I dunno. Is Aldarron saying that Oz should only be used in games for children, or that Oz doesn't really work as a "dark" or "adult" setting, because it just doesn't feel right when you change it that way?
I mean, look at how bad Tin Man was. PJ Farmer's A Barnstormer in Oz wasn't quite so bad, but that's possibly because he only made Glenda "adult", giving her access to a more Buffy-esque style of magic.
And false teeth.
Both really. Frankly, its pablum in my opinion. I mean, talking saw horses, little girl heroines, cowardly talking lions, cardboard societies easily dubed by a fast talking hokum from kansas in a world where laws can be passed that nobody is allowed to die. And then there's munchkins... Like Narnia and Smurfland its great fun for kids but not the sort of gritty stuff worthy of an adult campaign world except in a completely gonzo, not to be taken at all seriously kind of way.
No doubt you could round up a group who would want that kind of game so I shouldn't say that its not suitable for adults, but I wouldn't be interested personally.
Sure, you can toss out the overtly kiddie stuff and completely rework some of the rest to have a more substantial adult character but I don't see the point. It wouldn't be Oz anymore but some kind of comic gothic echo. Again I'd guess some folks would like that but to me it would always seem like a joke, like playing MERP but replacing Aragorn with Batman and making Sauron the Penguin or some hybrid like that.
<shrug>
There's just a ton of really good settings out there; some really good stuff posted in this forum even, so other than using it as a setting for preteens - which would probably work great - I'm not seeing the value in trying to make Oz an adult campaign world except, as I said, as a kind of joke.
If its just wicked withcehes in castles surrounded by haunted forests your after, you can get that without all the other trappings.
Joined: Jul 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 1,307 Karma: 43
Re: Roleplaying in Oz « Reply #17 on Dec 20, 2010, 12:18pm »
Aldarron, have you read anything beyond the first Oz book? I only ask because many of your assumptions really don't agree with events that happen beyond that work.
A man may do both. For not we but those who come after will make the legends of our time. The green earth, say you? That is a mighty matter of legend, though you tread it under the light of day! —J.R.R. Tolkien
Joined: Jul 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 1,307 Karma: 43
Re: Roleplaying in Oz « Reply #19 on Jan 3, 2011, 12:20pm »
I just picked up Oz: Dark and Terrible. I am only a few pages into the intro fiction right now; I'll post a more detailed review when I get through it. The fiction so far is standard moderate-talent fare game fiction. It tries to be very clever....by giving us a story about a bunch of gamers transported to Oz via an earthquake which destroys a convention that is definitely NOT Gen Con.
There is a severe overuse of gerunds and participial phrases such as, "Walking into his cottage, Nick left the group staring after him."
Punctuation is rather poor...the story really could've used an editor. It's not awful to read, but not entirely impressive, either.
Indeed, the further I read into the fiction, the worse the writing got. The designer is REALLY not a good writer of fiction at all. He enjoys progressive-tense as much as Stephanie Meyer enjoys adverbs.
We'll see soon how the take on Oz is. I'm not writing the book off based on the intro fiction. Few good game designers are also good writers of fiction.
Punctuation is rather poor...the story really could've used an editor. It's not awful to read, but not entirely impressive, either.
Indeed, the further I read into the fiction, the worse the writing got. The designer is REALLY not a good writer of fiction at all.
Agreed. I thought the book was interesting in spite of the fiction, not because of it. The basic concept for a twisted-Oz game seemed pretty cool, but I'm not so much into those "gamers from our world thrown into the game world" appraoch anymore. I mean, it was fresh back in the 1970's with Quag Keep (another mediochre book) but is pretty overdone by now.
Marv / Finarvyn DCC playtester (2011) C&C playtester (2003) I'm partly responsible for the S&W WhiteBox Builder of the TrollBridge Master of Mutants; MA since 1976 OD&D Player since 1975
"Don't ask me what you need to hit. Just roll the die and I will let you know!" - Dave Arneson
Joined: Jul 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 1,307 Karma: 43
Re: Roleplaying in Oz « Reply #21 on Jan 4, 2011, 12:03pm »
Agreed to an extent, but given that this is an Oz game, I would expect or ask for no less. Oz isn't Oz without someone from our world dropped feet-first into it.
Re: Roleplaying in Oz « Reply #22 on Apr 1, 2011, 12:23pm »
First of all, thanks for expressing interest in Adventures in Oz. I wrote it and it's always nice to see people buying it who I haven't personally pestered into buying it.
I'm sorry you didn't care for the combat rules, bluskreem. That was one of the things I spent the most effort on, because I knew a more traditional approach to combat just wouldn't have felt as Ozzy. Though of course, you guys are probably more interested in bringing Oz into your Old School games, so my combat rules might not matter as much to you.
I have run Adventures in Oz for kids and adults and both groups had a pretty good time. I think the key to running it for adults is letting them be adults. If they want to explore politics, sex, violence or any number of other adult topics in the setting, let them.
And also, don't view comedy as pure slapstick. This isn't Paranoia, where the whole party can die on the way to the bathroom (I've seen it happen). One of my favorite characters from my Oz playtest game was a comedy character who knew his joke and was good at it, rather than being a simple bumbling boob.
For Old School style gaming, I'd suggest the Wicked books, as they even have mentions of elves and dwarves, and you could easily use halflings for Munchkins. And they do include death and aging and violence and politics.
Oz: Dark & Terrible might be a book you'd be interested in, as the setting is intended to appeal to Wicked fans (I get the distinct impression it's trying to be an unlicensed Wicked RPG as published by White Wolf). But the system seems overly complex, so doing a rules swap to your favorite Old School system would probably be best and shouldn't break the flavor of the setting significantly.
My main caveat is that you shouldn't expect D&T to be a dark setting. It's got lots and lots of grey (which is good for a setting), but very little actual dark. And it looks like they're trying to be both adult (Yay! Sex and violence!) and adult (well-reasoned) and wind up having those two elements clash.
I did a more detailed review of Dark & Terrible as a podcast:http://adventuresinoz.podbean.com/
« Last Edit: Apr 1, 2011, 12:26pm by fdouglaswall »
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