D&D Aangvanced (Avatar: The Last Airbender Screencap Comic)

[JohanOfKitten]

End of book 3 this week !!
I'm really eager to discover the LOK casting !

[aurilee]

AWWW RICK HUGGED MANNY I MIGHT CRY

This was some great resolution to everything and I love how happy Shelby is

I take it Manny just handwaved Mac's victory? She still seems pretty broken during Rick's little summary...I'm really hoping that she's Korra and learns to roleplay...

Also definitely looking like Rick will DM

Can't wait to see what happens next! :D

EDIT: Huzzah for Lexby!

[DeadpanSal]

I'm so glad to be through the Aang story! Korra's gonna be great, and I like this sidestory. I've never seen Danganronpa so if anyone has please tell me how this version compares to the original. This seems pretty interesting though and Rastaba gets it right, so I don't feel like it's filler. And I think Bonnie is a great DM and exactly what the table needs right now. Especially Mac, who I never thought we'd see laughing like this.

[Urzamax]

I'm so glad to be through the Aang story! Korra's gonna be great, and I like this sidestory. I've never seen Danganronpa so if anyone has please tell me how this version compares to the original. This seems pretty interesting though and Rastaba gets it right, so I don't feel like it's filler. And I think Bonnie is a great DM and exactly what the table needs right now. Especially Mac, who I never thought we'd see laughing like this.

I'm personally not a big fan of Bonnie's style of DMing, but it will be interesting to see how she interacts with the Aangvanced crew. Plus, she's good at planning and she enjoys suspense, so Murder Mystery is probably one of the strongest possible gamestyles for her, at least from what we've seen so far. I definitely agree with you about Mac. This should be good for her, at least if they can avoid dredging up their past problems.

[Comissar]

It amuses me that Mac, the worst at IC/OOC separation, is now having it enforced on her. I'm unfamiliar with the anime of the current filler arc (and a link to it would be fun if one of you is, it looks like an interesting one), so I can't say for sure, but I wouldn't be overly surprised if she gets a character or two killed through abuse of OOC knowledge.

[aurilee]

It amuses me that Mac, the worst at IC/OOC separation, is now having it enforced on her. I'm unfamiliar with the anime of the current filler arc (and a link to it would be fun if one of you is, it looks like an interesting one), so I can't say for sure, but I wouldn't be overly surprised if she gets a character or two killed through abuse of OOC knowledge.

I had heard of the video game (I haven't actually played it, but from what I hear it's pretty good) but didn't know it was made into an anime until now. Now I have two things I need to check out.

Wiki link for the franchise: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danganronpa

Thought #1: Every time Manny gets punched I smile a little inside
Thought #2: The terrible, horrible, impulsive shipper in me kinda wants to ship Rube and Bonnie, but due to their lack of good ship names (Ronnie? Bube?), I'll decide against it.
Thought #3: Totally agree about Mac here, no wonder she didn't want Bonnie DM'ing.
Thought #4: This whole situation means that my theory about Korra being "Mac learns how to roleplay" is becoming more and more viable!

[dadada]

Yeah, it's pretty neat. And I really loved Shelby's reaction at the end. They were all expecting her to snap his arm or something, I reckon, but instead she just laughs and throws him the die.
She was so perfectly built up to basically be this intimidating legend, and she's simultaneously lived up to the legend and revealed her vulnerable, human side. Honestly, I think she might be my favorite character, even if I am struggling to properly classify her as a player archetype. Need to get my hands on a 4e DMG, there's a shnivetston of them listed in there...

I'd guess that she's a Slayer

[dadada]

Agreed, the Snape analogy is a bit stretched, but it does work in parts. Especially in that sometimes it seems like Manny does want the players (especially Mac) to grow in their roleplaying. He just doesn't go about it in the best way.

But yes, Snape was more just conflicted and complex. Manny is more likely schizophrenic as you said, or possibly manic-depressive. Unfortunately, I don't know how much Rick can do about either case in one session, but if he can at least get Manny to accept his illness, then maybe the next campaign can be part of his therapy.

You know, given the mental health of Manny and Rube, I have to wonder about what kind of environment they grew up in. Sure it could be partially genetic or physiological, but...the chances of both brothers having different genetically-induced mental illness is low. Speech impediments and personality disorders can both be caused by severe stress and trauma. I can't help but feel sorry for them, despite what's happened.

