Book 2 – Page 67

[BLANDCorporatio]

I totally didn't expect those guys in panel 3....

Their chief weapon is surprise.

Oh man. What sort of thing do you imagine a predictamancer would bring to a stack? Do they have offensive or defensive capabilities? I thought they just sorta told the future.

Remember Minority Report? Probably not, wasn't that good a movie, but anyway, having a Precog around is handy when you want to dodge stuff.

If I was roleplaying Parson, this is the point at which I would plan the murder of all the Great Minds.

Manipulating him to fulfill their plan, not telling him the plan, then standing in his way and endangering him? The question is not who is right or who is wrong, it's the audacity of this scenario.

Your boss would be very interested to know that this is how you think.

I mean there was the hobo, and the dwagons, but the hobo will get back up just fine.

That made me think of Hobo with a Shotgun, which I didn't yet see but looks all shades of awesome (and horribly violent, so that clip is not for the squeamish).

This actually makes me respect Marie. Up until now, I saw her as a passive manipulator. The fact she's ready to get her hands dirty in this make her rise up a few notches in my esteem.

That and the fact that she's getting Parson through will definitely make her hugely popular around here.

I would like to start by pointing out a small but quite significant detail

Marie didn't knew beforehand that Hamster had a super mathmancy item! She needs to ask what it is. So there goes all the conspiracies that they could make item-summoning items easily. The bracer was clearly an unexpected effect, so unexpected that not even Marie the Predictmancer could see it coming.

Well spotted.

[mortissimus]

I call shenanigans on that "prediction."

The question of how much predictions cause the future rather then just predict them is always an interesting one, at least if some degree of free will is involved. Instead of dragging up examples grom ancient Greece and onwards, I will simply state it like this: Free will + Predictomancy = messy

[mortissimus]

I totally didn't expect those guys in panel 3....

Their chief weapon is surprise.

And fear.

Their two cheif weapons are surprise and fear.

[wraithben]

I totally didn't expect those guys in panel 3....

Their chief weapon is surprise.

And fear.

Their two cheif weapons are surprise and fear.

And a ruthless dedication to the pope. Their three main weapons are . . . wait a minute, can they be drawn again?

[WallySumGai]

Of course, "plan" and "carry out" are two completely different things, and I still believe Parson has some motivation more realistic than the desire to endanger himself. If I had to guess, I'd say he wants to see the effect of leveling-up on his own body. In order to accomplish that, any short term objectives like permanently ending the interference of these casters might have to wait for a very long time.

Quite an interesting thought. It's been noted several times that Parson's Warlord Bonus "isn't that great", which probably implies that he's relatively low level, or was at the time of the first big fight at GK. That in turn implies that he was essentially "popped" as a fresh unit, Erfworld terms. If he can just get through the portal in time to stack up with his group before the tower falls, he could level like crazy, which could in turn give BIG bonuses to GK's side as a whole. From a wargaming DM's perspective, it seems likely it would work that way. My only doubt is, it seems like Parson would have mentioned that idea before he went through the portal, if that was what he had in mind. Especially given how likely the Tool is to protest the risk. "It's ok Tool, I'm just going to stick my head through the portal long enough to rack up a ton of XP. You know, embiggen my warlord bonus. That's good, right? Right?"

Perhaps it's going to be an unintended consequence, Parson just hasn't caught onto the line of thinking yet.

[stcredzero]

The woman in the white robes and red stockings to the lower right: are those Aoun stones?

[Fiendishrabbit]

And a ruthless dedication to the pope. Their three main weapons are . . . wait a minute, can they be drawn again?

Among their weaponry are such diverse elements as Fear, Surprise, ruthless efficiency and an almost fanatical devotion to the pope...
...and nice red uniforms. Oh damn it.

And no. It's not Carmen Sandiego. That's Cardinal Ximinez.

[Chronus]

The woman in the white robes and red stockings to the lower right: are those Aoun stones?

