Both Truman and Mendez emphasised the importance of their RPG getting this right. They also felt PbtA’s playbooks gave them the space to explore what it means to live in a world of colonisation and systemic oppression, but also one of shared culture and values. Magpie used Masks: A New Generation as a working prototype, realising the themes of self-discovery and understanding the morality of power at the core of the young superhero RPG shared a lot of DNA with Avatar.
“We knew right from day one that Powered by the Apocalypse was what we wanted to do with this product,” Truman said.
AVATAR BLOOD BENDING EPISODE SERIES
Vincent and Meguey Baker’s Apocalypse World as a foundation for some of their first breakout titles, giving them an intimate familiarity with a game that would shape the studio’s design philosophy for the next decade.Īs it turns out, it would also be the perfect fit for adapting Avatar from a beloved kid’s television series to an RPG system. The company began around the same time as crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, which Truman and other members of the team still use as a way to fund their projects and draw feedback from fans.
Magpie’s 10-year history mirrors some of the larger shifts in the tabletop design space. “It was this numinous feeling, like some deity had reached down and grabbed me by the lapels and was like, ‘That thing, that game that you've always wanted to make that since you started gaming? And since you started watching television? Yeah, it's finally happening,’” Mendez said. His experience in tabletop games and martial arts had landed Mendez on Truman’s shortlist. Along with past title Thousand Arrows and consultancy work on Jiāngshī: Blood in the Banquet Hall, he had previously worked with Magpie on a number of projects and supplements. Mendez quickly recovered from the initial disappointment of not designing Method Man or Raekwon playbooks when he heard the details. “So, I was convinced for a couple of months that Mark had gotten the licence to make a roleplaying game about the Wu-Tang Clan.” “Mark contacted me back in September and said, ‘We got this licence property, we know you're gonna want to work on it. We want bringing in those influences to be a source of joy and confidence. Mendez, along with several other designers of colour and indigeneity, has been working alongside Magpie on writing, design and cultural consultancy. Truman and lead designer James Mendez Hodes spoke with Dicebreaker about the current design process - much of it still not written in stone - and why Powered by the Apocalypse felt like the right platform upon which to build their game. The studio recently announced it had secured the licence from Viacom CBS to develop the world of Avatar and its sequel series Legend of Korra into a tabletop setting, with a sourcebook dropping in 2022. Mark Truman, CEO of Magpie Games, feels like the last decade of the studio’s work has all led to the team working on an Avatar: The Last Airbender RPG.
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