April TTRPG Maker, Day 18

Day 18: What are some underlying messages in your work?

Witches are cool. Haunted houses are awful places in my world.

I suppose the underlying message I want to convey is that as long as everyone is having fun (and no one feels hurt or left out) then it's all good fun.

There is no wrong way to play.

Also, let people enjoy the things they love.

April TTRPG Maker, Day 17

Day 17: How Does Your Identity Influence Your Work?

This is related to yesterday's post.  But let's break it down into how I see myself.

I am an aging Gen Xer
Not a Baby Boomer (thank you!) and not a Millenial.  I grew up on a diet of MTV, horror movies on basic cable and later on VHS.  I learned to program a computer to get the software I needed (no aps or stores yet).  So I have learned to make do with what I had available and then create the rest.
My books are often the games or supplements I wanted to play in the 80s but no one had written.
So I also have a preference for some older games. I am not saying they are better (and if you spend anytime here you will know I play and love a lot of new games) I just find them fun. I like them.

I am a Midwesterner
I grew up in the mid-West.  My high school was in the middle of two corn fields. We lived through the Satanic Panic of the 80s so "of course" everyone knew of someone that knew someone that saw a Satanic altar.   I got the see the power behind a social movement early on and in your face full color.
This also affects my next bit of identity.

I am an Atheist and Skeptic
I grew up as an Atheist in a town whose claim to fame is the number of churches they have.  Look I love writing about ghosts, witches, magic, and gods. I just don't believe in any of it in real life.  None. In a very significant way, my early explorations into RPGs (D&D in particular) and mythology was a way of dealing with being the only kid in school* who didn't believe in fairy tales.  * I have since learned through the wonder of social media that I was not the only one they were just as afraid as I was to say anything.

I am a Father
Becoming a husband and father is one of my greatest achievements in life.   Yes, I have had plenty of other really great achievements; my education, my degrees, my books.  But being a dad.  Nothing ever comes close to that.  I write games I want my kids to also enjoy.  I want worlds that they would want to play in.

I am sure there is more.  I used to have a professor that said culture is like a tackle box that someone shook up.  It is very difficult to pull out one thing or separate one from the other.  I think that is true here.

April TTRPG Maker, Day 16

Day 16: How does your environment inform your work?

I have talked about this one before.

I grew up in the midwest in the 70s and 80s.  My "adventures" were often road trips. My backgrounds included a love of horror movies, a mother who knew some of the most blood-chilling stories I have ever heard, and a fascination for mythology and the occult.

It was a heady brew that only the alchemy of the 70s and 80s could produce. 

In my books, I want to recapture the feel of finding some lost occult tome of the 70s.  Something a little subversive, a little dangerous and a little outside of the reach of the normal people out there.

Hammer Horror + Occult 70s + NWoBHM from the 80s gives you the environment I grew up in and what informs all my RPG creations.

April TTRPG Maker, Day 15

Day 15: Favorite Tropes to Subvert?

Halfway there!

Favorite Tropes to Subvert?  ALL OF THEM!

But seriously, a few come to mind.

You will never, ever see a "Women in Refrigerators" situation in one of my games.  No woman will ever be killed to forward a male character's arc. Never. 

You will never, ever see rape as a means of helping to build up a character as via a Rape-and-Revenge arc. As in when you take a character down to their lowest levels so they can be built back up into something more powerful.  I guess the trope could be called the "I Spit on Your Grave" trope.

Most of all you will never, ever see a "Bury Your Gays" or a "Dead/Evil Lesbian cliché" in anything I publish. Ever.

"But", you may ask "what if the story calls for it?"
Sorry, but no. Time to write a new fucking story then.

"But aren't you giving 'special treatment' to a certain group?"
No. And also fuck you, go write your own fucking games and don't buy mine if that is what you think.

These are my lines in the sand.

April TTRPG Maker, Day 14

Day 14: Are Your Game Mechanics and Characters Intersectional?

