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

[Comissar]

Manny's already referred to 'Mary' as playing Suki at some unspecified point in the future, and given Suki properly joins the Gaang around the point of the Ember Island Players, I think it'd be a good moment for a recap of the shenanigans so far.

[Comissar]

So I think it's a fair assumption that the author reads this thread given we've had a couple of shout-out's to posters here. I can understand not wanting to leap into the discussion too much, but I did just want to ask if the comic will be going forward into Legend of Korra? There've been a few call forwards dropped so far, and I did just notice the little logo at the bottom left of the page is split with Aang's eyes at the top, and what looks like Korra's eyes at the bottom.

Unrelated to the above, how do you think the sleep-deprived Aang episode (forget the name, the one before the invasion on the day of black sun) will be handled?

[eschmenk]

So I think it's a fair assumption that the author reads this thread given we've had a couple of shout-out's to posters here. I can understand not wanting to leap into the discussion too much, but I did just want to ask if the comic will be going forward into Legend of Korra? There've been a few call forwards dropped so far, and I did just notice the little logo at the bottom left of the page is split with Aang's eyes at the top, and what looks like Korra's eyes at the bottom.

I'm interpreting this (second paragraph plus tag) as a promise. Hopefully it is.

[DeadpanSal]

The writer wrote in the tags that he promises to do Korra and has written two comics for it already, so I guess he is reading the thread.

[Lizard Lord]

Honestly this comic confuses me. The GM repeatedly asks the players to stay in character, but the campaign is so full of meta stuff that how can you even tell that the players are acting out of character?

[aurilee]

Honestly this comic confuses me. The GM repeatedly asks the players to stay in character, but the campaign is so full of meta stuff that how can you even tell that the players are acting out of character?

It's more their actions that he's concerned with rather than their dialogue. As in, he doesn't like it when they break from playing out his story.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Yeah, Manny's a railroader who enforces method acting as a means of keeping people on the railroad and invested in the game (and method acts himself because that's just his style). He doesn't actually care about roleplaying in principle so much as getting characters from one end of his story to the other.

[Ronnoc]

I really didn't think I could hate this DM any more after the drugging Lex incident. Guess I was wrong.

[Adaon Nightwind]

Now this was.. this was just.. it was too much. Appearantly there are more members of that family who need a therapy somewhat urgently.

[DeadpanSal]

Good thing there's already a therapist at the table.

[thatSeniorGuy]

Holy crap on a stick Manny is a really ****ty human being.

[eschmenk]

Manny is Long Feng more or less.

Spoiler: Predictions. Includes spoiler for page 664.

Show

Next Manny will tell the character sheets (everyone but him is gone) why everything he has been doing has been necessary and is really for the good of the players. The players just don't understand.

The apple means that DJ left, too, right? Has DJ been using an iTunes app all along?

The next episode (The Tales of Ba Sing Se) will be done without Manny as DM. We are already through most of the one after that (Appa's Lost Days). I'm guessing that Manny will promise to be nicer and will DM the remainder of the episode. He will actually be nice for the part with the Indian guru, but will screw Rick in the end after Rick starts to trust him again.

[Comissar]

Well, with that revelation, I'm now incredibly concerned for Rube's well-being. Particularly looking ahead to Azula/Zuko's Agni Kai and Azula's breakdown through it all. The big question is, is it Manny playing Azula at that point? Or is Rube going to be putting himself through hell for the sake of his brothers story?

[Nerd-o-rama]

Good thing there's already a therapist at the table.

He's not a therapist; he's like an eighteen year old college freshman. Which is a nice parallel to the only person who can save the world being a twelve year old kid, I guess.

But yeah Manny at this point needs to be facing criminal and civil charges IRL for several reasons.

That said, go Rube. No killing the fluffy.

[Comissar]

Looks like we're not getting Tales of Ba Sing Se as its own episode, which is a shame for two reasons;

1) It would've been a good chance for Damien to run a session

2) The tales of Zuko and Iroh contain some of my favourite character moments for both characters in the entire series.

[eschmenk]

Yes, I thought Tales of Ba Sing Se would have provided a welcome little break from Manny.

