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I don't know what disturbs me more, that a PC might be put into a position to fight Glinda, or that Glinda's final form is a ruby skeleton. Oz sure does hit different.
It's not strictly faithful to the geography of Oz, but Andrew Kolb has explained that he wanted to stick with a city crawl. And as far as the kinds of clothes and decor, remember that the first Oz book came out in 1900 and he wrote until 1918, so the 1920s sounds just right. Kolb's work is amazing.
^This. The Oz books would have still been in living memory for many people in the 20s and 30s. And the Wizard of Oz film in 1939 would have only cemented that impression. So while it's certainly _odd_ that the magical land of Oz would have an Art Deco aesthetic, it's not an inappropriate mashup.
I was JUST thinking that. Narnia would be great aswell, but I watched the crap out of both Neverending Story films when I was a kid, and the world is fascinating.
“A Red And Pleasant Land” exists if you want to get your hands on an Alice inspired TTRPG setting now (and can separate art from artist). It’s one of my favorites, the two castle dungeons are mind bending. Probably a lot darker than Kolb’s take will be, though I’ll buy every one Kolb does in this series :)
We are in the golden age of D&D Oz material. This is a must-buy to go along with the Adventures in Oz Kickstarter from last year. Here's hoping Kolb does Wonderland next.
Immediately preordered the book. Neverland is like a condensed and thematically stronger Hot Springs Island to me with incredible publishing quality. Sometimes you just know a product will be pure quality based on the track record of the author. :)
Here's a fun fact about Baum's Oz: he wrote it (at least, the first book) as a satire of the politics of the state of Kansas in the 1890s. No Oz game would be complete without factions and such
😍 The book is so incredibly beautiful, I'd probably buy this even if I weren't a gamer/collector. The illustration and typography really calls back to the old Oz series books I read when I was a kid. An incredible tribute.
Inspirisles is an rpg by "Hatchling Games". The hook/pitch for the game is that it uses/teaches BSL (British Sign Language) as a way for players to communicate and cast spells. A really lovely and inclusive idea. This book looks amazing again. Will definitely be getting.
Oh wow. This looks amazing. I can't believe that it's a one man show!! That's insane amount of quality and gameable material for one Mortal to produce! Astonishing!
I read all of Frank Baum's Oz books when I was ten. ALL of them. He wrote a bunch. I haven't gotten but a minute into your video, but I keep stopping to comment. Lol. WATCH THE VIDEO MICHAEL. 😆
I was also shocked when I saw how cheap the pricetag was compared to the quality of what you get with this. To say its intimidating doesnt really do it justice, ive just never run a game world like this before.. but its such an amazing compilation of information
This is a fantastic book for all kinds of things! Another Oz inspired book, the graphic novel Cthulu invades Oz, kinda makes me wonder if you could use some OSR Lovecraftian creatures to make a whole fusion campaign
It is odd the size of the book, but I love that it uses color sections like Maze of the Blue Medusa. I get comments from people when I wear my LotFP shirts too.
This man's work is amazing. Even if you don't game, the books are worth the read. I have both Neverland and Oz and am hoping for more, such as Wonderland, Toyland (very Mother Goose like the musical and movies), Candyland, and a combined Grimm Fairytale type location. I know that's a lot of work and shouldn't ask, but I would love a complete set like that.
Conversion of stats from 5e to OSR isn’t as straightforward as one might think. Special abilities, Hit Dice, and damage were especially challenging for Neverland. Made my head spin.
How easy do ppl think it is to dig into this one? I know this might seem counter-intuitive, but the sheer amount of content overwhelms me. So many tables that I then forget they are there when running the adventure. And is there concrete guidance on where to start with it, or do you have to assemble yourself? I've had this problem in the past where such a book is a joy to read and leaf through, and after 1-2 weeks of casual perusing after ordering, it goes to the shelf to look shiny and collect dust. Not trying to throw any shade at Andrew Kolb, this looks amazing, and clearly a lot of passion and work went into it! Just genuinely curious on how to make it work and bring it to the table. Especially these days where energy is low and my groups tend to meet every blue moon, online, and for a few of hours only.
Don't treat these books as shackles. Pick a few things you really like and keep them in mind as you run the game. Trust yourself to just react to the players with everything else. When its time to introduce a new situation use what you remember.
Initially, the Art Deco aesthetic seems like an odd choice for Oz. But it kind of makes sense, given the Real Life period the Oz books and subsequent feature film were released in. Moreover, as a fan of Batman the Animated Series, Dean Motter's Mister X, and now MtG's Streets of New Capenna, this is certainly up my alley.
