RECRUITMENT: Avatar The Second Age

First of all, hello to everybody who dares read this thread!

I'm quite new to this forum in general, but I've been playing RPGs for the better half of a decade by now and I've fallen in love with the hobby. Over the years, I've played and GMed in a multitude of campaigns (most of them 5e), be it PbP, voice, or IRL, and I think that I can enjoy pretty much any kind of game, behind the screen or otherwise.

That said, I feel like the overall scene is a bit overcrowded with the usual high fantasy, medieval epic stories of monster slaying and world saving. And, while I enjoy these things enough to run a DnD 4e game of my own of these exact genres, you'll have to agree with me that, as the saying goes, variety is the spice of life. So! I come here today to present you a campaign I'm willing to run for you. Free of charge, so don't be shy!

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Avatar: The Second Age

The rulebook can be found here. If you're interested, the Tumblr dev page for the system, and general ATLA discussion can be found here. Of note, is that it's a Genesys hack, so you must be familiar with the Genesys system to play it.

I've always been a big fan of both ATLA and LoK, despite how much of a different opinion people seem to have on them. I've enjoyed them for what they are: adventures into a world of spirits, mysticism, and elemental magic, and that's what I wish to run for you today. Though I haven't decided on details just yet, the campaign will most definitively have a group of people doing their best to fight perhaps the most terrifying force that the world could ever see: a fully realized Avatar, wanting to bring an end to the land they're supposed to protect.

Though details can be talked and discussed, my initial draft for it would involve a 4-8 player table, with at least one bender of each element (duh) in an age of the world that the arts were rare, either due to the Avatar killing most benders and erasing writing and scrolls of the arts or some other catastrophe. The rest I'm still not too sure about, but man am I excited to brainstorm it all!

You can expect a lot of combat, given you'd all be rebels fighting against an evil Avatar. And I hope to see a lot of creativity in your characters, both in bending and whatever else you feel might make for an interesting person to go against the equivalent of a demigod. Not that a mundane character without bending won't be accepted, of course! I've yet to decide on post frequency, the main plotline and other details we might need, since this is mainly an interest check, but if you have any questions you can go ahead and ask!

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So yeah, this is what I have for you today! If you're interested, dot in to let me know and check out the PDF for the system up top. If you're extra interested, let us know if you're eyeing a particular class or bending style. Can't blame you for being excited about the elements bidding to your will, awesomeness, and martial arts skill!


Especially if you're an earthbender, which is, objectively, the best bending style.

You bet your sweet cabbages I'm interested!
How does the system balance benders and non-benders?
Just curious, why the Genesys version and not the new version that was recently kickstarted?

I'm in...100%!

From my understanding, it's a similar balance to the whole casters vs martials in other systems, and also how the show balances them out: while yes, a bender can do incredible feats and manipulate the elements around them, with enough training and wit a non-bender can still weave their way through and strike where it hurts. Think of it like Ty Lee, she was a monster in the battlefield because no one could hit her, and when she got close, she fucked people up bad.

There's also the matter of specialization, because as a bender, you'll be spending most of your EXP on bending abilities. A mundane person, however, doesn't have to worry about that, and instead can develop skillsets and specializations that a bender simply can't afford.

That said, I'm still unsure! I haven't yet dipped my toes into the system enough to have a clear understanding of balance and how it all clicks together, so I'll be learning along all you guys.
While I haven't tried Genesys yet, I did play a Dungeon World campaign for a few months back in 2019, which is a PtbA hack. I didn't really enjoy it too much, wasn't as bad at first but going deeper into it made me realize just how clunky everything felt compared to other systems I've tried. So, when I read the handbook and realized the newly kickstarted RPG is also a PtbA hack, I got turned off from it.

Then I found Second Age. I heard very good things about Genesys from a friend, so I figured I'd try it out instead of going with the other system. So far, I like it more, but who knows, maybe it might not be my cup of tea either.

I enjoy Genesys and I've been looking at Avatar Second Age for a while with a view to running a game for one of my kids. Personally I know a bit about Avatar/Korra but I'm not super into it. I've also backed the PbtA Avatar Legends but I'm also a bit unsure of the mechanics and Aironfabio is kindly running a vignette to test it out. Depending on how that goes I'll consider porting some scenarios into Genesys (we already play Genesys at home for a Harry Potter game). So long story short, I'm overcommitted games wise but I'm interested.

Interesting. I'll keep an eye out for the vignette you mentioned, thanks for the heads up!

Definitely interested!

