Coven & Crucible is a tabletop roleplaying game of modern day witchcraft and magic. Imagine, if you will, that The Last Witch Hunter and the John Wick movies got together to make a really pretty baby, it would be this game.
“The reason everyone isn’t summoning up demons or turning lead to gold or flying is because magic is work. Just like computer programming. People may get into it thinking they’re going to make the next blockbuster computer game. But as soon as they realize it’s a lot of math and bits and bytes they give up. Most people just don’t want to put in that kind of effort.”
Coven & Crucible is a game set in a world where magic, witches, supernatural creatures, magical animals & more exist. Magic is cast by witches: people who have studied & learned how to work it. Anyone can be a witch, but it takes knowledge & discipline, akin to martial arts, cooking, programming or any other skill.
Set in a neo-noir Chicago, the shiny exterior of wealth, glamour & business is powered by the rough & tumble streets. Players can have their characters explore from Rogers Park to South Chicago & all the neighborhoods in between.
Enter the Coven, a corporation of witches with all that entails. The Coven wants to further the interests of witches everywhere, while making a great deal of money in the process. The only thorn in their side? The Crucibles, a network of safe spaces for witches, where hospitality is the law and independence is the goal. While the Coven tries to take over the Crucible and the Crucible resists those attempts, witches are caught between the two.
We have created a game that can be tweaked to deliver the kind of experience the ST & the players desire. Want to run a heist game ala Leverage? You can do that. Want to run a gritty action-adventure type scenario like John Wick but with magic? Go right ahead. Paranormal shenanigans? Yes, please.
Include are nine witch houses. These organizations each have their own take on magic and their own goals and aspirations. Join the Magi and try to work behind the scenes of governments to get witches in power. Or perhaps join the Artificers and create magic items while using divination to see how the stock market is going to play out. Each house has history, lore, magical traits, and NPCs of its own to add to your story.
Coven & Crucible is human made. No AI has been used in making the game.
Those who back the campaign during the first 48 hours will get a free sticker sheet and signed art print.
The Art Goblin, Charlotte, has put together a sticker sheet featuring art from the book. Familiars play a large part of the game. Every witch needs an animal companion, right? Not only do familiars provide fun flavor for your character, but they add a mechanical benefit to the magic casting. The sticker sheet early backers will get shows three different familiars one could have for their character. There's the classic cat and toad, but also a jackalope. Who wouldn't want a fast talking lagomorph who is fond of whiskey and cigarettes as their sidekick?
Early backers will also receive an 11x20 poster print featuring signed by Charlotte. This print is a redraw of the original core book cover art. Charlotte wanted to play around with the core concept and make it more detailed, more colorful, and overall more magical.
Coven & Crucible is a 2d12 system, meaning the only dice required are two (2) 12-sided dice.
🌟 Streamlined Mechanics
Use the Witch's Formula for rolls. Attribute + Skill + Trait create a target number you need to roll equal to or less in order to succeed on rolls. Crunchiness is kept to a minimum.
🖐 Simplified Assistance Rolls
Encourages players to work together to overcome challenges, with an emphasis on collaborative storytelling.
👾 Specialized Characters
Players are encouraged to create characters that are specialists & join together in teams to tackle the world of Coven & Crucible.
🔮 Robust Magic System
No spell slots or predetermined spells here. Magic is all about intention. Players decide what their character wants to do, states the intention to the storyteller, and then rolls to cast the spell. The game gives players freedom to shape the magic just how they want.
🪄 Make Your Own Magic Tools, Potions, and More
We have created specialized crafting guidelines for magical items, alchemical items, magical tattoos, sigils and grimoires. Characters can create tools to power their magic, enhance their skills, and tackle problems thrown at them.
The emphasis in the game is to allow players the most amount of freedom to tell the story they want to tell, and the mechanics have been created to support that goal. Create the kind of character you want, decide what their magic looks like. If they are a diviner do they scry, use tarot cards, roll bones, or consult a Magic 8 Ball to look into the future? If they are an alchemist do they mix potions, create magical candy, mix perfumes that make people more attractive? If they are a hexer, does their magic look like lightning bolts, or mystical flying knives? The only limit is your imagination.
