Zeroth

A New Day; Cozy Fantasy Village Life

--- Walk to the Town Center ---

Akitsugu

Early Evening
@Xaltwind

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Once he'd recovered his breath from Darryl's hearty greeting, Akitsugu managed a small smile as they walked back towards the others. He folded his arms in his sleeves, and every so often looked up at the sky just for the view as they talked.

"Fortunately, that girl's words were somewhat exaggerated." he explained to the carpenter. "The smithy is still fixable. I don't know how she managed to put a brand new hole in the roof," He breathed deeply, controlling his anger, "But so long as the furnace remains intact and she returns my tools, I should be able to get to work as soon as I have a steady supply of fuel." He looked towards the forest and the corner of his mouth dipped a bit. "I was hoping to make another trip for more firewood, but I think too much time has passed. I don't know if we should risk venturing out after dark until we know the area better."

As they approached, it seemed the village had yet again seen the arrival of newcomers. There was another man in a cart, though this one looked more finely dressed than the old merchant and much younger---but, beyond him, from somewhere outside town, came a loud voice calling over the rooftops.

"...What are they saying about goblins?" he asked Darryl. His hands came out of his sleeves, and once more he gripped Miyusahime's scabbard with one thumb against the tsuba. His brow furrowed and his voice grew more tense, but unlike his spat with MacKinnon there was a calmness to the pressure---a heavy weight ready to drop, not a kettle boiling over. "Are we being attacked?"

ATLA Interest?

Great advice, although I was looking to have a more collaborative and less hands on approach for this, but I think I might pivot. It's been years since I've ran an RP so I gotta shake the rust off the chains.

@TaintedMushroom

By that, do you mean you'd want Players to come up with the plot elements, design antagonist characters, or something else along those lines? If that's the case, you could make a list of things you'd want Player input on, or just ask them the same questions I pointed out before--"What do you want to see in this RP?" basically, but maybe more specific.

Do you have a Character Sheet drafted yet? For a collaborative plot, knowing what kind of characters you'd be looking at would probably help a lot. Like I mentioned before, getting characters to tie their backstories to each other or to other elements of the RP has, in my experienced, helped a lot.

Skyrim Guard Tales

I dunno what these Guard Tales are, but can they hold a candle to the classics? XD

A New Day; Cozy Fantasy Village Life

It's cool, you two have already informed me that you've got stuff going on, so don't feel like you need to rush.

@Xaltwind

TOO BAD I POSTED ANYWAY! >:O

A New Day; Cozy Fantasy Village Life

--- Northwestern Village (Smithy) ---

Akitsugu

Early Afternoon
@Xaltwind

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"Your outburst was unnecessary." Akitsugu picked through the fragments of wood and tile left behind in the wake of all the looting. The problem was not as bad as he had feared---but in addition to having only three walls, the interior area that should have been the smith's actual house now had a gaping hole in the roof, under which seemed to be a fallen bookcase. All in all it took up an entire corner of the space, which was cramped enough to begin with. Akitsugu prayed that it wouldn't rain before he could patch it, otherwise the building's interior likely would not be repairable afterward.

But, though bereft of tools now, at least the furnace was intact.

"So was cutting off that little trollop's head!" Miyusahime's hilt clicked against the scabbard like someone clicking their tongue. "Maybe if you'd just slapped her, I wouldn't have said anything! But what if all those other people turned on you, huh!?"

"...So be it. I was in the right. She is a thief." The redhead spat the words, and tossed a broken and splintered plank back into the corner. "And if she does not return my tools, it will not end here."

"What are you going to do now?"

"I had intended to cut more firewood before dark fell. But now I fear leaving my claim," the blacksmith snorted, "unattended." He picked up another plank of wood, noting that this one had split in such a way that one end of it was quite sharp. Holding it over one shoulder, he headed back outside...and then slammed it down, pointy-end first, into the dirt right at the edge of the road in front of the smithy. Standing in front of it, he took a deep breath, then put his hand to his sword once more.

