History TabletopGame / WitchCraft

** Mythical: [[PhysicalGod Physical Gods]]. Most of these are supernatural beings of great age and power, ranging from Greater Seraphim to Incarnate Gods. Gifted at this level are TheArchmage, with centuries worth of experience and knowledge in their respective field (though there's a few young prodigies with ''really'' awe-inspiring inborn talent). These beings are [[PersonOfMassDestruction armies unto themselves]], and reshape the world wherever they act.

** Mythical: [[PhysicalGod Physical Gods=]. Most of these are supernatural beings of great age and power, ranging from Greater Seraphim to Incarnate Gods. Gifted at this level are TheArchmage, with centuries worth of experience and knowledge in their respective field (though there's a few young prodigies with ''really'' awe-inspiring inborn talent). These beings are [[PersonOfMassDestruction armies unto themselves]], and reshape the world wherever they act.

* BlackMagic: The Sadicas invocations practiced by the Cult of Pain (and possibly other evil magicians). The Essence used to power them can only be recharged by torturing innocents.

* PowerGlows: Beings and places with huge amounts of Essence are ''very'' obvious - if you're Gifted.

'''Witchcraft''' is an urban fantasy game set in a world like our own, but with an extensive {{Masquerade}} to mask the fact that just about every supernatural being and mythological figure exists (or has existed). The players take the part of the Gifted - humans who secretly wield the power of magic, psychic abilities, divine miracles, or other supernatural traits. For all of recorded history, the Gifted have kept their existence a secret, but now the world is threatened by an approaching [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Reckoning]], and new Gifted are being born in record numbers. The time for hiding in the shadows is coming to an end...

''Witchcraft'' uses Eden Studio's {{Unisystem}}.

!!This RPG provides examples of:

----

Its SpinOff, ''Armageddon'', takes place in 2017, where the Reckoning is in full swing, and Germany is spearheading the takeover of the Earth on behalf of the extra-dimensional monster: Leviathan.

** AngelsDevilsAndSquid: The Heavenly Host, the Infernal Legion, and the Mad Gods.

* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: ''Reversed'', as disbelieving Mundanes make it ''harder'' for magic and certain supernatural abilities to function, especially when the Mundanes are gathered in huge crowds. If you're playing in a setting where the cat's out of the bag, anger makes a decent substitute.

* DarkIsNotEvil: Not only are there playable monster-heavy Covenants, they're actually ''nicer'' on average than many human ones. The House of Thanatos, for example, are an organization of {{Necromancer}}s and [[TheUndead undead]] who want to be truly {{Immortal}}...and go about this by preserving the sanctity of the Death Realms and the living world from each other, busting up [[EldritchAbomination Mad God]] cults, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking generally being a social clubhouse]].

* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: An apocalyptic setting where angels, demons, pagan gods, witches, psychics, the undead, and immortals have all teamed up to fight Lovecraftian Mad Gods!

* HaveYouSeenMyGod: The Creator left about 20000 years ago. The Heavenly Host have been searching for (Him? Her? It?) for most of that time, when not busy "keeping those upstart humans in line" (which probably is very far from the Creator's original plans).

* {{Necromancer}} - Yet another type of Gifted, and distinct from invocation-wielding magicians. They usually fall under the category of DarkIsNotEvil.

* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: That's the price of failure.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil - Fiends are physical embodiments of malice, and therefore cannot be anything but evil. [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] with the Angelic Ethereals, who are physical embodiments of good.

