The Best Witches’ Besties

It is an undeniable truth that the Witch gets a lot of bad press. Not necessarily within the roleplaying hobby, but from without, for the Witch is seen as a figure of evil, often—though not necessarily—a female figure of evil, and a figure to be feared and persecuted. Much of this stems from the historical witch-hunts of the fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeen, and eighteenth centuries, along with the associated imagery, that is, the crone with the broom, pointy hat, black cat, cauldron, and more. When a Witch does appear in roleplaying, whether it is a historical or a fantasy setting, it is typically as the villain, as the perpetrator of some vile crime or mystery for the player characters to solve and stop. Publisher The Other Side has published a number of supplements written not only as a counter to the clichés of the witch figure, but to bring the Witch as a character Class to roleplaying after being disappointed at the lack of the Witch in the Player’s Handbook for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition. However, there is a tradition of telling stories about witches, often aimed at younger readers, such as in the Harry Potter stories or The Worst Witch series by Jill Murphy, and if your players are fans so either, a book like The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games is probably not going to the most appropriate option. In which case, Tales of the Village from Arion Games might.

Familiars of the Village is a supplement for Tales of the Village which helps to bring to life an aspect of witch life which give every witch a permanent companion who can act as guide, sage, conscience (for good or ill), and friend. A familiar is first defined by its animal type, which can be anything from rabbit, bat, and mouse to guinea pig, tortoise, and hedgehog, but surprisingly does not include owl. Second, it is defined by its Background, which is broken down into Origin, Age, Skill, Trait, and Drawback. Thus, for example, a Familiar’s Origin can be ‘Wild’, meaning that it was raised in the wilderness or ‘Lineage’, meaning that it comes from a long line of Familiars; Age runs from young to old; Skill can be ‘Curiosity’, ‘Talkative’, or ‘Teeth & Claws (Beak& Claws)’; Trait can be ‘Eager’, ‘Healer’, or ‘Wise’; and Drawback can be ‘Apprentice’, ‘Excitable’, or ‘Slow’. Third, a Familiar has five Abilities which are Strength, Speed, Communication, Hiding, and Knowledge. These are either Untrained, Trained, or Master.

Creating a Familiar is a simple matter of choosing an animal type and the different elements of its Background. The player then divides two points amongst the familiar’s Abilities. This can either be to have two that the Familiar is Trained in or one that it is a Master in. If Untrained, a player must roll five or more to generate a Success; if Trained, four or more; and if a Master, three or more. Lastly, the player can give his Familiar a name and as little or as much backstory as is needed. The process is easy enough, but four examples are included.

Where Familiars of the Village gets interesting is in its suggestion as to who might roleplay the Familiars in a game of Tales of the Village. This is the parents of the players, but it could be other responsible adults too. The role of the Familiar is guide and mentor the Witch it is companion to, so not that dissimilar to the role of a parent. The aim is to give advice and make suggestions, but not take the lead, so the young player has room to roleplay and explore without being led or told what to do by a parent. This works better in smaller groups so there is a balance between parents and children, Witches and Familiars.

Unfortunately, there is no real advice on how to run such a situation and no doubt that such advice would have been useful for both veteran roleplayers and those new to the hobby. Similarly, there are no scenario ideas or writing advice for scenarios involving Witches and their Familiars. Given that the Familiar Character Sheet is printed twice, this is a major omission.

Physically, Familiars of the Village is neatly and tidily presented. It is lightly illustrated, but the artwork is cute.

Just as Tales of the Village is not an introductory roleplaying game, the ideas suggested by Familiars of the Village are not introductory either. They can be worked through by an experienced Game Master, but anyone else is left to their devices when it comes to implementing them in play. The means for creating Familiars for Tales of the Village are fine, but everything else could have done with a page or two of advice and scenario ideas, leaving Familiars of the Village underdeveloped.

The Best Witches

The witch is not what it once was. Once, it was a figure of evil, often—though not necessarily—a female figure of evil, and a figure to be feared and persecuted. Much of this stems from historical witch-hunts, along with the associated imagery, that is, the crone with the broom, pointy hat, black cat, cauldron, and more. More contemporary treatments have been more balanced and also of telling stories about witches often aimed at younger readers, such as in the Harry Potter stories or The Worst Witch series by Jill Murphy. In roleplaying this is reflected in supplements like those from The Other Side which explore different interpretations of the witch that run counter to the clichés and bring the Witch as a character Class to roleplaying after being disappointed at the lack of the Witch in the Player’s Handbook for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition. However, such supplements such as The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games are best suited for mature players. For younger players, there is Tales of a Village, an introductory roleplaying game published by Arion Games, in which each Player Character is a young witch, living in a small, rural village, helping out with day-to-day tasks, but also helping the sick, finding lost animals, and dealing with such threats as greedy bandits, mischievous faeries, and scary ghosts! Or at least they aspire to do so, because being young, they show plenty of promise, but have only recently graduated as fully fledged witches.

