Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game Quickstart

The Quickstart of Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game was released free of charge on July 12, 2021. It contains rules for character generation, storytelling systems, and a pre-generated campaign, The Forbidden Scroll.Avatar Legends: The Roleplay Game. Quickstart, Version 1.0, 2021. An updated version of the Quickstart, titled Version 2.0, was released in early August 2021.Avatar RPG Changelog. Google Docs, August 2021.
== Contents ==
=== Setting ===
The Quickstart contains a short chapter which introduces the World of Avatar Legends and gives summaries of the different states, cultures, and history. It outlines the five possible eras for the game, each being tied to the span of an Avatar's life (excepting the Hundred Year War era), focusing on distinct themes which define the type of game that can be played:
=== Starting play ===
==== Choose a scope ====
The game's scope defines how much of the four nations the players will explore over the course of the game. Broad scope games might mean that players sail or fly to multiple destinations, solving problems as they go. A narrow scope game might mean exploring a single region or city in greater depth or detail, occasionally visiting outside locations, but always returning to the original site of focus.
A very broad scope would include adventures similar to those in the events of Avatar: The Last Airbender or The Rise of Kyoshi, while a narrower scope would be something similar to Book One: Air of The Legend of Korra, which explored Republic City in more detail. The scope can change over the course of play, but it is usually a sign of moving on to a "new season" of the adventures.
Examples include:
* A Single Fire Sage Temple: An extremely narrow scope would be a single Fire Sage temple revolving around the politics and drama of the temple and the monks there.
* The Air Nomad Temples: A broader scope would be all of the Air Nomad temples, traveling back and forth between them and solving problems in many places.
* Ba Sing Se: This scope is something that gives both a lot of width and potential depth. Such a scope means that the heroes will deal with all sorts of problems, as anything could happen across a massive city.
* Everywhere the Seas Touch: The players could always decide that they want the story to be set across the entire world. Each adventure will happen somewhere, but there will be no real limit to where the story can be taken to.
=== Character creation ===
==== Playbook ====
A playbook defines what kind of social role a character fills in a group and how that role relates to conflicts that drive them. A playbook helps to define personality, relationships, and even how they fight, though any playbook can be any type of bender or a nonbender. The Quickstart features a limited number of playbooks; several more will be part of the game's core book.
* The Bold
* The Guardian
* The Hammer
* The Icon
* The Idealist
* The Successor
==== Training ====
At this point, the player decides whether the character bends one of the four elements (water, earth, fire, or air) or is a nonbender (who can either be a weapons or technology specialist).
A signature fighting style should usually be developed to distinguish the character from other fighters or benders.
* Examples:
** A waterbender who creates clubs, spears, shields, and projectiles out of ice for themself and their nonbender companions to use.
** A tech expert who grew up trapping monsters in the wilderness and constructs elaborate snares out of common items to catch their enemies.
==== Backgrounds ====
Up to two backgrounds can be selected to describe the character's upbringing. A hometown can also be selected, either somewhere featured on the show or somewhere that is made up by the player. Possible backgrounds include:
* Military: This character was trained to fight as a soldier in a military unit such as a mercenary company, a regional militia, or a state government's standing army. Is the character a soldier, a sailor, or a spy? Does the character still answer to their commanding officer, or have they gone rogue?
** Examples: The Kyoshi Warriors, Iroh, Kuvira
* Monastic: This character was or is a monk or a nun devoted to finding enlightenment or helping others in a like-minded community of devotees. What is the order's goal? What is its rules? In what ways did the character's upbringing agree with the character, and in what ways did they long for something different?
** Examples: Avatar Aang, Fire Sage Shyu, Long Feng
* Outlaw: This character lives outside the bounds of law and order as a criminal, insurrectionist, or pirate. Was the character born into lawless life, or did they come into it later? Did the character choose the outlaw life, or did the outlaw life choose them? Do they work alone or with a gang? Whom have they hurt just to stay alive?
** Examples: The Flying Opera Company, Jet and the Freedom Fighters, Tokuga
* Privileged: This character grew up in the lap of luxury, wealth, or prestige, as a hereditary aristocrat, prominent merchant, or even the heir to a successful crime family. What advantages has this upbringing given this character? What does the character miss now that they are no longer surrounded by safety, and what do they fear?
