Memory & Magic

The coven is where the sisterhood is safe, where memories can be made, where its members can rejoice in the company of each other, where threats can be faced together, and dangers overcome, even if that is at the cost of memories. For memories represent power. But give up too many memories, use too much power, and the afterlife may become a dark and evil existence. This is the underlying story to Last Sabbath, a storytelling game of the history of a coven of witches and warlocks. The history will take them from their calling and formation of the coven through the appearance of a threat which imperils the coven, the discovery of how that threat can be defeated, and ultimately a confrontation with that threat and the aftermath of that confrontation. As the history progresses, the events and Memories are recorded in a diary. To defeat the threats and dangers they may face, the Witches may draw upon these Memories or their life sources to power charms, spells, and incantations. As a result, they will lose the Memories or age minutes, hours, or years, and potentially die in the process. They will have an existence in the afterlife, but the number of Memories lost determines the nature of that existence. A few and the Witch will return as a familiar to the next generation, too many and the Witch becomes an evil ghost!

Last Sabbath is from the Italian publisher, Officina Meningi. It is very rules light and can be played as a group or solo, and is designed to be played without a Game Master. As a solo roleplaying game, Last Sabbath is a journalling game, whereas in a group, the journal, or diary, is shared. It is played over the course of seven Scenes—‘The Calling’, ‘Initiation’, ‘Danger’, ‘Research’, ‘Revelation’, ‘Threat’, and ‘Epilogue’—which takes the Witches through their story and the story of the coven. There is no setting beyond the fact that there is a coven and a threat, the players being free to create their own during the first scene, whether that is Witches at a school of magic, a coven fleeing the Salem witch trials, or modern day coven protecting a small town.

The Scenes are further subdivided into Rounds, either three, five, or seven, depending upon the length of game that the players want to play. Each Scene is driven by three Leading Questions and six Prompts, the latter intended to be rolled on a six-sided die, or alternatively a Divination, of which four methods are given. The push here is to use the Divination means as six prompts is not enough and does not offer enough variability for repeat play. The Divination can also be used as means to suggest a resolution also. In each Round, the players take it in turns to narrate the Story from their Witches’ perspective, inspired by the Prompt or Divination. Interaction between the players and Witches is limited, a player and Witch only able to respond directly to the narration of another player and Witch when it is their turn. At the end of her narration for a Round, a player notes a Record of it in the diary, and at the end of the Scene, the player marks one of these Records, whether it is personal or pertains to the whole coven, as a Memory. As the coven faces greater dangers and the threat, these memories can be consumed to cast ever increasing more effective magic—Charms, Spells, and Incantations. Casting an Incantation has the greatest effect, such as regenerating the whole of a burned down forest, exorcising an ancient evil, or sending another Witch through time, but also the greatest cost, either terms of Memories or the Witch’s life itself. It represents the greatest sacrifice and will likely come in the penultimate Scene, ‘Threat’, when the coven will confront the danger at the heart of their story. The ‘Epilogue’ has only one Round, in which the players each narrates what happens to their Witches, including those who died, in a single Record.

The last quarter of Last Sabbath is devoted to divination methods. Four are given—Tarot, Rune Stones, Mikado, and Tea Leaves—along with instructions on how to use them and then interpret the readings as prompts for each scene. Some are easier to use than others, and some will take longer to use and interpret, and so may slow game play down. The latter is less of an issue in solo play, but in group play, it may become a problem. The Tarot cards are likely to be more familiar and easier to interpret, whilst the Runes are more flexible and open to interpret. The Mikado is likely the least familiar and will take some adjusting to. Which leaves the Tea Leaves, the most ambiguous and most open to interpretation, but also the most charming and relaxing since it involves making tea in a teapot and drinking the tea to find the results. All include examples of interpretations. What might have been useful is a bibliography of books consulted for these methods. That said, they offer a greater variability than most journalling games do, since the prompts they provide are open to wider interpretation.

Although Last Sabbath is described as being suitable for being played as a solo journalling game, this aspect of its play is not explored beyond a single paragraph. The lack of advice on this and other aspects of play is disappointing. Last Sabbath is not a long roleplaying game, especially given that its lats quarter is given over to alternative, but thematically appropriate means of generating prompts. Arguably, one of these means could have been dropped in favour of more advice and support, especially for solo play. Or simply, the page count increased from forty-eight to sixty plages.

Physically, Last Sabbath is boldly presented in splashes of red and black with stunning artwork. The artwork really is good, but it does not always feel appropriate. The artist—Loputyn—is noted as being part of the Lolita fashion moment, and this is reflected in the art style of Last Sabbath. It means that the witches depicted are young, and often nude. The artwork is not explicit, but because it only depicts the Witches as young girls and not a wide range of ages, the look of the roleplaying game does lean towards the prurient. This is in contrast to the writing which states that the Player Characters can be warlocks as well as witches and that each player is free to decide who her witch is. As a consequence, there is a dissonance between what Last Sabbath is about and how it looks, such that it is either going to put off the audience it is intended for or attract the attention of an audience for whom it was not intended.

Where Last Sabbath is at its best is in the inclusion of its four real-world divination tools as a means of creating prompts and driving the story forward, as they bring a physicality and a verisimilitude to the play and give the players something to interact with. Yet ultimately, Last Sabbath is underwritten as a roleplaying game and definitely as a solo journalling game. It does not provide enough structure or advice on how to set-up or play the game, relying instead upon the players to provide that, giving them more work than is really necessary. With that in mind, Last Sabbath is best suited experienced players who can overcome its issues.

The Best Witches

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 might be.

Tales of the Village is an introductory roleplaying game published by Arion Games, best known for reprinting the Elizabethan-era Maelstrom and its other iterations, such as Maelstrom Domesday. The roleplaying game is intended to be played by younger players, aged between seven and twelve, but run by an experienced Game Master. 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.

Miskatonic Monday #314: The Arkham Witch Trials of 1693

Much like the Jonstown Compendium for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and The Companions of Arthur for material set in Greg Stafford’s masterpiece of Arthurian legend and romance, Pendragon, the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition is a curated platform for user-made content. It is thus, “...a new way for creators to publish and distribute their own original Call of Cthulhu content including scenarios, settings, spells and more…” To support the endeavours of their creators, Chaosium has provided templates and art packs, both free to use, so that the resulting releases can look and feel as professional as possible. To support the efforts of these contributors, Miskatonic Monday is an occasional series of reviews which will in turn examine an item drawn from the depths of the Miskatonic Repository.