My mechanics are math which is about as non-intersectional as you can be. Math is math.

Again, not to sounds like a broken record, I go back to my key philosophic design foundation; Is it fun?  Everything else flows from that.

Now to be fair.  I DID write The Witch: Aiséiligh Tradition AS I thought a radical feminist witch group would look like in a D&D/Fantasy world. 

Here I did play with concepts of power and gender as they related to the archetype of the witch.  I based it on the "Reclaiming Tradition" in modern Wicca who have decided that they need to reclaim the name "witch" and make it their own positive label.

The Aiséiligh are in a very real sense my Social Justice Witch class.  Lawful, Good, and sick your patriarchal shit.

April TTRPG Maker, Day 13

Day 13: Participate in Streamed Games?

No. I really don't.

I am of an age where I don't get a lot of time for my games, so I like to run them when I can.  Since my regular group consists of my family there is not a lot of interest in me streaming the game.

Plus streaming games have a certain flow to them that my home games do not.  Plus there is a ton of inside humor. What's the point in streaming content that really only the people at the table will get.

I have not against streaming games and think they are kind of cool really.  The ones I have watched have been a lot of fun.  But you likely will not see me doing it anytime soon.

Would I play in one that someone else was running? Yeah, I might do that.

April TTRPG Maker, Day 12

Day 12: How to Make Work more Inclusive?

I hope that my work is fairly inclusive as is. 

With my two primary philosophies "Is it fun?" and "Can I play what I want?" I hope that I have not left any room for anything exclusionary.

Since I also feel that once the book leaves my hands and it is in yours that you can make as inclusive as you like/want/need.

I just have to make sure there is nothing in the rules that say you can't.

I'll be interested in seeing what others have to say about this.

April TTRPG Maker, Day 11

Day 11: Shoutout to an Underloved Creator

I know of a lot of creators that are doing great work.  But underloved?

Justin Issac is doing some cool stuff under his labels Halls of the Nephilim and The Lone Bards.

Gavin Norman has been putting out some great stuff for his Necrotic Gnome label.

Any others I mention I think are pretty well known.  Liz Chaipraditkul at Angry Hamster Publishing I think is well known now. At least I hope she is!

I am sure there are more.

How about this.  Here is your excuse, permission, invitation to post YOUR favorites below.  Post yourself if you wish!

April TTRPG Maker, Day 10

Day 10: How are my games dismantling colonialism?

Uh...They are not?

My games really don't have that kind of effect.

My design principles start with "Is it fun?" and end with "Is it fun to write?"

I mean sure there are some subversive messages explicitly about Colonialism (and in particular about the British Empire in India) in Ghosts of Albion.  But the message is not one of action it is more directed to people who already understand what a bad thing it can be.

So yeah.  I guess the scope of my writing is just not that large.

April TTRPG Maker, Day 9

Day 9: How Do Your Games Distribute Power Among the Players?

Well, I would have to say I try to focus on mechanical balance as much as I can within the scope of the rules.

Some games, say for example many old-school games, balance is not really a consideration.  But you also don't play those games for balance, you play them for the game-play-experience you get (not XP in this sense).

So I create witch classes that are, for the most part, pretty weak at love levels.  This in on purpose since it fits in with the design constraints of the games I am working with.  The payoff is once you get to higher levels you are pretty damn powerful.  Like scary powerful really.

In other games, I also look a lot into the balance of the character types.  For example in Ghosts of Albion Tamara and William, the "stars" of the show are also some of the weaker characters power wise.  They are not the great powerful warrior Queen like Boadicea or the magic using vampire or the poet whose words can shape reality.  This balanced with their ability to affect the plots and course of the game via their greater Drama points.

After that, it becomes the realm of the individual game masters to do their job.

April TTRPG Maker, Day 8

Day 8: Favorite Collaborators

Oh wow. With this, I am afraid I'll miss someone.

