I'm toying with the idea of doing a Wizard of Oz horror campaign, think Return to Oz in tone rather than Judy Garland, and looking for ideas.  I'm considering doing a twisted version of Oz as a Domain of Dread with Dorothy as the lord and the players have to seek three magic items based on the Scarecrow's brain, the Tin Man's heart and the Lion's courage on order to bring her down and escape but I've never home brewed a setting or campaign before so not sure if it'll work. Anyone got any ideas or tips?

Sounds super interesting. Here are some of my thoughts. 

You could emphasize the Wizard of Oz's illusions and miscommunication. Giving them plenty of delights and what they want but underneath their is a horrifying reality.

Monkeys have a lot of opportunity for terror. You could play up the creepy powerful image of the flying monkeys. Apes are terrifying because it is super easy to underestimate their strength and savagery, and then you see them unleash their wildness with their gaping grins and wide child-like eyes over trivial matters. 

A lot of the original source material can easily be translated into horror or fear. Look at the chopped up tin man. Just read the original text and emphasize some of the disturbing imagery there. 

One thing to think about, why is Dorothy the lord of the Domain of Dread? Does it have something to do with being lost or trying to make a new home for herself? 

Thanks for the ideas, you're right and the monkeys especially could be terrifying.

I was think Dorothy as the Lord because my players would automatically assume it was Oz or one of the witches and I like the bait and switch. I was thinking that she'd never made it home, that the dark powers refused to let her go because of the murders she'd committed and trapped her in a world that was already a reflection of her subconscious and which has started to decay more and more as she's descended into madness

That makes sense. The bait and switch idea is cool.

Another thing you could use might be tornadoes. Maybe the land is plagued by sudden cyclones that tear across the country, reshaping the landscape and moving people and entire towns to completely other locations. The players would constantly have to be ready to take cover if one appears and they might be transported randomly across the map by accident. They could be a cool environmental hazard to add. 

That’s an amazing idea! Totally stealing that 

Lean into the allegory. The heartless industrialists could be a faction lead by the tin man; the brainless agrarians with the scarecrow and the cowardly leadership with the lion likewise. Also, the production techniques of the filming might offer some direction--wasn't the face paint they used supposed to be toxic? As for Dorothy, I bet there's a lot that can be done with the redness of her slippers... They were diamond slippers until she danced in the blood of her enemies? They're made of ruby because it's the only material that could be the focus of the curse which plagues her to walk on knives? They're red because they're the repository of her blood and she needs to keep them away from her or she'll become mortal again?

Those are some great ideas, thank you 😁

I would personally do a deep dive into the 13 or so books, because they are like a treasure trove of psychotic gold. One thing that would really seem to fit are the race of plant people who grow and harvest humans for food. Hope this helps    :)

Edit: If you do some searching you can find the original concept art for the plant people and their human-headed crops.

There are a lot of great ideas here, but if you are in need of some more inspiration, I recommend reading the original, non sanitized book. Some of that stuff goes DARK. for example, the tin man is tin because he was a lumberjack whos cursed axe would hack him to pieces bit by bit, each time the missing body part replaced with a tin replica that he purchases from the tin maker. Pretty freaky stuff.

I've actually just picked up the full series of books on Kindle (joys of public domain, they're about £1 for all of them) as I'm intending to read through them as prep. I've only ever read the first one before but do remember it being a lot darker than you'd expect from a children's novel with some great monsters that I'm sure I can homebrew stats for

Quote from CunningSmile >>

I've actually just picked up the full series of books on Kindle (joys of public domain, they're about £1 for all of them) as I'm intending to read through them as prep. I've only ever read the first one before but do remember it being a lot darker than you'd expect from a children's novel with some great monsters that I'm sure I can homebrew stats for

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