TollmireTollmire

The witch sits at her cauldron and names a number. You have three rolls to raise it. Fall short and the bog takes you — and you start over, only wiser.

Points times mult. Every face scores points, some raise the mult — and at the end one is multiplied by the other. A higher mult is almost always worth more than a few extra points.

Six numbers become your die. At the forge you buy special faces. They are forged onto single numbers, not onto the whole die: a one is easy to give up, a six hurts. Eight tolls later you have a set of dice nobody else owns.

• Star Eye — the later it lands, the more it counts

• Root Eye — counts its opposite face five times over

• Echo Eye — the die falls again, at once

• Curse Eye — 25 points. Two in one roll and the roll sinks

22 talismans, four slots. They last the whole run. The Fairy Ring makes room for an eighth die, the Blood Seal takes the sting out of curses. Plus potions for the one turn where it tips.

The witch keeps interrupting. At two tolls per run she sets a whim: even numbers count one and a half times, or the will-o'-wisps stay dark, or every die above four costs you a coin. There are twelve, and each is announced beforehand. You can prepare — just not for everything.

Four will-o'-wisps hang above the dice. Each lights on a different roll pattern. With all four burning your next roll counts ×1.2; close the round a second and third time and it is ×1.5 and ×2 — more with the right talisman. Then everything goes out and starts again.

The eighth toll is not the end. Once it is paid the next witch tier wakes up — eight of them, each turning a different screw: interest halved, one more whim, one die fewer. Whoever would rather keep rolling walks into the endless bog, where the toll never stops rising.

• 8 tolls per run, 8 witch tiers, then the endless bog

• 14 special faces, 22 talismans in 6 groups, 4 potions

• 7 dice bags, each with its own handicap

• 12 witch whims, two of them per run

• 42 deeds that unlock faces, talismans and bags