Monday, June 30, 2014

New Monster: Web Witch

Today is my mom's birthday.

Why should you care?  Well it was my mom that introduced me to the weird world of sci-fi, horror and the macabre.   Her idea of a bedtime story was telling about a haunted schoolhouse where the floors still were stained with the blood of two boys that killed each other in a knife fight.  Or of a man who was so sick of his nagging wife that he chopped her up and buried her in the garden, only to have the flowers grow with her face on them.  She introduced me to Dark Shadows and "documentaries" on Bigfoot and Atlantis.  Though to be fair I think my dad introduced me to the Twilight Zone and I know my love of bad horror movies comes from him.

So here is a creature she had to share with me last week.  It works well for D&D but I think she had more of a pulp feel for this.

http://mooki003.deviantart.com/art/Albino-Spider-333011766
Albino Spider by Mooki003

Web Witch


Human Form Spider Form
Armor Class: 8 [11] 5 [14]
Hit Dice: 3*+2 (15 hp) 3*+12 (25 hp)
No. of Attacks: 1 poison dagger 1 bite
Damage: 1d6 + Poison 2d6 + Poison
Special: Magic, see below Invisibility
Movement: 30' 20' Web 40'
No. Appearing: 1 1
Save As: Witch 3 Fighter 3
Morale: 8 10
Treasure Type: Special Special
Alignment: Chaotic Chaotic
XP: 160 185

The web witch is a female humanoid that can also take the form of a huge spider.  Not a lycanthrope, the web witch can shift between forms once per round as often as she likes.  In her human form she appears as a smallish woman (possibly of elf decent) with very pale skin, long white hair and eyes with a reddish tinge.  She will typically wear a long black dress or gown that appears to be made of silk. It is, but her own spider silk.  When in human form she can be mistaken for a vampire.  Despite the ability to use witch magic a web witch cannot form a coven with other web witches. Though it is speculated that she may be able to do so with other witches and/or hags.
In her human form she use magic as a 2nd level witch including the use of magic items usable by a witch.  GMs should pick out which spells the web witch has access to.
In her spider form she appears as a huge white spider with red eyes.  When sitting in her web she can make herself and the web invisible until touched.  The web itself is made up of stick long black strands of spider silk.  The web witch can move about in spider form invisible as per the invisibility spell. She can speak in this form, but not use magic.
A favored tactic of the web witch is to pretend to be a damsel in distress and lead a party of adventures into her maze of webs where she can shift form and feed on them.  She will keep any treasures she can find including magic items, but items such as swords, armor or other weapons she will discard, magical or not.
Once per year a web witch will capture a humanoid male for breeding. Three months later she will lay a clutch of eggs. She injects a different poison into the male to paralyze him and place the clutch in his mouth.  After one month the clutch will hatch and 10-100 (10d10) baby web witches will devour the male from the inside out.  The hungry web witches will then turn on each other til only about dozen survive (2d6). They will reach maturity in one year and transform to their human shape for the first time.

The silk of a web witch is much prized by wizards as a superior ingredient for their web spells. Creatures need to have a Strength of 15 or higher or be 6 HD or higher to break free.
The venom of the web witch is also valued.

There is no known relationship between the web witch and the fabled Queen of Spiders or the Dark Elves.

There are rumors of more powerful web witches that can use even greater witch magic.

"Web Witch" is copyright 2014 Timothy S. Brannan.
All monsters stats and text below is considered OPEN under the guidelines of the OGL.

Friday, June 27, 2014

New Interview up

I know this is akin to phoning it in, but I have a new interview up at a new blog Otyugh Talk.

http://otyughtalk.blogspot.com/2014/06/interview-4-timothy-brannan-ghosts-of.html

Check it out and give this new blog a look as well.

Thursday, June 26, 2014

All Work and No Play...

Is exactly the week I am having.
Hopefully something intelligent, witty and thoughtful soon.

OR maybe just my usual stuff.

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Character Writeup Page updated

So I have something like a 1000 things to do, but to help clear out my head I updated my Character writeups page.
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/p/characters-and-builds.html

They are sorted by character or property. One day I really need to sort them by game system too.

Until then here is a list of the systems I have used to stat up these characters.  Maybe there is something you like here.