"Hey! I'm not a whittling knife!" He ignored her protest, and for the first time drew the gleaming blade. The afternoon sun cast ripples across the steel, revealing a pattern in the curvature like dunes in the desert. "Do NOT swing me at that rotten piece of lumber!"

"I won't." Akitsugu answered, instead placing his palm against the back of the blade just a few inches from its tip. Carefully closing his hand, so as not to get too many fingerprints on her otherwise immaculate surface, the smith placed Miyusahime's point against the wood. "Just bear with me."

"Hmph!" replied the sword as the scratching sounds began. "You couldn't just use that hatchet of yours for this!? I know the phrase goes "Master of Sword and Brush," but that doesn't mean we're interchangeable!"

"I have neither brush nor ink. Besides," Akitsugu tilted the sword at a different angle as he continued to mark the piece of wood, "I think the carving leaves a better impression than plain words." Finally, he withdrew Miyusahime and examined her point, blowing away a bit of sawdust. "Moreover, there's no danger of rolling your tip when it's already this soft."

The plank of wood, marking the property like a gravestone, now read:

KEEP OUT

"There. Now she has no excuse." the redhead growled as he sheathed his pouting blade. "And neither does anyone else."

"I still don't know why you're choosing to stay here." Miyusahime grumbled. "We don't know if we can trust any of these...these weirdoes!"

"I feel that Yingmei, Myrr, and Brom mean no harm, at the least. And Master Darryl, along with his wife, seems to be willing to go quite far out of their way for others...even if they don't deserve it."

"Even though he pushed you around to protect that thief?"

"My hope is that he only wished to preserve the peace." The smith tugged his mantle closer around his shoulders as he turned away from the house, and headed towards the workshop. "At least he didn't make a long winded lecture like the old man." He frowned, because thinking about the elder reminded him of the man's granddaughter. He hadn't even realized she was standing behind MacKinnon's leg when he'd started arguing with the woman. It had not been his intention to scare the girl at all---nor for her to even be involved in the matter. She had nothing to do with it. The young smith sighed.

He cleared away a few crumbling pieces of brick from the furnace's mouth, and looked closely to be sure there wasn't a rat's nest or something else waiting to bite him. Then, he carefully placed his foot on the brick body and chimney, lightly applying pressure to be sure there weren't any remaining weak points that would bring the whole thing down. Once satisfied with that, he set his shoulder to the large, cracked anvil and pushed it into a position from which he could climb atop it and peer down the short, stout chimney of the furnace. Like the mouth, he was careful in case any little critters happened to be waiting in the dark, hollow tunnel.

"_{Most of the detritus that's gathered should burn away fairly easily...but, I need to patch a few holes in it to avoid pressure pockets.}" Thinking aloud, he ran his fingers over the bricks and mortar of the structure. "_{They probably used a slaked lime mortar. Either there's a limestone deposit somewhere around here, or maybe...skeletal remains from animals or monsters?}" Bricks would be easy enough to make with fired clay, but for that he would need a separate kiln, and of course more wood to use as fuel. Not actually all that difficult, but a very time consuming process. Again he sighed.

"And on top of this, I now have more repairs to do." He hopped off the anvil, and used his frustration to help him shove it, in starts and stops, back to its original position. "Miyusahime, I'm going to return to the others, if for nothing more than a meal and a cot. You shouldn't speak any more unless it's an emergency."

"Like, if you're about to run someone through again?" Akitsugu did not answer her, but his eyebrow twitched.

A New Day; Cozy Fantasy Village Life

I'd intended to finish one today but allergies are kicking my ass. Will continue as I can.

ATLA Interest?

Glad to hear you're doing well!