At the top of my list, I will say is Jason Vey.  We worked on Buffy together and a bunch of other projects.

We agree on all the "big stuff" and respect each other's backgrounds and areas of expertise.  But we are also not afraid to go at it when defending something we both want.

A collaborator should bring out the best in you and you for them. 

I also would not hesitate for a chance to work with Christopher Golden and Amber Benson again like we did on Ghosts of Albion.

Lots of people I would love to work with too.

April TTRPG Maker, Day 7

Day 7: How to Increase Accessibility

Good question, wish I knew how!

For the games I write I try to make things as flexible as I can within the guidelines of the rules so people can do anything they want.

I don't want to be the one to say "No. You can do that."  I would rather write my material so I can say "Yes, you can do that, let's figure out how."

Want to play a Winter Witch that is just like Elsa?  Yeah, you can do that.  Want to play a White Witch, but make him psychic instead?  Yeah, ok do that thing!

Whatever else beyond that is up to whoever is running the game.

At the same time, I try to market my games and books to appeal to all sorts of crowds. 

Looking forward to seeing what everyone posts for this!

April TTRPG Maker, Day 6

Day 6: Long or Short ttrpg texts?

Not 100% sure I know what this one is asking.

So I am going to repeat what my Ph.D. advisor told me when I was writing my dissertation.

"Make it as long as you need it to be, but no longer."

Another bit of advice he gave was to quote an anecdote from Napoleon.

"Dear Josephine, I am writing you a long letter because I don't have the time to write you a short one."

Brevity is key. Keep things concise and simple for everyone to read. Avoid a page of text where a paragraph will suffice.

Good advice for academic writing and good advice for game writing as well.

April TTRPG Maker, Day 5

Day 5: Character or Worldbuilding?

Hmm...

As a gamemaster I enjoy both, as a player I enjoy characters.

I have often said I am a bit of an oddity in my OSR crowd. I have said in the past that I explore characters and not dungeons.

To me, I love character development.  Don't get me wrong, I love worldbuilding, but only insofar as it provides a stage for the characters to grow in. 

Do I care about weather patterns or the price of grain on the local markets? No. I really don't.  If it needs to rain, it is raining.  If there is no grain then there is no grain.  The only reason I need is how does it affect the characters in their situation right now.

April TTRPG Maker, Day 4

Day 4: Favorite Type of Game Scenario?

I think, and this has a lot to do with the media and books I was raised on, is the Haunted House.

Haunted house scenarios, especially ones with long and tragic backstories are my favorites of any game.

This all goes back to this reoccurring nightmare I used to have that I called "The Very Haunted House".  The house was an old Victorian manor complete with spooky attic and sub-basements.

It was haunted by the ghost of an evil old woman that used to torture kids.

This house was based on a few things in real life.  The biggest was "Maplecrest Apartments" in my old home town.  It used to be an old tuberculosis hospital turned into low-income housing. I delivered newspapers back then and that was on my route.  Scary place.  The house took more form when I went with my dad to see the Dana Thomas house in Springfield, IL.   These nightmares plagued me forever to be honest, and they were not the "whew that was a weird dream" nightmares these were the "oh my god I am going to die in this dream" sort where you wake up afraid and still full of terror.  I added details to dream with every movie I saw or book I read including a bathtub full of black water with a rotting corpse that I am sure I got from "Silence of the Lambs".

Oddly enough they stopped about 15 years ago. I had the dream and in it, my wife was standing in the dark attic only now it was bright. She held a mop and had her hair tied up, she looked at me and said "What? I cleaned it."  Cheesy as it sounds I think she helped get over whatever fears it represented.

I have since used this house in other adventures I have written.  I first used "Cotton Crest" in my Buffy RPG adventure "Under a Cajun Moon".  Years later "Oak Crest" made it's debut in "The Haunting of Oakcrest Manor" in the Guidebook to the Duchy of Valnwall Special Edition.
I am considering also doing it again, only this time Willow Crest.  Cotton Crest was haunted by demons, Oak Crest by ghosts and other undead.  Willow Crest?  Extra-dimensional aliens.

