A witch in the Wiccan tradition is someone who practices witchcraft as part of their religious beliefs and practices. In Wicca, witchcraft is seen as a positive and nature-based practice, rooted in the belief that the natural world is sacred and connected to the divine. Witches in the Wiccan tradition often work with the energies and forces of nature, using spells, rituals, and other tools to manifest their intentions and connect with the divine. Witches in the Wiccan tradition may work alone or as part of a coven, a community of witches who come together for rituals and other spiritual activities. While the term "witch" has often been associated with evil or negative connotations throughout history, in the Wiccan tradition, it is seen as a positive and empowering term. Witches in Wicca often align themselves with the cycles of the moon and the seasons, working with the ebb and flow of energy throughout nature.
For flavor those are some good ideas and generally not too hard. Name generator for the proprietor might be difficult though. Would a link to Emily's fantasy name generator be sufficient?
Regarding the trait shop selection just to make sure I understand, are you envisioning something like say selecting the necromancy trait to generate a shop populated with things like a staff of healing, dust of corpse animation, etc. Flavorfully; Name generator for the shop Some randomly generated flavor prompts for what the shop looks like Name generator for the proprietor Some RP prompts for the proprietor.
Witches in Wicca often align themselves with the cycles of the moon and the seasons, working with the ebb and flow of energy throughout nature. They may celebrate the eight sabbats, or seasonal festivals, which mark the solstices, equinoxes, and other significant points in the year. Wiccan witches may also work with spirits, deities, and other spiritual beings, often incorporating them into their rituals and magical practices.
What would you want in a shop generator?
A while back I asked for some suggestions and advice on what people wanted to see in
a loot/treasure generator for PF2. We got some great suggestions and the loot2 generator is by far our most popular one.
In that vein I have been GMing abomination vaults. and the main town has several shops such as Magical curios, a general marketplace, arms & armors, etc. Populating the shops manually imo is a bit tedious. So, I'd like to automate the process.
The question is what would people find the most useful? The easiest solution would be
to simply run the loot generator a couple times, possibly at different levels and compile the results.
However, it seems to me that might not be the most useful, and realistically someone can already do that using our tools if that's all they wanted.
So, what would everyone like to see presuming they had use for such a tool? Different types of shops like blacksmiths, herbalists, trade goods that are all populated differently? Restrictions on the level/price of items available? Other options I haven't considered?
Hit me with some ideas.
Aside from the things you've already mentioned I think it'd be a good idea to include a rarity toggle for GMs who don't want accidental Uncommon or Rare gear showing up where they haven't got control. I mean they can remove that from the shop themselves but as long as we're spitballing.
I also think it'd be neat if it was possible to tell the generator what percentage of items should be of a given category. Say a magic shop where X% number of items were guaranteed to be scrolls, for example.
Also, in addition to the rough categories of shops, allow for totally custom shops where you can potentially check off what kinds of items you'd want to be included.
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A filter by sourcebook too, so a GM can limit stuff to the books he owns.
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Oh I can think of some things I'd like;
Game-mechanically;
* Setting the shop's max item level. Bonus points if it adds in lots of lower level items, and a bit less once you get to the maximum. But in a sensible way; even in a level 1 shop it shouldn't be hard to find basic items.
* A well-chosen selection of mainstream items that have a bit higher chance of being generated. Like, there are hundreds of common level 2 items, but the +1 potency rune is much more important than most of them.
* Use item categories and perhaps traits to theme generated inventory.
* Clearly distinguish item rarity, perhaps a toggle how many non-common things can be generated.
* Good presentation of items (level, type, cost, book+page) and if you can swing it link to a full description (perhaps on Archives of Nethys).
Flavorfully;
* Name generator for the shop
* Some randomly generated flavor prompts for what the shop looks like
* Name generator for the proprietor
* Some RP prompts for the proprietor
Might be beyond the scope, but it feels like you're building the base functionality so I'll toss this idea:
Add a 'Settlement' option that generates between 1 and N shops with the combined loot available at the upper end of the Settlement Level.
I'm playing Extinction Curse and Book 3 has about a dozen small settlements between levels 1-5. Some of my players ask me what's available in each while traveling. I've been making it up on the fly but I'd have loved a tool to quickly flesh out the available inventory in the settlement which is probably only 1-2 shops for most of these, but could be used for larger places as well.
Damn. Lot of great ideas here. Going to just address them one at a time.
I like the rarity toggle idea. Definitely will throw that in the planning, although it will probably come after the basic framework. Percentages are easy enough. Have something like that built into the loot generator already.
Checkboxes for a custom shop. Interesting idea. I don't presently know how I'd implement that, but this entire project started as a way to practice and improve. This might be a great opportunity to do so.
