'Tis the Season...

[The Green Adam]

In the spirit of the holidays, post your ideas for adventures, NPCs or other gaming elements inspired by this most merry of times. I'm ho ho ho happy to start things rolling...

Santa Claus, Earth-AD1
In my Superhero campaign universe, every single sentient being on Earth generates a sort of psycho-kinetic static. A side effect of the potential superhuman genes residing in all humanity, this pyscho-kinetic energy sometimes combines to form shapes based on how many people focus their thoughts on the same subject. PKE manifestations range from ghosts and similar phenomena to the existance of an honest to goodness Santa Claus. Christopher Nicholas Kringle first formed into his current state sometime in the early 1900s but believes himself to be much older. His powers change throughout the decades but generally adhere to the classic variations most often associated with Father Christmas. On at least three occasions, superheroes from the USA and United Kingdom have assisted or been assisted by St. Nick during the holiday season.

Ghost of Christmasses That Never Were
Used in our old Ghostbusters campaign, this ill-tempered spirit represents all the Xmas holiday disappointments children have had over the years. Didn't get that toy you really wanted? Lost that part in the Holiday Play becuase you got sick? Those and manner other childhood bummers have generated this notorious nasty.

 

[kenobi65]

One of my gaming groups traditionally gets together for a game right around Christmas, and this session has always been dubbed "The Twelve Dungeons of Christmas". The name came from the very first such session, about 25 years ago.

The party found themselves walking down a 10' hallway, ending in a door. It opened up into a 10' square room, inhabited by one orc (a 1 HD monster, as it turns out).

There was a door leading out, which led to a 20' hallway, a 20' square room, and 2 gnolls (2 HD monsters).

Then, a 30' hallway, a 30' square room, and 3 bugbears (3 HD monsters).

Fortunately for us (the players), the number of monsters in each room eventually decreased. We were pretty bright, and figured out that room #12 was going to contain a red dragon, so we saved a few spells and effects for it, and were able to wipe it out before it even got to breathe on us. The DM is still pissed about that one, 25 years later.

 

[jmucchiello]

The party found themselves walking down a 10' hallway, ending in a door. It opened up into a 10' square room, inhabited by one orc (a 1 HD monster, as it turns out).

There was a door leading out, which led to a 20' hallway, a 20' square room, and 2 gnolls (2 HD monsters).

Then, a 30' hallway, a 30' square room, and 3 bugbears (3 HD monsters).

Shouldn't it have been:

1 orc (pie optional)
2 gnolls and 1 orc
3 bugbears, 2 gnolls, and 1 orc
etc.

The fun part here is as the difficulty goes up, the orcs and gnolls become leaders with levels just to mess with the party.

 

[Tonguez]

What about
Santa is missing, the PCs must find him before Christmas Eve or the Sun wont rise again!

 

[kenobi65]

Shouldn't it have been:

1 orc (pie optional)
2 gnolls and 1 orc
3 bugbears, 2 gnolls, and 1 orc
etc.

Technically, yes, it should have been.

Many years later, the same DM ran the same basic adventure, only with that geometric progression. Our PCs were high-level, and we had several spellcasters, so it mostly became an exercise of seeing how many of the monsters the spellcasters could wipe out with their AoE spells before we fighters went in to finish things off. (That, and it took FOREVER...)