Design - Apparel - Costume, WitchI’m in the mood to post about witches – those of a fantasy variety, anyway.  What game doesn’t benefit from an encounter with a broom-flying, cauldron boiling, poppet hexing witch anyway?

Maybe the mood has struck because we’re in October and I’m seeing Halloween decorations all about.

Or maybe it’s because I just finished reading Neil Gaiman’s latest novel “The Ocean at the End of the Lane,” which explores the maiden-mother-crone mythos in a briskly told tale, and spent two nights reading with my son, Preston, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving by a campfire.

This is ground that has lain fallow for me. I cut my teeth in rpg freelancing with “Unorthodox Witches,” a d20 supplement I wrote for The LeGames in 2005. I figure now is as good as any time to dust off the subject and see if I can add anything new to gamer witchery.

So here are two freebies. One is a 10-page adventure I wrote, “The Witch’s Hound.” As low-level adventures go, it does a bit of hand-holding for the PCs, I admit. But, in the spirit of Gnome Stew, it’s system neutral, meaning with a little preparation, it can fit into the rpg of your choice. Plus, by providing it now, there’s time to work it in to any Halloween-themed gaming nights you might have in the works.

The second is included in the same download. It’s a matrix for rolling up a random witch character. With a few d20 rolls, you’ll have the prompts you need for an NPC witch or the flavor background for a player character you can build with the system of your choice.

The material can be downloaded here witchs_hounds.

So, let me know what you think. (I’m particularly interested in hearing if you think it is a good fit for Colonial Gothic or Northern Crown rpgs). Also, feel free to share some of your favorite gaming witchery experiences.