A to Z of Witches. S

S is for Shaman

Shamans and Witches often get confused with each other on a few levels.

A shaman typically has a closer connection to the natural world than say a witch does. A shaman's magic then will appear to be more in harmony with the rest of the world.

Along with witches, Shamans are also often a forgotten source of magic in many Fantasy Roll-Playing games.
When I was working on my book of Witches for the d20 game, there was a group doing a d20 Shaman.  I worked with them and they with me and it was great to be able to exchange ideas.

Now I am doing "Strange Brew: The Ultimate Witch & Warlock" and as it turns out the next book inline is "Strange Brew: The Ultimate Shaman" and again these two teams will be sharing ideas.  I enjoy this, it it nice to have people to bounce ideas off of.

I don't recall ever playing a Shaman character though.  Any time it would have come up I played a Druid or a Witch.    I might have to give that a go sometime.





Supernatural AtoZ

Ghosts of Albion Review

RPG Reviewer extraordinaire Dan Davenport took some time to review my baby, Ghosts of Albion.

Please read his review here:  http://gmshoe.wordpress.com/2014/04/18/review-ghosts-of-albion/

As I posted on Facebook, I am stunned and completely speechless with the praise he gives me and my book.

Here are some of my favorite bits.

From the Magic Chapter (Chapter 4)

Given the focus on magicians, you’d probably expect this game to this game to have more extensive magic rules than those found in Buffy. You’d be right. What you might not expect is to find a magic system so refined and slick that it sings.

From the History Chapter (Chapter 5)

This could have been a horrifically dry chapter. Instead, I daresay it’s the best chapter of its sort I’ve read in an RPG.

From Monsters (Chapter 6)

Every entry drips with flavor, and many creatures have access to nasty powers unavailable to PCs. As a bonus, the chapter discusses both the realm of the dead and of the faeries, both Seelie and Unseelie, in broad but fascinating terms.

Style

Extensive use of period artwork and text that sounds vaguely archaic while maintaining total clarity makes this game positively drip with verisimilitude, while the format will be instantly familiar to fans of previous Cinematic Unisystem games. I saw no obvious errors.
And, as is true with all good RPG texts, it includes an index.

Conclusion

This game not only masterfully emulates the source material, but also could serve as the solid basis for a magic- and/or monster-heavy Cinematic Unisystem game set at any time from the 19th century and earlier. Given the excellent refinements to the magic system and the vast flexibility of the supernatural powers, I’m happy to declare this the finest incarnation of Cinematic Unisystem to date.

I am blown away by this. Really. I have had a lot of people come up and tell me how much they loved the game and it always surprises me.  I am humbled and incredibly honored by this.

A to Z of Witches. R

R is for Rachel Morgan

Rachel Morgan is the main character in the Hollows series of books by Kim Harrison.

She is a witch, turned day-walking demon in a world where most of the human population was killed by a genetically engineered tomato.  Since then ("The Turn") the vampires, witches, weres, elves and other supernatural types came out of hiding.  Witches look human but are a different species.  They marry and have sex, but can't produce offspring.  Witches are though more related to demons.
Rachel is an independent "runner". She is something like a bounty hunter/detective/occult problem solver.  She uses magic, but since magic has limits, complications and prep time she also uses a paintball gun where the paintballs are filled with sleep potions.

There are currently 12 books in the series with the 13th and last one, The Witch With No Name, out later this year.  I have not caught up yet to book 12, The Undead Pool (so don't spoil me!), but I hear it is good.

I will be honest I did not like Rachel at first.  I thought she was whinny, immature and didn't earn my interest.  Fortunately other characters did.  I was reading book 3, Every Which Way But Dead (all the books are named after Clint Eastwood movies) when Rachel finally grew on me.  Now she is a confident, mature, kick ass witch.  I am going to be really sorry to see her go.

I have stated up Rachel and her vampire partner Ivy before for Ghosts of Albion/Buffy and for Ova.  I ahve also used them as examples on how to build a cast using Cortex+.   I'd also like to try her out in Fate.

So who is your favorite witch?  What book(s) does she appear in?

ETA: Kim Harrison has part of the new cover for Witch With No Name on her site today!
http://kimharrison.wordpress.com/2014/04/21/first-piece-reveal-of-the-witch-with-no-name/



Supernatural AtoZ

Zatannurday: Bunny Day

Another Zatannurday on Sunday. Since it is also Easter Sunday how about some Zatanna and her favorite animal.

Happy Bunny Day!



