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'Tis the Session To Be Jolly - Holiday Themed Adventures
19 Plays5 days ago
Daryl, Nick, and Robert go full festive as they break down how to turn holiday vibes into RPG gold. Perfect for GMs who want to make their next session merry, weird, and unforgettable.
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Do They Know It's Life Day? Star Wars RPG holiday adventure
https://myswrpg.com/do-they-know-its-life-day/
Me & Steve Talk RPGs
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Transcript
Introduction to How We Roll Gaming
00:00:02
Speaker
with the coachman D20 Radio. at Your game is rolled.
00:00:17
Speaker
How will We Roll Gaming is dedicated to spreading enjoyment of great role-playing games. We hope to bring you insights into games you may not have played, tips to be a better game master and player, and share us stories of momentous events at our tables.
00:00:29
Speaker
Every game is a new story to
Hosts' Game Session Banter
00:00:31
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tell. I'm Daryl. I'm Nick. And here's Robert. And this is How We Roll.
00:00:43
Speaker
Welcome back to the How We Roll Gaming Podcast, everybody. And we are glad to have you back again. i i was about to ask, like I normally do, how you two do... fine gentlemen are doing this evening, but it's been right at 24 hours since we were all last in a room together, and Robert nearly killed us all.
00:01:07
Speaker
Well, Cyberpunk.
Cyberpunk Game Challenges
00:01:10
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I honestly wasn't trying to, it's just the roles be where they are. It's not an issue of you trying to. It's more based on his defense.
00:01:23
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No, what's really surprising is that Nick didn't die since I was almost killed everybody. Yes. That too. They just finally learned in Cyberpunk how squishy you can be at sometimes when you face a mini boss.
00:01:40
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I mean, you know technically you're squishier in Walking Dead when you face you anything. Yeah. But yeah, it's...
00:01:53
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it' it's a whole It's a whole thing. You you nearly killed us. But I'm glad everyone had fun and nobody died. And nobody died except the one NPC you all liked.
00:02:05
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Yes. yes yes Justice! We will have justice. Which is also really funny because i he was a cop. Yes, and and we don't like... good cop no they're Sure, there are. Are good cops.
00:02:25
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I statted them out, and they're my creations. They're good cops. But we adopted that one. We adopted that one. We were ready to corrupt him. And we were starting to.
00:02:37
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and yet one of you And yet one of you killed him. So, you know.
00:02:44
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I didn't kill him. It wasn't me. Nick didn't kill him. It wasn't me. But...
Black Friday Shopping Stories
00:02:52
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ah Last time out on our gift ideas, that we recorded right before holiday sales and Black Friday sales were starting. And I must say that I accomplished probably about two-thirds of my of my friendly local game store Black Friday sale mission.
00:03:15
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So I was pleased with that. Yep, and I got six books for the price of four, so... Right noise And, you know, i what I walked in most wanting to get, the Mothership Deluxe set, I got. It's so It's so pretty.
00:03:37
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And I noticed that the same store had the two Legend of the Five Rings books that Robert was lacking. And let him know. And they were still there when you got there. Mm-hmm.
00:03:51
Speaker
So even got a screen for myself. Yes. GM screens are coming back around that have been out of print for ages. You got that one. And just today i got the Delta green handler screen for all of you who play Delta green. You know, those things are hard to come by. And I must say that I really, really like the subtitle line on the packaging for the Delta green GM screen.
00:04:22
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A wall of desperation between sanity and truth. Yep. I saw that. It made me laugh. But you know that it's a good game store. This is not the game store that we normally go to. The big one that we were just talking about.
00:04:41
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This is a smaller one nearby. And I'm in there half a dozen, maybe eight times a year.
Local Game Store Adventures
00:04:50
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I always make a point of buying something, but you know that it's good staff at the store. The only person working there is the owner.
00:05:00
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And I walked in today. He knows that I play Delta Green. It has been free RPG day since I was in there last. So it was June because life.
00:05:15
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And I walked in and he's like, oh, hey, you need a GM screen. like, I have no idea what you're what for what game. I don't know what you're talking about.
00:05:26
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And he runs... I have no idea how little that narrows down the question. Right? He goes running over to the Delta Green session and yanks it off the shelf and hands it to me. here you go.
00:05:38
Speaker
Like, well, thank you, Jesse. and you know how significant that is because it didn't even register in his mind. Oh, yeah. And he hit need a screen for that because... There's never been a screen for that. It has a while. This one when it launched.
