One fateful day, the Aopthecaire leaves her little cottage on a week-long journey, telling her apprentice to take care of any customers who stop by for potions. THere are lists of ingredients and recipes for the most standard of potions if they are out of stock, but not all customers want something easy. Part of your apprenticeship is to log the customers’ details in a big, dusty tome the Apothecaire keeps as a record ofher time and ingredients, as well as descriptions of the customers themselves, as their energy and mood also affect the magical working…
From La Lionne Publishing comes The Apothecaire’s Apprentice [here], a 1-2 player TTRPG of creation and collaboration. It requires a standard deck of playing card, a four-sided die (1d4), an eight-sided die (1d8), and a journal to build the world around you and tell the story of your apprentice character. The game ends when you have completed the seventh day of potion making, and the Apothecaire returns to see how you fared in her absence. Coming in at over 50 pages, this A-5 size, perfect-bound book features beautiful illustrations from Natalie Chenard [here], as well as characters sheets, potions logs and more by Alderdoodle [here]!
Inspired by Anya’s love of worldbuilding, quieter magics, and Natalie’s artwork, The Apothecacaire’s Apprentice does an excellent job of capturing its inspirations and running with them. From the guiding questions to establish your Apprentice, including what secret they know about the Apothecaire, the cottage, and local environment and lore, the game sets you up to explore a rich – but not overwhelming – world based in and around the workshop.
It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of guiding questions to help establish a game setting, and I think there’s a fine line between helpful, engaging questions and getting lost in details. Giving guidance – but not so much that it feels restrictive. This game hits that balance well and I love when my brain doesn’t get bogged down before I even get to start playing!
The customers who come to see you range from the local miller to the coroner, from Prince to farmer. Each will have different needs, and will also be in a different mood – this is important, as their moods impact the potion-making process.
This is honestly my favourite mechanic in the game! If, for example, your customer is joyful you’ll be changing one of the common ingredients found in the potion. Once you’ve done that, you roll to determine what their potion request is and find the corresponding potion from the Apothecaire’s repertoire. Maybe they want a health or healing potion! Or maybe they’re looking for something to do with clairvoyance, or resistance.
From there, you roll to determine your complications: are you missing anything required to make the potion? And, whether you are or not, is the potion made successfully? This game uses degrees of success, which I’m much more of fan of than straight success/failure – it’s more interesting story wise, I find!
With 32 potential potions divided into 8 categories at your disposal, there’s sure to be at least one or two potions your Apprentice has more, or less, experience making. I’m particularly fond of the Potion of Fleetfoot, which grants unmatched swiftness, and the Veilwarding Draught which offers resistance to mind-altering illusions and enchantments. Some of the potions include a colour, ingredients/scents, or an idea of what the potion looks like. These small details make visualizing what you’re working with much easier, and prompted me to think more about the brewing process, and how the texture and colour of a potion might change as it is being made.
Launched on Kickstarter November 1, 2023, The Apothecaire’s Apprentice has already met its funding goal and is now working towards stretch goals! You can pick up a copy digitally for €15, or a a physical copy for €25 [here], and work towards unlocking stickers, an upgrade to the paper used in the printed edition, and even a PDF of potion inspired cocktails and mocktails (love this inclusion). With digital fulfillment expected in February 2024, now’s a great time to get yourself a game to cozy up with in the coldest month of the year!
Want to follow along with more of Anya’s work? Check out her other games [here] (I’ve previously reviewed Mountaintop Isolation [here], Tea & Toadstools [here], and her 5E supplement Mystery at the Starlight Festival [here] – I’ve written more about her work than anyone else featured on this site), and follow her on social media [here].
That’s all for today! Until next time, stay cozy!
The Cozy Cauldron 