Sometimes I have the impulse control of a toddler.
I saw this game, Witch Mountain, featured in a post (Gen Con, I think), and I thought, "Damn. I need that." So a quick trip to eBay and I found one, cheap, and still in shrink wrap. Plus it says right on the box, a game with "Witches & Dragons." Sounds like the RPGs I have been playing for the last 45 years.
A few days later, it was mine.
I pulled off the shrink and was treated to the game inside.
The game board is neat. The objective is to get your colored pawns into the center, "Witch Mountain" before the other players, and avoid the witches and dragons flying around.
Gameplay largely relies on the luck of the dice roll. Though it does have the nicest dice rolling cup I have ever seen in a game. Nice hard plastic lined with cork. The board is sturdy, typical of the 1980s. The play reminds me of "Sorry!" The dice are colored sides with a mix of the player colors and an occasional witch or dragon.
Given the date of 1983 I can't help but think the "Witches & Dragons" is an attempt to grab some of that fantasy game market.
Traveller Envy
In my ongoing obsession with adding some board game experience to my Fantasy RPG and Horror RPG experiences, I have been thinking about how to add this. Obviously the pawns are all rival witch covens who need to get to the top of Witch Mountain. The witches flying around are the current occupiers of the mountains and the dragons do their bidding.
Come to think of it. It seems odd to me that I have not codified a more permanent "Witch Mountain" in my games. One of the milestone events in my love of witches was the 1975 Disney film "Escape to Witch Mountain" and it's sequel "Return from Witch Mountain." Although I was disappointed that there were no real witches in it, despite many of the trappings, I still loved the movies. The 2009 "Race to Witch Mountain" was also good. I will admit that I have always given any witch character I play TK and telepathy/empathy of some sort as my nod to Tia, played by Kim Richards, in the first two movies.
I do have a set of mountains outside of my West Haven setting called "The Broken Mountains," which is my homage to the Brocken mountain in Germany. Given it's, and Pendel Hill's, importance to witch lore ([1] and [2]), I really should have something.
I do have the Montblanc Family, and they come from near a "white mountain." Maybe they are the witches in control of the Hexenberg. I have always said they were a very old, and very rich, witch family. Having control of a few dragons is not really a stretch for me to consider.
So I hope to come up with some more ideas for der Hexenberg. Or even an adventure featuring the Witch Mountain. I have been wanting to write more adventures.
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