4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons
AD&D  1st Ed.
Adventures Dark & Deep
Adventures in Oz RPG
Amazing Adventures
Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea
B/X Companion
Barbarians of Lemuria
BASH
Basic D&D
BECMI + Glantri Gazetteer
Big Eyes, Small Mouth (BESM) 2r
Big Eyes, Small Mouth (BESM) 3.0
C. J. Carella's WitchCraft RPG
Cartoon Action Hour, Season 2
Cartoon Action Hour, Season 3
Castles & Crusades
Chill, 1st Edition (Pacesetter)
Chill, 2nd Edition
Cinematic Unisystem
Cortex
Cortex Plus (Smallville)
DC Adventures
DC Heroes (Mayfair)
Dirty Nellie
Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space
Ghosts of Albion
Icons
Marvel Heroic Roleplay
Meddling Kids
Mutants and Masterminds, 2nd Edition
Mutants and Masterminds, 3rd Edition
OVA
Pathfinder
Quest of the Ancients
Savage Worlds
Spellcraft & Swordplay
Superbabes
Supers Unleashed
True20
Victoria RPG
Victoriana
Villains & Vigilantes
Witch Girls Adventures

40+. Not too bad.
Would love to throw a few more into that mix.

If you throw in my Willow & Tara page then I can add these too:

C.J. Carella's WitchCraft
Amazing Adventures
BASH!
Big Eyes, Small Mouth, 2ndEdition
Big Eyes, Small Mouth, 3rd Edition
Big Eyes, Small Mouth d20 (and SAS d20)
Call of  Cthulhu
Cartoon Action Hour, Season 2
Chill
Cortex
d20 Modern
DC Heroes (Mayfair)
Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space
Fudge / Now Playing
Icons
Kult
Macho Women with Guns (Original and d20)
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying (Cortex+)
Mutants and Masterminds, 2nd Edition
Mutants and Masterminds, 3rd Edition
OVA
Savage Worlds
Slasher Flick: Director's Cut
Superbabes: The Femforce RPG
True20 / Blue Rose
Villains & Vigilantes
Witch Girls Adventures
World of Darkness (old)
World of Darkness (new)

Any system you would like to see me try next?
Any character you would like me to try next?

The Spirit of '76

With all the talk last week of Chill and Pacesetter games it got me thinking again about this Chill/Cryptworld/Majus game I have been wanting to run.



It is set in the summer of 1976. July 1st to be precise.  The characters are all old acquaintances; possibly all S.A.V.E. envoys who had worked together in the past.  They have all been drawn to New York to stop something from happening.

I want to do it "24 style", that is intense adventures over a relative short space in time.  Basically four or five days.  I am not sure what it will be like yet but I do know that it has to have a few things:

- Take advantage of 70s tropes. Disco, the birth of Punk Rock, "Frampton Comes Alive" playing on every radio, drugs, NY street gangs and the like.  Plus have to do a bunch with 70s occultism.
- Have something to do with the American Bicentennial.
- Give it a 70s Hammer Horror feel. When Hammer moved away from the historical and "Hammer Hamlet" movies to more modern takes.
- Ideally I would LOVE to include a vampire.  Chill Vampires is one of my all time favorite books. Having a vampire in it would really be fun.
- Given the title there should at least be one ghost.

Now I have a Mutants & Masterminds idea I have been knocking around about Dracula in the 1970s. But I also see where using Elizabeth Bathory would be fun.

I have no end of good ideas, I just need to tie them together into a workable mini-campaign or long 5 part adventure.  If I get it all together it would make for a Gen Con game.

Monday, June 23, 2014

Maleficent for Basic Games

Last weekend was my birthday and I got a chance to go out and see Maleficent.
I liked it.  I thought Angelina Jolie did a great job (if maybe a little hammy) and there were some great moments with some good lines.   I thought the denouement was both welcome and interesting.

I know people had some issues with the changes to story and character, but honestly if you want to see "Sleeping Beauty" then go watch Sleeping Beauty.

What I have here is a cross between both her portrayals. The idea that reality lies somewhere in between.  I think she is rather obviously a Faerie Tradition witch.

Maleficent, either version, is still one of my favorite characters.

Maleficent
The Witch stats for Basic Era Games
14th level Witch, Faerie Tradition

Strength: 10
Dexterity: 12
Constitution: 12
Intelligence: 17
Wisdom: 12
Charisma: 18

Saves
Death Ray or Poison:  9/7
Magic wand or devices: 10
Paralysis, Polymorph or Turn to Stone: 9
Dragon Breath: 12
Rods, Staffs and Spells: 11


To hit AC 0: 16

Hit Points: 70
Alignment: Chaotic (in Advanced games she varies between Chaotic Good, Chaotic Evil and Chaotic Neutral)
AC: 5 (Ring protection)

Occult Powers
Familiar:  Raven (+2 to Death related saves) "Diaval"
7th level:  Speak to Plants and Animals
13th level: Fey Shape (She can grow wings)
Like all Faerie Witches Maleficent takes extra damage from items made of cold iron.

