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

[Connington]

You know, I'd be really interested in seeing Rick, Damien, or Rube DM Legend of Korra.

[Lizard Lord]

To me the "obvious" route for Legend of Korra is Rick playing Tenzin, Mac playing Korra, Shelby playing Lin, Lex playing Bolin, Damien playing Mako, and Rube playing Asami/PNaga/Pabu with Manny remaining GM.


With that said I have no confidence that they will actually go this route, hence why I put "obvious" in quotation marks. This, however, will not stop me from saying "called it" if I'm even partially right.

[aurilee]

I was thinking that maybe Rick would DM Korra. That would also let him play Tenzin as an NPC. Besides, the last few strips have proven that Rick is a pretty cool DM.

[DeadpanSal]

My vote for DM is "Anyone but Mac."

[Nerd-o-rama]

I'm down for "anyone but Manny".

It'd be a nice Darths and Droids-ish twist, though, if the almost-universally-beloved Last Airbender was run by the incredibly flawed DM Manny, and the much more uh...divisive Legend of Korra was run by one of the much more capable and sane duo of Rick or Damien.

Also damn, I never thought I'd be happy to see the moment Sparky Sparky Boom Man showed up, but there we go.

[eschmenk]

Also damn, I never thought I'd be happy to see the moment Sparky Sparky Boom Man showed up, but there we go.

So, I guess Rick shouldn't have sabotaged Damien's zombie campaign. Well, that and everyone has been ignoring Damien since then.

OK, Damien is obviously bribing Manny by appealing to his sadistic side, but what will make Damien switch from Rube back to the main group? Will Rube be so psychotic on The Beach that Damien will realize that Rick was right or will he do it just for the challenge of it? Maybe Rube will dare him to try? I doubt we will do all the flashbacks with Roku and Sozin in The Avatar and the Firelord, so that probably won't be it.

[Comissar]

Seeing the beach episode is fantastic, Damien and Rube making Manny's planned chill out session tense is hilarious.

[AvatarVecna]

Started reading through this again, and I thought I'd pull out some lines that struck a chord with me:

"No good person is sure of their alignment. They're just numbers, my son...and you can change them."

"Don't tell my mom, she thinks roleplaying is from the devil."

"Just GURPS."

Also, I kinda like the idea of Shelby as the OPM of RPGs.

"There once was a young boy...he played at heroics, dreaming of one day being strong. And though he wasn't very skilled at anything...he never gave up. So one day, he'd grow up strong to do the right thing and stand up for what mattered."

"What happened to him?"

"He stopped pitying himself and murdered the ****ers who took your son."

Just some stuff I found interesting.

[DeadpanSal]

Oh my god, the author has got to make Shelby play Saitama someday!

[AvatarVecna]

Interesting callback: when Damien takes Rube's side during the fight where Rick bites it, he rolls 13, 17, and 22...the same numbers (in the same order) that he rolled back when he was trying to capture Rick back in the Southern Water Village in the beginning.

[Comissar]

Reveal(?) that Lex has a niece. Have we seen her in comic? ... Was she the one that showed up right at the end of the airbending temple episode (forget the name) with the machinist? Think she'll play Jinora?

[TheNotoriousSMP]

Just started reading this and I'm a few comics in. I've gotta say it starts out a bit roughly but it's been improving fairly steadily over time. Definitely going to continue reading.

[DataNinja]

Reveal(?) that Lex has a niece. Have we seen her in comic? ... Was she the one that showed up right at the end of the airbending temple episode (forget the name) with the machinist? Think she'll play Jinora?

I'm preeetty sure we've at the very least heard of her before. But I could be mistaken. It does ring a bell, though. (I think.)

[Quillfeather]

Reveal(?) that Lex has a niece. Have we seen her in comic? ... Was she the one that showed up right at the end of the airbending temple episode (forget the name) with the machinist? Think she'll play Jinora?

This could be fun. What are everyone's predictions as to who DM's and who plays which character in Korra? I think Shelby or Rick are good candidates for DM even though Manny has talked a lot about the group being Damien's table.

[Comissar]

I think Rick or Damien as DM is likely. The hint seems to be toward Damien being DM, but I might just be reading into something that isn't there. If he isn't DM, I think Damien is likely to play Mako. If Rick isn't DM, I think he may play Korra. Shelby... Asami, perhaps? Actually, Mac may also be Mako, just to show her lack of roleplaying ability (Mako is super bland for a long time, he's a perfect fit ). I think Lex is a good fit for Bolin. This does leave Rube and Manny without characters, though. I guess Lin might be a PC, but I don't think she's around enough to really qualify. Tenzin could be a PC, though, so perhaps Rube/Manny play him? Gonna stick with my 'niece as Jinora' theory.

