Are Witches Fated Souls?

"Witch - Fated Souls" by Elizabeth Chaipraditkul Printed and distributed by Angry Hamster Publishing ISBN-13: 978-90-824628-0-7 208 Pages If you have a strange bent of mind (and you know I do) then at least check out "Witch - Fated Souls". Set in the modern world, this book takes a hard look at the type of person that would be willing to 'sell their souls to the Devil'. This is a truly dark fantasy setting, in which players create witches in the modern world. The trade-off here is that =all= of your players are evil! This book should probably be marked as "For Mature Audiences Only". Several of the illustrations are quite graphic, and at least a few have nudity. Like quite a few gamebooks today, there is a short piece of fiction in the front (six pages) that might give prospective buyers a feel as to whether or not this book is for you. There is a short Chapter Overview that is supposed to serve as a Table of Contents but has no page references. Once past the fiction, there are nine chapters: 1) Character Creation 2) Vital Statistics 3) Magic 4) Higher Spell Levels 5) Mechanics 6) Expanded Mechanics 7) Setting 8) Animals, Entities, and Foes 9) GM Guide Within Chapter One, "Introduction" are small sections about the game (an intro to the game), the basics of Character Creation, and a handy "Character Creation Cheat Sheet" with a summary of what the beginnings of your player's character ideas might be, and a bit about Fates. Following that are seven sub-sections about the seven-character types: 1) Djinn 2) Druids 3) Heks 4) Liches 5) Seers 6) Sosye 7) Yokai The color illustrations for this part are very nice, and the two-page spread on each tells prospective players what each character type is and what part they play. This is a 'leg up' for both players and GMs. Chapter Two covers your player's vital statistics: what the attributes mean, what skills are available to each class, which pursuits they might like to follow, and what talents each possesses. Another part is about experience and skill levels. Chapter Three gives everyone information about magic - the spells broken down by class, Rituals known, both spiritual and practical, what potions can be created and/or used, a two-page chart of potions, and finally, magical alterations. Fourth is about higher-level spells. These are called "Deireadh" spells. Although small, these spells should only be learned or attempted by fairly high-level characters. GMs especially should look at them and find out if learning and casting these spells might unbalance their campaign. Chapter Five explains all the basic and advanced mechanics in your campaign. How Players and GMs should roll, Non-combat skill use, Combat specifics, and a food selection of weapons, explosives, and armor. Six is about expanding mechanics. Wishes, the "Devil's Deck" (which is an ordinary deck of Tarot Cards), Familiars, and artifacts. There is a two-page spread of what can happen when using artifacts, some of which are very good, some are good, some are just mediocre, some are bad, and some are very bad. Chapter Seven is about the setting for the game. The prospective GM should really pay close attention here, as it includes the back story, the present day, the Cosmos, which has three kingdoms, the kingdom of man, the kingdom of the dead, and the kingdom of the Changing Ones. The normal "planes" (if you will) of the Changing One, including the inner and outer planes of existence, and some notes on places and spaces, which include six cities. Eighth contains material about the Demons (with some very nice color plates), the monsters of the world, (with one totally nude being), and a few notable NPCs. The GM's Guide is Ninth, a smattering of information about the campaign's feel and plot, how a GM would handle negotiating with Demons and dealing with the "Deireadh" spells if they want to include them. Finally, there is a short appendix, in which you find a Lexicon,a very good index, and how to use a character sheet, and, of course, the character sheet itself (managing somehow to be only one page!). My take on this book is that, first of all, it contains a lot of information that may not be suitable for younger audiences, and may require the GM to decide if they want to run this at all (!). If you have the proper audience, you probably should go over the prospective campaign system and settings with your players to see if anyone has any objections to this type of system and setting. For instance, I am just twisted enough to try to run this system and setting, but I have no idea whether or not my current players would want me to. However, one place where this book would really shine, is as an extra piece of a another game that you want to run. Although meant for the current day, it would be easy enough to set this whole book into a fantasy medieval campaign, or as an adjunct of a post apocalyptic setting. My recommendation is to let the buyer look at it carefully enough to want to spend money on in order to either run it separately or as a very good part of their own world (although I would not recommend it for a science fiction setting). Your mileage may vary.