Urban Fantasy Fridays: WitchCraft RPG & Unisystem

 It is Halloween! The best day of the year. For that, I want to share one of my all-time favorite Urban Fantasy Horror RPGs.

C. J. Carella's WitchCraft RPG

WitchCraft is, hands down, my favorite game.  Period.  Picking up a copy of this book back in 1999 was just like picking up a copy of the Monster Manual in 1979.  Everything I ever wanted in a game was right there. Everything.

WitchCraft had such a profound effect on my gaming that I can draw a rather clean line between what came before and what came after it.  Granted, a lot was going on in 1999/2000, both gaming-wise and personally, that may have added to this effect; it was an effect all the same.

Back in 1999, I was really burned out on AD&D. I was working on my own Witch netbook and reading various games when someone, I forget where, must have been the old RAVENLOFT-L that TSR/WotC used to run, told me I really needed to check out WitchCraft.  At first, I balked.  I had tried Vampire a couple of years ago and found I didn't like it (and I was very much out of my vampire phase then), but I was coming home from work and my FLGS was on the way, so I popped in and picked up a copy.  This must have been the early spring of 2000.

I can recall sitting in my office reading this book over and over. Everything was so new again, so different.  This was the world I had been trying, in vain, to create for D&D, but never could.  The characters in this book were also all witches, something that pleased me to no end; it was more than just that.  Plus, look at that fantastic cover art by George Vasilakos. That is one of my favorite, if not my most favorite, covers for a game book. I have it hanging in my game room now.

WitchCraft uses what is now called the "Classic" Unisystem system.  So there are 6 basic attributes, some secondary attributes (derived), skills, qualities, and drawbacks.  Skills and attributes can be mixed and matched to suit a particular need.

WitchCraft uses a Point-Buy Metaphysics magic system, unlike Ghosts of Albion's levels of magic and spells system. Think of each magical effect as a skill that must be learned, and you have to learn easier skills before the harder ones first. In D&D, for example, it is possible to learn Fireball without having previously learned Produce Flame.  In WitchCraft, you could not do that.  WitchCraft, though, is not about throwing around "vulgar magics".  WitchCraft is a survival game where the Gifted protect humanity from all sorts of nasty things, from forgotten Pagan gods, to demons, fallen angels, and the Mad Gods; Cthulhoid-like horrors from beyond.  WitchCraft takes nearly everything from horror and puts it all together, and makes it work.

The Eden Studios version was the Second Edition, I was later to find out.  The first one was from Myrmidon Press. I manged to find a copy of that one too and it was like reading the same book, from an alternate universe.  I prefer the Eden Edition far more for a number of reasons, but I am still happy to have both editions.

The first edition (from Myrmidon Press) is like an alternate-universe echo of the later Eden Studios release. I own both, but Eden’s version is definitive. It’s cleaner, more playable, and it feels like the book C. J. Carella meant to write.

The central idea behind WitchCraft is the same as most other Modern Supernatural Horror games.  The world is like ours, but there are dark secrets, magic is real, and monsters are real. You know the drill.  But WitchCraft is different.  There is a Reckoning coming, everyone feels it, but no one knows what it is.  Characters then assume the roles of various magic-using humans, supernatural beings, or even mundane individuals, and they fight against the threats.  Another conceit of the game (and one I use a lot) is that supernatural occurrences are greater now than ever before.  Something's coming...  (dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria).

It is most often compared to World of Darkness, but there are aspects of WitchCraft that I prefer.  Unlike (old) Mage there is no war between the (good) Mages and the (evil) Technocracy.  There is a war certainly, but nothing so cut and dry.  Unlike the new Mage, there are rarely clean divisions between the factions.  Yes, yes Mage players, I am being overly simple, but that is the point, on the simple levels new Mage dives everything into 5 because that is how the designers want it.  There are factions (Associations) and different metaphysics for each, but they also overlap, and sometimes no clear and defined lines are to be found or established.  It feels very organic.

In my opinion, C. J. Carella may be one of the best game designers out there.  WitchCraft is a magnum opus that few achieve.  I took that game and I ran with it.  For 2000 - 2003, it was my game of choice above and beyond anything.  The Buffy RPG, built on the Cinematic Unisystem, took over till I wrote Ghosts of Albion, which also uses the Cinematic Unisystem.  I mix and match the systems as I need, but WitchCraft is still my favorite.

WitchCraft, in fact, is what got me into professional game design.

Back in the Spring/Summer of 2001, I started up a new game.  I had just purchased the WitchCraft RPG book about 16 months prior, and I was looking for something new.  That something came to me in the guise of Willow and Tara.  I had been watching Buffy for a bit, and I really enjoyed the character of Willow.  When she got together with fellow witch Tara, I thought they were perfect.  I had become very involved in the online Willow/Tara fandom, so I created a game, focusing on just them.

The game would focus on just these two, no one else from the show (which I would soon become an ex-fan of, but that is a different story).  Plus it gave me something to try out in a modern setting, something I have not done since my early days with the Chill RPG.

The trickiest part of developing game stats of any fictional character that belongs to someone else is knowing how to strike a balance between the game's rules and the fictional portrayal. A lot of "artisitc" license needs to be used in order to get a good fit. For example, how do you determine what some one's strength is when there is little to no on screen evidence? What spells would the girls have?

In the end, I decided to play it a little loose, but I love where their stats ended up.  In many ways, this is who Willow and Tara are to me, not the characters on TV or in comics, but the ones who were my characters since that day back in May 2001, when I decided they needed their own chance to shine.

After this, I worked on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG.  It should be no surprise then that the Willow and Tara stats that appear there are not that much different than my own.  I can be pretty vocal in play tests.  That got me the chance to write the Ghosts of Albion RPG. This also allowed me to meet, work with and remain friends with Christopher Golden and Amber Benson.

WitchCraft paved the way for so many other games for me, not just in terms of playing but in writing.  If it were not for WitchCraft, then we would not have had Buffy, Angel, or Army of Darkness. Conspiracy X would have remained in its original system. There would be no Terra Primate or All Flesh Must Be Eaten, and certainly there would be no Ghosts of Albion.  This game means that much to me.

But you don't have to take my word for it, Eden Studios will let you have it, sans some art, for free.

Download it.  If you have never played anything else other than D&D then you OWE it yourself to try this game out.

