It is a good game and perfect if you are like me and want to have a focus on Witches and Witchcraft in your game. But how does it hold up?
Coven & Crucible
Raechel Henderson and Stephan Kelly
2023 13th Moon Games, 196 pages.
The product is from 13th Moon Games and the work of Raechel Henderson and Stephan Kelly. Henderson is behind the story and setting, while Kelly has put together the mechanics. The two saw the game through playtesting in 2022, and it was funded the following year. They are married and their kid does the art. The art is actually pretty good.
A word before we proceed: this review is of the original core rulebook. A second edition, Coven & Crucible: Reforged, was funded in early 2026 and should be in fulfillment soon. That version will preserve the original's collaborative spirit while streamlining the rules. For now, then, this is an examination of where the game started.
The World of Coven & Crucible
What you will find is that magic is not secret. That is the one thing that puts Coven & Crucible apart from most of the urban fantasy/horror games I have been turning over for previous Urban Fantasy Fridays like WitchCraft or Mage. There is no Veil, no Masquerade, no grand secret war to keep the rest of us in the dark. Everyone is aware of witches and what they can do. You can go online and hire one.
The game puts it on a par with martial arts, cooking, or computer programming. You could become a witch if you wanted, but it is a matter of study and discipline. I have to say I am fond of that. It means if there is some magic work to be had, you can just put out a contract to a witch.
That choice ripples through the whole of the setting and changes the tenor of the game. You get your magical businesses and professions, your occult markets and currencies, and organizations with enough history to have built up their share of wealth, grudges, and bureaucracy. The introduction paints a picture of specialists who might be stockbrokers using divination or working at a place like the Magic Beans coffee chain. The latter alone gives you a sense of the tone. It can be a dark affair but not everything supernatural has to be evil.
I was drawn to the default setting of Chicago for the obvious reasons. And it feels right. You have old neighborhoods and the new construction all in a pile with the witch politics. This is not one of those settings where "Chicago" is reduced to the Sears Tower and deep dish pizza because someone has seen The Untouchables or Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Here, the architecture, the lake, and the weather are part of the fabric of things. The supernatural is layered on top of the mundane rather than in some other dimension, which is how I prefer to run the city in my own games.
There are good details too. Take the Midnight Market, a black market for the magically inclined that runs parallel to the regular flea markets. Or the fact that witches deal in Pentacles; not because paper money is no good, but because in magical commerce discretion has a price. Favors will do as currency in some cases. It is the kind of thing that makes a world feel lived in.
The Coven and the Crucible
As for the name, it is a nod to the two big institutions. The Coven is the international organization with its Houses and internal squabbles. The Crucibles are another matter entirely, an independent network of sorts to offer neutral ground and services. You could describe it as a magical hotel, an embassy and concierge service, a meeting place and sanctuary all in one.
Then there is the matter of the Coven and the Crucibles. The Coven would be only too happy to have control over them, but does not. The two put up with one another for the simple reason that any attempt at absorption would come at too high a price. It is a fine source of tension; neither has to be evil for there to be conflict. People are after influence, organizations want their territory, families are concerned with prestige and witches with their independence. One does not need an ancient Dark Lord to rouse himself from his slumbers to make for a compelling setting.
While the focus of the book is Chicago, other Crucibles are mentioned.
The System
Coven & Crucible makes do with just two d12s, which is enough to put it in my good graces right off the bat. Characters are defined by four Attributes (Will, Body, Agility, Magic) along with nine Skills and sixty-three Sub-skills. Resolving an action is straightforward: add Attribute plus Skill and Sub-skill, factor in modifiers, and a Difficulty set by the Storyteller equals the Target Number. Roll 2d12 to come in under or on this Target Number. So higher skills are still better since they increase the Target Number. A 13 is a special case, resulting in a critical of some sort depending on the circumstances. Since we are talking about 2d12 here, 13 is the most likely result.
The formula has its flexibility, though, and that is where the system becomes more engaging. A Sub-skill may be listed under a certain Skill, but the game is open to the player and Storyteller to put together whatever combination of the three best suits what the character is set on doing. This is of paramount importance when it comes to magic. This makes it more akin to Unisystem than say a d20 based game.
Character creation is a bit more of an undertaking than the core rules might imply. With Attributes starting at 3 and Skills at 4, and a pool of 63 levels to put into Sub-skills or Traits, one has to make no end of decisions. I don’t mind that. The payoff is a degree of specialization. The game is looking for characters who are very capable in their own right, not blank slates that will take twenty sessions to become interesting. They know when they are out of their depth and will call on others.
Though, like many games I am looking at this month, it is easier since I know what I want to end up with and after doing it a couple of times.
