Want To Try Out Avatar The Last Airbender’s Upcoming RPG? Quickstart Rules Available Now
Everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked, and now you can find out how by playing the official Avatar: the Last Airbender RPG right now.
Do you love Avatar: the Last Airbender? Of course you do. How could you not? It’s one of the few shows that brings generations together to appreciate magical martial arts, fantasy, and a real good disguise that gets ’em every time.
Cabbage carts across the land are in danger folks, because the official Avatar: the Last Airbender and Legened of Korra RPG is here, folks. Well, in part anyway. Earlier this week, Magpie Games (makers of Bluebeard’s Bride, the Root RPG, and Masks, to name a few) unveiled the Quickstart preview rules for Avatar: the Last Airbender, which they’re developing in partnership with with ViacomCBS to make your early ‘aughts hopes and dreams come true. They also revealed that the official Kickstarter is coming in August, which is altogether too far away for news this good.
Join your friends in a unique opportunity to return to a beloved setting–this time as the heroes of the story! Rising to meet their destiny, players will make characters using playbooks—templates that help players build and play compelling protagonists in the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra.
In Avatar Legends: the RPG, you and your friends might protect local merchants from the Triple Threat Triad in Republic City, travel through a spirit portal to rescue a child taken into the Spirit World, negotiate peace between feuding communities within the Earth Kingdom, or pursue mysteries (and villains) that arise throughout their adventures!
I’ve playtested the game myself–and am happy to say that it is a blast to play. It’s built on the Powered by the Apocalypse framework, which is at the heart of games like Masks and Ironsworn and Legacy: Free from the Yoke, as well as being the secret engine underneath Blades in the Dark.
You pick a playbook like The Icon or The Bold which represent different archetypes that you can map onto characters from the Avatar universe, and you’ll be ready to make the rest of your party. Like the Avatar series, Avatar: Legends places a lot of emphasis on the ensemble. To that end, the players will collectively come up with their backstories and show how their characters know each other, and the game provides excellent guidance to do exactly that.
You’ll answer some questions about a core “crisis” that informs the inciting event of your story and you’ll get a lot of personality out of the process. When playing, this was the part that grabbed me most. Like most PbtA games, Avatar: Legends requires you to be comfortable with taking on more narrative agency. You aren’t restricted to a limited number of abilities, there are no premade power lists like “earthbend a big disc at someone” or “metalbending suit” to pick from. Instead you use one of the game’s moves, or develop your own special combat technique.
Combat is an interesting beast in Avatar. It draws inspiration from a number of systems, none of which you’re likely to be familiar with, but the upshot is, it manages to make itself stand out. You pick a stance: attack, defend, or watch, and that determines when you go–you make a roll to determine what kind of moves you have available to you, but by and large, the system has the flexibility to handle something like Bending, which can be used to do everything from launching a fireball when you punch, to shielding your body in metal and making you unstoppable…
For full effect listen to this while rewatching that Toph sequence
…while at the same time making it easy to mix it up as a hook-swords wielding freedom fighter, or whatever you decide to play. The flexibility of the system and narrative-driving mechanics make for a fantastic system for exploring the world, especially given the focus on your team. The game sings when it’s tossing character motivations together. And all that’s just from the Quickstart rules.
More is coming, and from the talent assembled to design the game?
We’re also excited to be working with a group of amazing contributing designers, including @LulaVampiro, @cysdavis, @SharangBiswas, @danielhkwan, @leefrancisIV, and @senfoonglim! Alongside our regular design team, they’re helping us bring the world to life at your table! https://t.co/1dlvAZEJHT
— Magpie Games (@MagpieOfficial) February 3, 2021
Everything’s coming up cabbages.
Check out the Avatar: Legends Quickstart Rules today
And keep an eye out for pentapox! I think I’ve heard of that…
