A to Z Blog challenge 2015 Theme Reveal

It's that time of year again!  Time for the Blogging A to Z challenge.

Today is the big reveal of what your theme will be.
http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/2015/02/the-great-and-powerful-to-z-theme.html

This year I have the least surprising reveal of everyone I think.

This year I am going to be doing Vampires.  I know I have threatened to do this in the past, only to do witches or demons instead.  But this year I am serious.

And I am out of time. It is the only thing I have written!

So gamers, expect to see stats for various types of vampires.  I am hoping though that there will be something for everyone.

Are you participating? What is your theme?

The A to Z Blogging Challenge Theme Reveal

I am participating in this year A to Z Blogging challenge again.

While the challenge for me is not to post every day, I already do that, but to post with the proper subject letter AND to stick to my theme.

The theme reveal this year will be on March 23.   Come back and see what I choose...although I have not been very secretive about it.

You can see what others are doing as well. If you are interested in doing the challenge (and I would suggest you try it at least once) and thinking of a theme the head on over to the sign up list.
http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/2015/02/the-great-and-powerful-to-z-theme.html

Even if you don't sign up for the Theme Reveal, you can see what others are doing in time to sign up for the A to Z yourself.

Happy Snowy Imbolc!

Well gaming was canceled yesterday so we could spend 3 hours (total) digging ourselves out.
But I really can't complain to be honest.  We have not had that much snow yet this year.

So what do I know?

The Witches
I am going to pick up a copy of Dungeon World today.
I want to do a review of +Melisa Fisher and +David Guyll's "Playbook" for DW, The Witch.
Also I want to read and review another playbook for Dungeon World, also titled, The Witch by Jacob Randolph.  Both look like they are fun.

April A to Z
Yes once again I am going to participate in the April A to Z blogging challenge.  This year I am going to do vampires and like demons and witches the years past I am going to include game playable material for you to use in your games.  Likely it is going to some flavor of OSR game, but I am also wanting to do something for Ghosts of Albion.

Also again this year I am part of the Ambassador's team.  This means I'll visiting a lot of blogs during this time.  Last year I felt I did a good job spreading the word of our little hobby.  I can recall three people in particular who went out and bought Basic Fantasy to either use or give to a loved one.

We talk about spreading knowledge of our hobby around.  This is a good way to do that.
A number of people that come to my blog from outside our hobby will comment to me that they didn't think people still played these games.  Of course WE know that isn't true and the rising attendance of Gen Con helps demonstrate that, we still tend to be a bit insular.
So I encourage you to sign up and give it a try.  I do id not just to be an "ambassador" or even an evangelist but also to improve my own writing skills.

So please join me.
http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/2015/01/the-2015-to-z-challenge-list-is-open.html


Edited to Add:  WOO HOO!  I guess sometime in the last couple of days Eldritch Witchery went up to "Silver" best seller.

Blogging A to Z Guest Post: Did I Survive?

This is a Guest Post I am posting today over at the Blogging A to Z Challenge.
IF you are a regular reader here then I do want to hear from you.  What would make the month of April more interesting for you?

Hello everyone. My name is Tim Brannan. I blog over at The Other Side where I primarily talk about games, RPGs and horror.  I am a game author so I use my blog as a platform to talk about my books, but also to share with others in my blogging community to sorts of things I like to write about.

I have been writing material for games nearly as long as I have been playing them.  I started in 1979 and my first "custom class" was a Healer. And....I am not afraid to admit my first new monster I ever wrote up was a "Smurf". Yeah. I was 10.  My first witch class was written sometime between 1985 and 1986.

This was my fourth year of doing the A to Z Challenge on the Other Side. I have also done it one year on my Atheism blog, The Freedom of Nonbelief and another years at Red Sonja She-devil with a Sword, a shared blog dedicated to the comic book character Red Sonja.  Plus I have guest-posted here before on how to use the A to Z challenge in your own writing efforts and the importance of having a theme to your posts.

One would have thought I would have been more prepared this year!

At some point in February I was still planning on doing an A to Z theme on Vampires.  I had started the posts last year when I did Demons. I had an idea for a book about vampires and I thought it would have been a good way to do some research.  It was. Till I shifted midstream.

My newest book is now at Kickstarter to get funding for art and printing.  "Strange Brew: The Ultimate Witch & Warlock" is, well, the most complete guide to playing a witch in the Pathfinder game.  A bit of background.  Back in 2000 the 3rd edition of Dungeons & Dragons hit the shelves with the "Open Gaming Licence" which briefly meant 3rd party authors could make their own books for D&D and not get sued or anything like that.  If you followed the admittedly simple rules of the Open Game Licence then you could do it.  Well I did and in 2003 I released "Liber Mysterium: The Book of Witches & Warlocks".  A friend of mine released a similar book for witched called "Way of the Witch". We liked each other books and we happy.  2013 rolls around and this friend, Christina, decides it is time we mixed our books together with the newest version of the D&D 3rd edition game, Pathfinder (it's not exactly, but close enough).  We added in the Pathfinder witch and some others and decided to kick start it as a project.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/962794554/strange-brew-pathfinder-the-ultimate-witch-and-war

So far things are going great!  But my extra writing time was taking a solid hit.  I have 13 years worth and 1,000s of pages of notes and material to go through.