We know that Rube had it genetically from the therapy sessions, however it seems that Fredrico was kind of oppressive to Manny (maybe why he oppressed Rube)

[JohanOfKitten]

I kinda like the filler story.
I didn't know that anime, so it's surprising for me and I can't wait to discover the killer. It's fun to see some investigation. It bring some crzy theories in my mind.

It's interesting to see Manny as a player. He's most a complainer, having hard time to deal with someone else in power. He judges and criticizes a lot of DMing decisions. Infortunately, I know well that type of players... I hope he will deal with it during that game and be kinder to Rick in Korra.

[Urzamax]

While I don't expect Manny will ever totally stop complaining about everyone else's plot decisions and the like, I think part of it is the fact that Bonnie and particularly Mac (as per "Rick's First Session") tend to have a DMing style that is very different from Manny's preferred version, both as a DM and as a player. Plus, Bonnie's made it pretty clear that she doesn't like him much (admittedly not without some substantial justification for her opinion).
Speaking of, I would assume that Bonnie got her intimidation recording from DJ (who I'd personally like to see return in Korra, once Rick's in charge of the table).

Edit: Damnit Mac, just let Lex have this one!

[Sapphire Guard]

This comic has made me a fan of Danganronpa. Not liking how often jabs at Lex are coming up, though.

[eschmenk]

Not liking how often jabs at Lex are coming up, though.

It used to bother me, but not so much anymore. I guess I've gotten more used to it, but I also decided that since the flaws and limitations of all the players tend to be highly exaggerated, it's probably natural that Alex's problems would be, too. But yes, he even had Shelby joining in on page 25.

[Urzamax]

Yeah, that was kind of Out of Character for Shelby. But it's a different author with a different idea of the characters and their relationships; and a minor complaint at worse, so it's really not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

[DeadpanSal]

And her character is drooling as she says it, so I don't read it as an insult. Lex is ultra competent by this point and not really bothered by the mocking. I really like him in this filler arc, he kind of carries the party!

[Freed]

Does it count as filler if Bonnie is actually on the cast page now?

[Sapphire Guard]

Yeah, that was kind of Out of Character for Shelby. But it's a different author with a different idea of the characters and their relationships; and a minor complaint at worse, so it's really not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

Come to think of it, the stalking is probably a disguised attempt at bodyguarding without hurting his feelings.

[DeadpanSal]

Does it count as filler if Bonnie is actually on the cast page now?

This is the most canon filler ever canoned and full of filling canon.

And maaaaaybe I'm biased here, but page 37 of Dungeons and Danganronpa is my absolute favorite moment of any part in the comic.

[Urzamax]

You know, given that Mackenzie appears to have created one or more sentient, or at least learning-capable and emotion-simulating, AI, I find it nearly immersion-breaking that a group of nerds who have surely read/watched at least some science fiction aren't completely and totally floored and advising her to patent her code before the FBI shows up.
Sure, Praxis was an excellent example of why creating True AI might be a bad idea (see Terminator), but seriously, if you can make a phone app that's actually capable of roleplaying as well as or better than a human would, then you should be world-famous by this point, and/or tagged as one heck of a national security threat.

[JohanOfKitten]

The reporter...

So much scoop in there!

Well, I must say that I'm really eager to read LOK sessions, this filler is quite interesting and I like this anime concept and how the investigations intertwined with the players...
It's nice to see that a filler explore characters connections and feelings, without hesitating to make them evolving. A good transition to continue at LOK table.


I'm wondering if Bonnie isn't gonna stay after that. She was in the group before and she obviously want to reconnect somehow : it's shown a bit in her discussions with Mac and she wouldn't have answer positively to Rick's demand if it wasn't because she wanted to play again with this group (or because she's planning some machiavelous revenge plot to destroy them but... I don't like that possibility.)

[Sapphire Guard]

Why is Damien not on Rick's list of good people?

[JohanOfKitten]

Maybe because of the disruptive behaviours he may have in a lot of campaigns. Him as Zuko was a lot of mess for the ATLA campaign for the first two books and discussions when Zuko try to join the gaang show that he was a pain in the a** for Mack through a lot a games.
Anyways, he's redeeming now and push the group (and Rube) in the good direction, but it may be a bit too soon to Rick to list him in good people.
That's my guess.



On a more present subject : Who is the composer ??
Bonnie and Manny took off people of the suspect list, but it's a bit too easy for me :
They dismissed somes on trivial facts (Lex for the lack of misspellling... As he couldn't re-read himself three times and ask to someone outside of the group to correct his writing) and they're forgetting somes (Rube don't seems like an option for them).

