Avatar World Basic Game




ALERT: IF YOU HAVE BEEN DIRECTED TO THIS PAGE, IT IS THE PAGE I WROTE ON BEFORE THE RELEASE OF THE FIRST DRAFT OF AVATAR WORLD. PLEASE CLICK THE HEADER UP TOP FOR THE MOST RECENT VERSION OF THE GAME.
 THIS PAGE CONTINUES TO EXIST ONLY FOR ITS EASE OF FINDING THROUGH GOOGLE AND FOR MY OWN RECORD-KEEPING.




Here, have some music before jumping into this giant page! Which song this is will probably shift some over time, but for now have some Folktale Recollection of Final Fantasy V by the Magical Trick Society!


Hey there, new page! I've been thinking about doing this for a while. The purpose of this page is to compile the current wealth of information in Avatar World. Now, everything is still going to be updated through regular posts on the home page, but after four months (holy shit!), two pages of solid S-G commentary thread, and over fifteen individual posts on the topic, I've got a lot of stuff in a lot of places. Additionally, there's been some revisions over time, and keeping a place with the most Up-To-Date information would be valuable.

So how's this gonna work? I don't actually know yet. Let's make it happen.

Avatar World - The Basic Game

Table of Contents
The Game Concept
Powered By The Apocalypse (or What Is ApW)
The Stats
The Basic Moves
The Playbooks
Sub-Playbooks
Tags and Chi
Oaths and Honor
When You Train With A Master
Harm and Armor
Gear
Improvement
Links

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The Game Concept

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So what IS Avatar World? Put in simple terms, Avatar World is a hack of the popular tabletop role-playing game Apocalypse World (known in common vernacular as "AW," but due to the possible confusion with this game I will refer to it as "ApW") by D. Vincent Baker made to emulate the kind of action found in Avatar: The Last Airbender and other wuxia fiction. By hack I mean that this is a modification of the existing rules, taking the underlying engine and re-purposing it to suit a different type of game. Some hacks of games require that you have the original game to use them and are only modifications. This game, like other large-scale ApW hacks (such as Monsterhearts, Dungeon World, or tremulus), is instead a complete overhaul, operating only on the basic engine of ApW, which I will explain in enough detail that owning Apocalypse World is not actually necessary. However, I'm not going to be repeating every bit of his advice and how the game functions here, so it is very much in your interest to get it if you plan to play. Besides, it's a brilliantly written book and a very fun game, as well as a very influential text in contemporary story game design. As I recently saw it put, Apocalypse World is a masterpiece of matching writing and mechanics to genre and tone.

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Powered By The Apocalypse

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Powered By The Apocalypse is one of the terms used to describe the growing multitude of hacks of ApW. The book itself is very supportive of alteration of the game, even to a radical degree, and this has spawned some interesting derivatives of the system, such as Monsterhearts by Joe Mcdaldno and Dungeon World by Sage Latorra and Adam Koebel. These are only the published ones - numerous smaller hacks are available on the internet, such as the incomplete Dead Weight by John Harper and Daniel Solis or Apocalypse Galactica by Sean Nittner. You might see these games listed as AW-inspired games, Apocalypse-Powered Games (this is my favorite term for them), or, the one that has caught on most thanks to a naming trend in hacks, *-World.

What do Apocalypse-Powered games do well (or "Why is this an ApW hack instead of another game")? Well, *-World games are case studies in how to do genre emulation. Everything about Apocalypse World seems poised to show off the stereotypes and tropes of its own genre. Basic Moves distil the genre into its most basic or important actions, and glossing over the unimportant actions (even ones that some trad RPGs would usually include just to cover the bases of task resolution, though I'll mention that ApW is primarily a task resolution game). Playbooks and their lists of options rather than their open-ended character generation helps to focus down so that almost any character you could feasibly create will fit well into the genre. On a higher-level note, the writing of the game is well-suited to the genre, being crass and violent and evocative, just like the post-apocalypse would likely be. The other games that have been crafted from ApW's framework are also paragons of genre-emulation, again through Move choice and playbook arrays (as well as things like MC Principles).
In addition to their ability to emulate genres, I'm a big fan of the mechanics of ApW. The simplicity of 2d6 as opposed to, you know, funny dice. The glory of partial results. An authority/agency split between the MC and the players that really works for me (though that's very subjective).

