I’d say 3 minimum and up to 6 or 7 potentially depending on the group. I’ve run it for 5 and thought it went really well. It actually helps to have more people than you might normally since it’s GM-less, so that gives you more sources of ideas for what’s happening next and how to interpret the action rolls and table entries in the story.
A lovely game that is very thematic and gives a lot of freedom if you want to take it. The cover looks fantastic and the interior art adds to that experience.
I think this game is totally suitable for solo of group play. The rules are quite clear and the tables gives you a lot of options before your own creativity sets in.
Only thing I would loved to have seen is a more extensive gameplay example to get an extra layer of understanding of how a day of the game would work.
Swamp Troll Witches is a solo or small group TTRPG about potion making on the border of a weird, ever-changing marsh.
The PDF is 29 pages with a jaw-dropping cover and a few great interior illustrations. Most of the book is text, but the text is cleanly formatted and well arranged and everything feels very easy to read.
Mechanically, Swamp Troll Witches is a 3d6 system, but it uses those d6s in a way that's perfect for solo play and also gives you a lot of information from every roll. You ask a yes/no question, roll the dice, and each individual die answers a part of that question. The first die is yes/no, the second is whether there's a complication, and the third is how strong the complication is.
As an oracle system, this is quicker and needs less interpretation than tarot cards. It's also strictly keyed to the question you're asking, and won't randomly pull in other themes or ideas (such as drawing the Death card in a tarot system.)
Some degree of GMing *is* required from the player, as you do need to decide on your own complications, and you're also responsible for the heavy lifting in building the game world. Before play, you write a quick description of the swamp, your hut, the market where you sell your potions, etc. None of this is onerous or out of scale with the scope of the game, but it does have to be something you want to do in order to get started.
Gameplay in Swamp Troll Witches isn't only driven by its oracle system, and you do have stats that can affect your rolls. However, these stats aren't numeric. You don't have Relaxation 4, for example. But you might have Relaxation: High Control, which lets you swap around the dice after you make a Relaxation roll.
Gameplay is also tightly organized into phases. You explore, gather ingredients, go home, and then relax or brew potions. Each phase has sub-phases, so you might visit several places, get into combat with a weasel, and find enough ingredients for two potions while exploring. And elements from one phase carry over into the next one. Damage, called botherances, can carry over from exploring and force you to prioritize between potion brewing and taking time to recover.
Potions are eventually sold for a reward, but the exact nature of the reward isn't mechanically important. You're not trying to hit a specific number of gold pieces to stop Tom Nook from repossessing your home or the like. Thus, your exact payment is purely a narrative thing.
If you get stuck on a story beat, prompt tables are provided, and the game gives advice throughout on how to GM your story. However, if you've never played a TTRPG before, it may take a moment or two to adjust to the flow of the game.
Overall, Swamp Troll Witches is innovative, cozy, warm-hearted, and weird. Its mechanics are tight, but the final product that they output isn't mechanical. If you like solo games, story games, or just good TTRPG design, I absolutely recommend picking it up.
Thank you so much for the kind words. I've gotta give a shoutout to the Motif SRD as the solid framework the specific mechanics of this game are built on.
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How many people do you recommend for a "small group"?
I’d say 3 minimum and up to 6 or 7 potentially depending on the group. I’ve run it for 5 and thought it went really well. It actually helps to have more people than you might normally since it’s GM-less, so that gives you more sources of ideas for what’s happening next and how to interpret the action rolls and table entries in the story.
Wow, fun! Thanks for replying!
I'm going through the Solo But Not Alone 3 collection. Comments here: https://twitter.com/RabbitMatchGame/status/1616996272053059584
Your tables rock.
A lovely game that is very thematic and gives a lot of freedom if you want to take it. The cover looks fantastic and the interior art adds to that experience.
I think this game is totally suitable for solo of group play. The rules are quite clear and the tables gives you a lot of options before your own creativity sets in.
Only thing I would loved to have seen is a more extensive gameplay example to get an extra layer of understanding of how a day of the game would work.
Swamp Troll Witches is a solo or small group TTRPG about potion making on the border of a weird, ever-changing marsh.
The PDF is 29 pages with a jaw-dropping cover and a few great interior illustrations. Most of the book is text, but the text is cleanly formatted and well arranged and everything feels very easy to read.
Mechanically, Swamp Troll Witches is a 3d6 system, but it uses those d6s in a way that's perfect for solo play and also gives you a lot of information from every roll. You ask a yes/no question, roll the dice, and each individual die answers a part of that question. The first die is yes/no, the second is whether there's a complication, and the third is how strong the complication is.
As an oracle system, this is quicker and needs less interpretation than tarot cards. It's also strictly keyed to the question you're asking, and won't randomly pull in other themes or ideas (such as drawing the Death card in a tarot system.)
Some degree of GMing *is* required from the player, as you do need to decide on your own complications, and you're also responsible for the heavy lifting in building the game world. Before play, you write a quick description of the swamp, your hut, the market where you sell your potions, etc. None of this is onerous or out of scale with the scope of the game, but it does have to be something you want to do in order to get started.
Gameplay in Swamp Troll Witches isn't only driven by its oracle system, and you do have stats that can affect your rolls. However, these stats aren't numeric. You don't have Relaxation 4, for example. But you might have Relaxation: High Control, which lets you swap around the dice after you make a Relaxation roll.
Gameplay is also tightly organized into phases. You explore, gather ingredients, go home, and then relax or brew potions. Each phase has sub-phases, so you might visit several places, get into combat with a weasel, and find enough ingredients for two potions while exploring. And elements from one phase carry over into the next one. Damage, called botherances, can carry over from exploring and force you to prioritize between potion brewing and taking time to recover.
Potions are eventually sold for a reward, but the exact nature of the reward isn't mechanically important. You're not trying to hit a specific number of gold pieces to stop Tom Nook from repossessing your home or the like. Thus, your exact payment is purely a narrative thing.
If you get stuck on a story beat, prompt tables are provided, and the game gives advice throughout on how to GM your story. However, if you've never played a TTRPG before, it may take a moment or two to adjust to the flow of the game.
Overall, Swamp Troll Witches is innovative, cozy, warm-hearted, and weird. Its mechanics are tight, but the final product that they output isn't mechanical. If you like solo games, story games, or just good TTRPG design, I absolutely recommend picking it up.
Thank you so much for the kind words. I've gotta give a shoutout to the Motif SRD as the solid framework the specific mechanics of this game are built on.