What better way to celebrate the holidays than to give your friends the chance to save (or destroy) Christmas?
As we’ve talked about in previous episodes, holiday-themed games are a great chance to break up the story of your campaign and do something fun and off the wall that’s focused more on the time of year than your story or player levels. You’ve seen Dave’s Halloween trek through Weird New Jersey. Tony did a Halloween game this year, too, that gave us all a break from the Giant-slaying of Storm King’s Thunder.
My big holiday game has always been around Christmas. I love giving my players some fun holiday goodies and letting them fight some weird Christmas-themed monsters.
But what makes a fun holiday-themed adventure? Here are my 7 rules for great Christmas games. With these in your back pocket, your players will look forward to your holiday game like it’s Christmas morning.
1. Let It Snow!
Christmas and the other winter holidays mean a lot of things to a lot of people, but one thing is pretty much universal: They’re cold! (Unless you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, where I’ll leave the local traditions up to you.)
Embrace the weather in your game. Make it cold and snowy, maybe stormy. But also throw in some fun winter games and snowball fights. Celebrate winter.
2. Get Mythical!
Santa, Rudolph, The Abominable Snow Man, Krampus, Ralphie and his Daisy Red Ryder bb gun … Christmas is a time of stories and favorite characters. This is exactly the time to bring some of them into your game.
These characters can be good or bad! I’ve done Christmas games where the players rescued Santa and saved the day and games where they battled “Satan Clause and his 8 Fiery Reindeer.” Subvert some expectations and have some fun.
You could always make Robot Santa Clause as a Warforged.
3. Play With Traditions Your Players Will Enjoy
D&D tables should be inclusive of their players. If no one celebrates Christmas, play with the holiday traditions or winter celebrations they do enjoy. If there’s a mix of beliefs at the table, find a way to work them all in or do a theme that doesn’t alienate any of them.
In line with Ralphie and Robot Santa Clause mentioned above, there are a lot of non-religious winter properties you can use, like Star Wars Life Day, World of Warcraft’s Winter Veil and Discworld’s Hogfather.
4. Everyone Has Holiday Treats
No matter where you are, even in the Southern Hemisphere, the winter holidays have unique foods. Whether it’s gingerbread houses, candy canes, Christmas pudding, latkes, tamales, or something unique to your game world, throw in a taste of the season.
For bonus points, give it a potion-like in-game effect. Or, in a game like DM Tony’s, maybe it gives a permanent stat or skill boost? How generous (or game-breaking) do you feel like being?
5. Give Out Presents!
We’re not necessarily talking about exchanging gifts around the table (although that’s a lot of fun, too). I like to put presents in the adventure for the players to have fun with.
One trick I’ve used is to give players in the lower or mid-levels access to epic-level magic items, and sometimes a level-20 power/spell to play with just for that game. This lets the players have fun with some cool toys, and it lets you jack the villain’s danger-level up to feel truly mythic. (Just don’t boost it too far – dying is poor form in a holiday game.) These items/abilities fade away at the end of the game, so they won’t impact the rest of your campaign.
Another approach is to create crazy holiday-themed items unique to the one-shot, like gumdrop guns or dreidel grenades (which I would give a random effect depending on the side rolled, and one definitely turns the target into chocolate!).
6. Do It Before the Holiday if Possible
You can get away with a Christmas game in that quiet week between Christmas and New Years’ (assuming it is quiet for your group). But this kind of game really works best 1-2 weeks before Christmas when people are starting to look forward to it. In that timeframe, you help stoke their Christmas spirit.
I would expect the same to hold true for other holidays. It’s better to be on the upswing of the seasonal feeling than the seasonal-affective slide into darkest winter. (There are other themes for that.)
7. Keep It Short
I like my Christmas games to last 3 to 4 encounters with some fun stuff sprinkled in (like snowball fights or sledding). It shouldn’t be a sloggy game, and you don’t want to do too much with characters who are intentionally cheeky. Get in, get out, they use some cools toys and abilities, and Christmas is saved! (Or whatever holiday you’re playing with.)
Make it light and fun, and your players will have a great time that they talk about for years to come!
If you throw a holiday game, we’d love to hear about it! Comment below or send us an email at 3wisedms@gmail.com. We’ll recap the best in an upcoming episode.