—oOo—

Name: The Arkham Witch Trials of 1693
Publisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Duncan Heystek

Setting: Arkham, New England
Product: Scenario
What You Get: Twenty-one page, 1.37 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Suffer the children to come unto the hands of Keziah Mason
Plot Hook: “How do you know she is a Witch?” – Sir Bedevere, Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Plot Support: Staging advice, five pre-generated Investigators, four NPCs, one Mythos tome, three Mythos spells, and five Mythos monsters
Production Values: Execrable

Pros
# Perfect for the Keeper who likes to modify (or rewrite) her scenarios
# Potentially interesting setting
# Wiccaphobia
# Hylophobia
# Autophobia

Cons
# Claims to have been edited
# Needs a clear explanation for the Keeper to understand
# Does involve the slave status
# Wanders into a random discussion of a 19th century detective agency
# Minimalist background

Conclusion
# Almost unreadable, let alone playable
# Difficult to tell if the witch or the Keeper is on trial
# Reviews from R’lyeh Discommends

Solitaire: Apothecaria

The two previous titles from Blackwell Games have been full of bombast and action and flame and more, all set underground. Both DELVE: A Solo Map Drawing Game and RISE: A Game of Spreading Evil are map drawing games played solo, the counter parts of each other, in which the player draws and builds, populates and defends, and explores and exploits a network of caves, tunnels, and chambers. In DELVE, this is as a Dwarven Overseer digging down to expand their hold, whilst in RISE, it is as Dungeon Keeper, digging and expanding upwards to reach the surface. Apothecaria: Solo Potion Making RPG is different. First, Apothecaria is a Journaling roleplaying game in which the player will write-up and develop the events as they occur during their play through of the game. Second, there is no map involved in Apothecaria. Third, Apothecaria is definitely set above ground (mostly). Fourth, the theme to Apothecaria is pleasingly rustic.

In the Apothecaria: Solo Potion Making RPG, the player takes the role of a Witch who has recently inherited the position in the village of High Rannoc, after the previous incumbent disappeared. The primary role of the witch in High Rannoc is to find cures for ailments and lift curses suffered by its often sickly, accident prone, or simply unlucky villagers. One might have a Magnetic Thumb due to an abundance of iron in their blood, be Frogified and have wartylips from kissing too many frogs in case one of them turned into a prince or princess, suffering from Druidic Madness after spending too much time in stone circles and become obsessed with them and want to build them everywhere to everyone’s annoyance, or be infected with Phodothropy and turn into a monstrous hamster at the full moon, constantly walls and fences. No matter the affliction, there is a cure and the Witch can find it and concoct it with some effort. Fortunately, the Old Witch left some rather rambling notes, which the new Witch is really going to need as they are new to the profession.

Apothecaria: Solo Potion Making RPG is thus a game about helping people. It is also a game about becoming a better Witch—mostly by have better equipment, facilities, and helpers; a game about exploration for many of the Reagents needed to mix up a potion, a poultice, or a salve, have to be found; and ultimately, a game about a mystery—what happened to the Old Witch and where are they now? All a player will need to become the new Witch of High Rannoc is a journal, a good pen, some scrap paper, and an ordinary deck of playing cards. Over the course of four seasons, each thirteen weeks in length, the Witch will be visited again and again by the inhabitants of High Rannoc (hopefully not the same inhabitant, because that would be, well, weird…) afflicted by a random ailment or injury, and the Witch will use Reagents to create a cure. Depending upon the season, the Reagents will come from particular regions and the Witch will need to forage for them. Travelling between regions and foraging takes time, which can be a problem as some ailments have a time limit. If the Witch cannot successfully forage for Reagents and mix up a potion in time, there will be consequences—and even if an ailment has no time limit and thus no consequences, if a Witch takes too long, their reputation suffers. The Witch should also check to see if the Reagents add Sweetness or Poison to the potion. They counter each other, but Sweetness increases the price a Witch can charge, whilst Poison reduces it.

To determine an Ailment, the Witch draws a card. Each Ailment has a name, Tags which refer to the type of Reagent required to make up the potion cure and a number of Stars which must be matched by the Reagents found in order to counter the symptoms. If the Ailment has a Timer value, representing the number of turns the Witch has to find the Reagents and mix up the potion, it will also have a consequence. The Witch then identifies Reagents which match the Tags for the Ailment and where they will be found. Once known, the Witch travels to the region and begins to forage. Each forging attempt reduces the Timer for Ailment by one and the Consequence will be triggered if it is reduced to zero. To forage, the Witch draws another card. This has a dual use. First, it refers to an event which happens before the forage attempt is made, and second, the value of the card is compared to the value of the Reagent being foraged for. If it is, the Witch is successful and can either look for the second Reagent (or another Reagent if the Ailment has no timer), travel to another region to forage, or return home to High Rannoc to mix up the potion.

For example, Herschel the Hound Master comes to the Witch with bad breath—very bad breath. In fact, Herbert’s mouth reeks like a tavern’s privy. The Witch diagnoses Cludgie Mouth, a curse laid upon him by a Bog Goblin! It is listed as a Curse and an Infection, and has a Timer of Six. The Witch consults the few books left behind by their predecessor and determines that the potion requires a Star Shard for the Curse from Moonbreaker Mountain and Slime Shell for Infection from Meltwater Loch.

The Witch travels to Moonbreaker Mountain. There she draws her first card—a five. Checking the event list for Moonbreaker Mountain, they discover that a hot air balloon lands beside them and the balloonist offers the Witch a lift to anywhere they want. This increases the Timer value by one to seven. The Witch then searches for the Star Shard. The value of the Star Shard that the card needs to equal or beat is five, and the card does that. The Witch is successful in her first foraging attempt and reduces the Timer back down to six. Next, the Witch takes the balloonist up on their offer and together they travel to Meltwater Loch. This reduces the Time to five.

