Dice Avatar Legends: The Outlaws' Tale - OOC

[jaydude]

For OOC stuff.

 

[Random Word]

Hi! So what's the game plan? We're a bunch of extralegal anti-corruption con artists? What else do we have to go on?

Do we all need a plausible role to play in a theatre troupe as cover? Should we all be actors/musicians/effects people of some sort?

I like the prodigy and successor books the most, but I'm much more interested in having interesting relationships with other characters than what book I end up playing. Does anyone have any fun ideas for why we might really care about each other (positively or otherwise) or the work we're doing?

Bending is pretty flashy. I'm actually curious how often bending will prove useful for running cons. Air for second storey work? Water for concealing mist or blood bending? Fire and earth tend to be very unsubtle, but tremorsense and the ability to tunnel under walls could be nice.

Martial seems straightforward, but tech is in a bit of a weird place, this being before industrial Korra and even the steam engines of Aang. What's inside the purview of tech in this setting, jaydude ?

 

[jaydude]

I'm heading off to work soon; will try and reply once I get back home.

 

[DemonKitten]

Hi! So what's the game plan? We're a bunch of extralegal anti-corruption con artists? What else do we have to go on?

Do we all need a plausible role to play in a theatre troupe as cover? Should we all be actors/musicians/effects people of some sort?

I like the prodigy and successor books the most, but I'm much more interested in having interesting relationships with other characters than what book I end up playing. Does anyone have any fun ideas for why we might really care about each other (positively or otherwise) or the work we're doing?

Bending is pretty flashy. I'm actually curious how often bending will prove useful for running cons. Air for second storey work? Water for concealing mist or blood bending? Fire and earth tend to be very unsubtle, but tremorsense and the ability to tunnel under walls could be nice.

Martial seems straightforward, but tech is in a bit of a weird place, this being before industrial Korra and even the steam engines of Aang. What's inside the purview of tech in this setting, jaydude ?

Pick which ever you want. I would like to make a character based on one or two characters so we do not have similar personalities

 

[jaydude]

Hi! So what's the game plan? We're a bunch of extralegal anti-corruption con artists? What else do we have to go on?

"Extralegal anti-corruption con artists" is one way of putting it. You're all new members of a daofei group known as the Flying Opera Company, so professional criminals based somewhere within the Earth Kingdom. Not necessarily con artists; you could just as easily be burglars, pickpockets, bandits or thugs.

The key thing is that the group effectively owes allegiance to Avatar Kyoshi; she'll generally leave it to its own devices and tolerate its criminal activities to a degree (after all, the Earth Kingdom's plenty corrupt in this time period), but she won't allow wanton violence and murder. So you're all heroic criminals by necessity if nothing else.

Another thing is that the Flying Opera Company has largely been pretty hard up until a couple of years ago. Depending on where we decide to go with this game, it'll either be limited in influence to a single town, or only just starting to expand outwards again, perhaps with a base disguised as a theatre in the Lower Ring of Ba Sing Se.

Do we all need a plausible role to play in a theatre troupe as cover? Should we all be actors/musicians/effects people of some sort?

Not if you don't want to. I'm thinking that you'd all start off as new members of the group; if you didn't pick up such skills before joining up, It's possible you wouldn't have had enough time to learn them since then.

Otherwise, if your character does take theatrical skills, it would be nice if they were tied to their area of criminal expertise. For example, someone skilled at acrobatics is good at getting into places through means other than the front door, a strings player can apply their finger dexterity to picking locks or pockets, or a performer's fitness, focus and agility comes into play during real-life fights.

I like the prodigy and successor books the most, but I'm much more interested in having interesting relationships with other characters than what book I end up playing. Does anyone have any fun ideas for why we might really care about each other (positively or otherwise) or the work we're doing?

Each playbook has two connections that link the character to another member of the group. The Successor for example has "[PC] has major concerns, fears, or grievances with my lineage—and with me, by proxy" and "[PC] seems free of their past in a way I wish I could let go of mine; hearing them talk about the future feels amazing!"

As for the inciting incident and the group dynamic as a whole, perhaps you all ran together in your own little gang before catching the eye of Kyoshi or someone in the Flying Opera Company? Or perhaps you only met after joining up, but quickly came to bond with each other?

