The Witcher

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The Witcher is a series of novels written by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, but is better known for the series of games produced by CD Projekt Red. They focus on the life and times of Geralt of Rivia, one of the titular witchers (alchemically augmented superhumans tasked to be monster hunters) in a rather dark fantasy setting where fantastical monsters are becoming resurgent and humans are little better than the monsters.

Cast

• Geralt of Rivia - Our main protagonist and one of the last Witchers, a race of alchemically augmented mage-warriors. He's a fairly no-nonsense guy though he's very much struggling to keep the inhumanly impassive perspective in check.

• Dandelion - Traveling Bard and one of Geralt's few genuine friends. He's something of a complete idiot and a coward, but he's also the friendliest folks around and is always looking for material for his ballads. He's something of a nuisance, but he's also one of the most well-traveled people around.

• Triss Merigold - Priestess to the goddess of life and healing. She occasionally has to act as Geralt's conscience and is something of a mother-figure to Ciri.

• Yennefer of Vergerberg - The closest thing Geralt has to a lover, though she's totally a bitch at times. She's a sorceress who's manipulative but also very much despises her condition of infertility (a result of becoming a sorcerer) and this is one of the great points of contention between the two of them.

• Ciri - Geralt's sorta-adopted daughter, proclaimed his Destiny because of a tradition called the "Rule of Surprise" (A tradition in which one person does a service for another, and the recipient must repay this favor through a means that satisfies an intentionally-vague criteria). After her real parents die in a siege waged by barbarians, she manages to wander into Geralt's life, and so he decides to raise her...as a mini-him. This is quickly stopped and she's sent to a proper school to learn. It's pretty clear that she's far more important than she seems as her unnatural height and uncontrolled bouts of magical power indicate that she might have some inhuman blood insider her. According to the games, she’s also been to the world of Cyberpunk while trying to escape pursuers (made possible by the act that CD Projekt RED works on both franchises).

The Novels

While there are six novels, they were not released in order of continuity. The first and fourth novels (The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny) are just a bunch of short stories using the same cast and settings while the rest of them are all focused on a particular central plot.

1. The Last Wish: The introduction to the world of the Witcher, explaining who Geralt is, the world he lives in, and his work. As a collection of stories, there's not much of a greater overarching plot, the closest being his decision regarding hiding out in a place where he's clearly being hunted.
2. Blood of the Elves: Introduces (Numerically) Ciri and how Geralt decided to raise her in Caer Morhen. This is eventually halted after Nenneke reminds him about how raising a child isn't the same as training a Witcher and sends Ciri over to a school that actually teaches magic. It is here that Ciri also receives some instruction from Yennefer.
3. A Time of Contempt:
4. Sword of Destiny: Despite being released internationally as Book 4, this was actually written and set after The Last Wish. This does mean that it's another set of short stories, though the overarching plot is much more obvious. This is also the chronological first time we are introduced to Ciri.
5. Baptism of Fire:
6. The Tower of the Swallow:
7. The Lady of the Lake:
8. The Season of Storms:
9. The Wild Hunt:

The Games

CD Projekt Red is responsible for releasing the three main Witcher games (with DLC) alongside Gwent, a digital card game and competitor to Blizzard's Hearthstone, and Thronebreaker.

The RPG

There is actually an RPG that lets you play around in this setting made by R. Talsorian in 2018. It generally lets you use the basic engine of d10+Stat for getting things done. You get a small list of classes and only three races (Human, Dwarf, Elf) with the actual Witchers being a race-as-class affair. There's a lot of background rolling, some truly nasty ways for crits to work you over, and a rather vast crafting system.