Introduction and Themes
This guide is a largely spoiler-free guide that talks about the general mechanics of the Colour Out of Oz fan-made campaign made by The Beard. If you're interested in learning what the campaign's unique mechanics are, and hearing suggestions for investigators and cards that are particularly well suited to the campaign, read on!
In The Colour Out of Oz, the investigators are chasing a meteor that they think holds the deadly colour - and when it crash lands in an island in the middle of the ocean, they find themselves in the land of Oz - and meeting many of the characters of the L. Frank Baum books.
General Mechanics
Actions Spent on Treacheries
There's a number of treacheries that hang around in your threat area, and might be low impact - or might be devastating, depending on your character. Likewise, there's treacheries that will force you to move to avoid them. Strategies that require you to devout all your actions to them for maximum effectiveness will suffer - while ones that reward moving, or can create extra actions when needed will be a big help.
Big and Pervasive Enemies
The campaign introduces a new mechanic, Pervasive enemies - which are like Massive enemies, only moreso, as they're at multiple locations at once. In addition to the Pervasive enemies, there's also difficult Elite monsters with a lot of health - prepare to fight enemies who can take multiple turns to take down, and bring weapons that can be used over and over.
Dangerous Locations
There's a lot of things that can make locations bad to stay at - Pervasive enemies, powerful Elites, treacheries that make a location bad to stay at for a period of time, or even just location effects that move you around. Being able to get clues from adjacent locations will be a huge help, as you'll have plenty of reasons to reveal a location and not get all the clues on it.
Direct Damage and Horror
There's a heavy amount of damage and horror, and especially direct damage and horror through the campaign - as well as places to pick up extra trauma. Pack a little more soak and healing than you might otherwise just to be safe.
Evasion Benefits
Having a character who can evade enemies will be extremely helpful - not only will the difficult Elite and Pervasive enemies need to be evaded, there are enemies who will be weakened the turn after they come out, difficult timing for moving around and killing enemies, and treacheries that will only be removed if an enemy is in play at the end of the round.
Flexible Deckbuilding
Not only are there a lot of story assets to add to your deck, there are also weird deckbuilding rules you can take advantage of - go in with a flexible plan and be willing to adapt!
Multiple Goals
Many of the scenarios have multiple goals - some of which will be difficult if all the investigators need to stick together. Anything that will help you split up and tackle multiple different goals will pay off dividends.
Skills
Skill cards are always good, but there's a few points in the campaign where you're specifically rewarded for having skills with lots of icons on them. They might not even have to be the same icons!
Deckbuilding Advice
The suggestions below aren't by any means required, or even characters I've necessarily played the campaign through. Rather, these are just observations of characters who might be particularly well suited to the campaign, including things that might not be top tier, but have a very strong synergy with the campaign mechanics.
Suggested Investigators
Daniela Reyes: If Daniela takes a hit from a Massive or Pervasive enemy, she can exhaust it for the rest of the investigators, provided an effective means to tank them for the enemy phase. She's also got plenty of soak thanks to her survivor deckbuilding, and can make good use of other deckbuilding options.
Leo Anderson: While Leo always has a lot to like, his high soak and good willpower will be a strong help here, as well as his ability to take good rogue weapons. If he chooses to go with big guns, he's got plenty of big targets to use them on.
Minh Thi Fan: Minh's survivor access gives her access to good soak, and her signiature asset can let her support allies who have spread out. She's also able to pull of evades when needed, as long as she has a good skill to commit.
Ursula Downs: Ursula doesn't suffer as much from having to move constantly as other seekers thanks to her character power, and her evasion potential can be greatly helpful for the team.
Finn Edwards: Able to run off on his own, Finn appreciates enemies who need evading as a constant source of Pickpocketing, and he's able to slowly chip them down using Dirty Fighting.
Monterey Jack: When you are forced to move constantly, Monterey can at least profit off of it, and the wide open maps give plenty of places to use his power.
Luke Robinson: The big, often wide maps of Oz are a great place for Luke to his gatebox - his ability to hop around the map also helps with dealing with the many sidequests through the scenarios.
Rita Young: Most fighters aren't great at evading and moving, and Rita is an exception. Dirty Fighting strategies are especially useful against the big enemies, and she can still engage and handle enemies on other characters without being stuck in place.
Wendy Adams: The little girl just fits for Oz, right? Her evasion and investigation capabilities are handy, and her ability to combine survivor soak and rogue extra actions can be a lifesaver.
Notable Player Cards
Hallowed Mirror: The heavy, often direct damage is best countered by healing, and Hallowed Mirror is one of the most powerful healing options.
Scene of the Crime: Pervasive enemies aren't going anywhere, and are often going to be exhausted or evaded - making Scene of the Crime very reliable in several scenarios.
Testing Sprint: Testing Sprint is a great way to get clues on locations you had to run from, and can lead to some very powerful plays.
Existential Riddle: The encounter cards that require an enemy in play at the end of the round to discard are just shut down by Existential Riddle, which can also effectively block many on-kill effects.
Dirty Fighting: There's a frightening number of frightening elite enemies in this campaign, and being able to evade and fight them at the same time is a huge boon.
Scout Ahead: Be it getting away from tough enemies or dangerous locations, or just running to the far off quest goals, Scout Ahead will see a lot of uses in Oz.
Ritual Candles: There's more symbol tokens than normal in the chaos bag as the campaign progresses, although only a few more - they often have low numbers and bad effects, so just a small boost from the Ritual Candles means you can pass defensive tests with them in the mythos phase.
Sacrifice: Some encounter cards may make you want to toss out your assets - profting from doing so is always good!
Alter Fate: There's a lot of encounter cards that stick around, and while many can be dealt with, sometimes you just don't want to do that - Alter Fate provides an easy out.
Track Shoes: Moving an evading are two things that this campaign pushes more than most - so of course Track Shoes are on this list.
More on The Colour Out of Oz:
The Colour Out of Oz: Spoiler-Light Review