* AncientConspiracy - The Combine, the Knights Templar, and the Fellowship of Judas. The latter two, however, are mostly good guys, [[GoodIsNotNice if sometimes amoral]].
* TheAtoner - The Fellowship of Judas are an entire ''Covenant'' of people like this, most of them undead.
* AxCrazy - Relentless Dead of the "Dark Wrath" variety are little more than berserk killers.
* BadassBookworm - The Rosicrucian Marchers.
* BlackMagic - The Sadicas invocations practiced by the Cult of Pain (and possibly other evil magicians). The Essence used to power them can only be recharged by torturing innocents.
* BroughtDownToNormal - The penalty for any Divinely Inspired person who errs in their faith.
* CatsAreMagic - The Bast, especially High Bast.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder - While groups centered around black magic exist, the point is made that they rarely survive in the long term, since most black magicians are ambitious, psychopathic, and all too eager to advance their power at the expense of others...
* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve - ''Reversed'', as disbelieving Mundanes make it ''harder'' for magic and certain supernatural abilities to function, especially when the Mundanes are gathered in huge crowds. If you're playing in a setting where the cat's out of the bag, anger makes a decent substitute.
* CombatClairvoyance - One application of the Mindtime or Mindview abilities.
* CombinedEnergyAttack - Group magic and psychic gestalts, although they don't ''have'' to be used for offensive powers.
* TheCorruption - The Mad Gods and their minions, on just about every level. Humans who have contact with them can get infected by their Taint, and most of these unfortunates very quickly die, go irrevocably insane, or become pawns of the Mad Gods. The few who don't - the Mockers - dedicate themselves to fighting the Mad Gods, but even they face an ever-growing struggle with madness and dissolution.
* CorruptChurch - Some Covenants see the Sentinels as this. On a more personal level, some Gifted with Divine Inspiration end up ''leaving'' their churches, as their divine insight causes them to see the corruption marring those institutions.
* [[CrossoverCosmology Crossover Cosmology]][=/=]FantasyKitchenSink - As with the ''TabletopGame/WorldOfDarkness'' setting, ''Witchcraft'' sourcebooks eventually introduced so many different supernatural beings, races, and conspiracies that it becomes difficult to imagine how the {{Masquerade}} survives at all.
** AngelsDevilsAndSquid - The Heavenly Host, the Infernal Legion, and the Mad Gods.
* {{Cult}} - The setting has no shortage of these. They can be your garden variety mundane nutjobs, or they might be dedicated to black magic, demons, or the Mad Gods. Even better, the more fanatical Covenants view more than one of their fellow Covenants as dangerous cults.
* CursedWithAwesome - One way to view Taint powers... at least until you [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity lose your battle with madness]].
* DarkIsNotEvil - Not only are there playable monster-heavy Covenants, they're actually ''nicer'' on average than many human ones. The House of Thanatos, for example, are an organization of {{Necromancer}}s and [[TheUndead undead]] who want to be truly {{Immortal}}...and go about this by preserving the sanctity of the Death Realms and the living world from each other, busting up [[EldritchAbomination Mad God]] cults, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking generally being a social clubhouse]].
* DealWithTheDevil - Oddly enough, demons rarely offer these kinds of deals, because anyone who would sell their soul is likely damned anyways. On the occasions when they do, it's only for mortals who stand to corrupt a lot of ''other'' mortals.
* {{Determinator}} - Plenty of things are difficult to kill in this setting, but the grand prize probably goes to the Relentless Dead. Permanently offing one of ''them'' requires not only massive physical and spiritual damage, but specialized invocations or Necromancy powers on top of that.
* EldritchAbomination - There are a bunch of them running around, most notably the {{Mad God}}s and those infected by their [[TheCorruption Taint]].
* ElementalPowers - Each of the classical four elements has an invocation, as well as a Key of Solomon.
* EvilMakesYouUgly - Practitioners of black magic are exempt from this trope (even if their poisoned Essence stands out as vile to other Gifted), but Taint is another matter. Humans who gain (and keep gaining) Taint become increasingly deformed.
* FantasticFightingStyle - The "Storm Fist" style of the Storm Dragons.
* [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampires Friendly Neighborhood Vampyres]] - Vampyres survive on intense experience and therefore do not need to kill or even harm people. Many do (especially since overpowering someone and biting them to drink their blood is a great way to terrify someone) and there is a Vampyre flaw that does require blood, but not all (or even most) Vampyres are irredeemable monsters and there are even several Vampyre organizations that are dedicated to playing nice with {{muggles}}).
* FromNobodyToNightmare - The MO of the Disciples of the Flesh, who usually first manifest their grotesque powers right when the abuse which defines them reaches its boiling point. Whether they're actually ''evil'' after that depends on the individual involved.
* FunctionalMagic - Lots.
* TheFundamentalist - A common type among the Society of Sentinels.
* GoodIsNotNice - The Fellowship of Judas embodies this, as its members are culled from the most self-destructive and wankery people that they can find (and reform). After being reborn, most Iscariots ''still'' aren't very nice people (even though they're now fighting for good).
* GodsNeedPrayerBadly - While Incarnates (read: gods) are not utterly dependent on human belief, they derive a lot of power from it. Most lost their power base when the Seraphim had their mortal minions slaughter the Incarnates' mortal minions.
* HealingFactor - Like the FunctionalMagic, almost too many examples to count.
* HeelRealization - One step of a typical initiation into the Fellowship of Judas: when the prospective member is confronted at the threshold between life and death, and then forced to realize how selfish and vile they were when they were alive.
* HollywoodVoodoo - Averted, as the Legban Covenant featured a detailed description of the {{Voodoun}} religion and Voodoo deities ''other'' than Baron Samedi.
* HumansAreSpecial - An alternate theme of the game setting. Humanity is the only known species that possesses the Divine Spark. This essentially means that human potential is virtually infinite, and upon realization of this potential, humanity may well be like God. Seraphim (both the angelic one and the demonic ones) tend to be... unhappy about this.
* HumansAreTheRealMonsters - One theme in the setting, as demons prefer to seduce humans into committing evil rather than get their own hands dirty, the Mad Gods can't breach our reality without the help of human cultists, the Combine (with all ''its'' megalomaniacal oppressiveness) may be a purely human organization, and - last but not least - the Disciples of the Flesh are created by all-too-human abusers.
* InstantExpert - One application of the Old Soul quality, especially at higher levels.
* KiAttacks - One form of Tao-Chi attack.
* KnightTemplar - Tends to be the MO of the Sentinels, who have a long history of hunting monsters - including, at times, other Gifted (whether they were actually using their powers for evil purposes or not). Subverted with the actual Knights Templar, who are much less rabid in their efforts to protect humanity.
* HitPoints - Life Points or (for spirits) Vital Essence.
* ImmortalLifeIsCheap - More than one player of a True Immortal or Relentless Dead has been nonchalant about getting mangled, since most enemies lack the means to (permanently) kill them.
* [[JerkassGods Jerkass Angels]] - Of the three Seraphim factions, only the smallest, the Watchers, truly have humanity's best interests at heart; the [[LightIsNotGood Heavenly Host]] are at best paternalistic {{Control Freak}}s and at worst "Let God sort 'em out"-style {{Knight Templar}}s, and as for the [[LegionsOfHell Infernal Legion]] ...well, guess. The Old Gods, too, are often selfish and manipulative to their followers.
* LimitBreak - Magic functions like this in combat situations, as invocations can't be used until the magician has channeled enough Essence for the effect they want.
* LovecraftianSuperpower - The Disciples of the Flesh are Gifted who had [[DarkAndTroubledPast such a mangled childhood]] that it awoke their Gift in a way that allows them to reshape their bodies into grotesque living weapons. The [[ObviouslyEvil expected morality]] of the Pariahs is subverted, however-for the most part, they just want to stop the real monsters of the world from causing further suffering.