So to save some time I switched over to the A to Z of Witches.

It was a good idea.  Go through notes, post ideas as they come to me.  I only managed to stay about 10 days ahead of schedule and that was no where near enough.  So much for my own advice about theme and planning!

I got a lot of great posts up and in fact have enough for another couple months of solid witch postings.
I got to participate in a "mini-hop" of people doing supernatural creatures during the A to Z as well and that was the best!  I have to give very special thanks to Tasha (Tasha's Thinkings) and Sophie (Sophie's Thoughts and Fumbles) for helping me with the idea and then doing all the heavy lifting afterwards.  THEY, and everyone in the Supernatureal mini-hop, really made this A to Z special for me.

If you look at my May 5th post I state I survived the A to Z challenge.  Survived is the right word. Not beat, not won, but survived.  Yes I posted everyday and still got in some of my other posts. Yes I visited my neighbor blogs, but didn't always comment on them.  Yes the material I wrote will find a home somewhere in Strange Brew.

But, I didn't get to interact with other bloggers as much as I wanted. I didn't visit every blog on the list like I have in years past.  And while I noticed that I was getting a good amount of traffic from the Supernatural A to Z and from the A to Z site itself, my regular readers dropped off.  So in that respect I didn't do as well as I would have liked.

I write about games.  That is who I am and what my readers want.  I tried to keep the topics I posted very relevant to gamers, but also to the non-gamers.  Most people in the world don't care if some beastie has 5 HD or 15 HD, you just want to know how tough it is. To gamers that is a big deal. It's a big deal to me.

I love doing the A to Z and I am taking my own advice to heart and starting my 2015 posts this summer.  I am still considering doing vampires. So to make it work there needs to be plenty of material for gamers (what we in the RPG biz call "crunch") and plenty of narrative material enjoyed by everyone else (what we call "fluff").

So what is my plan?

• Start my post writing early.  Crunch takes longer to write than Fluff. I'll need the time.
• Keep enough crunch to keep my regular readers happy. Especially if it something new.
• Keep the fluffy interesting to keep the A to Zers coming back.
• Visit and interact with more of the bloggers in the A to Z. If I write all my posts this should be easier.
• I would LOVE to participate in another mini-hop like I did this year. That was awesome.

Looking forward to it!

About the Author 
Timothy S. Brannan is the author of The Other Side blog, http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/
He has worked on a number of games including the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG", and is the author of “The Ghosts of Albion RPG”, “The Witch”, “Eldritch Witchery” and the upcoming “Strange Brew” which is currently in a Kickstarter Campaign. Please stop by and see if this is something you would like to support.

A to Z Reflections Post

Once again I survived the April A to Z blog challenge.
This year's theme of Witches was a bit closer to my heart and I had a great time.
Here are my reflections in no particular order.

- Joining up Tasha and Sophie for the Supernatural A to Z mini-hop was one of the best things about this year. They were both great and I got to read a lot of great supernatural themed posts.

- Once again I got to visit some really great blogs and some really great people stopped by mine.  Maybe that is worth it all right there.

- I did get some new followers, which is very nice. Not something I was planning to get to be honest, but I am very happy to have you all.

- I got a lot of great comments from new visitors talking about how my posts helped them in their research or gave them something new to think about.  Likewise there were plenty of posts on other blogs that were helpful to me too.

- My hits were roughly flat.  I know I was getting more traffic from the A to Z thanks to Google Analytics, so there must be a corresponding drop in regular readers.  I find this disappointing to be honest.  After all the material in April is just as good as the material in June with the same amount of posting.
Anyone that doesn't like the A to Z care to chime in?

- I didn't get a chance to go to every site on the challenge this year as I have in years past.

- There are still a number of sites that use CAPTCHA and even set their posts to moderated which is annoying.  A few never bothered to even approve some posts.  I also don't understand blogs that don't allow replies at all. Seems to defeat the entire purpose of a blog really.

I enjoy doing the A to Z Challenge. Next year I would like to do vampires, but also include something that my regular audience can use in a game every day.  But I am going to consider it long an hard before I do.  The joy just wasn't there for me this year.

A to Z of Witches. Z

Z is for Zodiac

I was going to do Zatanna today, and really I should since my normal Zatannurday posts have been taking a hit for the A to Z.  But instead I want to talk about something else.

Growing up in the 70s I was exposed to what I like to call a lot of "left over hippy shit". One of those was Astrology.  Now I knew astrology was bullshit at a very early age, but I also grew up up when people would ask "what's your sign?".  As typical with anything from the 70s occult era, it somehow made it's way into my writings on the witch.  So witches, by my reasoning, are all very much into horoscopes and everything.

This manifests itself in my book The Witch as the Aquarian Witch.

The Aquarian Witch looks to the stars, planets and beyond to divine the secrets of the universe. The meaning each witch divines can vary from witch to witch and they will often disagree on what the signs and portents mean, but they all share a common belief; that a new astrological age is coming and the change will be profound. Whether this change will be good or ill is at present unknown.

The Aquarian Witch often serves as an astrologer, soothsayer and diviner of fortunes. They are learned in the ways of the motions of the stars, planets, sun and moon so there is a practical, even mundane, application of their skills.

