The Witcher Pen & Paper RPG

by Cody Pondsmith

  spent years in cloistered study, learning the dark arts of the gamesmith from his honored father, Oils and Decoctions. I spent,

  Mike Pondsmith. When the pact between CD Projekt Red and R.Talsorian was struck, Cody

  probably, too many hours re-

  knew it was his chance to prove himself. Only time will tell how his journey will progress!

  searching the best equivalent

  But seriously, my name’s Cody Pondsmith and I wrote most of the system for this

  of Mutagens and wandering

  game as well as all of Rodolf Kazmer’s entries. This’ll be my first published work but I’ve been around my local market pick-role-playing since I was six and I’ve been training under my father for what feels like forever.

  ing out pork liver. Luckily, with

  I’m real y glad to have gotten the chance to work on this game. I love the Witcher franchise and the exception of monster parts

  basical y anything medieval so this was right up my alley. When I’m not working, writing, or and certain plants you can find

  building worlds I spend a lot of time studying history (especial y military history), and practic-analogs for a lot of the ingredi-

  ing swordsmanship or archery. I can’t say I’m a great swordsman or an amazing archer but I’m ents listed in the Witcher video

  pretty handy.

  games. Long story short, yes

  I discovered The Witcher when CD Projekt Red sent us a copy of The Witcher 2: Assassin indeed the decoctions and po-of Kings. (to this day it’s the only game I’ve completed twice) But after I finished the game Lisa tions Geralt drinks are just as

  and I started reading the novels and we got hooked. Andrzej Sapkowski has an amazing writ-

  foul as they’re described in the

  ing style and it was fantastic to see all the trials and tribulation Geralt and company had gone novels... Trust me...

  through before the video games. I like to think of this book as a way of letting die-hard fans and newcomers tell their own story and even continue the world of The Witcher in their own way.

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  Nilfgaardian Vassals

  The most difficult thing in a

  role-playing game is to cre-

  ate or present a world. We’re

  making a Witcher TRPG be-

  cause we, along with a lot of

  other people, love the world

  as we’ve seen it in the books

  and games. But what happens

  if you are following Geralt

  down the street in Blaviken

  and you turn right instead of

  going straight? Will you find

  the armorer you’re looking

  for? What if you’re a Northern

  spy and you follow a trail south

  into Nazair. What will you find

  there? Will you be able to fit in

  and avoid suspicion? This task

  is broader for a table-top game

  Lisa Pondsmith

  than it is for the novelist or

  even the video game designer.

  I’ve tried to find every refer-

  ence to the places that perhaps

  Geralt never went to. I scour,

  Lisa Pondsmith here and this year is my 40th year as a role-player. I’m one of those annoying I collect, and I synthesize. I

  “But that’s what my character would do!” sort of people. You can ask Cody. I’ve been R. Talso-collect the history, the geog-

  rian’s business manager for almost as long as the company has been around. I’ve been able to raphy, the characters we may

  sneak little bits of writing into Cyberpunk, Home of the Brave, Memoirs of Auberon and all the have met from these places, to

  way back to TSR’s Forgotten Realms but I’m delighted to be involved a bit more in the Witcher determine what are they like.

  TRPG. Most of the world section and factions are mine plus all the comments from Brandon

  If these countries and groups

  of Oxenfurt, crochety old cynic that he is. My favorite genre of games is fantasy but I’ve been live for you, and seem fuly

  fascinated by the unique outlook of The Witcher which is very much its own. Because of this we

  “Witchery”, then I’ve done my

  have constantly asked ourselves “Is this Witchery enough?” I have filled big notebooks of, wel , job. Please understand there

  notes made in order to capture every Witchery bit I can. My goal is to bring you to the world are a lot of details and alusions

  of The Witcher.

  and random mentions of these

  I’ve real y enjoyed working on this book with Cody. The creative process is much more

  places. I may have missed

  enjoyable if you have someone to bounce off of. Every spring a new Witcher book would come some. But please know that

  out in English and I’d pounce on it and read and read. But then the process would begin. “They what has been done has been

  x in this book but y in this book. What does that mean? How much of Temeria is torn up at

  done out of love for this world.

  this time? How do the elves build beautiful cities on a hunter-gatherer economy? How do we

  simulate this kind of magic in the rules?” People around us did get thoroughly sick of us. And I hope someday my son will forgive me for my obsession with aardvark pit fighting. In reading the finished book I hope he is as happy and proud of my section as I am of his. It’s been a process but there’s much more to come.

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