My thing is I wish it was more popular than it is.  I love the game. If I was told I could only play one game for the rest of my life then WitchCraft would be in my top 3 or 2 choices.

Larina Nichols for WitchCraftRPG

Like Willow and Tara, I consider the WitchCraft version of Larina to be the "main" or even "true" one. Not a shock. I was reading the WitchCraftRPG after completing my first publication, "Complete Netbook of Witches & Warlocks," which featured a six-year-old Larina learning she would become a witch.  

Later on, I played her in an online game where she went to Scotland, got married, got divorced, and moved back. In fact, it was her "return to America" stage of her life that I tried to capture with the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG. It was here that her "modern age" counterpart had made contact with her "fantasy age", aka D&D counterpart. 

Larina "Nix" Nichols

Wicce Seeker of Knowledge Gifted
Age: 30 (circa 2000/2001), Ht: 5'4", Hair: Red, Eyes: Blue

Attributes: Str 2 Dex 3 Con 3 Int 5 Per 5 Wil 6*

Life Points:  33
Endurance: 29 (27)
Speed: 12/6

Essence Pool: 76
Channeling Level: 10

Survival: 10
Lifting Capacity: 100 lbs

Qualities & Drawbacks

Gifted (+5), Attractive (+2), Essence Channeling (+5),  Hard to Kill (+1), Increased Essence Pool (+8), Nerves of Steel, Old Soul* (+3), Resources (+1), Emotional Dependency: Fear of Rejection (-1), Honorable (-2), Recurring Nightmares (-1), Obsession Magic (-2)

Skills

Cooking (1), Craft, Simple Crafts (2), Driving, Car (2), Humanities, History (2), Humanities, Religion (2), Humanities, Wicce Theology (2), Humanities, Psychology (1), Language, Latin (4), Language, Greek (3), Language Italian (3), Language, Gaelic (2), Magic Bolt (3), Magic Theory (3), Myth and Legend, Celtic (2), Myth and Legend, Greek (2), Folk Magic (4), Occult Knowledge (2), Play Instrument, Clarinet (2), Research (3), Rituals, Wicce (2), Singing (1), Survival, Urban (3), Trance (2)

Metaphysics/Powers

Affect the Psyche (Influence Emotion, 2), Blessing (Good Luck, 2; Protection, 2), Create Ward (2), Flame (2), Insight, One with the Land (1), Perceive True Nature (2), Protection vs. Magic (3), Soul Projection (4), Soul Fire (3), Sending (1)

Weapons

Knife d4x2
Baseball bat d8x2 / d8x3 (two handed)

Possessions: Books on magic, spell components, crystal ball, laptop computer (Mac PowerBook G3 "Lombard"), 1998 Volkswagen Beetle. 

As with Chill, this is not a starting character. I have said it already, but I consider this to be the "Prime" modern Larina, that is, until I wrote NIGHT SHIFT. I use the Old Soul quality not only to have her connect to past lives, but also to her "alternate lives." This would include her D&D and Mage versions. This is what allows her to exceed the human limit of 5 in Willpower. 

Larina's Timeline

Since this is the last post in this particular series, I decided to look back on the lifespan development campaign idea. 

• Childhood
• Tween
• Teenager
• Young Adult
• Adult
• Later Adult

There are certainly more games I could use to fill in some more. Even if I never play all these games, using them is a better solution than a huge backstory. It gives you the chance to build that backstory. 

WitchCraft as a D&D Replacement

I have talked about this one as much this month, even if it is a central feature of my Fantasy Fridays. But the WitchCraftRPG can be used as a replacement for D&D. Eden even published a book for it, Dungeons & Zombies. Overtly for the All Flesh Must Be Eaten RPG.

It is no surprise then that Dungeons & Zombies comes from Jason Vey. Vey and I would later take all that we knew from WitchCraft, AFMBE, and Buffy and Ghosts, and design NIGHT SHIFT.

I even ran the Ravenloft I6 adventure using WitchCraft. It was fantastic.

Final Thoughts

Revisiting WitchCraft after Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition feels like returning to the root system after tracing the branches. Mage is about transcendence, belief shaping reality. WitchCraft is about endurance, belief surviving reality.

In Mage, Larina questions the structure of the cosmos; in WitchCraft, she defends it. Both games explore the same axis of power and consequence, but WitchCraft speaks to something older and more intimate: the soul’s stubborn refusal to go quietly.

Twenty-five years later, WitchCraft still reads like a love letter to the people who look at the dark and light a candle anyway. It’s hopeful without being naïve, mystical without losing its humanity.

When I flip through those pages now, I can still feel that same spark from 1999. The moment I realized that “urban fantasy” wasn’t just a genre; it was a worldview, and it was where I wanted to spend my gaming days and nights.

And Larina’s still there, at her desk, cup of tea beside a stack of grimoires, scrolling through student papers by day and summoning protective circles by night. The Reckoning may come, or it may not, but she’ll be ready either way.

Links

• C. J. Carella’s WitchCraft RPG – Eden Studios (DriveThruRPG)
• Ghosts of Albion
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Angel
• Eden Studios
• WitchCraft
• Ghosts of Albion
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Angel

Witchcraft Wednesdays: The Witch Queen Advanced Class

Photo edit of "Ginger Queen by Black-Bl00d"

For all my talk about witch queens here, I have no real witch queen class. Yes, there is my D&D 3x Prestige class, but nothing really for Old School games. So my oldest and I tried this one out during our AD&D games. Not 100% there yet, and in the tradition of the Arch Druid (Unearthed Arcana), she might get her own level progression above and beyond the witch class. I just have not crunched all the numbers just yet.

This is primarily for AD&D 1st Edition, but it should work in many other games as well.

WITCH QUEEN / WITCH KING

Advanced Class for Witches

When a Witch has reached the height of mortal power, there yet remains one step further upon the Path, the ascension to the mantle of the Witch Queen (or Witch King). This being is the supreme vessel of a Patron’s will, the living nexus of a Tradition’s power, and the spiritual sovereign of all witches within her realm. Like the Grand Druid of the Old Faith, she is both pontiff and prophet, counselor and conduit, a figure whose very presence can bend the ley and alter the seasons' turning.