So this looking to the stars is less Call of Cthulhu "when the stars are right" and more "Age of Aquarius".
I have always imagined my "iconic" Aquarian witch as a blonde, waify, looking hippy chick. Stereotypical? Yeah. I never claimed to be 100% original. For a while I had a couple different characters that fit this iconic image, top of that list was Megan Maclay nee O'Kelly from my Season of the Witch game.  But the best example might be Misty Day from American Horror Story: Coven.

What I really want to do with the Aquarian Witch is expand their beliefs and add more spells based on Zodiac signs.

I would stick with Classical Zodiac 12 signs like Gemini, Ares, and of course Aquarius. Though I might go with there common names like The Twins, the Ram and the Water Carrier instead.  I am also still debating on whether or not to use Ophiuchus, the Snake Handler, as the 13th.  I like 12 because there 12 hours on a clock and 12 months of the year.  Also I have 12-sided dice.  I like the idea of using "our" Zodiac as opposed to making one up. It gives me a lot different sources of materials to use and players can relate.  Sure I can use Chinese, Celtic, Hindu or other Zodiacs as well.

In truth there is a lot about Astrology I don't know.  Though for witch characters I will go online and input an approximate "birth date" and see what I come up with in terms of character traits.  Not be a slave to those traits, but play them up more often. I really have no clue what I am reading, but I pick and choose as I like or what I feel works for the character.

Let's pick my favorite witch, Tara Maclay, who I say was born on November 7, 1980.
Here is her natal chart.
While I can certainly see "brave" not so much the "popular".  But like I said, I'll pick and choose.

For my iconic witch Larina, I had to move to modern times, but that is easy.  Her natal chart I can make more use out of.

Has anyone out there tried this with their characters? Does it work? Are you happy with what you get?




Supernatural AtoZ

A to Z of Witches. Y

Y is for Yama-uba

Yama-uba is a mountain witch or hag from Japanese culture.
The issue with Japanese creatures and myths, at least from western eyes, is that Yama-uba could be a witch, a hag, a ghost, a demon or somehow all the above at the same time!  Certainly makes them fun.

What separates these creatures from western hags is that the Yama-uba has a second mouth on the top of her head.  She uses this one to eat while her "regular" mouth can be used to hold conversations.  Interestingly this does not make her unique in Japanese culture.  The Futakuchi-onna also has a second mouth on the back of her head.  Maybe in myth these started out as the same creature and then split or two local creatures that adopted the same traits.

The Yama-uba is described otherwise very much like the western Hag; old, large and potentially cannibalistic.  Alternately she is also described as having a dark face with large white eyes.
This has lead to a couple of strange pop-culture trends in Japan.  First is the Pokemon Jinx, that looks like the descriptions of Yama-uba.  She is of course a psychic Pokemon.

Jinx

There is also the Yamanba fad (is that the right word for this) that Japanese girls have participated in.

Ventisca the Yama-uba

Yama-uba
AC: 5 [14]
Hit Dice: 10d8+10* (54 hp)
No. of Attacks: 2 claws + 1 bite
Damage: 1d8/1d8 + 1d6
Special: Charm, Dance, Shape Change, Spell use
Movement: 20'/40'
No. Appearing: 1
Saves As: Witch 10
Morale: 11
Treasure: 1d12 Gems (1d10x10 gps each)
Alignment: Chaotic
XP:  2,300

Yama-uba is large creature related to the common hags and the night hag.  She has two forms that are her most often used.  The first, and the one that many claim is her true form, is that of a grossly bloated hag. Her hair is black and wiry and her skin is molted and yellow from disease.  Open sores cover her skin and her breath is foul.  Due to her size her movement is slowed.
Her second form, Yamanba, is more appealing.  Her skin is dark, almost blue or violet and her hair varies from light blonde to platinum.  In this form she move twice as fast. There must be some reason why she can't remain in this form.
In both form the Yama-uba favors red dresses.
The Yama-uba is a cannibalistic monster that prefers to eat small children, but like many hags she has been known to care for children that evil parents have left to die.
The Yama-uba can cast any charm-like witch spell as a 10th level witch. She will typically augment this with dance which in her Yamanba form will provide a -2 penalty to any save vs charm.
Yama-uba, despite their appearance and diet, are often sought out for magical advice.  If the Yama-uba so decides she can grant as many boons as she likes.  Typically this takes the shape of either knoweldge or a +1 to hit, damage and saves for 24 hours.  She can also just decide to eat anyone that walks into her land.

Supernatural AtoZ

A to Z of Witches. X

X is for Xothia

The Xothia is a the witch of the dwarves.  Back when 3.0 D&D came out a change in the rules opened all classes to all races. That left me with an interesting problems.  I had half-elf, half-orc, and even goblin witches were like, but never considered dwarves, halfling or gnome witches would be like.
I was sitting in a research meeting at work on day, a student was presenting but I didn't need to pay attention. So I set down and wrote these words "for as long as anyone can remember Roryn was the Xothia of the Rock".

The Xothia is the witch of the dwarven people.  Dwarves are depicted as lawful, dour and non-magical.  The Xothia was a chaotic, bright and very magical creature.  In other words, more elf-like.  From this point the ideas just flowed.

