Character Creation: Adventures in Oz

In looking at my project today, I realized that I've only got three games left from the DTRPG charity bundle benefiting the 2010 Pakistan floods. This bundle was really the thing that catapulted this project from "I'll probably finish this up sometime in a year or two" to "this will probably never be finished." Of course, I have significantly fewer demands on my time now, so who knows!

Anyway, the three game I have left from that bundle are Adventures in Oz, Wild Talents 2nd Ed, and Hot War. Of those three, the first seems like it's the simplest to brain (it's the shortest, anyway), and since I've got a couple of other things I want to do today, I'll do that one.

The Game: Adventures in Oz
The Publisher: F. Douglas Wall Productions
Degree of Familiarity: None, and I haven't read the Baum books, either, so I'm a little in the dark here
Books Required: Just the one.

 
OK, having now read through character creation, I was right - this is a damn simple setup (I like that!). My first step is to think about what kind of character I want to play.

As an aside, the first chapter of this book summarizes the history of Oz very, very briefly (kudos to Mr. Wall for brevity), and it is batshit. Like, I'm sure if you summarized Star Wars or any other long-running, beloved series it wouldn't sound any less crazy, of course, but I'm not familiar with the Oz novels. That's neither here nor there, just something that struck me.

So I need to visualize my character. Hmm. Well, one of the things you can do in this game is play an animal, either a large animal (like the Cowardly Lion) or a small animal (like Toto). One of the other things that's important is to think of a reason that this character is adventuring, since denizens of Oz don't really want for anything (they don't get sick, and there's no concept of money).

I want my character to be a wolf. He's seen his cubs grow up and have cubs and new packs have formed. He's seen the various wars come and go between factions of Oz, and he's interested in seeing what's beyond the Gugu Forest. He's simply known as the Elder Wolf.

Next I choose a template, but it's pretty clearly Large Animal. That puts my Size at 4, about the same size as the Cowardly Lion, which is a pretty big wolf, but that's fine.

The templates come with Skills and traits attached, and then I can raise one by 2 and two more by 1. The book says I can, if the GM is good with it, buy other traits or take a negative trait to bring some points back. I already have one negative trait (No Arms), inasmuch as I don't have hands that can do fine manipulation. I think I shall spend 2 to buy Deadly Weapon (Elder Wolf can still bite), pump 1 into Presence to make him impressive and scary, and the last one into...also Presence, because it starts at 1, not 2 like I thought.

Hmm. I actually don't like that, it leaves my Brains at 1. I'm gonna skip Deadly Weapon (Elder Wolf can still bite, but he's gotten old and slow over the years, which is at odds with the notion that things in Oz don't really age, but c'mon, it's in concept). I'll put both of those points into Brains.

And now I get a speciality. I'm gonna say that Elder Wolf's speciality is scent, in Awareness.

And finally, I get a friend (aw). Normally this would be the other PCs, with whom I go adventuring, but since it's just me, I pick the one friend that doesn't go adventuring but is still my buddy. I'll take Gugu the Leopard, the king of the jungle that bears his name. Gugu and Elder Wolf go way back, and Gugu hasn't aged, but Elder Wolf has, and once Gugu asked why. Elder Wolf said, "for there to be cubs, wolves must grow old. For wolves to grow old, they must first be cubs." Gugu doesn't necessarily get it, but he respects Elder Wolf.

Elder Wolf is a huge wolf, with black fur (grey at the muzzle, of course) and deep yellow eyes. He looks quite scary if you see him at night, but really he's a good sort, and once he's decided you're his pack, nothing is going to hurt you if he's there.