So yeah, give me a good haunted house and I can have a blast with it.

April TTRPG Maker, Days 1-3

I have to admit I miss participating in the April A to Z blog marathon. 
Not the work, of course, it is a lot of work, but the feeling of participation and focus it brings to post something every day on a particular topic and theme.
Plus I feel that when I do it I am ignoring my primary audience in favor of another audience that time has shown don't stick around. 

There is however a new April social media that is more RPG focused, so I thought what the hell, let's give it a try. It is focused on RPG "makers" (I prefer the word "creator" myself, or "author")

It is called #AprilTTRPGMaker and it is mostly on Twitter, but open to all social media platforms.  With the demise of G+ I feel the need to branch out more.

Here are the topics for the month.  Unlike the A to Z's 26 posts, this one has 30 for every day.

Since today is April 3, I'll do the first three here.

1. Introduce Yourself
Hello, my name is Tim Brannan and I write RPGs.  I have been playing RPGs now for nearly 40 years (started in 1979) and writing my own material nearly as long.  I am most famous for the Ghosts of Albion RPG for Eden Studios and my various books for the Witch class for all sorts of variations of the D&D game.  I worked on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG, did some minor work for the Doctor Who Adventures in Time Space, Angel and Army of Darkness.  Did some other work for the All Flesh Must Be Eaten line at Eden and playtested a few score other RPGs over the last 20 years.  I also have some work coming out Gaslight and Blue Rose.

2. Describe Your Work
I consider myself very, very fortunate. I can write the kinds of books I want to play and use.  So my primary focus is typically, "what do I think is fun?" and then I make it.  I mostly like to write about magic and horror themes. If it has a witch or a vampire in it, chances are good I have tried it.  If a game doesn't have a witch in it chances are also good I tried to fit one in somehow. ;)

3. Key to Your Making Process
Like I mentioned above I usually start with "What do I think is fun?" and go from there.  I also look for what others would enjoy in my game material.  I do try to make things that people will use and enjoy.  I also work from the philosophy of once it leaves my mind and hands and it is in yours it is no longer just "my" game. It is what others make of it.  So I love hearing about what others do with my materials even if, or especially if, it is not something I would have done on my own.

I am going to try and not let this interfere with my normal posting. I still have things I want to talk about this month other than just what is above.

Participate if you like or just post your responses below.  Yes, please link to your creations! My dad always says no one will toot your horn for you.  So use my venue to talk about YOUR creations as well.

OERAD: Spellcraft & Swordplay

Wellcome once again to the annual Original Edition RPG Appreciation Day!

Uh wait... isn't that supposed to be Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day?  Well, yes, but this year Gamers & Grognards, our host, has decided to expand the day to any old-school game that emulates the Original Edition, or (of course) the Original Edition itself.

This year I want to talk about one of my favorite Old-School games, Spellcraft & Swordplay.

Now, just I get this out of the way first.  Jason is a friend of mine and we worked on a lot of Unisystem games together.   Also, I worked on a supplement for S&S called Eldritch Witchery.  That all being said I developed my opinion of this game long before EW ever was thought of.

Spellcraft & Swordplay is not a retro-clone exactly.  It is more of a "near-clone" or as I often think of it as an alternate reality version of OD&D. This game was released in 2011 and it is much closer to the Original Edition feel than S&W.  How?  Well, it uses the original 2d6 means of combat resolution rather than the "alternate" method of the d20.

When D&D was starting out it grew out of the rules in Chainmail.  Using a d20 (twenty-sided die) was the "alternate" combat method that became the norm.  But the original combat method involved 2d6 (two six-sided dice), S&S (among other changes) explores that further.