What important stuff was taken from Apocalypse World? Well, so far, a lot. I use the same general scale of numbers, which cuts out a lot of work. I use the concept of the move, (as well as their rolls structure) as well as playbooks with their own unique playbook moves. I borrow a lot of actual mechanical ideas from the game as well, though rarely do I lift directly from the game. I'm also using the idea of the MC, which is the game's Game Master, and am bringing with them the idea of MC Principles, Always Say, Agenda, and MC Moves. I share Harm with the original as well.
Shall we explain these things? 

Moves: Moves are the core of the game. There are two axis along which moves can belong: Rolls vs. Passive moves, and Basic vs. Playbook moves (plus Custom moves).

Rolls: Rolls are the most common type of move. All basic moves are rolls. A roll move has four mandatory parts. The first part is a trigger. The trigger is a fictional scenario that causes the move to occur. When the situation in the game matches the trigger, you use that move. There's no debate - when the situation arises, you must use the move, and you can't use the move unless the situation happens. An example from ApW would be "When you do something under fire, or dig in to endure fire...", from the move Act Under Fire.
The second part that all rolls share is the actual roll clause. This is what tells you what you actually are doing mathematically to perform the move. All rolls involve rolling two six-sided die and adding them together (2d6), and the overwhelming majority include the addition of some other modifier, usually one of your stats. From the same Act Under Fire example as before, when you trigger the move you "roll+Cool," with Cool being one of ApW's stats.
The third and fourth parts are connected as the result, but can be sorted into a 10+ outcome and a 7-9 outcome. Any roll, once you've added the appropriate modifiers, that comes out to 7 or over is called a success, or sometimes a hit. On a hit, you've achieved the action that caused the roll. However, a 7-9 is only a partial success - while you succeed, or could succeed, at the desired action, it comes with complications. The 10+ result for Act Under Fire is "On a 10+, you do it.". Simple. The 7-9 result for Act Under Fire is "On a 7-9, you flinch, hesitate, or stall; the MC will offer you a worse outcome, a hard bargain, or an ugly choice."
Some roll moves have a fifth part: a miss clause. This is a special section that dictates that something different happens on a miss. See, when a player fails a move, it's not a null result. When a player fails a roll the MC is given an opportunity to make one of their moves, putting the player in a harder position and advancing the narrative even on a failure. Miss clauses mean something different happens, and it's pretty rare to have them.
Rolls form the most important mechanical interaction in the game. It's important to note that Rolls are always player-facing; in this game, the MC does not roll the dice. The MC has things they can do, but they just do them, rather than needing to roll.

Passive Moves: Some moves, however, are not rolls. These are things that, when a move is taken, become always true for that character. Sometimes it's just a true thing, like the ApW Battlebabe's move Merciless: "When you inflict harm, inflict +1 harm." This is an always thing that just happens. Alternatively, passive moves can alter the way your other moves (such as rolls) work. One of my favorite moves from ApW is the Brainer's Direct-Brain Whisper Project: "You can roll+Weird to get the effects of going aggro [that's a basic move], without going aggro. Your victim has to be able to see you, but you don't have to interact." There's more to that move, but that's the important bit for us.

Basic Moves: A basic move is a category of Rolls. The basic moves form the most central aspect of the game - all the basic moves are shared by all characters playing the game. They are made up of the actions that are most important to the genre, and the selection of basic moves likely determines the tone of the game. Again, everyone can use these.
Technically Apocalypse World makes a distinction between Basic and Peripheral moves, which are not used often enough to constitute being called Basic moves, but are still applicable to all characters. At this point, I'm not using that distinction.

Playbook Moves: These are moves that are unique to specific characters. Every playbook has a selection of Playbook Moves, and you likely only have a couple of them. These are things you can do that are unique to you, and help carve out that character's niche and archetype. They can be Rolls or Passive Moves.

There are also Custom Moves, which are created on-the-fly by the MC to deal with scenarios that don't feel right with other moves, MC Moves that define the types of forces the MC can exert on the players and their characters, and Front Moves, which are a combination of Custom Moves and MC Moves that apply to factions of NPCs.