00:05:57
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Yes. Because when it launched, the quick start book, um Need to Know, came with the GM screen.
00:06:08
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And now it's just the book. And the GM screen has been out of print since that initial printing. But you know who has that original GM screen and got it with Need to Know?
00:06:24
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think I know. Our friend Steve from the Me and Steve Talk RPGs podcast. Yes. As t Steve and the other steve and other Steve, who we hold very dear to our hearts, they've been indeed very... They're always...
00:06:42
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He's always fun, and he loves when we just turn all his games into chaos at the con. They just go in and talk whatever tickles their fancy about RPGs, though they also have started doing recordings of Indian real play.
00:06:57
Speaker
Yep, they they've done a couple of actual plays before. They recently launched a new actual play in the Exalted system, which I have never played, but they are having fun with it. And they've been alternating episodes between their exalted actual play and ah their regular episodes. As we record this, their most recent episode, ah they were short of Steve, but Steve was talking to another friend of ours from the con, Brett from Studio 404 Games, ah who has, Brett has also worked on the new edition of Earthdawn.
00:07:44
Speaker
for FASA and yeah the new official version after he had done a Genesis port he's a huge fan of Earthdawn and so they had a great talk and it was great I was listening to it while I was putting up our Christmas lights that's great to hear and yeah and also at the end they always advertise well-known or not a well-known RPG so if you're ever be curious about what you may be looking for you can always check in on there as well Yeah, there are like 265, think.
00:08:19
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Something like that. And yeah, their Game of the Week segment is always good. um I will give Steve a shout out. His game in Game of the Week on the episode with Brett, I am intrigued by.
00:08:34
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it is called um Isles of Terror. But it's A-I-S-L-E-S. And you are trapped in a sentient store.
00:08:46
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And horror and hijinks ensue. And you're trying to find the exits keep moving. to meet ikea Yes, or like if you've ever worked retail or played the game Supermarket Simulator, you know the to of the horror that is the store.
00:09:05
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The horror. But be sure to listen to me and Steve talk RPGs wherever you get your podcasts.
00:09:17
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Now, let's say we get down to our topic this time around. note Nobody wants to get to our topic but me. Well, we thought we didn't think you were segueing to one of us. You can have the floor. I figured there'd be reaction, but nobody wants to play. No, I'm just
Holiday Themes in Gaming
00:09:38
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kidding. To be fair, I was thinking with the title you were going to put in a clip or something.
00:09:44
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but now No, no. yeah Most of the clips that I think to put in, i come up with during post- Fair enough, fair enough. As our conversation goes, I think like, oh, this is a good spot for this bit.
00:09:59
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But as we're recording this and as this episode drops, we are in full s swing of the holiday season. Indeed. And not only can it be sometimes difficult to schedule games during the holidays, but Because everybody has a lot extra going on exactly during the holidays.
00:10:28
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But it can be fun to also throw in a little holiday flavor to your game sessions that you are playing during the holiday season.
00:10:42
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Or, I can attest... Be it ongoings or your or a one-shot... Right? And I was about to say, as as Nick can attest, sometimes you can have just a regular, even pre-written adventure in your ongoing campaign that a certain ah problem player that it causes you to drink turns into a holiday session.
00:11:13
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Sometimes the holiday special chooses you. That's right. yeah So we're going to talk about some different ways that you can weave the holidays in and out of your sessions. ah Now, if you don't mind me diving in first,
00:11:33
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ah one of my one of my old Star Wars campaigns that ran for several years, not too long ago, I made a point of every year around the holidays I would do a holiday themed adventure for them.
00:11:53
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The way I described it to them every year is this adventure may or may not be canon to the campaign. It may or may not have happened to the characters. How much did or didn't is up to all of you to decide.
00:12:12
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This is just an excuse for us to have some silly holiday themed fun. And at the end of it, I'm going to give you higher XP, usually in the neighborhood of like double XP from what you would normally get for a session of this type as my gift to you for the holidays.
00:12:38
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And I did that every year. One of them, I am adapting for our group to play next weekend, for our current group to play next weekend. And we're very happy about your specific idea for it.
00:12:53
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Yes, what what I've done, what I'm doing next next time around, since it is Star Wars. Now, when I ran it before, it was specifically for the characters and players in that campaign that I was running at that time.
00:13:08
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What I'm telling all of you for when I run it next week is pick your favorite character that you have played in any of our Star Wars campaigns to date. It doesn't matter what era they're from. it doesn't matter if it makes sense for these characters to be together or not.