* {{Magitek}} - Atlantean Arcana, which runs on Essence and can't be built by mundanes.
* {{Mana}} - Essence. (Or, more darkly, Taint.)
* {{Masquerade}} - Albeit one that's getting harder to maintain everyday; by the time ''Armageddon'' begins, the cat's been out of the bag for years (though of course there were still people denying it right up until they saw genuine angels on live TV).
* TheMenInBlack - One category of the Combine's servants. A lesser extent: The Knights Templar.
* MercyKill - A frequently-encountered trope for the Mockers. The Mockers search for other Mad God survivors to bolster their ranks, but for every victim who remains intact enough to join them, they have to kill several others who are beyond help.
* MindOverMatter - The Seer Mindhands power.
* {{Muggles}} - Mundanes.
* MugglesDoItBetter - While lacking any form of supernatural traits, Mundane players get so many points for other stats that they can start with excellent attributes and near-superhuman levels in combat (or any other) skills. A sidebar in the main rulebook also warns that the Gifted have their limits, using the example that a trained gunman can fire several shots before most wizards can finish a sentence (let alone a powerful invocation).

* OffscreenTeleportation - Relentless Dead can actually take this as a power.
* OneWingedAngel - Nearly all the Disciplines of the Flesh lend themselves to this, and indeed the standard tactic with those powers is to morph into an inhumanly strong/fast/pointy/hideous monster and rend your foes limb from limb. With a bit of effort on the Reshape power, these forms can also be scary enough to trigger some pretty harsh fear tests while you're at it.

* OurVampiresAreDifferent - Most Vampyres don't actually need to drink blood, as they can siphon the Essence they need merely by causing enough fear, pain, or pleasure in their victims.
* PathOfInspiration - Many examples. The Old Gods took worshipers for their own power and to keep humanity in line. The Abrahamic Religions were often used by the Seraphim to take out the worshipers of the polytheistic religions so they could defeat the Old Gods in their home domains. The Catholic Church in particular had been used for centuries by the Combine to root out supernaturals and Gifted, and keep humanity largely ignorant. At least the Church no longer operates like this since the Black Death crippled the Combine.

* PowerCrystal - One category of Atlantean super-tech.

