#RPGaDay2025 Day 6 Motive

Witchcraft Wednesday Edition

In most games, when the party gathers for the first time, there's a fairly straightforward motive: treasure, fame, glory, revenge. Maybe they’re trying to save their village. Maybe they just need to pay off a bar tab. Whatever the case, the classic adventurer is easy to motivate. Dangle gold or justice in front of them, and they’ll go down into the dungeon willingly.

But witches and warlocks?

Their motives tend to be… different.

“She didn’t go into the ruins for gold. She went looking for the name she saw in her dreams.”

 - page, recovered from the bog near Meirath’s Hollow

Witches often aren’t chasing wealth. They might live in crumbling cottages or vine-covered towers filled with tea, bones, and books. They have what they need. Their magic doesn’t come from loot, it comes from knowing. From power earned through pacts, practices, and pain.

When a witch goes on a journey, it’s usually because something has shifted in the world:

• The stars have changed their alignment.
• A long-forgotten spirit has begun to whisper again.
• A charm buried under a tree has broken.
• A name has been spoken that should not have been known.

Their motive isn’t external. It’s internal, symbolic, spiritual. Sometimes it’s not even clear to them at first. But they feel it. A pull. A path. The wind shifts through the birches in a different way, and suddenly she knows it’s time to move.

Warlocks, too, have unique motives, but theirs are often tied to obligation.

 Their power comes at a cost, after all. And sometimes that cost is paid in quests, souls, or favors. Maybe they heard their patron whisper something in their sleep. Maybe they found a rune etched into the frost on their window and knew they had to follow it. Or maybe they have no choice. Maybe the pact has come due.

That’s the thing about occult characters in fantasy RPGs: their motives aren’t lesser or greater than the standard adventurer’s, they’re just deeper. More tangled in the weird threads of fate and prophecy and intuition. Sometimes they’ll ride alongside the party for gold and steel and good company, but eventually, something will pull them off the path. And that’s when the story really begins.

So next time a witch joins your adventuring party, ask her why she’s there.

 If she tells you it’s for gold, she’s lying.

 She already knows something’s coming.

 She just doesn’t want to be the only one standing when it arrives.

Questions

How. Optimistic. Accessory.

Hmm. How does a particular accessory keep you optimistic? 

As I mentioned yesterday, I often take the point of view of the characters. A while back, I got some art done of Larina. I don't remember which one it was, but around her waist she wore chain and it was threaded with dragon teeth. I had asked for a dragon tooth charm, and that is what I got back. I like to trust the artists with their vision, and this was a good choice. In my games from that point, it was a "charm" she wore to provide protection. While mechanically it added to her saving throws, I said it was something that gave her hope. She could collect all these dragon teeth and know she helped defeat those monsters, so whatever challenge was next, she could handle. 

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/

#RPGaDay2025 Day 5 Ancient

 "Before the first cleric lifted a holy symbol, before the first wizard penned a scroll, they were already here, gathering in moonlight."

- From the Journal of Larina Nix

A lot of what goes into the assumptions of D&D, or really any fantasy RPG, is that there were once glorious empires (or terrible ones), long before the current age. Civilizations rose, ruled, and collapsed. Names were lost. Gods were forgotten. Ruins now dot the land like scars on old skin. And the heroes of today walk through the bones of that forgotten world, looting what little wisdom and gold remains.

It’s a familiar formula. And it works. Even the Greeks did it with the Egyptians, and that’s where some of the myth of Atlantis comes from, trying to make sense of a culture already ancient when theirs was young.

We build that same idea into our games.

Why does this dungeon have magic no wizard understands?  Why is this sword sealed behind twelve runes in a language no one speaks?  Why are there pyramids on this island when no one remembers building them?

Because something came before.

 And whatever it was, it was older, deeper, and probably stranger.

But for me, “Ancient” doesn’t always mean “a thousand years ago.” Sometimes it means before memory. Before civilization. Before the gods got organized.