Zatanna by Elias-Chatzoudis on deviantART


Commission: Zatanna's Bunny peril by TheLadyJ on deviantART


C2E2 2011 Zatanna by MahmudAsrar on deviantART


Zatanna and her rabbit by HM1art on deviantART


Zatanna by enjoykerin on deviantART


Zatanna by edbot5000 on deviantART


Gamma Irradiated Zatanna By johnnyharadrim by cerebus873 on deviantART


Dat Bunny! By Harpokrates Colors By StacyRaven by cerebus873 on deviantART


Artemis and Zatanna by Doctor-Awkward on deviantART


Zatanna by clc1997 on deviantART


Zatanna performing magic.. by Arioanindito on deviantART


Zatanna Quik Magic by norrit07 on deviantART


White Rabbit and Zatanna colored remake by DemetrioBraga on deviantART


Zatanna by carlzeno on deviantART


Zatanna by kudoze on deviantART

A to Z of Witches. Q

Q is for Queen of Witches

I have talked about and around the Queen of Witches many times here.  It is one concept that you will see in almost all my games.  I have talked about it for Basic D&D, Ghosts of Albion/Buffy and even 3rd Ed/Pathfinder.  I even began this challenge with Aradia, the first Queen of Witches.

But what is a Witch Queen or a Queen of Witches?

In my games the Witch Queen is the most powerful witch of any given tradition. She would control many covens and their leaders, the high priestesses, report to the Queen and her Court.

The last season of American Horror Story: Coven gave us an idea of what Queen of the Witches would be like.  We had a Witch Queen, called a Supreme, and a Voodoo Queen.  It certainly gave me some ideas of what could happen when rival queens interact.

One point I have made in my books, but never really elaborated on was the fact that there is only one Queen of Witches per Tradition.  With magics like longevity and Timeless Body a powerful Witch Queen can reign forever...or at least a really long time.

I would say in traditions that are closer to nature, Craft of the Wise and Classical, the Witch Queen steps down after a number of years in favor of younger sharper minds.  In evil traditions, like the Demonic, Mara or Malefic I would say the Witch Queen is usually killed.  Other traditions might vary. I can see a Family or Gypsy Tradition doing either, depends on what they need.

I came up with the idea of a Queen of Witches from a lot of different places.  Most obvious was the well trod ground (for me) of the Sisterhood of Karn.  They were Gallifreyians! They were witches! Perfect really.

A member of the witch court and her Queen

I also thought Witch Queen had a nice sound to it.  Clerics had already laid claim to High Priest/ess so I felt something different was needed.  Plus there were already Faerie Queens and courts and Vampire Queens, it made sense.
Plus I was doing most of this writing in the 80s so this had some influence as well:

This was the hot stuff back in 81!

I have a few Witch Queens detailed out.  Interestingly enough my Witch Queen for the Voodoo witches is a Witch King, a character I have been using for years, Bone Man.  He is not a particularly nice guy, but as a character I really like him.
Another character familiar to Greyhawk fans is Iggwilv she is the Queen of the Demonic Witches and maybe one of the more powerful Queens in my game.  I think as a nod of respect to Vince Garcia and his Quest of the Ancients I might name my Queen of the Faerie Witches, Elvyra.




Supernatural AtoZ

Playing Some Old School Basic D&D Tonight!

Dropping in on a friend's game tonight to play some old school Basic D&D tonight!  I am quite excited about it.

Even better than that I am going to get to play my own witch class!

I have not had the chance to play one of my own witches in a long time. So this is going to be great.

Just need to survive this work day!

A to Z of Witches. P

P is for Prue, Piper, Phoebe and Page

I don't hide it.  I loved Charmed. One of my wishes is to write the official Charmed RPG.

I have talked about Charmed a few times here including the first A to Z Challenge I ever participated in; C is for Charmed.  I also wrote a Buffy/Charmed crossover for the Buffy RPG, "Semi-Charmed Life".

What I liked the most really was the interaction between the sisters.  It was a show about family that also happened to be witches and kill demons.  Supernatural covers similar ground and I like it for similar reasons.

I also picked up the Charmed comic that continued the story of Piper, Phoebe, Paige and yes, Prue.
That was the other thing, Prue was killed at the end of Season 3. They were still mourning her in one way or the other by Season 8.  Star Trek The Next Generation did that with Tasha, but most other genre shows forget after an episode or two (looking at you Buffy).

A couple of Gen Con's back I got a chance to play a Buffy-based Buffy/Supernatural/Charmed crossover. I got to play Piper. It was a blast.

Buffy is an obvious choice for a Charmed game, but I have also been playing around with Fate a little.
My ideas are only in the genesis phase at the moment, but I have some.  I also have a Fate Week coming up so hopefully I will get them altogether for that.



Supernatural AtoZ