Doling Out The Goods
every 3 monsters that inhabit this cave (in
With an idea of what makes up your loot, this case large monsters count for 6 small
it’s important to know how to hand it out. monsters, i.e. 2d6). This is how many bod-
Here’s how it should usual y go:
ies are in the cave. For each body, roll 1d6
again to see how many items they had on
them when they died, then randomly roll or
choose them. You can also scatter weapons
or armor of your choosing if some of the
victims were armed adventurers/bandits.
Final y, roll percentiles. On a 80-100 there is
a rare item or diagram.
Looting Humans or Non-Humans: When
looting the average bandit (or traveler, if you
are the bandits) you’ll usual y find 1d10 ran-
dom items, whatever weapons and armor
they had, and an amount of crowns based
on the enemy.
You may decide to put rare dia-
grams or items on the opposition. If you’re
looting a bandit den or somebody’s house,
roll 2d10 to find out how many random
items you find and percentiles to see how
many crowns you find. Final y, roll percen-
tiles. On a 80-100 there is a rare item or dia-
gram.
223
Random Possessions Gear Up First
Always remember to rol
Roll
Mundane
Strange
Occult
for the items on an enemy
before you bring them into
1-3
Partially used journal
Strange statuette
Black magic dol
a combat. You don’t want to
4-6
Wrapped turkey leg
Fingernail shavings
Strange mask
have to retcon the fact that
7-9
Locket
Pot of ashes
Strange circlet
they were carrying a bedrol
10-12
Hand mirror
Choke col ar
Elf ear
or hauling around a griffin
egg.
13-15
Instrument
Taxidermied mouse
Wooden stake with runes
16-18
Guild badge
Lock of hair
Book bound in skin
19-21
Thieves tools
Strange letter
Monster part (GM’s choice)
22-24
Pelt of some kind
Instructions for a trade
Unit of glowing ore
25-27
Random book
Fragment of stone
Hal ucinogenic fungus
28-30
Waterskin
Pocket full of gravel
Preserved organ in a jar
31-33
Silver ring
Scribbled fortunes
Vial of blood
34-36
Manacles
Ball of clay
Records of black magic
37-39
Bedroll
Folk remedy for something
Bloody hand
40-42
Dice
Mechanical piece
Bag of teeth
43-45
Business ledger
Scrimshawed bone
Monster skul
46-48
Cheap wine
Ladies’ underwear
Notes about the players
49-51
Map of the area
Strange dried meat
Map to an unknown place
52-54
Flask of spirits
Blackmail material
Dead bird
55-57 Lucky charm of some form
Marital aids
Feverish sketches
58-60
Gwent deck
Odd dream journal
Insane notes
61-63
Tent
Fish bones
Illegible scrol
64-66
Sketch of a person
Note with one number
Symbol writ en in blood
67-69
Soap
Tooth
Strange jade statuette
70-72
Holy symbol
Worn out shoe
A lock of blonde hair
73-75
Flint & steel
Reins
A strange, empty lamp
76-78
Whistle
List of people
Scrimshawed human bone
79-81
Sun stone
Five iron nails
Iron shoes
82-84
Shopping list
Strange sea shells
Human skul
85-87
1 Unit of feathers
Strange poetry
Censer full of caked blood
88-90
Dried meat or salted fish
Extremely mouldy bread
Tat ooed skin
91-93
Pouch of spices
Unknown key
Ritual dagger
94-96
Empty vial
Paper with lipstick marks
Black magic ring
97-100
Chalk
Arrowhead
Severed tongue
224
Min-Maxers Aren’t
Evil
Relics & Min-Maxers
The world of The Witcher is very danger- 3. Witcher items and experimental mag-Min-Maxers aren’t inher-
ous; both the video games and the TRPG ic are very rare. They’re trade secrets. Give rently evil. A lot of times
reflect that. But a well-prepared player can players one or two of these items, but make they min-max as a defense
acquire many abilities and bits of gear that them work for the formula.