When Larina speaks of “they,” she means the ones who practiced the old ways before spells had names and magic had schools. The ones who made offerings in stone circles, who brewed potions by feel, who danced naked in the moonlight, not because it was part of a ritual, but because that was the ritual.

They didn’t even call themselves witches. They didn’t call themselves anything. They were simply those who knew.

And sometimes… still do.

That’s one of the things I love about Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age.

 It flips the paradigm. The world isn’t ancient yet, but you’re playing in the mythic past that future bards will whisper about. You are the ancients, carving out the foundations of legend. The ruined towers in your 5e game? Yeah, maybe your hero built one of those. Or destroyed it. Or died there.

There’s a strange beauty to playing in the age before the age. You’re not unearthing forgotten relics, you’re making them.

And for witches, who remember too much and live too long, every new age is just another layer of dust on a story that began long before gods had names.

Questions

How. Contemplative. Character.

I often will contemplate what a bit of writing means from the point of view of the characters, or a specific character. With the quote above, I often view my witch writing from the point of view of the witches in the game. Like Larina or Emse or Amaranth. When doing my Forgotten Realms reviews I'll often take the point of view of the characters in that. Moria, Jaromir, or Sinéad.

It helps me get immersed in what the world looks like to those in it.

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/

#RPGaDay2025 Day 4 Message

 Monstrous Monday Edition

It’s a quiet night in the tavern (for yesterday!)

The fire has burned low. The regulars have stumbled home. The bard’s stopped playing and is asleep in the stables. Just you, your companions, the dregs of your drinks, and a few moments of rare peace.

Then the door creaks open and a message arrives.

Not a letter. Not a scroll. Not a pigeon with a satchel. 

A thing, bone-thin, cloaked in rags that hang like wet skin, with eyes like coins held too long in the mouth. It doesn’t speak. It simply places something on the table and turns to leave.

What did it leave behind?

That’s the start of the adventure I’m working on.

See, I’ve always loved the idea that not all messengers are human, or even alive. Some messages come from older places, places where ink isn’t used and paper doesn’t burn. Where secrets aren’t written so much as bound. And sometimes, the thing carrying the message doesn’t even understand it. It’s just a vessel. A warning. A test.

This whole adventure started with that moment:

 A creature. A message. A choice.

What do you do when something too old to name brings you a letter with your name on it?

What if the wax seal bears a symbol you saw once in a dream you forgot?

What if the ink moves when no one’s looking?

What if you break the seal and something breaks back?

The message in this case? It’s not a quest hook. Not exactly.

It’s a summons.

Something ancient remembers you.

And it’s time to remember it back.

That’s the thread I’m pulling on right now, something I’m weaving into the adventure that begins at the most clichéd tavern I could dream up. I want the players to laugh at the trope… until it gets quiet… and the thing at the door isn’t part of the trope anymore.

It’s part of the world.

And now, so are they.

Questions

When. Grateful. Genre.

When was I grateful for a particular genre? Hmm. I think that would have to be when I approached Christopher Golden about collaborating on a Buffy adventure for Eden Studios, and he instead asked me if I knew Victorian/Gothic horror. I stepped up and said I was practically an expert! I wasn't, I was just an enthusiastic fan, but it worked and that is one of the reasons why we all have Ghosts of Albion now.

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/

#RPGaDay2025 Day 3 Tavern

 I’ve been working on an adventure for a little while now, off and on, between other projects, late at night when inspiration strikes and I let myself go back to being just a DM for a while.

And yes, I’m going to start it in a tavern.

 Not a mysterious tower. Not a burning village. Not a cosmic rift in the sky.

 A tavern. 

(ok, to be fair, all those other things are going to show up as well.)

And not just any tavern.

 The most clichéd, wood-paneled, hearth-warmed, ale-soaked, smoke-filled tavern you’ve ever seen. There’s a fire in the hearth, a surly dwarf in the corner, a nervous man with a hood who keeps checking the door, and a barmaid named Tilly who’s much more than she seems.