Spells 
Cantrips: Chill, Daze, Detect Curse, Object Reading, Open, Sound
First: Bad Luck, Cause Fear, Silver Tongue, Sleep, Speak with Animals
Second: Bewitch II, Burning Gaze, Evil Eye, Rose Garden
Third: Bestow Curse, Fly, Improved Faerie Fire, Scry
Fourth: Arcane Eye, Intangible Cloak of Shadows, Polymorph
Fifth: Death Curse, Endless Sleep, False Vision
Sixth: Geas, Wall of Roses
Seventh:  Maze, Hell Hath No Fury*

New Ritual Spell

Hell Hath No Fury
Level: Witch Ritual 7
Witches Required: 1
Range: One Creature
Duration: Permanent
The ritual, Hell Hath No Fury, is a rare ritual in that only one witch is required to cast it, but the situations in which it can be cast are also rare.  The witch lay a devastating curse on an individual who has someone personally harmed the witch in some way.  The harm isn't as simple as an attack, the offense must be a great one such as murdering the witch's family or lover, breaking the witch's heart with the promise of true love or spurning the affections of the witch for another.  Typically only one such person in the witch's lifetime would fit the requirements.  The witch then takes all her anger, rage and sorrow and pours it into this curse.  The witch may affect the person responsible or a member of that person's family.  The choice of victim and the curse is directly tied to insult done to the witch herself.
Once the curse is laid then it can only be broken under very specific circumstances either dictated by the witch or somehow related to original hurt to the witch.  This curse can not be broken via a remove curse, wish, dispel magic or similar enchantments.  The witch herself can not break the curse either.

Examples would be Maleficent's curse on Aurora or Maria Owens curse on her own family in Practical Magic.

Section 15 OGL Statement
The new witch ritual "Hell Hath No Fury" is considered Open for the terms of the OGL.
"Hell Hath No Fury" Witch Ritual, Copyright 2014 Timothy S. Brannan.

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Zatannurday: Cosplay special!

It's SUMMER! The first day of summer in fact.
Summer means a lot of things, but around here it means Cons and Cosplay!  So let's start up the summer with great Zee cosplays.




Anime Banzai 2013-007 by fujifangirl75 on deviantART


Mistress of Magic by gillykins on deviantART


Time for The Show by ArienReign on deviantART


Gotham Girls Photoshoot by MishyMisheru on deviantART


Zatanna by UndiciSmaug on deviantART


Nightwing and Zatanna Cosplay - DC Comics by SylunaHirokashi on deviantART


Demons worry when the wizard is near by S-Lancaster on deviantART


Zatanna Zatara - Otakon 2012 by mariegreycosplay on deviantART


It s a kind of magic by Ikari-Gendo on deviantART


Zatanna by Ivy95 on deviantART


Zatanna 02 by RyuuPhotoAlchemy on deviantART


Zatanna at wondercon by HobbesTCat on deviantART


Zatanna and Batman by Aquamaureen13 on deviantART


Zatanna Cosplay by Daisy-Cos on deviantART


Yay, it's me:) Zatanna cosplay by cosplayerotica on deviantART


Gotham party/backstage by BazingaCosplay on deviantART


Zatanna Zatara Cosplay by Aicosu on deviantART


Zatanna Cosplay by pinknekophile on deviantART


zatanna DC cosplay injustice by GhiandaiaCosplay on deviantART


Zatanna Zatara by emokittylover23 on deviantART


Zatanna - Dc Comics by Daisy-Cos on deviantART


Zatanna at Mago's Magic Shoppe by zeraphie on deviantART


What do you want to tell me? by revien-fiennes on deviantART

Friday, June 20, 2014

Skylla: Adventures Dark & Deep witch

I had planned on doing a Skylla write-up today, but for a different system.  But given that +Joseph Bloch is running a sale this weekend, I think it would be better to use his witch.

I reviewed his witch a while back and I enjoyed it even if there are couple things I didn't like about it. But it is still a fun class and I have enjoyed it.

So here is Skylla using The Darker Paths 2: The Witch and the Adventures Dark and Deep RPG.

Skylla
CE Female Human
Witch 7

Abilities
STR: 9
INT: 11
WIS: 15
DEX: 11
CON: 10
CHA: 12* (initial)/5 current

Saving Throws
Paralyzation, Poison, Death: 7
Petrification, Polymorph: 10
Rod, Staff, Wand: 11
Breath Weapon: 13
Spells: 12
+1 to Magical attack saves

Special Abilities (class)
Spell casting
Create Magic Items
Bell, Book & Candle
Brew Poison
Call Familiar (Quasit)
Charisma degradation
Limited to 13th level
Wisdom Bonus Spells (2 1st, 1 2nd)

Secondary Skills
Alchemy

HP: 13
AC: 6 (Bracers)

Spells
1st: Charm Person or Mammal, Detect Magic, Infravision, Protection from Good, Witch Shot, Wither
2nd: Blight Field, Command, Magic Broom, Misfortune, Wizard Lock
3rd: Bestow Curse,  Hand of Glory, Magic Missile
4th: Polymorph Self, Sleep
5th: Season of the Witch

Skylla is a good fit for his style of witch i think. I would have to play more to be sure.  Limiting her to 13th level might the fit the narrative I have for her. She would later go on to take more mage classes.

