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In the Korra era inAvatar Legends, players can take control of high-speed vehicles known primarily as Satomobiles, named after Asami from The Legend of Korra series. While most ordinary people in the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender might use vehicles merely for transportation, players in Avatar Legends can use these vehicles in high-octane races all over Republic City.
But if you’re a GM jumping into this setting for the first time, you might be wondering exactly how these vehicle chases work. That’s why we’ve created this guide. Here’s everything you need to know about running heart-pumping vehicle races in Avatar Legends.
How Vehicles Work
When using a vehicle in a race or chase sequence,vehicles are assigned various statsfor players and GMs to track.
Damage Track
Damage Tracks determinehow tough a racing vehicle is.
These tracks can be anywhere between 5-15 boxes long, with one pole of this spectrum representing standard vehicles, and the opposite end representing heavily armored, large motors.
Heat Track
Similar to Damage Tracks,a Heat Track represents how much stress the vehicle can takeon its engines.
These tracks can also be anywherebetween 5-15 boxes long.
Stability & Control
Vehicle Stability is a number thatrepresents the amount of control a driver has over a vehicle.
NPC vehicles typically have a starting control of 5 or 7, whilePC control varies. Stability is determined by the GM or the vehicle stat block and essentially functions as a modifier to control.
Vehicles can be taken out of the raceif they take too much damage, overheat, or the driver themselves is taken out.
How To Determine PC Stability And Control
While NPC stability and control work differently,a PC’s vehicle stability is predetermined by the GM or the vehicle stat block.
And, while NPC’s control is also predetermined,the PC’s control is determined by using the control move.
To use the control move,roll 2d6 and take +1 to the roll for each yesanswer to the following questions; the answers of which can be found on your character’s playbook.
Then, take the final result of the roll andconsult the table below:
Miss
Focus + Vehicle Stability
If you miss on your control roll, you may mark a conditionof the GM’s choice to take control as if you had rolled a weak hit.
How Race Mechanics Work
Now that you understand how vehicles work, it’s time to dive intohow to run a race in Avatar Legends. First, you’ll need tofollow the steps belowto set up a race.
Determine starting controlbased on the rules above.
PCs Wager
Each PC driver wagers up to five heaton their Heat Trackerand spends up to three control.
Then,all PCs reveal their choices, adding up the total as their wagerfor the starting position.
NPCs Wager
The GM does the same for each NPC, rolling a d6 for heat and control, respectively.
The GM thenadds up this total by taking the value of the heat d6 and half the value of the control d6 (rounded up), using this total as the NPCs' wagers for the starting position.
Determine Order
Determine the PC/NPC starting orderbased on who has the highest initial wager.
Tie-breaks are determined by who has the most control. If there is still a tie, use Vehicle Stability. If there is still a tie, roll a d6 randomly for each driver to determine starting position.
From there,lay out tokens or other icons to represent each vehiclein order from first to last. Then, the race may begin!
The GM will determine a set number of exchangesfor the race. This represents the length of the race. A three-exchange race is extremely fast-paced, while a six-exchange race might prove to be more of a marathon.
Once the race starts,race mechanics work exactly like combat exchangesin typical Avatar Legends gameplay.
Players and NPCs willtake turns taking the stance move, either choosing to Defend and Maneuver, Advance and Attack, or Evade and Observe to use various techniques.
The only difference is that, unlike during normal combat,players have access to vehicle-specific techniques.
For a full list of vehicle-specific techniques, consult Chapter Three: The Way of the Future of the Republic City campaign setting toolkit.
While, on occasion, players can use other techniques at their disposal, depending on the legality of the race,bending and other combat-specific techniques might not be available. This is always determined at the GM’s discretion.
After each exchange is complete,adjust vehicle positions based on the outcomes of the techniques used.
When the last exchange is complete,whichever vehicle ends in first place wins!
How Chases Work
Chases work very similarly to race mechanics, but havethree key differencesworth noting, as detailed below:
With these rules in mind,here’s how to start a chase.
First,the GM reveals the Initial Positions of each vehicle, explaining how many empty spaces there are between the pursuants and the pursued vehicles.
Vehicles can be customizedor have improvements made to them! Consult the Republic City Setting Toolkit for more information, orconsider creating homebrewed vehicle modificationswith your GM.
Then,PCs and NPCs follow the same processes for starting positions and wagersas they would in races, wagering heat and control.
From there,whichever vehicle (whether PC or NPC) has the highest wager advances a number of positions equal to the number of vehicles in the race, creating empty spaces behind them. The second and third highest do the same, subtracting one and two from their wager, respectively. Ties are broken in the same way as before.
From there, the chase begins,using the same combat exchange mechanics as before, within a set number of exchanges!
You can also use vehicles in normal combat exchanges, without using race or chase mechanics. In this instance, it’s up to the GM to determine how the combat is altered based on the presence of vehicles.
