Getting a new book in the mail is always a joy. Getting one you helped create is even better!

I got my author's copy of Blue Rose Six of Cups.

The PDF has been available for a bit and now the print book can be ordered from Green Ronin's online store.

As I have said in the past I adore Blue Rose. I just love the world, the system, everything about it. It is such a refresher after decades of "grim dark" RPGs.

I am particularly happy with this one. It has a new character I am particularly fond of.  My homage to the Piasa Bird and places I used to frequent. Another distateful member of the less than pleasant Meacham family. But most of all it was a joy and an honor to write something for Aldea. 

The Storm of the Century

The project lead, Joseph D. Carriker, for this book posted in Green Ronin News a little about this book. In particular, he talked about the "Storm of the Century" theme.  This was not something I (or to my knowledge) any of the other authors tried to do. I was pretty much working in my silo just to get this done with my only contact being Joseph. Who, please allow me to add, was great to work with.

Here is what he had to say about the storm.

One of the things I asked of our authors was to send me proposals for their adventures and gazetteers. In short order, it became apparent that (perhaps inspired by the elemental association of Cups with water) no less than three of the stories feature a massive coastal storm. Rather than require some of the authors to change their ideas, I thought I could include them all to highlight one of the interesting ways to use generally unrelated adventures.

Finding a common thread to run between adventures is an awesome way of building a sort of “accidental” campaign. The tumultuous weather plays a role in all three of the stories, and they are not written as being interrelated. An enterprising Narrator might, however, come up with some connecting concepts to help tie them together. Perhaps these are all part of a single, major storm system of some kind, a sort of terrifying storm of the century to strike the southern coast of Aldis? Or, perhaps there is something (or someone…) nefarious at work, hurling storm after storm into the world.

I do love this idea and the thought of a great storm coming to the southern coast of Aldis is too good to pass up. 

Personally, I think this is one of Blue Rose's greatest strengths when compared to D&D.  D&D can do a lot of great things. But it is largely still a game about and centered around combat.  In Blue Rose, you could make an adventure where the central focus was protecting a small coastal town from the coming storm. Not by fighting some demonic force or elemental, but as the Sovereign's Finest playing the role the National Guard does here. Organizing relief efforts, building sandbag walls, and figuring out what to do. Fantastic role-playing opportunity.  

So my darkfiend Dorgogz is not the cause of this massive storm, but rather he is here because of it. 

The adventures are leveled from 1 to 8 (mine for example is level 2-4). A new adventure, say levels 8-10 called "The Storm of the Century" would be this giant coastal storm.  Hmm...I am getting some ideas here.  With this sort of build-up, one could see that there is something connected and nefarious here. 

Can't wait to try out the other adventures in this book. They look great.

Honestly, I could not pass this one up. It is a low-level adventure featuring a witch, it is quick and it is for Old-School Essentials.  So yeah, I had to grab it.  But how does it play?  Let's look into it.

As always I will be following my rules for these reviews.

A Witch's Desire - Adventure for Old-School Essentials

PDF and PoD. 27 pages. Color covers and interior art.

The designed levels for this are 1 to 3, but I find that it works well as an "interlude" adventure, that is as the characters are moving from one major adventure to the other.  Not to say that this can't be a major adventure, it can. But for me, I wanted to feel more like the characters "wandered into a dream" sort of deal. 

To start with, and what helps fuel this notion of an interlude, are some rules for travel.  While the PCs are moving from their last adventure to this one using these rules helps give this one it's own feel. Yes they can be used elsewhere and adapted. Adding to this is the section after the travel and before the adventure proper, and that is the influence the witch has on the lands near her. I have been using something similar for my War of the Witch Queens based on the old superstition of Hex Signs, but the rules here are more explicit in their application.

 The adventure is a "straightforward" mission to get some water for the Witch of the Wilds they meet at the start of the adventure. I say "straightforward" because obviously, it isn't.  They are plenty of hazards along the way and foes to fight. The adventure is scaleable so that is also quite good. 

There are no stats for the witch herself, nor should there be. The PCs should not be fighting her.

This adventure is set in the Forever Winter setting. Honestly a name like screams to be used.  Also, there is mention of the Ice Queen and her rivalry with the Witch of the Wilds.  The Ice Queen is not mentioned much here save for a sidebar, but the potential is great.  So great in fact that I have an idea of how to work the Ice Queen (also a witch in my world naturally) into my War of the Witch Queens.  I'll discuss her tomorrow. It is likely that their A Wintry Death adventures could be used in conjunction with this one, but I am pretty pleased with it as is to be honest.

While the art is wonderful for this it does make you think the Witch of the Wild could be something of an evil-ish character, certainly otherworldly.  While reading through this I kept asking myself, what if this witch was good and just really needed the character's help?

Suddenly all I could think of was Ginny Di's character Morelia the Wood Witch.  She would need the water for her potions obviously. Changes the whole tenor of the adventure.   Not that I have any problems coming up with witches. It would also change the nature of the relationship between the Witch of the Wilds and the Ice Queen. They are still rivals, but now it is different.

VS

Note: I just noticed that Morelia's familiar Crimini is a cat with white fur and gold eyes. Much like the art for the Witch of the Wilds. Maybe Morelia polymorphs Crimini to act as the scary Witch of the Wild? She then hides in the background so that the PCs she is hiring don't know she really is about as dangerous as a bunny. A lot like Balok in the classic Trek episode "The Corbomite Maneuver."  Instead of tranya she offers them tea of course. Yeah, I like this idea. 

In either case, the Witch of this adventure would need to be a potential ally for the characters in my game.  I can't actually see Morelia getting mad with them anyway. And I really want to use Morelia. I just don't think I can pull off the voice Ginny Di uses for her!

In any case a fun adventure with a lot of ideas for use in my home campaign. The PDF version comes with separate maps. The PDF also features layers so you can turn on the background image for readability. That's worth an extra star in my book to be honest. 

My "soft theme" this challenge is "films with pentagrams on the cover." Silly I know, but I have subscribed to a few streaming services and I was adding a bunch of movies and noticed many of them had pentagrams on the covers. So I decided to just kept going with it.

Tonight I am already questioning the logic of this plan.

Witchouse (1999)

This comes to us from 1999 and Full Moon Features. Now I love Full Moon. Their movies are short, silly, and usually fun. You can expect some kids to get themselves into stupid situations and usually dying in dumb ways.

Our plot concerns Elizabeth LaFey (yes that is her name) inviting a bunch of her old high school friends to her new house for a party. The house has a "dark history" as does LaFey.  It also has copies of "Le Necronomicon." The characters are less than characters and really little more than clichés. But that is fine because you are not really supposed to be relating to them as characters but rather as relatable archetypes. The stoner, the football player, the cheerleader, the hot girl who doesn't know she is hot, the juvenile delinquent, the nerd, and so on. 