[Lizard Lord]

Okay this seems weird to me. In what system do stealth skills work that way? I always thought that if you roll for something your character has thus attempted the stated action and you cannot take it back no matter if the attempt succeeds or not. With stealth related checks failure means you are heard and/or seen. How does Damien get to roll for stealth and then get to decide not to leave cover just because he rolled badly. If Zuko doesn't leave cover because he believes he will get caught than the attempt shouldn't have been made in the first place. Is it just intentional to show Manny going too easy him because he is just that worried about going too hard on him?


Actually scratch all that. I just realized as I typed the last sentence that its most likely because Zuko getting caught by these guys would ruin Manny's narrative.

[DeadpanSal]

Along those lines, I'm pretty sure everything Manny does can be easily explained by Page 153:

Manny: "Guys. Guys. I don't care. I don't care if you roll fairly. I don't care if you cheat. Make up feats, whatever. I can't make this easier for you. I made a railroad. All you have to do is eat the Flavor Text, stay on the railroad, don't interrupt anything written in blue."

[Comissar]

It's nice to see Damien enjoying himself.

[Dragonexx]

I've been doing some thinking about how this comic would handle Legend of Korra. I'm not really focusing on characters other that Korra for this.

The most likely choices to play Korra to me would be Damien, Mac, or Shelby. Here's why.

Throughout the first two season, Korra honestly has very little identity for herself beyond being the avatar. She's hotheaded, short-tempered, brash, and reckless, and usually attempts to solve her problems with fighting (her interactions with the corrupt judge stand out). She becomes easily frustrated when she encounters a situation that she cannot (metaphorically speaking) punch her way out of. This is also why Amon terrifies her so much (at least, significantly more than other characters). She only sees herself as the Avatar, the worlds strongest bender, and here is a guy who can take away bending. To Korra, this is tantamount to being killed. Eventually it finally happens and she's debended of everything except airbending (since she hadn't learned it at the time).

After realizing that even Katara cannot heal her of this, she runs away, and from what it looks like was contemplating throwing herself off that cliff. Instead, she's saved by Aang (somehow). The lesson might not have been fully learned, because throughout the first half of season two, she's still much the same, prone to rash decisions and quick to violence. However, later in the season, the big one happens, Vaatunaloq rips Raava, the Avatar Spirit out of her, utterly destroying her connection to her past lives and ability to use the Avatar state. She is quite literally, no longer the avatar any more.

Now, when I first saw the tree of time and the following finale, I had dismissed it as a poorly foreshadowed deus ex machina ala to energybending in The Last Airbender. Ridiculous, but fun. However, upon rewatching season two, I find myself liking it much much better. Inside the tree of time, we see images of Korra's past. We see her fights yes, but also her friendships, her cooperation with her team in pro bending, her date with bolin. All part of her identity. Also, there the dialogue.

Tenzin: "Let go of your attachment to who you think you are, and connect with your inner spirit... I'm not talking about Raava. Raava is not who you are."

Tenzin: "Korra, the most powerful thing about you is not the spirit of Raava, but your own inner spirit. You have always been strong, unyeilding, fearless."

An image of Avatar Wan appears.

Korra: "Avatar Wan!"

Wan: "Before he fused with Raava, Wan was just a regular person."

Korra: "But he was brave... and smart... and always wanted to defend the helpless."

Tenzin: "That's right, he became a legend because of who he was not what he was. He wasn't defined by Raava, anymore than you are."

We then see Vaatunaloq attacking Republic City.

Korra: "Everyone's in danger!"

Tenzin: "You have to help them Korra."

Korra: "How?! They're halfway around the world!"

Tenzin: "Do as the ancients once did. Connect to the cosmic energy of the universe. Don't bend the elements, but the energy within yourself."

Korra: "You really think I can do this?"

Tenzin: "I have no doubt."

Korra: "Thank you for not giving up on me"

Tenzin: "I'm proud of you."


We then see Korra meditate on these memories of herself, her experiences and growth as a person. As she does so she she projects spirit from her body. Her spirit, her very identity grows greater and greater, until she's capable of taking on Vaatunaloq herself. Korra has completed her growth as a person.

We see this through out later seasons. Korra, while still hot-headed, is less so, and becomes more diplomatic and thoughtful. One example that stands out to me is when she's speaking with a clearly condescending, selfish and rude Earth Queen. Korra remains polite and respectful, and even accepts the queens side-quest. This is a far cry from her frequent arguements with President Raiko. I could honestly see a season 1 or 2 Korra attempting to strongarm the queen into cooperating.

