A Book of Tales

by James Hutt, Linda Evans, Sara Thompson

Tales of magic and monsters as told by The World's Greatest Bard!
Adventure across the world of The Witcher, uncovering its secrets, slaying its monsters, and bringing its stories to life, as entirely and truthfully recollected by the famed bard Dandelion. In this book, you'll travel from the could mountains of Kovir to the wine soaked region of Toussaint in Nilfgaard, meeting interesting characters along the way, with intrigue around every corner. Book of Tales is a supplement for The Witcher Pen and Paper RPG that gives you six adventures that span the Continent, complete with new monsters, player content, and maps. All compiled into a larger campaign.

Featuring...

Six Adventures: Experience escapades across the Continent, including a murder mystery in the heart of Mount Carbon, pulse-pounding combat in the Claremont Arena, and investigations in the mist-shrouded Alderwood.
New Player Content: Expand your game with new weapons, new spells, and three new playable races: Gnomes, Vran, and Werebbubbs.
A Connected Campaign: Take your party on a journey across the Continent by weaving all six adventures into a country-hopping trek.

Scenarios

Underneath the Ice: A monster hunt in the mountains of Kovir and Poviss and the perfect first session adventure!
In the Alderwood: What seems to be a straightforward monster hunt transforms into a tale of tragedy and intrigue!
Stone Cold Lies: Solve a murder at the Mahakam Ale Festival!
Murder in Maribor: A classic dungeon crawl in a Nilfgaardian-occupied city!
Enter the Fighting Pits: Enter a tournament for adventurers, run by mysterious masked Nilfgaardians who thrill in betting on life and death!
The Maiden Surrounded by Butterflies: A knight. A maiden. A tower. A classic tale in fairytale Toussaint... only not all is what it seems.

Genres: Role Playing Games

178 pages, Hardcover

First published August 8, 2021

Reviews

[Elilith · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a really good module for The Witcher TTRPG with stories spanning all countries. It has awakened my yearning to play the game. I really don't know what people hate about this game. Okay, the basic system seems a little clunky, but nothing a little homebrew can't fix! The Toussaint scenario was my favorite. This country is already dreamy, and the fairytale scenario feels right at home. It was also an interesting idea to create a campaign. It may seem forced sometimes though, so the gamemaster needs to do a little preparation beforehand.

[Costan Sequeiros · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Witcher's Journal es más o menos lo que esperarías de un bestiario. Añade un buen puñado de criaturas desarrolladas, así como trasfondo de los brujos contado desde el punto de vista de la escuela del grifo. Lo que más me gustó y sorprendió, porque no lo esperaba, es el sistema de investigaciones, aunque aun no lo he probado para ver si funciona tan bien como parece en el papel. En general es un complemento al juego que da lo que se espera de él.

[Tasinga Moon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the creatures this adds to the world and other fun little treats. Though mine had a printing error. Nothing else was wrong.

[Taddow · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Witcher: A Book of Tales is a supplement for The Witcher RPG that is mainly a collection of six adventures with a few additional game materials to include a few new monsters, spells, weapons and equipment and three new playable races (Gnomes, Vran and Werebbubs). “Narrated” (only so much as including a few short passages) by the famous troubadour Dandelion throughout the book, these six adventures can be played on their own or worked together as a campaign, which the book provides guidance on, that will send the Player Characters (PCs) on a trip that starts in the north of Kovir and Poviss and ends in the southern part of the continent, in Toussaint. The adventures are a decent collection with various themes that range from mysteries, combat, and intrigue.

Warning, some SPOILERS follow.

The first adventure, Underneath the Ice, is a mystery monster hunt that is simple enough but a little confusing as the monster and its link to one of the Non-Player Characters (NPCs) is not really fleshed out, though after reading the adventure, the GM will be able to understand (kinda) what happened. This explanation could have used some additional work to limit the confusion about what’s going on.

The second adventure, In the Alderwood, is actually pretty good. It will involve some roleplay, a dilemma for the PCs to solve and the Witcher was a nice touch for conflict.

The third adventure, Stone Cold Lies, was a fairly good mystery, but like Underneath the Ice, there were some vague/unclear explanations for some of the scenes/information that takes place that adds to some of the confusion of running this. I liked the setting of this adventure and the exploration of the Mahakam culture but as it’s a short adventure, its more of a snapshot.

The fourth adventure, Murder in Maribor, is the weakest of the six adventures. It’s a dungeon crawl of sorts that really doesn’t do a good job of linking the “main” villain with the adventure. I’m not trying to give away too much, but basically the PCs investigate some murders that they believe are linked to one group but in actuality are linked to another group and there really isn’t any explanation/clues (other than a very weak (in my opinion) link that is kind of thrown out at the last minute) to link the ultimate villain to the plot.

The fifth adventure, Enter the Fighting Pits, was my favorite, but I would not run it as written. The PCs enter a competition put on by a group of anonymous nobles. There are other competing teams for the three-day event and at the end of each day, one of the teams is eliminated, and the remaining teams must attend a feast with these nobles to interact with them. This is a great opportunity for roleplay and intrigue. The flaw (or rather missed opportunity) is that the daily competitions (with the exception of one) don’t even use all of the PCs, so the PC’s team could be eliminated from the bad die rolls of one or two players. I think that they competitions should have been expended to include the participation of more players and/or more events to include more players. Additionally, I would not have made the competition a daily elimination challenge, but more of a point-based one (performing better in an event grants more points with decreased points awarded the lesser the performance) where the winning team gets to do the final event to win the cash prize. Using a point system for advancement could also be incorporated in affecting the positive and negative interactions the PCs have with the nobles in the daily dinners, instead of just making a team getting eliminated (I think using a +/- point assignment and the noble payback options would be a great combo).

The sixth adventure, The Maiden Surrounded By Butterflies, is supposed to be a fairy-taleish one with a Rapunzel-like maiden trapped in a tower. The story is interesting, but ultimately the adventure doesn’t really go much into the origins of the curse and doesn’t give any reason for the PCs to even investigate it, as the maiden can be rescued without having to find the source of the curse. Its basically a dungeon (tower) crawl dealing with monsters to save the maiden.

The closing “updated” character sheet that Dandelion presents of himself at the end was a nice touch.