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.

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.

New Characters

The character creation chapter for the revised Adventures in Oz RPG has been uploaded to the Downloads page. You'll notice that I have implemented the "skill traits" that I mentioned in my last entry. I've also expanded on the "customization notes" entries for a number of the templates, trying to give them a bit more maturity and depth. Possibly more on that later.

Next week will be an art blog. This is not so much because I need to buy time to complete the next section (which I probably do), but also because I really want to show you what Brad McDevitt has done. It's some really good stuff.

It's been about a month since I put in the hit counter and I've already gotten 109 hits. It's not 10,000 hits, but I'm certainly not complaining. It's just good knowing that I'm not the only one reading this. Feel free to drop a hello in the comments, so I can know who you are and say hi back. Us game designers need all the encouragement we can get.