I think the choice of story/setting will ultimately have to depend on what you as the GM want to accomplish/see through this RP. These questions aren't really something you have to respond to here, but just to consider: What is it about the Avatar world that's got you hyped to run the RP? Are you looking forward to descriptions of bending battles and that distinct Wuxia flavor? Or was there some aspect of the Avatar universe's storytelling or world that you really want to immerse yourself and the players in? For instance, did you find a lot of meaning in the emphasis the series puts on character development (every member of the main cast except arguably Toph changes significantly either in their own perception, or in how we the viewers perceive them, from who they were at their introduction)? Or did you really love exploring the fantastical landscapes within the world---the Earthbending rollercoasters in Omashu, the Three Walls of Ba Sing Se, the icy fortress of the Northern Water Tribe, etc?

Which of those things you want to put in front of the players, and in which proportions, should determine your bare-bones plot structure. If you want world-building, you'll need to implement a "journey" of some kind so that we travel a lot. If you just want high octane action, you might want to give more thought to the enemies we'll be facing, how they're organized, and how to make the Players want to kick their faces in.

Then, the rest of this is just my own personal opinion---feel free to ignore it if it's not conducive to your own GMing style:

Building RP Plot

The meat of the plot itself should be adaptable enough that you can tie it into your character cast and link up their backstories. For instance, if somebody made a character whose parents were killed by Firebenders, then maybe the Firebender who did it needs to be an underling of your Big Bad OR the Players need to HELP a village of innocent, second-generation Fire Nation Colonists against cruel Earthbending Bandits---both scenarios force that Player Character to deal with the trauma of their past in some way.

Another example: If someone makes a character who's struggling with the morality of using Bending Arts to kill, then maybe you make a recurring antagonist who's a sadistic assassin despite having no Bending Arts of their own, so that when the Players clash with them it can give the struggling character a means to further their development.

Beyond direct character contrasts between Players and NPCs, though, you should also try to build off what Players give you in their Character Backstories. If one Player makes an Air Bending Thief, for instance, and in their backstory they talk about how they got kicked out of their Air Temple and turned to a life of crime, whereas another Player makes a Non-Bending Bounty Hunter who's a Master Swordsman, then maybe you should DM the two Players and see if they'd be willing to establish a link between their characters that can effect the roleplaying and team dynamics---Maybe the Bounty Hunter once caught the Air Thief, but after being turned in to the authorities the Thief had to take some desperate measures to break out, like breaking the one Air Bending tenet of non-lethality they still valued. Now that death still haunts them. Or maybe the Thief stole a family trinket that was very important to the Bounty Hunter, and ended up selling it, so now the Bounty Hunter can't kill them/take them in until they find out where/to whom the heirloom was sold.

Similar strategies to tie your plot and world building elements to your Players not only keeps them invested in your game, but can give you a jumping off point as a DM. It's so much easier to come up with ideas for how to move a story forward if you have elements you can use as a springboard, versus coming up with new stuff out of the blue whole cloth.

ATLA Interest?

Also what were your qualms with Korra? Character focused or world focused? NGL I like that one too but feel like all the characters were way weaker in depth than the ATLA, but I really enjoyed the ideas behind the world-building and some of the places they took things.

@TaintedMushroom

Personal Gripes may contain Spoilers

I'm of the opinion that, as a CHARACTER, Korra was fine---she had issues, she changed as the story went on, she had some nice action sequences---but that as an AVATAR, she was terrible at her job and ruined everything for everyone. Other issues I take with it include the CONSTANT relationship drama, the direction of bending itself (I don't mind the idea of bending being incorporated into technology, but Lightning-bending is just something any Firebender can do now?), and the "progression" of the setting. It wasn't BAD, per se, but I felt like it was too soon---less than 100 years ago the setting was essentially Feudal Fantasy China, and now it's 1920s New York/Hong Kong with cars and radios and everything. I mean, I guess Meiji Japan made a similar sudden jump IRL, but I felt like the setting lost a lot of its "Mountains and Rivers" aesthetic.