Whether crowned by fate, prophecy, deed, or divine lineage, this witch has ascended beyond the coven to become a legendary figure. 

Only one Witch Queen (or King) may reign for each Tradition at any given time, making them as rare as they are powerful.

Requirements

To become a Witch Queen (or Witch King), a character must:

• Be a Witch of at least 14th level
• Possess Charisma 17 or higher. Additionally, the witch needs to have an Intelligence or Wisdom of 15 or higher.
• Be a member in good standing of a coven
• Must know the Supernal Language
• Have been chosen through omen, divine sign, or a coven-wide rite as the next Queen or King

Restrictions

• Only one Witch Queen or King may exist per Tradition at a time (GM’s discretion)
• To become a Witch Queen or King, the previous sovereign must abandon or relinquish their rulership.  This is often upon the death of the previous sovereign, but not required. 
• Occult Powers are gained differently (see below)

Spellcasting

• The Witch Queen continues to cast spells as a Witch of her full level
• May forego the use of Material Components. 

Witch Queen Abilities

Awesome Presence (gained at level 16): Witches perceive the Witch Queen as a radiant beacon of power. Allies within 60 feet receive +1 to morale checks and saving throws vs. fear; enemies must save vs. spells or suffer -1 to morale. All witches instinctively recognize her status and will defer unless magically compelled otherwise.

Occult Eminence (gained at level 18): The Witch Queen gains one choosen Occult Power of her Tradition. This power is gained as if at the appropriate level, but may not exceed the “Grand” tier unless already eligible. She may choose another Occult Power from a different Tradition at level 19 if desired.

A Thousand Faces (gained at level 20): The Witch Queen may alter her appearance at will, as per the disguise self spell, though the effect is real, not illusory. This change does not affect clothing or equipment, and may be maintained indefinitely.

Timeless Body (gained at level 22): The Witch Queen ceases to age. She gains immunity to magical aging and no longer suffers ability penalties due to age. Natural bonuses to Intelligence and Wisdom still accrue. Her lifespan is extended to 120 years, and she will still die of old age unless further extended by other magical means. 

Rulership and Influence

The Witch Queen or King is not merely a title, but a mantle of magical authority. All witches of her Tradition know of her. At the GM’s discretion, she may gain the right to command covens, invoke her Patron’s will across vast distances, or declare magical edicts that affect ley lines or seasonal flows. Along with this power and influence comes the wisdom and responsibility of how to use such power. 

Optional Rule: Mantle of Sovereignty

Once per month, the Witch Queen may perform a rite, calling upon her Tradition’s power. Effects may include summoning a spirit host, causing omens to appear across the land, or sealing a region against extra-planar intrusion for 1d4 days.

Experience Progression and Saving Throws

Continues to use the Witch class tables for all purposes.

Multi-Class and Dual-Class Use

Only single-classed Witches may become Witch Queens (Archwitches and Witch-Priestess are considered single-class witches). The transformation requires undivided devotion to the Patron and Tradition. Other characters may assist or serve such a queen, but may never claim her title.

The Witch Queen is both symbol and sovereign, oracle and enforcer. Her path is not taken lightly, for once crowned, her soul is forever marked by the gaze of the gods.

--

Still have details to work out, but I like it so far. Again, this is designed to mimic the Arch Druid to Hierophant Druid of AD&D 1st Edition. Though I do think the Hierophant is a bit overpowered.  

I briefly considered the more gender neutral title of Witch Sovereign, but that doesn't have the same weight to it. My influences should be rather obvious, but even "Simon King of the Witches" is called a King and not a Sovereign. 

Likely need some more work on this one, so feedback is appreciated. 

Mail Call: Aquelarre

 Treated myself to a game I have been wanting for some time now. The Spanish RPG Aquelarre.

This is the English version, but it is still a great RPG.

And it is massive. Can't wait to dig into it.

October Horror Movie Challenge: Akelarre (2020)

 Another rewatch tonight, but I have been wanting to rewatch it for some time.

Akelarre (2020)

I watched this one back in 2022. Tonight I rewatched it in the original Spanish.  I learned two things. First, this is a great movie and a lot is going on here. Secondly, my Spanish is still rather terrible.

Here is my original review; it still stands.

Also known as Akelarre and Coven of Sisters it is not to be confused with the 2019 movie Coven.

This one just sneaks in with the theme. Maybe Great-Great Grandmothers of the Craft is a better descriptor for this one. 

This one is horror, but not for the reasons the first two are. 

In 1609 in the Basque Country of Spain five girls are all arrested and charged with witchcraft.  One of their friends tries to rescue them and she is captured too. At first, the girls are afraid but then they begin to joke about it, not believing that this is happening to them.  Then the torture begins.    

It's all rather horrible to be honest.  Worse, because you knew this sort of thing happened all the time.  

Amaia Aberasturi stars as Ana and she is the real stand-out here. She keeps stringing along her accusers to drag out the proceedings to help save the other girls. Ana easily strings along the horny men till the full moon. 

The girls decide that in order to delay their execution longer they tell the judge they will re-enact the Black Mass, or the Sabbath, for his records. They do so and get him all involved as Lucifer.  Once they had frightened the men, or turned them on, enough they run into the woods. They are chased by the men and soldiers till they get to the edge of a cliff over the ocean.  The other women, the ones not accused of witchcraft, sing a song about the full moon and the high tide.  Ana, realizing the message, tells the other girls they can jump. 

They jump over the side, not knowing if they lived or died.  

I thought this movie was great honestly. Not the typical sort of horror, but also not exactly what I thought it was going to be either.  

Occult D&D and NIGHT SHIFT

The Occult D&D influences are obvious: witch cults, witch hunters, and scared townsfolk. The biggest issue here of course in D&D magic and demons are real, and in movies like Akelarre they are not. 

While it might not work so well as a "witch trial" idea, I love the idea of exploring more about Spanish and Basque witches.  This would be a good way to add in my demon Akelarre. 

October Horror Movie Challenge 2025
Viewed: 29
First Time Views: 25

October Horror Movie Challenge: Spellbinder (1988)

 This one has been on my list for a bit. At least since I saw it in the video store in Carbondale. As it turns out, that video store is now Castle Perilous Games.  My wife says I have seen this, but I sure I hadn't; I am not really a fan of Kelly Preston. But today is a good day for witch movies. Starting this one early today because I don't want to clean up my garden.

