The Witches of Wederra Keep is a cozy folk horror Actual Play audio series produced and directed by Jacob Wolf Lefton. Using the TTRPG, Wickedness from Possum Creek Games, Jacob and his team tell the story of a coven of three witches. The coven faces trials and challenges as they are caught between the mortal world and the underworld.
Jacob was kind enough not only to gift me the first four episodes for review. He also agreed to chat with me about the making of the series and his hopes for it. Read on to find out everything you need to know about this spooky and evocative tale of witches and belonging.
The trailer and the first two episodes of The Witches of Wederra Keep are out on AudioFiction or wherever you get your Actual Play podcasts. New episodes will be released every Tuesday until February 18th after which time they will be released bi-weekly. The series will feature 29 episodes throughout the whole of 2025.
Story – Weaving an Intricate Tale of Witches, Fellowship and Belonging
Wickedness – How the Game Works
To understand this Actual Play series, it’s worth understanding a little more about the game used for The Witches of Wederra Keep; Wickedness. Wickedness is a TTRPG created by Mazey Veselak where you form a coven of three witches struggling to find their way in the world. The game uses a tarot deck to create scenarios for your coven to face. Successfully overcoming scenarios requires Wisdom, which you can only gain by falling to your characters’ Follies. This means that in order to ultimately succeed, you will first have to fail, setting players up for telling stories of adversity.
There are three mystical archetypes for the players to take on: the Pure Heart, the Wild Spirit and the Old Soul. Each of these archetypes have their own Follies and their own True Magic. True magic can also be used to overcome challenges but it comes at the cost of part of the character’s essential nature. All this means that you have these individual scenes and challenges prompted by what cards you draw that feed into an overall struggle to balance keeping the world from falling into darkness, with looking after your characters.
Jacob had this to say about the game:
I fell in love with it. It’s such a it’s such an odd little game, in a way, like its rhythm is very different. It turns into like a slice of life story.
Jacob brings the show to life with his incredible narration and production skills.
Using Wickedness to Improvise Compelling Narratives
Jacob and the team have taken Wickedness and used it to create a wonderfully evocative tale. The main difference has been the addition of a fourth player: the narrator. This is used to great effect as Jacob sets the scene and the scenarios the witches have to face. After setting the scene in episode one, we are introduced to the three witches. They are Minerva the Old Soul, Circe the Wild Spirit and Charley the Pure Heart. They are played by Sarah Purcell, Maricarmen Gutiérrez and Ariella Weigl respectively.
Each episode is its own tarot card prompt. The action focuses on the arising issue narrated by Jacob and how the witches choose to respond to it. Because the tarot cards are selected randomly, there is a lot of improvisation in terms of where the story goes. However, there is a strong sense of congruence. These first four episodes roll together with recurring characters and themes like it was planned that way from the start.
What Makes The Witches of Wederra Keep a Cozy Folk Horror?
This ‘slice of life’ element that Jacob spoke about really shines through as we follow the inner workings of the witches. We can empathize with being on the edge of society as they are. We can feel partially involved as they navigate the pressures of social responsibility against what they themselves want to do. Whilst there is a lot of darkness and dread in the story, there is also a cozy, homely element to proceedings and an enduring sense of hope.
Minerva the Old Soul, Circe The Wild Spirit and Charley the Pure Heart.
Jacob spoke about Actual Play being an effective medium for exploring dark themes and the horror genre. He believes the aspect of playing a game with friends can lighten the mood and offer a respite from the themes explored:
When I get to experience a role playing game, even if people are acting in a way, I can see the players behind it, and if the players behind it are enjoying themselves, then I feel really good about it.
Without giving too much away, the first four episodes allow each of the three witches lead roles in certain episodes. Through these highlight moments, we get tantalizing insights into their true nature. They also explore the themes of tension with the mortal world, the creeping influence of the underworld and other supernatural forces at play.
Characters & Performances – Three Witches Against the Worlds
Between Jacob’s narration and the character performances of Sarah, Maricarmen and Ariella, The Witches of Wederra Keep Actual Play gives us a lot to enjoy.
An International Cast
Part of what is striking about the cast is how distinctive their voices are, with all of them coming from different parts of the world. Sarah is from Ireland, Maricarmen is from Peru, Ariella is from Germany whilst Jacob is from the USA. Listening to these episodes, you quickly get a sense of who is who from their distinctive accents.
The Three Witches; Sarah, Ariella and Maricarmen in the middle of recording another adventure!
It is also interesting hearing different approaches to the English language. Sometimes we encounter words that exist in Spanish or Germany that don’t have an English counterpart. These moments are brilliant examples of playing at a diverse table, with Jacob questioning and guiding the players to find the right words. They are also really educational from a linguistic point of view. One of my favorite moments of player chat was finding out that the German for Kingfisher is ‘Eisvogel’ which literally translates to ‘ice bird’!