I decided that the worst things that can happen to any dwarf are removal from clan and family and shaving off their beard.  The xothia deals with both of these as part of her life.  First when a dwarf learns she is a xothia she moves away from her home.  She is still a part of the community, but she is also apart.
How does a dwarf, male or female, learn they are a witch?  They never grow a beard.
In my world dwarves, male and female, grow beards and these beards are a measure of their standing int he clan.  For dwarves a fully beard indicates virility and overall health. A xothia never grows a beard.  For a male this is devastating; in fact the best way to shame or dishonor a dwarf is to remove his beard.  For a dwarven woman lack of a beard means she would not be able to have children.  It's not true, but it is a belief.

She typically will wear long, brightly colored dresses. Minimal gold jewelry (it reminds them too much of the home they left).  Their homes are bright lit with lanterns that cast light in multiple colors.

The Rock is the home of the Xothia.  Typically 6 to 7 witches will live at the Rock, all under the direction of The Xothia, the oldest witch of the group. In my world the current Xothia is Roryn.
I talked about her when the first Hobbit movie came out.

Over the years I have really gotten to like the xothia.  Dwarves are an interesting race, so the witches of the dwarves should be as equally interesting.   I have not come up with any other xothia other than Roryn, but her story is interesting and I think there is more to tell about her.




Supernatural AtoZ

A to Z of Witches. W

W is for Warlock

For the longest time I did not do anything with Warlocks.
I know the first time I ever heard the word warlock in connection with witches. It was, oddly enough, an episode of the Waltons (a show I never liked) that a baby sitter was watching. Though more likely it came from an episode of Bewitched (a show I did like).

Once I started doing research I soon discovered that "warlock" really isn't the male version of a witch.  Witch is the male version of witch.  "Warlock" actually comes from the word wǣrloga, which means “oath breaker”.  I also read that warlock is actually an offensive term to most witches.  So my first writings had warlocks as evil witches.

When I opted to use the term warlock in my 2003 Liber Mysterium I decided that Witches and Warlocks were similar classes.  So I decided that at some point in their shared history, warlocks broke free from witches ideologically and were branded traitors.  Witches often refer to warlocks as “betrayers”.  This conflict, commonly known as “The Schism” is something neither side will speak of.  However a poignant reminder remains, witches and warlocks have similar means of learning their magic (from Patrons or Pacts) and both have access to the same spells.

Despite common stereotypes, warlocks can be either male or female. Most warlocks are male, and this association is so strong that most people mistakenly call a male witch a warlock.

For 2013's Eldritch Witchery the Spellcraft and Swordplay rules allowed me to try something new.  The witch was a type of cleric (something I did in 2nd ed, pre 1999) and the warlock was a type of wizard.  So instead of being one thing (class) that split apart I made them two seperate things that came closer together.  I liked how it turned out to be honest.  For Strange Brew I am going back to my original idea of having the two classes seperate, witch and warlock, but have them have roots that are tied together.  So there is more in common between the witch and warlock than the cleric and druid.  Closer actually to the wizard and sorcerer relationship.

In Strange Brew the plan is now for the Warlock get the same spells the Witch does.  They also have access to Hexes, though it is more limited.  The Warlock also gets a magical based attack in the form of the Arcane Blast.  There are also differences between the Patrons of the witches and the Patrons of the warlocks.

I am sure I will get questions about why not use the Warlock from the Tome of Magic or from 4e. Simple. I can't. They are not open in terms of the OGL. Plus I don't want too.  Those warlocks are fine, but not really what I think of when I think of a warlock.

I feel that most warlocks out there in the gaming world now are influenced by the Warlock in World of Warcraft and other MMORPGs.  I want to go back to much older sources and build my warlock from that.





Supernatural AtoZ

A to Z of Witches. V

V is for Voodoo

Anytime you talk about witches, witchcraft or anything similar, sooner or later the topic of voodoo is going to come up.  In fact I have brought it up many times this month already.

The most recent season of American Horror Story: Coven did a great job of setting up Witchcraft and Voodoo as rival factions of magic-use.  Personally I loved it and thought it was well done.

What people typically think of as Voodoo comes to us from Louisiana Voodoo.  Which, one could argue, has a lot of theatrics to help in the tourism trade, but has a religious practice as well.  The religion part of Voodoo is more similar to what is known as Haitian Vodou.  There is a third type that I call Hollywood Voodoo which is what American most often see. It raises zombies and is more like what we saw in AHS:C and the Anita Blake books.

In the WitchCraft RPG by C.J. Carella we see voodoo, or Voudun, as another group of the Gifted.  Pretty cool given his work on Voodoo The Shadow War for GURPS.  In other games voodoo is used as a subset or something akin to witchcraft.

Voodoo with/as/vs Witchcraft works great in a modern game.
It's games like D&D and Pathfinder where it is a bit more difficult.

Voodoo (and by this I mean the "Hollywood" version of Voodoo) works because there is such a great interplay between old-world African gods and not-as old Christianity.   Your typical FRPG does not have this really.  One could create a couple of pantheons of gods and have the place where they intersect work like voodoo, but there is no reason that they have to work exactly like voodoo at all.  In fact in most games what works well enough is have a priest.