Elizabeth plans to sacrifice her friends on May 1 to resurrect her ancient witch ancestor.  Nothing shocking or surprising here really, but it was still kind of fun. The acting, for the most part, is pretty terrible. Honestly, it looks like it was filmed in a single night. 

This one has been on my list for a bit largely just based on the name. 

Directed by David DeCoteau, responsible for, I have no idea how many Full Moon movies.  This one even features scenes from Dark Angel: The Ascent. Actually, the scenes of Hell here have been in at least two other movies.

October Horror Movie Challenge 2022
Viewed: 3
First Time Views: 2

Welcome to October. If there is any time of year to remind me of my love of monsters it is now. Watching horror movies (or "monster movies" as my dad and I used to call them when I was little) is so deeply tied into my love of both Halloween and D&D that it is hard to tease them apart.  

This month I want to cover some horror-themed monster books for review. My ultimate goal here is to get a good feeling of what makes a monster book "good" and what doesn't. Or maybe what makes them good for me. All year I have been focusing on D&D monster books of all sorts. My second goal is to wrap up this process before 2023 when I do something a little different.

Given I have some D&D 3.x books still cover and five Mondays in October I am going to cover some of these or at least the ones that have the most horror elements to them.

Up first, the Fiend Folio.

Fiend Folio (3e)

PDF and Hardcover. 226 pages. Color covers and interior art.

This is the third "Fiend Folio" we have gotten for *D&D over the last 20+ years.  Like the first one for 1st Ed AD&D, this one is a hardcover book. Like the second one for 2nd AD&D, this one expands the list of monsters. 

This Fiend Folio lives up to its title a little bit more by giving us a lot more fiends. There are demons and devils here as well as the demodands (originally from the AD&D Monster Manual II). Here they get the alignment of "often Neutral Evil."  There are plenty of new demons and devils here too.

There are some Fiend Folio "repeats" here, or my updates is the better term.Just eyeballing it there is the Blood Hawk, Caryatid Column, Dark Creeper and Stalker, Death Dog, Disenchanter, Flame/Fire Snake, Fossergrim, Huecuva (now a template), Iron Cobra, Kelpie, Necrophidius, Skulk, Slaad, Yellow Musk Creeper, and Zombie.

No flumphs though. 

There are also plenty of new monsters too, like the Bacchae and Feytouched which are fun. All in all 167 monsters for D&D 3.0 (3.5 is still a couple of months off).  We are a point in the 3.x development cycle where the monsters still run from one to the next, like the original Fiend Folio. 

This book also includes some Prestige Classes, some Grafts and Symbionts, 

There was a free "Web Enhancement" back when this was new called Fiendish Fun which extended some of the ideas in the Fiend Folio. It is still out there thanks to Archive.org.

This is one of the books I consider central for a D&D 3.x horror campaign. The rest, well that is what the rest of this month is for. 

Another adventure from casl Entertainment featuring the "Witch Queen" which may or may not be Iggwilv. 

When Comes the Witching Hour

PDF and Print. 80 Pages. Color covers. Black & White art.

This adventure is designed for levels 9 to 12 for the OSRIC game, which is the clone of AD&D 1st Edition.

I grabbed this adventure back in February after reviewing The Witch-Queen's Lament, a later, but lower-level adventure.

There is a nudge-nudge-wink-wink commentary on how to fit this adventure into the World of Greyhawk. But it is also fully usable in any world. 

The adventure is overtly the search for a missing princess. What makes this different is the missing princess is likely in the Dungeons of the Mad Archmage and might have something to do with the Queen of Witches.

Now. Before I get too much further let me point out what this adventure can do. Obviously, there are the fans of the World of Greayhawk who can use this to expand on their game worlds. You can grab nearly any other version of the Castle or Dungeons of the Mad Arch Mage.  It is really a nice piece that could fit into a lot of campaigns. 

The adventure is a wonderful romp through some of the storied locations of the World of Greyhawk, if in a thinly veiled manner. Also, anything that involves Iggwilv or the Witch Queen is a must-buy in my mind.

The adventure covers the first half of the book. The last half has new monsters including many unique demons, new magic items, pre-gen characters, and finally the maps. Note. The print version maps are a little difficult to read. I have the PDF so I printed them out.

One other nitpick. There are no page numbers printed on each page. 

--

For Use in War of the Witch Queens

This one is so on brand for my War of the Witch Queens that I am shocked how well it works for me. It covers several bases for me. For starters, it is OSRIC thus satisfying my need to involve all sorts of OSR rule sets. It is set in Greyhawk which satisfies my desire to involve many of the game worlds as I can. And most of all it features the machinations of not just "A" Witch Queen, but "THE" Witch Queen. I mean really. If I have any complaints about this adventure it is I didn't write it myself.

For Use in NIGHT SHIFT

While I love to use some of these adventures for NIGHT SHIFT not everything will fit. This is a perfect example, while I love the idea of this adventure it would not be good for NIGHT SHIFT. This adventure is too deeply tied to the World of D&D and especially Greyhawk.

This one had been on my radar for a bit. Described as a "gothic folk tale" I knew I had to check it out. The name of the movie also comes from the old German word for "Witch."

Hagazussa (2017)

Told in four acts with very little dialog we see how the local villagers treated a goat-herding woman and later her daughter, Albrun, as witches.

In the first act young Albrun begin to menstruate, but before she can even talk about it with her mother all sorts of strange things happen. They are accosted one night by men wearing masks. Soon after Mother comes down with the Bubonic plague.

While attending to her mother Albrun is sexually assaulted by her mother, who is losing her mind.  At some point, Mother runs out of their cabin and dies in the night. Alburn finds her dead mother the next day covered in snakes. 

Act 2 takes place 15 years later. Alburn is still living in her cabin and now how has a baby of her own. She lives alone and is a little strange now. She is treated as a pariah in the local town where the local boys pick on her, and the local priest gives her the decorated skull of her mother.  She befriends another local woman, Swinda. But when Swinda sees the skull of Alburn's mother set up on an altar. Swinda later takes Alburn up into the mountains where they encounter a man Swinda knows. Swinda holds down Alburn while the man rapes her.  In revenge, she takes a dead rat and blood and poisons the water supply.

Act 3 Alburn comes to town with her baby and sees a lot of people dead and dying. She walks into the woods and eats some mushrooms. She begins to hallucinate and accidentally drowns her baby. 

Act 4 Alburn wakes up and discovers her baby is dead. So she cooks the baby in a stew and eats it. She gets sick. Her hallucinations come back as she hears her mother talking to her. She wanders outside and catches fire in the rising sun.

The horror of this movie is the abuse of Alburn from her childhood to her adulthood. She would be considered a witch or hag in the legends of the local village and that is the tragedy of this tale.  It is not a feel-good movie. 

