Which Witch? has 13 witches from myth and folklore that you beseech during the potion brewing contest. We thought you might be wondering who some of these mistresses of magic are.
In upcoming articles, I’ll be talking about why we’ve depicted them as we have, and revealing some of the design notes from the commissions (for those who like to really look behind the scenes), and providing a little more backstory on each of them individually.
Today though, I’m going to talk a little about some of the game-design process behind the building of Which Witch?, delving into some of the flavour, and the choices of the witches.
Fiction vs Folklore
A little way into designing this game, I started generating lists of all the cool witches I would like to put into a game. My initial list was a jumble of characters from myth, folklore, and popular culture. Whilst I love Willow, Tasha and Elphaba, I quickly realised that myth and folklore were sufficiently deep resources alone, more consistent tonally, and of course: public domain. Maybe one day we’ll re-release a version with Mildred Hubble and Kiki in...
D&D’s Main Witch Tasha, drawn by the fantastic Magali Villeneuve
What is a witch?
So the word “witch” is a very broad concept that means a lot of different things to different people. Having settled on wanting a cast of mythic and legendary witches from all around the world, I was happy to expand our definition to include enchantress, sorceress, even goddesses… as long as they’re specifically known for being magical, and especially if their stories and powers fit the ability theming.
Honestly, trying to be strict on “witch” as a definition is a fool’s errand. You have to draw a line1 somewhere between Olympian, Vanir, Jotun, Spirit, Fae Queen, Shapeshifting Enchantress, and other immortal witches.
My solution: are they renowned in myth/folklore for her magical powers? They’re a witch.
Note: alternative methods for determination of “is she a witch?” were considered silly and smelled oddly of duck.
Diegetic Abilities
In a previous article - Diegetic Game Design - I talked about how I like it when abilities and theming feel in sync. With the choice of witches, a few interweaves happened a few times. Whilst revealing a card is never quite going to feel like casting a spell, I hope that the more tied the flavour of each witch is to her abilities in game, the better each witch feels to play, and the easier it is to memorise their powers.
Potion-ness
Which Witch? is about brewing potions, which, fortunately enough, is the purview of a fair few witches.
Circe was, for me, the obvious choice for this. Probably due to my adoration for the paintings of Waterhouse, who has two depictions of Circe focusing on potions. These may well have had some small influence on the depiction of Circe that made it into the game…
John William Waterhouse, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Our other primary brew-mistress is Befana. From Italian folklore, she’s something of an analogy to Santa Claus in British (and many other) cultures.
I was tempted by some other concepts of brewing - such as Siduri (an “alewife” from Gilgamesh), but generating potions for all players? Bringing gifts to all children of Italy in a single night? It feels on point.
Potions for everyone!
Familiars
I knew from the first builds of Which Witch? I wanted familiars to be a thing, and cats being the first familiar wasn’t even a question.
Thor
Loki
And the real furballs asleep on my bed.
Cats are companions - much as mine provide love and affection, in game they help you through clashes. And have a tendency to just suddenly wander off.
Crows, ravens, or perhaps owls were an easy second choice for me. I’ve long loved the idea of Huginn and Muninn, Odin’s ravens whose names mean “thought” and “memory” respectively, these feel entirely witchy. Exemplifying cunning and wisdom, the crows of Which Witch? protect your potions.
Then I was thinking about toads, newts, wolves, spiders, snakes and bats… nothing sang out to me.
Cat and Crow, land and air…what I needed was something aquatic. Sure, amphibians would fit that bill…but I kind of have a fear of frogs. I don’t recall what stroke of genius madness made me think an octopus would make the perfect third familiar, but I imagined this crazy witch’s cottage with an eight armed cephalopod in a crooked hat juggling herbs and ingredients over a bubbling cauldron and realised the choice was made. I have zero regrets.
Over time the Octopus became the cursed Familiar, the one you bond to other people to cause mischief.
Freedom of choice when wrapped in tentacles?
Birds tend to be scared of Cats. Um, and Octopi.
In terms of witches, I needed one famous for sympathies with cats, one with crows, and one with something aquatic.
Freyja, a Vanir known for her magic, has a chariot pulled by two cats. My two felines are called Thor and Loki. Really, this one was never even a question.
Whilst researching South American folklore & myth I came across Pincoya: a Chilean water spirit, prayed to by fishermen in hopes of a bountiful harvest. I had found the witch to bring me an octopus. I’m sure a lot of people are thinking “wait, surely there’s a far more obvious sea witch, who even has an octopoid lower half”, and you have a point, but Ursula is very much in the house of the mouse3.