When I first opted to include voodoo with witches it was with a huge grain of salt and caveats. I wanted to include it because I really liked the idea of having a voodoo witch.  I also had a great character called Bone Man who was a voodoo priest and I really wanted to play him in the rules I was writing.

For my new book, Strange Brew, I still not have 100% decided on whether or not Voodoo will be a witch archetype/tradition, a new cleric archetype or even something else entirely.  The Loa are really similar to the idea of Patrons to be honest. After all, Papa Legba and Baron Samedi are too cool not to include.

It will give me a great excuse to finally get Bone Man written up.





Supernatural AtoZ

A to Z of Witches. U

U is for Underworld

Eventually the subject of where witches get their powers is going to come up. When it does we often have to deal with the Underworld and who lives there.
It gets called a lot of things, The Ever After (Rachel Morgan), the Never Never (Dresden Files), the Nether Realms (Buffy in one episode), Hell, The Abyss, the Pit.  I have to admit one of my favorites was from the Beetlejuice cartoon, the Neither World.

In my games I typically say witches can't be raised from the dead since they reincarnate.  So if you want to get someone back from the underworld, you are going to have to go there and get them.

This is not an uncommon approach.  The Descent into the Underworld is a very common theme in many myths and stories. We see it in Orpheus, in Dante's Inferno and it is featured in a number of games.
I even ran a game where the sole (hehehe) purpose was to retrieve the soul of a loved one and bring them back.  It was a playtest for Ghosts of Albion using the Army of Darkness rules.  Since it was around 2002-2003 there was only one logical choice, Xena.  A group of adventurers had to a get Xena's soul because Xena was the only able to help them.  But to that they first needed to find Gabrielle.   The adventure's name ("A Friend in Deed") was even a play on the name of the final episode of Xena ("A Friend in Need").  The double play on words here is the last episode was "FiN" and mine is "FinD".

This game also gave me the idea to write my d20 ritual spell "Descent of the Goddess" as spell a witch can cast on someone so they can go down to the underworld and plead their case to Death.  Yes. If you look behind you before you leave you will loose them forever.

I did not do a Descent into the Underworld when I brought back Tara in my games.  I thought the big adventure to get someone was great for Xena, but for Tara that is not how I wanted her return to start.  I just had her show up one day in the episode "Will We Burn in Heaven?"

Of course the Descent doesn't always have to be bad. Rachel is in the Ever After every weekend. Dresden pops over tot he Never Never all the time.  In games it is often a matter of finding the right gate or spell.
For Ghosts of Albion I have always wanted to use a ghostly train.

But I still like the idea that you need a witch to help get you there.




Supernatural AtoZ

A to Z of Witches. T

T is for Tarot

Maybe it is when I grew up and was thinking about all this stuff (the late 70s early 80s) I associate witches and tarot cards.

There is no really overt connection, but they seem to go well together if you ask me.
I have used Tarot cards in my games and even made a suggestion on how to use them instead of dice while playing Ghosts of Albion.  Tarot decks work rather well for Unisystem since the dice mechanic is a straight d10 (1 to 10 roll).

I have a couple of tarot decks laying around and even a book or two, but I never really use them anymore.  Maybe I should.   I used to use them all the time when playing Ravenloft.

Do any of you use tarot in your games or books?

Tarot Witch of the Black Rose

Tarot Pinup by pziomek 

Another Tarot associated with witches is the famous, or infamous, Tarot Witch of the Black Rose.  Yeah I have talked about her a few times here and I won't lie, I find the comic to be a guilty pleasure.

• Mutants and Masterminds, 2^nd Edition
• Mutants and Masterminds, 3^rd Edition
• True20
• Cinematic Unisystem
• Superbabes

Tarot is actually a good example of what I would call a Witch Guardian. She is a witch, yes, but has taken up the sword in order to protect her coven.

Typically though they wear more armor than this.

I know some people complain about Tarot's proportions. And yes they are ridiculous.
But they are also based on the artist's own wife, so maybe this is how he see's her.  Since she is one doing the coloring in the comic maybe she does as well.






Supernatural AtoZ

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

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

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

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

A to Z of Witches. O

O is for Occult Panic and Obeah

I picked Obeah for a very snarky reason.  It goes back to this terrible Christian video "Turmoil in the Toybox" based on the book of the same name.  It was your typical 80s Satanic Panic nonsense that talked about how evil Dungeons & Dragons and cartoons are for kids.
The host, Gary Greenwald,  and his guest, Phil Philips, think the devil is hiding in every toybox.

You can watch it and have a laugh like I did.  The jumps in logic are insane.

Turmoil in the Toybox
Part 1 - Introduction.  With Scooby Doo and the 13 Ghosts.
Part 2 - He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. "He-Man is more powerful than Jesus!"
Part 3 - They talk about evil vs. evil...or so they think.  Again, everything they mention is wrong.
Part 4 - Commercials. I seriously doubt either of these guys have even had a class in Child Psychology.
Part 5 - ThunderCats. Evil or gateway drug to Furries?
Part 6 - Next Episode.  Ken and Barbie. But at 3:30 we get Dungeons & Dragons!
Part 7 - Insectars are featured in the Book of Revelations! Vader looks like Odin! Obi witchcraft!
Part 8 - Violence and the Occult influence of G.I. Joe and Smurfs. Though they won't say they are evil.
Part 9 - Care Bears. Littles and My Little Pony. Rainbow Brite is also evil. Voltoron and Transformers.
Part 10 - More Voltron and Transformers. Buy Gary's stuff!

