Thursday, February 16, 2012
Just A Quick One Today
I just have a moment today as I'm finishing packing and other arrangements for DunDraCon this year. More news later.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Landing in Oz
Once you've decided to start an AiO campaign. the question then becomes "How to begin?" Do you want the characters to be new arrivals in Oz? Natives? Some combination of the two? Canon characters? New creations?
A "new arrivals" game has a number of advantages. First of all, it doesn't require the players or the characters to know much about the setting before play begins. Also, it puts the players in something very similar to Dorothy's (silver) shoes, allowing them to connect to the setting that way.
While everyone is familiar with the tornado that swept Dorothy to Oz, it's not the only way to get there. Shipwreck is actually the most common way to arrive in Oz (though Oz is surrounded by desert and has no shoreline, there are a number of fairy countries surrounding Oz that can be used for adventures).
If your players are a bit more familiar with the setting or simply enjoy testing the flexibility of the character creation rules by coming up with wacky characters, a natives campaign is also totally doable. Wandering adventurers like our friend Woot are also out touring the land of Oz, so it's no stretch at all to accommodate your group of traveling adventurers.
Another question to resolve is: How did all of the characters meet and become friends? Are they outsiders who all traveled to Oz in the same incident (like in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz or The Road to Oz)? Or is one character an outsider who makes friends as they explore the land (like in The Wizard of Oz)? Or are they all natives that are all on the same quest (like in The Patchwork Girl of Oz or The Tin Woodman of Oz)? Do your players want to play out the process of meeting, or assume that the adventure proper begins after the characters have already met?
A "new arrivals" game has a number of advantages. First of all, it doesn't require the players or the characters to know much about the setting before play begins. Also, it puts the players in something very similar to Dorothy's (silver) shoes, allowing them to connect to the setting that way.
While everyone is familiar with the tornado that swept Dorothy to Oz, it's not the only way to get there. Shipwreck is actually the most common way to arrive in Oz (though Oz is surrounded by desert and has no shoreline, there are a number of fairy countries surrounding Oz that can be used for adventures).
If your players are a bit more familiar with the setting or simply enjoy testing the flexibility of the character creation rules by coming up with wacky characters, a natives campaign is also totally doable. Wandering adventurers like our friend Woot are also out touring the land of Oz, so it's no stretch at all to accommodate your group of traveling adventurers.
Another question to resolve is: How did all of the characters meet and become friends? Are they outsiders who all traveled to Oz in the same incident (like in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz or The Road to Oz)? Or is one character an outsider who makes friends as they explore the land (like in The Wizard of Oz)? Or are they all natives that are all on the same quest (like in The Patchwork Girl of Oz or The Tin Woodman of Oz)? Do your players want to play out the process of meeting, or assume that the adventure proper begins after the characters have already met?
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Cast an Ozzy Spell: Whooo's Your Tin Woodman?
I know this is late. Sorry, guys.
Now that I've laid down some guidelines on Transmutation effects, let's see them in action. One of the many Transmutations that we see Mrs. Yoop do in The Tin Woodman of Oz is turning the Tin Woodman himself into a Tin Owl. If this were nearly any other character, this would be a Transformation using those rules. But since the Tin Woodman is made of tin rather than flesh and bone, this spell is considered a Transmutation.
This involves a change to both Form (he now looks like an owl) and Function (he can actually fly like an owl, too), so 2 points of Power there. He also takes a reduction in Size, but his Substance (tin) remains the same throughout. So altogether, it's a Power 3 effect.
Power: Transmutation, Tin Woodman to Tin Owl (3)
Scope: Person/Object (1)
Ritual: Simple (-1)
Duration: Permanent (2)
Effect Power: 5
A pretty powerful spell, really. Mrs. Yoop must have some Oz Points hiding somewhere in order to pull that one off.
Now that I've laid down some guidelines on Transmutation effects, let's see them in action. One of the many Transmutations that we see Mrs. Yoop do in The Tin Woodman of Oz is turning the Tin Woodman himself into a Tin Owl. If this were nearly any other character, this would be a Transformation using those rules. But since the Tin Woodman is made of tin rather than flesh and bone, this spell is considered a Transmutation.
This involves a change to both Form (he now looks like an owl) and Function (he can actually fly like an owl, too), so 2 points of Power there. He also takes a reduction in Size, but his Substance (tin) remains the same throughout. So altogether, it's a Power 3 effect.