The Characters Brought to Life
Throughout, Sarah, Maricarmen and Ariella provide stand out performances as the three witches, leaning into their respective archetypes beautifully. As Minerva the old soul, Sarah performs her role with great gravitas. As we listen we hear her bearing the weight of responsibility for the coven on her shoulders. The contrast between her public ‘helpless old lady’ persona and her true nature was brilliant. As Circe the Wild Spirit, Maricarmen embodies an impulsive fiery personality. She is clearly ready to do whatever it takes to defend her coven and her animals. Meanwhile, as Charley the Pure Heart, Ariella embodies a sweet and naive, wide-eyed character. Her idealism and wanting to see the best in people really shines through in her performance.
As the narrator, Jacob brings his experience as a life long roleplay, actor and improvisor to set the scene evocatively, establishing the setting for the players and the audience. He also provides excellent voice acting for the many characters the witches interact with. His performances are distinctive without being over the top. The nuance of his character performances have us looking for the subtext as to what these characters’ aims and intensions are.
This amazing artwork of some of Jacob’s supporting characters was made by Hannah Templer.
Sound Design
The first thing you hear when you start an episode is the show’s unique music score. This understated and flowing musical opening hints at dark secrets as well as trouble and strife, instantly setting the mood for the show. Jacob did an incredible job with the sound design. He used construction kits to piece together the show’s evocative music. He also credited the help of a sound engineering students; Julian Hunold and Václav Květoň who have been supporting him with the mixing and mastering. The recording was done at Greve Studios and Lyra Studios in Berlin.
Ambient sound effects are used to great effect to help you feel part of the action. In some instances you can feel like you’re right there with the witches as they sculk through the woods, enter a crowded tavern or gather around the fireplace. Jacob describes his sound design methodology beautifully.
If it was a film, there’d be a camera, and you would see this happen. And so then the sound design would be motivated by establishing that. I want you, in your mind’s eye to picture somebody crossing their arms or whatever. Even though nobody says it, you don’t see it. But I can evoke a feeling of people just having a conversation and moving to adjust their themselves.
Editing & Pacing
Over the course of 2025, there will be roughly 13 hours of run time over 29 episodes. Whilst the first episode’s runtime was 41 minutes, most of the episodes are about 25 minutes long. According to Jacob, a big priority for this series was for it to be accessible to a variety of listeners. Having these bite sized episodes really helps break down this novel-length story into easily digestible pieces. It should also been that if you miss a few weeks (or even months) you shouldn’t have too much catching up to do.
That said, none of the episodes feel particularly rushed. There is time for Jacob’s lavish scene setting pieces, character performances and discussion of the game mechanics. Because of the tight editing, the action remains engaging as we are given the time to appreciate what’s going on, without lingering on anything for too long.
A little behind the scenes look at creating The Witches of Wederra Keep.
Jacob describes the editing process:
We spent 30 hours in studio on at the beginning of September, and then I’ve been cutting it down. And of those 30 hours, it will probably end up being 12 to 13 hours, ultimately, of story. I’ve cut out half of the material, just talking in between, of like, okay, here’s the next card we drew. How are we going to navigate it? What are the mechanics again?
Jacob’s description of this series as a slice of life show is pretty spot on. Throughout, we witness the witches’ internal narration and collaborating with other players and side characters. Through this we get to feel a part of the inner workings of the characters, bringing the cozy part of this cozy folk horror. Here’s how Jacob described it in our chat:
My vision of this is that it is much more fiction forward game with just a hint of mechanics, but trying to play with what actual play is for me, which is this fiction that you get to really immerse in, but you also see the performers in it. The performers are very visible, as they’re almost the first audience to what’s happening. And you get to sort of like, sit there and experience it with them as they’re as they’re doing it.
What’s in Store for our Witches Now?
Episodes one and two of the Witches of Wederra Keep are already out AudioFiction or wherever you get your Actual Play podcasts. Episode three will release on February 11th and episode four on February 18th. From March onwards, episodes will come out biweekly. This will continue until episode ten in May, which will mark the end of Act One. You can find future updates on their Bluesky, Instagram or the Wederra Keep Blog.
Already it has been accepted to the Cusco Web Fest. This is a remarkable achievement considering only two episodes are currently live!
If you’ve enjoyed the gorgeous cover art and would like to see more, the artist is Hannah Templer of Cosmoknights.
If you would like to support The Witches of Wederra Keep, there are several things you can do. As with many indie creators, following, liking and sharing can do a long way. Leaving reviews on podcast platforms and social media will also go a long way. Also, if you would like to be a patron and get bonus content, you can join the Wederra Keep Patreon. One off donations are also possible through Jacob’s Ko-fi.
