Quote Originally Posted by eschmenk View Post
Yes he does. But he needs a smack upside the head, too! And a kick in the ass. And for the other players to convince him that he's wrong rather than help him, IMO.
Eschmenk is putting out some really good stuff. Rick has the best intentions of anyone at the table, but up until now just seems like he's never had any real ideas of what to do and just felt helpless about his position. It seems like the table is fought over by three major forces. The most obvious one is Manny, who basically smothers you in flavor text until you become a better player. It's done wonders for Damien and Lex, but has had zero effect on Mac. Opposite him is Rick, who kind of puts out a weak positivity where he can and sometimes just complains that the table needs some kind of glue. He takes it really hard that he can't fill that role, though I don't know why he can't step up more. And Damien and Mac are outside of that, but I think Damien is the stronger force. While Mac just wants things to go back to the way they were, most strongly in the first book, Damien's biggest goal is protecting Rube. I think it's pretty clear by this recent twist that Manny can't be the DM anymore. Someone is going to inevitably take over. But, if it's Rick, will he be ready now?

He's got his first real plan for the first time. His arc has been through confronting his own emotions and pushing away his destiny as a spotlight character, into becoming the voice of the table and undisputed main character - but under the huge (self inflicted?) burden of being up against the world's worst DM, trying to undo the damage that's been done to Rube. He's gone from blaming Manny directly - even punching the DM for being a giant jerk - into now saying "We all did this." He's being pretty responsible in saying that, as a member of the admittedly toxic table, that he isn't blameless in creating Rube. Is Rick finally on the right path and ready to save Rube, or is Eschmenk right here when he sides with Damien, who thinks that Rube doesn't need saving? Is this even a good plan?

Quote Originally Posted by eschmenk View Post
But since something seems obvious now, I'm expecting things to shift at any time, yet again...
How much more can things change? What do we have, ten episodes left until Korra?