** Examples: Asami, Zuko, the Beifong family
* Urban: This character grew up running the streets of a big city like the Northern Water Tribe capital, Yu Dao, or Republic City. They rubbed shoulders with people from many different walks of life, and they might not feel so at home if their journey takes you to the wilderness. What unexpected skills and knowledge do they have from city life? Which urban amenities do they miss—and which hardships do they not miss?
** Examples: King Bumi, Bolin, Jargala
* Wilderness: This character grew up in a town or household surrounded by nature, the elements in their most raw form, and developed advanced survival skills because of it. Which terrain makes them feel at home? What special skill are they most proud of—perhaps orienteering, herbalism, sailing, or animal training? What excites them, and what scares them, about big-city adventures?
** Examples: Lek, Katara, Tagaka
=== The Forbidden Scroll ===
The Forbidden Scroll is a pre-made campaign set in the year 95 AG, at the time of Fire Lord Ozai's coronation. It involves a group of heroes trying to steal a historical scroll from the Dragonbone Catacombs in Hari Bulkan and being arrested by Fire Sage Bai. The elderly Fire Sage Niuan frees the heroes and gives them the scroll, promising to help him if they also smuggle him out of the city.
==== Important NPCs ====
* Fire Sage Niuan: A new ally to the player characters. He lived a mostly sheltered life for seventy years, growing up in Hari Bulkan and becoming a Fire Sage without a second thought, but self-doubt set in when he received a tour of the colonies for his loyal service and saw how people suffered under a regime he supported and empowered. He is now disillusioned with the Fire Nation and wished to retire from the capital and leave behind the hard questions of morality and guilt inherent to his position.
* Fire Sage Bai: Unlike Niuan, Bai had no illusions about the Fire Nation as he came into adulthood. He understands the truth about the Fire Nation's genocide of the Air Nomads and has decided the atrocities are acceptable for the greater good. He does not believe he is bad, just pragmatic, thinking that the Fire Nation, its culture, and its people are superior to others, and thus it is their natural state to conquer. In that vein, Bai will do nearly anything to maintain the integrity of the lies the Fire Lord and his minions have spun to the masses about the war and the other nations. He believes it is better for the common folk if they do not think too much about what the truth is and more about how they can serve their country.
* General Gong: General Gong is a woman in her late thirties who grew up in Harbor City and rose in the ranks of the city guard to finally being a general. She is in charge of the soldiers guarding Harbor City and is busy with the coronation celebrations for Fire Lord Ozai. She is a family woman who enjoys her job because it keeps people in the city safe. She is utterly in love with her husband, who cares for their five children, and calls Harbor City her home even though she could afford an estate in Hari Bulkan. She always picks her family first and then the safety of others, even if her decisions chafe against what her superiors want.
* Fai Lan: The leader of the Burning Ember Gang and the son of the former leader, Ma. He is cunningly smart like his mother but is not a firebender like she is, making him terrifyingly vicious, so no one in the gang crosses him. Most of the time, he plays the quiet and mysterious leader, but those closest to him know he is prone to bouts of violence if someone questions his authority. Any deal made with Fai Lan always comes at a price, whether that be something he requests right away or a favor he demands down the line. Despite his vicious nature, Fai Lan has managed to keep the loyalty of the people he protects (and extorts) by keeping the guards well bribed and dealing swiftly with anyone who crosses the people he protects.
* Rini: Rini is one of the eldest Fire Finches—she is 14 years old and knows every inch of the streets of Hari Bulkan. When her parents died quashing an uprising in the colonies, and her grandmother passed away, there was no one to take care of Rini, so she took care of herself. She was alone for two years before the Finches found her, and she quickly became one of its most trusted members, eventually ascending as their leader after their previous one "became old and boring." Rini is self-confident, charismatic, and dynamic, making her beloved by most Finches. She never gives up and would fight to the death for any Finch if she had to ... but Rini would never be that stupid. Better to run away from a fight and live to be with those you love than die for a cause.
* Sun Po: Sun Po, a calculating woman in her late forties who wears lavish silken robes, built her merchant fleet from the ground up. The biggest boon of her career has been using Fire Nation nobility to bankroll her exploits, carving out enough power for herself in the process that most people cannot touch her. She is a friend of Niuan—she met him at a party while wooing a wealthy patron into paying for an expedition and decided to keep him as a friend. The two play Pai Sho with one another every Sunday!