I love how they pretty much get every detail wrong.

Of course in the 80s I loved all this stuff and if it looked evil I wanted it in my games.  Coming off of the 70s Occult Revival I always felt Witches needed to be a part of the game.  Was there some snarkiness on my part? Of course there was.  If you read my Atheism blog, The Freedom of Nonbelief, you know that this was the same time I was "coming out" as an Atheist.  So if I got to piss off some uptight Christians, all the better!

Of course what does this have to do with "O"?
Well Part 7 discusses, briefly, "Obi Witchcraft". Where witches chant Obi-Obi-Obi all the time.
Pure nonsense and like everything else in this they are as so far off base that they are not even in the same ballpark.

But there is Obeah.
Obeah is a folk tradition that is similar in origin to voodoo.
In my 3rd Edition book, Liber Mysterium, I described it as a form of the voodoo tradition.

I will talk abit more about this when I discuss Voodoo later one, but representing Obeah in a game is not as easy as first seems.  Though if the recent Pirates of the Caribbean movies are any indication, then I could combine bits of Obeah with the archetype of the Sea Witch to create something that could be rather fun.

I have a witch, Sycorax, that is a prototype of this sort of witchcraft.  She is something of a witch, a little bit of a hag and lives on an island.  Yes, she does have a monstrous son named Caliban.  You can do worse than imitating the Bard.

There is something here I think. Something that could be cool.  So I supposed in a way I should thank those two idiots for putting me on the path to getting my Sea Witch figured out.



Supernatural AtoZ

A to Z of Witches. N

N is for Nox 

So almost a year ago exactly I submitted my "Petty God" to the Petty Gods project.
I am not sure where that project is at the moment, but I am sure it will be out eventually.  In the meantime I wanted to share the god I cam up with; Nox.

Nox is an interesting creation.  Back in the day when we all got together to play we would not get started till it was dark outside.  Why? It seemed cooler and it was the 80s after all.  Nox represent that time when it was still light enough to see, but dusk was gone.

Nox later appeared in the first drafts of some of Buffy/Ghosts of Albion games. I later changed the part and it was switched over to Lilith.  I choose to do a witchy goddess because that is what people would expect me to do and I really wanted to do it.

Here she is, in Petty Gods format to be used with Labyrinth Lord or Adventurer Conquer King.

NOX
Goddess of Near Night
Also known as: Goddess of Twilight, Mistress of Near Dark, Keeper of Secrets, Trick of the Light, Mistress of Illusions
Symbol: A sunset with a crescent moon and a star above.
Alignment: Chaotic (Neutral)
Movement: 120' (40')

Armor Class: 2
Hit Points (Hit Dice): 80 hp (19 HD)
Attacks: Special, see below
Damage: Special, see below
Save: M19 (or Witch 19)
Morale: 9
Hoard Class: XV
XP: 6,400
--
Armor Class: 2
Hit Points (HD): 80 (19 HD)
Save: M19 (or Witch 19)
Morale: 9
Treasure Type: Q
XP: 4,400

Nox is the mysterious Goddess of the Twilight, Near Night and the space between sunset and full night. She is the daughter of Night (Nyx) and sister to the God of Vampires (Camazotz). She is not a widely worshiped Goddess, but her name is often invoked by those that welcome the night; typically thieves, vampires, prostitutes, witches and lovers, especially clandestine lovers that seek the cover of night.

She will only manifest in a humanoid form in the hour after sunset but before full darkness.

Nox grants no spells to her followers, but she have been known to render people invisible or at least unnoticed at the times of twilight to hide their activities. This boon is not extended to all who invoke her name, but her name is still whispered by those who wish her aid.

Nox never speaks. It is not that she can’t, she just has nothing to say to mortals. She speaks through her minions though. Not that she is in telepathic communication with them, they just know. Because of this she is also known as the Keeper of Secrets. Lovers whisper their secrets to her, witches tell her where their sabbats are, thieves plot their crimes to her, vampires speak the names of their victims, all knowing that their secrets are safe. A saying has even taken root among those who know her; “Only Nox knows” meaning no one else knows.

She prefers not to attack anyone as she is not a Goddess of violence. Any who attack her, or even annoy her, she can cast any Charm or Illusion spell of her choice as a 19th level Magic-User/Witch to deflect others. Failing that she can cast Sleep that can affect up to 20 people.

She is honored by some vampires since it is believed she created vampires with her brother and they are all their children. She is mostly honored by the reluctant vampire, new to their condition since it is believed that her participation in the creation of vampires was not through her own choice.

Nox appears as a stunning woman of young adulthood. She has two forms that often chooses. She appears with pale skin, flowing gold-red hair (like a sunset) and bright blue eyes. She also appears as fiercely beautiful woman with dark, ebony skin and silver-white hair (like moonlight), but with the same blue eyes. Alternately she has appeared as a large white owl. With her powers of illusion she can appear as anything she wishes, but those forms are subject to the same rules that govern all illusions.

