P is for Patchwork

Scraps Patchwork, that is. The amazingly awesome Patchwork Girl of Oz
She's so cool and unique that I even put her on the cover of my own book.

Adventures in Oz: An Inclusive RPG

While Heartbreak & Heroines seems to be cancelled, it has given us all some food for thought about the idea of inclusion in RPGs. Or at very least drawn attention to the fact that we're more exclusive than we think we are.

Like it or not, the typical gamer is male. So most of the marketing dollars spent in the RPG industry are reaching out to those men, playing on their desire to be badass fantasy heroes and be surrounded by nubile women. Although some of those nubile women are now fighting alongside the heroes rather than waiting to be rescued and claimed as a quest reward.

As soon as I set about writing an Oz RPG, I knew that I could not in good conscience cater specifically to this market. Because Oz really is a setting for everyone.

My first step came with the writing. While it is commonplace to use the pronoun "he" as a gender-neutral pronoun, I decided to avoid gendered language as much as possible. This does mean that "they" comes up a good bit. There are those who say that using "they" as a gender-neutral pronoun is bad grammar, which might be why I get a lot of knocks for my grammar in reviews. I only used gendered pronouns when I was referring to a specific, gendered character. (Chick the Cherub is going to get interesting when I do Beyond the Deadly Desert)

The next step was the art. While I did not make a point of asking for non-sexed-up art, I was very glad that I did not receive any. Many of the female Oz characters are frequently described as beautiful, but this is the sexiest piece of art I received. Notice that she is sexy without being sexed up. No revealing clothing. No distorted anatomy designed to show off T&A.

Probably just the sour grapes talking...

Before I set about whining, I'd just like to mention an Oz author who did not make it onto my big list. Ron Baxley Jr. He wrote the book "The Talking City of Oz" which was originally published by March Laumer's Vanitas Press back in 1999. He recently teamed up with an Oz author who is on the list, James Wallace III, to write Of Cabbages, Kings and Even (Odd) Queens, an Oz/Wonderland crossover novel. Both of those works are in the process of receiving second editions later this year, so hold on to your wallets until these guys have a chance to wow you.

If you want Ron to be noted as your favorite Oz author, just choose "other" in the poll on the side and then add a comment to any blog post declaring your love for Ron. And do it soon, as the poll closes in just two weeks.

Now on with the whining,

Adventures in Oz: Fantasy Roleplaying Beyond the Yellow Brick Road has not made a huge splash in the gaming world. That's not surprising, as I don't have a large promotional budget, or a big budget at all, really. So when the Ennies rolled around for this year, I decided to go for it. It seemed like the process was deliberately designed to be accessible to the little guy, so I thought I had a chance. Especially with the good reviews that I've gotten over the past year.

But when the nominations rolled around, it quickly became clear that this playground had already been claimed by the big boys. No room for the little upstart with a small budget and a big dream.

While I was munching on sour grapes over in the corner, I stumbled upon this. Wundergeek mostly focuses on the pit of misogyny that is the video game industry, but she does take some time for us tabletop gamers every now and again. I feel slightly better now, knowing that AiO would likely pass her criteria for a successful female depiction on the cover of an RPG. (Note that I have not asked her to examine this at all, so she has not endorsed this in any way shape or form.)

While there is only one female figure in the image, that female figure is A) centered in the image and B) not sexualized at all.

So I feel slightly better. There is some standard by which I am clearly better than those pesky Ennie nominees.

Adventurers in Oz

For the most part, the people of Oz are content to live their lives in peace and quiet. Their immortal existence assures them that they will continue to live this way for as long as they like.

But some Ozites, like our friend Woot the Wanderer here (Image (c) Amanda Webb and used with permission), think that there's more to life than simply living. With a marvelous fairyland to explore, how can you stay still?

So they wander the Land of Oz, taking in all the wonderful sights and meeting all sorts of interesting people (some of whom stretch the strict definition of people). They are also welcome in the homes of the more staid Ozites, trading stories of strange lands for a meal and a safe bed.

Art preview fit for a princess

Here's an art preview (first one in a long time) featuring the lovely Princess Parasol. Copyright (c) 2009 Amanda Webb, used with permission.

Who?!?

Princess Parasol is an original character I created to flesh out some examples in the Narrator's chapter of the game. While a number of the examples in the rules sections are from the Oz stories (like using the race between Jim the Cab-Horse and the Saw-Horse as an example of contested actions) to create a feeling of "These are things that happen in Oz, and you can do them in the game", I wanted the Narrator's section examples to illustrate the sort of things that would be actually be encountered at the gaming table. So instead of using Dorothy or the Scarecrow as examples, I said, "One of your players has created an original character named Princess Parasol. Here are some ideas as to how to create stories around that character."

