Welcome to the World of Oz
World of Oz is a dark fantasy / steampunk reimagining of Baum’s Wizard of Oz books. The game takes influence from the various films (particularly Return to Oz) and the Tinman Miniseries (where we get a lot of our steampunk elements). While canon is respected, we open a lot of the world up to interpretation so players can make their own stories. We highly recommend you speak with a character guide about your concept before committing to anything, as they will be able to best fit you into the lore of the game.
Oz thrives on a community of players who respect improvisational play and a willingness to "roll with the punches", to allow other's creativity to flurish. Physical conflict is resolved through a faily simple "boffer combat" style, using latex foam weapons, foam dart shooters, thrown packets, and boffer safe archery.
Setting
The game is held in the town of Horizon's Stronghold, a small, hilly town that is located in Munchkinland within the Land of Oz. This town is a frequent landing zone for travel storms, which bring Storm Riders - humans brought in from the Outworld to Oz. This makes for a diverse population of Ozian natives and outlanders alike.
In Oz, our chronicles began on May 31st of the Year of Oz 145 (that is to say, May 31st, 2013). In the Outworld, the year is sometime in the 1800's, though Earth's timeline seems to be a little less reliably consistent with Ozian time.
Oz's first game was set only a few years after a pivotal point in history, the fall of the Great Spell. Prior to the fall, death was non-existent in Oz. Those who were mortally wounded, became sick, or grew old either got better or just continued on. Without warning and without knowing why, the spell protecting all Ozians broke and death came crashing down like a tidal wave. 2/3 of Oz's population died in a single day and the survivors were left with the trauma of discovering death in the harshest way possible.
Move forward several years and the denizens continue on finding new meaning and purpose in their changed world.
Rules
You can find the current edition of the rulebook for World of Oz here:
Rules v4.0 (effective as of March 2020) (Download Rules v4.0)
Last updated 2020-03-04
Policies and Procedure
Additional policies and procedures beyond the game mechanics are available here.
Character Creation
The World of Oz encourages creativity and whimsy in all of its players. Before creating your own personal character, we highly recommend contacting our Character Guides to discuss your ideas and make sure your character will fit in and provide a fun game experience.
If you have read the latest version of the rules and spoken with a Character Guide about your concept, please print and fill out two copies of the character sheet linked below: One for you to keep and one for Logistics to keep as a record.
Check-in staff will sync these up each game when you check-in. Player point gains and spends will be tracked in a separate player register.
Additional Resources
One of the game's founding members wrote an excellent introduction to the game, including some tips on gameplay, fitting in with the community, and making the game enjoyable as possible. If you're trying to decide if this is the game for you, give it a read!
Welcome to a World of Whimsy and Dread - an OOG Introduction
We have a thriving and fun community of players and staff on Facebook in our private World of Oz LARP group. It's also a great place to go for important announcements.
If you'd like to connect with us to ask questions, share pictures and memes, and discuss ideas and events, please feel free to request an invite here:
World of Oz LARP Facebook Group
You are also welcome to join our Discord group to chat with staff and players about the game:
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