Bending is pretty flashy. I'm actually curious how often bending will prove useful for running cons. Air for second storey work? Water for concealing mist or blood bending? Fire and earth tend to be very unsubtle, but tremorsense and the ability to tunnel under walls could be nice.

These can all work. And interestingly enough, the Flying Opera Company do have a set of signature techniques for bending near-invisible supports underneath themselves in order to move up and through the air quickly. Otherwise, just look at all the stuff Toph pulls in "The Runaway".

Martial seems straightforward, but tech is in a bit of a weird place, this being before industrial Korra and even the steam engines of Aang. What's inside the purview of tech in this setting, jaydude ?

Anything that doesn't involve electricity or some other form of power should be fine. I'm thinking more along the lines of hunting traps, basic explosives, alchemical concoctions and simple snaring devices like bolas and nets.

 

[ithinkcat]

Just to let everyone else know, the character idea I have in mind fits the Prodigy best. Hopefully that doesn't step on anyone else's idea for a character. jaydude has got to approve the idea first, though.

The idea I had was for a fire nation girl that grew up with a group of Sun-worshiping warrior monks. She was given to the monk order by her parents after it was quickly found out she had sun-sight (thermal vision), despite her not having the ability to firebend. The monk order saw her as a holy child destined to reveal secrets of Sun that only she could see in hopes that they could get closer to understanding and being like the Sun. She spent the rest of her childhood learning nothing but religious mysticism and martial arts, but one of her mentors thought she would never fully be able to be the oracle they needed without first seeing and living in the wider world. He helped her run away with the promise that she return when she had experienced and learned all she needed to know why she was born with sun-sight and what she should use it for.

Having been sequestered from the world for most of her life, she began traveling the world to experience as many new things as she could. Eventually she ran across the Flying Opera Company, much to their dismay. She guessed correctly every time on the shell game because she could see the residual heat of the palmed item beneath the cup. She poked holes in their magical disappearing act when she could clearly see that someone was standing beneath the floor. While she had ruined the fun and mystery for many of the customers that evening, the leader of the troupe had the idea of, instead of getting mad and demanding she pay for the losses to disenfranchised customers, invite her to become one of their acts. She accepted without hesitation, looking forward to all the new experiences working for the troupe will bring, and now she has an act where she pretends to be psychic.

 

[jaydude]

Just to let everyone else know, the character idea I have in mind fits the Prodigy best. Hopefully that doesn't step on anyone else's idea for a character. jaydude has got to approve the idea first, though.

The idea I had was for a fire nation girl that grew up with a group of Sun-worshiping warrior monks. She was given to the monk order by her parents after it was quickly found out she had sun-sight (thermal vision), despite her not having the ability to firebend. The monk order saw her as a holy child destined to reveal secrets of Sun that only she could see in hopes that they could get closer to understanding and being like the Sun. She spent the rest of her childhood learning nothing but religious mysticism and martial arts, but one of her mentors thought she would never fully be able to be the oracle they needed without first seeing and living in the wider world. He helped her run away with the promise that she return when she had experienced and learned all she needed to know why she was born with sun-sight and what she should use it for.

Having been sequestered from the world for most of her life, she began traveling the world to experience as many new things as she could. Eventually she ran across the Flying Opera Company, much to their dismay. She guessed correctly every time on the shell game because she could see the residual heat of the palmed item beneath the cup. She poked holes in their magical disappearing act when she could clearly see that someone was standing beneath the floor. While she had ruined the fun and mystery for many of the customers that evening, the leader of the troupe had the idea of, instead of getting mad and demanding she pay for the losses to disenfranchised customers, invite her to become one of their acts. She accepted without hesitation, looking forward to all the new experiences working for the troupe will bring, and now she has an act where she pretends to be psychic.

Hate to say it, but you're kinda too late. EbonChevalier joined the game this afternoon - sorry for not bringing this up earlier - and they've already made a character who uses the Prodigy playbook. And each playbook can only be taken by a single player.

 

[ithinkcat]

Ah, that sucks. Guess I'll have to think of something different.