BRW Games Summer Solstice Sale

I make no secret of my enjoyment of Joseph Bloch's, aka The Greyhawk Grognard's, work.
I enjoy his blog, his games and frankly he has helped tremendously in improving the perception that OSR-based Kickstarters are always late.

So it is my pleasure then to let you all know about his first, and maybe only sale.
All his products (and there is a lot there for a one-man shop) are on sale.
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse.php?manufacturers_id=3728&affiliate_id=10748

Everything from Castle of the Mad Archmage to Adventures Dark & Deep his "what if" 2nd edition game.

Stop by and pick something up.  Honestly I say grab something, anything, if for no other reason than to tell Joseph that he is doing a good job and sales are appreciated.

Here are some of the books I have reviewed here and really enjoy:
A Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore
Adventures Dark and Deep Players Manual
Adventures Dark and Deep Game Masters Toolkit
Adventures Dark and Deep Bestiary
Darker Paths 1: The Necromancer
Darker Paths 2: The Witch

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Universal Horizons: Naïve or Patent Trolls?

There is has been a lot of talk in gaming circles about Universal Horizons and their attempt to patent an RPG mechanic.

You can find most of the details here:
http://www.bedroomwallpress.com/2014/06/patent-trolling-comes-to-rpgs.html
http://www.bedroomwallpress.com/2014/06/following-up-on-patent-issue.html

And here is their patent application:
http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=20140038722.PGNR.

Now as is it read it is vague on what "Game 1" and "Game2" could be and some people are claiming that this patent could be used to convert from different games instead of the games within Universal Horizons' own catalog.

Also there is the fear of what happens if the patent is bought by someone else. You see it all the time in the tech market.

I don't have much more to add to this, outside of my realm of expertise, but I do know I have been converting from games to other games for years and have been posting about them for years too.

So then in my efforts to give back, here is my "super secret" method of converting and the tool I used to do it.  My "All Conversions" excel sheet.  I figured out the math and works for me. Let me know if you see ways to improve it.
https://app.box.com/s/ooffm0xcqwgy82ufnlip
You can also download this sheet from my Downloads area.



Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Guest Post over at The Insecure Writer's Support Group

I have a guest post over at The Insecure Writer's Support Group today.

http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/

I talk about game writing but also how we various "Masters" to serve while writing.  Just doing my own little bit of community outreach.

http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/2014/06/the-art-of-writing-for-games-serving.html

Stop by and check it out.

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

A Chill in the air

It has just been announced that Growling Door Games has just purchased the rights to classic horror RPG Chill.



Here is their press release:
For Immediate Release: 6-13-2014

Growling Door Games Acquires License For Chill RPG

US Roleplaying Game Publisher Brings Back Classic Horror Game

 Cleveland, OH: Today, Growling Door Games, Inc. is proud to announce that they have entered into a licensing agreement with Martin Caron, the owner of the Chill RPG. The agreement gives Growling Door Games the English-language rights to publish the Chill RPG core book and supplementary materials for that game, setting the stage for a new release of a classic property that helped make horror gaming a staple of the RPG landscape.

 Matthew McFarland, President of Growling Door Games, said, “We’re thrilled to bring such a classic of horror gaming back to print. Chill has a great history of success in the market. There’s been a lot of enthusiasm for the game even during its long stint out of print, and we hope both those fans and new ones will enjoy our revival of Chill.”

Growling Door Games is planning on releasing the new core book for Chill, 3rd Edition in August 2015, with a Kickstarter in late summer 2014 to launch the project. The initial release of the core book will be as a full-sized hardcover, available in both print and PDF.

Now I have been a fan of Chill for a very long time.  I even participated in Otherworlds Creations own Chill 3.0 playtests. A quickstart was produced after years of work but soon disappeared after dispute over who owned Chill came up.  Also all the Mayfair Chill products have been transferred to Martin Caron on DriveThruRPG.
I also wonder what this means for Goblinoid Games and their line of Pacesetter books, especially Cryptworld their Chill clone.

Of course I will be following this one closely.

Monday, June 16, 2014

Summer Reading

School is out for my kids and we did our annual Summer Reading purchases.  We head out to a couple of different bookstores and get books for all summer.

