You might have noticed that.
After all the books and blog posts I have written over the last few years, this should be obvious. What isn’t obvious is how much more I learn and enjoy with each book.
Eldritch Witchery is something of a homecoming for me. Like many, I started out playing the “Basic” set of the late 70s-early 80’s and then moved on to the “Advanced” version of the world’s most popular role-playing game. At some point I learned of this “other” version, an original version. It came in little brown books with names like Men and Magic. One day, I was going through the mail-order hobby catalog I used to get and saw a copy of this game. It was, of course, beyond my means to get at the time, but there was a supplement called Eldritch Wizardry and I knew I had to get it.
Eldritch Wizardry introduced demons, the druids and psionics to the Original game, and to my 12-13 year old self heavily into all things paranormal this sounded like a treasure trove. Well the book I got was not what I expected, but I was still so glad to have it.
Eldritch Witchery, then, is my chance to write the book that my 13 year old self wanted to buy. There are some obvious parallels with that original book; this book features Witches naturally, but also some demons and things that I think made the late 70s and early 80s an interesting time in gaming.
To fully capture what I want, I am writing this for the Spellcraft & Swordplay rules. S&S is a great little game that is a prime example of economy of rules, just like I pictured the Original Rules were. Plus it has given me the chance to work with Jason Vey, creator of the game.
Eldritch Witchery is written to help recapture that sense of wonder of the unknown. Designed to be both familiar and yet brand new at the same time.
While the book covers a lot of the same ground as does The Witch, there are some new traditions, a handful of new spells, and of course a bunch of new demons, devils and the like. Plus there is an entire Warlock class and the warlock lodges. Some of what was going to go into some other books I had planned and have shelved for now also made it in.
It should be out here in the next few days (maybe Halloween!) depending on how long it takes me to build the files.
I hope you all enjoy it.
"Eldritch Witchery, then, is my chance to write the book that my 13 year old self wanted to buy"
ReplyDeleteI think this is at the heart of what the OSR is about. I'll be interested in checking this out.