Spellbinder (1988)

Jeff Mills (Tim Daly of Wings and Superman: The Animated Series) is a Los Angeles lawyer who saves Miranda Reed (Kelly Preston) from being beaten up by her sketchy Central Casting creep boyfriend Aldys (Anthony Crivello ). Jeff takes Miranda back to his place, where she gets naked, but they don't have sex (at least on screen) but she heals his injured back which seems to drain her and she falls asleep. Magic can be draining.

Jeff leaves her at his place (sleeping) but he sees Aldys in his dreams trying to kill him. He gets home that evening and she is still there AND cleaned his house by canglelight, just wearing one of his shirts. Had to check, yeah written by a guy. Surprised she didn't have a steak and martini ready for him. Though they do drink champagne in a bubble bath. Oh, and dinner was ready.

An aside...I still don't think Kelly Preston can act. She is great looking here, but I have never been impressed with her at all.

Soon, Jeff and Miranda settle into a domestic life, but are being followed by Temu Billy Squire and "We Have Billy Drago At Home."  Things start to fall apart when Miranda's coven starts hunting down wayward members, Jeff's secretary starts to suspect Miranda, and oh yeah, she becomes a suspect in a series of Satanic murders. Things start to pick up when Mrs. White (Audra Lindley aka Helen Roper) shows up to threaten Jeff. 

Mirianda leaves, and Jeff starts looking for her. He goes to the police and we get treated to Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Lieutenant Lee. 

Miranda has been missing for a bit now, and Jeff is still looking for her. One night he gets a call from her at his office. Mirianda is there, but the coven follows them back to Jeff's place. We learn that the coven needs to sacrifice someone on the Winter Solstice, and Miranada thinks it is going to be her.

Jeff takes Miranada to one of his clients, Brock, who is a paranoid conspiracy theorist. Mrs. White turns out to be Miranada's mother, which is a shock to absolutely no one except for Jeff.  

Miranada disappears again, even Brock's Fortress of Paranoia can't protect her.

The movie really drags at the end. Turns out everyone but Jeff is in the cult, and Miranada wasn't a victim; she was bait to get Jeff, who is the real sacrifice.  They kill him and cut out his heart.

Later on, Grace dies mysteriously, and we see Miranda acting out the same scene from the beginning of the movie on her next victim.

It had some potential, but it got bogged down. 

In the end, only Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa's Lieutenant Lee is the only decent character here. 

This really didn't change my opinion of Kelly Preston.

Occult D&D and NIGHT SHIFT

 The movie, despite its flaws, has some good ideas. A witch moving in with a PC suddenly is a great plot point. Whether the witch turns out good or evil, they will undoubtedly be trouble of some sort. 

When I was talking about the WitchCraftRPG yesterday, I was considering some Conspiracy X material as well. This movie kinda gives us some crossover. This sort of thing is a lot easier in NIGHT SHIFT.

A possible adventure idea would be to follow along with Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa's Lieutenant Lee investigating these Satanic murders. Getting closer and closer to the coven. Knowing the 1980s he would also have a background in some mystical martial art. Cliché? Yeah, but that's the 80s for you.

October Horror Movie Challenge 2025
Viewed: 28
First Time Views: 25

Urban Fantasy Fridays: Mage The Ascension, 20th Anniversary Edition

 I will admit, I love Mage. I love all versions of it, to be honest.

While I never really got into the original World of Darkness when it was all the rage, I did have Vampire: The Masquerade, and I recognized why and how it was good. Still, at the time, I had also just discovered WitchCraftRPG (next week!), so that was the game I had chosen to scratch my Modern-Supernatural itches.

I remember picking up a copy of Vampire the Masquerade back in the early 90s and thinking it looked interesting, but nothing I was going to play really.  Though my thought did go to moving the whole thing over to Ravenloft.  It wasn't until I had moved to Chicago to work on my Ph.D. that I found Mage.  

The ground floor of the commuter train station had a bookstore in it.  One of the pure joys of my daily commute. I picked up a copy of Mage: The Ascension (Revised) and thought that it was fantastic.  While I would ultimately stick with WitchCraft, Mage continued to have a fascination for me. Moving back and forth between the systems, I ultimately landed on the idea that a "Mage" was an evolved form of a "Witch."  I did some refinements, mostly after Mage the Awakening was released, so eventually came to the idea of an "Imbolc Mage," the term borrowed from a friend who wrote about "Ascended witches."  IT worked for me.  Even in my D&D 3.0 days, an Imbolc Mage was a witch prestige class. Even today I have a Mystic Class Starship kitbash called "The Imbolc Mage."  

Though I did really like Mage. A lot. I really like Sorcerer's Crusade; it was a cool idea and much more interesting to me than Mage: The Ascension at first.  That led me to Sorcerer: The Hedge Wizard's Handbook, which is not part of Sorcerer's Crusade, but part of modern Mage.  But I am glad I made that mistake, since I really liked this book, and it made me look again at the World of Darkness.

While Mage: The Ascension grabbed my attention, it was Mage: The Awakening that I created more material for.  I soon figured out why: it felt very similar to WitchCraft.  I wanted to do something that took the best aspects, or more to the point my favorite aspects, of both games and use them together.  I grabbed the Mage Translation Guide with great glee, but I never really did anything with it.  With the release of Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition (and its nearly 700 pages), I just dropped all the work I was doing with Mage: The Awakening. 

Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition

The 20th Anniversary Edition of Mage: The Ascension is a massive, beautifully crafted tome that brings every prior vision of the game into focus. It’s not just a revision of the rules; it’s a celebration of what Mage has always been: the meeting of philosophy and passion, of science and sorcery, of power and the price of using it. 

It’s also the most “complete” version of Mage ever written. M20 doesn’t erase the differences between editions; it embraces them. The Traditions feel ancient and mythic again, the Technocracy has teeth and ideology, and even the Marauders and Nephandi have more depth than ever before, a LOT more depth. The lore isn’t presented as dogma but as perspective, filtered through the unreliable narrators who populate the Ascension War. This is hit home time and time again. Reality is what you make it. 

Reading it feels like walking through every era of the game’s evolution: the raw wonder of 1st Edition, the sleek paranoia of Revised (my previous favorite), the fiery metaphysics of Awakening, all of it bound together by the idea that belief shapes reality. If you’ve ever argued about whether magic is real, or what truth even means, M20 will make you feel like those questions matter again.