My youngest has some books assigned to him by the school so that was pretty much his choice.  My oldest is going to read the Dragonlance Chronicles.  He is 14 so that really is the best age for that.

I didn't find anything myself. But I have some Amazon gift cards burning a hole in my pocket so I need to get in and find some books.

Myself, I have fond memories of riding my bike to the local library and getting books to help out my D&D game or books on science, I have always been a big science geek.

How about you?  Do you have a Summer Reading ritual?


Saturday, June 14, 2014

Zatannurday: Helm of Fate/Nabu on Constantine?

Some more images coming from the new Constantine TV show including more glimpses into the DCU.
First up the Helm of Nabu as worn by Doctor Fate.

The image, as scooped by my good friends at the Tower of Fate  Blog.


Could a Zatanna guest shot be in store as well?
Keep an eye here for any Zatanna related Constantine news and over at Tower of Fate for any Doctor Fate news.


Friday, June 13, 2014

Witch Kickstarter Goodies!

If you were a backer in the Strange Brew Kickstarter at the $25 or above level then your first PDF is on the way.

Check your email!


Friday the 13th

Well it's Friday the 13th!

And my Birthday.

And I am moving offices to the 13th floor of my building.  I just got my internet back in fact.

Hopefully I'll have something more intelligent to say next week.

Thursday, June 12, 2014

GOAAALLLLLLLLLL!

We did it!


Last night we wrapped up our Kickstarter for Strange Brew: The Ultimate Witch & Warlock  at went almost $2,700 over our goal!

I am so excited now. I can't wait to get you everything!

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

The Encounter Table: Interview - Tim Brannan, Robert H. Hudson, and Morgan Boehringer

The Encounter Table: Interview - Tim Brannan, Robert H. Hudson, and Mor...:

This week the Encounter Table sits down with Tim Brannan and Robert H. Hudson, developers of the 3rd Party Pathfinder (and Castles & Crusades) book Strange Brew: the ultimate Witch and Warlock, currently funding for stretch goals on Kickstarter. We're also fortunate enough to be joined by Morgan Boehringer, developer of the stretch goal, Warwitches & Hexmavens.

Read more here:

http://www.encountertable.com/2014/06/interview-tim-brannan-robert-h-hudson.html


Tuesday, June 10, 2014

AetherCon Podcast Tonight

Tonight I am going to be talking about Strange Brew at AetherCon Online RPG Convention.

http://aethercon.com/
https://plus.google.com/+AetherconOnlineTabletopRPGCon/videos
https://www.facebook.com/AetherConRPG

It starts at 9:00pm Eastern Time (8:00pm here in Chicago).

Stop on by, here me talk.  SEE me talk (yeah, THAT's an incentive I am sure).

DriveThruRPG 10th Anniversary Sale

To celebrate 10 years of business DriveThruRPG is holding their 10th Anniversary Sale.


There are tons of great products on sale, plus you can see the Top 10 RPG sales for each year of the last 10.

So check out the deals.  Really worth it.

Monday, June 9, 2014

Heading to the Home Stretch!

As of this writing we have 63 hours left of the Strange Brew Kickstarter.




https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/962794554/strange-brew-pathfinder-the-ultimate-witch-and-war

Currently $1,000 over we still a lot of great stretch goals to offer.

Your last chance is coming up!

Friday, June 6, 2014

Then Again...maybe I spoke too soon

From the desk of Mike Mearls.




Warlocks in D&D 5.  I had heard a rumor of witches in 5 too.

Here is a larger pic



I like the look so far!

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Success! 100% Funded!

Thanks to all of you we did it!


Strange Brew is 100% funded with 130 backers!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/962794554/strange-brew-pathfinder-the-ultimate-witch-and-war

I am pleased. Humbled. And most pumped to get this book out to you all!
Hell Yeah! I am so psyched right now.


Witch Archetype: Voodoo Witch (Pathfinder)

I talked a lot about Voodoo this past year.  I have been thinking about what a "Voodoo Witch" might be like.  So here is stab at a voodoo witch (a Voudounista) for the Pathfinder rules and Strange Brew.

Marie Laveau, Voodoo Queen
Voodoo

Description: The Voodoo witches (also known as Voudounista) are probably among the most mistrusted and misunderstood of all the Traditions, save for the Malefic witches.  These  witches, however, are usually not evil. Their area of specialty is that of enchantments and the creation of items dealing with enchantments, both good  and bad.

Voodoo witches are feared because they work in secret using strange, unknown rituals, and they often catch the blame if anything bad happens (such as a flood or a bad crop season).  It is rare that a Voodoo witch would be responsible for such acts of nature, but there have been times when a Voodoo witch was banished away from a village, and managed to cause some real trouble but this behavior is looked down upon by Voodoo covens as it only justifies people’s fear of Voodoo.