mechanism to make sure
make them hell on wheels— or hooves, as
they don’t get overrun by
the case may be. In many respects that’s Your players can still become badasses, and other players. If you have a
fine. It’s cool for a player to plan and gath- that’s fine. You want your players to be able min-maxer in your party
er gear and allies, then take down some to pull off incredible feats and escapes. Ya you’ll know pretty soon if
big monster, like a fiend. But beware: a just don’t want them to be too powerful.
they are just looking to game
min-maxer in the party can make life hell
You also can work around your
the system. If they are, feel
on earth for a new GM.
min-maxing players. By their nature,
free to unleash hell (within
min-maxers optimize for one type of thing,
reason of course). If they’re
Min-Maxer
usual y combat. If you have a min-maxed
just trying to make the most
(Noun)
combat character, change things up. Make
survivable character they
Popularity in Games: Highly unpopular
the next few challenge puzzles or other such
can, go ahead and let them.
Simple Definition: A player who spends mental problems. Pick battlefields (marshes, They mean you no harm.
hours, even days, reading through every bit rooftops) that play to their weaknesses. You
They just want to make it
of source material, every rule and online can deal with min-maxers and have them
through th
e game on one
guide, to create the ultimate character, often in your game groups, but you have to know
character and not get run
using exploits or loopholes in the system to how to control them.
over.
achieve this.
Why Relic Items Aren’t
Being married to a top-tier min-maxer, I Craftable
have to deal with this a lot. The Witcher sys- One important change from the Witcher tem offers many possible character skil s and video games to the TRPG is that relic items
items that grant special abilities. If you let are no longer craftable. This is a pretty big your players accumulate too many too fast, and even frustrating change, but the TRPG
you’re going to have to throw big things at needs it, for two reasons.
them to keep them busy. And while that can
First, most relic items in The Witch-
be epic for a while, it hurts to send a big, bad er gained their power through events they boss monster after your players and watch experienced. It would be rather strange to
them flatten it in two rounds because part of craft the cursed blade Virgin, for instance.
your party has reached a level of power you Freya doesn’t give it to you, and no horrible
were previously unaware of.
betrayals taint its magic. Why’s it cursed?
The GM’s key to managing that is to Because it was made in the same way?
remember that you control when your play- Wouldn’t it come out as the original un-
ers get the big toys.
cursed holy blade? Who knows. Most likely
it would just come out as a regular blade.
1. Give relics as major quest rewards. Don’t
Second, being able to craft relic
hand them out left and right.
items out of common parts means...wel ,
mass production. Say you get hold of the
2. Potions and decoctions have toxici- diagram for the legendary sword Devine, ty, which will keep Witcher players from which does a ton of damage and has a bunch
knocking back too many.
of bonuses.
225
Theoretical y, to make Devine you only
need:
1 Unit of Leather
2 Units of Steel Ingot
1 Unit of Diamond Dust
1 Unit of Sapphire Dust
Take that diagram to the right crafter and
you could outfit every member of your par-
ty with a Devine. Or copy that diagram a
hundred times and you can sell the key to
making a tremendously powerful sword to
anyone who’ll pay and make a ton of coin.
Not only does that throw the game into cha-
os by pushing your party’s power through
the roof and blowing up the local politics
and economy, it diminishes the meaning of
the sword. Suddenly it goes from:
Devine, the legendary sword, imbued with
the power of a treacherous djinn, which kil ed
the wielder in a painful y ironic moment.
to
Devine, that sword design that does a lotta
damage and stuff!
When you final y get a relic, it should be an
event. You should feel a certain weight, just
having the item. Relics are not meant to be
just tools that you forge over and over again
so your party has the best gear. That’s why
relics aren’t craftable in the Witcher TRPG.
Sometimes you have to compromise to get
the feel just right.
226
Continuity
Of course, when you are
Good NPCs
A key ingredient in any good game is the NPCs, the non-player characters. Your plot
making an NPC, keep a
can be amazing, but if your NPCs are cardboard cut-outs, then the game will be dull.
certain amount of realism
Not every NPC has to be a portrait, but the core characters have to be at least vaguely in-and continuity. If you need
teresting. To make things easier, follow these charts to quickly make interesting NPCs.
a farmer to give your players
information on a wyvern,
you can generaly assume
Basic NPC
that that farmer won’t be a
nobleman.
