471-Foreshadowing Roy Won't Come Back?[SPECULATION tag brought 2u by Captain Obvious]

[Admiral_Kelly]

Elan's Lute. Roy's sword. Haley's voice. Vaarsuvius's species. Roy's sex. Elan's magic rapiers.

I think Burlew is trying to tell us something; do you think he's going to have the "something very important to us is lost or broken and it gets fixed in the end restoring status quo" EVER again?

[Dunamin]

Elan's Lute. Roy's sword. Haley's voice. Vaarsuvius's species. Roy's sex. Elan's magic rapiers.

I think Burlew is trying to tell us something; do you think he's going to have the "something very important to us is lost or broken and it gets fixed in the end restoring status quo" EVER again?
I don't think so. Besides the points about Roy being the icon of the comic itself, the leader and coordinator of the group, etc., there's one thing that plays in to an even greater extent from the perspective of storytelling:
Roy's story is still very much unresolved.

[Elfanatic]

The only thing we can do is pray...

[Gundato]

Indeed. If Xykon had been slain, Roy would be almost guaranteed dead. But Xykon is still out on the loose, and now Roy has a personal reason to want to beat the crap out of him (as opposed to an inherited reason and a heroic reason).

A montage is a'coming.

[Surfing HalfOrc]

Will there be a "flashback" sequence like Elan's escape from prison? Roy rolls back in time by 2-4 hours, meets with Eugene, then Miko. I assume there is a "Waiting Room" for the recently dead, with maybe a Beetlejuice homage?

In fact, all of the dead from both sides of the battle passing through the Afterlife Waiting Room could lead to some interesting conversations. The Hobgoblin general discussing tactics and strategy with the Azure City general? Soldiers playing cards with "the enemy" while waiting on the bereaucracy to process their paper work?

"Dude! I totaly pwned you!"
"You wish! I was waiting to snipe the spellcaster, when you got lucky!"
"Yeah? Well, that teabagging was hella funny!"
"Shut up."

Well, now we gotta wait for Monday night/Tuesday mid-morning for our next fix. Maybe some of the other strips I read will post early or at least on-time.

[Admiral_Kelly]

I don't think so. Besides the points about Roy being the icon of the comic itself, the leader and coordinator of the group, etc., there's one thing that plays in to an even greater extent from the perspective of storytelling:
Roy's story is still very much unresolved.Isn't death the ultimate resolvement? He's dead, cannot get any more resolved then that.

[PePe QuiCoSE]

uh, next B-plot is Belkar mark of justice.
Hope that stays there for good... or at least through his birthday...

[Nathander]

Isn't death the ultimate resolvement? He's dead, cannot get any more resolved then that.

In a usual story, yes. However, here, it's fairly meaningless as long as you have friends willing to try to rez you, and you didn't die from old age or were killed by the Snarl.

[Sage in the Playground]

Isn't death the ultimate resolvement? He's dead, cannot get any more resolved then that.

This is a RPG. Death is at most a moderate inconvenience, at least, a right of passage, ie. "You can't be an adventurer unless you die and come back to life, you young whipper snappers, with you "strategic plannning" and your "consuming potions before death", why in my day, we died and were happy we were coming back at all, with your "don't want to lose a level", and "it hurts" Bah!"

[Gundato]

Heh. I have been in some parties where the Cleric was 4 or 5 levels higher than everyone else. Everyone protected the bugger.

[kpenguin]

Roy's death is A-plot, not B-plot.

[The Extinguisher]

In a usual story, yes. However, here, it's fairly meaningless as long as you have friends willing to try to rez you, and you didn't die from old age or were killed by the Snarl.

Which is why he won't be back alive on Team Good anytime soon. It makes the entire thing meaningless, and there was no point for Roy to die in the first place.

Remember, it's a story first, D&D game last.

[Shatteredtower]

Which is why he won't be back alive on Team Good anytime soon. It makes the entire thing meaningless, and there was no point for Roy to die in the first place.Wrong. You think the death means nothing to Roy? Whether he comes back in ten minutes or ten years, he'll know he failed to stop Xykon. That means something even if there was no way he could have done so. It certainly means a lot more than when he comes back -- if he comes back.


Remember, it's a story first, D&D game last.No. It's what the Giant wants it to be. The order of things is not ours to presume.

[Dunamin]

Isn't death the ultimate resolvement? He's dead, cannot get any more resolved then that.
Not necessarily, particularly in a D&D setting where there are a variety of ways to return to life. Roy is definitely the most comitted member of the OOTs to stopping Xykon, as was nicely illustrated in comic 442, so he'd be more than willing to return (in contrast to Shojo, for instance).

