Apothecaria Sneak Peek

alt-text: A page excerpt from Apothecaria detailing one of the locales, Glimmerwood Grove. The excerpt details events like "you wander too near a bear's den and are chased through the woods" and "you trip while fording a river and fall right into the arms of a blushing naiad"

Glimmerwood Grove is one of the five starting locales in Apothecaria. This enchanted forest is full of fairies, druids, giants, and spiders and is a great place to find PLANT reagents. While searching for your reagents you'll come up against special events which fall into four categories.

Good - Something beneficial happens. Gain Foraging points (making it easier to find the reagent you're looking for) or increase the Timer (giving you more time to make the potion and help the poor unfortunate soul waiting for you) or maybe something stranger.

Bad - The opposite of good. You get chased by something, get lost, get hurt, whatever the cause, you lose Foraging points or the Timer decreases.

Character - Each locale has a cast of characters who you grow your relationship with each time you meet them. Friends, lovers, rivals, the choice is yours.

World Building - Each locale has some world building opportunities. Moments and places that are yours to define that flesh out the world of Apothecaria in a way that is unique to you.

The page above shows half of the events you can find while exploring the woods (and has not even seen an attempt at good layout yet so don't worry, it won't look so boring in the final version). 

But that's not all I'm showing today.

alt-text: Welcome to Blastfire Bog. A giant purple mushroom with glowing spore pods stands in the centre of an overgrown swamp. Ruins of an ancient palace with water flowing through them can be seen in the background. A moss covered statue of a toad stands above an ominous bubbling stream.

As part of the Kickstarter we unlocked a bunch of postcards. While the first postcard serves as an introduction to the village of High Rannoc, these additional cards show off the special locales waiting for you and Adam has done an absolutely outstanding job at bringing these landscapes to life.

And Lastly we've got the Familiars. Every witch needs a familiar, its what keeps him or her grounded. Keeps them company and is their closest friend. In my most recent playtest I decided to find a familiar and, as luck would have it, ended up rescuing a pig from a group of pixies who had dressed said pig as a princess. So my familiar is a pig based heavily off of Waddles from Gravity Falls.

So just for fun, why not draw on the list below and see what you'd end up with. And again, layout is still quite a ways off so don't worry about the appearance of this preview.

alt-text: A witch’s familiar is their closest friend, their confidant, and their anchor. A familiar is your tether to the real world while your mind is wandering the realms. A familiar is a privilege and a treasure and 
Sorry, my familiar got a hold of the quill for a moment there. A bit egotistical and self-congratulatory but what can you expect from a cat. A familiar is, simply put, a part of you. Treat them well and you will have a friend for life. 
As a novice witch, you probably don’t have a familiar yet but seeing as you’ve been thrust into this, I recommend you get one soon. Either find one, as many of us do, adopt one from the shelter, or perform The Calling (which I’ll detail below).


The Calling Ritual 


Head out into nature, to whichever locale you feel most comfortable in and create a circle of stones and flowers. Put your magic into them and sit in the centre. In time, you will hear a voice calling you. Answer it, and guide your familiar to you. Write about this ritual in your journal.

 You may choose what form your familiar takes or you may draw randomly from the choices below. Remember, this is a magical world so don’t be afraid to make your familiar wondrous if you want to. 



Ace Rodent - Rat, Mouse, Beaver

Two Raptor - Hawk, Owl, Falcon

Three Amphibian - Frog, Toad, Newt

Four Canid - Dog, Wolf, Fox

Five Corvid - Raven, Crow,  Magpie

Six Snake - Adder, Cobra, Ball Python

Seven Feline - Wild Cat, Lynx, Leopard

Eight Insect - Spider, Beetle, Moth

Nine Reptile - Gecko, Turtle, Chameleon

Ten Mount - Horse, Deer, Donkey

Jack Magic - Wisp, Homunculus, Spirit

Queen/ King Mythical - Dragon, Gryphon, Chimera

Thanks for reading! More news on DELVE, WASTE, and other games coming soon.