On the shores of Meltwater Loch, the Witch draws another card. This time it is an Ace and the Witch has discovered a set of strange footprints along the beach. This distracts them and so the Witch does not find any Slime Shell. One is added to their Forage value in this turn. If the Forage Value rises to the value of the Reagent needed, the Witch will automatically find it. However, the Witch does not have the time for that to happen as the Timer is reduced to four. They draw another card for their next Foraging attempt. This time it is a Queen. That is definitely high enough for the Witch to find the Slime Shell, but they also find a bottle containing a strange message, complete with instructions on how to reply. With the Timer reduced to three, the Witch returns to High Rannoc, where they use the mortar and pestle to crush the Star Shard and add the Shell Slime raw to the potion. The Witch hands the concoction, newly named the Potion of Orifical Serenity. Herschel the Hound Master burps once and with that the stench of the privy is gone. He readily pays the Witch the twenty silver pieces and vows never to get into an argument with a Bog Goblin again.

In addition to attempting to cure an Ailment, a Witch also has a period of Downtime each week. This also has a Timer of six, so if the Witch spends too much time doing other things rather than curing the villagers, the Witch’s reputation also suffers! These downtime activities might include going to dinner with a friend, going on an adventure in a dungeon, or just going out foraging in readiness for the next week’s patient and their Ailment, whomever and whatever that is. The Witch can also visit High Rannoc, perhaps to hire an adventurer at the Copper Fox Tavern who will negate an event, visit the Lunar Tower to attune their equipment and make the next foraging attempt easier, or even purchase Reagents at the local store, Bits & Bobs. In the future, when they have earned enough silver, the Witch can upgrade their cottage and its facilities, such as installing a Hive for the honey to add sweetness to potions, building a Treatment Room which increase the price of any potion and the Timer for any Ailment, or install a Travel Stone so that the Witch can travel back and forth between two locations with reducing the Timer. The Witch can buy better equipment, such as a Wand necessary to forage for certain Reagents, or a coracle needed to travel to the Blastfire Bog. This opens up new areas to Forage and thus experience events in. Similarly, the Witch could also summon a Familiar who will help them.

A festival, such as the Flower Festival at the end of spring or the Frostfall Festival at the end of the year. These are worth participating in, as they can gain the Witch benefits which will last long after the event. For example, if crowned the King/Queen of Flowers, the Witch receives the Flower Crown and will find it easier to find Plant Reagents. In addition, if a Joker is drawn at any time, or not drawn at all during a season, the Witch learns a clue about the whereabouts of their predecessor. There are four tables of clue’s relating to the predecessor’s disappearance and the Witch will draw from all of these over the course of the game and its year.

Throughout this, the player not only takes notes, but develops a narrative based on the cards they have drawn, the efforts of their Witch, and events and all of their outcomes. It is not just a matter of how and where the Witch found a particular Reagent, but also what happened as the result of each region’s events. So for example, the player whose Witch encountered and travelled with the balloonist would describe the balloon journey and what happened on it, whilst when the Witch found the message in the bottle, they could have simply thrown it back into the lot, but also replied to the message. In which case, the player can write down the nature of the message and also what the Witch wrote in reply. The player is also free to ignore this or any aspect of the rules if it impedes the telling of the Witch’s story.

Apothecaria: Solo Potion Making RPG is a solo, procedural roleplaying with a lovely theme, that you can just sit down and play at your leisure. However, it is not that easy. Not necessarily because of the mechanics, but more due to the layout of Apothecaria: Solo Potion Making RPG. It is partly written in the character of the Witch’s predecessor and partly not, and it gives the game a slightly disjointed feel. Plus, it does not always explain fully how the game is played or indeed in the right place in the book. Perhaps clearer or fuller examples of play might have alleviated this. What it means is that the player will need to work back and forth through the pages of Apothecaria: Solo Potion Making RPG to really grasp quite what they should be doing.

Physically, Apothecaria: Solo Potion Making RPG is nicely presented. It is lightly, but decently illustrated, and barring the issues raised above, an enjoyable read.

Inspired by films such as Howl’s Moving Castle and Spirited Away, Apothecaria: Solo Potion Making RPG possesses a warmth and cosiness which the designer’s other roleplaying games lack. With its feminine charm and relaxing play style, Apothecaria: Solo Potion Making RPG is a genuinely lovely little roleplaying game. Perfect with a fountain pen, a nice hot cup of tea, and a long afternoon in front of any prospective Witch.

Which Witch VI

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. Each of these supplements draws upon more historical interpretations of the Witch—sometimes to counter the clichés, sometimes to enforce them—and presents her as a playable character Class. Each book is published under the label of ‘Basic Era Games’, and whilst the exact Retroclone each book is written to be used with may vary, essentially, they are all compatible. Which means that the Game Master can mix and match traditions, have player characters from matching traditions, and so on.

The first book in the series, Daughters of Darkness: The Mara Witch for Basic Era Games is designed for use with Goblinoid Games’ Labyrinth Lord and presents the Witch as dedicated to the Mara Tradition, that of the Dark Mother—Lilith, the First Woman, the First Witch, and the Mother of Demons. The second book in the series is The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games, which was written for use with Dreamscape Design’s Blueholme Rules, the retroclone based on the 1977 Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set designed by J. Eric Holmes, and which focused on not so much as ‘Evil’ or Chaotic witches, but upon the Classical traditions of Egypt, Greece, Phoenicia, Rome, and Sumeria. Again, Cult of Diana: The Amazon Witch for Basic Era Games, the next and third entry in the line presents a different take upon the Witch, whilst the fourth, The Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition, presents another different and very modern—if slightly silly—take upon the Witch. The fifth entry, The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition, is written for use with Old School Essentials: Classic Fantasy, Necrotic Gnome’s interpretation and redesign of the 1981 revision of Basic Dungeons & Dragons by Tom Moldvay and its accompanying Expert Set by Dave Cook and Steve Marsh. It focuses on believers in ‘The Old Ways’, of ancient gods and practices with a strong belief in the supernatural and a strong connection to the natural world and the cycle of its passing seasons.

The Warlock is part of the series of books published by The Other Side exploring the place and role of the witch in the Old School Renaissance, but is in many ways different to those explorations. What it is not, is the presentation of the ‘male’ counterpoint to the witch, since that is not what a warlock is. Nor is it the exploration of an archetypal figure from history and its adaptation to gaming. Instead, it presents a wholly different Class, very much more of fantasy figure, somewhere between the Cleric, the Magic-User, and the Witch. In some cases hated figure—hated because they are believed to have dealings with the infernal, hated because they are believed to be evil, and hated because they steal spells. There is truth in all of that, but there is much more to this figure, as detailed in The Warlock, a companion to The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition and also written for use with Old School Essentials: Classic Fantasy.