Why? Because I love it.

We’ve spent the last few decades trying to subvert the tropes, and that’s good; it keeps things fresh. But sometimes, I just want to embrace the classic feel. I want it to smell like spilled beer and pipe smoke and wet cloaks. I want the players to know the adventure is starting the moment they walk through that door.

This adventure I’m writing is a bit of an homage. It draws from the games I played in high school and college, when our graph paper was full of hastily drawn rooms and our taverns were, honestly, just ways to get the party together before we threw owlbears or goblins at them. But those games mattered. And I want to recapture that feeling. Not just nostalgia, but the invitation that those early games always offered:

You are here. The world is waiting. What will you do next?

Writing this for others, though, is a whole different challenge. I’ve written plenty of adventures for my own groups, messy, notes-in-the-margins kind of things. But polishing it up for other DMs? That’s a skill I’m re-learning.

And I still need a name for the tavern itself. Something that feels like it could exist in any D&D world, just off a dirt road outside of town. The kind of place travelers mutter about and locals warn you not to drink the green stuff.

No idea what the name is yet, but I’ll figure it out.

For now, the fire’s warm, the mugs are full, and someone just walked through the door who shouldn’t be here.

Got a good name for me?

Questions

Who. Envious. Accessory. 

Back in the day, I was always envious of the guys who had lead minis AND could do a good job of painting them. Back then (1980s) gaming dollars were tight and lead minis were rare and an expense I could never justify. 

Today I am drowning in minis. Plastic minis are so much cheaper and I can get them pre-painted, printed in color, hire people to pain them, have my wife paint them (something she loves to do), or most recently, paint them myself. I am rather terrible at it to be honest, but looking to my left and my two most recent ones I can say I am getting better. Better than I ever thought I would be.

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/

#RPGaDay2025 Day 2 Prompt

Today's prompt is, well, Prompt.

Not every adventure begins with a map and a reward poster.

Sometimes, the adventure starts with a whisper you didn’t expect to hear. A shadow in the same place every night. A child saying something they shouldn’t know. The sound of something scratching inside the walls, but there are no mice, and the walls aren’t hollow.

These are the kinds of prompts I love best. The ones that feel like a dare from the world.

Sure, a good old-fashioned “Help us, adventurers!” hook is tried and true, and it works well. But what keeps me coming back, what really gets me writing, is when the prompt is uncanny. Subtle. Occult even. Note I will often use "occult" here in the original sense of "hidden" or "unknown."

It’s the dream you can’t shake.  It’s the name you don’t remember learning but now can’t forget.  It’s the cracked mirror in the old inn that only reflects one of the party members, and no one else.

These are the prompts that get the witch involved. The ones that pull the warlock out of their tower. That make the players sit forward in their chairs.

The best part? You can drop these kinds of prompts anywhere.

 The party’s resting in a sleepy village? One of the locals offers them tea and casually mentions that no one’s seen the moon in three nights. 

 They’re walking through a forest? A dead bird falls from the sky, but its body is still warm. Or maybe it is frozen solid. 

 They open a letter meant for someone else. There’s no writing inside, just a sigil, drawn in blood, that starts to glow faintly when it rains.

You don’t have to explain it right away. In fact, please don’t. Let it linger. Let it get under their skin, worm its way into their brains. Let the players dig. Let them argue over what it means. If they follow down the wrong path, let them go.

The Prompt is not the Plot. The Prompt is the door.

Let them decide whether to knock, kick it down, or walk away.

But if they walk away… it might follow.

Questions

Let's roll again!

Who, Excited, Art. "Who's art am I most excited to see in a book?"

I think it would have to have been Clyde Caldwell back in the day, or Larry Elmore. They defined the "old-school" look for me. 

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/

#RPGaDay2025 Day 1 Patron

 Today is the start of the #RPGaDAY2025. 

This year, in addition to the prompts detailed below, I am going to write a lot on my Occult D&D project and some upcoming adventure ideas. It will help me focus on where those projects need to go.

