Avatar Tabletop RPG?

Water, Earth, Fire, Tabletops

My self imposed limitations turns this blog into a little bit of a discovery exercise at times. I get to talk about my favourite games and often spill out my thoughts on beloved legacy franchises, but I'm of course a fan of many forms of entertainment which often gets unmentioned. I'm a huge Jojo fan, as you might have noticed, and I simply adore that Wandavision limited show that we're in the middle of right now, but one of perhaps my favourite pieces of non-gaming media of alltime has to be Avatar. Oh, no I'm not talking James Cameron's movie franchise(?) which he still insists on making 5 sequels for even after everyone's forgotten every last snippet of note from the original. (To shake your memory, Avatar was the movie in which the McGuffin was embarrassingly called: 'unobtanium'. Very subtle, James) no, I'm talking about 'The Last Airbender'; the show which inherently spits in the face of all low-effort kids shows that think they have to phone it in for their target audience. To this day I hold 'The Last Airbender' as one of the greatest shows of all time, not just kids shows or animated shows, and thus I long for the day when it's brilliance can grace the gaming world too.

Oh don't get me wrong, there have been Avatar games in the past; they've just not been... good. There were a few PS2 titles that tried to follow the events of the various 'Books' (what the show called series'), a game which told a whole fresh story for the Nintendo Wii and another Wii game that was... based on the Movie? Oh god, they didn't. They did! How could this have happened? Who let this into E3 2010 of all places!? I just guess that goes to show you that there's been too much misspent money floating around the industry for a while now, huh. But for all of these games, there hasn't been a single one to really capture all that this series represents; wit, growth, drama, action, friendship, loss, never has a game quite nailed it all. And I'd go so far as to say the reason might have been because we just weren't ready for the perfect Avatar game yet. The industry hadn't matured enough to bring this kids show to life. Now, however, we might be there; and the first step will be- a board game?

That's right, the first Avatar game in god knows how long isn't even coming to digital spaces; it's a Tabletop game. Well darn. Now of course, I have nothing against Tabletop games, they just aren't really in my purview of ways to enjoy myself. I actually have huge respect for the Tabletop genre and the way they leverage the players themselves to create the space for a game. Whether that be by highlighting their creativity and imagination, or just their penchant for lying. The simplicity of Tabletop games allows them to tap into places where traditional videogames cannot. That being said, I'll still prefer a traditional video game. Warcraft and Dungeons and Dragons have proven the viability of the physical gaming medium recently, however, and thus I will concede that there's some potential for this RPG and I may be willing to watch some games on it once it is out. Playing vicariously, as it were.

As for how the game will shape out, we've very little details on what it will be before the 2022 launch, but there's enough to paint a decently clear picture. The game will place folk in the shoes of various heroes from the universe and set them on missions that, from the examples I've seen, appear to borrow snippets of the lore whilst not exactly being based on actual events. On the IGN article there was mention of exploring the spirit world, helping rival Earth Kingdom communities broker peace (Which would imply this is set between the end of Aang and the reunification in Korra) and even a little bit of protecting merchants from Triple Threat Triad. (Huh, I remember that one scene from Korra in which the Triple Threat were introduced, and mistaking that for a prelude to what I assumed to be major players in the story. Guess they get their due today, huh?)

There will be templates for making characters, meaning that player won't be stuck telling the extended adventures of Sokka for the rest of their lives, and I'm seeing some conflicting reports on setting that implies stories will branch from Aang's feudal era to Korra's industrial one. Personally, I see this as a bit of a missed opportunity as there is a plethora of previous Avatar periods we know next to nothing about, but perhaps the world of Avatar Kyoshi can make it too an expansion book. Somehow, even a year before launch, they've already detailed the first two expansion books as focusing on Republic City and The Spirit World. No clues as to how one can plan 2 years of work into the future, but I would love if they would teach me their secrets. I can hardly get 5 days ahead of work.

Now all of this comes in the wake of renewed Interest around the Avatar license ever since the series came to Netflix. People have binged it and been reminded of how brilliant that show was, and that inspired a flux of fandom activity and adoration, as well as some more lamentable decisions; such as an impending live action remake series coming to Netflix. I don't know why people keep trying to actively destroy the things they claim to love, but let me be clear; even if this series turns out worlds better than the movie (and I'm freakin' positive that it will) there's still no point because it won't be as good as the animated show. You won't get a young actress to pull of Azula with the same level of narcissistic menace as Grey DeLisle, there's not going to be another Zuko with the intensity and ultimate relatability of Dante Basco. And though I hate to bring it up, the voice of Iroh, Mako, has unfortunately passed away; you may get people who can imitate him but it will never be quite the same.

And I say this not as a fan who riles at the very thought of anyone touching his beloved unimprovable franchise, but as a fan who wants to see more of his favourite series, not re-treading of what we've already seen. Which is why I would love to get a Legend of Aang video game, preferably with as much of the old team aboard as possible, because I think that'd make for ripe grounds to expand upon the story we know. Yes, I know that there'll inherently be retreading in a video game designed to follow the events of the show, but given the freedom of game design (especially in how we allow stories to be pretty much as long as they need to be in gaming) there could really be whole new dimensions to the story that could be explored. It could bring in new characters that show how over pockets of the world are responding to the rumors of the Avatar's return, how they start to stand up against their oppression based on their hope alone. Maybe some further explorations into the movements of Azula after she ran off into those woods. Heck, we might even learn how Ozai ended up. (Why do I only seem to focus on Firenation stuff? I've got a villain complex, haven't I? )

But that's all just hope and dreams right now, because all we're getting is a boardgame and we better be darn happy about it! As the law of the land does dictate, however, when properties get attention the big studios follow, so I'm fairly confident at least discussion about an Avatar game will be made before the year's out. (I mean there's definitely an audience here, someone just needs to take advantage.) At this point hopes and dreams should be directed towards ensuring that the right company ends up getting the contract, because I just can't take another Cyberpunk. I'm telling you, having that happen to Avatar would just break me. But apart from that, no pressure Nickelodeon!