[AitP] Avatar itP: Discussion and Setup

[horngeek]

Right. The proposal is for an Avatar: The Last Airbender based FFRP (not the James Cameron movie).

Now, there are some things we'd need to cover first. Namely, if we decide to set this in the canon universe after the events of TLA, or if we decide to make the events of this RP completely AU, and not have a Fire Nation War at all.

This thread is to post other issues that will need to be worked out beforehand, post interest, and characters for critique.

[horngeek]

Now, my opinion- I'd honestly say I'd prefer it to be completely AU, no Aang or Fire Nation War.

[Morty]

I don't have any particular leanings. I'm fine with whatever the others decide on.

[Dorizzit]

Yeah, just generally speaking, AU works better for these things. It allows a clean slate.

I have a few ideas for characters, but I'd like to see what changes to the setting get made first.

Lastly, I think we should consider making the actual Avatar an NPC.

[horngeek]

Eh. I actually had ideas for the Avatar, myself.

She's not going to overshine other characters, for two reasons:

1. She's not going to be a fully fledged Avatar- at least, not at the start, and not for a while

2. She can't be everywhere at once

3. I'm going to make efforts to make sure it doesn't happen

Now, if the majority of people want the Avatar to be NPCd, I'll accept that, but I think that poses its own problems.

[Dorizzit]

The problem is, even a weak Avatar who has limited control of the elements can defeat even an experienced Bender with a little bit of ingenuity. With full control of one and partial control of others, they're virtually unstoppable. And regardless of what's done with them, they will still outshine the other characters, simply by virtue of the fact that they exist, regardless of power levels. The Avatar is an important figure in the world no matter what.

What problems would an NPC Avatar produce?

[Beans]

If it's an AU, that means there are surviving Airbenders, right?
I'd be interested in playing one.

As for an NPC Avatar... hm...

[Dorizzit]

Yeah, I think that the lack of the Fire Nation War would also mean that there was no genocide of the Airbenders.

[Beans]

...
Idea.
Infant/toddler/otherwise quite young and vulnerable Avatar, perhaps?
Gotta keep little bitty Avy alive to save the world of the future.

[horngeek]

Yeah, I think that the lack of the Fire Nation War would also mean that there was no genocide of the Airbenders.

Indeed. :smalltongue:

The main problem with an NPC Avatar, as I see it, is that he/she would end up... doing nothing, pretty much. And then we'd have arguments about why not, since it doesn't make sense for the Avatar to be in the background entirely.

Beans' idea... could work. Maybe.

[Morty]

Well, I suppose our characters might not necessarily do anything major enough to warrant the Avatar's attention... that depends on how the game will look like, exactly.

[Dorizzit]

Indeed. :smalltongue:

The main problem with an NPC Avatar, as I see it, is that he/she would end up... doing nothing, pretty much. And then we'd have arguments about why not, since it doesn't make sense for the Avatar to be in the background entirely.

Beans' idea... could work. Maybe.

I think you misunderstand my intent. By NPC, I didn't mean out of the picture; the Avatar, if capable, should definitely be doing things. I more meant that the Avatar shouldn't be under the control of a single person, for the reasons outlined above.

Beans: If I recall correctly, it's impossible to determine that someone is the Avatar until they start displaying signs like unusually high Bending ability, so infant probably wouldn't work. Young...maybe. It would be a bit of a stretch.

[horngeek]

Except community controlled characters tend to not do anything plot-important, in my experience.

[Dorizzit]

And extremely powerful characters tend to inhibit plots, in mine.

I guess my main point is that I strongly feel that the Avatar shouldn't be under the control of a single person.

[Morty]

Although I can see the reasoning behind both sides of the argument, I feel inclined to agree with Dorizzt. I think it best if we avoid involving Avatar into this FFRP - they tend to steal the spotlight, for obvious reasons.

[Viera Champion]

Horngeek I love it...

I wanna do a water bender that specializes in healing.

[horngeek]

In that case, our options are to keep it small-scale (and I defenitely don't want to do this) or have the Avatar under sixteen.

[Viera Champion]

In that case, our options are to keep it small-scale (and I defenitely don't want to do this) or have the Avatar under sixteen.

