Wytch Mountain is a fast, rules-light pocket RPG of covens, curses, and occult power. Built for quick play with simple mechanics, it delivers eerie folk horror and witchcraft in a form that’s easy to learn and dangerous to master.
"A witch ought never be frightened in the darkest forest… because she should be sure in her soul that the most terrifying thing in the forest was her." — Terry Pratchett
Wytch Mountain is a 32 page rules-light RPG of folk horror and covens, needing only two dice, a dark table, and some cool friends. Play as a witch. Find other witches to join your coven. Journey across distant lands to find Wytch Mountain and face its baleful guardian. The real adventure, of course, is the witch friends you make along the way.
Built on the lean Portland Pocket System, the game resolves everything you need with a d20 and a d6. No sprawling rulebooks. No baroque subsystems. Just the old ways, played fast and sharp.
Also included is a complete adventure that will keep your coven occupied for several sessions!
Check out the 16 pagePDF Preview to see for yourself just how cool this is!
Each witch walks a different path to power. Your class determines your spells, your starting equipment, and the shape of your magic.
Black Mass Witch
Malefic and destructive, the Black Mass Witch bends events and lives to her will. She rides a broom, wears antlers, and commands sickness, weather, and ultimately communion with forces beyond the veil.
Hedge Witch
The naturalist. The herbalist. The healer who has forgotten more about the wild world than any academic ever knew. She walks with a familiar at her side and can summon the Green Man himself.
Leyline Witch
A traveler of liminal places and the Otherworld. She pulls truth from skin and bone, rides humans as horses, and in her highest form crosses the hedge itself to bring back what is needed.
Potion Witch
Swift and unpredictable, the Potion Witch brews charm, sleep, invisibility, and beauty, the last of which, regrettably, makes every cat in the vicinity want her dead.
Warlock
Not all who practice the old ways do so gently. The Warlock brings brute force and the first and most feared weapon: the Hex. The muscle of the coven. A warlock only grows more terrible as time goes on. Strong where others are subtle, sometimes that is exactly what a coven needs.
Simple enough to teach in five minutes. Dangerous enough to kill you in two.
d20: Tests & Attacks
Roll a d20, add your relevant ability score. Beat the Difficulty Class. Easy as breathing (until the Witchsmeller shows up).
Ability Scores
Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence. Each ranges from 0 to +2 at creation, earned by the dice. Everything flows from these three.
SP: Spell Points
Each spell costs its level in Spell Points. Your INT score is your fuel. Spend wisely — SP refreshes daily, but today might not end.
Weaknesses
Every witch has one. Iron scissors. Church bells. Running water. Salt lines. Roll and discover the flaw in your arcane armor.
Form a Coven
Witches grow more powerful together. As your coven grows in size, new abilities unlock, but if your leader falls, you all fall.
The Turning Year: When You Play Matters
The Sabats shift what magic is possible, which spells never fail, and which forces grow hungry. Choose your timing carefully.
Beltane “the growing tide” When nature is rejuvenating and blooming, a witch's power is closely tied to growth, fertility, and transformation.
Litha “the reaping tide” When the sun is at its zenith, a witch's power is at its peak. Their spells focus on harnessing solar energy, enhancing vitality, and working with fire-related magic.
Mabon “the resting tide” As leaves change and nature prepares for the cold months, spells involve divination, ancestral magic, and working with the energies of change. The thinning veil makes it a good time for communing with spirits and seeking guidance from the beyond.
Samhain"the death tide" When the veil between worlds is at its thinnest, the dead walk close and old bargains come due. Witches draw power from endings, memory, and the hunger of things that should not still be moving.
Yule"the dark tide" In the longest night, light is a radical act. A witch's magic turns toward endurance, hidden warmth, and the slow return of things thought lost.
Imbolc “the cleansing tide” During the cold months, a witch's power turns inward. Their magic focuses on protection, warding, and drawing upon the energies of the earth and the stillness of the season. Winter is also time for deep meditation, astral travel, and accessing hidden knowledge.
Wytch Mountain is part of Pocketopia 2026, a month-long celebration of portable easy-to-learn tabletop games, featuring accompanying projects from other renowned creators.
For the final stretch, we are offering a cool short story written and laid out by Ahimsa about a young witch discovering her power. De Profundis is dark and mysterious and feels like Suspiria meets Carrie. It helps set the tone for the game really well. If we can hit $1,800 on this project, everyone gets the De Profundis pdf for free!
Wind Lothamer — Art, design, layout. The visual mind behind nearly all Knight Owl Publishing books, plus work for Necrotic Gnome, Expeditious Retreat, Orbital Intelligence, Arden Vul, and more.
Ahimsa Kerp — Writing, editing, outreach. Author of nearly everything we’ve published, contributor to Ultracosmic, Knock! and Dolmenwood, and novelist with Severed Press.
You — The RPG community that makes every project possible. Thank you for bringing Wytch Mountain to life.
We’ve run many successful crowdfunding projects before—small and not-so-small—and we pride ourselves on clear, honest communication.
We don't believe in using AI in our creative process. All artwork and images are 100% hand-drawn by Wind himself.
Tabletop Tavern
Welcome to Tabletop Tavern at Pocketopia 2026 A gathering place for tabletop roleplaying games, where a wide range of TTRPG projects come together under one banner. From original settings and adventures to new systems, tools, and supplements, Tabletop Tavern showcases games with different styles, mechanics, and ways to play.
Back 3+ Tabletop Tavern Campaigns, Unlock Free Digital or Physical Content! Back 3 or more Tabletop Tavern campaigns to receive FREE digital or physical content from each participating creator you support.
The more Tabletop Tavern creators you back, the more bonus content you unlock.
Some creators may also be offering extra cross-collabs, exclusive rewards, or additional campaign-specific bonuses, so be sure to explore the full banner and see what each project has to offer.
FREEBIE: El Duende is a game you play by yourself to meet an imaginary creature. Fairy and demon, dream and nightmare, the thrill that leads to art and death. El Duende is all this. What will you do when it comes to visit you in the dark of night?
FREEBIE: A Chaotic DND 5e One Shot. A quick job turns into a chain of events no one is fully in control of. Somewhere along the way, the party meets something that doesn’t follow the rules.
FREEBIE: a free Tabletop Tavern STL. All backers of any physical pledge of the Legendary Dice Bags season 3 will additionally get a free dice set with their pledge too!
FREEBIE: A bestiary packed with eerie, folklore-inspired creatures that haunt the slopes of Wytch Mountain. Perfect for dropping straight into play, these strange horrors bring new threats, omens, and dark possibilities to every coven’s tale.
FREEBIE: A sticker drawn lovingly by Rook for all physical backers, and a digital version of the sticker if you want to print it at home for the digital backers.