Power: Transmutation, Tin Woodman to Tin Owl (3)
Scope: Person/Object (1)
Ritual: Simple (-1)
Duration: Permanent (2)
Effect Power: 5
A pretty powerful spell, really. Mrs. Yoop must have some Oz Points hiding somewhere in order to pull that one off.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Oz Is Not A Cookie-Cutter Land
(Except for Utensia, but I digress)
I recently discovered that an adaptation of L. Frank Baum's Scarecrow of Oz was in the works by the same studio that has previously done a Tin Woodman of Oz film. (I gave it a pretty big thumbs down)
The original story was clever in many ways, mostly by subverting romantic tropes. Although the Tin Woodman and the Tin Soldier are rivals for the affection of Nimmie Amee, neither of them really loves her. You see, now that they're tin, their hearts are not as capable of properly loving her (The Tin Woodman got a heart from the Wizard, but it was a kind heart rather than a loving heart. The Tin Soldier got a tin heart from the tinsmith, but it was cold and hard.). When they finally find her, they discover that she is married to an unusual man named Chopfyt who is actually made of their original meat parts (You know, the bits that got cut off and had to be replaced with tin). So, in a sense, neither of them wound up marrying Nimmie Amee and yet both of them did.
The movie adaptation revises the story so that the love story is played straight. The Tin Soldier is gone, though Nimmie Amee is still married to Chopfyt. But this happens early in the film, rather than at the climax. Instead, the Tin Woodman meets a Tin Girl (who happens to be a tin replica of Nimmee Amee) and falls in love with her over the course of their adventures.
Even though Baum wrote 14 books in the Oz series (and a number of other books as well), he never reverted to formula. Even when he was repeating himself, he never truly repeated himself. For example, Tik-Tok of Oz was an adaptation of his musical extravaganza The Tik-Tok Man of Oz (itself an adaptation of early Oz novel Ozma of Oz) . While each of those stories shared the same basic narrative, the details quickly became radically different.
So when you're preparing for your next Oz adventure, don't worry so much about the "supposed to"s. Baum didn't.
I recently discovered that an adaptation of L. Frank Baum's Scarecrow of Oz was in the works by the same studio that has previously done a Tin Woodman of Oz film. (I gave it a pretty big thumbs down)
The original story was clever in many ways, mostly by subverting romantic tropes. Although the Tin Woodman and the Tin Soldier are rivals for the affection of Nimmie Amee, neither of them really loves her. You see, now that they're tin, their hearts are not as capable of properly loving her (The Tin Woodman got a heart from the Wizard, but it was a kind heart rather than a loving heart. The Tin Soldier got a tin heart from the tinsmith, but it was cold and hard.). When they finally find her, they discover that she is married to an unusual man named Chopfyt who is actually made of their original meat parts (You know, the bits that got cut off and had to be replaced with tin). So, in a sense, neither of them wound up marrying Nimmie Amee and yet both of them did.
The movie adaptation revises the story so that the love story is played straight. The Tin Soldier is gone, though Nimmie Amee is still married to Chopfyt. But this happens early in the film, rather than at the climax. Instead, the Tin Woodman meets a Tin Girl (who happens to be a tin replica of Nimmee Amee) and falls in love with her over the course of their adventures.
Even though Baum wrote 14 books in the Oz series (and a number of other books as well), he never reverted to formula. Even when he was repeating himself, he never truly repeated himself. For example, Tik-Tok of Oz was an adaptation of his musical extravaganza The Tik-Tok Man of Oz (itself an adaptation of early Oz novel Ozma of Oz) . While each of those stories shared the same basic narrative, the details quickly became radically different.
So when you're preparing for your next Oz adventure, don't worry so much about the "supposed to"s. Baum didn't.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Laying It Out
The visual impact of a game book is very nearly as important as the words in it. Illustrations are part of that, but another aspect is the layout of the book. For Adventures in Oz: Fantasy Roleplaying Beyond the Yellow Brick Road, I went for 2 separate layouts.
The print version of the book is laid out to measure 6 x 9 inches, a nice compact size that can fit on the shelf with your other Oz books, or game books.
But as I contemplated the digital release of my book, I realized that this layout was not quite right. While it can look fine on a screen, there are those PDF buyers who want to print the book out, either in whole or in part. And it's current layout would waste a lot of paper. So the PDF layout would have to be 8 1/2 x 11.
One of the problems with most game books in PDF is that they use a standard 2-column layout. Once you've zoomed in to the point where you can read it comfortably on a screen, your reading process is something like this: Read, scroll down, read more, scroll right, scroll up, read, scroll down, read more. A lot of scrolling, right? So I decided that I would throw that methodology out on its head. Or, more accurately, its side.
(Typical gaming PDF. Specifically the Advanced Player's Guide for the Pathfinder RPG by Paizo Publishing)
(Adventures in Oz: Fantasy Roleplaying Beyond the Yellow Brick Road PDF layout)
By turning the page on its side, it's much easier to read. Once you've finished one column of text, simply scroll to the right and read the next column. While you might have to do some scaling to get this to work on your tablet, it is far less scaling than would be required of your typical gaming PDF.
So why not support gaming PDFs that are designed for the way you actually read them? And don't forget, you can also get AiO in EPUB format, a specialized format that dynamically lays itself out for optimum viewing, no matter what you're using to read it.
The print version of the book is laid out to measure 6 x 9 inches, a nice compact size that can fit on the shelf with your other Oz books, or game books.