Use for War of the Witch Queens

This movie has something of a timeless feel about it. It takes place in the 14th century or thereabouts, so it would be a good background for any sort of lower-level witch. To quote the TV show Magicians "magic is pain" and Alburn knows pain.  From this, you can assume there is really no such thing as a happy witch.

It is also a good example of how others treat these women, outside of outright hate. 

October Horror Movie Challenge 2022
Viewed: 2
First Time Views: 1

Tonight I am starting my deep dive into a bunch of witch-related adventures, many of which I would like to use with my War of the Witch Queens campaign.

The adventures will come from the various versions of D&D and the retro-clones in the OSR. They all have or feature witches in them.  Sometimes these witches are the antagonists, other times they are allies or even friends. The point is to show this rise in witch-related activity.  The players would see this rise but only later learn the reason is that the High Witch Queen had been murdered and now the witches are running wild.

As always I will be following my rules for these reviews.

The Coven

PDF. 45 pages. Black & White cover and B&W and color interior art.

This is a 0-level or 1st-level "adventure". In fact the adventure covers creating a coven of new "witches" (1st level magic-users).  There are a lot of random tables to help generate these characters including their background, patrons, enemies, and more for these witches. You also generate the lands and homes of these witches and their enemies.

This book is designed for Lamentations of the Flame Princess, but that is close enough to B/X that you can use that or OSE instead. 

I say "adventure" in quotes because there is not an adventure here. There is a setup for future adventures and there are plenty of ideas here to create your own. But no "going to point A to point B and kill monster X."

What it might lack (and I don't think it is lacking) in structure it makes up for in style and detail.

For Use in War of the Witch Queens

I would use this as a session zero for a future run of WotWQ (right now my characters are around 3rd level) but this would be a fun start.

Instead on 1st level magic-users I would use my witches, with a random table to also help choose their tradition.  

For Use in NIGHT SHIFT

So this is set up for LotFP, but with some tooling, I could make it work for a modern-age NIGHT SHIFT game. Certainly something for Ordinary World or even Generation HEX.

Starting off the Halloween October Horror Movie Challenge with a brand new one.  

I watched this for the Monster Movie Fun Time Go podcast. You can hear it all here. 

So I am not sure whether to consider this as part of the challenge or not. I am going to count it as a "Previously Watched" for today.

The premise is simple. Jamie Foxx plays Bud Jablonski, a divorced father who works as a pool cleaner. In truth, he is a vampire hunter who had worked for The Union. He kills vampires and sells the teeth on the black market to Troy played by the always fantastic Peter Stormare.

Now I have this sort of love/hate relationship with Jamie Foxx. Typically he is playing the exact same character in every movie he is in. This is not really that big of a deal. I mean it worked for Bruce Willis. Here is playing that same character. But I do have to remind myself this is the same guy that played Ray Charles and was amazing.  So here, he is good.

So the only way Bud is going to get all the money he needs for bills and his daughter's braces is to rejoin The Union that kicked him out. He gets the help of his friend, and vampire hunting legend, "Big" John Elliott, played in scene chewing wonder by Snoop Dogg. 

They let him rejoin and he is saddled with desk jockey Seth played by Dave Franco.  

Turns out the vampire Bud kills in the opener was the daughter of this higher-up vampire in LA, Audrey San Fernando played by Karla Souza.  We know Audrey is not at the top of the Vampire hierarchy (seriously has White Wolf completely saturated all Vampire mythology these days??) but she is striking out on her own to control as much of LA as she can.

The title comes from the shift Bud is assigned to; the safer, and less profitable, Day Shift.

The vampires here were all played by Cirque du Soleil acrobats and contortionists who were out of work due to the pandemic. The result is some really fun fights with the vampires as they bend, flip, and generally look inhuman.  We also learn there are different vampire clans (there you go again) and finding a nest full of vampires from different clans is something that concerns our heroes.

The movie is fun, but not great. It has all the tropes of horror but none of the scares. It leaves a lot of room for sequels.

In a scene that pays homage to Lost Boys, Snoop's Big John says "That's what I love about LA. All the damn Vampires!" 

"Welcome to the motherfucking Night Shift!" - Bud Jablonski

This movie is tailor-made for a NIGHT SHIFT game. Freelance vampire hunters working for a mysterious organization is the stuff of great roleplaying games. Exploring the vampire hierarchy and even the history of the Union would be fun.

October Horror Movie Challenge 2022
Viewed: 1
First Time Views: 0* (but it was new to me just last month)

It is the first of October! It is the month of Halloween finally.  I am going to start this auspicious night with a treat from last year, Appendix N's Octhorrorfest, and some more.  For this month I am going to focus largely on D&D in general and material for my War of the Witch Queens in particular.

As always I will be following my rules for these reviews.

Octhorrorfest!

PDF. 50 pages. Color covers. Black & white interior art.

This book is designed for Old-School Essentials, so that is already a plus in my mind.

It is filled with some wonderful art that is both creepy and evocative. 

We begin with an introduction from author R.J. Thompson about Halloween, and all the things that make Halloween great.  

There is a bit on Samhain (with correct pronunciation) and All Hallows with ideas of how to add them to your game. This includes what classes can do and the effects on magic. 

There are new classes and since this is OSE there are race-as-classes.  The classes include The Jack-o-Kin racial class and race for Advanced OSE. A jack-o-lantern race is a really interesting idea. Maybe not one I would play myself, but I am sure I would use it as an NPC race.

The next class is the Witch. Ah. Now we are talking. The class is a Wisdom-based spellcaster. They are fairly close to the Cleric class. There are a lot of interesting features to this class like healing, cure poison, and my favorite the Dying Curse. 

There is also a Witch Hunter class. A fighter type that also can turn undead and detect evil.  Essentially like a less devout paladin.

Magic of Hallows covers the spells for the witch. There are some ones that are familiar from OSE or SRD sources and four new spells.  This section also covers Ritual Spell Casting which is adapted from the old d20 Relics & Rituals converted to OSE. It is rather good to be honest.  There are 11 "new" spells. They are familiar spells but re-presented as ritual spells.

There is a section on Curing Vampirism, Demons and Exorcism.  Another section on Turning the creatures of the Outer Dark (like Undead Turning). 

Up next, around page 40, we get some movie monsters. 

Since this Appendix N Entertainment, we get an Appendix N with new readings, music, and film. 

In its 50 pages we get a lot of fun material. Well worth the price.

Lost Classes: The Arnesonian Classes

PDF. 30 pages. Black & white covers and interior art.

This one is not really a "Halloween" issue, but given I am doing Octhorrorfest I figure I would add this one is as well. Plus, it is for Old-School Essentials so that is reason enough.

Plus I think today is the last day of Dave Arneson week, so there is that.

This book covers what is called the Arnesonian Classes. This includes the Merchant and the Sage, as standard classes.  We also get the Beastfolk. This includes Chimpanzee Folk and Duck Folk.  We get both Basic race-as-class versions and Advanced races.