I bought this today and will be returning it to my local game store tomorrow. The text is freakin' miniscule, making it quite difficult to read. Also, I really wanted a more traditional Oz setting, not the one presented in the book. And, in my opinion, converting the character stats to 5e would just be a headache. Some of the random tables are interesting, but not enough to justify me keeping this on my shelf.
Wonderland is apparently next... but oh man, Jungle Book!?! Neverending story would be rad, but he'd need the rights. Off the top of my head, other Public Domain works: Robin Hoood, Gulliver’s Travels, Barsoom (John Carter of Mars)...
13:34. Why do “Mood” and “Status” random tables for each location have 2 exact opposite results listed for the same die roll? Like #2 in the Status table is “Young/Elderly”.
Question: in the Oz books, no one ever feels pain, grows old, or dies. Does the Oz TTRPG address this at all? What a gorgeous book! Thanks for the review!
Death absolutely exists in Oz. In "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz", the Kalidahs fall onto and are dashed to pieces by rocks, the Lion kills a huge spider, and the Tin Woodman kills a wildcat. Even after Lurline enchants the land to limit disease and suffering, people can die to accidents. Dr Pipt killed his wife when he spilled Liquid of Petrification on her (she gets restored.) The protection seems to only affect humans and intelligent animals. Toto eats some of the people of Bunbury, and a bear and a monkey, probably others I can't remember die in later Baum books in the series. Ozma says at one point that she's unsure if the enchantment protects those who come to Oz from outside its borders. Eureka (Dorothy's cat) was sentenced to be killed after it was believed she'd eaten a piglet.
@@eitherorlok I'm not surprised that the books aren't consistent. Dorothy kills a witch with her house and another with a bucket of water! On the other hand, I could swear that "no-one feels pain, grows old, or dies" in Oz is specifically stated multiple times throughout the books. And there are areas where that rule definitely applies, like the Tin Woodsman's fleshy body being stitched back together and walking around, or the Nome King still being able to talk through his face piece even after being torn into a hundred pieces. Just wondering if this TTRPG addresses this at all, one way or another.
@@polallenjackson Lurline places her enchantment over Oz in the twelfth of Baum's books, so most of the Baum books didn't work under that assumption. I'm not sure if the later authors kept the rule in place - I've only read the Baum titles.
In Kolbs setting, Ozians practically live forever, but can be killed normally. When a non Ozian dies in Oz the wake up “far far away” and can eventually return.
Maybe this is too much to ask in a TH-cam comment, but can someone explain to me how one would run a point-crawl using this as your resource? For example, I assume you don't just plop players in the world and have them choose a location and then roll on the tables, right? I assume most DMs would still prep a session/campaign with a narrative, but leave many of the encounters to the random tables? So, the players decide to go to x location because they are looking for y NPC. You then use the point crawl to provide possible encounters for either their travels to the place or for the location itself. Is that right?
That’s definitely one way to do it. This assumes a bit more of a character driven campaign (characters with their own goals) and then it offers a lot of major NPC’s with drives and factions with their own drives and gives the players opportunities to plug into those goals as they decide. The “what’s going on” section gives you the main movements happening in the world that the characters can interact with. When characters go to a new area and you roll up the encounters, often those will tie into the various factions and what they want. This won’t support a linear adventure as well (a linear adventure being basically anything WotC or Paizo has produced with a couple of exceptions)
Sorry, for asking about other of your things, but I presume You don't have time to answer comments for older videos. So: as quite a newbe in OSR world, before going all in with your products - especially Knave - I would like to understand what does it mean that Knave is compatible with OSR products? Does it mean I can buy adventure like "The Incandescent Grottoes" or "The Dark of Hot Springs Island" and play it with Knave rules? Or still I have to do some conversions? And what about DnD 5E is it possible to play adventure with stats for 5E with Knave? Or there are other simple rules to play 5E? I love what you do, but would like to be aware what I'm getting into.
OSR games are all pretty similar so it doesn't take too much work to use a setting from one game, borrow optional rules for this other game, or even convert stuff on the fly. I've ran OSR adventures with 5E for instance. It helps to have more experience as a DM, but with practice anyone can do it. Every game has its own quirks, but a lot of the OSR games have free artless versions that you can download to read up on. I hope that helps.
@@LiquidFranz I noticed this one didn't in the video, but it made me curious about other OSR works. From a quick glance through Google, they don't seem to have a CR equivalent.