As a Class, the Warlock is a spell-caster who like the Witch has a patron. Now whilst the Witch worships her patron and her relationship with her patron is more divine in nature, the Warlock has more of an equal relationship with his Patron or is the student to the Patron’s teacher. A witch will typically worship a goddess and whilst a warlock may have a deity as a patron, he may also have a lost god, a demon, a devil, a dragon, a lord of the fae, or even with the cosmos, death, or chaos itself. The magic and spells of the Witch are primarily divine in nature, but for the Warlock, they are arcane in nature. The fundamental difference between the spell-casting Classes is that Clerics pray for their power and spells, Magic-Users study for their powers and spells, and the Warlock takes it.

In mechanical terms, the Warlock starts with the ability to unleash an Arcane Blast at will and a familiar. Unlike the Witch, this familiar is not a spirit in animal guise, but an actual spirit, so immaterial and unable to attack or be attacked. The Warlock player is free to describe what form the familiar takes, though ideally it should be something associated with his Patron. So if a Warlock’s Patron is the cosmos, it could be miniature star; death itself or a god of death, a floating skull; the devil, a miniature imp; and so on. Fundamental to the Warlock is the Pact he enters with his Patron. The Warlock presents four types of Pacts. These are Chaos, Cosmic, Death, and Dragon. There is some flexibility in how a Pact can be interpreted, so a Cosmic Pact could be with the stars, something beyond the stars, celestial beings, or something chthonic.

Not only will the Warlock learn his spells from his Patron, he will gain Invocations, spell-like powers that enable to do great magical deeds, but without the need for the study that that the Magic-User would require or the need for the Cleric to pray. Arcane Blast is an Invocation, but The Warlock lists some fifty or so further Invocations. They include a mix of those which can be selected by any Warlock and then those tied to a particular Patron. So, Armour of Shadows, which lets a Warlock cast Mage Armour at-will, and Eldritch Sight, which allows him to cast Detect Magic just as freely, are both general Invocations. Whereas Claws of the Ghoul is a Third Level Invocation which gives a Warlock clawed unarmed attacks and a chance to paralyse an opponent and requires a Death Pact, whilst Form of the Dragon requires a Dragon Pact and allows a Warlock to change into a dragon-like creature once per day.

Liang Yun
Second Level Warlock
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Pact: Draconic (Green Dragons: Dziban)

STR 12 (Open Doors 2-in-6)
INT 14 (+1 Language, Literate)
WIS 10 
DEX 17 (+2 AC, Missile, +1 Initiative)
CON 13 (+1 Hit Points)
CHR 15 (+1 NPC reaction, Max. 5 Retainers, Loyalty 8)

Armour Class: 13 (Leather)
Hit Points: 7
Weapons: Dagger, Staff
THAC0 20

Languages: Draconic, Mandarin

Invocations
Arcane Blast, Claws of the Dragon

Spells: (Cantrips) – Aura Reading, Guiding Star, Message, Object Reading; (First Level) – Read Magic, Spirit Servant, Taint

Familiar: Mingyu

In terms of spells, The Warlock lists almost eighty. A very few, like Augury, will be familiar, but most feel new and different. For example, Wailing Lament causes the target to wail and sob uncontrollably for an hour, Moon Touched is a plea to the Moon to silver and make magical a weapon which will now glow faintly of moonlight, and Poisonous Stare with which a Warlock can poison a target, forcing them to lose both Hit Points and Constitution! Now none of the spells are keyed to a particular Pact, which would perhaps have made designing or creating a particular type or themed Warlock easier by both Game Master or player. This then is perhaps a missed opportunity, so a player or Game Master creating a Warlock will need to pick and choose with care what spells suit their Warlock.

In addition to the Warlock’s own spells, the Class has two other types of spells. First, the Class can learn Magic-User spells—something which annoys Magic-Users and gives the Warlock the reputation for stealing spells. Second, The Warlock also adds Cantrips, or Zero-Level spells. Some thirteen of the spells in the supplement are Cantrips. For example, Aura Reading enables a Warlock to read the auras of those around them, determining their Alignment, health, magical nature (or not), and whether or not they have been cursed; Guiding Star enables a Warlock to guide himself in complete darkness or if blind; and Quick Sleeping makes a willing victim fall asleep. Lastly, the spells are listed by the other spellcasting Classes for Old School Essentials—Clerics, Druids, Illusionists, and Magic-Users—so that the contents of The Warlock can be used with the wider rules.

Unlike other titles devoted to the Witch by The Other Side, The Warlock does not include any new monsters, or monsters at all. It does however, add twenty or magical items. A few are keyed to particular Pacts, such as the Astrolabe of Fate, which grants a Warlock with a Cosmic Pact or an astrologer a +1 bonus to a single roll three times a day, but most are simply valued by Warlocks. A Dragontooth Charm provides a +1 saving throw versus the dragon breath of one type of dragon; a Hat of Spell Storing is valued by Illusionists, Magic-Users, and Warlocks for its capacity to store multiple levels of spells; and the Witch Whistle summons an army of rats, giant rats, or even wererats, depending on the songs known. Some are quite fun, such as the Rod of the Fire Mountain Warlock, which increases the die type of fire type spells and is surely a nod to The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, the Fighting Fantasy solo adventure book, whilst every Warlock will want to obtain the Staff of the Warlock, the equivalent of the Magic-User’s Staff of Wizardry.

Lastly, where the Witch Class has the Coven, a gathering of witches, typically to worship their patron goddess, the Warlock Class has the Lodge. These are secret orders where Warlocks can meet and study, typically belong to one type of Pact, or allied Pacts. The Warlock details four such lodges, of which only the one is not essentially ‘evil’. This is problematic, for although the Warlock as a Class can create his own Lodge, the lack of wider examples means a lack of choice, a lack of roleplaying opportunities, and a lack of something for the Player Character Warlock to aspire to.

