Penny Arcade: Christmas Eve D&D

[MarkB]

Penny Arcade - Christmas Eve D&D

As with many of Penny Arcade's forays into D&D, Gabe once again makes me wish I was that good a DM.

 

[HalfordAskold]

Great idea for a Christmas scenario! Gotta remember this for next year. Bet the PCs had fun.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Really nice! I like weaving in the monsters as dark creatures that wanted to take Scrooge's soul, and good creatures that wanted to save him. Making Scrooge a Lich is also pretty frickin' brilliant!

I would've wanted some way to help Scrooge that wasn't necessarily "stab things," though, personally. Stabbing things should be there, but I would want to explore some of the other themes of the story, too.

Ideas include:

• Possibility of Failure: The PC's might fail the adventure. If they do, Scrooge becomes a lich, Tiny Tim dies, and the town will turn into his undead army. Not right away, of course. This is "fated to happen," but if the PC's intervene, it won't, and if they can't intervene, it will eventually come to pass, regardless of what they do. In order to actually cause the change, the party needs to succeed in 2/3 of the challenges (they can fail only once).
• Greed vs. Genereosity: The PC's need to surrender some object or treasure of great value to them in order to solve the challenge of the Spirit of Christmas Past (maybe to help Fan visit Scrooge, or to help Belle find another love after giving up on Scrooge). They can fail this challenge by refusing to give up their item. If they give up the item, they do not have it for this adventure, but gain a more powerful item (as a treasure) at the end.
• Ignorance vs. Wisdom: The PC's need to help the Spirit of Christmas Present get to Tiny Tim, and while they're there, they have some social encounters with the poor and isolated of the town -- child laborers, terminally ill, and petty criminals. People screwed by the system, basically. If the party fails to "clear a path" for the Spirit by hearing these stories and making the poverty-stricken wretches a little more comfortable (with social skills), they fail the challenge.
• Habit vs. Change: The horrible visage of Yet To Come keeps with the idea of Scrooge as a Lich, and plays up the idea of this being "inevitable," about Scrooge having "no choice," and about how "this is the way that one survives -- on the backs of others." Each character must offer up a vow to change something about themselves, in order to demonstrate that heroic virtue of rising above their weaknesses. If they each can give a suitable heroic vow, then Scrooge does the same. If not, Scrooge does not, and they fail this challenge.
• Victory or Defeat?: If the party has succeeded overall, Scrooge will repent the next day (after his confrontation with Future), and the party will receive rewards from the spirits. If the party has failed over all, Scrooge will not repent, and, if the party still wants to save the town, that's another story...