Yooo this is rad. The oz books are one of my special interests-- less the actual books, though, and more the toy that is "all this development is public domain". So this is some of the most up my alley stuff I've ever seen.
Get 10% off all Into the AM apparel: bit.ly/IntoTheAM10
Get OZ in print: amzn.to/3Sd3uxJ
Get OZ in PDF: bit.ly/OZDTRPG
Get Neverland in print: amzn.to/3BTcp1U
Get Neverland in PDF: bit.ly/NeverlandPDF
PDF is on drive thru rpg now, if you want to update your comment
I don't know what disturbs me more, that a PC might be put into a position to fight Glinda, or that Glinda's final form is a ruby skeleton. Oz sure does hit different.
It's not strictly faithful to the geography of Oz, but Andrew Kolb has explained that he wanted to stick with a city crawl. And as far as the kinds of clothes and decor, remember that the first Oz book came out in 1900 and he wrote until 1918, so the 1920s sounds just right.
Kolb's work is amazing.
^This. The Oz books would have still been in living memory for many people in the 20s and 30s. And the Wizard of Oz film in 1939 would have only cemented that impression. So while it's certainly _odd_ that the magical land of Oz would have an Art Deco aesthetic, it's not an inappropriate mashup.
Very easy to present it as a Cyberpunk setting
This guy needs to do the world of Fantasia from the never-ending story. I feel like he would do it justice.
I was JUST thinking that.
Narnia would be great aswell, but I watched the crap out of both Neverending Story films when I was a kid, and the world is fascinating.
It isn't public domain
Can’t believe Andrew highlighted our game as an inspiration 😮. I’m a great admirer of Neverland. Will pick this up on payday.
Great stuff. Apparently Alice In Wonderland will be next!
For real? Where did you hear this? An Alice In Wonderland one of these books would be incredible.
“A Red And Pleasant Land” exists if you want to get your hands on an Alice inspired TTRPG setting now (and can separate art from artist). It’s one of my favorites, the two castle dungeons are mind bending. Probably a lot darker than Kolb’s take will be, though I’ll buy every one Kolb does in this series :)
I certainly hope so!
We are in the golden age of D&D Oz material. This is a must-buy to go along with the Adventures in Oz Kickstarter from last year.
Here's hoping Kolb does Wonderland next.
Immediately preordered the book. Neverland is like a condensed and thematically stronger Hot Springs Island to me with incredible publishing quality. Sometimes you just know a product will be pure quality based on the track record of the author. :)
Totally, Neverland was a work of art and frankly I'd buy this on the strength of Neverland alone, but still glad for the review.
same
This setting with Troika system ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Andrew Kolb is a genius. Thanks for this overview, Ben. Very well done as usual!
Here's a fun fact about Baum's Oz: he wrote it (at least, the first book) as a satire of the politics of the state of Kansas in the 1890s. No Oz game would be complete without factions and such
😍 The book is so incredibly beautiful, I'd probably buy this even if I weren't a gamer/collector.
The illustration and typography really calls back to the old Oz series books I read when I was a kid. An incredible tribute.
I want to run this with Electric Bastionland 🙌
This author's stuff is pure gold. So good.
This book is so beautiful, I am super impressed by the layout and art inside.
I hope the author makes a wonderland book too. I really like these books and would like to see more from him
This is on my wishlist now. I love the way he makes his books.
Inspirisles is an rpg by "Hatchling Games". The hook/pitch for the game is that it uses/teaches BSL (British Sign Language) as a way for players to communicate and cast spells. A really lovely and inclusive idea.
This book looks amazing again. Will definitely be getting.
Which explains the gargoyles...
This just came in. Looking forward to perusing it! It looks amazing.
Wow. I read the books along time ago. I remember almost every character and thing you mentioned in this video. Wow, this is added to my to-buy list
I've been trying to make a wizard of Oz campaign. This is exactly what I need. 22 bucks in Amazon. Totally amazing.
Oh wow. This looks amazing. I can't believe that it's a one man show!! That's insane amount of quality and gameable material for one Mortal to produce! Astonishing!
I love the Labyrinth RPG book !
Preordered this months ago and just got tracking information! This guy is fuckin fantastic. Andrew Kolb is an instant-purchase going forward.
Awesome! Just ordered my copy. I was so excited for this release!
The 1920s vibe reminds me of Electric Bastionland.
My copy should arrive today! Very excited!
