Random Inspiration: Fantasy Campaign Based on Legend of Korra's 2nd Season

Last Friday, the first two episodes of Legend of Korra's second season (or Book 2 for those of you who are Avatar: The Last Airbender fans) aired on Nickolodean. For a quick review, I thought the two episodes were a great start to the season. They caught us up on what the characters have been doing since last season's finale, introduce the major conflict the characters will have to face, and add a few elements that have me curious and interested in watching this week's episode to learn more. While there were some problems with the two episodes (the animation dipped in quality at times and I feel like Korra was too quick to abandon Tenzin and her father for her uncle), they were still enjoyable and I'm excited for Friday's episode.

After watching the two episodes for a second time (mostly to make sure I didn't miss anything), I found myself inspired to run a campaign in a world similar to Legend of Korra's setting and with a similar theme as well. Instead of going for a straight adaption of the series, I think I'd just take the basic ideas and run with them.

The setting for this future campaign would be a collection of kingdoms that are heavily influenced by different Asian cultures. Elemental magic would have a major place in the societies of these kingdoms and each school of magic would have a different philosophy tied to it. Tradition and the Spirit World would play a big part as well.

For one reason or another, these kingdoms have been fighting with each other for over a century. However, after seeing the sheer destruction they were causing, the leaders finally come together and sign a peace treaty that ends the war. Seventy years pass and the world becomes a rather peaceful place. Due to the nations now working together and sharing their advancements, the kingdoms enter into an industrial revolution. However, these changes begin to clash with those who prefer the traditions of the past.

The campaign would begin with the players arriving in a small village for a seasonal festival. During the festivities, a group of corrupted nature spirits attack the village and the players would have to defeat them. Afterwords, they learn that attacks like these have been happening throughout the kingdoms and the Traditionalists believe its because the Industrialist have thrown the world off balance and the spirits are angry.

How the story would unfold from there would be up to the players and there actions, but I think it would be a pretty cool campaign. For systems, I'd probably either use Savage Worlds or FATE (probably Accelerated since I prefer it to the full FATE rules).