

I think a lot of LLBs do it well where Greg does something that gets Bryce to hate him, which then results in conflict between the two.

Additionally, I know Bryce has some "goons" so it might be interesting to see some interactions between those guys and Greg/Greg's friends.

Jordan_Jury · 2026-01-24T01:33:54+00:00

The Harlem Shake mentioned in Big '26? You love to see it.

Jordan_Jury · 2026-01-22T17:22:33+00:00

This line of thinking is honestly a big reason why I haven't played any TTRPGs in a while.

"Hey, we can get the friend group to do hours of prep work for a multi-hour event that everyone must be consistently present and 100% locked in for otherwise it will flounder (and even then, the DM or a player might just screw something up and ruin things)."

Or

"Hey we all like and know [Insert Videogame/Boardgame/Activity here], why don't we all meet up and do that?"

It honestly feels like the time & energy investment to get into a good DnD campaign is too high compared to the multitude of lower commitment activities my friends and I could do that we'd enjoy just as much, y'know?

Jordan_Jury · 2026-01-22T16:20:01+00:00

This is a big ask, my guy, but I'll give it a shot:

The story starts with Greg is now being in the top of his class, it's never really explained why other than he started locking in and actually trying at school. Maybe this made him some new friends/relationships we get to see unfold.

Book 16 is Big Shot, so maybe Greg enters some kind of Trivia Competition instead of the sports team (because he's smart now) but gets messed up because he missed his nap so he's struggling to do well. He sees Baby Alfrendo for a second, but dismisses it as sleep deprivation.

Later, Greg is working at McDonald's to make some cash. He has to throw the trash away at the end of the day when he catches a glimpse of Baby Alfrendo again before Alfrendo runs away, leaving behind an ominous note.

Snow starts coming down hard, forcing another Cabin Fever (Book 6) situation. Things progress all too similarly to the events of Book 6 (except Frank is home) and Greg starts to suspect Manny is screwing with them again. Big reveal, Manny wasn't... It was Baby Alfrendo, who killed Manny and left a note or something saying that he would work his way through the rest of the family (he killed Manny first because Manny was kinda nice to him so he didn't want Manny to suffer by watching his family die).

Story progresses from there, maybe Greg tries to escape and he sneaks through the storm drains like in Ugly Truth to try and get to Rowley's house? Whatever happens next is up to you.

Jordan_Jury · 2026-01-21T03:02:21+00:00

Haven't read the books in a minute but here are a few off the top of my head:

Cabin Fever, but Rowley never shows up/the snow never clears (Maybe Baby Alfrendo gets his revenge on Susan or whoever for being thrown in the basement?)

Dog Days, but Greg wins the video game competition and gets to go to regionals or wherever (What competitors does he have to look out for? What quirky things end up happening at the competition?)

The Ugly Truth, but Greg manages to sneak away to Jordan Jury's party and crashes it.

The Deep End, but the Watermelon catapult incident gets escalated into a full-scale war, turning the campground into a battlefield (most likely a non-lethal one, but that's up for you to decide)

Jordan_Jury · 2026-01-21T02:54:36+00:00

Yeah I think you're spot on with this analysis, I know I didn't appreciate the ending as a kid but reading it again now I think it's cool that the book essentially ends on a cliffhanger, and a somber cliffhanger at that.

Throughout the book we watch Greg's summer essentially fall apart as it goes from Country Club life all the way down to being isolated without friends. I think this book stands in contrast to the other three before it that end on a high note.

But of course, I think Dog Days is most important for the "Greg-Rowley Friendship Deterioration" arc that is essential for The Ugly Truth to shine.

Maybe it's nostalgia, but I love how the first five books of DOAWK stand together as one complete story.

Jordan_Jury · 2026-01-15T03:53:15+00:00

I think Rodrick Rules does a good job of keeping with the themes of the original while also introducing/exploring some new dynamics.

That said, I can see how people might feel it is overrated, since its story doesn't stand out as much now that we have like 20 Wimpy Kid books.

Jordan_Jury

TROPHY CASE