Why don't we just do Beans' baby idea? That way, we can both have an avatar, and have a specific person RP him without any horrible horrible repercussions. I mean to tell the truth without the avatar we really don't even HAVE the smallest sense of a plot.

[Dorizzit]

To be honest, I don't really like the baby idea. It wouldn't really feel like Avatar without the Avatar, even if they are only peripheral.

And large-scale plots can function just fine without the Avatar playing a central role; any intelligent villain would factor such a powerful force into account in their plans, possibly setting up distractions that keep them away from some of the critical conflicts.

[Viera Champion]

Then what's the point of even having an avatar? If we don't use the avatar for any type of plot, then we in essence don't have an avatar. At least are plot would make sense, since any avatar as you said would be able to outsmart a villain, there isn't much a villain could do.

[Dorizzit]

I didn't say that an Avatar could outsmart a villain. Quite the opposite, in fact.

And despite my opposition to having the Avatar as a single person's character, I do believe that we should have one.

[Creed]

Maybe that's what the driving force of the plot stuff is.
There is no avatar, or the one that currently exists cannot be found. Which drives the characters who under normal circumstances would never speak to each other to unite to save the world for GOODY GOODNESS!:smallbiggrin:
...
I'm also intrested in playing a fire-bender. Burnination.:smallbiggrin:

[Beans]

And then, at the end...
"Don't you see? The Avatar was all of you/in your heart all along!"

But fo' srs, I like Creed's idea.

[Creed]

And then, at the end...
"Don't you see? The Avatar was all of you/in your heart all along!"

But fo' srs, I like Creed's idea.

Or the less-classic:
"Yeah, about that, the BBEG is the Avatar. Go PWN him. KTHXBAI."

Or:
"Never was an avatar. Just a bunch of really good benders. You guys are the next generation. Peace out, noobs!"

[Viera Champion]

I agree. Creeds idea is an excellent compromise.

[Dorizzit]

Maybe that's what the driving force of the plot stuff is.
There is no avatar, or the one that currently exists cannot be found. Which drives the characters who under normal circumstances would never speak to each other to unite to save the world for GOODY GOODNESS!:smallbiggrin:
...
I'm also intrested in playing a fire-bender. Burnination.:smallbiggrin:

That is an excellent idea. I wholeheartedly approve.

[horngeek]

But I'd go for 'cannot be found' rather than 'doesn't exist'.

[Dorizzit]

But I'd go for 'cannot be found' rather than 'doesn't exist'.

Agreed. Agreed.

[horngeek]

...and I have an idea as to a reason the Avatar can't be found.

[Viera Champion]

Agreed. Agreed.

Seconded.

Yay healy water bender girl!

[Creed]

My idea is... good?:smalleek:
*goes and tries to rethink everything he knows*

[horngeek]

That said, this would be only one of the plots going on. If it was the entire focus, we could take it over to the specific games section.

Now, it would be quite important, but it wouldn't be the focus of the entire RP.

[Dorizzit]

...and I have an idea as to a reason the Avatar can't be found.

What is it?

[horngeek]

<.<
>.>

Basically, one of the tribes that are very isolated from the outside world for one reason or another. Even more so than the Air Nomads.

Heck, maybe the tribe doesn't know there is an Avatar. So, she/he (yes, this was the concept I had when I said I had an idea for the Avatar in the first place) could be 16 and have no idea he/she was supposed to learn anything but their native bending style.

...the other possible idea was inspired by the AU fanfic Damascus: what if the Avatar was blind/disabled in some other way?

[Viera Champion]

That said, this would be only one of the plots going on. If it was the entire focus, we could take it over to the specific games section.

Now, it would be quite important, but it wouldn't be the focus of the entire RP.

Well obviously.:smallsmile:

[Dorizzit]

That would work. I assume that this is only a small subsection of one of the four tribes?

[horngeek]

Yes. If people don't mind me spoiling it and REALLY want to know, I'll say where exactly I have in mind, but I'd want to be sure I wouldn't annoy anyone.

[Dorizzit]

That is what spoiler tags are for, right?

[horngeek]

Good point.

SPOILERS, don't read if you don't want to know beforehand if this gets accepted:
Foggy Swamp Tribe

...if there are no objections to this idea, I suppose I could write up an (also to be spoilered) sheet...

[Dorizzit]

Seems solid to me.