Plus the physical book is just so damn attractive.

Magic, Philosophy, and Price

What I’ve always loved about Mage, especially the 20th Anniversary Edition, is that it treats magic as both metaphor and mechanism. Every paradigm is true, and none of them are. The more you understand, the more dangerous it becomes to believe in only one truth.

That’s why Larina fits here so naturally. In earlier games, she learned that magic has limits. In Mage, she learns that those limits are hers.

The system itself still shines. M20’s rules strike a balance between the freeform wonder of 1st Edition and the structured precision of Revised. The magic system remains one of my favorites of any RPG ever written, not because it’s powerful but because it demands creativity and consequence. Every effect has a cost, every belief has friction, and paradox is always waiting for the arrogant.

This is where Mage transcends its own mechanics. It’s not just about bending the universe; it’s about how much of yourself you’re willing to give up to make that change. Every roll feels like a wager between your vision and the world’s resistance. It’s a game of philosophy disguised as spellcraft, where your paradigm defines not only your powers but your purpose.

In that way, it’s the most dangerous kind of fantasy: the kind that makes you ask, What if I’m the one who’s asleep?

The Mature Stage of the Lifespan Campaign

If Little Fears represents childhood beliefs, Monsterhearts embodies teenage Sturm und Drang, and Chill signifies early adulthood resilience, then Mage is mid-life transcendence.

By the time a character reaches Mage, the world has stopped being mysterious because they have seen too much of it. They’ve fought the Unknown, lost friends, made mistakes, and realized that survival is only the beginning. Mage is what happens when you stop reacting to horror and start defining reality for yourself.

For Larina, this is the phase where the witch becomes the magus. She’s no longer the frightened girl with ghosts in her room or the grad student who stumbled into S.A.V.E. She’s a woman in her mid-40s who has survived every shadow the multiverse could throw at her, and learned that power without wisdom is just another kind of curse.

Her story at this stage isn’t about discovery; it’s about integration. Every past incarnation, every spell, every trauma, they all thread together into something greater. The act of Ascension isn’t about escaping mortality; it’s about embracing it as sacred.

Like the rules, I want to integrate all the disparate threads of her life here. 

Larina Nichols in Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition (2015)

By 2000 or so, Larina had returned to the States and lived quietly in Chicago. She teaches folklore and comparative mythology at a small liberal arts college, but that’s just the daylight cover. At night, she works as an independent consultant for the Traditions, specifically the Verbena, though she maintains uneasy friendships among the Dreamspeakers and Hollow Ones.

In the context of my Lifespan Campaign, this is Larina’s middle-age chapter, the reckoning after experience, when all her past choices catch up to her. The ghosts from Little Fears, the stress of Monsterhearts, the agents of S.A.V.E. from Chill, even fragments of her other lives like Lowis from Dark Ages, they all echo here.

Mage lets me weave those threads together into something coherent. Maybe those different incarnations were just past lives of the same soul, or echoes across parallel worlds. In Mage, that kind of metaphysical bleed makes sense. It’s one of the only games where her story could become mythic without losing its human edge.

At 45 (2015 in this build), Larina is a seasoned practitioner who has seen the price of awakening. She knows that every act of will leaves ripples in the world. She teaches her students that folklore endures because it speaks to something real, and when she’s alone, she can still hear the faint hum of the Tapestry, like a heartbeat under the world.

She’s part scholar, part witch, part weary survivor. The Ascension War has become quieter, now fought through memes, corporate sponsorships, and disinformation rather than fireballs and paradox spirits. Larina has learned that the Technocracy doesn’t always need to win; reality often fights their battles for them.

But she keeps the candle burning anyway.

Her focus remains rooted in belief: the Old Faith, the Goddess, the sacred cycles of life and death, but expanded now to the Universal and Multi-versal scale. She has studied Hermetic theory and understands the language of the Ethers, yet she still draws her strength from the soil, the stars, and the blood that ties them together. In M20 terms, she is a Verbena, a witch who believes in creation’s divinity but refuses to kneel to any monotheistic god.

She works minor wonders through old rites: candle flame, herbs, whispered prayers, moonlight on water, spreads of her well-worn tarot cards. Her paradigm has grown sophisticated; witchcraft, psychology, and spirit all merge into her personal practice. Where she once used spells, she now shapes Correspondences.

Her Avatar is older now, too, no longer the reckless maiden or disappointed wife, but a patient, keen-eyed woman who sometimes calls herself the Lady of Crossroads. 

Larina "Nix" Nichols

Chronicle: The New Millennium

Nature: Questing
Demeanor: Traditionalist
Essence: Visionary

Affiliation: The Traditions
Sect: Verbena
Concept: Mystic

Attributes 

Physical
Strength ••, Dexterity ••, Stamina •••

Social
Charisma •••, Manipulation ••, Appearance ••••

Mental
Perception ••••, Intelligence ••••, Wits •••

Abilities

Talents
Alertness ••, Art •, Awareness •••, Empathy ••, Expression •, Streetwise •

Skills
Crafts •, Drive ••, Etiquette •, Research •••, Survival •••, Technology •

Knowledges
Academics ••••, Cosmology ••, Enigmas ••, Esoterica •, Investigation •, Medicine •, Occult ••••, Science •

Spheres

Correspondence ••
Entropy 0
Forces •••

Life •••
Matter •
Mind ••••

Prime •
Spirit •••
Time ••

Advantages

Backgrounds
Allies ••
Avatar •••••
Dream •
Library ••••
Past Lives •••
Wonder •

Other Traits
High Ritual ••••
Seduction ••
Area Knowledge ••

Arete ••••• ••

Willpower ••••• ••

Quintessence xxxxx

Rotes
Talons (••• Life, • Prime or • Matter)
Far Speak (•• Mind, •• Spirit)
Astral Projection (••••Mind, • Spirit)
Past Life (•• Correspondence, •• Spirit)

Focus
Paradigm: Creation is Divine and Alive
Practices: Witchcraft
Instruments: Books, ritual tools, tarot

Wonder
Athame

Merits & Flaws
Languages (Celtic, Greek, Italian, Latin, Russian) 5, True Faith 2
Echoes -1

Age: 45, Apparent age: late 30s
Sex: Female
Ethnicity: White (Caucasian)
Hair: Red
Eye color: Blue
Height: 5'4"
Weight: 125 lbs
DOB: October 25, 1969

Equipment
2005 purple VW Beetle
2013 Macbook Pro (Core i7, 2.6 ghz, 13.3" screen, 256gb ssd, 8gb RAM), silver

Notes: One thing I have not decided yet is whether or not this Larina has a 3-year-old daughter "Taryn" as her WitchCraftRPG counterpart would have at this point (Taryn born Dec 21, 2012, when the Meso-American calendar ran out.) I would like to think so, but I have not played this particular character to that point.

