Why witches?

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You may be wondering why I think a roleplaying system about witches is so awesome. What’s my deal, what draws me to this particular topic. Well I will tell you wether you like it or not!

Witches have claimed their spot in fiction a very long time ago and there are many great and inspiring examples to be found both in adult and in children’s books.

I can’t quite remember but I think my first encounter with witches must have been through fairytales. Hansel and Gretel (or Hans en Grietje, as they are called in Dutch), Snow White and many others. But the first book I read by myself which made a rather great impression on me as a child was The Witches by Roald Dahl. Those witches were truely terrifying! The hags in the watered down, child friendly versions of the fairytales we read to children these days, are sweet old ladies compared to Dahl’s child devouring bald crones.

Another book I found both gripping and quite scary is Krabat and the Sorcerer’s Mill (The original German title is Krabat and it was published in English under a variety of different titels) by Otfried Preussler. In this book a young millers apprentice is dragged into the dark arts when it turns out the miller he works for has made a shady deal with a fellow by the name of Goodman. The book has a dark, mysterious atmosphere that I find really appealing.

The witches in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series are quite good natured compared to these other hags but not less capable. Witches in the Discworld are more remeniscent of the wise woman stereotype then that of the evil witch (with the exception of Black Allis). Granny Weatherwax, the most powerfull witch on the Discworld hardly resorts to the use of magic but mainly gets her way through shrewd manipulation a good dose of common sense and plain bullying.

Those are just a few of the books and stories that have kindled my interest in witches. Of course there are many others like The Wizard of Oz, Macbeth, Harry Potter, The Dresden Files, The Once and Future King, Tender Morsels and the Mists of Avalon, but I will stop boring you with my rants about them and just leave it up to you to read them, if you haven’t already of course.