The Morrigan is associated with a lot of things, including war and fate. She’s also depicted as a three-fold goddess, but our depiction focusses on her association with the corvids.
This choice, much like Circe, is exemplifying one aspect of a character with far more things going on. Beings of myth and folklore, especially the Goddesses, tend to have many aspects. Where a character fits multiple threads, the more diegetic the fit can be, the better. But in some places, it was also about choosing variation and locking in on the bits that matter.
Morrigan of Which Witch? is a red haired battle witch and mistress of the crows, and a fantastic painting by Elyssa.
All knowing
The eponymous ability of the game, where you have to guess which witch another player is calling, has to come from one of the biggest name witches. This witch is in every game, and embodies the whole aim of the game.
Whilst the ability does gain you potions, the focus of it is the prediction, having the wisdom and foresight to know what your friend is going to do. Wisdom, cunning and guile are ascribed to a great many a witch. This ability could live with a depiction of Athena (though the grey eyed lady is less directly magical, she is unbeatably renowned for wisdom). Seeing the future is the curse of Cassandra. Meanwhile the path of destiny lies in the hands of the Norns (Norse) and Fates (Greek).
But none of these felt like the witch of witches, the first name called each night of the contest as dusk settles and the moon rises. This ability had to live with a Goddess, and not one of just magic, but of witchcraft itself. When your choices of witch to guess lie before you like paths at the crossroads, there’s only one choice.
Hecate is the witch you call first.
It’s all Greek to me
Hecate and Circe are both from Greek Myth. I wanted the game to pull from stories across the world, and this made me reticent about having too many witches from similar sources. Thus Medea, sadly, does not have a depiction in Which Witch?
This logic is also why several other witches that people might think are more obvious choices, either as more “witchy” or just more famous, aren’t included. Morgan le Fey was another “auto-selection” character wise, but because of this I excluded the ladies of the lake (in an early prototype, Pincoya was Nimue).
Whilst talking of Morgan le Fey, our depiction is that of King Arthur’s half-sister and foil. Classically evil, in game, she is thus our poster child for thievery, stealing a potion from one of your coven.
Mischief, Mayhem and Malevolence
You want trickery, wickedness and cruelty? Of course you do! In Which Witch? we’ve a fair few tricksters and thieves, witches with abilities that are sometimes focused more on messing with your friends’ plans, than with directly advancing your own.
Think of a witch, from somewhere in myth and folklore, who’s infamous for the havoc she wreaks upon those unfortunate enough to stumble across her? It’s not really even a question, is it? Baba Yaga was going to be in the game as certainly as Circe and Morgan le Fey. In my next article I talk far more about Baba Yaga, and the fantastic illustration of her Kerri did for us.
Hopefully, when playing her, you don’t make an “ass” of yourself.
We can’t talk magical tricksters, and not talk of the fae. Be wary of any such being. If a pixie asks for your name, know that this is not an innocuous question. It is a trap, for names have power and woe betide those who give the fae power over themselves.
The fae queen Titania rules her summer court, but is as famous for her follies in Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream as any other story. In the comedy, she magically falls in love with the first thing she sees. In Which Witch? she reveals and copies another witch just as blindly.
Reset, or raising the dead
The final ability in Which Witch? is the reset. You’ve played your cards, you’ve called upon a number of witches and you wish to call upon them again. Mechanically, you need to reset, to pick up your played/discarded cards and refill your hand.
Thematically this could tie in to a number of ideas - this could be time magic, undoing the past. It could perhaps be research into new ideas, a witch buried in a stack of magical tomes. Or it could be about raising the dead, and you know, there’s a goddess of magic who did just that!
Isis Ennead is our final call each night before the witching hour. Portrayed with the red sun of dusk (See Art Process: Evolving Templates for more!), her ability returns your witches to you at the beginning of the night.
Theme & mechanic
Hopefully this week’s article has given some insight into the decisions behind the inclusion (and exclusions) of many individual witches. There are many others I wanted to include, but game design, like many artistic endeavours2, is as much about editing down as it is about writing more.
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1 A fairly arbitrary line at that
2 Including article writing!
3 That’s not to say that Which Witch? isn’t somewhat re-skinnable. If you want Which Witch? Disney edition to be a thing, talk to us Disney!