The OOC comm for the tornado_watch RPG

Hi! Friendly neighborhood mod here. I just wanted to let everyone know a few things.

1. Game Start?

I'm going to give it a week before I actually open the game for play to give those interested time to sign up. Obviously, applications will remain open, but from that point on, you're coming in during the midst of the party.

2. Practice threads?

I'm totally up for them to give your character an idea of Ozians or, if your character is a more 'traditional' Ozian, to help you figure out how your version will sync up with the world we're dealing in for the game. Just ping me and I'm totally there. Also feel free to thread with others in your personal journals to do the same.

3. Point of the game?

There is none? This is a largely freeform game, though there will be some game events that you CANNOT IGNORE. They will be announced here and in the event of specific IC events, in the main comm. Please: if this would affect your character, do not ignore it. As it is, though, while I do have plans for an overarching plot, I will go through this depending on interest and play.

4. Any other quesitons?

...I'm asking you!

[Map of Oz]

The Emerald City

Near Shiz Gate (the North of the City)

• The Red Unicorn [tag: red unicorn] - a rather upscale tavern and inn where City clerks and other upper-middleclass types (and slumming nobles) are often to be found enjoying a meal and a flask of unwatered ale. Proprietor: Almhe Nikadik. Clientèle: primarily Gilikinese with some Munchkinlanders


• Emerald Isle [tag: emerald isle] - the shopping destination for Gilikinese nobles and ladies of taste, this is the main drag of upscale shops. Dresses, jewelry, shopping, Dixxi House porcelains, and all other manner of sparkly things can be found here along with small, tasteful cafes and tea spots. Clientèle: mostly Gilikinese with some affluent Munchkinlander 'refugees' thrown in


• The Emerald City Opera House [tag: opera house] - the ostentatious, overdone, Ozian opera house.

Near South Gate (the South of the City)

• Main Street [tag: main street] - a showy, good-looking run of shops and other nicities right near the southern gate to the city. This is where most of the middle class live and work; the materials and items might not be of the finest quality, but there's pride and consideration taken on every street. The road is usually filled with the multicolored horse carriages (a treat and luxury for those who hire them out for a jaunt) and the shops are reasonably priced though a little stiff for anyone with a blue collar job. Clientèle: primarily well-to-do Munchkinlanders and traders and other business people, many from the Vinkus.


• The Dancing Bear [tag: dancing bear] - a simple, down to earth pub and eatery that caters to the middle to lower class clientèle who just want a quiet drink or a bowl of stew. The waiters are a little slow and the beer is a little watered, but it's not a bad place to spend the time and the atmosphere is inviting enough. Rowdiness is not tolerated but the occasional wedding celebration does take place there. Proprietor: Glockin Prowdkin Clientele: middle class and business types of all stripes.

The Eastern City

• Munchkin Mousehole / The Home Guard Barracks [tag: munchkin mousehole] - a relatively quiet area of the city where the Home Guard are housed. There's a field nearby where the homeless children play with the soldiers to take care of exercise for both. The area isn't particularly affluent, but it's nice enough.


• Square of St. Glinda [tag: st. glinda square] - a fountain not far from a church of the same saint; there are tables and benches to enjoy the place and a few vendors with various seasonal treats year round to be found at the edges.


• The Watered Elf [tag: watered elf] - a wholesomely disreputable pub; the women are cheesy, the beer is watered, but the snacks are good and greasy; not a bad place for a good time.


• The Open-Air Market [tag: open-air market] - a simple open-air market that stands out for having a little of everything as opposed to most of the other markets.

The Western City

• Dirt Boulevard [tag: dirt boulevard] - exactly as it sounds: a street of beggars and con men and thieves. It's not exactly an unpleasant place, but it's not really a pleasant place either. It gets cleaned out regularly by the Home Guard... sometimes with fire.


• The Grey Goose [tag: grey goose] - a genuinely disreputable drinking house; you're as likely to walk out with your purse as not walk out though the owner tries to keep it clean of murders. The waitresses double as whores depending on how much coin you have and how drunk you look but there's no telling if you'll have pants to leave with. Also an inn; locals are left alone, but anyone coming to stay their first night in the City is likely to be robbed.


• The Paper Lantern [tag: paper lantern] - a whorehouse; a rather nice one, as they go, though the rooms and the girls are on a scale to suit any client off the street in the City.


• Spice Alley [tag: spice alley] - a mildly affluent area where the traders who travel through the Vinkus (most originaly from there) keep their homes and sell their earthier wares; it's said that the finest spices in Oz can be found there, but no chef of any consequence would admit to shopping there (even if all of them do).


• The Tin Tub [tag: tin tub] - a local bathouse.


• Mrs. Leatherly's Boarding House [tag: boarding house] - a smallish boarding house kept by an old widow; the food is good, the prices are affordable, and no questions are asked.

Other Tags

• north city streets
  
• south city streets
  
• east city streets
  
• west city streets

Outside the City

• The Yellow Brick Road [tag: yellowbrick road] - the Yellowbrick Road goes out of the South Gate and the North Gate from the Emerald City. To the south, it leads to both Quadling Country and through Munchkinland; to the north, it leads straight to Shiz.


• Shiz [tag: shiz] - the University town north of the Emerald City, complete with everything that university towns are rich in: shops, restaurants, drinking halls, the naughty and the nice.


• The Cloister of St. Glinda [tag: cloister of st. glinda] - a mauntery that was once a military keep; it's known for being a waystation for the way to the west as well as where the Witch spent several years.