This is obviously not a starting character. I figured she began as a Mage character when I first discovered Mage (circa 1999) and she has had 15 years of experience since then. Granted, maybe she would be more powerful, but she had a lot going on in her life that was not Mage-related. 

I have always played my Mage and WitchCraft versions as similar, but separate universes. This Larina may be the Larina that keeps the others connected to the whole cabal/coven of them all. Actually, I really like this idea. Maybe I should reach out to Phil Brucato, "That Mage Guy," and ask him how he would craft such a character. 

Final Thoughts

Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition isn’t just a rulebook. It’s a philosophy text disguised as a game manual, a challenge to imagine what reality could be if you dared to believe differently. It captures everything I love about urban fantasy, the collision of magic and modernity, of belief and disbelief, of hope against entropy.

For me, Mage represents the mature stage of the horror-fantasy journey. It’s not about surviving the darkness anymore. It’s about illuminating it, understanding it, and, if you’re brave enough, even becoming it.

Larina has learned that the Ascension War was never about gods or Technocrats. It was always about the soul’s struggle to stay awake.

And after all these years, she’s still standing at the crossroads, candle in hand, whispering to the night: "So mote it be."

Links

• Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition, DriveThruRPG
• Mage: The Ascension (Wikipedia)
• Mage: The Ascendion (White Wolf Wiki)
• Mage: The Ascension (RPG.net)
• Mage: The Awakening

Witchcraft Wednesdays: Occult D&D updates and Halloween sales and more

 Stayed up last night watching The Substance, if you haven't read my review, then no big deal, but at least see the movie, might be my favorite one of the Challenge so far. 

Occult D&D

I have been playing around with this idea of "Occult D&D" for a little while now. I went into it really with no major intentions save to add some more occult feeling to my D&D games and maybe into my NIGHT SHIFT games as well. Its been a blast really. I was sorting through my notes and looking over the books I still want to read or reread for it, and I discovered that I have a lot. Like an obscene amount.

Not just in what I have written so far (an estimate of about 350 pages), but also in what I am still planning on reading.

The Enchanted World

Mysteries of the Unknown

The Supernatural

Man, Myth, & Magic

Do I *need* to read all of these? No, but I *want* to. Many of course are re-reads. I have had these for ages, but I want to be systematic about all of this. Half the joy for me is the research. Sorry, its the academic in me.

I am not 100% sure what shape the final product(s) will take, or even if it will be something I will ever publish. But I am having a lot of fun with it so far.

Halloween Sales

As always, many of my books are on sale at DriveThruRPG for Halloween!

• The Other Side - Halloween at DriveThruRPG

This includes my newest and most popular titles:

• The Witch - Book of Shadows for ShadowDark
• The Left Hand Path - The Diabolic & Demonic Witchcraft Traditions
• The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition for Old School Essentials
• The Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition for Labyrinth Lord

Plus a lot more!

EGG Con

I'll be at EGG Con this summer! I'll be there again with Elf Lair Games, selling and running NIGHT SHIFT and Thirteen Parsecs. Hope to see you all there. 

Mail Call Tuesday: October Adventures & Witches

 It is proper chilly today in Chicago. And in my mailbox are some new witchy-themed books.

The Cooked Moon for 5e

I backed this Kickstarter and got the book a couple of weeks ago...or so I thought! My oldest saw it on my desk and has been taking his group through it.

He loved it so much, saying it is the best D&D 5e adventure out in years, that he went out and bought the special edition version.

As it turns out the Special Edition on he grabbed was for D&D 5.5 (labeled 5e|2024) mine is for 5e|2014. The page number is the same, but the pages don't exactly line up. The content is still the same. There are differences, but we have not found them yet.

The book is huge, 632 pages, and gorgeous. It has a bit of everything. A 350-page adventure for levels 1 to 13. New subclasses, new species, new monsters, spells, feats and more. There new mechanics, curses, dark bargins.

Honestly, this feels like they are flirting with me.

It really is top-notch, and kudos to Avantris for getting it out in time for Halloween.

Sickest Witch

Another Kickstarter delivery in time for Halloween. 

I only got this one yesterday so I have not had the chance to go through it all yet. But it is a damn attractive book.

It feels like a stripped-down OSR-like game with some other design elements. Looks really fun.

All writing, development, and art was done by Justin Sirois. So it has a solid, united, vision throughout. 

Both are great for Halloween fun!

Witches of Appendix N: John Bellairs

There is only one entry for John Bellairs in Gygax's Appendix N; 1969's The Face in the Frost. I decided to read this to see what other titles he had prior to the 1977-1979 publication of AD&D. But I learned a couple of things. First his biggest publication before the AD&D generation age was "The House with a Clock in Its Walls" series for children, which is by all accounts a good book. Secondly, while it is in the Appendix N, it didn't really influence AD&D.  According to The Dragon issue #22. 

As I have not read the book until recently, there is likewise no question of it influencing the game. Nonetheless, THE FACE IN THE FROST could have been a prime mover of the underlying spirit of D&D.

So. With this in hand, I still opted to read this one based on Gary's recommendation. 

This slim novel follows two wizards, Prospero (no relation to Shakespeare’s) and his friend Roger Bacon (the real Roger Bacon), as they stumble into a creeping darkness spreading across their half-real world, a place somewhere between fairy tale and nightmare, where mirrors whisper, shadows move, and even the geometry of time bends. Bellairs’ world feels like a dream the Brothers Grimm might’ve had after reading The Necronomicon.

Prospero and Bacon go all over their world, which is and is not England, in search of an ancient, hard-to-translate book (I kept thinking of the Voynich manuscript, and the wizard who is close to unraveling its secrets.