I read all of Frank Baum's Oz books when I was ten. ALL of them. He wrote a bunch. I haven't gotten but a minute into your video, but I keep stopping to comment. Lol. WATCH THE VIDEO MICHAEL. 😆
I was also shocked when I saw how cheap the pricetag was compared to the quality of what you get with this. To say its intimidating doesnt really do it justice, ive just never run a game world like this before.. but its such an amazing compilation of information
This is a fantastic book for all kinds of things! Another Oz inspired book, the graphic novel Cthulu invades Oz, kinda makes me wonder if you could use some OSR Lovecraftian creatures to make a whole fusion campaign
WTF ?
Awesome. Cheers, Ben.
Hadn't noticed this preorder - definitely appreciated the Neverland recommendation.
It is odd the size of the book, but I love that it uses color sections like Maze of the Blue Medusa. I get comments from people when I wear my LotFP shirts too.
This man's work is amazing. Even if you don't game, the books are worth the read. I have both Neverland and Oz and am hoping for more, such as Wonderland, Toyland (very Mother Goose like the musical and movies), Candyland, and a combined Grimm Fairytale type location.
I know that's a lot of work and shouldn't ask, but I would love a complete set like that.
This book looks incredible…. Pondering the purchase!
There is an oz sourcebook coming out soon already so this is interesting that it released as well
Thanks for the review; I ordered this book based on your review. Keep up the good work.
This and Neverland look amazingly done - it's a bummer these kind of settings do nothing for me and my friends...
Preordered! About halfway through a thorough read. I’ll probably first run it with 5e, and then try OSE or even Dungeon World.
Conversion of stats from 5e to OSR isn’t as straightforward as one might think. Special abilities, Hit Dice, and damage were especially challenging for Neverland. Made my head spin.
lol Ben you are so bad for my wallet. Good for my library, though, and now for my closet (sponsors work!).
Great review! My copy just arrived today. :)
How easy do ppl think it is to dig into this one? I know this might seem counter-intuitive, but the sheer amount of content overwhelms me. So many tables that I then forget they are there when running the adventure. And is there concrete guidance on where to start with it, or do you have to assemble yourself?
I've had this problem in the past where such a book is a joy to read and leaf through, and after 1-2 weeks of casual perusing after ordering, it goes to the shelf to look shiny and collect dust.
Not trying to throw any shade at Andrew Kolb, this looks amazing, and clearly a lot of passion and work went into it!
Just genuinely curious on how to make it work and bring it to the table.
Especially these days where energy is low and my groups tend to meet every blue moon, online, and for a few of hours only.
You're not obligated to use everything or to use anything at all from the book. It's ok to just be an inspiration or to just steal parts of it.
Don't treat these books as shackles. Pick a few things you really like and keep them in mind as you run the game. Trust yourself to just react to the players with everything else. When its time to introduce a new situation use what you remember.
Initially, the Art Deco aesthetic seems like an odd choice for Oz. But it kind of makes sense, given the Real Life period the Oz books and subsequent feature film were released in.
Moreover, as a fan of Batman the Animated Series, Dean Motter's Mister X, and now MtG's Streets of New Capenna, this is certainly up my alley.
So the thing to do is mash this up with Neverland and the AD&D 1e Wonderland modules 😄
I bought this today and will be returning it to my local game store tomorrow. The text is freakin' miniscule, making it quite difficult to read. Also, I really wanted a more traditional Oz setting, not the one presented in the book. And, in my opinion, converting the character stats to 5e would just be a headache. Some of the random tables are interesting, but not enough to justify me keeping this on my shelf.
1920 Oz? Why did my mind suddenly decide that it would be perfect for Call of Cthulu adventures?
So whats next for Andrew? Wonderland? Jungle Book? Neverending Story?
Wonderland is apparently next... but oh man, Jungle Book!?! Neverending story would be rad, but he'd need the rights. Off the top of my head, other Public Domain works: Robin Hoood, Gulliver’s Travels, Barsoom (John Carter of Mars)...
13:34. Why do “Mood” and “Status” random tables for each location have 2 exact opposite results listed for the same die roll? Like #2 in the Status table is “Young/Elderly”.
I don't play RPG s , but I have the Nederland one and is so beautiful, this one looks cool too
I have the book I got it for Christmas last year
Great stuff friend 👏 👍
Question: in the Oz books, no one ever feels pain, grows old, or dies. Does the Oz TTRPG address this at all?
What a gorgeous book! Thanks for the review!
