Monday, March 2, 2026

Review: Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch for Basic Era Games

Title: Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch for Basic Era Games
Publisher: The Other Side Publishing
Author: Timothy S. Brannan
Year: 2019
Pages: 67 pages
Rating: 5 of 5 stars

I think... I hope I have all of these witch-themed books by Timothy Brannan. I was hunting for a particular ritual for an upcoming game and post, and couldn't find it. Well, that is because this one title doesn't pop up in the search for "Witch" in the DriveThruRPG app. 

The Pagan Witch has all of the same great artwork you'd come to expect from Brannan's prior works. Again, I took the date above from the forward, which provides excellent insight into why these books were published. The whole series has a great layout and detailed explanations in each chapter. There are no surprise changes from book to book. 

This title focuses on Pagan Traditions. This goes hand in hand with my love of the Romans. While not Roman at all, they were there alongside them. And of course, they didn't get along much. This book covers what it means to be a witch while highlighting what THAT means to other characters, like magic users and clerics. Backtracking to the Introduction, Brannan pulled in the modern-day depictions of a witch. 

Like the other books, it starts with the class description, cowens (assistants to the witch), and familiars. Personally, I think familiars are more "witch-like" than "wizard-like" and enjoy the details given to them in this series. From the class description, he moves on to spells, rituals, monsters, magic items, and NPC witches. This book is well constructed to get the most out of the concept. 

My reason for reaching for this book this weekend was that I needed a ritual spell to cast a particular character in a special light. You'll be seeing Gabby in my next post for X2 - Castle Amber.

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