Roll
Race
Gender
Age
Personality
1
Human
Male
Child
Shy
2
Human
Female
Child
Rebel ious
3
Human
Male
Teen
Arrogant
4
Human
Female
Teen
Headstrong
5
Aen Seidhe
Male
Young adult
Friendly
6
Aen Seidhe
Female
Young adult
Secretive
7
Aen Seidhe
Male
Adult
Nervous
8
Dwarf
Female
Adult
Flirtatious
9
Dwarf
Male
Elder
Eccentric
10
Dwarf
Female
Elder
Aloof
Background
Roll
History
Standing
Romance
Secret
1
Lost everything
Slave
None
Is secretly a mage
2
Family was killed
Slave
None
Found a lost treas-
ure
3
Fought in the North-
ern War
Poor
None
Is a wanted criminal
4
Thinks they have
Is a secret
magic
Poor
Uninterested in
love
service agent
5
Almost died
Poor
Debauchery
Has a secret life
6
Saved by a witcher
Average
Playboy
Has a Secret Profes-
sion
7
Used to be a priest
Well to do
Interested in a
player
Is a cross-dresser
8
Once ruled a small
town
Well to do
A dedicated
lover
Is a deserter
9
Lived as a bandit
Rich
Married
Has a secret lover
10
Killed a
Has a hex or curse
dangerous monster
Nobility
Star-crossed
lovers
of your choice
227
Campaigning
A lot of people will probably just use this strikes again. Or, your players could find out Run Campaigns
book to run short one-shot games. And that the monster was a sign of some greater
I’m biased but I have to say,
that’s fine, but your players may have so threat to come. Either way, you need a plot if you can, run a campaign.
much fun they beg you to make the game l
arge enough that your players can pursue it
One-shots are fun and if
a campaign. That’s when this section will for quite a few games.
you don’t have stable players
come in handy.
The Traveling Adventurers
they’re the best option. But
The Overarching Plot
if you can get a few players
Alternately you can choose a “traveling ad-
together, run a whole cam-
One-shots are designed to open and close venturers” campaign, where the players are
paign. Players can realy get
in one session. To “upgrade” your one-shot simply adventurers together, either on the
at atched to their characters
to a campaign, you have to pick a core plot. road for safety in numbers or because they
and it’ll give you a million
The best way to do this is to connect the plot have a common destination. In a game like
great stories. It may seems
from your one-shot to an overarching plot. this the destination almost doesn’t matter.
difficult for new GMs but
Something that builds on it to give your It just has to be a long way away, with lots that’s what this chapter is
players more to do.
of stops en route. Every episode, the players
here for!
For instance, say your players start- stop along the road and encounter some is-
ed out by defeating the monster plaguing a sue they need to overcome, either to contin-
town. They could find out a mysterious en- ue their journey or for some reward.
emy sicced the monster on the town. Your
campaign sends them to stop her before she
228
Don’t Expect Saints
can play fandom to the show. Players can do
Roach
The world of The Witcher is a dog-eat-dog fan art, fan fiction, and other things based world. There are people who will do things around the “show.” It may sound sil y but it
Horses with personality are
out of the goodness of their hearts, but they gets people real y invested in the game, and
surprisingly popular in my
are exceedingly rare. People should rarely go keeps people interested whenever you can’t
personal games. I’m not sure
out of their way for the players at first meet- get everyone together for a game for a while.
what it is but my players love
ing unless the players offer something good.
it when they get a horse or
This applies to players as wel . Never assume When A Player’s Gone
some other pack animal and
your players will follow a plot because it’s Often you’ll wind up in a situation where all
it turns out to have its own
the right thing to do. Whether it’s the threat but one of your players is free for the game.
quirks and habits. I highly
of death or the promise of crowns, always This can be a tricky. If that player’s impor-
The Witcher Pen & Paper RPG Page 49