There is no style of dress directly related to the Voodoo witch.    Some Voodoo witches choose to dress very plainly, often trying to hide the fact that they are Voodoo.  Other Voodoo witches cease caring about what the average person thinks of them, and freely advertises what and who they are.  In either case, the Voodoo witch will have many different ceremonial clothes for the performance of various rituals. Typical ritual garb includes a simple linen robe or dress tied with a purple sash.
Voodoo witches are not most common among  any particular race.  Many races distrust them, dwarves outranking any of the other races in  terms of fear of the Voodoo witch. Gnomes, elves and half-elves tend to be more tolerant to Voodoo’s mysterious magic than the other races.  Humans and halflings often view the Voodoo witch as the source of most problems.

Role: The Voodoo witch will often stay within their own home devising new enchantments and creating other devices.  They also perform many rituals, more so than other witches.  On occasion, people may come to the Voodoo witch seeking help, charms or wards against evil, or something to attract a certain someone.
Because local governments and religious authorities fear the Voodoo witch, she has a hard time dealing with paladins and clerics.  On the other hand, she has no problems working with druids and rangers (though the occasional Voodoo witch has caused enough trouble in the wilderness to attract the attention of the often zealous druids).  The Voodoo witch also tends to get along with wizards and sorcerers fine, since much of her time is spent working on the creation of arcane magical items.  Fighters, bards, rogues and barbarians are usually viewed with indifference, though the feeling may not be mutual.
There are many sub-traditions of voodoo.  These particular ones have shared many of the same roots, but then evolved in isolation from each other. GM’s will want to use whichever sub-traditions work[tb1]  best with their campaign world.  The examples here are from our own history.

  • Bocur: One of the very few purely evil off shoots of Voodoo.
  • Candomblé: (“Kun-don-blair”) A Brazilian sub-tradition related directly to Macumba.  Leans more towards the darker sides of Voodoo.
  • Macumba: A Voodoo sub-tradition of Brazil.  Has much in common with Santería.  Often very neutral.
  • Obia: Also Obeah, common to the islands of the Caribbean, in particular Jamaica.  Most often believed to be evil.  Obia has actually been outlawed in some lands.
  • Quimbanda: Also known as Cuimbanda.
  • Santería: Sub-tradition that began in Cuba and spread to South-east United States.  Origins go back to the Yoruba religion of West Africa.  Despite the stereotype and sacrificing live chickens, a Santería witch is most often good aligned. 
  • Voudou:  A form of voodoo that is common to the peoples of Haiti.  Comes from the French words “vo” introspection, and “du” the unknown. Also known as “Haitian Voodoo”.

Voodoo witches can be of any alignment or temperament. Good Voodoo witches often accuse Evil ones of serving the “False Loa”, and visa versa.

Skills & Feats
Voodoo witches prefer craft based skills that can aid them in their normal lives and their worship. They receive a +2 bonus to single craft skill of the player’s choice.

Spells
The Voudounista can replace any of her Patron spells with a spell from the Portents Patron.

Orishas & Ghedes
The familiar of the Voudounista is a spirit being known as an Orisha or a Ghedes.  Orishas have always been spirits, the Ghede is the spirit of a long dead ancestor.  The spirit is bound to the witch like any other familiar but it has no physical form.  The Voudounista gains the ability to see incorporeal undead that might be invisible or shifted into the ethereal plane.  She may attack such undead as if they were on the same plane.

Powers and Hexes

Learned Voodoo (Sp)
Replacing her 2nd level Hex, the Voudounista adds +1 to any Spellcraft check that involves magic from the Enchantment school.  This increased by +1 every other level.

Enchantment Specialist (Sp)
The Voudounista can replace any spell she knows for an equal level spell from the Enchanment school.  The witch retains the knowledge of both spells, but may only cast one of the spells per day.
This takes the place of one of her Major Hexes.

Solid Mind (Sp) 
The Voodoo witch is immune to mind affecting magics, and gains a +8 bonus against all saves against spells and spell-like abilities from the school of Enchantment.
This replaces one of her Grand Hexes.

Equipment
Voodoo is the only Tradition that allows the witch to use a sharpened Athame. This ritual dagger is often used for animal sacrifice, ceremonial bloodletting or for carving magical symbols into fetishes.  The Voodoo witch can use it for combat, with no penalty, but rarely do because they do not wish to damage it.

Voodoo Patrons
The Voodoo witch is more likely than any other Tradition to practice monotheistic religious worship.  This is because the Voodoo witch generally looks at the God and Goddess as all-encompassing and all-present.  Some Voodoo witches may follow patrons of nature or earth, though these may be few and far between.