Edit: also, I just got another idea about handling the Avatar once they actually enter the world at large. What if a small group of people controlled them? Around three, maybe. We could take a vote on which players seem like the best candidates when the Avatar is found.

What do people think?

[KerfuffleMach2]

Oh, I am so for this.

And this will definitely bring my youngest brother back to life here.

[Creed]

character sheet flying in at 20.

Name: Dante Inferni
Role: Firebender
Age: 19
Appearance: Dante is a tall, lean, but muscled youth with long scraggly black hair. He wears a large black coat most of the time, but underneath he wears tight-fitting dark red leather armor with one metal plate on the front and one on the back.
Backstory: Dante left home when he was 14 to travel the world. Despite his intimidating appearance, Dante is a friendly sort and enjoys converstation.
Equipment: Dante carries supplies to live off of (fishing rod, tent, etc.) in a backpack. He also carries a katana that has been passed down through his family. He uses it to channel his firebending on occasions, but usually uses martial arts to channel his attacks.

[horngeek]

Seems solid to me.

Edit: also, I just got another idea about handling the Avatar once they actually enter the world at large. What if a small group of people controlled them? Around three, maybe. We could take a vote on which players seem like the best candidates when the Avatar is found.

What do people think?

To be honest, I don't like controlling such an important character by committee. Or any character by committee, actually- if they had multiple personalities, maybe, but otherwise, it really rubs me the wrong way, since each author will have a different take on the character.

How about this: one person has the Avatar as a PC, but that person undertakes to a) try their best not to ruin everyone's fun and b) if there's an issue brought up, they will listen and do what is necessary to fix it.

Also, they get picked by the community. To be honest, that person should be the one to write up the sheet for the Avatar.

[KerfuffleMach2]

To be honest, I don't like controlling such an important character by committee. Or any character by committee, actually- if they had multiple personalities, maybe, but otherwise, it really rubs me the wrong way, since each author will have a different take on the character.

How about this: one person has the Avatar as a PC, but that person undertakes to a) try their best not to ruin everyone's fun and b) if there's an issue brought up, they will listen and do what is necessary to fix it.

Also, they get picked by the community. To be honest, that person should be the one to write up the sheet for the Avatar.

Also, I think that if said person seems to be getting out of hand, the rest of us have the right to boot the Avatar from their control.

[Dorizzit]

To be honest, I don't like controlling such an important character by committee. Or any character by committee, actually- if they had multiple personalities, maybe, but otherwise, it really rubs me the wrong way, since each author will have a different take on the character.

How about this: one person has the Avatar as a PC, but that person undertakes to a) try their best not to ruin everyone's fun and b) if there's an issue brought up, they will listen and do what is necessary to fix it.

I'm still really leery of putting the Avatar under the control of a single person, regardless of any promises made to the community. This isn't meant to be a judgment on anyone's honesty, I just know that it can be tricky to handle such an important character. Despite this, your point does have merit.

Hm. What if the Avatar's general actions were controlled by a committee, but one person was put in place as the main controller? They would write posts and control the details of the Avatar's behavior.

[Viera Champion]

Personally, I wouldn't mind RPing the avatar myself, if we took that route. I trust mysel to be responsible.

[horngeek]

Also, I think that if said person seems to be getting out of hand, the rest of us have the right to boot the Avatar from their control.

I agree with this as well.

Why don't I want the Avatar to be an NPC?

...well... to be honest, it's because the Avatar's so important. Someone like that would need to be detailed, and either they can be designed by committee (which I don't think is a good idea) or one person designs the character, presumably puts a lot of effort into it, and then... get control taken away from them. This is the reason that I want whoever gets control of the Avatar- if we go that route- to write the sheet up themselves.

Also, differing characterizations. For normal NPCs, what the game of Exalted (or any Storyteller system game) calls 'extras', this doesn't really matter- I mean, they're probably not even going to appear more than once!

But this is the Avatar. He- or she- is going to appear many times, and someone like that deserves a characterization that is consistent. To me, that is better done by one player (although I wouldn't mind if what storylines the Avatar was allowed to interfere in was decided by committee).