* PowerGlows - Beings and places with huge amounts of Essence are ''very'' obvious - if you're Gifted.
* PsychicPowers - Seer abilities.
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld - When a True Immortal is awakened, they become permanently stuck at the age they were awakened at. While most do so in the prime of their lives, there is a flaw that allows you to be permanently stuck in an underage body. This trope also applies to the Gifted, who age more slowly once they build up a huge store of Essence, to the point where the leaders of most Covenants are centuries old.
* {{Reincarnation}} - Human souls reincarnate on a fairly regular basis. The Old Soul quality (which allows you to access your past lives) is one of the few supernatural qualities a mundane can take.
* ReligionOfEvil - Numerous cults exist that involve human torture and/or sacrifice. The Cult of Pain stands out as it featured prominently on the Witchcraft website as part of several entertaining examples.
* RichBastard - One stereotype among the Rosicrucians.
* RitualMagic - The slow, tedious, and only way of using invocations if you don't have Essence Channeling.
* SerialKiller - A common bad guy in this setting. They might be a mundane murderer... or they might be a malevolent Vampyre, Feral, Relentless Dead, black magician, a cultist beholden to demons or Mad Gods, a corrupted nature spirit, or some other supernatural being...
* SpiderSense - A bonus effect of certain Seer powers and Chi Mastery.
* SpinOff - ''Armageddon''.
* SquishyWizard - The Gifted character type has the fewest points for attributes and qualities, leaving them looking a little like this compared to Lesser Gifted and (particularly) Mundane players.
* SummonMagic - The Spirit Mastery family of invocations.
* SummoningRitual - The most popular way of bringing the Mad Gods into our reality. More benign summoning invocations can also resemble this trope, if the magician is being especially careful.
* SupernaturallyDeliciousAndNutritious - Any high-essence character not concealing their power with an essence shield looks like a delicious meal to many creatures.
* SupernaturalMartialArts - The Tao-Chi powers, although they fall more towards the CharlesAtlasSuperpower end of the scale than the ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' end. Alternately, you can just use the mundane Martial Arts skill you already have, augmented by bonuses from [[KungFuWizard Seer Powers, Divine Inspiration, Necromancy possession, and/or the Key of War]]. (No one ever accused this game of having a lack of options...)
* TouchedByVorlons - Or, in this setting, Touched by Mad Gods.
* TheUndead - [[PhantasySpelling Vampyres]], Ghosts, Phantasms, the Relentless Dead... all of which are playable character types.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting - Ferals (who aren't accursed) and the Disciples of the Flesh.
* WeirdnessMagnet - Comes with the Gift, especially for the more powerful. True Immortals can also take the "Destiny Rider" flaw, which makes the Weirdness Magnet effect even ''more'' overt.

* TheAlliance - [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Alliance]], natch.
* AlwaysChaoticEvil - Justified: Developing a Mark Of Leviathan requires genuine loyalty to him, which pretty much means that the Marked are utterly evil, existing solely for the destruction of reality and the subjugation of mankind.
* AmericaSavesTheDay - America is the only country that has enough of its shit together to mount an effective counter to the Church of Revelations, with everyone either being conquered, collapsing internally due to ill-defined reasons, supporting the United States, or stuck in an extremely bloody stalemate.
* {{Atlantis}} - The Armageddon book gives us a brief history of the Elder Kingdoms, which included Atlantis, Mu, Lemuria, and Ultima Thule. Not brought down by hubris, [[spoiler: but because Ultima Thule contacted Leviathan to win their war with Atlantis]]. To prevent the world from becoming corrupted, Satan sent the Flood and destroyed civilization. Immortals are the reincarnations of the ancient Atlanteans.
* EldritchAbomination - Leviathan, of course.
* CouncilOfAngels - It's revealed that the Seraphim of the Heavenly Host tend to fall on the KnightTemplar spectrum, having done all sorts of things of questionable morality over the ages (though they are not all like this). When the Archangel Michelle finds out just how bad things are [[spoiler:(namely: that the Combine was originally the work of Gabriel)]], she quits in disgust to found the Alliance and takes a non-insignificant number of Seraphim and Kerubim with her.
* DealWithTheDevil - Praying to Leviathan will bring you luck, if you don't mind someone around you paying for it.
* DeusExMachina - Considering the setting, a lot. Leviathan gives his worshipers what they want, but in a disturbing manner. Odin scatters the Church of Revelations' fleet to prevent the conquest of England and the Scandinavian Peninsula. And [[spoiler: Divine Intervention is implied to be why nuclear weapons don't work]]
* DivineParentage - An Inheritor is the offspring of a mortal and one of the many deities out there.
* GenderFlip - The ArchangelMichael, upon taking mortal form, finds out that he's actually a woman.
* HalfHumanHybrid - The Inheritors are half-gods, the Nephilim are half-angels or demons.
* HaveYouSeenMyGod - The Creator left about 20000 years ago. The Heavenly Host have been searching for (Him? Her? It?) for most of that time, when not busy "keeping those upstart humans in line" (which probably is very far from the Creator's original plans).
* LegionsOfHell - They're actually on mankind's side for this conflict. It's kinda hard to damn all mortals to prove they're unworthy of [[{{God}} The Creator]] if a monster devours all of reality, you included.
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot - An apocalyptic setting where angels, demons, pagan gods, witches, psychics, the undead, and immortals have all teamed up to fight Lovecraftian Mad Gods!
* OutGambitted - Although not stated outright in the book, [[TheChessmaster Archangel]] [[ManipulativeBastard Gabriel]] has this happen to him in a BIG way. [[spoiler: Not only did his Combine patsies completely fail to stem the rise of supernatural awareness among humans, but they were completely blindsided by Leviathan's minions. There are in fact several hints that the Combine was in large part subverted by the Church of Revelations to their ends.]]
* PathOfInspiration - The Church of Revelations does not claim it's trying to end the world and corrupt everyone into mindless servants of an extra-dimensional Mad God, or at least it's being done for the benefit of mankind.
** ReligionOfEvil - Who are they kidding?
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt - That's the price of failure.

