Bad News and Good News

As I'm sure you've guessed, the times I'm able to get into the zone for proper blogging have been few and far between lately. Aside from obvious reasons that I'll get into in a moment, what is motivating me to write today is anger.

You see, earlier this week, I discovered that a friend of mine had died. Not only that, but she had died about a month ago. It was a sudden illness, so there was no sign of anything out of the ordinary last time I saw her. But that was some time ago. Longer than I care to admit, actually. She was a good person and actually pretty cool to game with. She just had a big personality that I could only really handle in limited doses. So there's a bit of guilt in with all the grieving, too.

So where does the anger come from? Well, when her old roommate came by to give me the news, I verified by checking the obituaries on the local paper's website. I found a brief notification of her death, but no mention of services or surviving family or any of that business. And that set me off. The thought that nobody cared enough to write the obituary or hold a service has really bugged me.

I later found out that she would get a memorial service next month. 2 months after her death. While I'm glad she'll have gotten some sort of memorial, the delay feels unconscionable to me.

This is relevant to this blog not only because she was a personal friend of mine, but also a gamer and an Oz fan. Regretfully, the period in which I was initially developing AiO was a time where I was taking a bit of a hiatus from her. I did give her a copy of the finished product, though.


So with all this anger at my more or less forgotten friend, I decided to take that energy and make a rare leap forward.

I know I teased the notion of a magic supplement, giving some more depth to the magic rules for AiO called The Wizard's Magic Bag. And that teasing went unfulfilled. Behind the scenes, the product was done, complete with interior art and layout. But I still needed cover art. I was in talks with one of my artists to do the cover, but that fell through the cracks like so much else has done lately.

So I decided to kitbash a cover for this product and release it, not only to get my own rear in gear, but as something of a memorial to my friend. This one's for you, Meghan.

The Wizard's Magic Bag, now available!

Also, since it is L. Frank Baum's birthday today, the Royal Podcast of Oz did another full-cast reading of one of the Little Wizard Stories. This year, it was "The Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman," featuring me as the Tin Woodman!

Give it a listen!

Make Mine Gameable!

I may have gotten a late start, but I seem to have caught the podcast listening bug.

First there was Welcome to Night Vale. Then came Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff. And now I bring you the latest in my playlist:

The Gameable Podcast!

It started life as the Gameable Disney Podcast, examining the Disney animated films for gaming inspiration. They would occasionally look at other works outside this narrow purview in their "bonus episodes," like the live action/animation hybrid Mary Poppins or the live action but cartoony Herbie the Love Bug films.

But it seems to have fulfilled its original mandate and has expanded its reach to the computer animated Pixar films. I'm still playing catchup (I'm currently on their Hunchback of Notre Dame episode), but I'm looking forward to seeing what they continue to come up with.

The typical episode gives a plot synopsis with occasional gaming asides, followed by I'd Play That (Each of the hosts picks a character from the story that they want to play. This can be a protagonist, but is as likely to be a side character with room to grow, or sometimes even a villain). Then comes Un-Disney-fication, a discussion of how to remove the kid-friendly elements from the story and make it more robust as a setting usable for multiple stories. After a discussion of the music of the movie, with each host picking a favorite and least favorite song, they move on to the Final Verdict: Does the movie provide a setting or story that you can easily present to your players?

As of Episode 31 (The Lion King) they make system recommendations as part of the Final Verdict. They had made reference to systems previously, including taking the "Mary Poppins is a Time Lord" to the logical conclusion of filling out character sheets for Mary Poppins and Bert the Chimney Sweep using the latest Doctor Who RPG, but it was never a regular feature or a terribly strong recommendation until this point. Needless to sat, I was very jazzed that Adventures in Oz: Fantasy Roleplaying Beyond the Yellow Brick Road was one of the system recommendation in Episode 32 (Pocahontas) due to its relationship mechanics.

DISCLOSURE: This podcast is hosted by Kris Newton, who is a very creative person who I used to game with some years ago. He wrote The Jaded City of Oz sample adventure for Adventures in Oz: Fantasy Roleplaying Beyond the Yellow Brick Road. I regrettably lost touch with him some time back, but I'm glad that there is still a way to bask in his gaming genius.

RPGaDay 2015 #13 Favorite RPG Podcast

Up until a couple months ago, I would not have been able to answer this question. Maybe I'm just old and having a hard time integrating fancy new technology into my life. I've had MP3 players, but I've typically used them to listen to music. It wasn't until my MP3 player decided to play only on one earpiece that I was prompted to change. I refuse to listen to stereo music unless it's in stereo.

My first podcast was Welcome to Night Vale (awesome, by the way). Not really a gaming podcast, but the story isn't over yet. You see, although there are a goodly number of episodes on that podcast, and it's not topical, dated content, having even that much content on repeat was getting a little tedious. (Don't let that put you off if you haven't listened to it yet.)