I have to admit I want to make a Chimpanzee Sage. I think that would be rather fun.

This little book is a great addition to OSE.

Both books are great fun.

Today is the last day of September and that means tomorrow is the first day of Halloween, er...October.

And you know what that means here! Yes, the start of the October Horror Movie Challenge!

I have been doing the October Horror Movie Challenge for years now.  I am not doing anything wildly different than in previous years, and I am largely following the rules as set out by Krell Laboratories.

You have 31 days, October 1st to October 31st, to watch 31 Horror movies. At least 20 of these need to be first-time views.  

I am largely going themeless this year. I have a few I want to hit, a few brand new ones, and a few leftovers from last year.  If I have a theme so far it is "movies that have a pentagram on the cover."

I have learned over the years that if there is a movie you want to watch and it is on a streaming service you need to watch it right away.   So yeah, I have a lot of "witch" movies. 

Again I am hoping to have content for NIGHT SHIFT, my Monstrous Mondays, and more. 

If you want to join me here is a banner image to use.

Let the Spooky Season begin!

Keeping with the OSR books tonight.  This one is a bit special.  First, it is produced by Basic Witch Games which is just a great name.  Secondly, the game is produced by a couple of friends of mine, Miranda Hunt and her wife Caitlin Hliwa doing the art. Thirdly I contributed a few spells for this book.

So...that makes reviewing this a little more difficult. So in addition to following my rules I am also going to be especially careful here.  I am not going to review the spells for example.

BaF - The Muse

PDF. 8 pages. Color cover. Black & white internal art.

BaF is short for "Basic as Fuck" a philosophy and a game design ethic. These classes (of which the Muse is the first) are designed for B/X D&D or OSE. 

This class, the Muse, is a magic-using class that alters emotions and enchants their companions. This is a Charisma base class and it cast spells in a similar manner to the witch classes. 

The XP charts follow the same format as Old School Essentials. The muse is similar in advancement to the Cleric and Magic-users. The Muse casts spells up to the 5th level. 

While I don't feel it would be right to review the spells there is a good number here and many that are original.  

There is also a new magic weapon featured.

The class is really fun and I can see a lot of uses for it as a great support character (like the Cleric) and some magic firepower (like the Magic-user).

Now for something a little different.

Reposted from The Official Night Shift: VSW MEAD!

From Jason Vey creator and co-author of NIGHT SHIFT:

Twilight Queen, the official mead of Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars


I am pleased to announce the release party for the official Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars mead: Twilight Queen on October 8! This release makes us the first ever tabletop role  playing game company to have our own official mead!
Even better, the mead connects with the game, as the favorite drink of Maeve Antinea, the woman who calls the shots, and the Twilight Queen herself, served in Club Khalsa, the most popular nightclub/watering hole in the City.

This mead, a collaboration with Apis Mead & Winery in Carnegie, PA, is a buckwheat mead with black cherries, vanilla, allspice, and cinnamon. The release party will be at Apis on Saturday, October 8, from 2:00 PM until whenever. We will have gaming events and giveaways, and both the mead and the game will be on sale! Our friends from Drawbridge Games will be on site as well!

I should also mention here that this is not just me slapping my company name on something. I'm a mead maker and have been for about 15 years. I collaborated closely with Dave from Apis on every aspect of this, from the initial flavor profile to the level of spice and flavoring in it, adjusting, tweaking, and the entire process of brewing the beverage. This is very much an Elf Lair creation as much as it is an Apis Mead, and after several rounds of tasting and tweaking, I am absolutely confident in saying IT IS A WINNER.

Please save the date and stop down! And if you can't make it, Apis can ship to any state that is allowed, through Vinoshipper!

You can find more information about Apis at their website here:

https://www.apismead.com/

Tim here now.

I don't do a lot of drinking anymore, save for coffee (I did enough in college for myself, my kids, you, your kids...) but this is fun.

Will it help the sales of NIGHT SHIFT? No, and I would be surprised if it did, but that is not the point is it. This is a fun thing to have and I'll happily pick up a few bottles.

Can you say your RPG has its own mead? No.

NOW, what would be totally on-brand for me? A "From the Editor's Cup" Weirdly World News coffee roast. Dark, imposing, and each cup is the LD50 of caffeine for a grown adult!

Reviewing Twilight Fables the other day has put me more into the mood for more OSR material. So Given I am spending my 100 Days of Halloween talking about witches, lets go with some other OSR witch material.

As always I will be following my rules for these reviews.

Jeremy Reaban has published a good number of OSR Classes.  While they say OSR on the cover they do have advancement tables for "Original," "First Edition," and "Basic/Expert" editions.  So they are really quite flexible.  I do note that the "Basic/Expert" table does go to level 20, so great for Labyrinth Lord and Basic Fantasy, but you will need to cut off at 14th level for Old School Essentials. Keep in mind these classes all predate OSE in publication.

All his classes, and indeed all his publications, are Pay What You Want.  I like that. Given he is buying art for all of these at least pay him a couple of bucks.

Here are his classes that I think work well with the witch concept. 

PC13 - The OSR Witch

PDF. 15 pages. Color cover.

Covers the basics of the class including requirements, alignment, and all the other expected details.  There is a section on the special abilities of the class, in this case abilities all witches get.  Each witch also gets a "Focus" or what I have called a "Tradition" but could be read as archetype or even sub-class.  These include Black Witch, Fire Witch, Frost Witch, Light Witch, Mind Witch, Storm Witch, Wander Witch, Water Witch, White Witch, Weather Witch, and Wood Witch for a total of 11 (two more would have been great). Each gets some powers and a selection of spells unique to that Focus.

This is followed by the advancement tables. Witches get bonus spells for high Charisma. And the selection of spell common to all witches.  

There are 9 NPC witches of various levels and alignments. 

There are some design notes that talk about the lack of an official witch class and how most of the OSR ones are all done by "one guy" (no idea who that could be). 

We end with the OGL statement.

All in all a really fun class. If this one works for you then by all means go with it.  There are a lot of great ideas here. 

PC11 - The OSR Warlock

PDF. 14 pages. Black & White cover.

This is the "new" warlock from Reaban. I'll get to the "old" one in a bit.

Essentially this is a conversion of the 5.1 SRD warlock and I am totally happy with that.  You get a Pact boon and a bunch of Eldritch Invocations.

Listed are various Patrons the warlock can take. We get the Fiend, the Great Nature Spirit (this one is new), Faerie Queen (or King), the Great Old One, Elemental Prince, and the Celestial. Each gives the warlock powers and a collection of spells. 

This is followed by the advancement tables (with level titles!). Warlocks get bonus damage on their Eldritch Blast for high Charisma. And the selection of spells common to all warlocks.  