Playbooks: Playbooks are the "character classes" of Apocalypse-Powered games. Each playbook represents an archetype of the genre being portrayed through the game. Every character has one playbook, though options exist for blurring the lines somewhat. A playbook guides your selection of stats, the moves you have access to, the things you have available to you, your history with other characters, and other things. Next to selection of Basic Moves, the array of playbooks available is the most defining feature of an Apocalypse-Powered game.

The MC and their toolbox: The MC (which does in fact stand for Master of Ceremonies) is the game master for the game. They are in command of everything that isn't the player characters in the world of the game: the environment, the adversaries, the friends, etc. The MC does not roll in the game, instead having at his disposal a list of Principles and MC Moves, along with the guidelines of Always Say and Agenda, which inform the MC's disposition toward the player characters. The principles are exactly what they sound like: they're a set of rules that indicate the mindset of the MC in the game. For example, one of them in ApW is "Name everyone, make everyone human." Another is "Address yourself to the characters, not the players." MC Moves, on the other hand, are the things the MC is actually capable of doing. Usually they do these things when a player fails a roll, but they can also use them to kick the action forward in slow moments of the game. Some ApW examples: "Announce future badness," "Capture someone."
The MC also has fronts, which are groups of NPCs that share common intentions. They get to have special moves that apply to all of the members. Fronts are, essentially, the opposition factions that are important in your game.

Harm: I'm keeping Harm more or less the same as the original game. Harm is pretty simple - it's basically your hit points, the amount of damage you can take before you fall down and before you die. In the basic number scale of the game, you can take 6 harm before you die, and this is remaining unchanged.

Those are the general ideas of the things I'm keeping from Apocalypse World. I have different basic moves and playbooks and principles and everything, but the basic underlying structure is the same.

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The Stats

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Apocalypse World had five stats, and so does Avatar World. In ApW, those were Cool, Hard, Hot, Sharp, and Weird. I suppose that distills down to "Defense," "Offense," "Social," "Perception," and "Supernatural." Avatar World's stats also line up to those same principles, except instead of Supernatural there's "Motion." The stats are:
木, NATURAL. Natural represents Wood/Tree, and is the Social stat.
 
火, HOT. Hot represents Fire, and is the Violent stat.
 
土, SOLID. Solid represents Earth, and is the Defensive stat.
 
金, KEEN. Keen represents Metal, and is the Perception stat.
 
水, FLUID. Fluid represents Water, and is the Motion stat.
You might recognize those five corresponding elements as the five "elements" or phases of energy of ancient China. That's intentional. I could easily have gone with the set of stats based around the four classical elements and then a "Spirit" stat, and that would line up pretty well with ApW's systems, but that's boring! I gotta say that, personally, I think this is a pretty deep set of stats that works on a bunch of levels. I won't get too into that here, but the intention hasn't changed since I first explained them in the original Avatar World post, so here's a link to that: LINK

The stats go in that order, in those colors. I mean, it's not mandatory, but the color and order are both significant. Chances are I'll be putting them in a ring format in the final form.
These really mean nothing without the Basic Moves they feed into.

I would be stupid to not mention an unfortunate convergence with Apocalypse World. You'll see that one of the stats here is Hot, and one of the stats in Monsterhearts is Hot, and one of the stats in Apocalypse World is Hot, so they're probably related! But they're NOT. The ApW and MH Hot scores refer to "Hot" as in "sexy" - it's the social stat. My AvW Hot refers to "Hot" as in "hot-headed and violent, fiery" - it's the violence stat. Don't mix 'em up just cuz that's what you're used to.

