This tuesday I will be running a one-shot for my group using the Avatar: Legends PbtA game.
I've played 5e, pf2e, and gurps, so I'm used to games that are much more mechanical in nature (comparatively) and have never played anything PbtA. I've gotten a fairly okay grasp on the game's basics from reading stuff and watching a video or two. I'm playing to use a "module" from the quickstart guide to run the oneshot.
What experiences do you guys have with Avatar legends or PbtA stuff in general?
Is there any big pitfalls I need to avoid?
PbtA is the shovelware of TTRPGS, you are unironically better off just doing freeform improv.
>running a story game
>running a game based on a children's cartoon
I think you belong on a list
a game based on a children's cartoon
Half of the things people are into here were meant for children
>Why would you use this over the literal dedicated avatar TTRPG?
The PbtA game IS the official dedicated Avatar RPG.
Why would you use this over the literal dedicated avatar TTRPG? If you're learning a new system anyway it might as well be the one dedicated to the thing you want.
Because it's "official".
How is this one not the literal dedicated Avatar TTRPG?
There's something else? I picked this mostly because it's literally all that came up for me when looking up avatar TTRPG. Why would I know there's something else?
Characters are not restricted to just their move set.
If a special move isn’t applicable, use a generic move and only ask for moves when there is a challenge.
We've had this thread so many times. I'm shocked there's people who haven't seen all the arguments in it before.
Considering OP is using a name, I daresay they haven't seen the site before, let alone any discussions on it.
That's also shocking to me, that new people just show up around here.
Nah I just put the subject in the name field without noticing. But I've legitimately only ever seen one thread about this game and it was months ago.
Last one I saw, the answer were all either "it works for the show" or "it sucks because PbtA sucks", not the most useful
if you've run games before it should be very easy
there's not much to say other than it will be a lot of narration and not much mechanical interaction
You're better off using PF2e or Savage Worlds for that.
Trust me, that game is ass.
I hope your group isn't murder hobos because the system and setting aren't built for that.
That being said the biggest thing is let your players have fun, if your running a printed adventure make sure you can track their actions along with the moving pieces in the background, especially if there is a clock.
Are you using pregens that already have a backstory and group history or are having a session 0 for character creation?
There's really not any mechanics in Pbta. They all claim this 'clock' but it's just writing down exactly what GMs coverage to for skill challenges in general for anyway.
You need a special group for it too. Hopefully you're running for either theatre kids who are solid at improv or GM players who understand the social contract well.
Really it's all glue, hell you're better off just making a fudge game (which is just gurps but easier) based off the Pbta games and using their shit for inspiration. I do this all the time with PbtA games because there's so much shovelware, but with solid enough ideas going on behind it.
How do you convert Moves and the meta currency like Strings to Fudge?
Look at Fate and make concessions between the two. Moves are just stunts (Fate) or a type of gift (Fudge).
Meta currencies are dirt stupid to adapt to fudge or you can just go with fate points. It doesn't matter.
These systems are literally built to have shit stapled onto it. Hell with Fudge you can pretty much just crack open a gurps book and steal what you want and be done.
PbtA again, relies a lot on players, more so than like fate (which is 'painted' as a narrativist game when all it really has are fate points which players like rarely use narratively). You have to have a special group for that type of game.
I like rules light games too. Fudge is great, but people make a lot of shitty Pbta games for some reason because you really aren't having to think about balance. Even with fudge you're bringing an aspect of balance and cost/benefit into a game which requires some thought.
My question is what other AtLA games are out there. I know there's a Genesys one that's also a story game, I remember there was a fangame only loosely based on AtLA called Legend of the Elements that was also a hack of Apocalypse World.
If you don't want a story game, what other options are there?