Magic
Unsurprisingly, this is the part of the game I like best. Forget spell lists or slots or even “named spells” in the way most RPGs have them. The witch tells you what she wants to do and the Storyteller works out the formula. Say you want to turn invisible. The book will put forward a number of options: Magic + Magical + Disguise, or perhaps Stealth or Larceny. If it is a case of evading a camera rather than a person, even Security Systems might be called upon.
Two witches can end up with the same result while going about it in entirely different ways. That is how I prefer my witchcraft. The effect may be the same mechanically, but the intent and symbolism should be the character’s own. Faye is not going to ward a house the way Sylvia does, any more than Larina will go about making herself invisible as another would. Larina would bend light around herself; Faye would simply make people not see her. Coven & Crucible handles that nicely.
There are two ways to cast: Improvised for the quick fix in combat, and Ritual for something with more staying power. You will also find alchemy, materia magica, familiars, grimoires, summoning, and all the other accouterments one expects from a game of this sort. Grimoires are of particular note. They are no run-of-the-mill spellbooks but a record of a witch’s research and discoveries. I was reminded of Larina’s Book of Shadows straight away.
The System at Its Best
One could make the case that the magic system is the game’s most compelling mechanical conceit. It delivers on what so many systems promise and then don't: a form of freeform casting that does not forgo structure in the process. There are still numbers to be had, and character specialties matter. Try something hard, and there will be consequences. Yet you are never put in the position of poring over a list to see if you have the right spell for the job. In that way, your characters come across as witches rather than mere assemblages of powers.
Teamwork fits into this nicely. Put a Divination specialist with one who is good at Warding and an investigator of some note, and the system is happy to reward them for acting like a coven of specialists. I would hazard a guess that is by design.
Where It Gets Rough
That very flexibility is a double-edged sword. Some groups will find it wanting when the player and Storyteller have to hash out which combination of abilities is in play. A group inclined to talk through their intentions will be fine with it; others may want to argue over the most advantageous mix for every roll and put a damper on the pace. Magic only magnifies the problem. The absence of a spell list is liberating but it forces the Storyteller to make judgment calls on what can be done and how taxing it should be. I have no trouble with that, though those in need of tightly codified powers might.
Then there is character creation, which is more of an undertaking than the resolution mechanic. With sixty-three Sub-skills and Traits to account for, there are plenty of little numbers to wade through before you start. Once the character is put together, however, things move along much faster.
As for the book, in spots it has the feel of a first core offering from a smaller publisher. The visual design is striking enough with its black-and-white art and sharp color in the chapter pieces, but some of the rules are dense and call for a re-read. It did not deter me from wanting to get behind the table. If anything, it left me curious to see what the designers would put in place after a few years of use, and that is what makes Reforged so interesting.
Building my Characters
I went with a couple of the Jackson teens for this one; the setting suggested another approach. So I put the clock forward (from Jackson, backward for us) to 1990. I have been considering a "sequel game" for some time, and I know it will be set in Chicago in the 1990s.
Sylvia is here because she causes trouble and this is exactly where she would end up after being chased out of Jackson.
In my "Jackson Universe" version of Chicago, I have Larina Nichols and Faye Thorne. They are both twenty. Larina is at the University of Chicago and well on her way to being the scholar she will become. Faye is new to the city, having transferred to the University of Illinois at Chicago from the sister school, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Faye is still Faye, but you can see the growth that will cause her to reclaim her birth name, Fiona Voss. She has found her life increasingly tied up in music and the supernatural side of the city’s nightlife. And there is Sylvia, the older witch with experience to spare. Three different witches with three different goals.
Will 7
Magic 7
Academics 7
Magical 10
You have your extremely intelligent, strong-willed, and magically potent type, physically unremarkable but with a head for Academics. Add in some solid Occult, Linguistics, History, and the like for Divination or Warding, and you have her.
Since the poor girl was always getting her ass kicked in physical fights, she is taking a judo class now. She is not very good at it, but at least she won't get knocked down as much.
Faye is the other side of that. Less concerned with theory, she is more physical and instinctive, a streetwise sort. Athletics, Underworld, Hexing, and Warding are where her strengths lie, as is the nascent Artistic side that will take on greater significance in time. Then there is Sylvia, the Veteran. She puts decades of experience to work alongside her natural talent and shows me what those rules mean in practice. It is a good thing she does; it keeps Larina and Faye from coming across as finished products. They are very good, but Sylvia makes plain how much ground they still have to cover.
What Did I Learn About My Characters?
I have been going round and round with this for some time (with many games), but Coven & Crucible has put it into perspective: a witch is not made by her spell list. Her approach to magic is what defines her. Larina will research and name things, looking for precedent. She needs to know who first did the magic and why, what language or symbols were involved, if anyone put it to paper. Faye goes about it by feel. And Sylvia has done it enough times to tell you which rules are worth following and which can be let slide. The end result may be the same, but the method should not be. Coven & Crucible offers a rules language for that kind of distinction, and one I can put to use elsewhere.