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The Basic Moves

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The basic moves in Apocalypse World are Act Under Fire, Go Aggro, Seize By Force, Seduce or Manipulate, Read a Sitch, Read a Person, Open Your Brain, Help or Interfere. That boils down to "Withstand problems," "One-way violence," "Two-way violence," "Social move," "Perceive location," "perceive characters," "Ask MC questions/world-build," "Aid/Interfere." That makes sense - post-apocalyptic media has a lot of violence, a lot of it one-sided, and lot of trying to keep track of the environment (since the setting is as much a threat as the people) as well as others. It also has a social move with a distinctly negative tone, where you're using other people to get what you want. The explicit option of seduction is also present.
My basic moves are different.
I have eight basic moves as well, and the way they interact with the stats are pretty similar when it comes down to it, but some of them cause a different dynamic. They are (with color indicating stats):
Speak Honorably
Meditate
Speak Dishonorably
Commit Open Violence
Stand Fast
Observe Carefully
Move With Intention
I've written them out fully, so let's look at those. 
Speak Honorably: When you speak honorably to persuade, convince, or manipulate an NPC, roll+Natural. On a hit, tell the GM what you want. On a 10+, you get what you want, as long as you promise the NPC something they'll get in return. On a 7-9, you get what you want, but there are immediate and troublesome strings attached.
When used against another PC, roll+Honor. On a hit, pick from the following list. On a 10+, choose both. On a 7-9, just one:
     * If they do what you want, they mark XP.
     * If they don't do what you want, they need to Stand Fast.
This is the first social move. It's used when you want something and try to get it out of someone. It's related to Seduce/Manipulate and Parley, but really it's a bit nicer. What I mean by that is that you can trigger Speak Honorably without having specific leverage over someone like you do in ApW. Unlike in ApW, asking for things while "just talking" IS Speak Honorably.
Otherwise, this probably looks quite similar to Manipulate, though Seduction is kinda genre-inappropriate for Avatar The Last Airbender (though it's sometimes viable in other Wuxia stuff). One difference is that in ApW, the mandated promise is fictionally binding but doesn't really have mechanical effects. However, AvW has a system that makes promises mechanically binding, so you're really held to the promises you make even through this move..
Meditate: When you spend time in uninterrupted contemplation, name what you're thinking about and roll+Natural. On a hit, you learn a detail relevant to the subject of your thoughts. On a 10+, declare what that detail is. On a 7-9, the MC will declare what the detail is.
This move used to be Keen, but I really didn't like the first version. This is pretty close to DW's Spout Lore in concept, but does it a little different. For one thing, it lets the player generate the info on a full success. I'm really happy with this one.
Speak Dishonorably: When you act dishonorably to get what you want, roll+Hot. On a 10+, they need to choose whether to give in or face your wrath. On a 7-9, you might not get what you want, but you've pushed them to (MC chooses 1):
     * Flee in cowardice,
     * Provide what you think you want,
     * Calmly and politely deny you,
     * Challenge you with a counter-offer.
BIG NOTE: Take "Speak" in as broad a sense as you take "Under Fire" in ApW. I just like the linguistic trick of the moves Speak Dis/Honorably, strictly speaking it really should be Act Dishonorably, but that's boring.
There was a half-baked port of "Barricade yourself securely in" but I've never really liked that option.
The big deal when it comes to this and Commit Open Violence is the dynamic they do not share with Go Aggro and Seize By Force. In ApW, the two attack moves are differentiated primarily by how many directions the violence is moving in. Go aggro is for one-direction combat, where one person is exerting the threat of violence over another person. Ostensibly, the move text for that one says that you name what you want out of them, but you're totally allowed to say "what I want is for them to die." Seize By Force, on the other hand, is for when two parties are fighting each other - you will suffer a hit back when you seize by force. There's some confusion built into the moves, and since you can even word combats as two sides taking one-sided shots at the other alternatingly, I'm not so sure about the need for the distinction.