''Witchcraft'' uses Eden Studio's Unisystem also used for the TabletopGame/AllFleshMustBeEaten, TabletopGame/ConspiracyX and the [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Buffy]] [[LicensedGame RPG]].

''Witchcraft'' uses Eden Studio's Unisystem.

* HumansAreBastards - One theme in the setting, as demons prefer to seduce humans into committing evil rather than get their own hands dirty, the Mad Gods can't breach our reality without the help of human cultists, the Combine (with all ''its'' megalomaniacal oppressiveness) may be a purely human organization, and - last but not least - the Disciples of the Flesh are created by all-too-human abusers.

Witchcraft is an urban fantasy game set in a world like our own, but with an extensive {{Masquerade}} to mask the fact that just about every supernatural being and mythological figure exists (or has existed). The players take the part of the Gifted - humans who secretly wield the power of magic, psychic abilities, divine miracles, or other supernatural traits. For all of recorded history, the Gifted have kept their existence a secret, but now the world is threatened by an approaching [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Reckoning]], and new Gifted are being born in record numbers. The time for hiding in the shadows is coming to an end...

Witchcraft uses Eden Studio's Unisystem.

* [[CrossoverCosmology Crossover Cosmology]][=/=]FantasyKitchenSink - As with the ''WorldOfDarkness'' setting, ''Witchcraft'' sourcebooks eventually introduced so many different supernatural beings, races, and conspiracies that it becomes difficult to imagine how the {{Masquerade}} survives at all.

* SupernaturalMartialArts - The Tao-Chi powers, although they fall more towards the CharlesAtlasSuperpower end of the scale than the ''DragonBallZ'' end. Alternately, you can just use the mundane Martial Arts skill you already have, augmented by bonuses from [[KungFuWizard Seer Powers, Divine Inspiration, Necromancy possession, and/or the Key of War]]. (No one ever accused this game of having a lack of options...)
* TouchedByVorlons - Or, in this setting, Touched By Mad Gods.

* DeusExMachina - Considering the setting, a lot. Leviathan gives his worshippers what they want, but in a disturbing manner. Odin scatters the Church of Revelations' fleet to prevent the conquest of England and the Scandinavian Peninsula. And [[spoiler: Divine Intervention is implied to be why nuclear weapons don't work]]

* TheEndoftheWorldasWeKnowIt - That's the price of failure.

* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve - ''Reversed'', as disbelieving Mundanes make it ''harder'' for magic and certain supernatural abilities to function, especially when the Mundanes are gathered in huge crowds.

* GodsNeedPrayerBadly - While Incarnates (read: gods) are not utterly dependent on human belief, they derive a lot of power from it. Most lost their power base when the Seraphim had their mortal minions slaughter and forcibly convert the Incarnates' mortal minions.

* [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampires Friendly Neighborhood Vampyres]] - Vampyres survive on intense experience and therefore do not need to kill or even harm people. Many do (especially since overpowering someone and biting them to drink their blood is a great way to terrify someone) and there is a Vampyre flaw that does require blood, but not all (or even most) Vampyres are irredeemable monsters and there are even several Vampyre organizations that are dedicated to redeeming themselves (or who at least play nice with{{muggles}}).