She is on good terms with the Goddess of Night and the Goddess(es) of the Moon. She is neutral to the God of Vampires and the God/Goddess of the Sun. She is on reasonable terms with the various Gods and Goddesses of the Occult and Secrets provided that they do not share said secrets.

Minions

Nox is a Goddess of in-betweens; neither light nor dark, day or night, so she served and honored by a number of faeries. In the times of her reign; after sunset but before full night, she is served by the Fyre Fae. These creatures are like pixies in all respects except that they also glow in various colors. At a distance they appear as Will-o-wisps or even Faerie Fire.

Nox’s current chief minion, voice and lover is a witch named Syla. Syla will speak for her lover and will be with her most twilights. Syla is a vaguely elfin woman, who maybe half-elf, half-nymph or a human with elven parentage. She has short platinum-blonde hair and piercing green eyes. She is also a witch (magic-user) of 9th level. Her spells are mostly charm and illusion, but unlike her mistress she is more than willing to attack those who anger her or Nox.

Reaction Table (2d6 Modified by Charisma and below)
2: Sleep. Nox is so insulted by your presence that she puts you to sleep for 8 hours
3-5: Illusion. She casts an illusion of herself while she teleports from the area
6-8: Fyre Fae: She remains, but so many Fire Fye are summoned that approaching her is difficult.
9-11: Boon. She grants you a boon, you can remain undetected (as per a thief hide in shadows at your Charisma x 5%)
12: Boon. She grants you the ability to turn invisible once at any time after sunset but before full night (1 hour after sunset).

Modifiers
+1 if you are present with a lover
+1 if you are thief, witch, prostitute, vampire. (Can’t combine, vampire thief is still only +1)
+2 if you share a personal secret with her.
-2 if you have divulged the secret of another in the last 24 hours
-1 if you are a cleric of the sun.

And something new.

Fyre Fae
Armor Class: 1 [19]
Hit Dice: 1d8 (5 hp)*
No. of Attacks: 1, special
Damage: -
Special Attacks: Dancing Lights 1 per day
Movement: 10’, fly 60’ (perfect)
No. Appearing: Gang (2-4) or tribe (20-80)
Saves As: Fighter 1
Morale: 9
Treasure: None
- Tribe: 3d6 SP, 2d4 GP, Gems: 5% 1d4
Alignment: Neutral
XP: 70

Fyre Fae are often confused with Willow-o-the-wisps or even fireflies.  They are tiny fae resembling smaller pixies.  In the hours of dusk the Fyre fae come out to play where they will flash a multitude of different colors from their wings.
They are harmless and prefer to flee if attacked. Though if needed they will cast a dancing lights spell to confuse attackers of their whereabouts.
1 Fire Fae out of 100 also has the abilities of a first level witch and can cast Light into the eyes of attackers.





Supernatural AtoZ

A to Z of Witches. M

M is for Morgan Le Fey (and other Morgans)

Morgan le Fay by Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys

Morgan Le Fey is one of the first witches from literature I ever encountered.  I remember reading tales of King Arthur, Merlin and Morgan.  She seemed like such an interesting and complex character to me.  Not exactly 100% evil but certainly not good either.  She has a very complicated relationship with her half-brother and their son Mordred.

Of course there is also the Morgan le Fey of Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon.  She is a different character to be sure.  Her "evil" is only how the Christian invaders see her paganism.  Yeah there is a lot in this mix and may or may not belong in an Arthurian legend, but I don't care. It's a great tale.

There are other Morgans too. There is Morgause, the older sister of Morgan. The two often get merged into one character.

There is The Morrígan the Crone of War from Celtic myths. There have been some attempts to connect this older figure to the Arthur myths.

She even shares a lot in common with the Game of Thrones character Cersei Lannister. Both desire their sons to be king. Both conceived their sons via incest. Both wish to control behind the scenes. Where Morgan uses magic Cersei uses guile and sometimes poison.  

Morgan le Fey (and I do prefer that spelling over "fay") is certainly a character with some depth and history.  Like all good myths her powers, abilities and motivations change with the telling. While she might be more famous than Circe, she has less characteristic powers.  We know she drugged Arthur to a sleep to seduce him. We know that she has some sort of precognitive powers, but they are not great.  But she is powerful, or at least powerful enough to concern Arthur.  She may have also learned magic from Merlin and he knows a trick or two.

For my use Morgan le Fey is a member of the Faerie Tradition.  Seems logical. It also fits since the morality of the fey can seem to be good or evil depending on the point of view.  There is also a regalness to the fey that I also see in Morgan and the Faerie Tradition.  It also fits in nice with the Mists of Avalon version of her.