So I scrapped it.
Instead, the difference between my combat moves is that one of them is when you do things (maybe threats, maybe other dishonorable stuff like blackmail, maybe even lying could come up here) to get something out of them. Commit Open Violence is where you turn to when what you do is attack them openly and it is unmistakeably violent. You aren't using violence to get them to do what you want, you're using violence because it's time for them to die, or at least be incapacitated, knocking people out is also Committing Open Violence.
To illustrate with a borderline case, look at torture as interrogation. This is an openly violent act, possibly literally involving striking them, but your goal isn't to kill or incapacitate them but to get information, making it Speak Dishonorably.
Commit Open Violence: When you strike out violently with intent to kill or incapacitate, roll+Hot. On a 10+, deal your harm as the fiction would dictate. On a 7-9, you still strike them, but choose one from the list below:
     * They deal harm in return,
     * You inflict little harm,
     * You're left in a disadvantageous position, the MC imposes a Tag on you.
Most of the discussion for this is above. I'm still a bit weird about the balance on that last one, but I think the Tag is better than -1 Forward, it has narrative weight.
Stand Fast: When you act in reaction or under pressure, roll+Solid. On a 10+, you do it, no problem. On a 7-9, the GM will offer you a tough choice, hard bargain, or dangerous outcome.
You probably recognize this if you've been reading all the way til now: it's ApW's Act Under Fire, from my example of Roll Moves. It's a brilliant move and it comes back today as our "defense" move. This move is triggered when bad things happen to you or you try to do things that would bring bad things down on you if you messed it up. An early confusion was differentiation with this trigger and Move With Intention's trigger, so I'll reiterate now: this is reactive to the circumstances, MWI is proactive about setting up your own circumstances.
And as with the name for Speak Dishonorably, "Stand Fast" doesn't only refer to holding ground, it's a flavorful name for a broader concept.
Observe Carefully: When you observe something carefully, whether it be a person or a situation, roll+Keen. On a hit, ask questions from the list below. On a 10+, ask 3. On a 7-9, ask 1. When you act on the answers, take +1 forward.
     * What should I be watching for?
     * Who's in control here?
     * What's about to happen?
     * What do I need to do to be at an advantage here?
     * What here is not as it appears to be?
This is a move in a bit of flux. I'm really not sure about the questions, whether they cover everything I need or are completely necessary. Observe Carefully isn't much like ApW because it is a fusion of Read A Sitch and Read A Person and needs to be applicable to both scenes and interactions. In that way it's kinda like Discern Realities, but I don't think DR does what I'm looking for here.
Basically, while I'm satisfied enough to hold this until better ideas or playtests point out flaws, I'm absolutely positive that what comes out will not be exactly what you see here.
Move With Intention: When you move deliberately to gain a position of strength, roll+Fluid. On a 10+, pick 2. On a 7-9, pick 1.
      * Take +1 Forward on your next roll.
      * Deal +1 Harm Forward. (this is like +1 Forward, but increases harm rather than roll result)
      * Be treated as having 1-armor more the next time you take Harm.
      * Place a Tag on the target you have a position on.
      * Add an Environment Tag to the scene.
If used against another PC, you may also select the following option:
      * The target you have a position on needs to Stand Fast to act against you.
This does everything I want conceptually and hasn't quite done it for me mechanically. The ideas behind the mechanics are sound, but they're not interesting, they're a lot of +1s, and number shifts are among the more boring tools in my arsenal. However, it does the two things I really needed from it: it emulates have an advantage to future actions and setting things up (which is what MWI is all about), and it lets players throw tags on their enemies. That's the real key thing, I needed to give a way for players to actively enter the Tag mechanic and it's through this that I think it makes the most sense.
As a side note, I think this is the only basic move that's entirely of my own making, the rest are variations of existing ones (or, in the case of Stand Fast, nearly an exact clone).