But as I contemplated the digital release of my book, I realized that this layout was not quite right. While it can look fine on a screen, there are those PDF buyers who want to print the book out, either in whole or in part. And it's current layout would waste a lot of paper. So the PDF layout would have to be 8 1/2 x 11.
One of the problems with most game books in PDF is that they use a standard 2-column layout. Once you've zoomed in to the point where you can read it comfortably on a screen, your reading process is something like this: Read, scroll down, read more, scroll right, scroll up, read, scroll down, read more. A lot of scrolling, right? So I decided that I would throw that methodology out on its head. Or, more accurately, its side.
(Typical gaming PDF. Specifically the Advanced Player's Guide for the Pathfinder RPG by Paizo Publishing)
(Adventures in Oz: Fantasy Roleplaying Beyond the Yellow Brick Road PDF layout)By turning the page on its side, it's much easier to read. Once you've finished one column of text, simply scroll to the right and read the next column. While you might have to do some scaling to get this to work on your tablet, it is far less scaling than would be required of your typical gaming PDF.
So why not support gaming PDFs that are designed for the way you actually read them? And don't forget, you can also get AiO in EPUB format, a specialized format that dynamically lays itself out for optimum viewing, no matter what you're using to read it.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
5e Doesn't Have To Suck
As new developments are announced for the latest edition of Dungeons & Dragons, there is a seemingly inevitable litany of complaints.
This time, it's about the announcement that the modularity of the ruleset would allow players at the same table to use different character sheets and maybe even different rules. The more I think on it, though, the more I realize that it's not a terrible idea.
Let's say that the Basic Set for D&D 5e includes the basic combat system (truly the core of any version of D&D), basic classes, and a basic skill system (maybe only a few dungeon-specific skills that advance automatically by level, as in 4e).
Then the Advanced Set introduces feats for each class (Basic Set might have only included a few feats, or gone back to something like Weapon Proficiencies and thus feats are a supplement, not necessarily a replacement, for that), maybe some more classes built around ideas in the advanced combat rules, and the skill advancement is broken down into 3e-ish skill points for finer customization.
There's really nothing keeping an Advanced Character and a Basic character from sitting side by side. The Basic character may be proficient in 5 weapons and have a static value in their skills, while the Advanced character has spent his 5 proficiency slots being that much better with his longsword (maybe picking up a few tricks) and might have fewer points in each skill, but have points in more skills.
The only real challenge here seems to be the implementation of prestige classes (or whatever they decide to call them). For much of their existence, prestige classes bribed players to take them by offering significant power boosts when compared to a base-class character. But since Basic (no p-class) and Advanced (p-class allowed) characters would have to balance against each other, this sort of thing really can't happen.
There even seems to be hints of a 3rd set for activities "beyond the dungeon." with rules for social influence and kingdom building a la Birthright.
The real sticking point here (and I think it's valid as well) is that the pitch they have provided seems geared towards letting players decide the complexity of the rules used at the table, instead of the Dungeon Master. And since the DM is the one making the rulings on the events at the table, I think letting them make the decision as to what rules are going to be used in those rulings is perfectly fair.
This time, it's about the announcement that the modularity of the ruleset would allow players at the same table to use different character sheets and maybe even different rules. The more I think on it, though, the more I realize that it's not a terrible idea.
Let's say that the Basic Set for D&D 5e includes the basic combat system (truly the core of any version of D&D), basic classes, and a basic skill system (maybe only a few dungeon-specific skills that advance automatically by level, as in 4e).
Then the Advanced Set introduces feats for each class (Basic Set might have only included a few feats, or gone back to something like Weapon Proficiencies and thus feats are a supplement, not necessarily a replacement, for that), maybe some more classes built around ideas in the advanced combat rules, and the skill advancement is broken down into 3e-ish skill points for finer customization.
There's really nothing keeping an Advanced Character and a Basic character from sitting side by side. The Basic character may be proficient in 5 weapons and have a static value in their skills, while the Advanced character has spent his 5 proficiency slots being that much better with his longsword (maybe picking up a few tricks) and might have fewer points in each skill, but have points in more skills.
The only real challenge here seems to be the implementation of prestige classes (or whatever they decide to call them). For much of their existence, prestige classes bribed players to take them by offering significant power boosts when compared to a base-class character. But since Basic (no p-class) and Advanced (p-class allowed) characters would have to balance against each other, this sort of thing really can't happen.
There even seems to be hints of a 3rd set for activities "beyond the dungeon." with rules for social influence and kingdom building a la Birthright.
The real sticking point here (and I think it's valid as well) is that the pitch they have provided seems geared towards letting players decide the complexity of the rules used at the table, instead of the Dungeon Master. And since the DM is the one making the rulings on the events at the table, I think letting them make the decision as to what rules are going to be used in those rulings is perfectly fair.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Adventures in Oz goes Atomic!
That's right, folks. The wonderful guys over at the Atomic Array have finally managed to make my deranged ramblings sound coherent. We talk about The Wizard of Oz, in movie and book form and how that all fits into a game.
Check it out!
Check it out!
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