==== Pregenerated player characters ====
* Teek: Teek has The Bold archetype and an Impatient demeanor. He is a waterbender with the water whips specialty. He has the Outlaw and Wilderness backgrounds and comes from Grey Wolf Village in the Southern Water Tribe. Teek fled his village with his friend Aniki and her brother Minaq when Fire Nation troops attacked and sought to kill the benders. He traveled to the Fire Nation Capital, often thinking of his great uncle off fighting in the war. He wants to prove himself to be instrumental in ending the Fire Nation's domination and has heard of the Fire Nation hiding a valuable scroll in the Dragonbone Catacombs and sees stealing it as an opportunity to show he has not squandered his gifts. He is scrawny yet acrobatic, with unkempt clothes and bright eyes.
* Aniki: Aniki has The Guardian archetype and a Cautious demeanor. She is a nonbender weapons specialist who uses a cable-backed bow. She has the Outlaw and Wilderness backgrounds and comes from Grey Wolf Village in the Southern Water Tribe. She fled her village with her waterbender brother Minaq and friend Teek when the Fire Nation troops attacked, seeking to kill all the waterbenders. She knew she could never return home without endangering her family, so she kept moving. Teek told Aniki about a scroll that could expose the Fire Nation, but she thought it was a terrible idea to break into the Dragonbone Catacombs. She is decided to do it anyway to protect Teek and to get revenge on the villains that have taken so much from her. She always looks put together, with broad shoulders and a warm smile.
* Wenli: Wenli has The Hammer archetype and a Blunt demeanor. She is a firebender with the Fiery Flying Fists specialty. She has the Urban background and comes from Harbor City. She grew up in the poorest part of the city, where the strong exploit the weak, and the authorities did nothing to stop it. Trying to protect the weak from bullies landed her in a number of brutal fights, but she kept picking them, despite her sweet father trying to teach her restraint. She kept picking them, and her father was beaten to an inch of his life by Fai Lan's enforcers, stealing his daily wages while he walked home in the early hours of the morning. The police laughed off his father's injuries, leaving him infirm and unable to work. Knowing she had never change the system by playing by their rules, she decided to steal from the Fire Nation's ruling class in the Dragonbone Catacombs. She is short and striking and has long braided hair and practical attire.
* Xaipan: Xaipan has The Icon archetype and has a Sad demeanor. She is an earthbender with dancing with the earth specialty. She has the Privileged and Urban background and comes from Hari Bulkan. She grew up in the Fire Nation believing her parents were "guests", but they were actually glorified prisoners. After her mother died in captivity, she became the last of the "earth dancers," a skilled group of earthbenders brought to the Fire Nation as a curiosa from the colonies, something to admire and to watch go extinct. She tried to escape Fire Nation captivity and convinced General Gong to stop watching her, fleeing to the Dragonbone Catacombs as she believed it would provide an escape out of Hari Bulkan. She is slender and lithe, with powerful muscles and flowing clothes.
* Sunlin: Sunlin has The Idealist archetype and has a Joyful demeanor. They are a nonbender weapons specialist who uses dual throwing clubs. They have the Urban background and comes from Harbor City. They grew up an orphan after their parents died in an accident mining ore to build warships for the Fire Nation. The accident taught Sunlin the true price of war and committed themselves to find meaning in their parents' deaths. They did not grow up embittered, but were found by the Fire Finches, a child gang of low-level street criminals. A disagreement with Rini over the Finches' goals led to Sunlin leaving the group, hoping to find some way to do more good than merely survive. When Wenli told Sunlin about a scroll hidden in the Dragonbone Catacombs, Sunlin knew they had found a way to do good. They are tall and curvy, with a striking gaze.
* Yinzin: Yinzin has The Successor archetype and has an Intense demeanor. He is a nonbender technology specialist who uses smoke bombs. He has the Privileged background and comes from Dizin Island. He grew up on a picturesque island owned by his family for generations. He read from the unabridged history of the Fire Nation, written by his mother Zinlai, who inherited the title of National Historian from her mother, and so on. He was set to inherit the position he had trained for his entire life, but a visit from his aunt threw his life into turmoil when she claimed that everything his mother ever wrote was a lie. He now searches for answers, wanting to know if the words his mother penned were simply a beautiful lie obscuring a horrid truth.
== References ==
== See also ==
* Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game
* Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game Core Book
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