 

[The Cat Man]

I have two ideas for characters so far I'm interested in

An idealist firebender who has taken an oath of non-lethality after a brutal incident trying to figure out if they want to enact vengeance or move on.

An icon martial artist who finds that their ideals are at conflict with a tradition that has never faulted themselves. (Either a nonbender or has some unawakened bending)

 

[jaydude]

The Cat Man EbonChevalier ithinkcat Random Word
As glad as I am to see people coming up with character ideas already, I'd first like us to decide the scope of the game, i.e. how much of the Four Nations we're actually going to explore. In terms of suggestions, I have the following:

• Ba Sing Se, starting off in the Lower Ring and gradually moving to other parts of the city as the Flying Opera Company expands its area of influence and operations within the capital.
• A region in the eastern Earth Kingdom near or around Chameleon Bay.
• The entirety of the Earth Kingdom, wherever opportunity for ill-gotten profit arises.

 

[jaydude]

EbonChevalier and Random Word , definitely loving what I'm seeing in terms of your characters so far.

Also, quick bit of curiosity on my part, but how many of you have read the Kyoshi novels?

 

[Random Word]

I have not, I'm just going by what you told us . If I get anything wrong, do correct me.

I think urban environments are generally best for high crime and misdemeanours. They tend to have the largest concentrations of wealth and complex high society, which makes for the best cons and heists. An occasional trip to the countryside doesn't hurt for a change of scenery, but I vote for a focus on Ba Sing Se. I will not be the least upset if I lose the vote, though.

 

[jaydude]

I have not, I'm just going by what you told us . If I get anything wrong, do correct me.

I'm just thinking of how well the Xīnsùèr clan works within the setting, given that not long ago in-universe, there was a period of time in which Earth Kingdom princes were freely having each other murdered. That, and a small handful of characters in the novels do actually train themselves to resist poison.

 

[jaydude]

EbonChevalier
First off, I'm absolutely down with the idea of you playing a non-hetero character. I should warn you though that canonically, the Earth Kingdom takes a dim view towards same-sex relationships. That being said, if you'd rather not deal with that kind of discrimination in-game, just let me know, and I'll have people not give a damn about it if they learn about it.

 

[EbonChevalier]

I've got the spoons to handle it just give me a heads up when things are about to get heavy. Also do the northern water along people to love as they please?

 

[EbonChevalier]

EbonChevalier and Random Word , definitely loving what I'm seeing in terms of your characters so far.

Also, quick bit of curiosity on my part, but how many of you have read the Kyoshi novels?

I listened to an audio book of the first

 

[EbonChevalier]

And yeah im onboard with having Ba sing se as our setting

 

[ithinkcat]

jaydude I'm fine with the story just taking place in Ba Sing Se. It's practically the size of a whole country anyways. I have one condition, though. There needs to be a beach episode.

Never read the novels myself. I only watched the shows.

Also, I think I'm gonna go The Rogue. Someone has to be the problem-child.

 

[EbonChevalier]

jaydude I'm fine with the story just taking place in Ba Sing Se. It's practically the size of a whole country anyways. I have one condition, though. There needs to be a beach episode.

Never read the novels myself. I only watched the shows.

Also, I think I'm gonna go The Rogue. Someone has to be the problem-child.

Let's hit up Lake Laogai there's no brain washing facility there yet

 

[ithinkcat]

Or maybe we just forgot there was one there...

 

[jaydude]

I've got the spoons to handle it just give me a heads up when things are about to get heavy. Also do the northern water along people to love as they please?

They don't have a problem with it per se, but they do prefer it to be kept private.

 

[EbonChevalier]

Got it

 

[DemonKitten]

I have weird time zone. I will respond during my weekend

 

[jaydude]

jaydude I'm fine with the story just taking place in Ba Sing Se. It's practically the size of a whole country anyways. I have one condition, though. There needs to be a beach episode.

I'll see what I can do.

Also, I think I'm gonna go The Rogue. Someone has to be the problem-child.

Anything you have in mind? Would you like any help?

 

[jaydude]

EbonChevalier ithinkcat
There's no brainwashing facility there (yet), but there is a high-security prison. Just go ahead and get yourselves arrested, and I'll have you all carted there.