There are 7 NPC warlocks and some design notes. The design notes in particular discuss why this is the second Warlock Reaban has done and how the old warlock is now the Kineticist.

PC1 - The OSR Kineticist

PDF. 8 pages. Color cover.

This was the first OSR class done by Reaban and was originally called The Warlock. This class is a bit different. It is like a sorcerer in that has innate magic, but this is not due to bloodline. It has some blasty-like warlock powers, and some others making the class fairly unique. 

There are the advancement tables (with level titles!). Kineticist get bonus damage on their Arcane Bolts for high Charisma.

It is a new idea and I really like it. This one is so early that there are no NPCs. 

PC2 - The OSR Exorcist

PDF. 6 pages. Black & White cover.

Ah. Now here is a class that is not all that witchy, but one that is likely to come up in any game where there are a lot of witches and demons.  I have also played around with an exorcist class in the past and this one works so well for me I really don't think I need to do one now. 

Exorcists are a bit warrior, bit cleric. 

There are the advancement tables (with level titles!) but no NPCs yet in this one.

The class does exactly what is should do and does it well.

PC3 - The OSR Witch Hunter

PDF. 7 pages. Color cover.

Can't have witches and not expect a few witch hunters. Like many of the "witch hunter" classes you can find this one is not limited to hunting witches alone but any supernatural evil. Like the Exorcist this one is a combination of fighter and cleric, though more leaning on the fighter side (they are considered a sub-class of the fighter).  They get a number of abilities to allow it to hunt down their prey and vanquish them.  

The witch hunter also gets a Bard-like Lore ability and the ability to read magic. They can even turn undead at 3rd level. 

There are the advancement tables (with level titles) for First Edition, Original Edition, Basic/Expert Edition, and Cyclopedic Edition (to 36th level).

PC8 - The OSR Amazon Warrior

PDF. 9 pages. Color cover.

This might be stretching my "witch" idea, but I did do a book, the Cult of Diana: The Amazon Witch, and I like to use this book with that one.

This one gives us the Amazon Warrior class. It is a fighter, but with a more athletic bend to it. The have to have minimum scores of 15 in Strength, Dexerity, AND Constitution.  The Amazon Warrior can't use magic items unless that magic item is a weapon and provided to them by a god. 

There are the advancement tables (with level titles) for First Edition, Original Edition, Basic/Expert Edition, and Cyclopedic Edition (to 36th level).

There are 10 NPCs including a Red Martian (nice!), Zenia, and "Crimson Sonia" who is 25th level. 

There is also a section on the daughters of the gods and how they can generate ability scores. There are also role-playing notes on the children of gods.

All in all a really fun additional class.

PC10 - The OSR Beguiler

PDF. 15 pages. Color cover.

A related class, this one has also been called the houri, the courtesan, the temptress, or the hetaera. It is a Charisma based class that uses charms. She is also a poisoner along with her other skills, so in many ways she is closer in nature to the thief or assassin. 

There are the advancement tables (with level titles) for First Edition, Original Edition, and Basic/Expert Edition. 

This one also has some new magic items. There are 19 NPCs. 

PC17 - The OSR Enchantress

PDF. 15 pages. Color cover.

This class is another spellcasting class, this time ismanipulates the emotions of others.  This class is a magic-user sub-class. 

There are the advancement tables (with level titles) for First Edition, Original Edition, and Basic/Expert Edition. There is also spell advancement to the 7th level.

The best part of this class, at least for me, are the new spells. There 33 in total. Some come from the d20 SRD, but that is fine. They work great here.

There are only 2 new NPCs here.

And finally there are two new Witch Focuses for the Witch Class; a Desire Witch and a Dream Witch.

Works great for me to be honest.

--

Lots of great classes here and I didn't even review them all.

Back in August, I reviewed the Echelon Reference Series: Witch Spells which covers every witch spell for Pathfinder.  It is a great series that represents a near Sisyphean effort to track all these spells. An effort that is only apparent once you dig into it.  Tonight I thought I might go for their collection of witch class material.  Basically, everything for the witch but the spells.

As always I will be following my rules for these reviews.

Echelon Reference Series: Witch (3pp+PRD)

Again this one comes as two PDFs. One for Pathfinder and one for Pathfinder and all other Third Party material.  The author points out that these are "living" documents as the material will be updated periodically.

Presently the Pathfinder book is 78 pages and the Pathfinder + 3PP book is 196 pages.

Both books follow the same format.  

About the Echelon Reference Series

This give you an overview of not just these two books but the series as a whole. Explains the differences between the PRD (Pathfinder SRD) and PRD+3PP (Pathfinder SRD plus Third Party Publishers) and the multiple versions of various books. 

This section also covers the issue of duplicate names; that is when one publisher calls something "X" and another publisher calls something "X" as well but they do different things.  Also some things may have different names but do remarkably similar things.  In both cases everything is here.

Classes and Archetypes

Covers the basic witch class and the published (and Open) archtypes. The PRD covers just material that is open from Paizo and can be found (for the most part) in the Pathfinder SRD.  The PRD+3PP covers the same but also all of the Open 3PP material.

Class Features

For the witch, this covers all her Patrons and all the various Hexes she can take. This might be one of the more useful chapters in the book. 

Other Options

Here we get favored class options, feats specifically for witches, and spell casting options. No spells since those are covered in multiple other Echelon books.

NPCs

What it says on the tin. The PRD has five and the PRD+3PP has the same five plus five more

Appendices

Not much here yet save for the Index and the OGL.

There is no art, nor is art required. This is a massive data dump designed for people that want only the crunch and none of the fluff.

This does not replace the products it gets its OGC from. The "source" products may have in-world examples or other materials that situate all of this to give proper perspective. This is the RAW OGC as is.  For me? I use Section 15 of the OGL statement here as a shopping list.  I use the original books/sources as my inspiration, but I sue this as my quick reference.

Looking forward to seeing what else is added! 

Oh good another Mail Call Tuesday!  They say great things come in small packages, so let's see what these small packages have for me today?

Up first I finally decided to do myself in Mini form from HeroForge.  So here is DM Tim in 25 mm scale. Complete with a laptop, a stack of books, and my always-present giant ass mug of coffee.  The only detail missing is the pencil behind my right ear.

I didn't care for their sneakers options so I am wearing my Gen X-mandated Doc Martens with yellow laces. 

Might need to use this as "The Editor" in my Weirdly World News games.

I also grabbed my next to last 21st Century miniature reprint of the AD&D 1st Edition hardcovers.  And this one is from the personal collection of Heidi Gygax.

Now I am just a Dungeoneers Survival Guide away from completing my set of the mini AD&D hardcover books.  Though I doubt it will have the pedigree of my Dragonlance book.

We are getting much closer to Halloween now! It is cooler here in Chicago and I am ready for the seasons to change.  Here at the Other Side, I am kicking up the witch topics hitting on products I have had for a while but have not reviewed or talked about.

