Stuff and things

Another late post. I'm thinking that I should move my usual blog day to Thursday just because it is becoming more difficult to find the time on Wednesdays.

Just a few random items this week:

I just found out that a couple of Baum's books are still under copyright. Apparently, Dover Publications bought the rights to these books while they were still protected and they are now the copyright holders of "John Dough and the Cherub" and "Queen Zixi of Ix". It will take some time for me to figure out exactly what my ability to refer to those works will be.

The good news is that I have plenty of time. As I've mentioned before, the setting info in the rulebook will focus on Oz itself, with the other lands going to a supplement. So I have at least that long to sort things out and round up any money needed.

It can't be too difficult, since Hungry Tiger Press recently published a new edition of John Dough, since Dover let it fall out of print.

Second item: For those who have been paying attention, I am calling my publishing enterprise F. Douglas Wall Publishing. There are two reasons for this. For one thing, this saves me having to file Fictitious Name Statements and the expense of that.

Also, it helps remind people to get my name right. The fact that I use my middle name makes things awkward enough, but people just can't get over the first initial. My high school yearbook gives my name as Douglas F. Wall.

More recently, I entered a video contest at The Fump. When the winners were announced (finally!) at Con on the Cob, Tom Rockwell AKA Devo Spice of Sudden Death got my name wrong. He simply said "F. Douglas". An honest mistake, I'm sure, especially since my partner in crime (and many other things) attached the name K. Green to the project. It's just that it's one of many mistakes made by many different people that makes it so irritating.

I try and keep my personal life out of this blog, because this is intended to support my publishing enterprise. But it's also oddly relevant. Notice that the original author of the Oz stories is named L. Frank Baum. Although his first name was Lyman, everyone knew him as Frank. In an article promoting an educational event about Oz in the local library a couple of months ago, the creator of the Oz books was none other than "Frank L. Baum." I wonder how many times that has happened over the years and if I'm the only person out there irritated by this.

In other news, work is proceeding apace on the new setting material. If I can find the time and energy, I should be able to have an update for my playtesters today, but by next blog update at the latest. Then it's off to work on the next tantalizing preview of the land of Oz for my devoted readers.

6 Months In

First late blog posting in a while. Hope you're not too disappointed

For those who have been paying attention, I've been blogging for the last 6 months. When I first embarked upon this project, I thought I'd have something to show for all of this by now. While I don't have a product to sell, I do have a bit more wisdom than I did when I first started out. A few of the things I've learned so far are:

1) Things cost money. One of the biggest stumbling blocks I've come across is money. In as many areas as possible, I have attempted to get things done for cheap or free. Web-hosting on the site is free, this blog is free. The things that cost money are either happening later or slowly. The website is not pretty, but it costs money to hire a web designer. I would advertise more than I do, but again, it costs money. Art is getting paid for slowly. It doesn't help that I lost a job and had to go on unemployment for a while until I got another job and neither of them pay terribly well.

2) Other people are other people. No matter how much I've tried to build a community around this project, little has happened. To my knowledge, no one has played the game. For most of the time I've been working on this, I haven't had a gaming group of my own. I finally managed to get some people together a couple of weeks ago, but Adventures in Oz got voted down as our system of the moment. This may change; I'll keep you posted.

3) Thrive on deadlines. The weekly blog helps me set deadlines. If I don't have something meaningful to post by the time Wednesday rolls around, I had better come up with something.

If anyone is interested in being a playtester, feel free to give me an email at konradthebarbarian@yahoo.com . You will be emailed with the Adventures in Oz playtest kit, and will receive updates to the system by email, as they happen. It contains all of the rules and setting material as they exist up to this point. While all of this material is on the site at this moment, this will change. That's right, sign up to be a playtester and you'll get access to exclusive content before anyone else. Also, playtesters who provide useful c0mments will get their name in the book and a free copy of said book as soon as physical copies are available.

Flathead Mountain and Skeezer Lake

New updates to the site.

First of all, I've brought "The Magic Belt of Oz" up to the new revision. A number of changes to the system were inspired by the needs of this adventure, so it should play better than it did before.

Also, I've uploaded the first bit of revised and expanded setting material. I'm trying to lean more on my own words and less on Baum's.

For those of you have read "Glinda of Oz": Is it just me, or do our friends from the Emerald City wind up doing little to nothing to stop the war? The Adepts are rescued by Ervic, then go to discipline the Flatheads. While they do manage to raise the Skeezer city from the bottom of the lake, they seem to be on the sidelines of the story's main conflict.

Who's your Nome King?

For those of you who actually paid attention to my shout-outs last week and actually read Jared Davis' blog, you might have read a little bit about the famous Nome King. While he goes into some depth analyzing the character of Roquat/Ruggedo, the villain of "Ozma of Oz", "The Emerald City of Oz", "Tik-Tok of Oz", and "The Magic of Oz", it is worth mentioning that there was another Nome King in the stories. Kaliko started out as Roquat's chamberlain and chief steward in "Emerald City" (It might have been him in "Ozma", but he wasn't named until "Emerald City"). When the events of "Tik-Tok of Oz" caused Ruggedo to be removed from office, Kaliko became the new Nome King.

We see what kind of ruler he has become in "Rinkitink in Oz". When Rinkitink and Prince Inga arrive to rescue the King and Queen of Pingaree, who had been captured by their enemies and traded to the Nomes, King Kaliko delights in creating all sorts of dangers for them to face up against. It is only through the use of the magic Pearls of Pingaree that Inga and Rinkitink are able to survive their sojourn to the Nome Kingdom.

When Dorothy arrives to demand that Kaliko stop tormenting his prisoners, he is very petulant, like a spoiled child who's had a toy taken away from him.

Has power gone to Kaliko's head?

Time for a shout-out!

My first shout-out goes to Jared Davis, Oz Blogger extraordinaire. Also the mastermind of the "Wonders of Oz", a video series on YouTube detailing over 100 years of Oz in American culture. From the original story and it's sequels, to the famous film version starring Judy Garland, and even covering "The Wiz" and "Wicked". He also moderates the Wonderful Wizard of Oz Fan Fiction Forums.

Another shout-out goes to William J. Walton, webmaster of The Escapist, a gaming advocacy site. One of the neat features there is the Young Person's Adventurer's League, featuring resources for those grownups who wish to share the fun of role-playing games with their kids. To this end, he also puts out the Dragonkin podcast. Check it out!

Now! With more updates!

The updates just keep rolling in. The new, updated magic system got uploaded just a few days after the last blog. New today is updated versions of the characters that appeared in "The Magic Belt of Oz." Feel free to try out the adventure with the new rules, or simply play as your favorite Oz character. I know most people's favorites are in that document. If your favorite Oz character didn't make the cut, drop me a line and I'll see what I can do. Or you can stat them up yourself. Tell me about it and I might even put your material, or a link to it, on my site.

The new rules

New on the site, we've got the updated rules system. The combat system got the biggest facelift, since that was a lot of what sparked the redesign. Also included for your approval is the concept of the extended task, which can be resolved by multiple die rolls. The character creation document also got a slight touchup to bring a couple of traits in line with the new combat system.

Next on the list: Bring the magic system up to the new revision, and also see if "The Magic Belt of Oz" can be brought up to the new revision. After that, it's work on rewriting the setting material so that it's more my voice and a little less of Baum's. Something should be happening on at least one of these fronts by next week.

As you're browsing the page, you might notice that downloading the files just got an extra step added. This was included so that Google Analytics can pick up on who's downloading which files. Since I'm not getting very many comments or emails, I've got to find out what you guys want somehow.