My bet is that's someone out of the group : I don't think anyone would like to betray the others after the hard time they got in ATLA. And we know 2 people (well... 1 person and 1 AI) that might have some unfinished business with them : Thaco and Praxis. Both were able to have the audio record of Manny insulting his brother.
- Thaco may want to destroy the disruptive group she finds unhealthy. We don't really know her links with Manny and with the others, but she cut bridges with Manny just after this event.
- Praxis is... well, is not-dead (I think). A rogue AI might have a lot of contingency plans and backup saves, specially if this AI has access to internet and several computers (as suggested when he takes over social medias accounts of the group to force them in the game). I think he might be still somewhere, with the same obsession about making Mack win. He has easily the data about Lex previous characters (Mack has a physical archive about that, but she may as well have files to keep track) and the audio file about Manny. He may design a setting by feeding on mainstream and popular fictions on internet, analyzing the mass of online settings and creating this one from them (as has done and AI to compose a SciFi movie screenplay recently) and the cheap fluffly romance high school anime is over-represented. Maybe he estimate that a game with Bonnie could give Mack greater chances of victory (pure mind game, where her analyze abilities are the better weapon) and the idea of a murder competition is a good way for him to get ride of obstacles and weak players to give Mack the best chances to get out as the winner.

And all the talk about their fear of a new Praxis with Alter ego could be a good foreshadowing.

About Alter ego, Praxis as a composer could be a good explanation. Alter Ego might have started to find a track in databases and Praxis set it up to be executed by Bonnie by messing with her logs.


Gosh, if I'm right.... Skynet has a new name...

[Lizard Lord]

Why is Damien not on Rick's list of good people?

Why didn't Damien trust Rick?

Seriously, Rick has done nothing to make the others distrust him. Their distrust is more a reflection on them than him. So, seriously now, how is Manny the ONLY one that trusts him?

Is seems especially weird coming from Damien, who was the one that had the idea (or at least presented it to Rick) of Rick becoming the DM.

[DeadpanSal]

Yeah... I don't know why either. Damien isn't Rick's favorite person at the table, but he definitely trusts him and thinks he's good. Then again, Rastaba's concept does dredge up more paranoia and turns the players on each other a tad. So Rick being a little unfair towards his friends with the idea that any of them can be the Mario Paint Composer makes sense.

Korra starts next week! Squee!

[JohanOfKitten]

Korra starts next week! Squee!

Oh god oh god !!




I find hilarious in the last page that Makato fall on an old mattress and then decide to sleep on cardboard.
I know it fits better to be the ultimate hobo, but that can't be more confortable

[Sapphire Guard]

Why didn't Damien trust Rick?

Seriously, Rick has done nothing to make the others distrust him. Their distrust is more a reflection on them than him. So, seriously now, how is Manny the ONLY one that trusts him?

Is seems especially weird coming from Damien, who was the one that had the idea (or at least presented it to Rick) of Rick becoming the DM.

Rick has good intentions but his desire to psychoanalyse everything has caused serious problems. It's not out of the question that this could have been something like that.

[aurilee]

That. Was. Awesome!

I didn't get a chance to participate in much of the discussion during the filler because...well...life happened and stuff.

BUT I kept up with the comic (even dropping some others that I follow since I didn't have time to read every comic I was previously following) and this filler session was amazing.

I was bogged down with a lot of stuff the past few months and I really, really enjoyed reading this twisted little story.

So much looking forward to Korra, and so glad the gang was able to come together in the end.

Congrats to Sal and Rastaba on this comic. I can't wait for more. ^_^

[Sapphire Guard]

Yup. Also it introduced me to danganronpa, which I am now quite the fan.

[JohanOfKitten]

Danganronpa was really fun and thrilling. A good break between the campaign :)

But now serious business is starting with Korra!!! Rick is so thoughtful with the others. He wan't everyone to feel special and unique and considered for ones strength. I can't wait to discover the casting!

[Seerow]

Rick switching systems to Shadowrun based has me really excited. It's the first time I've seen a gamer comic use the system.

[JohanOfKitten]

I played only once shadowrun a long time ago, so it's a bit an unknown land for me, but that's an interesting twist. After all, the steampunk/technological part of LOK could be well reflected by that game.


Oh, and Mack isn't Korra...
First blow to my guesses. (and with Manny gone and Rick as DM, I know I've a lot of mystakes !)

I'm wondering if Mack is going to play at all. Right now, she looks like she's just some kind of math assistant for Rick