So I went looking for another podcast. And I figured that it should be a gaming podcast, with me being a gamer and all. I knew that Ken Hite, being the awesome guy that he is, had a podcast with fellow awesome game designer Robin D. Laws, but I hadn't really given it much thought. But now looked like the perfect time.

And it is indeed glorious.

Letting It All Hang Out

Well, I just got done with my first Google+ Hangout. Pete Figtree and I had a lot of fun talking about the magic rules and a lot of other parts of how AiO works. If you missed out on the fun as it was happening, you can see it here:

Part 2 of the Party

I just wanted to announce that Part 2 of the Ruthless Diastema Podcast series on Adventures in Oz: Fantasy Roleplaying Beyond the Yellow Brick Road is live over on Geeky & Genki. This one gives a basic rundown of the rules of the game. If you missed Part 1 from last Friday, it's here.

In other news, I have been invited to participate in a Google+ Hangout to discuss the intricacies of AiO's magic rules on May 13th. And if you aren't able to attend, it will be recorded and posted for later consumption.

It's been suggested that I get deeper in to this whole social media thing to try and promote the game. I've already got a fan page on Facebook and a small presence on Google+. I'm reluctant to join Twitter out of fear that I'll wind up posting a steady stream of inanities like everyone else there.

What do you think? Where do you get your social media buzz?

A Few Minor Notices

This last week, we have lost 2 actors with Oz connections.

Annette Funicello, while famous for a number of reasons, was cast as Princess Ozma in a proposed Disney Oz film entitled The Rainbow Road to Oz, that unfortunately was never produced. (Jared Davis at the Royal Blog of Oz has more on that, including footage of Annette and the other Mouseketeers in costume as various Oz characters singing some of the songs from the proposed film).

Today, we lost Jonathan Winters, a brilliant comedian and actor, who appeared on The Shirley Temple Show in an adaptation of L. Frank Baum's The Marvelous Land of Oz as Lord Nikidik.

On a brighter note, Pete Figtree at the Ruthless Diastema blogcast has begun a multipart series on Adventures in Oz: Fantasy Roleplaying Beyond the Yellow Brick Road. I don't know how many parts he's planning on, but part 1 went up today!

Talking About Oz

Here's a little podcast released by the wonderful folks at PulpGamer.com that lets me and a couple other gamers geek out about Oz.

If you're checking out the blog in response to that podcast, here are a few items of interest:

First of all, over on the right you'll find links to all of the places you can purchase Adventures in Oz: Fantasy Roleplaying Beyond the Yellow Brick Road. RPGNow and DrivethruRPG also offer AiO in print via their POD service.

This blog entry contains links to reviews of Adventures in Oz, and this one is a FAQ about the game that I compiled some time ago. If you come up with new questions for me to answer, feel free to ask by commenting on this post, that post, or via email at adventuresinoz@thegame.com

If you want some idea of the variety in the Oz stories, and the simple flexibility that the AiO system provides, check out the Oz characters and magic items that I've written up for the blog.

Finally, I do have an actual website over at www.adventuresinoz-rpg.com that has printable Oz maps and character sheets for your downloading and printing pleasure.

2010: The Year That Was

Now that Christmas is past, it's time to start looking back on the previous year and looking ahead to next year. This post is going to be focusing on 2010, while next week's post will be my resolutions for 2011.

Unlike previous years, there are two categories of achievements: Those for the blog and those for the game itself.

The most popular blog entry this year (based on Google Analytics data) is How I Spent My Winter Vacation, my blog recounting my experiences at DunDraCon. Among the number of photos I snapped that weekend, I managed to snag a picture of a minor celebrity (other than Ken Hite). It turns out that this is not just any girl in a chainmail bikini, but is in fact the geek superstar Chainmail Girl. My fiancee, however, insists that she's the prettiest girl in that blog post. I'm inclined to agree.

The most actively commented blog for this year was Adventures in Oz Now Available! in which I announce the availability of the print version of the game.

My favorite blog post of this year has got to be Firing Characters (Out Of A Canon!). For one thing, I think the title was a pretty good joke. Plus the comments really got me thinking about the difference between tabletop gamers and what I called "fanfic roleplayers." I haven't drawn any conclusions yet, but some definite food for thought.

This was also the year I actually put out a podcast. I definitely enjoyed the experience and would like to do it again. I'm currently on the lookout for anyone or anything to talk about. If there's something you'd like to see covered in the blog or as a podcast, drop me a line at adventuresinoz (at) thegame (dot) com.

Now for the accomplishments of the book.

It looks like I'm closing out the year with 108 sales, with slightly over half of them being from the PDF market. But that's not whole picture. That only represents the people who paid me money for the game. About 30 print copies of the game have gone out to playtesters, artists and reviewers to get some goodwill and press for AiO.