Amon and Zaheer were top tier villains, and I don't hold the "rushed" nature of their arcs against them because Nickelodeon execs apparently hated anything that wasn't Spongebob and Fairly Oddparents at the time and wouldn't give the team more than 13 eps at a time to work with. The story of Wan was great imo, but season 2's main villain and his ultimate plan felt too fanfic-tier, and season 4 just felt like it took forever to get anywhere/had too many small plots that took space away from the main arc.

I was thinking of two ideas, one being that the fire nation wins perhaps? Maybe a rebellion story?
OOOrrrr maybe they win but lose? Devastate the Earth Kingdom with Sozin's comet and awaken a sleeping beast as the Earth Kingdom as a whole pivots and becomes a brutal force to be reckoned with, even going as far as to completely flip the script and become the would be conquerors.

I'm not married to any of these ideas in particular, just spit-balling so far.

@TaintedMushroom

So an AU based on Aang somehow biting it, and presumably the next 2 or so Avatars who would've been born after him in the 100 year period before Sozin's Comet passed again also biting it? Or the AU Avatar simply being off somewhere leading their own revolution while the RP characters are on another adventure?

My recommendation would be to keep it small at least at the start---instead of our characters being part of some rebellion against the Fire Lord, for instance, maybe give us a Seven Samurai-esque scenario where we're trying to set a village free from a relatively low-ranking Fire Nation army-captain who has basically been made a provisional governor or something. Or defend a crumbling temple where a scant few Air Nomads have somehow escaped the Fire Lord's genocide, but their commitment to pacifism makes them a sitting duck to the soldiers hunting them down. Bring down a bandit gang led by a brutal Earthbender, or some Waterbending Pirates harassing a group of refugees on their way to Ba Sing Se via ship. So on and so forth.

Another recommendation I have is to look at Kung Fu/Martial Arts movies and think about how you might adapt some of those plots to the setting. For instance, maybe you take the plot of Ong-Bak: "In Thailand the Earth Kingdom, an impoverished village has its most precious Buddha Spirit Guardian statue stolen from the temple. The heroes must travel to Bangkok Ba Sing Se to wrangle the statue from a volatile drug Bending Steroid dealer."

ATLA Interest?

Also potentially interested, based on plot/era. Not too fond of the Korra stuff, personally, but if you wanted you could look up the franchise's TTRPG stuff; they have a lot of good suggestions for campaigns in different eras of the setting.

I've always wanted to make an old, crotchety Earthbender kung-fu-master-archetype; the kind that's gotten old enough he can't do much of the flashy stuff anymore, but makes up for it with precision/ruthlessness. Like, another earthbender is getting ready to do their big stomp so they can throw a boulder at him---the old man kinda pokes his toe in the ground and a nail-shaped spike comes up right underneath where the opponent's foot is going to come down. Cue their reaction. But would a "been everywhere, done all that, killed a lot of people in my day" character be permissible in this RP, or do you think they'd come across as too OP?

hi. who wants to help a random middle schooler online come out?

You should probably discuss these things more with your parents or a licensed professional, not an internet forum full of strangers.

If this friend of yours is someone older/more sexually active than you, your parent's disapproval of them may come from a place of fear more than it does their stance on your identity-issues. For a variety of reasons, young people today are vastly more vulnerable to grooming, and that may be why they want you to cut off contact with that person. If that's the case, you're better off listening to your parents.

As someone in his 30s, I'm of the opinion that if you have chaos in your life right now as a middle schooler, it's likely due to lacking a perspective on life that will come with time and experience. Try not to stress out too badly about schoolhouse drama, arguments with your parents (provided there's no violence or deeper abuse, of course) and other such things; as you get older, you'll realize a lot of things that seemed like the end of the world at the time were the furthest thing from it. It's not your fault, because for you right now, that place where you're forced to spend 8+ hours of your day and forced to interact with kids you'll probably never see again after graduation is all the "world" you know. But most of what happens there really isn't going to matter or even be remembered, by you or the other kids, in 10 years.

I doubt this was what you wanted to hear, but I wish you the best regardless.