There are other changes such as saving throws are made against the appropriate ability (which is not too far off to how 5th edition or Castles & Crusades does it). So you can make a Dexterity save to avoid getting hit with something, or a Constitution save to avoid the effects of a poison.

There are no skills, but ability rolls and some characters get bonuses due their classes.

S&S “feels” a lot like the old rules.

The first third of the book is dedicated to character creation. It is roughly analogous to “Men & Magic” and about the same size. We have our introduction that tells why this book is here. There is a section on ability scores and what they can do. There are entries for the four core races (humans, elves, dwarfs, and Halflings), Warriors (not Fighters or Fighting Men), Priests, Wizards, Thieves and Assassins, all the things we remember as kids or have been told about. Some things have been renamed (my OD&D had Clerics and Magic Users and it was not till 2nd Ed that I had Priests and Wizards) some oddly so (Crypto-Linguistics? I am going to need some more levels in Read Languages to figure that out!) but the spirit is there and that was the point.
Classes each have their own advancement tables as in days of old, though the hit point calculations are weird, they are in line with OD&D rules (I just had forgotten how it was done). Though I missed the level names. Spells are a simpler deal. Levels and description, that’s it.

Part 2, Combat and Confrontation is a little more modern than it’s old school counterpart, showing it’s modern sensibilities. It is, in fact, truer to a more modern concept, the Dungeon Master’s Guide. Ability checks, for the most part, replace all skills. Armor Classes though go up instead of down (so 7 is better than 3) and start at 1, not 10.

Part 3, Monsters and Magic is the “Monsters & Treasure” or “Monster Manual” portion. All stats are in a table at the beginning of the chapter, with descriptive text and some pictures following. It does make it awkward to read, but again this is the same as the OD&D books. Monsters are followed by a listing of magic items.

While there some differences from baseline D&D,  S&S is one of those systems that becomes systemless after a while.  The focus is less on rolling dice and more on adventure and role-playing.  For that reason, I find anything written for OD&D, Swords & Wizardry or Basic D&D can be translated and used in a snap.

In fact, as much as I enjoy Swords & Wizardry I find Spellcraft & Swordplay closer to OD&D in terms of gameplay and feel.

Spellcraft & Swordplay Books

• Spellcraft & Swordplay Core Rulebook
• Spellcraft & Swordplay: Monstrous Mayhem
• Spellcraft & Swordplay: Eldritch Witchery
• Spellcraft & Swordplay Basic Game (It's FREE!)
• Spellcraft & Swordplay Character Sheet

Spellcraft & Swordplay Characters

• Asa Vajda (From Black Sunday)
• Dracula
• Elizabeth Bathory (monster stats)
• Emirikol the Chaotic
• Hex (from Skylanders)
• Red Sonja
• Sir Gannon and Del 
• Skylla
• The Necromancer
• Xena & Gabrielle

Reviews

• Grognardia
• RPG.net
• A Paladin In Citadel
• Tenkar's Tavern
• Dreams and Dragons (with a review of Eldritch Witchery too!)

Witch Superstitions

It's Friday the 13th! Always a special day here at The Other Side, but a Friday the 13th in October? That's practically a national holiday here!

I am participating in the RPG Blog Carnival for October on Superstitions. Hosted by Of Dice and Dragons.

Witch Superstitions

In my games, witches have a lot of superstitions.  Actually many believe they HAVE to do these things or their magic will be in jeopardy.  It is one of the defining features of the witch as opposed to wizards, clerics, druids or other types of spellcasters.

Most of these are designed with roleplaying flavor in mind, if anything I would say that if they don't follow them they get an immediate -1 on their next roll or where appropriate.

Brooms
- A witch never buys a new broom in May.  "New broom in May, sweep your family away."
- A witch never takes an old broom to a new house.  When the new house has a broom an old broom may be brought in.
- If a broom falls it means a stranger is coming. Or that someone is under a curse.
- Newlyweds should jump over a broom after a handfasting to ensure a good marriage.
- Floors are never swept widdershins, west to east or left to right.
- Knocking a broom handle on the floor (bristles up) three times will remove mischievous fairies.
- If a broom breaks while being used it will bring bad fortune on the whole house.