One thing I didn't do, and might be fun, was approach the character from a player's perspective. The only thing I mentioned about the character was that she was from Umbre-La, a kingdom that was ruled by her father, King Bumbershoot. I did throw out the story idea of her rescuing her father from the Cloud Tyrant, but nothing else about her backstory or any other things that she's done.

And so I turn to you, faithful readers. What would Princess Parasol be like if she was your character? What would her backstory be? What are her adventures like? For the daring, how would you stat her for Adventures in Oz?

Happy Birthday, Ozma!

Tomorrow, August 21st, is generally considered to be Princess Ozma's birthday. In a manner of speaking, it might even be considered her 100th birthday. Even though the character was introduced in 1904's The Marvelous Land of Oz, we don't see her birthday celebrated until 1909's The Road to Oz. Since Road is celebrating it's 100th year, that would make 2009 the 100 anniversary of Ozma's birthday. It's circuitous and momentous at the same time.

While I did mention doing some kind of video, getting the finishing touches on the game has taken a good bit of energy on my part. Only within the last few days could I really consider myself done with the project. And even then, the project is not done. While I have concluded my writing duties, it still needs to go past my editor, then my layout person. If my layout person is doing their job right, they will spot locations where I need illustrations. Which means I will have to commission new pieces, which will take more time before the book can be released.

It is also time to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the premiere of the MGM film "The Wizard of Oz." On August 23, 1939, this classic film premiered in theaters across the country. While the movie does get props from me for introducing a lot of people to Oz over the years, it presents a very limited version of Oz. What's worse is that people tend to think that the movie is all that there really is of Oz. And the majority of adaptations and "sequels" tend to support this idea.

In slightly related news, Loraine Sammy has both of pieces of cover art that I commissioned posted on her site. One is for my game and the other is for my edition of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." Seeing both of them together makes it fairly easy to see what I did there.

One of the big challenges I'm facing in making this game successful is that there are really two audiences that I'm trying to reach out to: The Oz audience and the non-Oz audience. The game cover art is really an attempt to reach out to both. Each character in the illustration is similar in concept or role to one of the classic four Oz characters (Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, Cowardly Lion), but different enough that the non-Oz fan is going to look twice. Since they are established characters from later stories, the Oz fans get a little Easter egg that makes them look twice.

Having the cover art for the story be so similar helps reinforce that "Oz, but different" vibe and also serves as a bit of branding, letting readers know that they are from the same publisher.

The Adventure Begins With You!

This week marks the unveiling of the cover art of the game and the new slogan: "The Adventure Begins With You!"

Wouldn't that make it an "Udventure"? Seriously though, roleplaying is an active hobby. Not in the running and jumping kind of way, but it does demand participation. A book is just a book until you apply your mind to it. So it is with a roleplaying game. Moreso, in fact, as you apply your imagination and creativity to playing your character.

While it is possible to play your character "by the numbers", it's not a lot of fun. By speaking in character (with or without funny accent) or developing personal goals, you make your play experience several times better. If everyone does it, the fun of the game increases exponentially.

A beta version of the game is will be available at http://ozrpg.50webs.com until the final game is released (Hopefully in the next couple of months). Grab some friends, make some characters and build a story out of your favorite Oz novel.

(Bonus points if you can See What I Did There (TM)).

I almost forgot

One thing that I keep having to remind myself of is that this is not an Oz blog or a gaming blog. I'm having fun blogging about both of those things, believe me, but it's not the only reason I'm here. I also came here to sell you something.

Adventures in Oz: The Roleplaying Game is coming soon. My target release date is August 21st, in order to correspond to Princess Ozma's birthday. While it looks like I've got most of the heavy lifting done, the little details are looking pretty scary right now. But then, I've got 3 months to go.

In order to drum up traffic and interest in the official Adventures in Oz website, I've started posting illustrations from the game. Every Thursday (same as the blog) I put up a new picture in the gallery. Some of it has already been featured here on the blog but there's also some fun new stuff, like the very lovely Red Reera the Yookoohoo. I feel particularly silly because I've been doing this for about a month and forgot to mention it here.

Merry Christmas, Everybody!

I bet you were wondering if I would bring myself to post this Thursday, or if I would wait until the holiday was over. As it turns out, I've got just enough time while the rice pudding is in the oven to get this posted.

My playtesters have already received their Christmas present. The latest playtest kit is headed their way as we speak. Now to gift the loyal readers of my blog with a new Oz art preview.

This is the Tin Woodman as done by Brad McDevitt. This is copyright Brad and used with permission.