Our second goal is to not have rolls bog down game play. Coven & Crucible is a game of collaborative storytelling. From combat, to spell casting, to creating magical items, NPCs, and more, the rolls are meant to happen quickly and get you back to the story. Combat lasts a matter of rounds, and is cinematic much like the John Wick movies with people shooting bullets out of the air, blocking blows with their coats, or teleporting around to land hits before teleporting out.
The original influence for Coven & Crucible was the desire to give a forever GM the opportunity to play. To that end, roach thought creating a system to run for Stephan would be easier than learning one. Boy was she wrong!
Media Inspiration & Influences
Coven & Crucible is inspired by movies such as The Last Witch Hunter, John Wick, The Mummy, & The Ninth Gate. TV shows like Leverage series, & books like the Kitty Norville series by Carrie Vaughn also influenced the creators.
All of these media deal with magic, the supernatural, the underworld & crime, or mysteries. These influences have led us to create a game where your characters explore a world full of wonder and magic. There is an emphasis on gritty, cinematic action, and storytelling.
Artwork Style
One of the key components of the game is the artwork created by the Art Goblin. Inspired by the neo-noir genre the artwork style for the game features strong lines, striking styles, & a nod to the glamorously gritty. With a cohesive vision and bold strokes, the art brings the game to life.
This campaign features one general support tier and eight other tiers. Each of the eight others includes a copy of Coven & Crucible Reforged plus other goodies. Those other goodies include:
Candles! We have two 10 oz candles from Cantrip Candles. There is a Coven candle and a Crucible candle.
Teas! Want to read tea leaves and divine the future? Or just have tasty tea? These are two packages of two ounces. One blend is inspired by the Coven and one blend is inspired by the Crucible.
Dice! Want pretty dice to roll as you game? We've got you covered. These are two amethyst d12s from Norse Foundry.
Dice tray and dice bag! Keep and roll your d12s in style with these gaming accessories. The dice tray is from Norse Foundry. The dice bag is a small drawstring bag. Both carry the 13th Moon Games logo.
Expansions! The two expansions for Coven & Crucible are added to several different tiers. Unbound introduces various planes of existence and new houses for characters that have advanced so far they are in need of new realms to explore. Beyond is where things get weird, with six new character templates: play a shifter, vampire, dhampir, ghost, faeborn or demonspawn.
Each tier also includes a copy of Reforged that you can use on the Hedron VTT.
Choose the tier you want based on how you like to play games.
Like to keep a clean home and fill your computer with gaming goodies? Choose the PDF tier. You'll get a copy of Reforged as a PDF, along with the copy you can use on the Hedron VTT.
Like to have physical as well as digital copies of games? Get the Hard cover and Pdf tier.
Want Reforged, as well as the expansions Unbound & Beyond but don't want to deal with physical copies? Get the PDF Bundle. You'll get pdf copies of all three books.
Are you a completist that likes to have everything available no matter what the situation? Pick the Rulebook Trio Tier and get all three books in hard cover and pdf.
Are you a dice goblin? Get the Dice (Capital) Bundle. You'll get a copy of Reforged in hard cover and pdf, as well as 2 amethyst d12s, a dice, bag and a dice tray.
Like to immerse yourself in a full experience when playing? Get the Ambiance (Tromso) Bundle. You'll get a copy of Reforged in hard cover and pdf, as well as two candles and two different tea blends. Both the candles and the blends are inspired by the game.
Want both dice and ambiance? Get the Combination (Cauldron) Bundle. You get everything from the Capital and Tromso Bundles as well as a copy of Reforged in both hard cover and pdf.
Finally, if you like to have it all, go for the All In Bundle. You'll get everything from the Cauldron Bundle as well as all three books in hard cover and pdf. And a special gift of a Two-Headed Penny, a coin with two heads from the book.
Funding is the goal with this campaign, but we'd be lying if we said that's all we want to do. We have several stretch goals in mind to bring more content, as well as better print quality to Coven & Crucible Reforged.
