When I was a kid, every New Year's Eve my dad would let us stay up until midnight. Midnight in New York, anyway. Over here in California, that translates to about 9 o'clock. It was later than we usually got to stay up (bedtime was at 8 in those days), but us kids still felt cheated.
But the good news is that I know 9PM California time is midnight in Chittenango, New York, L. Frank Baum's birthplace. And since we don't know what time he was born, midnight on May 15th is good enough for me.
Adventures in Oz: Fantasy Roleplaying Beyond the Yellow Brick Road is on sale now! And until May 31, you can use the coupon code FLOWERS to save 10% at checkout!
Friday, May 14, 2010
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I just placed my order. (Huzzah!) It should be arriving some time next week.
How does it feel to be a published author?
Once again, congratulations and continued success.
I feel giddy, really. But the game isn't over yet. I've still got to promote the game all to heck and hope that people buy it. Because my goal was not just to publish a game, but to publish a successful game. And it's not successful until it sells about 300 copies.
If the game is as good as I anticipate, I will loyaly champion Adentures in Oz to everyone I can.
I am rooting for this to be a success, believe you me. Baum's work is still very much relevant to children of all ages; your opening this door is a great opportunity for kids to rediscover Oz by way of one of the most imaginative of mediums available.
As great example: My daughter's second grade class was just recently read 'The Wizard of Oz' by their teacher, and she loved it. So much so, she is now half-way through 'Marvelous Land', eagerly awaiting the opportunity to play, "Toto!" in AiO.
Not to be outdone, her elder (fourth grade) sister blasted her way through Wizard of Oz in two days! She now impatiently awaits her little sister getting through the second book.
I could give her Ozma to read while she waits, but this is payback for all the iCarly I have suffered.
Parents with even a hint of gamer backgrounds are always looking for family-friendly games. Heck, it's the only reason I even bothered to get back into RPGs after a twenty year lay-off.
If you can hit that market in some way, I'm willing to bet you'll meet your target.
Just received the book today!
Lulu shipped it in damaged condition (have a trouble ticket started with them), but that irritation hasn't trumped how impressed I am by the book.
I have yet to dive in completely, but a few things do jump out:
* The placement of the character sheets makes it problematic in actually using them. If you cut them out, you ruin the map. And the way it is bound, I worry about even trying to scan them for photocopy purposes.
* The binding also cuts a section of the map off in the middle; when opening the book, the center of the map reads 'The EM-LD City'.
* Providing a Quick Reference Tables page at the back is fantastic. Thank you for that. You'd think more publishers would see the wisdom of providing them - but many do not. However, as mentioned above, the binding discourages scanning.
* Much more of a nitpick: While I admire the fantastic templates and do-it-yourself encouragement in character creation, I would have loved to have seen the more famous of OZ characters fully (and 'officially') stated.
I understand that the pdf version will answer 75% of my initial concerns. But I'll almost be forced to purchase the pdf in order to print up things I am unable to from the book (which is why I brazenly asked for a pdf discount, you see - heh!). I could write things out by hand, but... er... :D
Anyway, Lulu's jerkiness aside, this is a fantastic book. It's the first print RPG I have purchased in... God, twenty five years?
And I am glad I did.
Bravo to all involved.
Ask and ye shall receive. Your comment got me to put my rear in gear to update the downloads page on my site. It now features a printable version of the character sheet as well as write-ups of a few more characters. Of course, I hope you've been tracking the blog as I've been posting new Oz characters every month.
I'm sorry Lulu gave you a poorly manufactured copy of the book and I hope you get that fixed soon. But as we all know, the true measure of a game is in the playing. I hope you let us all know how it goes!
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