Physically, The Warlock comes as a digest-sized book as opposed to the standard size for the other titles in the series. This is intentional, since it keeps it keeps it the same size as the rest of the Old School Essentials line. The book is generally well written and the artwork is decent, but some elements could have been better organised. In particular the Invocations are listed alphabetically and not by Pact type or Level, so it makes choosing them that little bit more of an effort. Further, an appendix lists both spells and cantrips alphabetically and by Level and gives page numbers, but for the Invocation there is just a simple alphabetical listing.

The Class presented in The Warlock may be slightly too powerful in comparison to other Classes for Old School Essentials because the Warlock has a lot of powers that he can freely use, whereas all of the other spellcasting Classes have to work at their magic and so their players have to work at playing their magic. Further, although there are a lot of ideas and options in The Warlock, they could have been better organised and better developed to give a player a wider choice in how he builds and plays his Warlock character. Work around these issues though and The Warlock present a Class which looks to be fantastic and fun to play.

Which Witch V

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. Each of these supplements draws upon more historical interpretations of the Witch—sometimes to counter the clichés, sometimes to enforce them—and presents her as a playable character Class. Each book is published under the label of ‘Basic Era Games’, and whilst the exact Retroclone each book is written to be used with may vary, essentially, they are all compatible. Which means that the Game Master can mix and match traditions, have player characters from matching traditions, and so on.

The first book in the series, Daughters of Darkness: The Mara Witch for Basic Era Games is designed for use with Goblinoid Games’ Labyrinth Lord and presents the Witch as dedicated to the Mara Tradition, that of the Dark Mother—Lilith, the First Woman, the First Witch, and the Mother of Demons. The next book in the series is The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games, which was written for use with Dreamscape Design’s Blueholme Rules, the retroclone based on the 1977 Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set designed by J. Eric Holmes, and which focused on not so much as ‘Evil’ or Chaotic witches, but upon the Classical traditions of Egypt, Greece, Phoenicia, Rome, and Sumeria. Again, Cult of Diana: The Amazon Witch for Basic Era Games, the next and third entry in the line presents a different take upon the Witch, whilst the fourth, The Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition, presents another different and very modern—if slightly silly—take upon the Witch. The fifth entry again draws upon another tradition.

The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition is written for use with Old School Essentials: Classic Fantasy, Necrotic Gnome’s interpretation and redesign of the 1981 revision of Basic Dungeons & Dragons by Tom Moldvay and its accompanying Expert Set by Dave Cook and Steve Marsh. Like the other titles in the series, it starts by presenting the same version of the Witch Class as in Daughters of Darkness: The Mara Witch for Basic Era Games, The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games, Cult of Diana: The Amazon Witch for Basic Era Games, and The Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition. What this means is that from one book to the next, this Class is going to serve as a template for the rest of the other supplements devoted to the Witch from The Other Side. So the Witch is a spellcaster capable of casting Witch spells and Witch rituals—a mixture of arcane and divine spells, has Occult Powers including herbal healing, many are reluctant to cast ‘black’ or evil magic, many are of Lawful Alignment, and have answered the Call of their Goddess (or other patron).

The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition focuses on believers in ‘The Old Ways’, of ancient gods and practices. Primary community-based with a strong belief in the supernatural and a strong connection to the natural world and the cycle of its passing seasons, they see themselves as the guardians of the growth and husbandry of food, and much of their lives revolve around the sowing, care, and harvesting of seeds and plants. Their treatment is not of one tradition, but many, all of them drawn from real world traditions. Real-world inspirations for this tradition include Asatru, the pagan beliefs of the Norse and northern Germanic peoples; the Druidic-like beliefs of the Celts of Ireland and Scotland; the Hellenic tradition of the lands settled by the Greeks. Notably, unlike other traditions, this is not a literate tradition, but instead memorise their spells and rituals.

As with other Traditions, the Witch Class of the Pagan Tradition has a familiar, such as a cat, frog, hedgehog, or stoat, and knows how to use herbs to create healing balms. However, it differs in a number of ways. For example, this Witch Class gains ‘Herbal Healing’—this the brewing of balms, options, and philters above and beyond the use of healing balms; is ‘Of the Land’ and can hide herself and one or more companions in rural areas, typically either to hide from hunters or when actually hunting; and with ‘Alter Visage’ can use the spell, Alter Self, to change her appearance to anyone of that she has seen before—even if only once.

Perhaps the biggest difference is the addition of ‘Cowans’, or essentially boon companions with a strong bond with the Witch, that is, more than a trusted retainer. A Cowan is a Pagan Witch’s protector and can be Fighters, Barbarians, Rangers, Thieves, and Assassins, but cannot be other spellcasting Classes like the Bard, Cleric, Druid, Illusionist, Magic-User, or Paladin. They can also be simple NPCs without a Class, but more importantly, they can be other Player Characters, allowing for instant relationships and roleplaying links. Of course, this limits the Player Character Cowan’s options in terms of Class.

Becoming a Cowan costs actual Experience Points—fifty for an ordinary NPC, a hundred for the Thief type, and two hundred for all Fighter types. Where exactly the ordinary NPC gains these Experience Points is another matter and it is not quite clear if the characters becoming the Cowan is expending the Experience Points, the Witch is expending the Experience Points, or both. In return, both Cowan and Witch gain a number of small benefits. A Cowan can learn Zero-Level Rituals and participate in Ritual spells of higher Level too, gains better healing from his Witch’s healing—spells and balms, and has a bonus to saves versus spells cast by other Witches. Both Witch and Cowan also share Saving Throws, so that both can use the best between the two. In return, the Cowan is the Pagan Witch’s protector, which again sets up a roleplaying relationship and possible story hooks.

Beyond this, some of what a Pagan Witch does will depend upon the type of coven she belongs to. The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition offers two options. The first is Bándrui, who worship the Great Mother Goddess and whose covens consist of Pagan Witches, Green Witches, and Druids, a Pagan Witch of this tradition gaining the Druid’s Animal Shape abilities. The other is Followers of Aradia, who believe her to be the first witch, and are granted the Light spell as a daily ability. Both tend to be Lawful or Neutral in Alignment, but like other Pagan traditions, may practice live, including human sacrifice where necessary, typically as fertility rites. Just the two covens given here is disappointing and perhaps The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition could have included one or two more options to provide a player with greater choice.

