Avatar Legends: Avatar the Last Airbender RPG - USD1m in 1 day

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Skywalker

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OK, it hasn't quite go to $1m yet, but its made $875k in around 9 hours so I am sure it will hit that mark by 24 hours in.

That's an impressive achievement for a tabletop RPG. In comparison, the One Ring based on Lord of the Rings IP and a well regarded 1st edition made around half of that.

I feel like this IP has been seriously underestimated by many gaming companies :smile:

 
I'm not surprised. I love Avatar and I see it everywhere online. I'm torn, though. When I looked at the preview, the mechanics were ok but not special. It's a pbta game and doesn't really distinguish types of bending or even bending vs not (at least in the preview I saw). It looks like $20 for all the pdfs and they've already blown through most of the stretch goals. Some of the physical addons like the dice and map are tempting, too.

I really hope cabbage merchant is one of the playbooks.
 
... and they've already blown through most of the stretch goals.
They are still putting them up at a consistent pace and I expect a bunch more yet culminating in the extra stuff being added into a printed book.
 
Tentatively backing this at the $75 tier. Seems a good price for all the extra bits. Might end up dropping to just the book or the PDFs though. I’m not the biggest fan of the pbta engine, but I do really like Avatar.
 
It's a pbta game and doesn't really distinguish types of bending or even bending vs not (at least in the preview I saw)

Really? Get that aspect wrong and you might as well pack it in. It'd be like making a Star Wars RPG and reducing the force to emulating blaster shots, which in turn emulate primitive thrown weapons.
 
Really? Get that aspect wrong and you might as well pack it in. It'd be like making a Star Wars RPG and reducing the force to emulating blaster shots, which in turn emulate primitive thrown weapons.
Not really. This is likely to be the subject of much discussion here looking at past threads, but it arises from the way PbtA treats fiction first. Avatar follows the same path as Masks in terms of superpowers in general.

Bending is something that every bender is expected to use all the time. Given the fact that the system isn't simulating physics but fiction, there is no need to determine the exact physics of every use of bending. It is instead an extension of the character's abilities generally. If it follows Masks, the result at the table will be that bending will be used readily and in a wide variety of ways.

In combat, bending has very definite effects. For example, fire benders will not only have access to specific fire bending combat moves, but they will also favour aggressive attacks over defensive or observative options.
 
Really? Get that aspect wrong and you might as well pack it in. It'd be like making a Star Wars RPG and reducing the force to emulating blaster shots, which in turn emulate primitive thrown weapons.
That's the impression I got. Looking at it again. There is a training selection, which is 4 bending types, weapons, or tech. But it doesn't seem to affect which moves are available - it doesn't look like you're going to get a bunch of bending moves for detailed bending battles.

1.0 version of the quickstart here if you don't feel like signing up for the mailing list. You can see some of the playbooks.
 
Its very impressive for a kickstarter, and a wonderful (and crowd pulling) setting, I just don't get using pbta (probably because I don't get ptba). But I've seen a number of comments about the lack of distinctions between bending (presumably from people who do get ptba) and I thought that this would be a vital component of an Avatar RPG.

Has anyone done a Avatar TV show battle showing how the rpg models/matches what happens onscreen? Or more importantly how playing it will make it feel like a TV episode.
 
That's the impression I got. Looking at it again. There is a training selection, which is 4 bending types, weapons, or tech. But it doesn't seem to affect which moves are available - it doesn't look like you're going to get a bunch of bending moves for detailed bending battles.
That's not the case. From the quickstart:

"PCs start with at least one special technique from their playbook or from a specialized form of bending. They can learn more special techniques by training with NPCs."

You can see examples in the Quickstart such as Fire Sage Bai having:

Fire Pinwheel
advance and attack
Throw a spinning disc of pure flame. Mark 1-fatigue to inflict two conditions on a foe engaged with you. If your target blocks, dodges, or otherwise avoids this attack, it sets everything around them aflame.


As such, each form of bending will have their own detailed combat moves (some may be shared). This can also influence which Approach the PC favoured, which determines initiative and has an impact on how the PC fights generally.
 
Its very impressive for a kickstarter, and a wonderful (and crowd pulling) setting, I just don't get using pbta (probably because I don't get ptba). But I've seen a number of comments about the lack of distinctions between bending (presumably from people who do get ptba) and I thought that this would be a vital component of an Avatar RPG.

Has anyone done a Avatar TV show battle showing how the rpg models/matches what happens onscreen? Or more importantly how playing it will make it feel like a TV episode.
I think it comes off the back of Masks, which was very successful for Magpie and took the same approach to superpowers in the teenage superhero genre.

It is not an approach for everyone, but plenty of people found it to work very well for that genre.
 
From the quickstart, it looks well done. I'm just afraid that, for those of us not psyched about the pbta approach, it will be hard to keep a game going for more than a couple of sessions. I'll have to spend more time reading the rules.
 
Its very impressive for a kickstarter, and a wonderful (and crowd pulling) setting, I just don't get using pbta (probably because I don't get ptba). But I've seen a number of comments about the lack of distinctions between bending (presumably from people who do get ptba) and I thought that this would be a vital component of an Avatar RPG.