** The [[CosmicHorror Mad Gods]] aren't exactly a positive influence on anyone, either - to the point where the demons actually ''team up'' with humanity to fight them in the sequel.

* CosmicHorror - The Mad Gods and their minions.

* LovecraftianSuperpower - The Disciples of the Flesh are Gifted who had [[DarkAndTroubledPast such a mangled childhood]] that it awoke their Gift in a way that allows them to reshape their bodies into grotesque living weapons. The [[ObviouslyEvil expected morality]] of the Pariahs is subverted, however-for the most part, they just want to stop [[CompleteMonster the real monsters of the world]] from causing further suffering.

Its SpinOff, ''Armageddon'', takes place in 2017, where the Reckoning is in full swing, and Germany is spearheading the takeover of the Earth on behalf of the extra-dimensional CosmicHorror: Leviathan.

* LegionsOfHell - They're actually on mankind's side for this conflict. It's kinda hard to damn all mortals to prove they're unworthy of [[{{God}} The Creator]] if a CosmicHorror devours all of reality, you included.

Witchcraft is an urban fantasy game set in a world like our own, but with an extensive {{Masquerade}} to mask the fact that just about every supernatural being and mythological figure exists (or has existed). The players take the part of the Gifted - humans who secretly wield the power of magic, psychic abilities, divine miracles, or many other supernatural powers. For all of recorded history, the Gifted have kept their existence a secret, but now the world is threatened by an approaching [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Reckoning]], and new Gifted are being born in record numbers. The time for hiding in the shadows is coming to an end...

* TheAtoner - The Fellowship of Judas are an entire ''covenant'' of people like this, most of them undead.

* BlackMagic - The Sadicas invocations practiced by the Cult of Pain (and possibly other evil magicians).

* CosmicHorror - The Mad Gods.

* [[CrossoverCosmology Crossover Cosmology]][=/=]FantasyKitchenSink - As with the ''WorldOfDarkness'' setting, ''Witchcraft'' eventually became populated by so many different supernatural beings, races, and conspiracies that it becomes difficult to imagine how the {{Masquerade}} survives at all.

* {{Cult}} - The setting has no shortage of these. They can be your garden variety mundane nutjobs, or they might be dedicated to black magic, demons, or the Mad Gods. Even better, the more fanatical covenants view more than one of their fellow covenants as dangerous cults.
* DarkIsNotEvil - Not only are there playable monster-heavy covenants, they're actually ''nicer'' on average than many human ones. The House of Thanatos, for example, are an organization of {{Necromancer}}s and [[TheUndead undead]] who want to be truly {{Immortal}}...and go about this by preserving the sanctity of the Death Realms and the living world from each other, busting up [[EldritchAbomination Mad God]] cults, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking generally being a social clubhouse]].
* DealWithTheDevil - Oddly enough, demons rarely offer these kinds of deals, because anyone who would sell their soul is likely damned anyways. On the occasions when they do, it's only for mortals who have a hope of corrupting a lot of ''other'' mortals.

* FantasticFightingStyle - The "Storm Fist" style of the Storm Dragons covenant.
* [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampires Friendly Neighborhood Vampyres]] - Vampyres survive on intense experience and therefore do not need to kill or even harm people. Many do (especially since overpowering someone and biting them to drink their blood is a great way to utterly terrify someone) and there is a Vampyre flaw that does require blood, but not all (or even most) Vampyres are irredeemable monsters and there are even several Vampyre organizations that are dedicated to redeeming themselves (or who at least play nice with{{muggles}}).

* KnightTemplar - Tends to be the MO of the Sentinels, who have a long history of hunting monsters - including, at times, other Gifted (whether they were actually using their powers for evil purposes or not). Subverted with the actual Knights Templar covenant, who are much less rabid in their efforts to protect humanity.
* HitPoints - Life Points or Vital Essence.

* LovecraftianSuperpower - The Disciples of the Flesh are Gifted who had [[DarkAndTroubledPast such a mangled childhood]] that it awoke their Gift in a way that allows them to reshape their bodies into grotesque living weapons. The [[ObviouslyEvil expected morality]] of the Pariahs is subverted, however-for the most part, they just want to stop [[CompleteMonster the real monsters of the world]] from causing suffering like they went through.
** An even more blatant example comes from humans who get infected by Taint from contact with the Mad Gods. One covenant, the Mockers, is centered around humans who survive the experience and choose to fight the Mad Gods with their horrible new powers.

* TheMenInBlack - The Combine. A lesser extent: The Knights Templar.

