Christmas Adventure Seeds

iGregory · Dec 19, 2018

Hello all!

I'm new here -- I just signed up today -- but I'm not new to table top gaming. I started with AD&D in 1981 and continued to play all through high school, college and into adult life. When kids came along, not so much, though... But, now my kids are 13, 13 and 10 and a couple months ago, I started them playing Keep On The Border Lands (modified by me for 2nd Edition) and they are having a great deal of fun.

This coming weekend, the group has departed the Caves of Chaos for a brief break to the Keep, but I want to throw something Christmas inspired/themed at them and I'm looking for some ideas...

One thought I had was something "Home Alone" inspired, but... not really sure how to fit in a 'defend the home' into the game _and_ make it obvious it was a Home Alone adventure.

And now I'm out of ideas...

Anybody got any seeds they'd like to share?

Thanks.

Greg

Zardnaar · Dec 19, 2018

A fantasy version of the Futurama Santa Claus. Refluff nightmares as reindeer and Santa is a living construct wizard.

Dessert Nomad · Dec 19, 2018

If you've read Hogfather by Terry Pratchett, you can steal some of its idea. Forces that don't like humanity have arranged for the Hogfather to be kidnapped (Discworld's equivalent of Santa Claus) and Death has to fill in for him while Susan (his adopted granddaughter) figures out what's going on and rescues him. There is a wonderfully creepy scene where the kidnapper uses blood magic on the teeth that the tooth fairy collects as part of his plan. If you haven't read it, you should!

Dannyalcatraz · Dec 20, 2018

Part of me is thinking of a mashup between Home Alone and Jumanji.

Tell us about their characters.

iGregory · Dec 23, 2018

They are first level... There is one bard, one ranger and one cleric.

I am thinking of having a dwarf, with a big white beard, wearing a red fir coat shows up in town because his sled broke down or something like that... and he need somebody to help him... I want them to need to help him, but I don't want it to take more than a couple hours, game time, as they are on a mission to save the Blacksmith's daughter from the evil that lurks in the Caves of Chaos...

Any ideas of what he might need help with would be appreciated.... maybe a thief picks his pocket in town... or steals his 'sack' (of holding)? Or his reindeer are sick and need some quick medicine or something along those lines....

I have read some of Terry Pratchett stuff -- I came to it via Good Omens (his colab. with Neil Gaiman) and it was fun stuff, but I don't recall "Hog Father"...

Thanks for the ideas so far. I'll post a synopsis here when I'm done... hopefully it will be entertaining enough for the players...

Greg

Dannyalcatraz · Dec 23, 2018

Well, if you want a real Home Alone Vibe, you probably don’t want to move the action too far away from the home. So whatever the Jolly Old El....errrrrrr...Dwarf needs should be available in the house. That means no stolen sack, and probably not something major broken on the sleigh.

“Airsick” flying reindeer (or Santa) might be the way to go. Perhaps Krampus or his agents laced the food with some toxin.

Eltab · Dec 25, 2018

Rudolph's magic nose went out. He needs a goodly quantity of herbs and such to get it back lit again.
- The PCs might meet some Lizardmen if the herbs in question grow near the edge of the swamp.
- Santa must be on his way before dark.
- If the PCs earlier barged into one Cave, partially cleared it, and left survivors behind, those monsters might come out looking for trouble.
- An approaching weather front (thick fog?) causes additional time pressure.

Dannyalcatraz · Dec 25, 2018

“Rudolph needs to get lit before we can fly again.” sends a mixed message, don’tcha think?

iGregory · Jan 1, 2019

My Final Result

Well, this afternoon, I ran a holiday themed adventure for my kids. I only had one head in hand from one kid (when I said that the old gnome who delivers toys to kids is named "Santac Laus"...

At anyrate, the idea of the adventure was that the party returned to town for a bit of a rest only to find out that they have arrived on Mid Winters' Eve -- a time of great celebration -- only to find out that Santac Laus has been kidnapped by a local necromancer. The party then goes to rescue the gnome and find him in a sac, being dragged by a group of zombies and skeletons. After a fight, they managed to rescue Laus and save Mid Winters' Eve.

I can post my notes somewhere if anybody's interested?

Greg

Eltab · Jan 1, 2019

Dannyalcatraz said:
“Rudolph needs to get lit before we can fly again.” sends a mixed message, don’tcha think?

Not when he turns that spotlight your way.

Have you / your character never had to find wild herbs to make a poultice for the local healer to substitute instead of a Medicine Kit?