Help/Hinder: When you help or hinder a fellow PC's roll, roll+Honor with that character. On a 10+, add +2 (if helping) or -1 (if hindering) to their roll. On a 7-9, same thing, but you get yourself in trouble in the process.
The latecomer to the party, this is very similar to other ApW helping moves, but has one main shift: helping adds a +2 instead of +1, while hindering takes away only 1 instead of 2. This is a cooperative game rather than a PvP focused one, and being helpful is more beneficial than messing people up.

If you read some of the earlier drafting posts, you'll find that  there was once the possibility of handling Bending / Magic as a basic move. That is no longer an aspect, and each of the four major elemental bendings are playbook moves.

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The Playbooks

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The playbooks are the next-most-important element to any Apocalypse-Powered game, representing the core archetypes that make up a genre. So let's just see what have!
The names of the playbooks are colored according to the stats they primarily use; for easy reference, green is Natural, red is Hot, yellow is Solid, white (light grey) is Keen, and black (dark grey) is Fluid.
The Airbender
The Airbender has mastery over the elemental forces of air. For you, drawing up large gusts, slicing blades of wind, or rampaging tornadoes are just part of your everyday life. Using circular motions and a penchant for swiftness, you can confuse and deceive your foes.
The Aristocrat
The Aristocrat is a person of high society, calm and careful, polite and civilized, scheming and manipulative. You can talk them out of their valuables and secure an alliance with them at the same time. Often the face of a group, little escapes your watchful eye.
The Earthbender
The Earthbender is an unwavering force, paying attention and waiting for the opportune moment to make their move. With deep stances and short, forceful motions, the ground buckles and warps at your command.
 The Firebender
The Firebender is all about control. Without your direction, your fire will spread and destroy everything in its path, but with the right focus you can channel it to your benefit. Life-giving heat and light are just as much your tools as the raging inferno.
The Monk 
The Monk is characterized by a sort of stoic stillness, a wisdom far surpassing your age and a rigorously trained body capable of far more than the average human. The very energy of the world flows through you.
The Ninja
The Ninja is a light and fast warrior, trained in the arts of stealth and speed. Your weaponry is bizarre and your skills change what it means to be in combat. Indeed, many of your talents border on the supernatural.
The Samurai
The Samurai is a both heavily armed and heavily armored. A noble soul dedicated to honorable combat and the upholding of your oaths, nothing can stop you on the open field of battle, and you remain a force to be reckoned with in the halls of high society.
The Scholar
The Scholar is intelligent and erudite, always prepared for whatever the situation throws your way. Whether you're applying your mind with clever solutions and inventions to solve your troubles or putting your acute senses to work, no problem can stand in the way of your mind.
The Waterbender
The Waterbender is the master of flowing water, constantly moving into a position of advantage. Excelling both in support of your friends and in harassing your enemies, you also have a wide array of other more specialized bending forms available to you.

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Sub-Playbooks

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Sub-playbooks are a  concept that has been explored a bit through the ApW fan community, but has yet to become a core part of a hack (that I can think of). The basic idea is that those members of certain playbooks who have achieved select milestones can be eligible for entry into a specific sub-set of skills, often far more specialized than the playbook as a whole.
The big use of these for me is for the "advanced bending forms" we see in Avatar. With the exception of a couple very common types of advanced bending (Lightning and Metal), these will be handled through sub-playbooks. Some examples would be Plantbending or Sandbending.

Sub-playbooks have a fairly standardized format.
Entry Condition: The requirement for joining. Some might just require membership in a specific playbook, others might have more narrative requirements.
Concept: What the sub-playbook is actually about.
Moves: The core of the sub-playbook. Really, a sub-playbook is basically a themed set of 3-4 moves revolving around the concept. Some might require you take a certain move first, others might allow you to take them in any order you please.
I should note that I'm intending to make a small number of "unofficial" sub-playbooks to go with the game that wouldn't be included in the final pdf. They'll be things directly and explicitly lifted from the show. I have a couple already sitting around here, for the Student of Piandao and the Kyoshi Warriors. Those sort of explicit organizations or categories of people are the sort of thing that are great to go into sub-playbooks. Sadly, with no license, I'm trying to avoid using words literally lifted from the show (with the obvious exceptions of Avatar and Bending).


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Tags and Chi

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So you've seen mention of Tags all throughout this page so far. Tags are one of the systems I'm adding that is not present in Apocalypse World, though it is heavily inspired by the Conditions system in Monsterhearts. Thankfully, I've already codified most of the information regarding tags in a previous post, which I shall reproduce here.

What is a tag?: Tags are narrative conditions placed on characters or environments describing some condition beyond the norm. There is no set list, and are written to describe specific situations. Specific tags and examples will be in italic text.

Where do tags come from?: Players can impose tags through their moves, primarily Move With Intention. The MC can apply them at their will, but really should only be applying them as a result of hard or soft moves - arbitrary infliction isn't very good at all.

So how do I use tags?: You can trigger tags by spending a point of  Chi.

...Chi?: Chi is a type of point or token held by players. You can get Chi by fulfilling certain conditions specific to the character and specified by the "Chi Keys" (truename pending) you chose at character creation or acquired afterward, as well as other minor circumstances such as fulfilling NPC oaths. You also gain Chi whenever you fail a roll.

Please explain Chi Keys further: Chi Keys are a mechanic jointly inspired by another Avatar hack and Keys from Lady Blackbird and The Shadow of Yesterday. Every playbook has a selection of these, only a few of which will be chosen by the player during character creation. The Chi Keys are phrases or words that indicate personalities or playstyles that would match up to the playbook in question. When you act significantly in line with one in a scene, you are awarded with a point of Chi. They are an additional way for me as the designer to sculpt players into acting in-line with the archetypes they've selected, without being so harsh as to enforce the One True Way of playing. As you progress, you can select an additional Chi Key using an Improvement.
On every list of Chi Keys, there will be a "Fill-in-the-blank" one, allowing you to customize your list a bit if you do not find the others to your liking.

