RPG Review – WITCH: Fated Souls

So I realised a while ago that despite this being a primarily gaming focused blog, I’ve never actually reviewed a game on here. It seems like an odd oversight, and I figured it was about time I fixed it. I’ve got a stupid amount of RPGs I could review (seriously, I’m running out of space for them), but decided I’d start with one of the newer ones I’d picked up from a Kickstarter project.

Since it’s the first time I’ve reviewed a game, I’m still figuring out the format I want to use. I might change it up a bit over the new few reviews I’ve got planned. Anyway, with that out-of-the-way, let’s get this show on the road with my review of Angry Hamster Publishing’s first game…

WITCH: Fated Souls

Creator: Elizabeth Chaipraditkul

Publisher: Angry Hamster Publishing

Score: 4 out of 5 Stars

Witch Cover

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Interview with Morgan Boehringer, Independent RPG Designer & Publisher

As I mentioned at the end of my last update, I’ve got another interview for you today.

Morgan Boehringer is a freelance RPG designer based somewhere in the Blue Mountains here in Australia. Not exactly sure where, but having been up at Jenolan Caves for a wedding back in March, I can honestly say that if his home looks anything like the areas I was riding through, then it’s a beautiful place. Jammy bastard… Where was I. Ah yes. He can be found lurking around the Paizo Messageboards under the name Oceanshieldwolf, and is the mind behind Forest Guardian Press, a third-party publisher that focuses on content for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, with his first product, the Direlock class, already being available from Paizo.com. He’s also been involved in various projects run by other publishers, and is currently developing content for the Strange Brew: The Ultimate Witch & Warlock Kickstarter.

For an unaltered image in all his unfettered, shirtless and tattooed glory, see below the interview

For an unaltered image of Morgan in all his unfettered, shirtless and tattooed glory, see below the interview

I interviewed Morgan earlier this week about his work as a designer, and the Strange Brew project. Thankfully, he lives in the same time zone as me, so we could actually do a real-time interview. Time differences are of course one of the biggest inconveniences of living in Australia… well, that and the drop bears… and the ridiculously inflated prices we’re expected to pay for goods and services compared to the USA… you know what? I’m going to stop there and just get down to the reason we’re here.

The point is that we were able to chat online instead having him answer a set of questions I’d emailed to him, getting answers back, and emailing further questions that arose from his responses. It led to a very different feel to the interview. I deliberately didn’t plan it out too much, so that we could just see where the conversation went. I think it turned out well. I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily a better way to interview, but it’s good for something different, and I have a preference for it.

So, let’s get down to it.

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Interview with Timothy S. Brannan, Lead Designer for Strange Brew

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome back to the Grassy Gnoll!

Sorry for the slight delay in updates, it’s been a hectic time over the last week, and I had some new stuff on the go that took a while to get organised. I think the wait was worth it though, and I’m ready to unveil what I’ve been working on. So I’ve got something a bit different for you all today. As part of my reboot, for want of a better term, of the blog, I decided to start doing some interviews with authors, designers and pretty much anyone who’ll agree to answer my questions.

Note: In the interests of honesty, I’ll just say that this actually isn’t my first interview, but since it’s related to a Kickstarter project, and is therefore time sensitive, I’ve pushed publication of that one back until the weekend… Sorry Wendy, I hope you don’t mind! I promise it’ll go up as soon as it can. 

Today I’ll be posting some questions that Timothy S. Brannan, the author and lead designer of Strange Brew: The Ultimate Witch & Warlock, has been kind enough to answer. Tim is a long time gamer, and the author of the Liber Mysterium, a third party sourcebook for D&D 3.0 that was released back in 2002. A lot of the Liber Mysterium’s content is being updated for Pathfinder as part of the Strange Brew project. You can find the Kickstarter page for this project here:

Kickstarter – Strange Brew: The Ultimate Witch & Warlock

Cover art for Strange Brew: The Ultimate Witch & Warlock

Cover art for Strange Brew: The Ultimate Witch & Warlock

Before we get started though, I’d like to thank Tim for taking the time to answer these questions, and giving us some insight into his history as a gamer and designer, and what he has in store for Pathfinder players who want more options for their witches and warlocks. I’d also like to thank Christina Stiles, who is coordinating the project, for being so open to the idea of my interviewing the people involved, and helping to make this happen.

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