00:13:30
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We're just going to have some fun. And the one hint that I've given to all of you that I gave at Robert's Cyberpunk game yesterday is that Son Dan, Art Carney's character from the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special, will be your quest giver.
00:13:54
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And I am excited for that. Well, now I'm just thinking I'm going to bring back my Ewok character. But in lieu of the Star Wars Christmas special, I'm going have him talk kind of like the Wookiees where there's no subtitles. You have no idea if they're saying.
00:14:12
Speaker
Bring it. I love it. In fact, I'm going to do that. And Daryl, you get to choose what I'm saying. It's one of the fun ways of doing the special.
00:14:24
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Yes. And I did that every year for them. I did it three, four years running for them. ah I had this first one, Do They Know It's Life Day?
Star Wars Holiday Session Ideas
00:14:37
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Then the next year I did I'll Be Home for Life Day. The year after that I did How the Duloc Stole Life Day. i think I did it three years running. I was working on a Polar Express adaptation when that campaign just kind of petered out due to scheduling.
00:14:59
Speaker
So, yeah. Fun stuff. Fun stuff. Do They Know It's Life Day? And Do They Know It's Life Day is up on my Star Wars RPG site. I've been meaning to get the others written up to be used more generally like I did with that to put up on there. And every year I run out of time.
00:15:17
Speaker
Maybe I'll get it on there next year. Okay. Okay. But that that's one way that that I've done it. It's quasi-canon to the campaign.
00:15:30
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It's what the Lego Star Wars specials call canon adjacent. Yeah. Yes. and it And it's just an excuse to get together, be silly, and get some bonus XP.
00:15:44
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Ain't nothing wrong with that. What other ideas might we have for holiday-themed adventures for our listeners or viewers?
00:15:57
Speaker
Well, my big idea is since we bring up cyberpunk, been kind of thinking about this. Wouldn't work in, well, since we say it's not part canon, but what I could do is in cyberpunk, there's big on BDs, brain dances, like basically their version of virtual reality, only you can feel all of it.
00:16:17
Speaker
So I was thinking, why not have all of our characters, all of your characters go into a brain dance and just do a theme Christmas adventure? Kind of like, I know in Cyberpunk they have L5 online. I'm not totally prepared to try and put that in there because it has its own system. And the Cyberpunk system, and it's like system within a system paradox. But anyway, and like, why not do that?
00:16:41
Speaker
You're all just in a brain dance at a club because I always do those personal adventures when I have to combine personal adventure you after your brush with death last time. Yeah. And you just, don't know, you can save Christmas, or you can defeat Krampus, or you have to be the ones to deliver the toys. Who knows?
00:17:04
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That second kind of thing is what um I'll Be Home for Life Day was about. ah Nick and I discussed this particular special on our sister podcast, Casual Nerdity, most recently, but You're both familiar with the Rankin-Bass Santa Claus is coming to town. Yeah.
00:17:25
Speaker
Yeah. And the Burger Meister Meisterburger who's in charge of the town and outlaws toys and and all of that. The PCs were sent to Kashyyyk where Moff Meisterburger has outlawed Life Day.
00:17:43
Speaker
how dare he. And part of the session... The PCs made toys for the Wookiee children. And they loved it.
00:17:56
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The players got into into it. I came up with different checks for them to make to to craft the toys. And yeah they were like, oh oh, I want to improve this toy by doing this.
00:18:09
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And then they had to sneak into the the village and deliver the toys. and get past the empire to deliver the toys.
00:18:21
Speaker
That's cool. it cool It was a ton of fun. Yes. And yeah, that's a big thing. You don't have to make it this big old, like actual do or die thing. can just be a simple thing like that. Sneak toys in.
00:18:33
Speaker
Or I think you told me this story, Nick, that you ran a Christmas themed episode in star Wars. Or basically i character decided it on their own.
00:18:44
Speaker
Oh, if that's right, then I won't spoil it. So you can go ahead. That's what I'm going to get to. But we sort of alluded to that earlier. Yeah. Go, Nick. Go. So go ahead. Yes.
00:18:56
Speaker
I was running running one of my earliest Star Wars RPG games. And it was around the Christmas season time we were having this adventure.
00:19:11
Speaker
And I'll admit, it was using a pre-made adventure module because I didn't have enough time to think of anything really interesting. thing It was Chronicles of the Gatekeeper.