That's Anima from "Hoshi no Samidare" (aka: Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer)

http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/2816/o ... idarec.png

[MonteCristo]

Frankly i'm enjoying watching Janis struggle. I mean she was so eager to push Parson forward and to start a war to end all wars. She was willing to spur Parson to destroy... but only when all that war starts hitting close to home does she start to hesitate. It was fine when he was wiping out unaroyal and jetstone with his decrypted armies, but titans forbid the war come to the magic kingdom and she actually have to get involved. Marie has been pushing forth the same agenda, but at least she's willing to accept the responsibility and get her hands dirty

Any new 'mancer character homages that we can see? I see the TF2 Spy and the Spanish Inquisition, but I don't recall if they've made an appearance before.

The Chick with the green hair the hoop floating around her head is from a manga, Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer

And I can't help but notice how Jade from Beyond good and Evil is looking at the chick from Half-life... what with some people mistaking the two in the previous thread

[edit]bah. ninja'd

[The.Healing.Mage]

I'm not sure if the other casters (GMTTA or otherwise) would hurt Sizemore, or what would happen after Parson and whoever else enters Spacerock. I imagine they'd leave him alone after that, but if enough folks figure out what is going on they may take out their anger or frustration on Sizemore if Parson became unavailable.

Another alternative is that dirtamancers may not have direct offensive damage spells, and so Parson may be excluding him from the calculations simply because it doesn't matter. We've seen him use scrolls but I don't think that carnymancy scroll deals direct damage. Stacking does add defensive bonuses but I don't think Parson wants to use Sizemore as a meat shield.

Sizemore has some capacity for lowering city costs, Parson may not want to risk him getting stuck with the army. But I think you're on to something with the defensive-unit. Dirtmancy seems to me most like being in the Army Corps of Engineers or a TF2 Engineer - a bit of offensive power, but they really shine through with entrenchment, traps, construction, and robots (irl) / turrets (TF2) / Rock Golems (erf).

[Rakullu1]

Marie - "I so Predict it."

If a predictamancer tells you to stack because she predicted you stacking... and you then stack...are you stacking because the predictamancer tells you to? Or were you going to anyway and the predictamancer just told you about it?

[Fishman]

If a predictamancer tells you to stack because she predicted you stacking... and you then stack...are you stacking because the predictamancer tells you to? Or were you going to anyway and the predictamancer just told you about it?

Yes.

[million zillion]

Sizemore has some capacity for lowering city costs

And also for lowering cities.

I totally didn't expect those guys in panel 3....

NOBODY EXPECTS THE SP

Their chief weapon is surprise.

And fear.

Their two cheif weapons are surprise and fear.

And a ruthless dedication to the pope. Their three main weapons are . . . wait a minute, can they be drawn again?

... oh, bugger.

[Jinren]

Oh man. What sort of thing do you imagine a predictamancer would bring to a stack? Do they have offensive or defensive capabilities? I thought they just sorta told the future.

One side note: observing Wanda's ability to use many schools of magic, it's also possible that Marie and Janis have arbitrary combat capabilities. Unlikely, but always possible.

And thinking of Wanda... assuming the GMTTA are slack enough to let Parson communicate strategy with Maggie rather than blocking it somehow, he could conceivably order Wanda and/or Jack to come to his aid for a moment ... right? (Or have I forgotten their recent movements - I'm assuming they're on the other side of that portal.) Wanda may not be welcome in the Magic Kingdom right now, but that seems like an irrelevance given the situation.

[atalex]

I am suddenly wondering if there are parallels between predictamancy and Sidereal Astrology from the Exalted RPG. In the latter case, the Sidereal Exalted make "predictions" which are actually directives entered into the Loom of Fate, a heavenly device which maintains causality in the Exalted universe. The practical effect of this is to ensure that characters who act in ways likely to bring the prophecy about gain dice bonuses on all actions in furtherance of the prophecy, while those who act in opposition to the desired future suffer a dice penalty on all such actions.