[David Argall]

Elan's Lute. Roy's sword. Haley's voice. Vaarsuvius's species. Roy's sex. Elan's magic rapiers.

I think Burlew is trying to tell us something; do you think he's going to have the "something very important to us is lost or broken and it gets fixed in the end restoring status quo" EVER again?

At the level of abstraction used here, he can't avoid using this theme without abandoning almost all but the most basic outline of the story. Just how many alternatives are there to "lost-restored" are there? Particularly when we don't want the characters really changed much. [Or does anybody think that Belkar would be funny if he was permanently changed to NG and unwilling to hurt anybody?]

We are talking very basic themes here, and there just are not many of them. Avoiding one is effectively impossible, and unwise. [Nor are the redshirt particularly correct in deeming the use here repetitive. He is correct only in the sense that spelling the same word the same way is repetitive. Once we leave the very basic theme level, the stories become different.]

In the particular cases, no, it does not mean Roy is permanently dead. Even if he was somehow unwisely going to avoid the theme in the future, he still has to resolve the current cases, which include the Roy rescue party. More important, Roy has been too central to the story, which is written all wrong to suddenly have him leave center stage in mid story. We get down to the last hundred pages, there are all sorts of way to finish him off, but doing it here so far from the climax is just not going to work.

[The Extinguisher]

Wrong. You think the death means nothing to Roy? Whether he comes back in ten minutes or ten years, he'll know he failed to stop Xykon. That means something even if there was no way he could have done so. It certainly means a lot more than when he comes back -- if he comes back.

Okay, you're reading a book. The main character dies, midway through. It's all suspensful and shakes the other characters. Then, in a few pages, he's back. Seems a little silly, counter-dramatic, and like bad storytelling, if you ask me.


No. It's what the Giant wants it to be. The order of things is not ours to presume.

He's stated before, not in so many words, what the order is.

[Gundato]

Okay, you're reading a book. The main character dies, midway through. It's all suspensful and shakes the other characters. Then, in a few pages, he's back. Seems a little silly, counter-dramatic, and like bad storytelling, if you ask me.


Or, you know, it ends up being a humorous joke and a reference to PnP gaming in general.

[Pink]

Okay, you're reading a book. The main character dies, midway through. It's all suspensful and shakes the other characters. Then, in a few pages, he's back. Seems a little silly, counter-dramatic, and like bad storytelling, if you ask me.

Are you reading 'Dragons of Autumn Twilight" too? That said it can be done well, producing it's own drama and surprise. I mean, Though it's not a couple of pages, look at Gandalf no?

[Ancalagon]

The only thing we can do is pray...

I suggest you stay on the level of "waiting". :)

[Ithekro]

Or it could be something else. Instead of the novel idea being the main character getting killed halfway into the book and then being brought back in a few pages, this looks more like the main character was killed failing his primary goal during the climatix battle of one book in a series. He then is brought back at the end of the novel or early in the next novel so that the main story can continue. Remember these stories break up into a number of books and we are near the end of the current book in the series. If Roy is brought back at the end of this storyline then things continue on. If he doesn't then the next book will have at least part of it spent trying to raise him. That is if Haley can get to Roy's body, and get it to the junk intact and in time. Also if they have the components to actually raise Roy from the dead. This could be a major story arc on A-Plot rather than a B-Plot story "oh let us get Roy's body and get out of here" thing.

[Lavidor]

I'm expecting him to come back, but only next story arc. Without Roy, Belkar get's arrested, Vaarsuvius wanders off to find some scrolls and potion, basically, the Order breaks up. A group can't get by without a straight man.

[The_Hunting_Enemy]

I think we should be able to rule out "He's never coming back" because Rich has stated that this is Roy's story, therefore it would be stupid to assume that possibly halfway through his story he would die and never come back, no? I do think it will be a while though, as Rich doesn't seem like a person who would make a death that dramatic mean absolutely nothing in the long run.

[David Argall]

Roy is coming back, say about 480. We are about to the end of the current book and he will be alive, or about to be raised when it ends.

[Admiral_Kelly]

I think we should be able to rule out "He's never coming back" because Rich has stated that this is Roy's story, therefore it would be stupid to assume that possibly halfway through his story he would die and never come back, no?So it is impossible that he changed his mind? Don't be so haste to rules out a possibility just because the author says something on it.

[The_Hunting_Enemy]

So it is impossible that he changed his mind? Don't be so haste to rules out a possibility just because the author says something on it.
He wrote whole paragraphs on it. In a published OoTS book. I see your point, but it's unlikely.

[Yuki Akuma]

He's also got the outline of this story planned out well in advance. He doesn't just sit down and come up with an entire story arch as he goes.

This is not Bob and George.