Cauldrons and Pots
- A witch never stirs a cauldron, pot, or even her teacup widdershins (counter clockwise). Stirring widdershins is allowed when brewing a curse or when you want bad things to happen.
- Cauldrons must be seasoned prior to proper use.  A cauldron not seasoned will never produce acceptable results, whether this is a potion or soup.  Use the most common type of animal fat available.  Typically an old mother hog who is past her own season is the best.
- The ember to light the cauldron fires after Samhain must come from a fire that was started before Samhain.

Food and home
- A witch never uses salt at the table.  If you do, throw some over your left shoulder first.
- Breaking a cobweb is good luck.
- Finding a spider is a good omen.
- A portrait falling from a wall is a omen of death.
- A cracked mirror is ill-fortune for the one that cracked it and the one that sees it first.
- Cat on your threshold means you will have a visitor soon.
- A Cardinal (or a red bird common to your area) singing in your garden means an old friend will contact you.
- if your cat hisses at a stranger do not let them into your home.
- Plant roses and lavender in your garden for luck.

- Crooked windows will keep rival witches from flying into your home.
- Bury a horseshoe under your front step to kept evil spirits from your home.
- Burn sage in a home to remove evil spirits.
- If you believe your house is haunted, move the furniture to new positions to confuse the spirits.  If the furniture is moved to same places they were before you could have a boggart.
- Ring bells to remove evil spirits
- If someone knocks their chair over when getting up from a meal it is a sign they lied.
- Never lay money on the table before eating.
- Never shake hands or kiss in a threshold.
- If three or more witches gather in a home the youngest (or lowest level) must make the tea and serve it to the oldest (or highest level) first.

Personal
- Wear black on Wednesdays, wear purple on Sundays.
- Do not sleep with wet hair, your dreams will portend madness.
- If a witch must go to a church or temple of another god she should sit in the back row.
- Always start new endeavours facing East. Never start something new on a Friday.
- when making a camp, sleep with your feet pointed in the direction you will be headed in the morning for quick and speedy travel.
- properly dispose of all nail clippings and fallen hairs to prevent another witch from casting a spell on you.
- if you have to speak the name of an enemy, spit on the ground after you speak it.

Witch & Witchcraft Reading Challenge: Gretel: A Fairytale Retold

"It takes more that a little fire to kill a witch," Maeve whispered to Gretel.

I love retellings of classic fairy tales. I do.  I ESPECIALLY love ones where the witch is not the monster, but the hero of the tale.

I get such a tale from Niamh Murphy in her retelling of "Gretel: A Fairytale Retold".  In this, we have an older version of Hansel and Gretel. Here they are in the woods, hungry and chased by wolves.
That is till the Witch shows up to scare way the wolves and take Hans and Gretel back to her home.
The tropes are all here. She fattens them up, she lives alone. But that is where the similarities end.
The "witch", Maeve, lives alone because she dared to love someone her village did not approve of.
While Hans does not trust her, Gretel is taken with her charm, her intellect, and her independent nature.  Maeve knows the secrets of the forest and in her own words she was not exiled but set free.
Maeve is easy to like.
I thought the relationship between Maeve and Gretel felt natural. Afterall, Gretel knew she was missing something, she just didn't know it was this.
I was disappointed, but not surprised, in Hans' reaction. I had hoped for more, but it does set up the final act.

The story is a quick read, but a lot of fun and you can grab it for free from her website.  I lament that the story was too short, to be honest, but it is a fairy tale retold, so it can't be too long.
Of course there is a happily ever after, it's a fairytale still.  OR as we used to say to my kids when reading fairytales to them "they all went home and had tea."

She has other stories too, I just grabbed one that is longer.

