Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/09/100-days-of-halloween-witch-road-to.html

One of the things I talk about here is something I call Traveller Envy. This is the feeling I got from watching Traveller and their interconnected RPGs and Board Games. It is something I would love to replicate for my D&D games and for my War of the Witch Queens campaign in particular. I can't always find board games that fit the bill for me, but I have tried. While not a board game this GM-less "story game" does fit the bill of this notion for me. But how is it? Let's find out.

Witch: The Road to Lindisfarne

PDF. 32 pages. Multiple files.

So this is a story game, not something I have a ton of experience with.

It says 4 to 6 players, no dice, pencils, or extra paper needed.

The game takes place in London in 1350 but you head to the Abbey at Lindisfarne; the same that was rather famously attacked by the Viking raids.

Each player gets one of the characters included in this file. The special character is Elouise our central witch, or at least a confessed witch. There are two outcomes her player can choose, Elouise is Guilty or she is Innocent. Depending on which one is chosen determines the end of the game.

The purpose of the game is to take Elouise from London to Lindisfarne. There are many stops along the way and the players describe what their characters do along the way. The other players (and characters) do not know the Truth of Elouise so they seek to discover it. It is entirely possible that Eloise is found guilty and burned at the stake or found innocent and set free independently of the truth.

If this sounds like the 2011 movie Season of the Witch, well the designers agree with you.

The game is very interesting and it does give me a lot of ideas of things to do with my own games.

The game does have re-playability, with different characters being played by the same group, but I can also see that it is a little limited in that respect.

Still, a fun game to play on a cold wet afternoon in late October.

Possibly one of my favourite games where I was burnt to death at the end. I've played it a couple of times. My review and the record of my journey as a harrowed knight are found here: http://www.whodaresrolls.com/rpgs/witch-the-road-to-lindisfarne/

I have played this game once so far with a group of four. It ended up coming off like the plot of an enthralling movie in the setting with the witch sacrificing herself to ensure the death of all the others and the salvation of her sister. Lots of dark twists and turns but importantly very easy for us all to get into with no prep beyond printing everything in advance. The improvisation brought to it also leavese wanting to play again as I know it will be different and I want to see what happens.