Adapted from Avatar Legends
Choose a Scope
The scope of your game measures how much of
the world you expect to explore over the course of play. Are
you interested in having every episode take place somewhere new
or would you rather zoom in on just one location and explore its
residents’ struggles?
Your scope isn’t set in stone and can change over the course of
play. If it does, though, that’s likely an indicator you’re moving
on to a new season of your game…
Choose a Group Focus
Next you need to establish the
reason your group sticks together with a group focus. Your
group focus is the purpose which first united your companions
to achieve a common goal. Your characters might disagree about
how to achieve it, but they all believe the goal is so important
that it’s worth risking danger and changing their futures. As a
group, choose one of the following verbs to be your group focus,
then determine the object of that verb’s action:
• To defeat [dangerous foe]
• To protect [place, idea, culture, person, thing]
• To change [culture, society, place, person]
• To deliver [person, thing] to [place, culture, person]
• To rescue [person, thing]
• To learn [idea, culture, training, history]
Next, the group has to discuss their desired focus!
Detailing Your Group Focus
Whatever you choose, the group focus is a problem too complicated
to overcome in one episode (or game session). It’s the kind
of thing that takes an entire season of a show or volume of a comic
series to solve. You don’t need to fill in all the details about the
group focus right now, but consider some of the following questions
to make sure it’s robust enough to push the story forward:
• If you’re trying to defeat a dangerous foe: what makes
them powerful and compelling? Why are they a danger to
innocents or nature? What kind of followers or minions do
they command? Why hasn’t anyone taken them down yet?
• If you’re trying to protect someone or something: why
are they important to a lot of people? What makes them
vulnerable to danger if you don’t get involved? Why are they
worth protecting? Who might oppose you protecting them?
• If you’re trying to change someone or something: what
has happened recently to convince your characters that now
is the time for change? What do you want to be different?
What established rules or practices of a culture, society, or
place are you trying to change, and what are you trying to
change them to? For the person you’re trying to change,
do you want to convince them they’re wrong, or are you
trying to make them a better person? What do the people
connected to that culture, society, or place think about
the way things are and the way you want things to be?
• If you’re trying to deliver someone or something to
somewhere or someone else: why is the thing you are
delivering so important? Why can’t others step in to
deliver it? Who doesn’t want it delivered, and why? What
are some of the dangers you might face along the way?
• If you’re trying to rescue someone or something: who
has taken it captive, or holds it? Why must it be freed
from them? Why hasn’t anyone else successfully freed it
so far? What will you do with it once you do free it?
• If you’re trying to learn something: what makes
that knowledge difficult or illegal to obtain? Who’s
trying to stop you from learning it, and why? Who
else is trying to learn it, and will their efforts help or
hinder yours? Is your group focus something you can
tell everyone you meet, or must you keep it secret?
Just like your scope, your group focus may evolve as you play,
but big changes—like moving from protecting a place to defeating
a villain threatening the whole world—may be a sign that it’s
time for a new season!
Outline the Inciting Incident
In order to flesh out the group focus, you need to create an
inciting incident to start your game off with some action! The
inciting incident is the plot of your series’ “pilot episode,” the
story of how the companions met one another and committed
themselves to your group focus. If your group focus is “to rescue
a rebellion leader”, for example, your inciting incident will explain important details like how your characters met, why they care about rescuing this person,
who captured them, and who wants to stop you.
The inciting incident is not a full session of play; instead,
you craft it together at the table like a few good friends retelling
an epic escapade that happened the week before. Choose
options that are interesting—but leave them open-ended,
since you’ll need to fully understand your characters before
you can fill in all the details!
Start by picking a place within your scope where this incident
happened. Then, as a group, choose three of the following—one
for each act of your opening story:
Act 1
We befriended [ally] who gave us access to [valuable item].
• We discovered a secret hidden by [powerful figure].
• We did something fun, but drew the ire of
[powerful figure] in the process.
• We learned the frightening plans of [powerful foe].
Act 2
We stole [valuable item] from [powerful foe].
• We discovered a terrible truth about
[location or powerful figure].
• We defended [ally or place] from [powerful foe].
• We destroyed [valuable item] and drew the
ire of its owner, [powerful foe].
Act 3
We fought and barely defeated [powerful foe].
• We narrowly escaped capture by [powerful foe].
• We saved or rescued [ally] from [powerful figure].
• We were saved from [powerful foe] by
[ally], to their own detriment.
As you decide, think of each choice as the start (Act 1), middle
(Act 2), and end (Act 3) of that first episode, detailing whatever
you need to construct the opening of your adventures! You can
use any of the items or characters you came up with when setting
up your group focus, but you can also invent new villains, items,
allies, etc., as you need them. Just connect the three events to explain
how your companions met and where your adventure goes
from here. Try not to get caught up in explaining everything. It’s
important to keep things general, because your characters don’t
exist yet and there needs to be room for expansion later on.