New Main Characters?

[brian 333]

Why am I hoping Wreckan and his ditzy not-cleric friend become continuing characters? It would present several plot opportunities, reduce the perception of under representation of female lead characters, and allow Blackwing to keep his comfy new bed.

[Draconi Redfir]

i kinda doubt it personally. she was supposed to just be a cameo character paid for by a kickstarter i think, she was just put into a bigger part of the story because she fit, and it meant one less character Rich would need to design to fill the same role. That's my understanding of it at least.

my best bet is that the favoured soul isn't going to be staying after the godsmoot. her bodyguard maybe, but she probably has to report back to the western continent.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

We're well into the third act, after this there will be one more book. That's not a good point to introduce new characters. It happens on TV shows, because actors leave and they never know when they'll get cancelled, but in a comic that's at this point as planned as oots is? I highly doubt it.

[Roland Itiative]

my best bet is that the favoured soul isn't going to be staying after the godsmoot. her bodyguard maybe, but she probably has to report back to the western continent.

The bodyguard, Wrecan, is also a little unlikely to become a main character. Like the favoured soul, he's not entirely Rich's creation, he's a reference for a fan who has passed away, and whose family are also fans of the comic. While having him tag along for a while is a sweet gesture, having him become a main character, which would require him to go through struggles and suffering for the sake of the plot might not be the best idea.

[Talion]

If we were going to see a new main character, I would guess that it would be Roy's "Uncle" Myrtok the Cleric, if things with Durkula don't work out in the party's favor soon. I'd still call that a stretch this late in the game, but not outside the realm of possibility.

As for Wrecan and friend...they're amusing, but I can't really see one coming along without the other, and the Order is a pretty large group. They've been useful to the plot, but I doubt they'll stick around for more than a random cameo or two beyond the godsmoot. Their purpose will have been served.

[Windscion]

Veldrina? Completely unsuited to work with the Order. Mechanically, her limited selection of spells is a handicap. Personality-wise, I don't see her fitting in. Also, Durkon will be back soon.

Wrecan is much better: proactive and fairly bright, plus his rapport with Roy is quite good. More importantly, Belkar may well be dead and finished. (Or not. We shall see.)

[archon_huskie]

They will stick around and feature heavily in Order of the Stick 2: Order Stickier!

[ti'esar]

Veldrina? Completely unsuited to work with the Order. Mechanically, her limited selection of spells is a handicap. Personality-wise, I don't see her fitting in. Also, Durkon will be back soon.

I'm doubtful that Veldrina is really any less unsuitable, personality-wise, than Elan. The Order is not exactly a bastion of normal people.

As others have pointed out, the real problem is the metatextual one. I doubt Rich would want to feature cameo characters too heavily for too long.

[Kermon]

I have to agree that they won't be sticking around for long but as abnormal as they are if anyone would be a new main character it would be one of them.

[Peelee]

Veldrina? Completely unsuited to work with the Order. Mechanically, her limited selection of spells is a handicap.

And? Mechanically, V's lack of access to Conjuration is a handicap. The Order is not known for being mechanically optimal.

Not that I'm saying it will or should happen, but that is a rather poor rationale.

[Necris Omega]

OotS is quick to divide the team, but never add or permanently subtract from it.

While I think that sort of change might be refreshing, it's also extremely unlikely. If we were going to swap out characters, or add to the roster, it probably would have happened at an earlier point.

That's all assuming they even survive this. Chances of this ending in a non-apocalyptic disaster is still really high. Unless the ending rationale is, "continuing their deific arch-douchery, the Gods have forbidden their clerics from helping the Order because phenomenal cosmic powers comes at the cost of a two year old's maturity level," this would otherwise give the Order an entire Pantheon of High Priests worth of backup, and I don't see them changing up the mechanics that badly.

I'd love to be wrong, but... it's amazing how a world where deities are an unquestionable fact makes as much if not an even greater argument for atheism (anti-theism?) than our own.

[declinator]

And? Mechanically, V's lack of access to Conjugation is a handicap. The Order is not known for being mechanically optimal.

I didn't know that V was grammatically challenged

[Peelee]

I didn't know that V was grammatically challenged

Oh, man. Don't even ask him about declensions. Down that path lies madness.

[Bulldog Psion]

Veldrina? Completely unsuited to work with the Order. Mechanically, her limited selection of spells is a handicap. Personality-wise, I don't see her fitting in. Also, Durkon will be back soon.

Wrecan is much better: proactive and fairly bright, plus his rapport with Roy is quite good. More importantly, Belkar may well be dead and finished. (Or not. We shall see.)

Are you kidding? They're like tailor-made for the Order. Veldrina especially. It's a collection of mechanically handicapped eccentrics with bizarre views on the world.

With that said, the whole "cameo" thing probably puts paid to that.

Unfortunately, because I'd like to have them join it, actually.

[Dr.Zero]

We're well into the third act, after this there will be one more book. That's not a good point to introduce new characters. It happens on TV shows, because actors leave and they never know when they'll get cancelled, but in a comic that's at this point as planned as oots is? I highly doubt it.

This. :)
Starting to mess with new characters, giving them deep, developing them, when the story is going to finish soon and you have already some characters that you have worked on for years means: 1) a waste of effort; 2) a big loss of focus.

It would remind me the last season of Buffy: the new slayers, and Caleb, and the uber-vampires (which then become not so uber at all!), and headmaster Wood, and the return of Faith, and the crossover with Angel, and the First Evil, this all while trying to give a good conclusion to the stories regarding the scooby gang.
Result: a big mess, loss of focus, half sketched characters, big incoherences (IIRC the same Whedon admitted that he nerfed down abruptly the uber-vampires because else he could not give the gang a final battle, without them getting curb stomped)...

What was I talking about? Oh, right! The nice npcs as new main characters? I'd prefer not, thanks. :)

[Gift Jeraff]

We can rule out Veldrina ever being equal to the core 6.

As for Wrecan, while I can't speak for Rich, I know I would get uncomfortable writing a tribute character beyond a cameo. Is it tasteless to put him in near death scenarios? Is it wrong to put him on merchandise? What if the real Wrecan would hate the direction this character went in?

[woweedd]

I doubt it. VE is a cameo and there'd most likely be rights issues to work out that we'd probably have heard of by now. As for Wrecan, as you have a tribute character for longer, the chances of things something tasteless happening goes up. Also, personality-wise, VE is basically a female Elan and Wercan is basically Roy 2.0.