The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition also discusses life as a Pagan Witch. This is not her life as an adventuring Witch, but the classic village wise woman, midwife, and healer of old. It covers the typical tasks she undertakes, such as childbirth and antenatal care, the cleansing—or smudging—of homes to free them of evil spirits, divination, healing, and so on, as well as the monies the Witch can charge and the Experience Points she can gain. Here then is how a non-adventuring NPC Witch gains her Experience Points to expend on those Cowans! It also gives more for an NPC Witch to do and thus more for the Game Master to build her portrayal of an NPC Witch around. Included as well, are notes on the seasons and places of power, all of which will have an effect on a Witch’s powers throughout the year.

Thisbe Haunted
Second Level Pagan Witch
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Coven: Followers of Aradia

STR 09 (Open Doors 5-in-6)
INT 13 (+1 Language, Literate)
WIS 17 (+2 to Save versus Magic)
DEX 11
CON 16 (+2 Hit Points)
CHR 16 (+1 NPC reaction, Max. 7 Retainers, Loyalty 10)

Armour Class: 7 (Leather)
Hit Points: 11
Weapons: Dagger, Staff
THAC0 20

Languages: Elvish

Occult Powers
Healing balms (1d4+1/three times per day), Light (daily)

Spells: (First Level) – Mending, Toad
Familiar: Weasel (+1 to Dexterity checks)

The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition includes some one hundred spells, almost thirty monsters, some forty magical items, and a quartet of NPCs. As in previous books in the series, there are relatively few spells which can be used to inflict direct damage like the Magic-User’s Burning Hands. There are spells which can inflict harm, for example, Toad—which curses the victim of the spell to turn into a filthy toad, or Loosen Bowels or Blindness/Deafness. Many of the spells reflect the often helpful, useful type of magic used by the Pagan Witch. So spells such as the familiar Mending, Locate Object, and Light are joined by spells such as Salving Rest—which grants the subject a good night’s rest as he continues to take a god night’s rest, and Create Corn Dolly—in fact the Witch creates a poppet she can send out to spy on others. Various others, like Toad, take the form of curses and the like. As in the previous books in the series, the various spells are joined by various rituals spells. There is something quite endearing in the Cake and Tea Ritual which is used by fellow Witches to begin and then cement friendships, which is then continued with Bonds of Hospitality which discourages participants from attacking each other. Other rituals are more obviously powerful, but the supplement adds further rituals which are Zero Level. These can be participated in by anyone, most notably a Witch’s Cowans. These are Bless Fertility, Ensure a Successful Hunt, Merry Greetings, and Summon a Witch, and all four would work well with other Witch traditions.

In terms of monsters and magic, The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition shares a lot in common with the previous The Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition. Although the monsters are new, from Amphiptere, Bánánach, and Brownie to Wind Wraith, Woodnose,and Bog Zombie, as in The Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition they feel as if they should be mostly encountered singularly rather than in droves or packs. That said, the monsters have more the feel of the countryside, whether rural or beyond into the wilds. The inclusion of the Killer Rabbit may be a bit silly though... Which of course fits the Pagan Witch tradition rather than the Pumpkin Spice Tradition. The magic items include brooms and cauldrons as well as magical instruments, rings, staves, and swords, some of which are familiar, such as the Broom of Flying and Cauldron of Plenty, but others like the Witch’s Gown, which provides various degrees of protection as well as being able to change its appearance once per day. Rounding the supplement are four unique NPC Witches, drawn from both myth and history, the latter including a suspected poisoner.

Physically, The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition continues the series’ improvement in the style and layout over the books before it. The artwork is much better and much better handled, and includes some pieces by Larry Elmore. The spells are also back to being listed by Level, so much easier to find.

The similarities between the two supplements—The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition and The Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition—are not surprising since the traditions of the latter do draw upon the former. What The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition presents though is a rougher, wilder take upon the witch, one that feels more of a cliché because it draws upon more traditional depictions of the witch. This means that it has its darker aspects, not necessarily evil, but certainly darker. This is leavened by the role of the Pagan Witch as healer, midwife, and wise woman. If there is a disappointing feature of the book, it is that just two covens are not really enough options to choose from for the players, especially as it points to so many worldwide examples. Perhaps not as fully rounded as it could have been, The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition still presents plenty to to bring to a campaign.

Which Witch IV

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. Each of these supplements draws upon more historical interpretations of the Witch—sometimes to counter the clichés, sometimes to enforce them—and presents her as a playable character Class. Each book is published under the label of ‘Basic Era Games’, and whilst the exact Retroclone each book is written to be used with may vary, essentially, they are all compatible. Which means that the Game Master can mix and match traditions, have player characters from matching traditions, and so on.

The first book in the series, Daughters of Darkness: The Mara Witch for Basic Era Games is written is designed for use with Goblinoid Games’ Labyrinth Lord and presents the Witch as dedicated to the Mara Tradition, that of the Dark Mother—Lilith, the First Woman, the First Witch, and the Mother of Demons. The next book in the series is The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games, which was written for use with Dreamscape Design’s Blueholme Rules, the retroclone based on the 1977 Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set designed by J. Eric Holmes, and which focused on not so much as ‘Evil’ or Chaotic witches, but upon the Classical traditions of Egypt, Greece, Phoenicia, Rome, and Sumeria. Again, Cult of Diana: The Amazon Witch for Basic Era Games, the next entry in the line presents a different take upon the Witch, but instead this series of reviews leaps over that entry to review which presents a very different, even slightly silly take upon the Witch. This is The Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition.

The Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition is written for use with Labyrinth Lord and like other titles in the series starts by presenting the same version of the Witch Class as in Daughters of Darkness: The Mara Witch for Basic Era Games and The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games. What this means is that from one book to the next, this Class is going to serve as a template for the rest of the other supplements devoted to the Witch from The Other Side. So the Witch is spellcaster capable of casting Witch spells and Witch rituals—a mixture of arcane and divine spells, has Occult Powers including herbal healing, many are reluctant to cast ‘black’ or evil magic, many are of Lawful Alignment, and have answered the Call of their Goddess (or other patron).

The Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition focuses on the one Tradition of the Witch Class, that is, a Witch of the ‘Pumpkin Spice Tradition’. Which straight off sparks images of the ‘fall’—or autumn, Halloween, and coffee houses serving a limited time flavour of coffee, and so a certain commercialism in its treatment of Witches and the Witch drawn from an American idea of what the Witch is. This is essentially all present in The Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition and the danger is that this supplement could have so easily tipped over into a crass mix of the commercial and the kitsch. Thankfully, it presents a modern, urban version of the Witch, one which would really work in an Urban Fantasy or horror roleplaying game or campaign setting. That means though, that tThe Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition is not really suitable for a traditional fantasy roleplaying campaign.

The first difference between the Pumpkin Spice Witch tradition and other traditions is that Pumpkin Spice Witches are limited in their choice of Familiars—bat, cat, ferret, rat, raven, owl, and so on. The only addition to this is a special Familiar, the Meowl, a combination of cat and owl, which also appears in the supplement’s bestiary. In terms of powers, the Pumpkin Spice Witch gains a Familiar, and knows ‘Things Man Was Not Meant to Know are Fire for Women’ and ‘Resting Witch Face’. The former grants a bonus to Intelligence and Wisdom checks related to magic and monsters for Witch who is making the check after a male Magic-User has failed to do so, whilst the latter in effect lets a Witch enforce a negative Morale on anyone attempting to talk to or approach her. This includes in combat! There is a certain modern, tongue-in-cheek sensibility to these powers, and whilst they do empower the Pumpkin Spice Witch, depending upon your point of view, may or may not stray into stereotyping.

Witches of the Pumpkin Spice Witch tradition are restricted in the choice of spells they can use, in general, not being allowed to use spells which inflict direct harm. They tend to favour a goddess as a patron and join small covens, often Sisterhood Covens, which sometimes may include Witches of other tradition, and also tend to be of Good or Neutral Alignments. Many also set up apothecaries, which are fronts for ‘Home, Hearth, & Heart’, a circle of black-market magic item shops!

Miranda Took

Second Level Pumpkin Spice Witch

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Coven: The Sisterhood

STR 07 (-1 to hit, damage, and force doors)

DEX 14 (-1 AC, +1 Missile Attack, +1 Initiative)

CON 12 (-0 HP)

INT 15 (+1 Languages, Literate)

WIS 14  (+1 to Save versus Magic)

CHR 14 (-1 Reaction Adj., 6 Retainers, Morale 9)

Armour Class: 7 (Padded)

Hit Points: 7

Weapons: Dagger, Bow, Staff

THAC0 20

Languages: French

Occult Powers

Healing balms (1d4+1/three times per day)

Spells: (First Level) – Bad Luck, Bewitch, Control Face, Forget Me Knot

Familiar: Meowl (+1 Wisdom checks, Nightvision)

The Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition includes some one hundred or so spells, a short bestiary of less than twenty monsters, some new magic items, and a trio of unique witches. Now although there are spells included which do inflict direct damage, like Prismatic Lightning, but most harmful spells for the tradition inflict harm in other ways. Thus, Agony inflicts pain, not harm; Babble confuses all verbal communication; and Eerie Forest makes an area of a forest unnerving, perhaps frightening those who walk through it. In general, the spells lend themselves to supporting effects, such as Calm Weather, Change Appearance, Create Wine, Find Child, Grandmother’s Shawl, and more, but at the same time, they give scope for a player to be inventive in how these spells can be used—not just mechanically, but also in terms of roleplaying. The other effect of the spells is to pull the Witch character away from traditional dungeoneering style play, and this is carried over into the monsters given in the bestiary. Most of those entries, such as the Autumnal Rider, Beheaded, Jack O’Lantern, Scarecrow Guardian, and more, all lend themselves to situations away from the dungeon and a ‘Monster of the Week’ style of play.

The range of the magical items given in The Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition is inventive and fun. There are brooms, cauldrons, masks, and teas—for example, a Broom of Threshold Protection, Cauldron of Plenty, a Green Man Mask, and a Fortune Telling Tea. The miscellaneous items include the Bad Hair Day Hat, which always makes a witch’s hair appear to be perfect, a Luck Charm Bracelet providing a +1 to any roll several times a die, and Witch Bells, which ring loudly when an evil spirit enters a witch’s home. Lastly, the unique witches make up a coven, and range in Level from third to seventeenth, and may or may not be the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone.

Physically, The Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition is slimmer than the other books in the line and shows an improvement in the style and layout over the books before it. The artwork is much better handled, and many of the new magical items are illustrated. One minor issue is that the spells are listed in alphabetical order rather than Level by Level. It makes spell selection just a little more awkward and slower.

The problem with The Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition is twofold. First, there is the title. ‘Pumpkin Spice’ suggests silliness and superficiality, but the witch presented in its pages lends itself to urban and modern settings a la television series such as Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, Charmed, and the like. Played in that context, and the Pumpkin Spice Witch would work really well. The other issue is the potential problem of stereotyping. The Pumpkin Spice Witch could be interpreted as such, though this is not necessarily the author’s intention. Put these issues aside and it is clear that there is a lot of invention and fun that has gone into the writing of The Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition, which should come out in play using the spells and magical items.

Which Witch II

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. Each of these supplements draws upon more historical interpretations of the Witch—sometimes to counter the clichés, sometimes to enforce them—and presents her as a playable character Class. Each book is published under the label of ‘Basic Era Games’, and whilst the exact Retroclone each book is written to be used with may vary, essentially, they are all compatible. Which means that the Game Master can mix and match traditions, have player characters from matching traditions, and so on.

The first book in the series, Daughters of Darkness: The Mara Witch for Basic Era Games is written is designed for use with Goblinoid Games’ Labyrinth Lord and presents the Witch as dedicated to the Mara Tradition, that of the Dark Mother—Lilith, the First Woman, the First Witch, and the Mother of Demons. The next book in the series is The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games and its approach to the witch—whilst starting from the same base—is broader and gives more options, is less focused on ‘Evil’ or Chaotic witches, as well as being written for a different roleplaying game. Specifically, it focuses upon the Classical traditions of Egypt, Greece, Phoenicia, Rome, and Sumeria, and it is written for use with Dreamscape Design’s Blueholme Rules, the retroclone based on the 1977 Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set designed by J. Eric Holmes.