00:19:22
Speaker
Yes. And the concept is they needed to get the next part of the, of the holocron that they're, they're trying to reconstruct from his abandoned apprentice who's sort of slowly being corrupted by the empire to build a base on this world that had an enslaved indigenous people who are all birds. It's Rishi.
00:19:49
Speaker
Basically kind of, and Daryl had recently unlocked several new abilities on his force power of Misdirect. Which, for those unfamiliar with the Star Wars RPG system, Misdirect is basically an illusion casting power. Yeah, basically you can make, like it says, illusions or afterimages, something like that.
00:20:15
Speaker
So what i do, Nick. All of them had learned a lot of power. Had additional powers. It all sort of played into this because they also wanted to play around with the new powers. What I do.
00:20:27
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you realize that the best way to do to accomplish your task is to is to take him through a version of what it basically is a Christmas carol?
00:20:43
Speaker
I still remember the moment we were sitting in the game room at your house and I was like, all of a sudden I was like, wait a minute.
00:20:54
Speaker
Can my power do this? Yes. Can my power do this? A couple of things like, can it project our landscape? Can it project memories? If someone can detect the thoughts, which some one of them did have the sense thoughts ability.
00:21:10
Speaker
can is project a person. And once that came, it's like, you know what, Nick? It's the holiday season.
00:21:23
Speaker
We're going to Christmas carol this.
00:21:28
Speaker
And how did Nick react? And I think everyone sort of went silent for a moment.
Adapting Classic Stories for RPGs
00:21:32
Speaker
And then like it was...
00:21:36
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clicked at everyone's moments like wait no this is good this is good this is a good idea and that's when nick was like you know what screw it we ballin let's do this basically i was like i was like no that's again as i said i hadn't had time to prepare this one properly so as if by a true christmas miracle Daryl's mind for finding ways of having fun with things managed to turn what was going to be kind of lackluster because I just didn't have anything prepared really interesting.
00:22:14
Speaker
And the adventure itself was a bit more talky-talky, which would be felt odd because, again, they had all these powers now. Still was talky-talky. But they but it was it was also talky-talky in the sense that Nick is like, okay, you only need to make one roll on the misdirect power and apply the force properly, but you have to narrate out how this all works.
00:22:46
Speaker
Basically, we have... Challenge accepted. I've already written three pages. And we go through it. The old master from the hologram is Marley. on is morally Each of them sort of embodies i the spirit of sort of the force and sort of sows him potentials of of the past and the future. well and And they were spirits of life day, past, present, and yet to be.
00:23:22
Speaker
I made sure to throw Life Day in there. oh and I was like, appreciated.
00:23:29
Speaker
And like, through that, they accomplished us the goal. They sort of helped this individual realize the error of their ways. It's how they want to make sure that the Empire does not touch this world. and reward not waiting to
00:23:45
Speaker
it rewards them with the crystal, of course, that they're looking for. Yeah, rather than us having to break in and steal the crystal, he just... Here you go. a true redemptive story, and a good sign that not all your holiday-themed adventures have to be revolved around Christmas itself. For Santa Claus, you can do some other mediums, like a Christmas Carol, or is this but if you're playing with a bad team, you can maybe even do the Grinch Stole Christmas.
00:24:15
Speaker
Yep, like said, I did How the Duloc Stole Life Day. Because the Dulocs from the Ewoks cartoon look like the frickin' Grinch. They do. But, like, again, like, the term holiday movie, as we sort of alluded to on our Sister Podcast, is a loose definition.
00:24:39
Speaker
It can fit a lot of things in there. Like the original Gremlins. Christmas movie. Takes place on Christmas. Revolves around a Christmas present. you You know what as could make a great one-shot for the holidays?
00:25:00
Speaker
you know Adapting the themes into a session? Planes, trains, and automobiles. ah Again, another great choice. You have your characters that have to get a back to to wherever to get back home for insert systems holiday here. Yeah, that could be a good Havoc Brigade. Oh, that would be that will be a good Havoc Brigade.
00:25:30
Speaker
Daryl's already writing it down. I am. If I was doing Cyberpunk and I needed a holiday espresso, I know exactly what I would do. Either you would be going up against Actually, it'd be more funny if you're going up. You'd basically, it's, you're the, you're the wet bandits trying to go, going against the kid on home, going home alone on you.
00:25:54
Speaker
Yeah. You have a death. You really do have a death wish, Nick. Or of course, Cyberpunk does have gunsmith and that could become a thing.
00:26:08
Speaker
Well, and there, There's all kinds of of different ways that you can go about drawing drawing inspiration from all sorts of of holiday-related media.
