Character Creation: The Great American Witch

Cackle, cackle, broomstick, etc.

The Game: The Great American Witch
The Publisher: Gallant Knight Games
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one

The Great American Witch (or "GAW" which sounds like something a raven would say if you caught it by surprise) is a PbtA game about playing, well, witches. Witches belong to one of several crafts, and answer to a governing body, and are generally concerned with not being persecuted and bringing magick (note the "Brucato K" there) to the world.

Honestly, it reads like a WoD game with all of the lore stripped out. I like the emphasis on the coven and I think the resolution system is interesting, but it was not intuitive to me. But at the end of the day it's an urban fantasy game, just not one I'm likely to run, because I could probably get something close to the same experience with Urban Shadows or Thirsty Sword Lesbians or (on the more trad side of things) Witchcraft and be on surer footing. 

ANYWAY. I started typing this on Thursday and then we got Baldur's Gate 3 and we've been playing D&D in it's best expression - a video game - since then, so let's get back into the waaaaAAAAacky world of table-top RPGs. What do we need to do to make a witch!?

"Character players." I'm not gonna say this game is pretentious or anything...

OK, the first step in making a character is to figure out Coven, but of course it's just me, so how much of that do I really wish to do? Well, let's at least pick the type of Coven my character would be in, and then we'll keep the rest of the details fuzzy. I think if I were playing this game, I'd push for the Coven of the Town (very focused on community, but operating openly) or the Storm (more activist and direct in action). Let's go with Storm, just because it's more exciting. 

A Coven of the Storm is working to "dismantle the imbalance of powers in society." That's a great goal, and it's very much prone to abuse or extreme interpretation. Let's assume that our Coven is housed in a university, because personally, I have never been more prone to doing stupid but well-meaning shit than when I was in college. 

OK, everything else about the Coven is interesting and would be really important in a real game, but I think I can skip it for purposes of chargen. 

So I need to pick a Craft. In Mage this would be Tradition (or...Craft, I guess). Let's go with Hekate. I like the idea of talking to the dead, coupled with someone who's really passionate about activism in a "bricks? bricks" kind of way.

Let's say my character is a history major (since our Coven is at a university), and he had a really nasty wake-up call his freshman year. He went to a very small, very well-funded Christian boy's academy in high school, got taught the White Jesus version of history, loved learning about it, went to college, took an American History class taught by a woman who'd written her doctoral thesis on Deborah Sampson, started questioning everything, had a major blowup with his parents, thought about changing his major, talked with his history prof, read a bunch of books, started practicing magick, and joined the coven early his sophomore year. His name is John Tyler Grant, because it's the most generic white guy name I can think of it. He still dresses like his mom buys his clothes (because she does); khakis, polos, etc, but he wears a silver necklace with some Greek lettering, which doesn't stand out much in a university.

So, I get a stat array...Let's see. I think Mercy and Severity should be his better stats, so I think I'll make it Mercy +2, Wisdom -2, Severity 0. Aaaand the slots for stats on the fillable sheets don't allow more than one character so you can't put a "-" symbol there. Cool.

Moving on. I get to pick a Refuge (where I can rest and recover power). Obviously "natural history museums or archives" makes the more sense.

Background: You are Hekate because...you are compelled to help spirits. "White/male guilt" isn't a stated option, but that one's close enough.

Lifestyle: What do you do for money/living expenses? I'm gonna say "works with the coven," because his option, "relies on parents," isn't here.

Relationships: Skipping this, because it relies on other PCs. Or CPs, I guess.

Resources: What do you have? Ooh, as much as I'd like a hound familiar, I'll go with "publisher or media outlet" and say that the campus paper/radio station/podcast has a decent following and John has an in there.

Personality: I'll take Emotional, volatile and Self-aware, introspective. Contradictory? Yeah, people are. 

And I think I'll have John start off in Crone. Yeah, Maiden makes more sense for his age and place in his career as a witch, but his focus on history and what has come before is pulling him towards the Crone Aspect. I think learning to appreciate hope and possibility would actually be a part of his arc. 

And that's actually it!