* PsychicPowers - Seers abilities.
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld - When a True Immortal is awakened, they become permanently stuck at the age they were awakened at. While most do so in the prime of their lives, there is a flaw that allows you to be permanently stuck in an underage body. This trope also applies to the Gifted, who age more slowly once they build up a huge store of Essence, to the point where the leaders of most covenants are centuries old.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil - Justified: Developing a Mark Of Leviathan requires genuine loyalty to him, which pretty much means that the Marked are utterly evil, existing solely for the destruction of existence and the subjugation of mankind.

* EldritchAbomination - Leviathan is poised to take over the world.

* [[CrossoverCosmology Crossover Cosmology]][=/=]FantasyKitchenSink - As with the ''WorldOfDarkness'' setting, ''Witchcraft'' eventually became populated by so many different supernatural beings, races, and conspiracies that it becomes difficult to imagine how the [[Masquerade]] survives at all.

Witchcraft is an urban fantasy game set in a world like our own, but with an extensive {{Masquerade}} to mask the fact that just about every supernatural being and mythological figure exists or had existed.

The setting has a dark undertone, but it is far from hopeless. On the one hand, there are many supernatural entities that are trying to exploit or outright prey upon humanity, and most of the ones that don't won't bother getting involved unless it suits them. On the other hand, not only are there beings that genuinely want to help and protect humanity, but given that human potential is virtually infinite, there are humans that can curbstomp uppity vampires, ghouls, ghosts, demons, angels, gods, freaky things from beyond, etc.

In recent times, there has been a virtual explosion of Gifted people, people who are aware of the supernatural and can manipulate it. It's of great concern for the supernaturally inclined, since with all the crap that's happening within the last century, they believe a [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Reckoning]] is coming.

* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve - Disbelieving Mundanes make it harder for magic and certain supernatural abilities to function. [[spoiler: In Armageddon, when the cat's out of the bag and the supernatural has been proven, and gods and angels and sorcerers and psychics and cosmic horrors and all manner of other crazy shit are all running around killing each other, Mundanes can still disable such abilities by getting pissed in large numbers.)]]

* [[CrossoverCosmology Crossover Cosmology]][=/=]FantasyKitchenSink

* DarkIsNotEvil - Not only are there playable monster-heavy covenants, they're actually ''nicer'' on average than many human ones. The House of Thanatos, for example, are an organization of {{Necromancer}}s and [[TheUndead undead]] who [[SoYouWantToBeImmortal want to be truly]] {{Immortal}}...and go about this by preserving the sanctity of the Death Realms and the living world from each other, busting up [[EldritchAbomination Mad God]] cults, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking generally being a social clubhouse]].

* HumansAreBastards - One theme in the setting, as demons prefer to seduce humans into committing evil rather than get their own hands dirty, the Mad Gods can't breach our reality without the help of human cultists, the Combine and all ''its'' megalomaniacal oppressiveness may be a purely human organization, and - last but not least - the Disciples of the Flesh are created by all-too-human abusers.
* HumansAreSpecial - An alternate theme of the game setting. Humanity is the only known species that possesses the Divine Spark. This essentially means that human potential is virtually infinite, and upon realization of this potential, humanity would be like God. Seraphim (both the angelic one and the demonic ones) tend to be... unhappy about this.
* KiAttacks - Tao-Chi abilities.
* KnightTemplar - Tends to be the MO of the Sentinels, who have a long history of hunting monsters - including, at times, other Gifted (whether they were actually using their powers for evil purposes or not). Subverted with the actual organization called {{the Knights Templar}}, they're actually pretty good guys.
* HitPoints - Life Points.

** An even more overt example comes from humans who get infected by Taint from contact with the Mad Gods. One covenant, the Mockers, is centered around humans who survive this experience and choose to fight the Mad Gods with their horrible new powers.

* MugglesDoItBetter - While lacking any form of supernatural traits, Mundane PCs get so many points for other stats that they can start with excellent attributes and near-superhuman levels in combat (or any other) skills. A sidebar in the main rulebook also warns that the Gifted have their limits, using the example that a trained gunman can fire several shots before most wizards can finish a sentence (let alone a powerful invocation).

* OurAngelsAreDifferent: Angels are closer to their original biblical counterparts, as powerful soldiers of God who smite people. Some are nicer, especially the Kerubim who are former humans. The rest often have (from a human POV) a serious attitude problem.