Sourcebook filter will be tough. None of my current tools have sourcebooks anywhere in them. So, something like the spellbook generator which would be run to add some spell books to an arcane shop don't distinguish between core, apg, etc. This functionality might be added at some point, but probably not in a semi short time frame.
Max level item selection with a pyramid scheme of availability was the plan. Just have to think about a good way to build it.
Which does lead me to the question of how large should the shop inventory be? A store with a dozen items might not be worth generating. One with 200 might make people's eyes glaze over.
Regarding the trait shop selection just to make sure I understand, are you envisioning something like say selecting the necromancy trait to generate a shop populated with things like a staff of healing, dust of corpse animation, etc?
For flavor those are some good ideas and generally not too hard. Name generator for the proprietor might be difficult though. Would a link to Emily's fantasy name generator be sufficient?
Settlement option is a great idea. Should be fairly straight forward to incorporate(famous last words).
And final question. In particular with regards to magic shops, since lets face it, most PCs aren't going around shopping for silverware or a new dresser. How many/what categories should magic get broken up into? Should staves for example be a separate shop category, fall under the general magic store umbrella, both, neither?
Leitner wrote:Damn. Lot of great ideas here. Going to just address them one at a time.
I'm just cherrypicking some things to reach to.
* Rarity toggle: I think the default is that Rare items don't shop up by accident, but Uncommon ones sometimes do. Rare items are something you put in intentionally as GM. So you might want to exclude them entirely, or exclude by default but allow switching them in. On the other hand, a "few" uncommon items by default, with option to open or close the sluice gates.
* Sourcebook filter would be very handy though. Especially with some toggles to quickly narrow it down to CRB, central rulebooks, or also allow setting and especially regional stuff. Like, if I'm doing a campaign in the far north, I should be able to easily exclude all the Mwangi, Tian, Osirion etc themed stuff.
* Inventory size: maybe you can say that anything more than X, say three or four, levels below the level of the shop is available for sure (if it falls in the shop's scope) and not worth mentioning. Overall I think you want to be able to present the whole shop on a single screen or (half) page.
* Traits: yeah, for example you might want to make a shop with items with fire and cold traits for an elemental magic item themed shop.
* Name Generator: yeah those are a whole world of their own, a good link to one would probably suffice. Although you could mock it with a list of adjectives and nouns and randomly pair them, and put in a link to a more elaborate generator if desired. I think a few prompts about decor and personality would add a lot of value to this as a "I need something to RP quickly" tool.
* Item Categories: I think it's good to stick with the item categories already used in the book, perhaps grouped a bit by user (weapons close to armor and shields; scrolls close to staves). But overall I think the item categories that exist in the rules make sense and are what people already know.
* Clearly distinguish item rarity, perhaps a toggle how many non-common things can be generated.
However, the specific deities and spirits that a witch works with can vary greatly, as Wicca is a diverse and individualistic religion. The main principles of Wicca emphasize personal responsibility, harm none, and the belief in karma or the law of threefold return, which states that whatever energy a person puts out into the world will come back to them threefold. Thus, a witch in the Wiccan tradition is someone who practices witchcraft as part of their religious beliefs and practices, incorporating nature, rituals, spells, and other spiritual tools into their practice, with a focus on personal responsibility and harm none..
Reviews for "Witchcraft and Familiars: Animal Companions in the Wiccan Tradition"
1. Sarah - 1 star - I was really disappointed by "What is a witch in the wiccan tradition". The book promised to provide a thorough understanding of witchcraft in the Wiccan tradition, but instead, it felt like a shallow overview without any real substance. The author barely scratched the surface of the topic, leaving me with more questions than answers. Overall, I found the book to be a waste of time and money.
2. John - 2 stars - "What is a witch in the wiccan tradition" fell short of my expectations. While it did touch on the basics of Wiccan witchcraft, the book lacked depth and failed to provide any real practical guidance. It felt like reading a Wikipedia article, rather than a comprehensive guide. I was hoping to gain a deeper understanding of the rituals and practices within the Wiccan tradition, but unfortunately, this book didn't offer much in that regard. It's not worth the investment for someone seeking an in-depth exploration of the topic.
3. Emily - 2.5 stars - I found "What is a witch in the wiccan tradition" to be a bit underwhelming. The writing style felt convoluted and difficult to follow, making it hard to grasp the concepts being presented. Additionally, the book didn't provide enough historical context or delve into the philosophical aspects of Wiccan witchcraft. I was also hoping for more practical guidance on spells and rituals, but that was sorely lacking. Overall, the book left me feeling unsatisfied and wanting more depth.