Finally, you must contend with your own member of the Fated, a witch or warlock who

Transcription

1 Welcome to the world of WITCH. You play a Finally, you must contend with your own member of the Fated, a witch or warlock who personal demons. Demons are the creatures has sold their soul to a demon for power. Your lurking in the shadows, hungry for souls, story is one of struggle, strife, but also hope. revelling in the dark. They are the masters of Your soul has been sold, but that does not your nightmares and that thorn in your side mean it will remain that way forever. Now you you can never be rid of. Each Fated must have the power to control your destiny. barter with their demon on a regular basis to Whether you succumb to the darkness within gain more power and all power comes at a or carve out a piece of legend for yourself is price. your own choosing. Witches and warlocks can come from any background, no matter their race, gender, creed, or nationality. How will you deal with your magic and the price you have paid for it? What are you willing to do to learn more magic? And how Your life as a member of the Fated is will threatened by many things. Hunters are the insurmountable choices laid in front of you? first and most apparent threat, men and The choice is yours! women who have sworn their lives to hunting down and slaughtering all supernatural creatures. Armed with powerful vials of blood and advanced weaponry, they are a force to be reckoned with. you overcome the seemingly Playing The Game To play this story you need a group of two to six of your friends, a twelve-sided die (d12), two ten-sided dice (d10), an eight-sided die (d8), a six-sided die (d6), a four-sided die (d4), All Fated have made a scared promise never to and some scrap paper. When we roll dice we reveal themselves to the rest of humanity and abbreviate like this: one d10 is 1d10, two d10 is for good reason. History is riddled with witch 2d10 etc. Dice sets with all the required dice burnings, crusades, and many more events are normally sold at your local gaming store. that have been caused by the Fated showing Then, you choose the role of one of the their true nature. Though many Fated follow characters in this adventure, except for one this promise to different extents, all must be person who is the Game Master (GM) who wary takes on all the other roles in this adventure: lest suspicious. other humans become too the non-player characters (NPCs). In a normal Angry Hamster Publishing 2015

2 game, you ll actually go through the steps to that requires a Skill roll, the GM would ask create your own character, carefully choosing you to roll to see if you are able to pick her all your traits and skills. pocket while wooing her with your sweet words. The Order Of Things Role play games are collective stories and adventures that you tell with your friends. You Mechanics What is most important to remember about a can think of them like a play, except you re game of WITCH is this is your game! If sitting around a table with your friends and there is something you don t like, don t use it, you get to make up your own lines. We use change it, and/or make it your own. We dice in role play games, because it allows us to provide guidelines on how we think a game leave some things up to chance and it helps to should go, but role play is about creativity and make tough decisions fair for everyone. freedom, don t let our guidelines stop you. Play normally goes as such: the GM explains to When you roll for normal actions you always you where you are and what you see. "Your roll: coven has entered a dark club that thrums 2d10 + an Attribute rank + a Skill rank or with the loud music coming from the speakers. Talent rank Everything in this place is vibrating and humming with life, except for one thing - a This means if the GM asks you to roll a lone woman standing still on the dance floor. Dexterity (Attribute) + Athletics (Skill) roll to She is staring directly at you with a wicked see who runs faster, you roll 2d10 and add the smile playing on her lips." It is then your turn bonus you get from your Attribute (Dexterity) to say what your character does; perhaps your and Skill (Athletics). character will go up to speak to this woman, Normal Roll Example perhaps your character will go get a drink, you decide. You want to see if someone is lying: Aside from describing what you do and 2d10 + Perception (3 rank) + Empathy (2 speaking to the NPCs played by the GM, you ranks) will sometimes have to roll dice. A GM can ask You have: you to roll dice when you are attempting to do something difficult or when something is It s a success, you see that they are hiding happening outside of the ordinary. For something from you! example, your character has been speaking to a Normally, you roll against a difficulty set by womam the entire evening, under the guise of your GM. You must always roll equal to or being interested in her, but instead you really higher than the difficulty to succeed. want to steal her wallet. Since this is something 2