This would actually be consistent with Wanda's views on how Fate works. She has a prophecy which says she will attune and then bring all the Arkentools together for some purpose. When she acts in furtherance of that goal, she gets lucky breaks that help her to advance. When she acts against that purpose, she suffers unexpected complications.

Also, off topic but I'm now baffled by the Judge. In his close-up, I don't think he looks like Clarence Thomas OR Thurgood Marshall, and he certainly doesn't look like Dennis Haysbert despite his odd bit of dialogue.

[Lamech]

Oh I would like to say that while text updates are good, the comic updates are excellent, so I'm perfectly fine with the lack of text updates. (And indeed I would recommend that if you have both "text update" writing to do, and "comic update" writing to do always choose the later.
Of course, I have no idea if Rob reads this or if he ever needs to make the choice, or if I'm remotely representative of the other readers. Also once again the comic is excellent, both in writing and in art.

[DoctorJest]

So it's common knowledge, at least amongst thinkamancers, that people think in thought bubbles.

Also, the "Are you in good hands" comment makes me think the judge is supposed to be based on Dennis Haysbert. Why he'd be a judge, however, I dunno.

[Housellama]

Re: 1st Frame. Totally called it! Maggie freaking lost it when she found out what tGMTTA had done.

Re: Marie. She and Parson should get along JUST fine; they both fight dirty as boop. Except they won't, because I don't think Marie's smart enough not to try that with Parson himself. What she was saying earlier about Jojo and the scroll is quite possibly true. It would certainly fit with what we the readers know about carnies (by reputation anyway). It would almost certainly fit with what Parson knows as well. But if she tries something like what she just did with Janis on Parson, he might call her on it just to be stubborn.

Also, major props to Xan once again for character facial expressions. Marie looks smug as hell in frames 10 and 14. I can practically hear the smirk in her voice in those lines.

[cloudbreaker]

Oh man. What sort of thing do you imagine a predictamancer would bring to a stack? Do they have offensive or defensive capabilities? I thought they just sorta told the future.

Remember Minority Report? Probably not, wasn't that good a movie, but anyway, having a Precog around is handy when you want to dodge stuff.

This is what I thought of when I imagined Marie helping out in combat. I'm glad I'm not the only one who remembers that movie. Link for reference.

Also, anyone else think Sizemore might be given to the Thinkamancers as collateral to ensure Parson comes back when he has the chance?

And thinking of Wanda... assuming the GMTTA are slack enough to let Parson communicate strategy with Maggie rather than blocking it somehow, he could conceivably order Wanda and/or Jack to come to his aid for a moment ... right? (Or have I forgotten their recent movements - I'm assuming they're on the other side of that portal.) Wanda may not be welcome in the Magic Kingdom right now, but that seems like an irrelevance given the situation.

If they have Parson, Sizemore, Janis, Marie, Maggie comes in from GK, Wanda and Jack come in from Spacerock, and Sizemore creates a golem, then they could have a full stack. Would a mindless golem have an advantage against Thinkamancers?

[BakaGrappler]

Roll call for the new Casters:

First we have the guys that nobody expects to see, with their fanatical dedication to their Warchiefs.

Next we have Anima from "The Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer" with the heavenly hula hoop over her head.

The man in the suit is either Dr. Jekyll or the Red Spy from Team Fortress 2 in a nifty hat. Must have bought it in the MK Rand Shop. Either way, he'd be some sort of Changeamancer.

Then we obviously have Mary Poppins. Most likely a Findamancer that can "Spit-Spot" enemy units, or a Hatamancer that pulls objects out of her bag.

And Jade of Beyond Good and Evil, exchanging a look with who is now 100% confirmed as Alyx Vance. Very nice little call out to the forumites.

It is really interesting that Rob put Jade in here to do away with the short lived banter about identity that I started up in the last thread. The main reason I thought Alyx may be Jade was because in a few of the panels there seemed to be a dark blocky object hanging around her neck that made me think it was a camera, and Jade was a professional photographer. But now I believe we are all more than satisfied.