And then there was the Doctors Without Borders fundraiser put on by OneBookShelf. Not only did a lot of money get raised to help flood victims in Pakistan, but around 2500 people downloaded Adventures in Oz: Fantasy Roleplaying Beyond the Yellow Brick Road. To a certain extent, this was a good thing. While the fundraiser was going on, print sales over at Lulu surged (for a given value of "surged") and I got a nice little bit of good press. I am particularly proud of this review, not only because he gave me 5 out of 5 stars, but because he's someone whose books I own. Jason Levine is the author of GURPS Psionic Powers and the Assistant GURPS Line Editor over at Steve Jackson Games.

If You Thought Star Wars: Episode 1 Was Bad...

...well, I'm right there with you on that one.

On a completely different subject, I have completed my first podcast. The Adventures in Oz Podcast Episode 1 is now available!

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MP3

While I had wanted to do a podcast for some time, getting it together proved to be something of a challenge. For one thing, I wanted a co-host, or at least someone to talk to. I find podcasts more fun to listen to if it's not just one voice, especially if there's a little banter and crosstalk going on. But it never really presented itself. Sure, I could have asked someone, but where's the fun in that?

I was nearly giving up when the whole Oz: Dark and Terrible thing came up. Having managed to get my hands on a copy (I actually traded someone a copy of AiO for it), I decided that my review of it would be long enough that it would probably be boring to read, but probably a good length for a podcast.

So once I had everything written and recorded, then began the arduous process of editing. I had no idea I was such a Shatner. So many pauses! Thankfully, I was able to trim them out and shave about 10 minutes off of the recording time.

Just a little commercial here: The Big 25 Sale is still going on at RPGNow, DriveThruRPG, and Lulu.com. On top of that, Lulu is offering coupon codes out the wazoo this holiday season. Until December 14, you can get free ground shipping with the coupon code HOLIDAY305. And they're also giving out a new coupon code every day until Christmas here. And remember, these coupon codes are cumulative (not sure exactly how, but they are) with the Big 25 discount of 25% off.

The Big 25 sale is ongoing through Christmas Day, so if your favorite Oz fan or gamer gets forgotten by Santa, it's easy to fix. Just check out one of the participating sites and order the instant gratification download and start playing the sample adventure, "The Jaded City of Oz."

A Few Random Things

I actually had a pretty cool blog post in mind for this week, but never found the time to write it.

So I'll start by wishing Happy Birthday to fellow Oz blogger Jared Davis. I don't know how old he is, and I'm enough of a gentleman not to ask.

And now I direct your attention to the Daily Ozmapolitan, where the intrepid Blair Frodelius has posted an interview with yours truly. For those of you who would rather listen, here's a blast from the past: Jared's Royal Podcast of Oz from September of last year, where he interviewed me on the same topic.

Last, but certainly not least, don't forget that this Saturday is Free RPG Day. Check the site to see if a retailer near you is participating this year. If not, you know what to do: "I want my Free RPG!"

Happy Father's Day this Sunday.

Blog 100!

Not only is this my last post of 2009, it is also my 100th blog posting!

Let's take a quick look back at the blog

Most popular post: The Indie Jones. I guess people like my take on indie RPGs. Not many seem to disagree with me, as that post still has no comments. Which leads me to my next milestone,

Most commented post: This is actually sort of a tie. The most commented post of 2008, my first year of blogging, was The Future Will Be Interactive! with 8 total comments. The most commented post of 2009 was Goodbye and Hello, also with 8 comments.

Now for New Year's Resolutions:

Publish something, for Pete's sake!: This is in progress. Just a few more hurdles await me. Mostly regarding getting art commissioned and paid for. Also, I'm confident enough that I should be able to publish two things this year. I'll be honest and say that I don't know what they are, but one of them will be Adventures in Oz.

I have entered an RPG design contest put on by Simian Circle Games. It will be something of an Iron Chef contest, in that I must design something during the contest that utilizes certain special ingredients. If you're interested in seeing how this game develops, I'll be posting updates here.

Get the word out!: I will be attending DunDraCon this year, and have volunteered to run a new Oz adventure "The Jaded City of Oz." This was written by my friend Kris and will be showing up in the AiO rulebook as a sample adventure. I would love to be able to attend Winkie '10, but at the moment, I don't think I can afford two conventions that close to one another. I do want to try for '11, though.

Podcast!: After Jared's interview and the Christmas podcast, I discovered that podcasting is something else that sounds intimidating, but really isn't that hard to do. My only challenge is coming up with fun things to say. Wish me luck!

I has a podcast, part 2!

This one doesn't have me in it, but they do take some time talking about Adventures in Oz. Thank you to Jason Corley, who has been one of my playtesters.

I has a podcast!

Well, technically it's Jared's podcast, but I got to be on it. He interviewed me a few weeks ago and got it edited to a point fit for human consumption yesterday.

On the one hand, it was largely what I expected: I wound up playing ambassador from the gaming world to the Oz world. On the other hand, I feel like I should have been more prepared. I was very nervous and rambled a good bit.

Having gotten that experience now, I'm thinking it might be fun to do a podcast of my own. But the blog here has quite a bit of what I'm trying to say about Oz and gaming already. Should I do more of the same, but in convenient audio format? Or is there something else you'd like to hear?