To create Witch, a player rolls first for her Background, which explains what her parents do and grants her an appropriate skill. For example, the daughter of weavers learns Clothworking, whilst if the parents are castle guards, the Witch knows Brawling as a skill. A second roll determines how she became a Witch, such as a local witch shouting and pointing at the aura around the young Witch or because the Witch’s memory proved to be so good that a witch took her on immediately. Whatever way in which the Witch became a Witch, she is granted a random ability, and then two more, one from the training she receives from her Witch teacher and another from a life-changing event towards the end of her training.

Name: Ottilie

Class: Witch

Background: Minstrels

Skill: Entertainment

How Did You Start: Drove a mischievous faerie away

Teacher: conventional Witch

Event: Lifted a cure of locusts

Gift: Broomstick

Abilities: Naturebond, Potion Making, Shapechange

All of the backgrounds and events as well as the skills and abilities are nicely expanded upon and clearly explained. In the case of the abilities, there are some examples of their is too and the Witch creation process is supported with an example too.

Mechanically, Tales of the Village is simple. To have her Witch undertake an action, her player rolls three six-sided dice. Each result of five or six is counted as a Success. One Success is required if the task is Awkward, such as catching a pig; two Successes are required if the task is Difficult, like catching a sheep; and three Successes are required if the task is Very Difficult, such as catching a goat or wild hill sheep. This represents a Witch who is untrained, but if a Witch is trained in a skill, her player only has to roll four, five, or six to succeed, and if the skill or ability is mastered, her player only has to roll three, four, five, or six to succeed. The advice for failure suggests that it need not be absolute, and that if a player rolls Successes, but not enough to succeed, her Witch might get half way there or do most of a task, and so on. The consequences for failure comes into play in when the Witch loses in a mental, physical, or social contest. In which case, the player ticks a box on either the mental, physical, or social track. On each track, the Witch starts at Fine, but will go from Fine to Shaken to Beaten to Defeated. It is up to the player to roleplay most of these conditions, but if ever one of the tracks is reduced to Defeated, the Witch has failed at the adventure!

The advice for the Storyteller Guide  is simple and straightforward. This is to set up minor challenges, a mix of challenges related or unrelated to bigger challenges, and even the main challenge. Overcoming such challenges should not wholly rely upon the Witches’ skills and abilities, but allow for player ingenuity and roleplay. The more minor challenges that the Witches overcome or deal with, the easier it should be to confront and deal with the main challenges. Unfortunately, there is no advice on running Tales of the Village for the specific age range it is intended for, and what this means is that the roleplaying game relies upon the experience of the Storyteller Guide more than anything else.

In terms of support, the Storyteller Guide is provided with a scenario, ‘Goblin Rings’. It is set in a happy, fairly ordinary village except that it is home to the Witches and there are unseen threats roundabout. The scenario consists of a series of small events, such as a child being sick or sheep going missing, the child being a sickly green in colour and there being no trace of the sheep. As the Witches solve each problem, they earn Success Points, and these can be used to ease the final confrontation against the villain responsible for the situation. None of the problems are overly challenging, should not take too long to play through before the final encounter, and is thus suitable for play by its intended audience. ‘Goblin Rings’ is a charming scenario with a fairy-tale feel that its audience will enjoy.

Physically, Tales of the Village is neatly and tidily presented. It is lightly illustrated, but the artwork is certainly cute.

In the strictest of senses, Tales of the Village is not an introductory roleplaying game, one that anyone new to the hobby can pick up and start playing. It is, as intended, best suited to be run by someone who has some roleplaying experience and can therefore run the game for the intended audience—younger players who like witches and fairy tales. Yet as playable and runnable as it is, it is underwritten in places and the lack of advice on running roleplaying games with a younger audience is disappointing. And, of course, once the scenario is played through, the Storyteller Guide will need to write some more, and again, the advice to that end is underwhelming. Overall, Tales of the Village is a serviceable roleplaying game that does what it sets out to do and does it with a little charm, but it feels like it could have done a little more.