Christmas One-Off

[Ravilah]

I've taken a break from GMing for a while, but my friends have requested a one-off for Christmas and I would love to oblige. I've done a couple of these "holiday editions" before (both using D&D), and I've always managed to weave in a vaguely Christmas-themed concept into the adventure. One year I wrote "How the Gruumsh Stole Beltine" and the other year I ran one called "The Red Necromancer is Coming to Town."

Well this year I'm stumped. Once I get a good, clever idea, I can write up a session pretty quick, but I've puzzled and puzzed till my puzzler is sore, and I can't think of a Christmas-theme fantasy concept.

By the way, I am running this in Savage Worlds this year, and these games (clearly) are pretty tongue-in-cheek, verging on silly. I don't mind working in a little genuine horror or drama, however.

Any and all idea appreciated. Thanks.

R

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Leverage some classic Christmas tales like:

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Shoggoth

Frosty the Abominable Snow Monster

'Twas the Nightmare before Solstice

We Three Kings of Oriental Adventures

A Solstice Carol ("Marley was Undead, to begin with.")

 

[Herobizkit]

My favorite idea that I've never used is presenting (ha) Santa and his elves as a band of dark fey. Rather than leaving toys for the kids, they snatch kids to the "other side" of the fey world where they become "dark elves" who slave in a twisted version of Santa's Workshop.

The PC's would possibly try and hunt Santa, follow/track thim through the mists into his crazy alternate plane and try to rescue someone. Tweak the scary/fun factor as you see fit.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

Ever since I heard of the krampus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krampus) I thought it would be an excellent antagonist for a Christmas themed session. I initially thought of using it in a Dresden Files session because that is the system we were playing at the time I learned about it.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

I'm going to be running a one-off for some friends over Xmas. They don't play much, if at all, so I know I'm on to a winner.

They're all also involved in Roller Derby, so I'm going to have other members of their Roller Derby team kidnapped and charge them with rescuing them! And to do this... they'll be playing their Roller Girl alter egos and we'll be using the Feng Shui system for maximum kick-ass-ness (if that's a word). It'll be somewhat tongue-in-cheek (of course). Might throw in some Xmas bits and pieces just for fun. There was the Santa Skate in London last weekend - maybe I'll stage a fight sequence in the middle of it.

 

[Aeolius]

Ever since I heard of the krampus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krampus) I thought it would be an excellent antagonist for a Christmas themed session.

In my games, the krampus is a "male hag", the offspring of two night hags conceived while one was shape-changed into male form. They are natural-born hag-killers and are prone to capturing young hags and imprisoning them in a misshapen "cage" of bone which extrudes from their backs. In this cage the young hags are drained of their life essences, imparting their abilities to the krampus. As the offspring of a night hag, the krampus is similar in strength to the greenhag. The krampus may produce offspring with goblin, hobgoblin or orc females.

 

[Aeolius]

For inspiration, you might want to listen to some of the lovely holiday music from the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, readily available on YouTube. Then feel free to stat out a gargantuan figgy pudding.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

In my games, the krampus is a "male hag", the offspring of two night hags conceived while one was shape-changed into male form. They are natural-born hag-killers and are prone to capturing young hags and imprisoning them in a misshapen "cage" of bone which extrudes from their backs. In this cage the young hags are drained of their life essences, imparting their abilities to the krampus. As the offspring of a night hag, the krampus is similar in strength to the greenhag. The krampus may produce offspring with goblin, hobgoblin or orc females.

Cool stuff!

 

[Aeolius]

or perhaps:

 

[Ravilah]

Gargantuan. Figgy. Pudding.

LOVE it.