Did all of your friends share lists of what they played in 2019? Did you see games you’d never thought of playing? For me, that game was CJ Carella’s WitchCraft 2e from Eden Studios. This RPG is the precursor to the Buffy: The Vampire Slayer RPG and the Angel RPG, both using a variation of the Unisystem, and RPGs I plan to review for my RPG Adaptations column. Since they’re on my radar and WitchCraft uses an earlier version of the engine they use, I decided to start from the beginning of this system’s journey and review the Unisystem in the WitchCraft RPG.
WitchCraft takes place in our world (technically, since it was published a generation ago, you could argue the setting is 1990s America, but there’s nothing binding it to that timeframe). In this world, magic is real, organized, and secret. The supernatural are out there and it’s a competition to survive.
The Title, The RPG, and a CW
The WitchCraft RPG was published 24 years ago and, for some, will be problematic in its view of various spiritual beliefs and symbology. Let’s get the first content warning out there: One of the images of, I’m guessing, a demon has a Nazi swastika on its forehead. The only note I’ll add, and this is not a justification, is that this was published in 1999.
The second warning refers to the cultural appropriation for the game. The author offers a note at the beginning that defines the game as separate from real world beliefs, a work of fiction, in essence. It does not feel like the author intended to be offensive in their depiction of religions. That said, I am not a sensitivity reader and am not qualified to judge this product on that level, you’ll need to decide that for yourself. To help with that, since it’s free, you can sample the game to see if it conforms to your beliefs without financially supporting a product that you may not enjoy.
Who is CJ Carella?
If you ever checked out the used RPG section of your favorite bookstore, you’d be forgiven if you mistakenly thought CJ owned Palladium instead of writing for them since his name adorns the spines of so many of their books. He’s done a lot in RPG and novels, with work on GURPS, Rifts, and everything Unisystem including WitchCraft, among others.
CJ Carella’s WitchCraft RPG – Unisystem
The Unisystem offers a mild-crunch level of rules and results. For WitchCraft 2e, like most RPGs, characters have Primary Attributes (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Perception, and Willpower), and Skills (Brawling, Dodge, Driving, Smooth Talking, Stealth, and more). You have points to allocate into your abilities. There are campaign levels that give you more points and I’d recommend going with those if you want your Gifted characters to have a nice range of powers.
For all tasks, you combine an Attribute plus a Skill (if appropriate) to a roll of a d10. Then, the player shares that result with the GM who imposes any circumstance modifiers. If the result is 9 or greater, you succeed, and higher results offer greater success. There are over seven levels of success meaning if you get a 15 or 16 result (the fourth level), you complete a task faster or cheaper or get a long-term benefit or do additional damage as the situation dictates.
The concept of imposing modifiers after the player made their roll is a holdover from the “GM vs player era of gaming.” You know that if you tell the GM you rolled a 9 plus 5 in Attributes and Skills for a result of 14 and they let you know that, unfortunately, that failed due to circumstances, you’re going to raise sand about that. Very much a method from another time. That said, in 2020 you can share the circumstance modifiers upfront and avoid that fight.
Beyond tasks, there are tests. Tests are attribute based, not skill based. Lifting an object is a good example of a test. If you put your whole body into it that makes the test a simple one, you roll a d10 and add the appropriate Attribute (in this case Strength) times two. If you are trying to lift the same item one-handed it becomes difficult and you don’t get to double your Attribute result.
On either a task or a test, if you roll a 10, add that and roll again. If it’s a 6 to 9 then add another 1 to 4 to the result. If it’s another 10, add 5 and roll again. If you roll a 1, subtract 5 from your result and roll again, which can lead to some nasty low results. Page 127 of the book has a chart to determine the roll’s results and it’s key to understanding what transpires as a result of 1s and 10s.
Combat is very steeped in the ’90s RPG mindset with every situation adding or subtracting to the difficulty to hit. Point blank or at distance modifies a shot. Every close combat weapon is given extensive consideration for its damage. That’s fine and wonderful, but this came out in 1999 and machine guns were over a hundred years old by that point. I know this is the age-old argument at the gaming table, but if you were facing a demon, would you carry a baseball bat (d8 x (Strength + 1) if used two-handed) or a .357 magnum (d8 x 4)?
If this comes across as snarky, I apologize. I like the game, but combat is an involved process and it’s involved for the same reason so many games were, the dice and trying to simulate every aspect of reality. I should note, this game offers options to put away the dice and try out card-based and diceless options. They don’t solve all of the problems, but they’re an interesting option.
CJ Carella’s WitchCraft RPG – The Magic
Magic is called Invocations and it’s powered by a source called Essence. The genius of this magic system is its ability to cover D&D style combat casting and movie style ritual casting. If you’re a born mage you have the innate ability to channel your Essence, which allows you to cast spells quickly by burning up your body’s reserve. But, if you don’t want to use your reserve or if you’re an individual that doesn’t have an inborn ability, you can draw Essence from other sources (symbols, materials, etc). Mechanically, this makes for fast casting and slow casting.
In this setting, magic is not known, so what keeps the roobs from learning about magic? Well, they do. Someone who is not initiated into magic sucks the magic out of the room, literally. If there are ten or more mortals witnessing a magical feat, the act costs at least ten additional points of Essence. Their presence ruins magic, which is a nice twist and keeps magic from being something you can perform in front of others.
Spells are listed out with powers and costs. If you use the game, think on this first: Most of them are well thought out and balanced, but a few need some tweaks. You’ll need to read the spells and think about how they apply and how much Essence they cost to cast, key factors in this game.
Free WitchCraft
First published in 1996 with the second edition released in 1999, this is not a fresh face in gaming, but it is a free one. As an artifact from the 1990s, it’s an interesting read if you’ve become accustomed to modern, rule-lite RPGs. For my purposes, I focused on the engine over the game and, as I toured the system, I shared a few moments that stand out as mechanically archaic, but those were the exceptions to the rule. Overall, the game stands up.
This is a game from another era with some of its cultural challenges and, to a modern audience, some aspects that will be bested if they’re omitted. As mentioned above, this isn’t a new RPG, but the price point defies debate. Add it to your library and, at the least it’s clutter. At the most, it’s a new favorite.
Should you invest your time? It’s worth a look because there are some good ideas that any modern-day magic RPG would benefit from. At DriveThruRPG, CJ Carella’s WitchCraft costs you nothing. Full game, no cost, what do you have to lose?
NOTE: This article includes affiliate links to DriveThruRPG. As a DriveThruRPG Affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases.
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