TTRPG REVIEW: The Witch Is Dead
The Witch Is Dead is an interesting little TTRPG game that you can get for cheap/free at itch.io and DriveThru RPGs by Rowan, Rook & Decard. It’s a simple one-shot module with everything you need to know on one piece of paper:
Once upon a time, there was a kind and wise and beautiful witch who lived in the forest with her familiars, and her life was peaceful and happy until a FUCKING WITCH-HUNTER broke into her cottage and dragged her out and FUCKING MURDERED HER and now she’s DEAD. But if you get revenge and kill him and bring his EYES to her corpse within a week, she’ll come back to life. Even if it doesn’t work, at least he’s dead.
The witch-hunter has retreated to the VILLAGE, the FUCKING COWARD. Get him.
And that’s it! That’s the premise. The players are the witch’s familiars, meaning they can play as one of the following (which is randomly rolled): fox, cat, toad, spider, owl, hare, magpie, crow, dog, rat. You have four stats: Clever, Fierce, Sly, and Quick, as well as a simple cantrip from the following: unseen hand; conjure light; speak human; lock/unlock, open/close; conjure dinner; make flame; tidy, clean, & mend; plant growth; distract/confuse; and make book read itself aloud. These are not big or flashy cantrips, they are very simple magics, making things all the more interesting. Whoever is present plays as an animal familiar trying to hunt down the witch-hunter and get his eyes back to the witch within 1 week, with the die of choice for this game being the D10. Murder-hoboing is often encouraged in this game, which (IMHO) plays out best when no one is taking it too seriously.
There are a few things you can roll to set the scene as well. The first is about the aforementioned Village that the players will encounter. The second is about the aforementioned Witch-hunter. The final, and the one that is kept secret from the players, is the twist. I do have an issue with the game in that all of the potential twists are outright listed on the page where everyone can read them, but I remedy that by often ignoring the paper and making up my own, or combining several from the list.
I’ve played this game perhaps about 4-5 times and it’s a really good starter TTRPG for people who haven’t played before. Not unlike Liminal_, it’s also a good game to help test player dynamics and chemistry. It’s also a really easy game to get into low-stakes character RP. While Liminal_ has you essentially playing as yourself, The Witch Is Dead has you roll your woodland creature and your spells, so everything is streamlined and simple, no need to overthink if you’ve never done this sort of thing before, yet it does allow for some light RP for those who are interested.
This game is also really good for practicing GM improvisation. As you can tell from the game sheet itself, no one is really expected to do any prep for this game, so the GM often has to make up everything on their random whims and whatever the players are doing. While Liminal_ gets you in the mood of action and reaction, The Witch Is Dead gets you into practicing move sets and general improvisation and helps with the overall flow of story-based RP, for which Liminal_ is not so useful.
What I’ve enjoyed best about The Witch Is Dead is exactly how customizable it is. Of course, if you have a rules lawyer in your group, they may not appreciate the GM going off-script, but I’ve personally hosted both a Halloween-themed and Christmas-themed session of this game, where I’ve completely ignored the paper’s suggestions in order to suit the seasonal game.
If you’re looking to gradually introduce someone to TTRPG gaming, I’d say that Liminal_ is perfect for a first-time-ever, while The Witch Is Dead is good second one-shot to run if you want to add a few more new things, like rolling a character and having basic stats. We’ve used The Witch Is Dead to test out player chemistry before starting up campaigns in bigger systems like Mörk Borg, Zweihander, and Dungeons ‘n’ Dragons 5e and I do think it’s a great game to play both for people who can’t commit to longer game sessions or longer-spanning campaigns, yet who still enjoy a night of RP.
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