Having a Wicked time in Oz

File under: You Knew This Was Coming Sooner or Later

Ever since I was little, I mean really little, I have enjoyed "The Wizard of Oz".  I can recall being about 4 or so and being frightened of the flying monkeys, the Winkies and of course the Wicked Witch.  I also remember we had this old copy of the Wizard of Oz book in the house and I remembered how different it was than the movie.

Oz is a fascinating place really, and I was amazed the first time I learned how much of it was there beyond Dorothy and her friends. I learned about names like Mombi and Ozma.
I will admit I have always wanted to put a "pumpkin head" in my games largely in part due to "Journey Back to Oz".  In my WitchCraft games we also used to call witch hunters "Dorothies".

So I was thrilled when I heard of Douglas Wall's Adventures in Oz RPG.
http://fdouglaswall.blogspot.com/  and
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/575175333/adventures-in-oz-beyond-the-deadly-desert
It is, like the literary Oz, a great game for the younger set. The rules are fast, simple to learn and you can be up and playing in no time at all.
They game is also really, really fun. If you never play it, the book offers a good resource to using Oz in your own games.

I think Oz is a bit under rated to be honest.  It's not the drug referenced lands of Alice or even the purely fantasy of Peter Pan, it is, in a way, pragmatically American.  But it is fertile land as well. It gave us "The Wiz" and "Tin Man" and of course, "Wicked".

I never saw Wicked on stage, despite living in Chicago.  I did read the book and enjoyed it.  The world of Wicked is not exactly the same as that of Oz.  The names and places are familiar, but there is some differences.  Most notable is the character of Elphaba.

Elphaba is the Wicked Witch of West.  Though here she is a smart, green skinned young woman with a talent for sorcery and getting into trouble.  In the musical (and in the book) she is friends with Glinda (the good Witch) and learns that the Wizard is nothing more than a fake.

She fights against the Wizard, and for animal rights. Falls in love. Creates the Scarecrow and Tin Woodsman. Plus she is the protector of her younger sister Nessarose, aka the Wicked Witch of the East.

The main feature of the musical (and the book to a lesser extent) is the close friendship that Glinda and Elphaba have.  After all, check out those posters for the musical.

Running a game in a "Wicked" version of Oz is not that difficult. It just takes a bit creativity on the Narrator's part.

Elphaba
Template: Sorcerer

Basic Skills
Athletics: 1
Awareness: 4
Brains: 5
Presence: 3
Sneaking: 2
Wits: 4

Traits: Sorcery, Magical Toolkit, Yookoohoo Magic

Elphaba also possesses the Grimmerie, the most powerful book of magic in all of Oz.  She can cast any known spells and only Glinda is her equal in magic.  She also made a pair of Ruby Slippers for her sister to help her walk (takes the place of the Silver Slippers of the game and novels).

In musical Elphaba is the daughter of the Wizard, so she is both of Oz and Earth. Despite rumor to the contrary she has no particular dislike of water.

Playing in this world the characters could encounter Elphaba since after her supposed murder she found a life outside of Oz.  Maybe even in the desert.

If you want more Oz goodness then check out Doug's Kickstarter for his next Oz book, http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/575175333/adventures-in-oz-beyond-the-deadly-desert

Horror is everywhere

I have recently seen some posts on how to do horror games.  Inevitably someone posts something like "You can't do Horror with XXXX system."

To which I always mentally add "Maybe YOU can't, but the rest of us have."
Horror is about tone. It is about style. The system can support it, even add to it.  Think about the game Dread and it's Jenga block mechanic or Call of Cthulhu and it's sanity system. Those are system supported horror.  But can you do horror with say Toon or d20?  Yes. But expect it to be a little different.

In d20 systems the characters will have more power as the level up.  You could take the cheap path and up the baddies too, but that isn't horror really.  You need to get them where their fears live.  Even the most powerful character will find themselves in a situation they can't control or even properly understand.  Lovecraft said it best, the greatest fear is the fear of the unknown.  So keep players in the dark.  The powers they have are not the ones they need.  Modern supernatural books do a good job of this.  When solving a problem Harry or Rachel have all the magic they need, but what they don't have are answers. They have allies, they don't have knowledge of who or what their enemy is.

What about Toon?  Well if a picture is worth a 1,000 words then here are 100 score words to illustrate my point.

Toon:

Toon + Horror:

Artist here: http://sideshowmonkey.deviantart.com/art/CASPER-ISSUE-41-by-Hartman-191809383
Yes that is the same Hartman who did animation for Rob Zombie.  So Wendy here is cut from the same cloth as The American Witch.

I'll keep talking about how you can do horror in future posts.

Jeff Dee kickstarter

Jeff Dee has new Kickstarter project to recreate all his old Egyptian gods art from the original Deities and Demigods (one of my favorite books).

I guess at some point TSR threw out all the art he did. So he is not only redoing them, but also doing some new ones for gods not pictured.

You can read more and donate some money here:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jeffdee/re-creating-my-egyptian-art-from-deities-and-demig

I have supported other Kickstarters in the past and would love to support this one too.

Zatannurday: Zee with ink?

The new cover for Justice League Dark #5 is out now.

Is it me or does Zee look like she has a tattoo on her right arm?

Hard to say at this point.

Heroes of the Feywild: first look

I got my copy of Heroes of the Feywild today.

I skipped right ahead to the witch and her associated paragon paths and epic destiny.

So far??

I LIKE IT.

No really, I do.  The witch is really cool.
I can't wait to roll up a new witch character and compare her not only the 4e warlock and the Pathfinder witch.

I will be honest here.  I like this witch much, much more than the Pathfinder one, but I'll no more soon.

Details later.

Ghosts of Albion. In print!!

Posted by Eden's Zombie Lord, George Vasilakos.

Ghosts of Albion. In Print!!!

To say I am excited is a major understatement!!

No idea when it will hit your shelves, but it is coming!

Well...it's not YDIS

But I got called out anyway.

http://misstress-of-doom.blogspot.com/2011/10/it-only-gets-better.html

Out of the Closet blog. That made me laugh.

Mistress of Doom doesn't quite have the same level of gravitas as YDIS.  But give her time and I am sure she will end up pissing someone off just the right way to get some attention.

Until then I'll give her some free clicks.  What the hell.

Now if I can only remember where I left my flash-drive with my 10,000 page massive Willow/Tara and Xena/Gabrielle crossover epic.  Maybe it is in that jar she mentions.