It's a travling magical adventure that takes place in dream-like, and nightmare-like

That is great, but does it hit my central thesis? In other words, are there witches?

Well. No. There are rumors of witches and a couple of really eccentric wizards. But no proper witches.

If you like the idea of a wizards-only adventure (and who doesn't!) then this is a good choice.

Updates

Ok, I have been doing this for a bit, time to check in on who I have read so far. Well, I have read most, I have talked about all of them yet.

Anderson, Poul. Three Hearts and Three Lions; The High Crusade; The Broken Sword
Bellairs, John. The Face in the Frost
Brackett, Leigh.
Brown, Fredric.
Burroughs, Edgar Rice, Pellucidar series; Mars series; Venus series
Carter, Lin. "World's End" series
de Camp, L. Sprague. Lest Darkness Fall; Fallible Fiend; et al.
de Camp & Pratt. "Harold Shea" series; Carnelian Cube
Derleth, August.
Dunsany, Lord.
Farmer, P. J. "The World of the Tiers" series; et al.
Fox, Gardner. "Kothar" series; "Kyrik" series; et al.
Howard, R. E. "Conan" series [Part 2] [Part 3]
Lanier, Sterling. Hiero’s Journey
Leiber, Fritz. "Fafhrd & Gray Mouser" series; et al.
Lovecraft, H. P. (The Dreams in the Witch House)
Merritt, A. Creep, Shadow, Creep; Moon Pool; Dwellers in the Mirage; et al. (Burn, Witch, Burn!)
Moorcock, Michael. Stormbringer; Stealer of Souls; "Hawkmoon" series (esp. the first three books)
Norton, Andre. (Witch World)
Offutt, Andrew J., editor. Swords Against Darkness III.
Pratt, Fletcher. Blue Star; et al.
St. Clair, Margaret. The Shadow People; Sign of the Labrys
Tolkien, J. R. R. The Hobbit; "Ring Trilogy"
Vance, Jack. The Eyes of the Overworld; The Dying Earth; et al.
Weinbaum, Stanley.
Wellman, Manly Wade. (The Desrick on Yandro)
Williamson, Jack.
Zelazny, Roger. Jack of Shadows; "Amber" series; et al.

--

There's still a way to go! I have read many of these in the past. Some, like Lovecraft and Moorcock, I am ready to do now, I just want to reread some stories in particular. Others, like Vance and Zelazny, it has been so long I don't recall everything. 

I put some tales in parentheses because those are ones I want to pay particular attention to. I am sure I am missing some tales, so if you know of one, please let me know!

October Horror Movie Challenge: The Conjuring (2013) - The Conjuring Series

The centerpiece of the Conjuring Universe, the one that started it all.

The Conjuring (2013) - Conjuring Timeline 1968-1971 

Ok. There is lot going on here. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga star as real-life couple and demonic investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. The Warrens' investigations also gave us the Amityville Horror story and film franchises. Maybe I should have included them in this. Nah.  Lorraine Warren even makes a cameo appearance in this movie, before her passing in 2019. 

First off, Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga are both fantastic. I have enjoyed everything they have been in even when the surrounding movie was terrible.  This movie is not terrible. 

And honestly, the whole cast is fantastic.  Ron Livingston and Lili Taylor as the Perron parents, and Joey King as one of their daughters. All also based on real people. 

The Annabelle sub-plot is only the prologue to the main tale. 

By 2013, the haunted house genre seemed played out, but this movie really revived it. Revived isn't right, it brought back to life. And there are a lot of great scares here. The demon grabbing Christine's leg is certainly going to give someone nightmares. 

We learn the house is cursed by an accused satanic witch who killed her baby and herself in a satanic ritual at 3:07 am, when all the clocks stop. 

What makes The Conjuring stand out is the execution. James Wan stages his scares with precision. Long takes, creeping camera movement, and subtle sound design build tension until it’s unbearable and then the hammer drops. The clapping game in the cellar remains one of the best set pieces in modern horror, not because of gore or CGI, but because of its timing and restraint. 

When things happen, they happen all at once. 

Turns out the place is full of ghosts and demonic forces. 

There are a lot of parallels between this and Steven Spielberg's Poltergeist. You would be excused if you thought  they were based on the same story and told from very different points of view. 

NIGHT SHIFT & Occult D&D

There is no end of material for either my Occult D&D and NIGHT SHIFT. I mean, this is a NIGHT SHIFT campaign right here. Ed and Lorriane are by the rulebook occult scholars and a psychic. The scene where the occult investigators come into the house is fantastic and feels like found footage.  Not to mention, there are more secret rooms in this house than in a Gygax dungeon.

October Horror Movie Challenge 2025
Viewed: 8
First Time Views: 6

October Horror Movie Challenge: Witchcraft (1988)

This October Horror Movie Challenge, I am going "themeless." Well, not entirely themeless, I am going to hit some movies I have been wanting to see for a while. I am going to hit some movies with a strong occult themes to help with my Occult D&D ideas. And a lot of movies that are random picks. 

So, lets get in a Witchcraft Wednesday special!

Some horror movies become classics because they’re great. Others become classics because they’re terrible. And then there are the ones like Witchcraft (1988)—movies that sit in that odd middle space where you can’t really call them good, but you also can’t quite look away. This was the beginning of what would inexplicably become the longest-running horror franchise of all time, with over a dozen sequels. Yep, this little direct-to-video oddity outlasted Friday the 13th.

Witchcraft has always been out there, taunting me. The later direct-to-video offerings are essentially cheesy, low-grade horror with soft-core porn. There is a time and place for that, but not often in the Horror Movie Challenge. Still, I am not going to rule out more of these for the simple reasons that A.) this one wasn't so bad (ok it is, but) and B.) maybe there is something to extract here.

The setup is Gothic in all the right ways. The film opens with a young woman, Grace Churchill, giving birth to a child in a spooky old mansion, watched over by ominous figures who may or may not be part of a Satanic coven. The baby, William, grows up haunted by strange powers and a dark inheritance. That’s about as coherent as the plot gets. The rest is a mix of supernatural brooding, awkward family drama, softcore sex, and a finale where witchcraft and devil-worship clash in melodramatic fashion.

