Dark Designs in Verdigris

It found the Wizard and brought him here, found Dorothy and brought her along, too. You did not plan for Oz to take you, but then there were cyclones, angry mobs, gunfire, storms at sea, holes in the world you thought would bury you. And then you flew, and you belonged to Oz. Your monochrome life was over for good.

Queen Ozma reigned with her consort Dorothy by her side. The Emerald City gleamed with color and sunlight, and you found a home. You had adventures. You learned a little witchcraft. You had people to love like a family.

But Ozma vanished, Dorothy fled, and Oz fell. The green and glistening ruins are all that remain of The Emerald City, and the lands surrounding it have become The Wastes. Now you live in Verdigris, the cavernous, sunless capital of Oz Below. 

Dark Designs in Verdigris is a game about what's left of the Emerald City, long after Oz fell. It first appeared in Codex Emerald in 2019, and got a follow-up piece in Codex Childhood later that year.  The game is a single-move PbtA system inspired by World of Dungeons and Offworlders. In 2020, DDiV was nominated for an IGDN Groundbreaker Award for best setting.

Check out the hack Dark Designs in Krevborna for the Krevborna setting.

The text of Dark Designs in Verdigris is available under a CC-BY 4.0 license.