Tonight is a good case in point.  I have had this particular product in both the OGL and Pathfinder versions for years. I have not found a group that it would work well for, however.  There is a lot of material here that I can use in my witch worlds.  But, well. Let me get into the products and you decide.

As always I will be following my rules for these reviews.

Sisters of Rapture

OGL (d20 3.5) and Pathfinder versions. 

PDFs, both 72 pages of content (76 and 74 total respectively). Color covers and interior art.

For Mature Readers. Let's approach this one upfront. The art featured on the cover is a rather tame example of the art that can be found inside. Point blank, there is a lot of nudity here and lot of sexual situations. The entire idea of the Sisters of Rapture is a class of semi-divine spellcasters centered around love and sacred sex. If this is not your thing then best to back out now.  Again I have struggled with how to use some of these concepts in my games. 

We know that history has had temple prostitutes, sacred sex, and many pagan rituals involving fertility. There are historical examples to fit this book more so than say the martial arts monk side by side with a horse-riding paladin in a quasi-European Medieval setting.  

Plus, and I want to be truthful here, there is a lot a great and well-written material here that begs to be used. So let's get to it.  Also, why am I doing these along with witches?

Unless mentioned the OGL and Pathfinder sections are largely similar. They are not 100% the same, more like 90% but both deal with their source game where they need too.

Introduction

Here we are introduced to the central concept of this book. That of the power of love. We learn of the Sisters of Rapture, a "close-knit organization of warrior-priestesses, dedicated to preserving and protecting the ideals of the various goddesses of love, beauty, sex, passion and other related concepts."  

In terms of RPG applications the author (and artist) T. Catt, points to the various artists of fantasy art.

Chapter One: Love's Blessed

Here we are introduced to the Sisters of Rapture base class, also known as the Rapturous. They are a bit of a fighter, a bit of divine spellcaster, and maybe some rogue added in. They are dedicated to the various goddess of love.  Their raison d'être is to spread pleasure and love around their worlds. 

Here we also get our first look at the art of T. Catt; mostly nude women. Now I just finished watching HBO's hits Rome and Game of Thrones, so this fits that aesthetic, but like I said it is not going to be for everyone.

In terms of 3.x OGL/Pathfinder classes, they have somewhat medium combat abilities, good Fort and Will saves, with low Reflex saves. They can cast spells up to the 9th level, same as all full casters. They also get a power every other level. Their spells are known as "Carnal Domain" Divine spells. They get d8 HD and can only be women of any species.

There is a limit on the number of spells they know like sorcerers. Their powers largely focus on and around their sex and sexuality. There are several "kiss" powers for example. I actually rather like the Kiss powers, I have used something similar and lets be honest history is repleat with various sorts of powerful or significant kisses. 

Depending on the Goddess they follow they can gain different powers. So Aphrodite grants her Rapturous different powers than Freya.  Freya in particular grants her Rapturous a "Righteous Rage" ability to Rage like a barbarian of half her level. 

What does this sound like? Yeah. Witches and their patrons. 

Chapter Two: Love's Chosen

This covers the various Prestige Classes. I mentioned before that I like Prestige Classes, I always have. These classes work well with this base class. Though I will point out that other classes should be able to qualify for these to be within the spirit of the d20 rules; these don't really do that.

The Inamorare is something like a muse. They get some Bard-like abilities (mostly inspiration) and of the five levels they advance in spell casting in three of them.  The Patron Mother takes on the role of training the next generation by taking on a Rapturous apprentice. In this respect, she more similar to a cleric. The Spellswinger (and I admit I like that name) swings both ways, Divine and Arcane magic. NOW this Prestige Class does require that character be able to cast Rapturous and Arcane spells.Yes, they are all about sex magic. My favorite though might be the Stormsister. These Rapturous are the strong arm of the Sisters and they punish anyone that harms women or stops love. 

The Pathfinder version also includes various archetypes for the base class. These include the Abbess (closer to her Goddess and church), Divine Virgin (celebrates the pure divine love and refrain from sex), and the Sacred Prostitute (think of the Epic of Gilgamesh), 

Chapter Three: Love's Method

This covers skills and feats.  For skills there is Knowledge (Carnal). I can't help but wonder if the author was familiar with the old AD&D Netbook Book of Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. No, don't go dig it up, it's not worth it. There is also Perform (Sexual Techniques) and various Professions.

Feats are an interesting lot and could have a lot of interesting applications.  Blown Kiss, for example,  allows the Rapturous to "blow a kiss" or deliver a touch spell/power attack at range. 

The Pathfinder also covers various traits.

The next portion of this chapter covers the Carnal Domain Spells. There are only nine, but since the publication of this book there have been plenty of others that would work.

There are some magic items. The Rings of Faithfulness are certainly interesting. 

Chapter Four: Love's Divinity

This chapter covers the various goddess of love, beauty, and sex. These include the expected Aphrodite/Venus, Isis, and Freya. Others are briefly mentioned. Shout outs to my favorites Astarte and Brigit. Additionally, we are presented with a "new" Goddess, Parvati. 

The Pathfinder version is largely the same but I think a mention of the Goddess of Love Shelyn and her lovers Desna and Sarenrae should be in order here. I feel that their combined faiths would be perfect for the Sisters of Rapture. (I know these goddesses are not "open" in terms of the OGL so they could not be included in this book).

Chapter Five: Love's Order

This details the society and church organization of the Sisters of Rapture.  This includes the religious practices of the Sisters and the roles they are play within the church organizations. 

Chapter Six Love's Relations

It seems odd to call these creatures monsters, but they are creatures/people that are associated with or related too the Sisters of Rapture. There are the Theliel, the Archons (Angels) of Passion. The Beloved, undead victims of the Succubus. The Congress of the Wolf, an all-male group in opposition to the Sisters. We just call them the Patriarchy.  There is Lileetha the Queen of the Succubi. The Half-Nymph and Huldra. The Pleasure Ooze looks like a woman but is really an ooze that wants to eat you.  As does the Venus Mantrap. 

I will say this for Pathfinder. The "Evolved" monster stat block makes it a lot easier to read than the base D&D 3.x one.

Appendix 1: Who's Who

This covers various Raprurous NPCs. Theophania Leandros the current Overmother, Althea Acarides a half-nymph Sister of  Aphrodite, Saereid an elven Sister of Freya, Ninythys a human Sister of Isis, and Kamala Siddah a humanSister of Parvati.

Appendix 2: Modern Rapturous (OGL)

Here the books differ quite a bit. The OGL version covers the Modern d20 book and how the Sisters of Rapture exist in the modern age. 

The OGL book ends with one of the most attractive-looking character sheets I have ever seen. 

Appendix 2: The Nefer-Sefet (Pathfinder)

This is a special sect of Isis-worshiping Sisters of Rapture that attach themselves to an Arcane spell caster and bolster their powers. Essentially they are a living Meta-magic battery for these arcane spell casters. 