[Beans]

Name: Iniekta Koizume
Role: Airbender
Age: 17
Appearance: Ini is a skinny girl of average height. Her hair is pale and her eyes similar; her skin is somewhat tanned. She wears dull breeches and a dull orange tunic with a brown coat reaching just below her knees in length.
Backstory: Iniekta seeks knowledge of many kinds---cultural, biological, geographical, etc. Think Lewis of Lewis and Clark, sort of. She hails from the Air Nomads, but does not seclude herself like they do.
Equipment: A staff that becomes a glider, like that of a certain bald kid. :smalltongue: She also carries a pack of supplies---emergency rations, a rough shelter, that sort of thing.
Ding!
BTW, this week and next week I'll be on barely at all Tuesday and Thurs.

[horngeek]

Also, if we go down that route, I would recommend whoever is picked to play the Avatar does NOT have a character searching for them.

[Viera Champion]

Oh well nevermind then.

Kisana Alhan
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Water Bender(Specializes in healing)

Appearance: Her hair is short cut and snowy white, she almost looks like a boy. She is very pretty though, no more of a handsome, but pretty too. She is so skinny it is almost unhealthy. She wears a thick sky blue jacket and pants, and a scarf.

Equipment: A flask of water for easy use, and a wide range of herbs.

[horngeek]

I'd be willing to play the Avatar, and if we do end up with communal NPCing of her, I'll write the sheet.

The reason I made that recommendation is that I don't think anyone should be controlling multiple PCs in a group that would be relatively small.

...so, it's more whoever plays the Avatar shouldn't also play a character teaching them.

[KerfuffleMach2]

Character time!

Name: Zehari Bintow
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Alignment: Earth Kingdom (Earth Bender)

Description: Zehari is a little bit on the short side. She keeps her dark hair fairly short. She has bright green eyes and a warm face. She wears traditional Earth Kingdom clothes with a few additions. These being a thick, brown belt at her waist, little belts around her ankles and wrists, and a headband visible across her forehead. She wears her hair to cover the rest of the headband.

Equipment: Waterskin, bolos hanging from her belt

Personality: Mostly good natured. Not quick to fight, but she's fairly good at fighting.

[horngeek]

Okay, let's draw the whole 'how to handle the Avatar' conversation to a consensus.

Committee (vote NPC), or a single player but with oversight (as laid out above- the community has to approve the player, and reserves the right to revoke that privilege if it's abused) from the community (vote PC)?

I vote for PC.

[KerfuffleMach2]

I second that vote.

[horngeek]

{table]PC|5
NPC|0[/table]

This post will be updated as people vote, incidentally. I'm not making a new one.

[Beans]

I votes PC.

[Creed]

PC

F.Y.I. guyes, I'm not going to be on until tomorrow afternoon.
Hasta la vista!

[Dorizzit]

As long as the player is elected by the community, I will happily support PC.

[Viera Champion]

I say PC :smallbiggrin:

[horngeek]

...
...
...

I really think I can call this vote. It's one of the most unanimous votes I've ever seen in an RP, and only one person hasn't voted yet.

As such, with the previous restrictions, the Avatar is to be a PC.

I'll give some time for people to volunteer before calling a vote on who the community thinks should play the Avatar.

I'mma volunteering. :smalltongue:

[Viera Champion]

I fully support Horngeek.

[Morty]

I vote NPC, although of course I'm outvoted unless six other people show up demanding Avatar be an NPC. :smalltongue:
And anyway, I think we're overthinking it. Avatar's duty is to the world, he or she deals with threats that threaten the balance, such as Fire Nation's conquest of the world or Chin the Conqueror's rampage across the Earth Kingdom. Local politics and events are unlikely to draw the Avatar's attention.
Character sheet will be coming up shortly; I'll be playing a non-bender(the only one in the game by the looks of it) from the Earth Kingdom.

[horngeek]

But that means we'd have to keep it to local politics and events, and I think people will want to go larger at some point.

And I'm actually going to go for a non-bender character as well. A homage to Piandao. :smalltongue:

[Morty]

I'm perfectly fine with plots on a relatively moderate scale, although I'll of course comply if the majority wishes otherwise.
And that's cool. Luckily, my character won't be a swordsman, so there'll be no overlap.

[Dorizzit]

On the matter of voting on who gets to play the Avatar, I'm wondering if we should wait a while before choosing who plays them. After all, the Avatar won't be showing up for a while, and some actual time with the game itself should help to determine who the best candidate is.