But how do I get rid of tags?: Tags are removed when it is narratively appropriate. As of right now, there are no written moves that can remove tags wholesale. Some make sense to only last until they're acted upon (say you've given a foe the tag  unaware) while some tags may be harder to remove (say, plague-stricken).

How does the MC trigger tags?: The MC triggers tags in the same way as the players do! The MC is collecting Chi, just like the players.
So how does the MC get Chi?: The MC gets a point of Chi whenever a player rolls a highlighted stat. If you know ApW, you know what that is, otherwise just keep reading until I get to advancement. 
What happens when I trigger a tag? What happens when the MC triggers a tag?: Both are the same thing! The answer is "the player re-rolls." MCs can force a re-roll, or players can give themselves a second chance. When the player triggers a tag, they discard the point of Chi they used. When the MC triggers a tag, they don't discard the Chi, they give the point to the player they forced to re-roll.
Is there anything else I can do with my Chi?: Yes! While Tags are the main use of Chi, several playbook moves create new things you can do with Chi. Additionally, if you ever have 5 Chi, you may choose to spend all 5 of it at once to gain a single point of XP.

What is special about environment tags?: Two things. One: they're harder to place, it takes certain moves to make it work. Be generous with actions affecting the environment, or coming up with what tags are already there to begin with. Two: They can be triggered against anyone realistically affected by the tag.
I believe that's every standard question about Tags.

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Oaths and Honor

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All variants of ApW I've seen have included a sort of "social mechanism" between players as well as the standard social basic move (usually a variant of Seduce/Manipulate). The main ones that come to mind are ApW's own Hx, MH's Strings, DW's Bonds, and tremulus's Trust. My thing is Oaths and Honor.

The main big deal is that, as a player, you need to keep track of the oaths and promises your character makes. You can make a promise in three different directions: with another PC, with an NPC, and with yourself, and each of these has a different mechanical effect. Here's the brunt of the text, then I'll interject explanation. For this one I really recommend reading the individual post, it has a lot of good explaining and examples.
Whenever you make an oath, write it down and who it's with. When you fulfill or break the oath, something happens depending on who the oath was with (with PC; with NPC, with Yourself).
With PCs:
Under the Honor section of your sheet, list the other player characters' names and leave a spot next to them. During character creation you will assign values to each of these.
When you fulfill an oath: Increase your Honor with that character by 1. If it reaches +3, it cannot go any higher, but you may at any point opt to reduce a +3 score to +1. If you do so, mark XP.
When you break an oath: Decrease your Honor with that character by 1. If it reaches -3, it can go no lower. Unlike fulfillment, you're going to need to earn that trust back, no resetting back up.
With NPCs:
When you fulfill an oath: Take 1 Chi, and the NPC promises something in return (and takes the tag under oath until they make good).
When you break an oath: Roll+Natural. On a 10+, they're upset, but not too bad. On a 7-9, take -1 ongoing to dealings with them until you make it up to them.
If applicable, when you fulfill or break an oath with an NPC, choose 1 other PC who witnessed this. Take +1 (if you fulfilled) or -1 (if you broke) to your Honor with that character.
With Yourself: When you make an oath with yourself, write it at the top of your playbook. Promises to yourself are identity-building, not transitory like other oaths.
When you make significant progress upholding your oath: Gain 1 Chi.
When you fulfill your oath: Mark XP for each session in which you actively pursued fulfillment, up to a maximum of 5. Cross off the oath and replace it with a statement affirming what's been achieved. Write it in pen - this is a part of you now.
When you break or abandon your oath: Lose all Chi and take -1 ongoing until you make up for your failure or finally forgive yourself. Cross off the oath and replace it with a statement of your failure, but not in pen. Once you redeem or forgive yourself, revise that statement appropriately. That one's in pen.
It's a cop-out, but seriously, check out the post about Oaths and Honor if you want more information, I go into a decent amount of detail and I don't feel the need to re-tread. The main points I want to include here are that you should make sure that all Oaths are serious - they need to be heartfelt, or at least made with sincerity on the player's part, don't let players grind out oaths super easy. That said, be generous with what you allow. Also, take Oaths With Yourself seriously, they really should be character-altering ideas. In Monsterhearts, Joe describes a Season as 5 Advances plus 1 Session long, which evens out to about six or seven sessions total per season. That actually feels pretty true to the way this would work out - if you start with an Oath with yourself, after five sessions of hard work you cash it out for that fifth session's advance, and that triggers the next session as Season Finale, and that feels right on track.