What Can I Use in NIGHT SHIFT and Jackson?
More than one might think. I am not going to bring the whole setting over; the assumptions do not hold up, and my NIGHT SHIFT magic is not so open. But there are ideas I want to make my own.
Take Formula Flexibility. Not the mechanics per se, but the notion that two characters versed in protective magic need not employ it in identical fashion. Or the idea of coven specialization. A coven ought to be like an adventuring party: one for spirits, another for wards or divination, one for combat, one for the old books. It is far more compelling than having five people with the same Witch class.
I already do this, to be honest. Stephanie’s protective magic looks like blue flames. Larnia’s like a mult-sigiled ward, and Faye’s looks like a growth of thorns and brambles.
The concept of the Crucible is also something I can put to work. I won’t use the institution itself; it is too tied to this setting, but a neutral piece of supernatural turf is excellent for lending a setting instant history and politics. Be it a hotel or a club where factions agree to certain terms, it is useful. As is the magical economy. Favors, obscure ingredients, information, introductions. Occult types have their priorities, and money is not always at the top of them. It is an idea I have toying with in Nightlife as well. Another game set in Chicago.
Final Thoughts
It is no surprise I am fond of Coven & Crucible. It is a game of witches and d12s that gives me a supernatural Chicago and lets me build a character based on what they know rather than a prewritten selection of spells. What I value is its particular view of a witch. Here, magic is not a superpower or a religion. You learn it, study it, improve upon it. In theory, anyone could, but most will not put in the effort. It has a different taste to the mages of Mage or the arcanists of Beyond the Supernatural.
That is what I was after for this year’s Urban Fantasy Fridays. I have no interest in five games that are cut from the same cloth. I want to see how the supernatural exists in our world. Coven & Crucible says it has a job and bills to pay and family troubles and a favorite coffee shop. And it has politics. And before lunch, it might hex someone. That is fine by me.
My Jackson Chicago Kids: Larina, Faye, and Sylvia
So I created sheets for many of my witches in Jackson, IL. But since this game is set in Chicago and I already had some ideas about who would be there, I decided to focus on just Larina and Faye. Both are growing in different directions, which is about to cause a rift that won't be addressed until 1995. Vague, I know; it's supposed to be. These are just broad strokes that I'll figure out at the game table. But 1990 is still a few years away from my current year of 1986.
I threw Sylvia into the mix because I want an NPC who would know things.
Height: 5'4", Weight: 125
Pentacles: 18
WILL 7
BODY 2
AGILITY 3
MAGIC 7
Initiative 10
Speed/Sprint 18/6
Health 17
Magic Resistance 24
Magic Resistance (Tattoo) 3
Linguist 2
Attractive 1
Skills and Sub-Skills
Academics 7
- Computers +1
- History +3
- Linguistics +3
- Lore +1
- Psychology +1
- Theology +1
Magical 10
- Alchemy +4
- Divination +2
- Forging +1
- Hexing +5
- Occult +7
- Summoning +5
- Warding +6
Strategic 6
- Awareness +1
- Tactics +1
Artistic 5
- Dancing +1
- Drawing +1
- Performance (Sing) +1
- Writing +2
Martial 3
- Unarmed (White-belt Judo)
Technical 5
- Animal Handling +1
- Survival +2
Athletics 4
- Sleight of Hand +1
- Stealth +1
Social 5
- Appearance +1
- Conversation +1
- Ettiquette +1
Underworld 4
- Intimidation +2
Gender: F, Age: 20
Height: 5'3", Weight: 114
Pentacles: 11
WILL 5
BODY 3
AGILITY 4
MAGIC 6
Initiative 10
Speed/Sprint 30/12
Health 19
Magic Resistance 23
Impulsive 2
Fearless 2
Creative Soul 2
Sneaky 1
Skills and Sub-Skills
Academics 4
- Lore +2
- Psychology +1
- Theology +1
Magical 8
- Alchemy +2
- Divination +2
- Forging +2
- Hexing +7
- Occult +4
- Summoning +3
- Warding +7
Strategic 4
Artistic 5
- Drawing +1
- Performance (singing) +4
Martial 5
- Dodge +4
Technical 4
- First Aid +1
- Survival +2
Athletics 7
- Acrobatics +1
- Endurance +2
- Sleight of Hand +2
- Stealth +2
Social 5
- Conversation +4
- Persuasion +3
Underworld 4
- Deciet +4
- Force Entry +1
- Intimidation +2
Stephanie is at UIUC. Vera is still in Jackson. And Renee is back home in Finland. I have Sylvia's sheet, but I wanted to redo her numbers again. She should be more powerful than the notes I have written. But I like how these two came out.
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