The main Patron of the Voodoo witch is usually known by the title “Gros Bon Dieu” or “The Great Good God/Goddess,” all other gods honored by the Voodoo witch are lesser and subordinate to the Great God.  While this Patron is the ultimate source of all, the Voudounista has more contact with intermediate spirits known as the Loa.

The Loa are the ones that grant the Voodoo witch her powers. The Loa are powerful spirits of god-like abilities.  They give the Voodoo witch her power.  When the Voodoo witch begins she chooses one of the Loa as her Patron.  She may choose spells from one of the area the Patron controls.

The various Loa are:

  • Mama Aida Weido (female): The mother Goddess, wife (or mother) of Danabala. Goddess of the rainbow.  Patron Spells: Ancestors, Healing, Light
  • Danbala Weido (male): The main god of the Voodoo pantheon. Snake god. Creator of the world. Patron Spells: Ancestors, Animals, Strength
  • Papa LeBas. Papa Legaba (male): The devil. King of black magic. Patron Spells: Deception, Occult, Plague, Vengence
  • Baron Samedi (male): Lord of the crossroads and the cemetery. Patron loa of many voodoo witches. Appears as a skeleton in fancy dress. Patron Spells: Moon, Occult, Shadow, Spirits
  • Erzulie (female): Goddess of love. Appears as a beautiful dark skinned woman. Patron Spells: Devotion, Enchantment, Healing, 

Source/Views of Magic
The voodoo witch’s magic is viewed as the loa’s will being pushed through the witch. The enchantments of a witch are viewed as the goddesses will being enforced.  Magic comes from the Loa.  By serving the Loa and the spirits one can gain magical knowledge and thus knowledge of our world and the next one.
Voodoo witches use magical focuses to cast their spells.  These focuses are known as fetishes.  Every spell or type of spell has a specific fetish.  The Voodoo witch can not cast any spells without the proper fetish.  These typically include a poppet (doll of the victim), an animal part (such as a claw or feather) and blood (typically animal, but sometimes human).
A powerful fetish imbued with the witch’s own power is known as a Gris-gris.

Joining this Tradition
The requirements of joining the Voodoo Tradition tend to vary coven to coven.  Usually, an extensive  ritual is performed to initiate the ones who hear the call.  After the  ritual, the witch is bestowed the title of Houngan (for males) or Mambo (for females).

The Voodoo witch covens seldom meet more than once a year.  However, they also perform more rituals than the average witch.  It’s customary for the  voodoo witch to have an extensive ritual to perform at each full and new  moon.    Large numbers of the participants in these rituals are not witches themselves, but lay people, sometimes referred to as “Hounsi”.  They may share the same beliefs, but are not members of a voodoo coven.

These ceremonies are loud musical explosions of dance, fire and free form religious expression.  It is not uncommon for some of the participants to become overwhelmed as the Loa are communed with.  Participants can be found speaking in tongues, enduring large amounts of pain, and even damage and occasionally having disease spontaneously cured.

Other: As been noted voodoo witches get along well with wizards and sorcerers.  Often a multi-classed Voodoo Witch/Sorcerer is known as a Hoodoo, or even a Hoodoo Man.  These individuals are usually given much respect in the community.

A warlock Voudounista usually follows Papa Legba or Baron Samedi and is known as a Bokor.

http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2014/04/a-to-z-of-witches-v.html
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2014/04/a-to-z-of-witches-g.html
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2014/04/a-to-z-of-witches-o.html
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2014/04/a-to-z-of-witches-j.html

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

PWWO: Print Edition, Complete Vivimancer

I recently picked up a copy of +Gavin Norman's The Complete Vivimancer in print.
The book is very much like the PDF but nicer to have. Yeah I know I am a champion of PDFs but books are just nice to have.

The font, according to Gavin, is Tiny. He is not kidding. But I still found it readable even without my glasses.  So well in fact that I wish I had reduced the font of Eldritch Witchery a little more.

I discussed the Complete Vivimancer before so I won't go over that detail here.


The book is roughly the same size as my Eldritch Witchery and +Dyson Logos's Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts. 


They all also look good next their "spiritual god-father" Eldritch Wizardry.


And they fit in nicely with Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea and other Old-School games I am currently using.

Welcome to my "Frequently Used Shelf" Gavin!
+Nathan Irving there is room for the Basic Illusionist there too.

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Another "Witch" Kickstarter!

So we are in the last week (or so) of my Strange Brew Kickstarter.

But while I was out advertising it I noticed this other kickstarter.

Fantasy Miniatures by Minx Studio
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fantasyminiatures/rpg-fantasy-miniatures-by-minx-studio

This one is for miniatures.  So if you play Pathfinder then you are going to need some minis.
If you get my Pathfinder witch book then you are going to need some witch minis.