We start this year’s #RPGaDAY with Patron, and I’m diving in with something near and dear to my design heart: Patrons for witches and warlocks.

Now, the usual suspects are easy to name; demons, devils, faerie lords and ladies, and Lovecraftian horrors from beyond the veil. And yes, I use all of them. Often. Enthusiastically.

But lately I’ve been thinking more about the other kinds of patrons. The less obvious ones. The ones that add flavor and complexity beyond the usual infernal bargain.

Here are a few I’ve been playing around with:

Dragons

Honestly, I should have done this ages ago. My oldest is dragon-obsessed, and I’ve lost count of how many dragon miniatures, plushies, and LEGO sets we have in the house.

Dragons are ancient, magical, and powerful. Why wouldn’t a warlock or witch swear themselves to a mighty drake of time or flame? Not just as treasure-hoarding monsters, but as elemental, almost divine beings with long memories and stranger agendas. Only the most ancient and cunning ones offer pacts, and they always come with a price.

Angels

This one’s a bit unexpected, but stick with me.

Crack open any New Age spellbook or Victorian spiritualist guide, and you’ll find incantations invoking angels, Raphael, Michael, Uriel, and so on.

Why should only demons offer deals?

The Watchers of Enochian lore taught witchcraft, after all. And their punishment? Eternal exile, watching their children, the Nephilim, fall. There’s something beautiful and tragic there. An angelic patron might offer guidance, power, or forbidden knowledge, but at what cost to their divine purpose?

Animal Lords

Briefly touched on this in one of my warlock projects, but worth revisiting. These are like the Archfey, but aligned with the primal wild. Lords of the Fox, the Raven, the Serpent, the Stag, each with their own ancient cults, taboos, and riddles. A warlock bound to the Panther Lord might wear shadows like a cloak. A witch devoted to the La Lechuza, the Owl Queen, might speak only in questions and dreams.

Witch Queens

When a witch becomes powerful enough, she doesn’t kneel to a patron, she becomes one.

Witch Queens are legendary figures of folklore and power. Some, like Aradia, are benevolent guides. Others, like Babylon, the Mother of Harlots, demand devotion, transformation, and sacrifice. These patrons are perfect for witches who walk the line between mortal and myth.

Daimons

Not demons. Not daemons. Not even spirits in the traditional D&D sense.

Daimons, in the Platonic and Gnostic traditions, are spirits of knowledge—divine intermediaries who speak in symbols, guide seekers to hidden truths, and sometimes lead them into madness. A warlock who binds themselves to a daimon may not fully understand what they've done. But the dreams come anyway. And the visions never lie.

Honestly, I have way more, an absurd number, really. But these are some of my favorites right now. I love patrons that aren’t just “here’s some spells, go cause chaos,” but instead add weight and weirdness to a character’s story. The best patrons change their warlocks and witches. Slowly. Irrevocably.

And that’s where the real fun begins.

Questions

There are also questions I can answer. So let's roll and see what I get. 

I got "How," "Grateful," and "Person." 

Translating..."Who is a Person I am Grateful for and How?"

Hmm...Assuming I am keeping this in the game sphere...I am going to say Len Lakofka. Len passed away a few years ago, but not before we could establish a good online correspondence. His articles in Dragon were some of my favorite, so being able to talk to him much later in my life was a real treat. I am sad to see he is gone.

Long Ago, In A Galaxy Not *That* Far Away

 This week's Into the Forgotten Realms game was interrupted again. My oldest, Liam, wanted to go to Games Plus to buy a particular FFG/Edge Star Wars book. I had been wanting to go to pick up some paints and primer for all the demons and devils I have been printing out lately. 

Aside...don't expect to see many of my painted minis here. I am really just not that good, but looking over the Shadowheart I finished last night, I am getting better. 

Anyway, they didn't have the book he wanted, so he bought a bunch of others. Hey, he is a professional with a full-time job.  He can spend his money how he likes. He is saving for a condo so he can move out, and in truth, I am not rushing the professional live-in-chef out the door.