Both the required OGL pages.

So. What to make of all of this.

Well, there is a  lot of great mechanics here. The class is solid and even if you toned down the sexual aspect of it there is a lot her that is good to play.  You have to ask though what is here that a cleric could not do or even should be able to do. This is a divine spellcaster. There are some powers, but I think a cleric could cover similar ground.  I guess at some level the differences are the same between a cleric and this class and a wizard and a witch. 

I also can't but help but admire the complete level of detail the creator has gone in on this. While others might scratching their head about where to use this class you know that T. Catt has thought about all of these things and more. It's obvious from the level of detail here.

Among other things, the half-nymph is a great idea, the various feats have some wonderful uses, and the creature section has some surprise hits.

For me there is a lot here that could be used with my various witches. I have reviewed Swine Witches and Worm Witches already in the last week. I have Green, Winter, Pagan, Hedge, evil and more witches in my own catalog, a sex(y) witch is not too far from any of those. Hell. Some of the material here would have worked just fine in my Pumpkin Spice Witch book. 

I guess each Game Master has to decide on their own how to best use this sort of book. 

 

Taking a break from Pathfinder for a bit on this first Monstrous Monday of Fall 2022 to do something a little darker.  There is a chill in the air here in Chicago. I have a flannel shirt on and my mood ever shifts more and more to Halloween.  A Halloween bestiary would be nice and thankfully Izegrim Creations has just the thing I need.

Twilight Fables

I swear the Kickstarter for this had just ended and I got my DriveThruRPG notification that the hardcovers were available. 

So for this I Monstrous Monday, I want to talk about both the 5e and OSR versions of this book, the Print on Demand and PDF versions, plus all the other material that makes up this line. 

Overview

Both books are huge volumes at 336 pages (5e) and 326 pages (OSR) each. The covers are full color as is all the interior art.  And the art is fantastic.  

Both books have a solid 5e aesthetic to them; colorful art and backgrounds, text describing the creature and its place in the environment/land/myths, and followed by a stat block.

The 5e book features a standard-looking 5e stat block, the OSR one is largely a modified Basic-era stat block. It includes everything you would expect along with descending and ascending AC, an entry for THAC0, and XP. The art for both books is the same.  There is a good reason for this, the OSR version was added on a little bit later in the Kickstarter.  The 5e version, with art, was done before the kickstart began (minus some edits I am told) so adding on the OSR version was a matter of adding the new stat blocks.  One nitpick there are listings for "DCs" in the OSR version for magic item creation (more on that later). I would have preferred something that felt a little more pre-2000.

Now in most situations, I would fear translation errors, but the author Roderic Waibel had already developed that very successful Chromatic Dungeons RPG (reviewed here) which is solid OSR.  So I know he knows OSR.  My only gripe is kinda wanted the OSR stat blocks to look as nice as the 5e ones!  But that is only a gripe for people that own both.

Like many of Waibel's publications we get nice sidebar discussions from the intelligent and rather civilized Gnoll "Fleabag." It is a very nice touch (I have done something similar with my 'From the Journal of Larina Nix') and it gives these (and his other books) character. 

Regardless of which one you get (get both!) you are in for a treat.

I grabbed both and will be using the OSR version in my Old-School Essentials game. My oldest grabbed the 5e version and is using it in his weekly 5e game. So far he says it is great and he loves all the different sorts of monsters it offers.

The Fables

The name of the book is Twilight Fables.  So you can expect that these are monsters from various myths, legends, and tales. And you would be 100% correct. Waibel has done his reading and there are a lot of great creatures here.  Even ones that might be familiar get new life and feel "new."  

For example, I mentioned one of my favorites, the Basajaun who appears in three different monster books. 

Each one is a little different and yet each one 'feels' right. Perfect for DMs that want a familiar, yet different creature.

The creatures largely come from the myths, legends, and folklore of Europe. This is also what is advertised and leads to the logical assumption of Twilight Fables of other lands for future volumes. One for Africa, one for Asia, one for the Americas, all are possible.

In addition to the monsters, there are various legendary NPCs like Baba Yaga, Beowulf, Cailleach Beira, Cú Chulainn, Guy of Warwick, King Arthur, Little Red Riding Hood, Merlin, Morgan Le Fay, Robin Hood, Scáthach, Queen Úna of Faerie, and Väinämöinen. So yeah. Lots.

There is a section on Mythological Treasures and Magic items. This includes some rules on how to make magic items as well. It is a very nice value add.  You saw this sort of thing with the old Mayfair "Fantastic Treasures" and something you see Troll Lord Games do with their Monster and Treasure books.

Both books also have rules for new character species (wanna play a Pech? You can!) and for 5e there are class options such as Warlock patrons and cleric domains.

There is even a small adventure (20 pages) to introduce these new monsters. 

The Monsters

All that is gravy.  The real meat here are the monsters.

In both cases, the monsters take up full pages. This includes the background and descriptions, the stat blocks, and whatever else is involved with this particular creature such as "Lore & Rumors", any special treasures, habitat, behaviors, and more.  In some cases, the material bleeds over to another entry, but not so much as to be an issue. 

There are, by my count, nearly 220 monsters here ranging in HD from 1-1 to 30+ (OSR) and CR 1/8 to 30 (5e).  So plenty of creatures to challenge any level of characters.

I have to say these are great books and well worth grabbing for your games, 5e or OSR, or both.  There is a lot of material here and plenty to keep many groups engaged for some time.

Extras

When you get the digital copy from DriveThruRPG you also get a bunch of tokens that can be printed and used in f2f table games or digitally online. It is another value add this game offers. There is also an RTF version of the book, a printer-friendly/no background version, and maps for the included adventure.

If you love monsters like I do then this is a must-buy.

A couple of nights ago I reviewed a Worm Witch. Tonight, why not a swine witch?

This preview for the Runewild Setting is worth the time to download.

As always I will be following my rules for these reviews.

Runewild Preview 1: Missus Switch, Swine Witch

PDF. 8 pages. Color cover and interior art. Price: Free.

This small 8-page book (1 cover, 1 ad, 1 page of OGL) introduces us to the Ruenwild setting I reviewed last year. 

We are given a little bit of background on the Runewild (coming soon to Kickstarter!) and the witches of the Runewild. 

We are also introduced to the titular Missus Switch, something known as a "Swine Hag" (yes there are stats) and a small background "Adventure," actually an adventure location. Runewild is a hex crawl-friendly setting for 5e.

For free we get a good introduction to the Runewild and Missus Switch. 

It would play well with the Worm Witch and Wickerpunk books.

Time to move to 5e for something a little more flavorful.  One of my favorite themes is the struggle of paganism vs the rise of monotheism.  The dark twisted child of this struggle is Folk Horror. This new book looks like covers a little bit of all the above.