I'm curious about anything Avatar-related; however I am a bit scared about the crunchiness of Genesys. Having different powers for the different moves of each bending style seems a bit too much for me.

Would the forum be public, so that I can lurk?

I personally like the crunch a lot. It doesn't feel as overwhelming as some other systems (looking at you, Shadowrun), it's just about enough for me.
Yeah, that's the plan. I lurk your Legends vignette, you lurk my Second Age... campaign of yet undecided length, everyone wins.

I'd also love to watch. My impression of genesys so far is not great, so I dont think I'll apply myself. But I'm curious to follow along

Thinking character ideas - obviously it'd depend on the setting - but I'd be thinking firebender or nonbender, the latter partly because I'm familiar with Genesys so I'd have some idea how to play a nonbender, the former because, well, they're cool.

I'm working on the campaign's forum in the background while I keep this thread up. Look forward to a proper introduction to the setting as well as character creation instructions by Wednesday at worst, since I got work tomorrow and a 4e table to GM for in the Sunday.

One thing I did picture, given enough players, was to have multiple groups playing different facets of the struggle to stop the Avatar. Maybe one of just benders, another of non-benders, a mixed group - all working despite of, for, or even against each other. But, that's if we have an overflow of players, for now I'll plan for a single group.

Out of interest how aware is the world of the Avatar gone rogue? Is it a 'Character have joined up to a war effort to fight him' or 'a ragtag bunch of misfits have accidentally stumbled into a group together that is slowly uncovering/working towards fighting the avatar while others are unaware?' or somewhere in between? (Or the perfectly acceptable answer of as yet unsure/depends on group)

I think the second option. There will definitively be a war happening between the factions that support the Avatar and are against them, but I think it's more interesting to start before that point. I have yet to settle all the minute details and inform you guys of the world's situation, but initially I picture it as such:

Avatar Sho, reborn within the Earth Kingdom, was discovered during a time of very stable peace, inherited from the work of the previous one to fill her shoes. Because of the lack of major conflict, she became very reclusive, and decided to dedicate her life to meditation and study of the spirit world, since there was never a Hundred Year War or... frankly all the shit Korra was put through for her to struggle against.

We'll start a few months before the first strike by Sho happens. You'll all be a ragtag group of a nature I've yet to really determine, but the general vibe is that in the first few levels, you'll be at a more street level, wandering about the land and developing your own abilities as you realize that things... might not be so peaceful as the times would make anyone believe. Eventually, the Avatar, as well as those behind her will strike out against the world, and you'll be pushed to fight in the frontlines.

Of course, this is all very vague. I still have to develop my thoughts out and put them on paper pixel, so that I have something more concrete for you to build around. I do want to note that I'm usually very chill with this stuff, and very welcoming of anything you might want to add to the world through your backstory or whatever, so feel free to go as wild as you like and I'm sure we can fit your character concepts in somehow!

Cheers! Sounds a good start (Was hoping for the latter, as some of character ideas if I get in definitely work better for it... and more captures the avatar feel personally)

I'm thinking of going with a Waterbender.

The thought currently in head is an up and coming probender (likely fire) who definitely does not have family issues or anything like that and she'll have you know any scandals or rumours are utterly false thank you very much. Anyone who has played with me before however know that once I start reading into the books and rules I spontaneously generate umpteen odd concepts, and also can adapt to other players.

Good to see we have some concepts running around already. If anyone would like to design their stuff already, here's a character sheet for the system. I promise I'm not lazy for not making an in-forum sheet, but I found this one in the Tumblr blog and figured it was pretty dang good (it even autocalculates your skill's dice pool), and I am not well-versed enough in BBCode to make one without a guide and a lot of time.

That said,
This does remind me of a point I was gonna bring up with you guys: we can either go with the more traditional culture presented to us by ATLA and have our campaign be set somewhere in the far past, or switch to the future and have a more modernized, technnologically developed world like what LoK presents to us. I can work with either, so it's a matter of what you all think would be more interesting.

Thats fair. Happy if everyone else would rather a more traditional setting. I can easily modify concept/come up with other ones. I do like the tech vs magic/bending feel of Korra but also understand others preferring the Aang feel and setting.

On the sheet.. hey if it works it works. I often use automated sheets then translate the to GP or just use a link.

This sounds like a super cool idea. I'm relatively familiar with AtLA and LoK as well as the Genesys system. I haven't ever played it though and would like to give it a shot. I just downloaded the book for second age so it'll probably take me a little while to get up to speed.

I'm interested to see what this shapes into and am interested in playing. I think I'd like to bring an Earthbender to the table.