The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games starts by presenting the same version of the Witch Class as in Daughters of Darkness: The Mara Witch for Basic Era Games, but what this means is that from one book to the next, this Class is going to serve as a template for the rest of the other supplements devoted to the Witch from The Other Side. So the Witch is spellcaster capable of casting Witch spells and Witch rituals—a mixture of arcane and divine spells, has Occult Powers including herbal healing, many are reluctant to cast ‘black’ or evil magic, many are of Lawful Alignment, and have answered the Call of their Goddess (or other patron). 

So far, so good, but where The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games begins to get interesting is in the number of options it gives beyond this. First in the Combination Classes, so Witch/Cleric, Witch/Fighter, Witch/Magic-User, and Witch/Thief. These are not treated as dual Classes, but Classes of their own with an explanation of how they work in play and in a campaign as well as their own Experience Tables. So the Witch/Fighter often, often known as a Witch Guardian, protects other Witches against persecution and so can use any weapon a Fighter can, whilst the Witch/Thief has no title, though Jugglers often find themselves labelled as Witches and Thieves, but they are typically streetwise and useful when it comes to dealing with the dangers of exploring underground. Next, the supplement looks at the tradition of the Witch amongst non-humans, from Amazons, Bugbears, and Deep Ones to the ape-like Sagath, Troglodytes, and Trolls. Each entry gives some idea as to who or what they worship, so Trolls follow either the Faerie or Winter Witch Tradition, Deep Ones worship the demonic Dagon and his consort, and Medusa worship the daughters of primordial sea god and goddess, Phorcys and Ceto. This section does not just focus on NPC or monstrous Races, but covers how the Witch Tradition is found amongst the Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, and Halflings in lengthier descriptions. With the latter, the supplement provides solid context for Player Character Witches from those Races, especially together with the Combination Classes, whilst with the former, the Dungeon Master has some background upon which to create some interesting non-human Witch NPCs.

Both The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games and Daughters of Darkness: The Mara Witch for Basic Era Games offer the one Tradition. In The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games this is the Classical Tradition, a Witch who has a familiar, the ‘Gift of Prophecy’’, can refresh many of her spells with ‘Drawing Down the Moon’, and even summon the power of her patron with the ‘Charge of the Goddess’. The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games is also different because it does not offer one Coven, but many. These are drawn from Classical Tradition and various ancient cultures. These include the Brotherhood of Set from Egypt, an evil cult which practices human sacrifice and which only allows male Witches to join; the Cult of Ereshkigal, which has some crossover with the Cult of Mara from Daughters of Darkness: The Mara Witch for Basic Era Games and whose members serve the Queen of the Night; and the Coven of Hecate, which consist of covens of three and claim to be the first witches. In general the combination of the Classic Tradition with these Covens is designed to cover Classic, Neo-Classical, and Pagan traditions, and whilst the Covens provide no mechanical benefit, they do add further flavour and detail.

Mosco Took
Second Level Witch Guardian
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Coven: Temple of Astártē

STR 10 (+0)
DEX 15 (+1 Missile Attack)
CON 03 (-1 HP)
INT 15 (+5 Languages, Literate)
WIS 14 
CHR 15 (5 Retainers)

Armour Class: 7 (Padded)
Hit Points: 5
Weapons: Dagger, Bow, Staff
THAC0 20

Halfling Abilities: +1 to hit to all ranged weapons; Resilient: +2 bonus on all saves.
Languages: Halfling, Common, Elvish, Dwarvish, Gnomish, Dragonic, Faerie

Occult Powers
Healing balms (1d4+1/three times per day)

Spells: (First Level) – Foretell, Obedient Beast, Protection of the Dead (Ritual)

Familiar: Owl (+2 Wisdom checks)

The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games offers some hundred spells, twenty monsters, thirty magic items, or so. The spells are more of a supportive nature—though there are a few offensive spells also—and feel markedly different from the standard spells of Dungeons & Dragons. So, Athena’s Blessing fills allies with battle insight with a +1 to hit bonus and +2 bonus to Wisdom checks; Obedient Beast makes animals lie down and take no action or makes trained animals obey verbal commands; and House Spirits calls upon the ‘Lares Familiares’ to protect a home or structure. There are familiar spells too, such as Augury and Spider Climb, but these do not feel out of place and the supplement includes plenty of new spells that help add flavour and feel to the Witch Class. As do the Rituals, each of which takes multiple Witches—or a coven—to cast, many of them again being of a supportive nature, for example, Drawing Down the Sun brings down healing upon allies and fear upon enemies, all allies receiving 2d6 points of healing, a +2 bonus to all Saves, -2 Armour Class, weapons are all +1 to hit and considered to be magical, and Undead are struck with fear and react as if Turned.

The monsters also feel less adversarial, more beasts and beings to interact with rather than simply fight. Many are drawn from classical myth and legend—just as those of Dungeons & Dragons are, but more so. Thus, they include Dryads, Fauns, Hags, Lares Familiares, Sphinxes, and more. The Classical is carried into the selection of magic items, such as the Ankh of Life, a holy symbol which adds a bonus to turning undead and healing; the Book of the Dead contains spells for the protection of and speaking with the dead; the Minoan Labrys is a brass axe which is both a +1 weapon and a holy symbol; and Hydra’s Teeth can be sown onto the ground to have skeletons appear and fight for you. Rounding out The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games is a trio of stats and write-ups of Classical Witches—Circe, Medea, and Medusa. These provide major NPCs for a campaign involving the Witch Class, especially one drawing upon the ancient world.

Physically, The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games is generally tidily presented. It needs an edit in places, but the artwork is better handled, and the content is better organised, meaning that neither Dungeon Master nor player will need to dig quite so hard to get the most out of the book. Overall, the book is a definite improvement over Daughters of Darkness: The Mara Witch for Basic Era Games.

Daughters of Darkness: The Mara Witch for Basic Era Games was good, but The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games is simply better. It would work really well with a campaign set in or inspired by the Ancient World, but then it would work with most other fantasy settings too. It provides more options for the type of witch a player wants to roleplay or a Dungeon Master wants to create with the combination of the Class and its Tradition with the Combination Classes and the Covens. Even more, it fulfils the author’s agenda of creating a Witch Class which is not inherently evil, and which is neither a cliché nor a stereotype. In doing so, The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games presents the Witch as a Class which is more inclusive, more diverse, more interesting, and thus more appealing to a wider group of players and Dungeons Masters.