Q. What version of Oz are you working from?
A. The short answer is: all of them.

The long answer is that we're drawing from whatever Ozian sources you, the player, bring in as well as what will make for interesting play. Everything from Wicked to Tin Man to The Wiz is up for use. And let's not forget the many amazing characters to be found in Baum's original books and the works of those authors who continued Oz after his death.

Q. But how does that work?
A. Simply this: while characters, plots, stories, events, etc. can be from other sources, we'll be playing in a more 'realistic' Oz, the one portrayed in Gregory Maguire's books. For reference, that means a somewhat magical Industrial steampunk setting with such quirks as Animals who talk and think (though they're in great decline after the Wizard's pogroms and other cruelties) and a sorcery college at Shiz University that offers something like the equivolent of a Liberal Arts degree: useless by itself as no one gets to be a Witch or a Sorceress on education alone. It's a bit more political than that. As far as this game is concerned, the Baum books are Oz through the eyes of a child, seeing a wondrous new world and not really noticing the seedy underbelly that the citizens of Oz have to actually deal with every day. If you need help with this concept, please email or IM me and I'll try to explain further.

Q. Is there a general 'tone' to the game?
A. Dysfunctional. Whimsical. Odd. It's a game of Oz, a quirky and sometimes bizarre sort of place that can be everything from a child's wonderland to a Witch's nightmare. The game will be whatever you bring to it, though. That said, 'canonicity' (your character being IN character) takes precedence over crack: if I notice it intefering with play, I'll probably pull you aside to discuss things with you. Crack is good... as long as it fits into the 'story'; this is a real world, of sorts, and actions have consequences.

Q. In game locations?
A. Check out the locations post.

Q. What if I don't know a thing about Oz? You know, other than the basics with the monkeys and the Witch and the shoes...
A. Would your character? It's a city, much like London during the 1870s; the same style of dress, the same sort of scummy underground (albeit with a bit more magic and whimsy and tik-toks that are a few steps ahead of anything they would have produced back then). I'm not going to bother you about historical inaccuracy; if you can be as accurate as The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen or Van Helsing, I'll be happy. A few locations have been provided in the locations area with brief descriptions (feel free to elaborate as you like) in various parts of the city and if you'd like to have a bit of a trip outside of the City, I would be happy to help run something of an "adventure" for you. Or hey, ask one of the other players! Hence is great RP experience born.

Q. Can my character have read the books/seen the movie/know about Oz before they get there etc.?
A. Certainly! If it would be in character for them to have. But remember as well that sometimes things seen in movies or read in books aren't as true as they might seem. And people really don't like finding out they're fictional. Sometimes with pointy bits.

Q. Can I apply for an Ozian?
A. SURE! That would be awesome, in fact. But please keep in mind the period of time that the game takes place, as well as the chosen 'setting' of the game. If you bring in the Patchwork Girl or Jack Pumpkinhead or anything else, or any one of the characters from the later books, please deal with them appropriate to their time/location in Oz just after The Wonderful Wizard of Oz or the beginning of Son of a Witch as the case may be, which is where the game takes place. If you need a tornado to act as a time travel device (such as if you're apping someone from Tin Man), that's a possibility as well. Just let me know what you're doing.

Q. Can I make up my own locations?
A. Of course! New shops open and close all the time. Just please send me a description and general overview of the shop, the NPCs there, etc, and I'll add it to the locations. It doesn't even have to be more than a couple of sentences; it's just so that other people can play there too. If your character opens a shop, works in one, or runs one, then send me a slightly more detailed description and let me know if you'd like it to be allowed that other's can post in that location or if you'll be holding regular hours for other player's use.

Q. Do I have to get a job?
A. Did you come to Oz with gold stuffed in your pockets? If not, then probably. You could steal your way through things, but we wouldn't recommend it unless you really know what you're doing. You will, eventually, get caught and Southstairs is not to be entered lightly, after all. Feel free to work out your job situation with an NPC but do remember that your character has a job when it comes to RP. They can't go galavanting off into Quadling Country at the first notice if they don't want to lose their livelihood and home! If you're cool with that, though, have fun. Just remember: IC actions = IC consequences.

Q. Slash?
A. Totally cool with it. It's even (Maguire) canon and hey, it's not like Dorothy didn't make friends. *is killed for bad joke* Just remember that this is the equivalent of the 1870s: it might happen, but it sure as hell isn't done in public and getting caught out will not go over well.

Q. Pregnancies? Birth control? Other craziness?
A. Preggers? Fine. But you have to play out the full nine months and then deal with the child afterwards. Treating pregnancy as a fun game (ie, having a couple of miscarriages for convenience) will result in a reprimand, IC and OOC.

Birth control? There are herbs and potions that are readily available as well as 'sheaths' and 'eel skins' for protection.

Medicine? Apothecaries and veterenarians are about what you've got. The doctors aren't half bad but they are expensive.

Q. NPCs?
A. Are fully moddable. Occasionally, a mod-controlled NPC will act if I feel it's called for, or for plot reasons, but for the most part, you're welcome to make up Munchkinlanders and Quadlings and Vinkus-folk and Animals and anything else as you like. There are descriptions of such folks in the locations post. Do remember, though, that this is an RP game; don't forget to talk to other characters!

Q. I've got a question that isn't answered here.
A. That's what the IC/OOC concerns post is for. Leave your comments/questions along with some contact information and I'll be happy to talk to you about whatever it is.