It’s the kind of movie that promises “occult terror” on the box but delivers more soap opera than sorcery. The budget clearly wasn’t there, and it shows—cheap sets, stilted acting, and special effects that would’ve been laughed off Tales from the Darkside. But there’s something about the sheer earnestness of it that makes it oddly watchable. You get the sense that everyone involved thought they were making something serious, maybe even artistic. Instead, they accidentally launched the trashiest franchise in horror history.

What stands out, though, is the vibe. Witchcraft is soaked in late-80s VHS energy, grainy lighting, synth score, and a sleazy Gothic tone that feels like it belongs in a tattered paperback you’d find in a used bookstore. It’s not scary, not really, but it is atmospheric in that “midnight cable TV/Cinemax” way.

Witchcraft (1988) isn’t good. But it’s important. It’s the seed from which a whole weird forest of bargain-bin horror would grow, a franchise that leaned more and more into sleaze and supernatural soap opera. I can't help but think that this series promises a better movie. 

Maybe I'll watch them all one day. But not this month. 

Occult D&D and NIGHT SHIFT

Yeah, there is a NIGHT SHIFT campaign here, but it is likely a silly one.

October Horror Movie Challenge 2025
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First Time Views: 0

Witches of Appendix N: Poul Anderson

 It is the start of October and time for another foundational author for D&D from Gary's Appendix N. As always with this feature I am focusing on the witches presented in these tales.

Poul Anderson (1926-2001) is much better known for his Science Fiction tales, but he does have three (well, 2.5) fantasy stories on the Appendix N list, and two of these feature witches rather prominently: "Three Hearts and Three Lions" and "The Broken Sword."

I will take each in turn and also expand a little from "just witches" with these.

Three Hearts and Three Lions (1953)

Anderson’s Three Hearts and Three Lions is already famous in D&D circles for giving us Law vs Chaos, the Swanmay, regenerating trolls, and even the proto-paladin in Holger Carlsen. But nestled amid the elves, trolls, and Moorcock-before-Moorcock cosmology is one of the first proper "witches" of Appendix N.

The unnamed witch of the forest hut is classic fairy-tale witchcraft: ugly, corrupt, but wielding real power. She brews potions, dabbles in deviltry, and represents the Chaos side of Anderson’s moral spectrum. Anderson clearly has one foot in the folkloric hag tradition; this witch could have walked right out of the Brothers Grimm, but her function in the story is thematic as much as narrative. She exists as a living symbol of the Chaos that Holger is pitted against, an incarnation of superstition and malice. While her interactions with Holger are not long, she is his first clue that magic, chaos, and evil are real, tangible things in the world/time.

Then there is Morgan Le Fey. She is Holger's former lover in a past life, and she is the main antagonist. She is a representative of the "Old Ways," the paganism of Europe, dying out in the face of rising Christianity. She is also representative of chaos, evil, and magic. Where the old hag is evil and ugly, Morgan Le Fey is evil and beautiful. Representing that evil does come in many guises and our hero needs to recognize that.

The battle is a parallel of the one Holger left in his time, World War II.

Both witches represent the two types of witches most often seen: the old Satanic Hag and the beautiful Pagan. Both, however, represent evil and mostly Chaos. 

The notion of Paganism/Old Ways versus Christianity is a recurring theme in Anderson's other significant Appendix N book.

The Broken Sword (1954/1971)

The Broken Sword gives us a much darker, more primal vision of witchcraft. 

Here we get another hag-witch who is close enough to the elves and trolls to have dealings with them, but is also very explicitly Satanic. She lives in a run-down cottage/hut, deals with the dark forces of evil, and has a talking rat familiar. Honestly, she could even be the same witch if so many years were not between them.

She also tempts our main antagonist, the Changeling Valgard, by glamouring herself into a beautiful woman. It is her desire for vengeance that sets the plot into motion. 

Like Three Hearts, the Witch, and she never is given a proper name, is a force of evil and chaos. Also like Three Hearts, the story centers around the battle between Pagans and Christianity, which Anderson casts here as Evil/Chaos vs Good/Law, respectively.

The elves and trolls of The Broken Sword are more similar to each other; both are forces of Chaos, for example, and an elf/troll child is a Changeling. Their magic is also described as akin to witchcraft ("witchsight" allows humans to see the world of faerie) and to the witchcraft the old hag employs. Many elves and trolls have "Warlocks" in their ranks.

Here, also, the big Pagans vs. Christians war takes a back seat to two warring factions of Pagans, the Elves/Faerie and the Trolls/Giants. The interaction our protagonist Valgard has with the displaced Faun is very telling. This area of England/British Isles is one of the last holdouts of the Pagan ways. 

The mixing of the various mythologies, Norse, Irish, Welsh, British, and Greek, is very D&D. 

That Last Half

I joked above, 2.5 books in Appendix N. The ".5" is "The High Crusade" which is more appropriately a Science Fiction or Science Fantasy novel. I didn't include it here because, simply, I have not read it. 

A Note About Trolls

Three Hearts and Three Lions is notable for giving us the "D&D Troll," but the ones in The Broken Sword are much more interesting. Yes, they are ugly and brutish, but they are also smarter, and while they have enough similarities to elves to produce offspring (with the help of magic), they are explicitly related to the Jotun of Norse myth. 

Closing Thoughts

Anderson gives us some compelling stories. While not explicitly set in the same world, they are also not not the same world. His epic war of Good vs. Evil, Law vs. Chaos, is something that rings loudly even today in all editions of D&D. His wars of Christians vs. Pagans ring loudly to me.

His witches are less characters and more caricatures at times, but this fits into the world view these books have: the witches are just pawns and tools. Even when they have agency, their fate is already predetermined.

The entire time I was reading The Broken Sword, I could not help but wonder why witches didn't play a more prominent role in the game. Of course, the reason is simple. I was reading this looking for witches and not the larger themes. Gary, I assume, read these and saw the cosmic battle of Law vs. Chaos.  

None of the witches in these two tales would make for good Player Characters. They would, however, make for great NPCs using the Dragon Magazine witch class. 

In the AD&D Player's Handbook, it is mentioned that the Druid class is the same as the pre-Christian (not Gary's words) druid that has survived to Medieval times. If this is the case then certainly other "pagans" have survived. The witches of Poul Anderson certainly could be among those numbers.