Game night became a session of character creation and painting. 

The new EDGE (previously Fantasy Flight Games) Star Wars RPG is fun. I am not a huge fan of a bunch of unique fiddly dice, but it seems fine here. He is starting a game with his group set during the Old Republic Days.

We had a blast, I even threatened to take my old Star Wars figures out of storage. 

While my fondness for the d20 Star Wars game is largely based on my desire back in the early 1980s to mix "D&D and Star Wars," this game is pretty good.  The books are gorgeous with a good mix of screen stills from the movies and art. Plus we keep remarking on how they had the "new book" smell.

We printed out some character sheets and got to work.

Ever since he was little, Liam loved Mandalorians. He has outgrown two different Jango Fett cosplay outfits, and he has a huge collection of Mandalorian Lego mini-figs and two (or three) Lego Slave-I kits. so he made a whole cadre of Mandalorian commandos. Which is also the next set of minis he wants me to paint. 

Of course, he was not the only one there with obsessions.

One of his players is playing a Nightsister. I told him I had a Nightsister mini he could use for it in my "witch box."  I told him he could have it.

I told Liam to offer the Bugbear first!

You already know where I am going with this. I mean if Liam recreated his iconic Bounty Hunter he plays in every game, and I am given the option of playing a goth, Force-wielding witch then what do you think I am going to do?

Jedis are so 1980s, new game, new (ish) idea.  Besides, I already had an action figure for her.

Larina Nix

Species: Human
Career: Mystic
Specialization Trees: Nightsister Witch

Soak Value 0
Wounds 11
Strain 13
Defense 0

Characteristics
Brawn 1
Agility 1
Intellect 2
Cunning 2
Willpower 3
Presence 3

Skills
General: Charm 3, Discipline 2, Medicine 1, Perception 2, Stealth 1, Survival 2
Combat: Melee 1
Knowledge: Lore 1, Outer Rim 1

Talents
Witchcraft: Force Rating +1
Summon Item: Duskblade

Force Powers
Conjure. Magnitude 1, Control 1
Move (aka TK). Magnitude 2, Range 1, Control 1

Force Rating 2

Weapons
Duskblade, Dam +3, Pierce 2, Superior. Summonable

Motivations
Faith (Natural World), Ambition (Enlightenment and Discovery)

Morality
Strength: Curiosity
Weakness: Obsession
Morality: 50

Gender: Female
Age: 25
Height: 1.6 meters
Build: Average
Hair: Red
Eyes: Blue

So who is this Larina? She is a brand new character (just 110 XP used). I figure she was left on Dathomir and raised by the Nightsisters. I am hesitant to say she is/was the only human on Dathomir because I know very little about Star Wars outside of the movies and Disney+ shows. But she is rare enough and at the time of the game she was the only human she knew. 

She is adventuring out into the galaxy to discover who she is and why she was left there. As she progresses, I want to give me more mental/psychic force powers.  I am not sure if she ran away from Dathomir (say like the Doctor) or was allowed to leave to further the goals of the Mother Superior (like Shadowheart). Either way she is discovering the galaxy is much, much larger than she knew. 

This allows me to play my favorite archetype with her, the country-girl/pagan visiting the big city. She is naïve, but not dumb, on the contrary, she is quite intelligent (strange that is exactly the sort of girl I married). I saw there was an option for religion, so she worships "The Winged Goddess."  I saw that and thought, if it was related to the Great Bird of the Galaxy, and almost immediately I began concocting a Star Wars/Star Trek crossover!

I'd also like her to get an astromech droid. Something that would act as her "familiar" and because I also loved those little guys. 

I am not sure how much of this game I will play. My son is very excited for it, but I'd love to get back to the Forgotten Realms sometime soon.

OH, and the book he wanted? Turns out it is a fan-made guide that we can download for free!

NOTE: It seems that Dathomiri are more or less human anyway. Ok. No worries.