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When You Train With A Master

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In Apocalypse World, there's a spot on every playbook for a character's "Special" move. The special move is a move that every character shares a trigger for, but depending on the playbook, the effect is different. In ApW, that trigger is "When you have sex with another character" or some minor variation thereof. Obviously, that doesn't quite fly in an Avatar game. But I like the idea of all of the playbooks having something they all do, and what I came up with is that every type of character in the genre can be driven by the desire to find a Master to train under. Heck, that was like 90% of Avatar Season 1 was hunting for masters for Aang and Katara, and Zuko trained constantly under Iroh that season as well.
So that's something you will see on every playbook, is some variant of the phrase "When you train with a master, x happens".
Almost every Master move also comes with an additional Chi Key to add to your list.

Aside from the trigger, the other main difference between ApW and AvW, other than the trigger, is permanency. Sex Moves made drama in the moment, Master Moves change the way your character does something, making you more effective in the long-term, as it would be if you trained under a Master. Of course, finding and getting trained by a master takes a lot of work compared to having sex with your co-workers, so it probably deserves a little bit more return-on-investment.

Oh, I should note: MCs? Think of what the others are gonna do while people train. Sokka's training by Piandao is a case study of how NOT to handle the rest of the PCs, who were vocally bored by sitting on the wayside (funny and entertaining in the show, dreadful for the PCs). Action doesn't stop for training PCs!

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Harm and Armor

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I said it earlier on, but I'm keeping the scale of numbers about the same as in Apocalypse World, and that includes how it relates to Harm. A character can take 6 harm of damage before death. Regular swords probably will deal between 2 and 3 harm, a full fire blast from a bender does about 3, a bullseye lightning shot can do 4.
Armor is based upon your playbook. Every playbook is classed as having No Armor, Light Armor, or Heavy Armor.

No Armor: The harm you take is unmodified.

Light Armor: Whenever you would take harm that your armor could reasonably absorb, reduce the harm done to you by 1.

Heavy Armor: Whenever you would take harm that your armor could shield from you, reduce the harm done to you by 2. While wearing this armor, you are continuously considered to have the Tag clumsy or some other negative tag related to the drawback of wearing the armor.

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Gear

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Nothing much to talk about here - I'm more or less staying the course from ApW. Gear is the stuff you have, described by name and then a number of descriptors that are hopefully rather self-explanatory. Some descriptors might include general ranges, harm amounts, or how many uses a thing has before it's expended.

Of special note, however, is barter. As in, there isn't any. I'm not tracking money in this game - some characters might get some, but having some jingle is just gear, not its own special thing. Traveling heroes in the source media are commonly broke, and that manages to advance the plot in its own way.

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Improvement

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At the beginning of every session, each player will ask the others which person has the highest honor with them. That person then chooses one of their stats to highlight. Once everyone has gone around, the MC goes around and chooses an additional stat to highlight on each character. This means that when the move is complete, every character will have two stats highlighted.
Whenever a character rolls a move that adds a highlighted stat, they mark experience. They can only mark experience with any given move once in a scene, though you can gain experience from different moves using the same stat.

Whenever a character reaches five experience, they advance. This means they immediately get to select one of the options off of the Improvement list on their playbook and do what it says, permanently improving their character.

The standard Improvement list includes ways to increase Stats, select additional playbook moves, select moves from other playbooks, and a way to gain a new Chi Key. Other, more specialized, improvement options also exist, but these are the standard ones.

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Links

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Anyway, for the time being I want to get this page out into the public. I think there's been a bit of an illusion that I've halted some work on this, and I haven't, this is just a ton to type! So now I'm just going to leave this with a list of links to the existing AvW posts. Future page updates will likely include specific compilations of the Playbook work I've already done. I'm considering branching out into another site to compile this stuff all together, or even just another blog set up to organize it all together or something. We'll see.
In chronological order:
And possibly the most important link:
Seriously, come join and help me out some! I could really use it!

I think that's it for now. I'm gonna add a Table of Contents with some page jumps to help out with this sprawling behemoth of a page, but I just want to get this out right now.
End Recording,
Ego.

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