Death absolutely exists in Oz. In "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz", the Kalidahs fall onto and are dashed to pieces by rocks, the Lion kills a huge spider, and the Tin Woodman kills a wildcat. Even after Lurline enchants the land to limit disease and suffering, people can die to accidents. Dr Pipt killed his wife when he spilled Liquid of Petrification on her (she gets restored.)
The protection seems to only affect humans and intelligent animals. Toto eats some of the people of Bunbury, and a bear and a monkey, probably others I can't remember die in later Baum books in the series.
Ozma says at one point that she's unsure if the enchantment protects those who come to Oz from outside its borders. Eureka (Dorothy's cat) was sentenced to be killed after it was believed she'd eaten a piglet.
@@eitherorlok I'm not surprised that the books aren't consistent. Dorothy kills a witch with her house and another with a bucket of water! On the other hand, I could swear that "no-one feels pain, grows old, or dies" in Oz is specifically stated multiple times throughout the books. And there are areas where that rule definitely applies, like the Tin Woodsman's fleshy body being stitched back together and walking around, or the Nome King still being able to talk through his face piece even after being torn into a hundred pieces. Just wondering if this TTRPG addresses this at all, one way or another.
@@polallenjackson Lurline places her enchantment over Oz in the twelfth of Baum's books, so most of the Baum books didn't work under that assumption. I'm not sure if the later authors kept the rule in place - I've only read the Baum titles.
In Kolbs setting, Ozians practically live forever, but can be killed normally. When a non Ozian dies in Oz the wake up “far far away” and can eventually return.
@@polallenjackson The book doesn't address it at all.
It looks like a good match to Electric Bastionland.
One thing I hate about so many ttrpg books is how they print on the inside cover and the first page. I don't have a place to stick my bookplates/date.
My only disappointment is the lack of the "Woozy" and the "Glass Cat". my 2 favorite characters.
This guy should do Da Land O' Znee, as in Da Znee Land
how is this book compared to adventures in oz, also in 5e.
Maybe this is too much to ask in a TH-cam comment, but can someone explain to me how one would run a point-crawl using this as your resource? For example, I assume you don't just plop players in the world and have them choose a location and then roll on the tables, right? I assume most DMs would still prep a session/campaign with a narrative, but leave many of the encounters to the random tables? So, the players decide to go to x location because they are looking for y NPC. You then use the point crawl to provide possible encounters for either their travels to the place or for the location itself. Is that right?
That’s definitely one way to do it. This assumes a bit more of a character driven campaign (characters with their own goals) and then it offers a lot of major NPC’s with drives and factions with their own drives and gives the players opportunities to plug into those goals as they decide.
The “what’s going on” section gives you the main movements happening in the world that the characters can interact with.
When characters go to a new area and you roll up the encounters, often those will tie into the various factions and what they want.
This won’t support a linear adventure as well (a linear adventure being basically anything WotC or Paizo has produced with a couple of exceptions)
Sorry, for asking about other of your things, but I presume You don't have time to answer comments for older videos. So: as quite a newbe in OSR world, before going all in with your products - especially Knave - I would like to understand what does it mean that Knave is compatible with OSR products? Does it mean I can buy adventure like "The Incandescent Grottoes" or "The Dark of Hot Springs Island" and play it with Knave rules? Or still I have to do some conversions? And what about DnD 5E is it possible to play adventure with stats for 5E with Knave? Or there are other simple rules to play 5E? I love what you do, but would like to be aware what I'm getting into.
OSR games are all pretty similar so it doesn't take too much work to use a setting from one game, borrow optional rules for this other game, or even convert stuff on the fly. I've ran OSR adventures with 5E for instance. It helps to have more experience as a DM, but with practice anyone can do it. Every game has its own quirks, but a lot of the OSR games have free artless versions that you can download to read up on. I hope that helps.
Do OSR books and older editions of D&D have anything like Challenge Rating for monsters and/or encounters?
I just looked through the preview pdf. There doesn’t appear to be any challenge ratings.
@@LiquidFranz I noticed this one didn't in the video, but it made me curious about other OSR works. From a quick glance through Google, they don't seem to have a CR equivalent.
Monsters Hit dice can roughly equate to their challenge level
@@alexanderparker410 thank you
Yooo this is rad. The oz books are one of my special interests-- less the actual books, though, and more the toy that is "all this development is public domain". So this is some of the most up my alley stuff I've ever seen.
The 3+ ed stat bonuses did kind of bum me out.
Unfortunately not really my sort of thing.