For those not in the know, L. Frank Baum wrote his own version of the legend of Santa Claus, called "The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus". It is, interestingly enough, the only hardcopy Baum book that I own. Both Jared Davis and VoVat have extensive blogs on this tale, so I won't bore you by rehashing what they've already said. I will say that it's my least favorite of Baum's works. Not that it's badly written (Baum's worst book is still more readable than some author's best book), but the simple fact is that Santa does little throughout the book but make toys and deliver them. All of the conflicts and challenges that Santa faces are instead overcome by his fairy friends.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

In honor of Halloween, here's a pic of a spooky (or not) Scarecrow. This one's copyright Bradley K. McDevitt and used with permission.

I had a preview of the Munchkin Country ready to upload today, but somewhere in between my laptop and my desktop computer, the file got messed up. And somewhere along the line, the original file got corrupted. I'll have to take some time to reconstruct the file, but I should be able to find the time today or tomorrow. I'll post a comment with a link as soon as I get the chance.

If you've seen the old Munchkin Country document, you might remember the Invisible Country. As I'm going back and rewriting everything, I'm realizing that there's not a whole lot to it. It's interesting as a traffic hazard, but there's not a lot of story potential that I see. What do you guys think? If you want to reserve judgment until you see what I've come up with for it, that's fine.

(For those who don't remember, the Invisible Country was one of the hazards faced by the heroes of "The Tin Woodman of Oz". Slightly more memorable may be the Hyp-po-gy-raf that they met there.)

Art and Analysis

Here, as promised, is a piece of art done for the project from award-winning artist Bradley K. McDevitt. It's the Queen of the Field Mice from "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." One of my favorites, since she's something of a litmus test to discover who's read the book and who's just seen the movie. This image is copyright Bradley K. McDevitt and used with permission.

I might not be able to get much more art from Brad. He has recently accepted a fairly steady gig from Goodman Games which will prevent him from doing as much freelance work as he had previously done.

If you know anyone who might be able to fill his shoes, let me know. Either comment on this post or email me at konradthebarbarian@gmail.com

As I was updating the site last week with the new character creation document, I also inserted the tracking code for Google Analytics. Although I have only a week of data, it's still fascinating stuff. Just like the hit counter I installed here, the big revelation is that I get traffic at all.

Also surprising is that nearly everyone comes looking for me, instead of simply stumbling upon me. Only one hit came from a search engine, and the search terms that were used indicate to me that the user was clearly looking for me. One hit came from a link I posted on wonderfulwizardofoz.net where I'm trying to start up a play-by-post RPG playtest. Every other hit was "direct traffic", people who came straight to the site.

Geographically, California is the top hit scorer this week, bringing in 5 out of 20 hits for the week. Runners up are Minnesota, Florida, Spain and the UK, all tied for 2 hits each. Yes, I'm getting international traffic. That surprised me, too. I'm just waiting until I get traffic from France, because someone there has published an Oz RPG and I'm curious how my project compares to it.

I should have the main rules section uploaded by next week.

The Talented Amanda Webb

Things are going more smoothly on the art front. I have more art from Bryan Fowler (the guy who did that awesome Winged Monkey pic a while back) that I might show you at some point. But this week, I'm going to show you one of the pieces from Amanda Webb featuring the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger. She has the rest of the art that she has done for me on her website. She's available for commissions, so don't let her be a starving artist.

Edit: Amanda no longer features links to the rest of the work on her main page, so here are more direct links to these works.
Ozma and Inga, Scarecrow and Scraps, Dorothy and Button Bright, and Oz Soldiers.

The Art Keeps Rolling In

For a long time, Bryan Fowler was the only artist who was producing art for me. You all saw his interpretation of the Winged Monkeys a few posts back. Now I've got two other artists getting started. Brad McDevitt has done some really nice pieces depicting the characters from "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz", from the Tin Woodman to the Queen of the Field Mice. The talented Amanda Webb has also gotten started on a few pieces. I haven't seen her final drafts yet, but her preliminary sketches look rock solid.

The main reason that you're not seeing any of this yet is that the pieces aren't fully paid for. Unfortunately, reality has forced me to fulfill my publishing dream by nickel-and-diming my way there. As I get this work paid for, I'll start posting some of it up here. I really want you to see this stuff.

The other reason that you're not seeing all the art that I have is that I don't want to give away the whole thing for free. If you saw all the art here, you'd have no need to buy my books when they arrive.

Don't make me summon my Winged Monkeys!

I am very pleased to present the first piece of art to be completed for the Oz RPG. This piece is Copyright Bryan Fowler and used with permission.

What do you think?

Check back for new developments (and sometimes new art) every Wednesday.