If people disagree with me on this, then I also volunteer to play the Avatar.

[horngeek]

Hmmm... that's a good point.

[IcemanJRC]

I really agree with Doriz on this matter, character to come btw.

[Morty]

Yes, dropping the issue of the Avatar for now and dealing with it after we've played a bit sounds like a good idea. I support it.

[Mina Kobold]

How did I not notice a FFRPG based on my favourite work of fiction?

Blasphemy, that's what.

I will write a character up shortly but first I have an idea:

What if the avatar was one of the ones in the search team? More specifically, the one who is played by who we decide to play the avatar?

That way we avoid having one of the avatar's teachers be played by the same player and everybody is happy.

And if anyone isn't happy? I'LL FREEZE THEM SOLID! :smalltongue:

EDIT: Hullo?

This can't have died so I will keep on poking you guys until it proves that

*pokes*

[Morty]

I'm still here and waiting. I guess I'll have to actually write up a sheet. I'm thinking about playing a technology-inclined Fire Nation person.

[Mina Kobold]

I'm still here and waiting. I guess I'll have to actually write up a sheet. I'm thinking about playing a technology-inclined Fire Nation person.

So, a caracter who thinks traditions are silly and that everybody should move on or one like the mechanist and Sokka/Katara's father?

We need someone to make slime bombs :smalltongue:

I'm considering making a character who at least start off with I'LL FREEZE THEM SOLID!" being in character but I think it sounds a tad too earth kingdom. If you know what I mean?

[horngeek]

Yeah, I do. The bending styles do lend themselves to a certain character.

[Morty]

So, a caracter who thinks traditions are silly and that everybody should move on or one like the mechanist and Sokka/Katara's father?

We need someone to make slime bombs :smalltongue:


Something like that, albeit maybe in a more serious vein. Maybe I'll have him be the inventor of crossbow...

[horngeek]

And I'm going for a Piandao-like character.

[Creed]

I'm ready to fire up the Avatar train whenever you guys are.
:smalltongue:

[Terry576]

I'm surprisingly okay with this, but I prefer the awesome setting for Avatar.

Modernized Avatar.

The Avatar was created via a series of clones, who were systematically killed until only one was left.

But, for the "Who Plays the Avatar" thing, couldn't we just NPC the Avatar? Because whoever plays the Avatar plays the plot.

And for some reason everytime I think of Avatar, I think "WOULDN'T IT BE AWESOME IF THE AVATAR WAS EVIL"

Because Being Good Sucks (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BeingGoodSucks).

Now that I've wasted your time, I'm off to debate whether or not to create a Firebender.

Because Fire makes everything better.

EVERYTHING.

And now, for a decent idea for the Avatar:

Everyone helps design the avatar. Where they were born, what they grew up like, their backstory, everything. Because, like HG said, the Avatar is the plot. We rotate the Avatar around, as in Person One plays the Avatar for "X" amount of time, and then Person 2 does, and so on and so forth. If the Avatar Player is godmodding and in general abusing the powers of the Avatar, he or she is no longer the Avatar for a set period of time.

Hell, if we're rolling AU then there could be multiple Avatars if we so chose. One for each nation. If the AU states that this is the First Time the Nations Meet, then each Avatar could be played like one of the Pipers from Deltora Quest, elected as the best of the best, creating multiple plot characters.

[KerfuffleMach2]

And for some reason everytime I think of Avatar, I think "WOULDN'T IT BE AWESOME IF THE AVATAR WAS EVIL"

This...intrigues me very much. Hmmm...

[Terry576]

This...intrigues me very much. Hmmm...

My base plot was:

"The nations of Justice currently outnumber those of Evil. The Balance is off of what it should be, causing massive power surges in the benders, as well as actual natural disasters. Only one mortal can save the world now...

The Avatar."

[Mina Kobold]

My base plot was:

"The nations of Justice currently outnumber those of Evil. The Balance is off of what it should be, causing massive power surges in the benders, as well as actual natural disasters. Only one mortal can save the world now...

The Avatar."

You'd think that's how it work what with the pseudo-philosophical justifications in many similar shows but evil is (as it is in Star Wars and Buddhism, IIRC) actually an inbalance in Avatar: The Last Airbender.