As always I will be following my rules for these reviews.

Wickerpunk

PDF. 276 pages. Color cover. Black & White (as appropriate) interior art.

First things first. I love this name. I am kicking myself for not coming up with it first.

We get an introduction that, "Wickerpunk is where heroic fantasy and folk horror meet."  Interesting premise.

Chapter 1: What is Wickerpunk

Here we learn how a "Wickerpunk" game differs from your normal heroic fantasy.  It is not grim-dark, but it is dark. Nature is more dangerous, strange pagan gods still roam the land, and the locals still practice forgotten rites and ceremonies. 

The author also lets us know that "wickerpunk" could be called "wyrdpunk" due to horror elements added to the game. This is not quite a gothic horror, but we can see that genre from here. The author is careful to let us know this is not horror and that horror-fiction and wickerpunk are cousins, not siblings. But kissing cousins to be sure.

Like my fascination with Pagans vs. Monotheists, this book covers the Wyld vs. Industry. The extension of this is Arcane vs. Divine magic. Where one is wrong and the other is a gift. My "old-faith vs. new-faith" is even covered later on.

There is a lot here, more than I will detail in this review, but suffice to say there is a lot of great ideas here on setting up your games. 

Just under 25 pages I am now wanting to rip out the roots of my "War of the Witch Queens" campaign to add more of these ideas. 

Chapter 2: Campaign Elements

This chapter details how a wickerpunk campaign affects your rules.  up first is alignment. Law and Chaos are replaced by Industry and Wyld. Good and evil are replaced by Benevolence and Malice.  Again...I want to use this instead of what I am using now.

Planes of existence have little use here since all that matters is the struggle of Industry and Wyld in the world of humans. 

This chapter also covers various time periods from Stone Age to Victorian. And adventures from Mysteries, Treasure Seeking, and exploration among the eight presented.

There are some encounter tables which include types, places and motivations. 

Chapter 3: Players and Characters

This chapter covers the 5e base classes and how they are altered in a wickerpunk game; both in terms of Wyld and Industry.  These changes are not really mechanical, but rather thematic. They also include player hooks, example adventures, enemy hooks and NPC hooks. Throughout the book, inspirational reading or viewing is presented in a sidebar.

The same is done for the main PC species. 

Chapter 4: Monsters

This chapter takes the types of monsters and discusses how they can be used in a wickerpunk game. There are more details on fey, fiends and undead as expected, but nearly every type of monster is considered. It is very flavorful. There is not much or anything in the way of "crunch" or game mechanics, but honestly, it is not needed here since the material is so good. It reminds me a bit of the old Ravenloft materials.

Chapter 5: Enemy Organisations

What is "The Wicker Man" without Lord Summerisle and his cult? Or "Children of the Corn" without the children? Not much really. This chapter covers the various organizations, or Cults and Cult Hunters.  The PCs find themselves between the Wyld Cults (and Gods) and the Industry Inquisition. 

Yes, this chapter also includes ideas for witches (even though 5e does not have a real witch class). 

Chapter 6: Magic and Technology

The tools of the Wyld and Industry.  There are some new ideas for magic items and spells, but only one spell is presented, "The Evil Eye."

Chapter 7: Sample Campaigns

There is a sample campaign here, the Island of Eye. Which looks a lot like England. Detailed here are what the humans and the older inhabitants of the land are doing.  Plenty of locations and adventure hooks are detailed here. As well as plenty of interesting NPCs 

Chapter 8: Appendix N

A nod to the famous Appendix N in the 1st Ed AD&D DMG. This covers various campaign periods. Each section includes movies, novels, television, comics, and video games. With commentary. 

--

There is very, very little game-specific information here. If you are looking for mechanics or "crunch" then you are likely to be disappointed.  But if you are looking for something more thematic or "fluff" then this is fantastic.

This is also this book's greatest unadvertised strength. It can be used with any version of D&D you like. While reading I kept thinking about how can I use this with say Old-School Essentials or even B/X D&D and the answer is "Easy."   In fact one of the few actual bits of game material, the Evil Eye spell, is something I did years ago in my first witch book.  But even then the conversion is super simple. 

There are a lot of things I can use here for my War of the Witch Queens campaign, but I would also suspect that any D&D 5e DM could use these ideas for their Ravenloft or the Wild Beyond the Witchlight campaigns.

In any case, there is so much here to love.

Head back to not only just the OSR but to Old-School Essentials. This one is from Knight Owl Publishing who has been putting out some really great stuff lately.

As always I will be following my rules for these reviews.

Worm Witch: The Life and Death of Belinda Blood

PDF. 73 pages. Color cover, black & white interior art.

This book is a sequel and elaboration on The Chaos Gods Come to Meatlandia. I don't know much about that other product save that it seems to be a wild "anything goes" sort of setting.  This has a similar feel. 

This product includes both the Worm Witch and Worm Warden, classes.  Witches and Wardens are classes I have also explored in my various book so I am quite excited to see these.

The Worm Warden is like a paladin, ranger, or guardian for the witch cult. They are fighter types. Their primes are Strength and Charisma. 

The Worm Witch is a witch class and it shares many similarities with other witch classes. This is largely due to books we all read and the various means we all use to make classes.  Personally, I find this great. The Worm Witch could fit in well with all the witches I have played and still have enough unique features to make her special. What makes her special of course is her connection to worms. Even the worm witch's special abilities could be mapped on to my Occult Powers.

Both the Warden and the Witch share a secret language. 

The Worm Witch also gains witch spells. And there are some great ones here.  There is the expected ones like Animal Friendship and Charm Animal, and some really interesting ones like Infect with Worms, Mass of Maggots, Wave of Worms, and more.  Yeah, they do pretty much what you expect.

This is all about one-third of the book. And this was all then I would be really happy. I am glad someone wrote this book. This is a needed sort of witch that I would not likely write. Ok. I would have never done this one. Worms are great for my wife's garden, and that is about all the use I have for them.  So kudos to Wind Lothamer and Ahimsa Kerp for doing this.

We still have the rest of the book. 

The next section covers the land of Annalida, a land near Meatlandia. This is another third of the book and it is interesting, but I have no context for it. Still, the Witch Wood is very cool. 

The last third (or so) covers the monsters of the land, which as you can imagine, is full of worms. 

The NPC witch, Belinda Blood, is also presented. She was a very powerful Worm Witch and could fit the bill as a Witch Queen for my War of the Witch Queen Campaign.  It is also all written for Old School Essentials so that is another good fit. Alive or dead she would be a great Witch Queen.

As I mentioned this book is written for OSE and fits well.

So I bought this hoping for a class and a few new spells. I got that. I also got another class, a campaign setting, some monsters, AND a new Witch Queen to add to my Old-School Essentials campaign. 

That's pretty nice if you ask me.