Moar! Artwork! If we reach $20,000 in pledges Charlotte will create ten brand new color spot art pieces for the book.
Moar! NPCs! If we reach $25,000 in pledges we'll bring the political backdrop of Coven & Crucible right to your doorstep with new NPCs that you can use to play out conflict between the two entities and your characters. This will include 5 brand new NPCs: 3 specific to the Coven and two specific to the Crucible.
Upgraded Character Sheets! If we reach $30,000 in pledges we'll release new character sheets with House variations + Form-Fillable PDF versions.
New Magic Items! Get right into the thick of it with new magic items and artifacts for your characters to use, misuse, steal, lose and otherwise interact with. If we reach $35,000 in pledges we'll add 13 new magical items to the book: items such as the Ring of Arcane Focus, the Libram of the Collector, or the Dreaded Cudgel of Undeath, to your game.
Moar! Scenarios! Reforged comes with nine scenarios for you to run, but we could offer more. If we reach $45,000 in pledges we'll add 4 more scenarios bringing the number up to 13. Deal with the genus loci of the Chicago River, head to the Night Court to answer a summons, figure out what is draining the kegs and bottles at a witch bar, or defend the Pope on his visit to Chicago.
Arting it Up! - If we reach $50,000 in pledges Charlotte will also add 5 brand new full page, full color art pieces for the book.
Additional Chicago Setting and Lore Information! Want to know about phantom kangaroos, or what is up with the Crown Fountain? Or maybe you want to know what precautions you should take before you visit the Sears Tower. If we reach $60,000 in pledges we'll add more settings and lore to the Chicago of Coven & Crucible.
Improved Print Quality! If we reach $75,000 in pledges we'll go all out with premium features for the book. This means heavier paper, ribbon bookmark, custom end papers, and more.
13th Moon Games is a small, family run game publishing company. Coven & Crucible came about during Thanksgiving 2021 when roach approached Stephan. She asked him if he wanted to take their relationship to the next level. Stephan said yes immediately and was even more enthusiastic when roach clarified that she wanted to write a tabletop roleplaying game with him.
Since then, the two of them have worked on the game with the help of their daughter, Charlotte, and their other kiddo, Kelly. As a family they create games for the love of it. They are a queer, nerdy family that loves to play and create together. Their favorite holiday is Thanksgaming, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, when they spend all day eating leftovers and playing games.
roach is an author of pagan and witchcraft books. Sew Witchy and A Witch Is … are two of her books published by Llewellyn Worldwide under the name Raechel Henderson. She is in charge of the setting and story aspects of Coven & Crucible.
Stephan Kelly is a pagan and a life-long TTRPG player. He is in charge of the mechanics aspects of Coven & Crucible.
The two met at a World of Darkness LARP in 2008. They are married. They started on writing Coven & Crucible in 2021 when roach asked Stephan if he wanted to take their relationship to the next level by writing a ttrpg together.
Art Goblin Charlotte is their daughter. She has been making art all her life and it is her lifelong passion.
Shipping is not included in pledge tiers. Shipping will be collected during pledge management. Below is an estimate of shipping one book to various places. If you pledge at higher tiers that come with additional rewards shipping will be different.
US $10
Canada $25
UK & the EU $30
Austrailia $40
If your country isn't one of those included above, we suggest pledging at a digital level which won't require shipping.
The manuscript for Coven & Crucible: Reforged is finished. It is currently with the editor. Editing is expected to take a month. After which it will be sent on to the layout & design team. This will take another month.
Printing will be done overseas, and will take two to three months. This includes the time it will take to ship to the US. During that time we'll be getting the add-ons (dice, candles, tea, etc.) together.
We anticipate mailing everything out to backers fall of 2026. PDFs will be sent out at the same time as physical rewards.
We have run four successful crowdfunding campaigns so far and the one thing we have learned is that printing tends to be the place where the most hiccups happen. We are giving ourselves plenty of time to get the books printed and will keep backers updated on progress, and setbacks, if any, with monthly updates.