3 The average difficulty of most actions is show 10s (or 0s depending on the style of dice always 13. GMs may choose to up this number you have). A critical success means your for tasks that they judge to be difficult character excels beyond expectations and (normally a +2/4). Shooting someone with a something fantastic happens. Your GM will blindfold is a lot more difficult than without help you narrate this. the blindfold, which a higher DC will indicate. Opposed roll When it comes to rolling there are a few other Rolling against someone or something else is terms you should know: called an 'opposed roll'. The person who rolls Botch highest in an opposed roll always wins. Botching means you roll a natural 2 on your Opposed Roll Example dice eg both your dice show 1 s. If this You try to run away from the cops. You & the happens it negates any bonus you might have cops roll: and something horrible happens. Your weapon misfires, you cast your own Spell on yourself, 2d10 + Dexterity (2 ranks) + Athletics (1 rank) or you hit an ally instead of a foe. The You have: =18 possibilities are endless and equally horrible, your GM will help you to narrate this. The cops have a total of 15. Possible failure 11+(or higher) You win! It s frustrating when you just miss succeeding Not all actions require a roll, what is in your roll. In WITCH you don t have to, considered an Average difficulty in WITCH your character can put in that extra effort is average for something you would roll for. straining themselves mentally and physically Every day actions like walking up the stairs, in order to succeed. Possible failures happen going for a jog, and talking with your friends when you are two below the given difficulty. do not require a roll. However, during times of So, if the difficulty was 13, the possible failure stress every day actions become more difficult would be 11, but if the difficulty was 17, the and should be rolled for. Likewise, actions that possible failure would be 15. If you decide to you normally would not perform, like jumping succeed, to push your character that extra bit, between two buildings, should also be rolled you take a -4 to your next roll whatever it is. for. This represents your character s exhaustion. Combat In the world of WITCH it is possible you will Critting end up in a fight sooner or later. During Critting (critical success) means you roll a combat you first determine your initiative. natural 20 on your dice eg both your dice 3

4 Initiative is the order in which people can 2d10 (12) + Dexterity (3) + Melee (2) = 17 you perform their actions. hit! Your initiative rating is the roll of: Damage: 1d6 (2) + Strength (3) = 5 points of damage 2d10 + the higher of Dexterity or Perception Of course, you can also get attacked. When The person with the highest score gets to go you are hit by an attack, subtract the number first and so on till the person with the lowest of points of damage, minus any armour you initiative score, then the round starts once are wearing, from your hit points. more and so on till combat is done. GMs will Hit points - (damage-armour) also roll initiative for their foes and act in turn like everyone else. During your turn you may Armour is a type of equipment you can wear perform one move action (moving up to 7 on your body such as a leather jacket or a meters) and one combat action such as bullet resistant vest. If you have armour it is shooting, punching, or even taking some time stated on your character sheet. to reason with someone. Small actions such as drawing another arrow from your quiver, You should always subtract the damage you tossing a potion to a friend, or shouting a have taken from the highest damage level in quick order or two, can be done for free. which you still have hit points remaining. When one damage level is empty, you move to To hit your opponent your GM will tell you a the next level and so on. difficulty you need to make to succeed. You will then roll: In combat, when you are being attacked by someone such as another player or a NPC, 2d10 + Dexterity + Brawl/Ranged/Melee refer to the TO HIT DIFFICULTY stated at (depending on what type of weapon you are the bottom of your character sheet. That using) difficulty is what they must meet in order to actually hit you. If you succeeded, you roll for damage with the damage die + Strength stated on your Sometimes the adventure may call for you to character sheet, in the case of Brawl/Melee, or make a 'touch attack' this is an attack that does apply the static damage for the Ranged Skill. not damage and just determines if you can The damage die you use is stated on your touch an opponent while they are moving in character sheet. combat. For example, this can happen when you need to touch them to cast a Spell. For a Combat Example touch attack you roll: You want to slash the man in front of you with 2d10 + Dexterity+ Brawl vs difficulty 11 your short sword. Your GM tells you the difficulty is 16. So you roll: 4