The avatar upholds the balance between the physical world (so no genocide allowed, it messes up the scale on that side) and the spiritual world (no killing moon spirits)

It's mostly my interpretation but if the avatar was supposed to uphold the balance between good and evil as well then explain why avatar Kuruk (http://avatar.wikia.com/wiki/Kuruk) is good despite there being no war in his life time (because of the previous avatar Yangchen)

Plus, there was only one evil nation in Avatar: The Last Airbender and two good.

But enough fanboy ranting :smalltongue:

I vote for the proposed idea of having the avatar be missing and a group of characters looking for him/her.

That way we can observe how the game rolls and whether we need a NPC or a PC avatar :smallsmile:

[KerfuffleMach2]

I still think an evil Avatar could be done. The Avatar is supposed to keep balance, but what if the Avatar doesn't want to?

What's stopping the Avatar from simply saying no?

I think we could work with that.

[Ponderthought]

Im kind of interested in this. Yes.

[horngeek]

I still think an evil Avatar could be done. The Avatar is supposed to keep balance, but what if the Avatar doesn't want to?

What's stopping the Avatar from simply saying no?

I think we could work with that.

...to be honest, I don't like the idea. To me, the Avatar Spirit would pick someone who is likely to want to keep balance.

There would have to be reasons why an Avatar would be evil.

[Dorizzit]

To be honest, I intensely dislike the idea of an evil Avatar. It goes against everything that the series has shown us.

[Morty]

An evil Avatar is a curious idea, but I don't think I'd be interested in playing that.

[Mina Kobold]

I still think an evil Avatar could be done. The Avatar is supposed to keep balance, but what if the Avatar doesn't want to?

What's stopping the Avatar from simply saying no?

I think we could work with that.

Kind of impossible considering how the avatar is a reincarnation of the previous ones and retain at least some memory of their lives.

So what I'm trying to say is that they are stopping themselves from saying no, and a fourth of them were earth benders so you know they won't budge :smalltongue:

But that's my fanboy opinion.

Back to characters, do you guys think it would be realistic (avataristic?) for a Water bender to leave the north/south (they only began to differ when the Fire Nation destroyed the southern one's city and the war might not have happened in this game) pole because of the strictness and lack of adventure there?

[Ponderthought]

Kind of impossible considering how the avatar is a reincarnation of the previous ones and retain at least some memory of their lives.

So what I'm trying to say is that they are stopping themselves from saying no, and a fourth of them were earth benders so you know they won't budge :smalltongue:

But that's my fanboy opinion.

Back to characters, do you guys think it would be realistic (avataristic?) for a Water bender to leave the north/south (they only began to differ when the Fire Nation destroyed the southern one's city and the war might not have happened in this game) pole because of the strictness and lack of adventure there?

Hmm, but that dosent mean that the Avatar hasn't gone quite mad. It strikes me that the weight of so many lives and so much responsibility might crack an avatar quite thoroughly.

As for leaving the water tribe for adventure, it seems likely that a lot of young folk would head out for adventure. The water tribe are excellent sailors after all. It seems like some would travel alot.

[Mina Kobold]

Hmm, but that dosent mean that the Avatar hasn't gone quite mad. It strikes me that the weight of so many lives and so much responsibility might crack an avatar quite thoroughly.

As for leaving the water tribe for adventure, it seems likely that a lot of young folk would head out for adventure. The water tribe are excellent sailors after all. It seems like some would travel alot.

It's a world based more on philosophy than psychology but I see your point.

I'd still say that it might not be all that big a pressure (Avatar Kuruk spend his time showing off and charming women, eg.) considering that all they remember off their previous lives seem to be subconscious (toys, general personality traits, etc.)

I dunno, I'm just against making the avatar anything but good. Nothing personal, just feeling that it would step too much on my favourite show :smallsmile:

Huzzah! Character coming up Monday (It's late and I'm busy Sunday)!

[Falgorn]

What. How did I not notice this.

So I can help contribute in some way, I think that an evil Avatar would be cool.
I'd also be okay with letting other people control the Avatar, at different times. As long as I don't have to.

[Creed]

So...
when do ya wanna start?

[Mina Kobold]

So...
when do ya wanna start?

When people start making characters and we can agree on what to do with the avatar, I believe :smallsmile:

Do we have a template for the characters or do we just include what we think is important?