As this applies to the players I could see it working several ways depending on who plays her.

Mac: Mac has very little investment in her characters, and is also said to be something of a control freak GM (possibly even an ego tripping GM considering how meat-grindery her games are said to be). Playing korra, she could learn to become a better roleplayer, and to be more permissive of things.

Shelby: Shelby is the ultimate munchkin. She only sees characters as a set of statistics, and most likey spends most of her play time in tournament play, which likely leads to her not having much experience with roleplaying and character development. Korra could open her up to this sort of thing, making her much better at storytelling.

Damien: Damien has struggled to form an identity for himself as a roleplayer, living in the shadow of a mother who's a legendary player. It's also stated that all of his characters tend to be brooding types. With korra, he could learn how to play different characters, and grow as a person. This also ties into Korra's development of identity.

So yeah, those are my thoughts on that.

[aurilee]

I'm preeetty sure we've at the very least heard of her before. But I could be mistaken. It does ring a bell, though. (I think.)

She appeared at the end of one session (in the first book I believe). Her appearance caused Manny and Lex to power through a big battle scene as fast as possible so that the niece wouldn't have to stick around (she's apparently very annoying).

[DeadpanSal]

Yeah, the raid on the air temple in episode 17. And then she called Lex during the Lake Laogai fight in the second book. Which is funny because when she comes up in The Beach, Lex says "You all met her! Twice!"

[moossabi]

I can't remember, was the obscure reference prophesied earlier on supposed to be in this episode or Nightmares and Daydreams (and Bears, oh my!)?

[aurilee]

Wait...the latest comic seems to imply that Katara is a non-good alignment. I thought she was supposed to be Neutral Good? Is she True Neutral or something? Or has there been no reference to her alignment before, and I'm just confusing myself?

[DeadpanSal]

I don't think Katara's non-good. It's probably just Mac being described. I wonder what everyone's alignment would be, separate from their character. The only Lawful Good player is probably Rick.

[GiantBardo]

this is amazing, thanks for the link

[aurilee]

I don't think Katara's non-good. It's probably just Mac being described. I wonder what everyone's alignment would be, separate from their character. The only Lawful Good player is probably Rick.

And the tags for #874 give a nod to this.

So I guess this is more of a case of "Mac is forgetting to roleplay again", since she's trying to get Katara to do things outside of her alignment.

I have to assume at this point that Katara will willingly embrace and use bloodbending in contrast to what happened on the show. I wonder how she'll use it going forward?

[Comissar]

I keep hoping that Mac will finally start to actually roleplay, rather than just rollplaying. Also, it's fun seeing Shelby's developing crush on Lex, though I think it'll go the way of Toph/Sokka and not end up in anything.

[aurilee]

I keep hoping that Mac will finally start to actually roleplay, rather than just rollplaying. Also, it's fun seeing Shelby's developing crush on Lex, though I think it'll go the way of Toph/Sokka and not end up in anything.

Yeah, it's cute how she's taking care of him with his Knowledge (Batman) checks. ^_^

I'm thinking that maybe after she actually starts to bloodbend, Rick will come back into the game and question her on it. Given that he's the big roleplayer of the group, he might influence her in that direction. Or he might not.

[Comissar]

I'm thinking that maybe after she actually starts to bloodbend, Rick will come back into the game and question her on it. Given that he's the big roleplayer of the group, he might influence her in that direction. Or he might not.

The other option is that the Zuko/Katara joint episode (I forget the name) will push Mac to finally play Katara. Damien is probably the biggest roleplayer in the group, with the arguable exception of Rube. Rick is more of the moral centre than the roleplayer.

[aurilee]

The other option is that the Zuko/Katara joint episode (I forget the name) will push Mac to finally play Katara. Damien is probably the biggest roleplayer in the group, with the arguable exception of Rube. Rick is more of the moral centre than the roleplayer.

Sorry, by "the group" I meant the current Gaang (Katara/Sokka/Toph/Aang). Damien's definitely the biggest roleplayer. Rube is good at roleplaying, but not good at character/player separation.

Is there a whole episode of just Zuko and Katara? I remember them going after Azula near the finale, but it's been a while so maybe I'm mis-remembering. Now that you mention it though, I don't think the Zuko/Katara/Azula thing could work unless Mac actually played Katara. But then again, maybe Zuko joining the Gaang is actually just Katara bloodbending him and the entire plot is subverted. :P