5 If you succeed, you successfully touch your one cantrip (much like different levels), each opponent. spell canto does something different. Non-Combat Rolling Though we always advocate acting out your To cast a spell canto you roll: 2d10 + Spell Level your Casting Talent actions and role-playing. Sometimes you will need to roll for things outside of combat, this You must roll equal to or higher than the can be because it is much more difficult than spell's difficulty to succeed. what you would normally do (like making an Casting a cantrip never requires a roll, it can important public speech) or because it is be done instantaneously and there is never a something that requires extra attention (like chance to botch. Cantrips represent the very sneaking into a room). base of each Spell. In WITCH, typical non-combat rolls you may need to make are: Talents Sneaking: Dexterity + Stealth Talents are magical skills. They are not something a normal human can learn, but Investigating a room: Perception + Spot Fated pick them up easily. There are six Talents in total. Characters may choose to Lying: Manipulation + Deception study any of the six Talents and your character Checking to see if someone is lying: Perception starts out with one Talent focus, which is the + Empathy Talent they have specialised in. The character s Talent Focus also shapes the way they wield Convincing someone of your opinion: Charisma magic. The Talents are: + Expression Casting - Wielding and using spells to deadly Spells & Talents Spells and Talents are magical abilities that effect. your character has at their disposal to make Ritual- Using powerful rituals to enact rites of their lives easier and to pull off feats no magic and power. normal human could. Potions - Knowing how to brew potions, Spells herbalism, identifying poisons. Spells are taught to you by the demon who Occult - Knowledge of occult races, other Fated you and allow you to do anything from planes, and how to gain entrance to mystical cursing someone to raising a zombi. The spells places. at your disposal are dependent on what Fate Sense - Seeing other supernaturals, identifying you are. Spells are broken into ten cantos and places of magical power; aka a sixth-sense. 5

6 Gauze - Manipulating places of power and strengthening rolls with magic. Some rolls you make using Talents are: Remembering obscure occult knowledge: Intelligence + Occult So, if you have cast one of your spell cantos Recognizing a supernatural / seeing ghosts: 2, 3, 4, or 5 on 2d10. This mechanic is slightly three times, you can botch when you total a 2, Perception + Sense Finding out supernatural magical more in depth when you play the actual information occurrences and WITCH game, but for a quick start, this is a about nice way to start. places: Perception + Sense Note: Your botch chance only increases if you have successfully cast a spell. Recognizing what spell someone is casting: Perception/Intelligence + Casting GMs should be creative when deciding what horrible things happen to a character who Adding a +2 to an allies roll: Manipulation + botches. Gauze Other Fun Things Each character is unique and there are tons of Identifying potions and poisons: Wisdom + Potions ways to customise your character in a game of Botching & Casting Magic You may cast your magical spell cantos as WITCH. Since this is only the quick start, we many times a day as you wish, however, this when you look at your character sheet here are comes with a price. Each time you cast a canto a few things you should know: have done that for you, but so you are not lost the chance for you to botch with it increases. Pursuits are your character's worldly gains. It This goes down one tier each time you get a is how much money they have (Funds), the good night s rest (eg a solid 8 hours). type of house they have (Property), how Here is a chart explaining your botch number famous they are in human society (Status), in relation to how many times you have cast a how famous they are in Fated circles canto: (Prestige), how many cool magical artefacts Casting Time they have (artefacts), and how many friends Botch On they have who are willing to do them a favour (contacts). Rituals are another form of magic that your character can have at their disposal. Like Spells, Rituals have fantastic magical effects, 6

7 but they take longer to cast and have a spoken In many scenes NPC back stories will be component. provided. Use this information in your portrayal of the characters, their quirks, and Potion brewing is yet another type of magic their story. you have. A smart member of the Fated will * have at least one potion handy to use in a tight spot. Information in grey boxes, like this, provides you some insight into the world of WITCH. New to GMing? Depending on how you play WITCH you will * either be playing a short adventure or a longer campaign. Whatever you play, each time you You will find roll x + x throughout the text. sit down at a table, as a GM you break your You can ask characters to make rolls for you play up into scenes. (or they may ask themselves) at these points to gain A scene is a complete moment of story. For useful like a play, one scene is the moments the lights * come up ton stage till the moment they go With some NPCs we will not give stats for you dark. to roll with, but the following information: Make sure to describe to your players what Mental rolls: +, Social rolls: +, Physical they see and where they are at the start of rolls: + every scene, reading any text from the adventure aloud (if applicable). After your the scene, begin a suggest using the default difficulty of 13. combat, a piano recital. Again, think about it of Sometimes difficulty will be provided, if it is not we example, someone interrogating prisoner, a introduction information. This means that the NPCs have general stat your pools you can use. So, for example, if your interaction with your players. Some players NPC is trying to lie, and they have Social rolls: may wish to talk to people, others may wish to +3, perform actions, it is your job as a GM to paint a picture of what happens while they do this. At the end of a scene, when your players have met their given objective (or not), move to the next scene in the adventure until the adventure is concluded. Here are some tips for reading WITCH adventures: 7 you would roll 2d

8 Good Luck & Have fun! 8