Well they have one and it is one of their stretch goals.


Here are some great pics of the sculpt.




The "Magic" characters look pretty awesome too. The Sorceress, Druid, Wizard and Clerics would work very nicely for my book as well.

So check them out. These minis look awesome and I REALLY want that witch!  Frankly I love witches with pointy hats.  So make me happy, pledge for us both.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fantasyminiatures/rpg-fantasy-miniatures-by-minx-studio

Just Over a Week

It's just over a week left in my Strange Brew Kickstarter.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/962794554/strange-brew-pathfinder-the-ultimate-witch-and-war

If you can please consider giving us some support.  I have so many great things to share with you.
These books are going to be great and I can't wait to get them into everyone's hands.

So please consider a pledge or pass this link on to others.


Monday, June 2, 2014

I get the BEST Spam!

So I have mentioned before I don't sweat Spam here. I don't use CAPTCHA. I see it. I delete it. No big.  But every so often I get something rather fun.

This one was posted on my recent Basic Witch Spells.  I did a quick search and it is posted all over the net in one way or another, mostly on web sites/blogs offering to cast spells for you for a price.
natasha michael has left a new comment on your post "New Basic Witch Spells": 

I will not stop testifying about this great man who helped me. My name is Natasha, i live in spain, USA. I have been married to my husband for 15 years and we ARE both blessed with four kids living together happily, until last three months things was no longer the way it used to be due to the fact that husband lost his good paid job. But he later gets a new job this month and this was the beginning of our trouble, he started sleeping outside our matrimonial home. Only for me to find out that he was having an affair with the lady that gave him the job. since that day every thing became more complicated and when i call him, he doesn't answer my phone calls. My husband just kept on seeing the lady until he filed for a divorce and left the kids and I with nothing, we went through hell because it wasn't easy taken care of kids all alone.

On one faithful day, as I was surfing through the internet, I came across several testimonies about this particular spell caster called high pries ozigididon. Some people testified that he brought their Ex lover back,some testified that he restores womb,cure cancer,and other sickness, some testified that he can cast a spell to stop divorce and also spell to get a good paid job and so on. He is amazing, i also come across one particular testimony, it was about a woman called jenifer, she testified about how he brought back her Ex lover in less than 48hours, and at the end of her testimony she dropped the High priest's e-mail address highpriestozigididon@gmail.com After reading all these, I decided to give it a try. I contacted him via email and explained my problem to him. He instructed me on what to do and In just 48hours, my husband came back to me begging at my feet. We resolved our issues, and we are even happier than ever. My husband quite the job and with the help of this same great man, he is now working with another company that pays much more than the former. High priest ozigididon is really a gifted man and i will not stop publishing him because he is a wonderful man. If you have a problem and you are looking for a real and genuine spell caster, Try him anytime, he might be the answer to your problems. you can contact High priest ozigididon on highpriestozigididon@gmail.com

The following are the spells that he can launch within 2 days;
(1) If you want your ex back . .
(2) Do you want to be promoted in your office.
(3) Want women/men who are after you.
(4) If you want a child.
(5) Do you want to be rich.
(6) You want your husband/wife to be yours forever .
(7) If you need financial help.
(8) Care Herbal
(9) Help get people out of jail
(10) Marriage Spells
(12) The beauty spells
(13) The Spell of Attraction
(14) Kissing Spell
(15) Remove Spells diseases
via his email:highpriestozigididon@gmail.com 
Great stuff!  High Priest Ozigididon.  What a cool freaking name!  Sounds like a
Yeah I left the links intact. I copied it as-is so you can see how fun this is.
In a way this is actually doing the spammer a favor.  But I seriously doubt anyone here is dumb enough to fall for this sort of scam.

High Priest Ozigididon, please meet Dr. Zabaza.

Why I am NOT running D&D5/Next

If you spend any time here at all you will quickly learn a few things about me.  But one of the biggest in my mind is that 1.) I will try any game and 2.) I am not a fan of edition wars.

That all being said I am not going to be jumping on the 5e playing bandwagon right away.  I am in the early stages of a great 1st Ed AD&D game and the final stages of an epic 3rd Ed D&D campaign and I just don't have to the time or inclination to switch. Not to mention the 2nd Ed and Pathfinder games I am playing in now.

This has nothing to do misguided grognard loyalty. Or even "hate" against WotC (I rather like WotC to be honest).  I just really don't have the time to devote to it.

I will be be buying it. If a game comes up I will play it.
Who knows. Maybe if it is as good as Wizard's says it is I might work in some concepts to my current games.  Anything is possible really. I did like the playtest and I am liking all that I hear about it.

I guess Next month I will know.