Niamh Murphy can be found on the web at her website, http://www.authorniamh.com/ and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AuthorNiamh/

2017 Witch & Witchcraft Reading Challenge
Books Read so far: 15
Level: Mother
Witches in this book: Maeve. She might not be a "real" spell-casting witch, but I choose to think she is.
Are they Good Witches or Bad Witches: Good!
Best RPG to Emulate it: Blue Rose is a good choice.  Maeve lives inside the  Pavin Weald.  She very much fits with my idea of a Green Witch.  I would use my new Witchcraft Specialization for her.  I'd make about a 4th level witch.
Use in WotWQ: I plan on using all sort of fairy tales in my War of the Witch Queens.  A Fairytale re-told is also good material if that re-telling is good.  This is a good retelling.

Something like this would also make for a good Blue Rose adventure.
Much like the Frog Princess is a retelling, this would make a great adventure.  Hans and Gretl can be part of an adventuring party sent to investigate the so-called Witch of the Woods and determine her true intent.   But it turns out she is not evil, but the nearby village is making it look like she is.  She does control the wolves, but not magically, they just treat her as their Alpha.
Gretel, or some other female character, ends up falling in love with Maeve.

And they all go home and have tea.

Witch & Witchcraft Reading Challenge: The Hero and the Crown

"They call you Witch's Daughter - and so you are, and more."
- Agsded addressing Aerin, "The Hero and the Crown"

The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley is a bit of an older book (1984) and one I recall from back then.  I had read the "Blue Sword" ages ago and this was it's prequel.  I actually liked this one better, though I am re-reading Blue Sword now.
The story centers on Aerin Sol, the princess and only daughter of the King of Damar.  Aerin, also known as Aerin Fire Hair and Aerin, Lady Dragon Killer (more on that) is shy, awkward and generally clumsy.  Pretty much the archetype of what would later become a trope of female characters in "Romantic Fantasy".  This story gets a huge pass because it helped establish this trope.
In Damar all those of royal blood have a "gift" or some magical power, Aerin's doesn't appear to have manifested cause some (but not her father or her cousin Tor) to suspect she is not really of royal blood. They called Witch Woman's Daughter since the suspect the queen's second wife of being a witch.
Aerin learns to move through life trying to be unnoticed, which is hard because of her fire-red hair (she claims it is orange) and the fact she is as tall as most men.  She hides away in books, where she happens on an ointment to protect one from the fire breath of dragons.  Dragons in this book are small things and are more annoyance than a threat.  So she imparts on a career of killing dragons.  A useful task but one with no honor. It also earns her no friends in court.

In her travels and quests she learns of a "Great Dragon" whom she later kills and is nearly killed in return. Hears the summons of a "not quite mortal" mage. Recovers two lost artifacts, the aforementioned Blue Sword and the Crown of Heroes.

The book, like the Blue Sword, starts out slow. But this one builds quickly.  Of course you know that Aerin will succeed since she is legendary in Blue Sword,  but that doesn't mean things will be easy for her.  I have to admit I forgot this when I was on the part where she was laying in a river with burns covering half her body.

The book is older and for a younger audience than me. But I am reminded that we still need more Aeirn Sols (and Hermoine Grangers) and fewer Bella Swans and Anastasia Steeles.

Robin McKinley can be found on the web at http://www.robinmckinley.com/

2017 Witch & Witchcraft Reading Challenge
Books Read so far: 14
Level: Mother
Witches in this book: Aerin's mother. Her uncle, Agsded and maybe Aerin is a witch too. Witches seem to have red-hair in this world.
Are they Good Witches or Bad Witches: Half and half.
Best RPG to Emulate it: This one is easy. Blue Rose is the best. In fact this is one of the books most often mentioned as an inspiration for Blue Rose.
Use in WotWQ: I love the idea of historical legends being brought to life.  I might want to have the players start out by playing the Witch Queens first.