Mackenzie is apparently attending the Univ. of Virginia. Did we know that?

The "stalker demon virus" hacked Mac's FB account on update #666. I guess that's appropriate.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Looks like we're not getting Tales of Ba Sing Se as its own episode, which is a shame for two reasons;

1) It would've been a good chance for Damien to run a session

2) The tales of Zuko and Iroh contain some of my favourite character moments for both characters in the entire series.

The author is choosing to pace this differently than the series and is ditching the comedy relief moments probably until the end of Book 2. It's tragic to miss Zuko's and Iroh's tales in particular, but I think we're hitting maximum troll throttle from here to Aang getting lightning'd.

[aurilee]

Man oh man that exploded earlier than I thought. Very interested to see how this continues...And we're getting 5 strips a day now!

BTW Manny scares me. A lot.

EDIT:

Spoiler: Predictions. Includes spoiler for page 664.

Show

The apple means that DJ left, too, right? Has DJ been using an iTunes app all along?

Spoiler: Spoiler reply

Show

Yeah, whenever a song was displayed as playing that was a screenshot taken from the iTunes UI. The blank bar with an Apple logo is what iTunes shows when there's nothing currently playing. I took this as a silent stare/glare from DJ THAC0.

[DeadpanSal]

If Manny's clearly the worst DM in the world, who actually belongs behind the screen?

[moossabi]

Has anyone else noticed the change in Praxis' speech color?

EDIT: Apparently the author did.

[Shogo]

Huh. Shelby has multiple assault charges. Interesting. Not much else to say. Others have already said what I could about the DM.

[aurilee]

If Manny's clearly the worst DM in the world, who actually belongs behind the screen?

Damien would be my pick. According to hints that were dropped, he was apparently a fairly good DM. He may be all brooding and such, but he at least doesn't seem too psychotic.

Technically Mac was their DM before, but she seems a little strict and numbers-heavy for my liking.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Mac appears to be the other side of Manny's coin: sadistic and controlling, but strictly to the in-character characters, none of this real life crap, and focused on numbercrunching and mechanical difficulty instead of storytelling.

Damien's destiny as the True DM and his mother issues complicating that seems to be a plot point paralleling Zuko's destiny vs. his honor/daddy issues, and I think we're going to see him behind the DM screen sooner or later. At what point and how well that will go, though, it's hard to be sure.

Rick would make an excellent DM in my opinion, but he's not likely to ever take on that mantle after all this bullcrap.

[DataNinja]

Has anyone else noticed the change in Praxis' speech color?

EDIT: Apparently the author did.

Well, that's handy.

[Sapphire Guard]

Damien is seems to be genuinely a pretty decent person as well, going by this update.

[Comissar]

Fun parallel between Iroh trying to help Zuko find his path and Damien trying to help Manny set things straight, too. Also, I think I mentioned this before, but I don't think I'd particularly enjoy playing in the campaigns these guys run. The IC/OOC line is blurry to the point of the players taking personal offence if something happens to their characters, and they seem to view campaigns as being something to be beaten rather than a game to play.

That said, I do agree that I think Damien would make a good DM. Bearing in mind the ending to Legend of Aang, I'm going to predict he's the one who DM's Korra.

[DeadpanSal]

I think I mentioned this before, but I don't think I'd particularly enjoy playing in the campaigns these guys run. [...] That said, I do agree that I think Damien would make a good DM. Bearing in mind the ending to Legend of Aang, I'm going to predict he's the one who DM's Korra.

I really hope if someone else DMs the table becomes a nicer place to be.

[Maryring]

I really do want to enjoy the comic, I do. But my suspension of disbelief is so thoroughly shattered by how monstrous the DM is. Why on earth are the players still playing his game?

[Lizard Lord]

I really do want to enjoy the comic, I do. But my suspension of disbelief is so thoroughly shattered by how monstrous the DM is. Why on earth are the players still playing his game?

Well at least some of them are being blackmailed. And Damien seems to think the game and friendships can and should be salvaged for some reason.

[Nerd-o-rama]

And the other players are all either insanely stubborn, overly invested, or really like a challenge.