Morgan le Fey

The Witch stats for Basic Era Games
13th level Witch, Faerie Tradition

Strength: 9
Dexterity: 12
Constitution: 13
Intelligence: 17
Wisdom: 11
Charisma: 18

Saves
Death Ray or Poison:  9/7
Magic wand or devices: 10
Paralysis, Polymorph or Turn to Stone: 9
Dragon Breath: 12
Rods, Staffs and Spells: 11

To hit AC 0: 16

Hit Points: 66
Alignment: Neutral (maybe a little Chaotic)
AC: 5 (talisman of protection)

Occult Powers
Familiar:  Raven (+2 to Death related saves)
7th level:  Speak to Plants and Animals
13th level: Fey Shape

Spells 
Cantrips: Analyze Fertility, Chill, Daze, Detect Curse, Object Reading, Open, Sound
First: Bewitch I, Cause Fear, Sleep, Silver Tongue
Second: Calm Emotions, Enthrall, Evil Eye, Phantasmal Spirit, Mind Obscure
Third: Fly, Scry, Twisting the Heartstrings III
Fourth: Bewitch IV, Dance Macabre, Divination
Fifth: Endless Sleep, Greater Command
Sixth: Bewitch VI, Projected Image
Seventh:  Foresight

Pretty good build really.





Supernatural AtoZ

A to Z of Witches. L

L is for Lilith

Lilith by Isra2007

I have talked about Lilith. A lot actually.
Last year I talked about Lilith and her roll as the mother of the demons The Lilim.
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2013/04/l-is-for-lilith-and-lilim.html

I talked about her and her relationship to demons and Vampires a couple of times.
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2009/11/every-angel-is-terrifying.html
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2011/01/season-of-witch-episode-2.html

I made her the cover of my Eldritch Witchery book.  So yes. I am a fan.

Lilith has always been a part of my game worlds.  In some like Buffy and Ghosts of Albion she is a behind the scenes player dealing with "children" the vampires, demons, witches and the Slayer.
In my old school games she is the mother of demons, but also the first to rebel against the powers of good. She was a human but no longer. She has been raised to the power of a god because she knows so many magical secrets.

Here she is for the Pathfinder RPG and pretty much how I use her in other games too.

Lilith

Titles: The Mother of Demons, Witches, and Vampires
Alignment:  Chaotic Evil
Portfolio: Magic, Demons
Worshipers: Witches, Lilim, Vampires
Cleric Alignments
LG NG CG
LN N CN
LE NE CE
Domains: Evil, Magic, Knowledge/Secrets
Favored Weapon: Dagger

Lilith is considered to be the Mother of Demons, Vampires and Witches.

History
Lilith was the first human woman. She rebelled against the gods that created her and now controls armies of demons.  The gods won't work against her or strike her down because she knows all their True Names.

Relationships
Lilith has no true friends because most fear her.  She is known to ally herself with the Goddess Ereshkigal since both have similar portfolios and areas of concern.  Some even claim that Lilith spent some time as Ereshkigal's handmaiden.  Others claim she served Astártē or Ishtar.

Appearance and Emissaries
Lilith always appears as a young very attractive woman.  Most often with long flaming red hair.  It is claimed her true form is that of a ancient hag with long, but sparse wild black hair, talons, fangs and the feet of a predatory bird.  Either or neither could be her true form

Servants

Naamah - Known as the Daughter of Lilith Naamah is either a demon, a human or something else.  She is honored in her right as either the Patroness of Whores or the Patroness of Those Who Hunt the Night (slayers of the undead).  Her title as The Daughter of Lilith, as opposed to just a daughter of Lilith, is significant.  She may be her first true daughter or she may be her first human daughter.

Abyzou - Another daughter of Lilith. She is a powerful Lilitu Demon. She takes pleasure in possessing others and destroying them from the inside out.

Church of Lilith
Lilith has no formal religion outside that of her demons and witches. Even these do not worship her but instead regard her as their mother.
Through her daughter Lilith is also seen as the protector of harlots and whores.
There are those who also view Lilith as triumph of humankind, in particular womankind, over the tyranny of the gods.  She can in this aspect even have worshipers that are otherwise good in alignment.

Worshipers and Clergy
Lilith is worshiped primarily by witches but also by demonic clerics and wizards.

Temples and Shrines
Temples and shrines to Lilith are small affairs.  Usually a stone relief hidden away.  Since most gods of light and many other gods despise Lilith her shrines are destroyed by their followers.

Holy Texts
As witches the worshippers of Lilith hold their own Books of Shadows as their holy texts, but a few are are considered to be helpful to understanding Lilith.

The Splendor - The foundation text on which many of the Gods of Light have based their own holy texts.  The Splendor mentions Lilith as one of the first demon of darkness. For this reason many religions will see Lilith as threat to their religion.

The Enochian Tablets - More details on the life and rebirth of Lilith. Written in an ancient angelic script that is difficult for many sages to translate. Also discusses her relationship to the divine and the demonic.  It also details the origins of Those Who Hunt the Night.

Holidays

Witches of Lilith celebrate the phases of the moon, the new moon in particular.

ETA: Julia Mathews is doing Lilith today too. She also talks about the moon named Lilith.

More posts about Lilith here:
L is for Lilith and Lilim
Every Angel is Terrifying: The Secret and True Origins of the Slayer
- Pseudo Slayers
Going Up to Hell: Cosmology
Sympathy for the Succubus
- Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
Let's Talk About Sex(y)
E is for Eodemon
The Dragon and the Phoenix: Episode 7
Season of the Witch: Episode 2



Supernatural AtoZ