* PsychicPowers - Seers and their abilities.
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld - When an Immortal (special type of human, similar to the Highlander series) is awakened, they become permanently stuck at the age they were awakened at. While most do so in the prime of their lives, there is a flaw that allows you to be permanently stuck in an underage body. This trope also applies to the Gifted, who age more slowly once they build up a huge store of Essence, to the point where the leaders of most covenants are centuries old.

* Spider-Sense - A bonus effect of certain Seer powers and Chi Mastery.
* Spin-Off - ''Armageddon''.
* SquishyWizard - The Gifted character type has the fewest points for attributes and qualities, leaving them looking a little like this compared to Lesser Gifted and (particularly) Mundane PCs.

* SummoningRitual - The most popular way of summoning the Mad Gods. More benign summoning invocations can also resemble this trope, if the magician is being especially careful.

* SupernaturalMartialArts - The Tao-Chi powers. Or, alternately, the mundane Martial Arts skill you already have, augmented by bonuses from Seer Powers, Divine Inspiration, Necromancy possession, and/or the Key of War. (No one ever accused this game of having a lack of options...)

* WeirdnessMagnet - Comes with the Gift, especially for the more powerful. True Immortals can take the Destiny Rider flaw, which makes the Weirdness Magnet effect even ''more'' overt.

* AncientConspiracy - The Combine and the Knights Templar. The latter, however, are mostly pure good guys, [[GoodIsNotNice if sometimes amoral]].

** AngelsDevilsAndSquid - The Heavenly Host, the Infernal Legion and the creatures of Taint.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Hoo boy. Not only are there playable monster Covenants, they're actually ''nicer'' on average then many human ones. The House of Thanatos, for example, are an organization of {{Necromancer}}s and undead folks who [[SoYouWantToBeImmortal want to be truly]] {{Immortal}}...and go about this by preserving the sanctity of the Dead Realms and the living world from each other, busting up [[EldritchAbomination Mad God]] cults, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking generally being a social clubhouse]].
* DealWithTheDevil - Ironically, Demons won't take those kinds of deals because anyone who would sell their soul is likely going to Hell anyways. They do on occasion, but only for those that can corrupt even more people for them.

* HumansAreSpecial - Kinda the theme of the game setting. Humanity is the only known species that possesses the Divine Spark. This essentially means that human potential is virtually infinite, and upon realization of this potential, humanity would be like God. Seraphim (both the angelic one and the demonic ones) tend to be... unhappy about this.
* KiAttacks - Tao Chi abilities.
* KnightTemplar - Tends to be the MO of the Sentinels (the angels who guide them are kinda dickish). Subverted with the actual organization called {{the Knights Templar}}, they're actually pretty good guys.

* [[JerkassGods Jerkass Angels]] - Of the three Seraphim factions, only the smallest, the Watchers, truly have humanity's best interests at heart; the [[LightIsNotGood Heavenly Host]] are at best paternalistic {{Control Freak}}s and at worst "Let God sort 'em out"-style {{Knight Templar}}s, and as for the [[LegionsOfHell Infernal Legion]] ...well, guess.
* LovecraftianSuperpower: The Pariahs are people who had [[DarkAndTroubledPast such a mangled childhood]] that it affected their FunctionalMagic and allows them to reshape their bodies into living weapons. The [[ObviouslyEvil expected morality]] of the Pariahs is subverted, however-for the most part, they just want to stop [[CompleteMonster the real monsters of the world]] from causing suffering like they went through.
* {{Magitek}} - Atlantean Arcana. Runs on Essence.
* {{Mana}} - Essence.

* OurAngelsAreDifferent: Angels are closer to their original biblical counterparts, as powerful soldiers of God who smite people. Some are nicer, especially the Kerubim who are former humans.

* PathOfInspiration - A lot of it. The Old Gods took worshippers for their own power and to keep humanity in line. The Abrahamic Religions were often used by the Seraphim to take out the worshippers of the polytheistic religions so they could defeat the Old Gods in their home domains. The Catholic Church in particular had been used for centuries by the Combine to root out supernaturals and Gifted, and keep humanity largely ignorant. At least the Church no longer operates like this since the Black Death crippled the Combine.

* PsychicPowers
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld - When an Immortal (special type of human, similar to the Highlander series) is awakened, they become permanently stuck at the age they were awakened at. While most do so in the prime of their lives, there is a flaw that allows you to be permanently stuck in an underage body.

* ReligionOfEvil - Numerous cults exist that involve human sacrifice. The Cult of Pain stands out as it featured prominently on the Witchcraft website as part of several entertaining examples.

* WeirdnessMagnet - Comes with the Gift, especially for the more powerful.

* {{MIB}} - The Combine. A lesser extent: The Knights Templar.