Has anyone done a Avatar TV show battle showing how the rpg models/matches what happens onscreen? Or more importantly how playing it will make it feel like a TV episode.
I'll say this as someone who very much does get PbtA, I didn't get using it for this either. But Magpie made good on past kickstarters in a timely manner, so I certainly trust them well enough. And their earlier games were solid enough that I'm willing to give it a chance. It already seems a lot less weird after seeing soem of the comments in this thread, so yeah, worth the risk for me.

Yeah, pbta is pretty much the CrossFit of RPGs
Sigged.
 
I get PbtA, but I'm less and less sure I want to play it.
Guess I'd have to think, but it might end up as another missed opportunity for me. After Exalted Essence, I'm kinda getting used to it:grin:!
 
As much as I love the Avatar franchise, I'll quite likely pass on this. First of all, it's PbtA which is generally an hard pass for me. And then there are some decisions... like putting all the main characters from the series in a special NPC category. Too reminiscent of the WW super-NPC syndrome.

There was another PbtA RPG created as an unofficial Avatar game; it's Legend of the Elements:




At least that one had bending-specific playbooks...
 
Legend of the Elements is good. More straightforward than Magpie’s official version for sure, though it doesn’t quite capture the show as well IMO
 
PbtA doesn't seem like a good fit to me for a game that's intended to include newbies to the hobby. Most newbies have had some experience from Japanese or Western CRPGs which are more D&D like. That's why I'm surprised to see the massive success of this Kickstarter.
 
They are still putting them up at a consistent pace and I expect a bunch more yet culminating in the extra stuff being added into a printed book.
Yea, they already passed the 2nd adventure booklet and will hit the 3rd for sure. As they add more, it could easily be ~6 booklets of stuff. Whether or not they decide to put these into a single large book, there's going to a ton of content.

I failed my save and went for physical product, which is rare for me. But the dice are cute and I can put the map up beside my Middle Earth map. I play with my kids and a bunch of teens so I can see this game getting played even if I'm still on the fence on the rules.
 
PbtA doesn't seem like a good fit to me for a game that's intended to include newbies to the hobby. Most newbies have had some experience from Japanese or Western CRPGs which are more D&D like. That's why I'm surprised to see the massive success of this Kickstarter.
In my experience, people with prior tabletop experience have a much harder time with PbtA than people without preconceived notions do.
 
In my experience, people with prior tabletop experience have a much harder time with PbtA than people without preconceived notions do.
I found a similar experience with Cortex Plus/Prime. Our new player jumped right on it, and the old die hard folk (much of the group has been playing for more than 20 years) just struggled like crazy for a good while. Took me much longer than I'd care to admit, though I realy enjoy it.
 
PbtA doesn't seem like a good fit to me for a game that's intended to include newbies to the hobby. Most newbies have had some experience from Japanese or Western CRPGs which are more D&D like. That's why I'm surprised to see the massive success of this Kickstarter.

In my experience, people with prior tabletop experience have a much harder time with PbtA than people without preconceived notions do.

Yeah, I have found this too. PbtA is good for new RPGers and is particularly well suited to streaming and online play, which may well be part of its current success. It is mostly experienced RPGers who have to do a bit of unlearning that struggle with it.
 
Less than $500k away from topping Strongholds and Streaming and $300k from The One Ring 2e :o

This seems like the perfect mix of IP, ruleset, and publisher having an exponential impact on the KS.
 
This is cool for Magpie who have published some very good and often niche games for the love of it and produce good looking, thoughtfully designed games.

I'm not familiar with the cartoon so I won't be pledging but I'm happy for their deserved success.
 
Yeah, I will be interested to see how it stacks up against the most funded Tabletop Game Kickstarters by its end.

Looking down at the rest, I'd expect.

This is cool for Magpie who have published some very good and often niche games for the love of it and produce good looking, thoughtfully designed games.

I'm not familiar with the cartoon so I won't be pledging but I'm happy for their deserved success.
You should get acquinted:thumbsup:!
 
This is cool for Magpie who have published some very good and often niche games for the love of it and produce good looking, thoughtfully designed games.

I'm not familiar with the cartoon so I won't be pledging but I'm happy for their deserved success.
Yeah, I've never been an Avatar guy, so this isn't for me...but I've backed a number of their games and been pleased, so good for them.
 
In my experience, people with prior tabletop experience have a much harder time with PbtA than people without preconceived notions do.
No, that’s part of the CrossFit mentality surrounding PbtA. “If you don’t get it, it means you are stuck in the old ways”.
 
I’ve only played Dungeon World and I didn’t like it, but apparently that’s not even a good example of a “true” pbta game… whatever that means.
 
Dungeon World is a good intro PbtA RPG in that it’s closer to a more traditional RPG. It’s moves are generally closer to skill use and there aren’t tight resource management cycles around things like bonds and alignment.

But yeah, I wouldn’t say that it sings quite the way that Masks, Hearts of Wulin, Apocalypse World and Monsterhearts does, which are what people are likely referring to when they talk about pure PbtA RPGs.
 
No, that’s part of the CrossFit mentality surrounding PbtA. “If you don’t get it, it means you are stuck in the old ways”.
If you don't like PbtA and can't contribute anything positive, that's the definition of trolling. Feel free to get your ass out of here.

Your posts were reported.
 
I’ve only played Dungeon World and I didn’t like it, but apparently that’s not even a good example of a “true” pbta game… whatever that means.
Any game you criticize will be that way, trust me. :grin:

Anyway, I’m glad the game made so much money, something had to throw Colville off the top. The guy’s already so full of himself he’s about to turn inside out.
 
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