00:26:21
Speaker
I mentioned this yesterday at while we were waiting for the game to start. And once we finish our general talk here, we could maybe even brainstorm a little bit on how to apply this.
00:26:36
Speaker
But i was listening to my Christmas playlist on the way over to the game.
Creative Holiday Game Concepts
00:26:44
Speaker
Heard one particular holiday song. I'm not going to say Christmas song because it wasn't specifically a Christmas song.
00:26:54
Speaker
And I thought, huh, especially for D&D, what about Eight Crazy Nights, but Nights with a K?
00:27:08
Speaker
And as we talked a little bit more, you could generalize that so that not only does it fit any fan fantasy, sword, and sorcery setting, but it could really be applied to a lot of different settings and genres. There's a lot of settings that have knights or can have knight-based factions or groups or characters that can identify with knighthood. Exactly. Exactly. And then this just struck me right now, but we've talked about the easy-to-do game of everybody is John.
00:27:46
Speaker
Well, how about everybody is Saint Nick? Oh! That would be fun, too. And just see what happens when we take control of Santa Claus. Because Santa Claus has had a job to do, but sometimes Santa Claus lets someone else take them control the reindeer.
00:28:08
Speaker
Or, I thought of this when we first came up with this topic and almost forgot about it until just now. Before I hit you with what the system is, let me tell you where the inspiration came from.
00:28:23
Speaker
um Possibly the best episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is The Body. Where Buffy's mother dies of natural causes.
00:28:35
Speaker
It really is. and And the inspiration isn't that, though. In the episode, because they didn't want credits, the the opening episode credits, you guest star, written by producer, all of that, going over the immediate aftermath of Buffy discovering her mother dead in the living room.
00:29:07
Speaker
They flashed back to Christmas dinner and the whole gang is sitting around the dinner table and... They mention Santa Claus and Buffy's younger sister Dawn, know, mentions that, ah you know, or no, Anya, who is now human, but used to be a thousand year old vengeance demon, mentions ah in reference to Santa Claus ah being a myth.
00:29:39
Speaker
And yeah Buffy's younger sister Dawn says, it's okay, I know that Santa Claus isn't real. It's like, oh no, no, he's real. It's just the bringing gifts to children and all of that. That's the part that's a myth.
00:29:53
Speaker
he He's much, you know, and basically what she describes is more like the darker sides of the Krampus
Santa Claus as a Cosmic Horror
00:30:01
Speaker
myth. Mm-hmm. So, a Delta Green with Santa Claus has a cosmic horror.
00:30:12
Speaker
You were thinking the same thing i was. That it could be so much fun. I think we've all had this thought at once say some point. I mean, we've done it before. You did Slenderman, Nick, so we can always do Dark Santa Claus or Krampus or whatever you want to call him.
00:30:35
Speaker
Or, you know, it is Santa Claus, just over the years. He's gone insane. It got mixed up. The idea is like, the myth got mixed up.
00:30:46
Speaker
The myth got mixed up because knowing the truth gives it power. And so the myth... Oh, that explains why, like, it could be like that the government actually is behind, like, the commercialization of Santa Claus.
00:31:02
Speaker
They're working with Coca-Cola on it. They're working with Coca-Cola and Lucy Liu and her team from Red One. ah Oh, man.
00:31:16
Speaker
Even though J.K. Simmons was a good, benevolent, jolly Santa Claus in Red One, I can see J.K. Simmons as the human form of a Delta Green cosmic horror Santa Claus.
00:31:31
Speaker
Honestly, can just see J.K. Simmons being someone in Delta Green. playing something great. Either Handler or something else.
00:31:44
Speaker
I think they'd be a rogue. Oh, I can see that, yeah. Oh, man. na Now I want to do this. Now I wish it wasn't so late into the holiday season. Next year... We have so many ideas.
00:31:58
Speaker
To quote Terrence Howard in the first Iron Man movie, next time, baby. Wait, baby, not that one. Because that didn't work out for
00:32:11
Speaker
for... This is true. And I just thought about this. in our In our D&D campaign, we have... it's It's a thing now. We have the hopeless situation lawyers.
00:32:23
Speaker
So, what if we have a holiday-themed episode or session to where we, as the lawyers, have to deal with a grandma got run over by a reindeer trial? Situation.
00:32:39
Speaker
And as we were talking yesterday, that occurred to me that if I were still doing my annual Star Wars holiday themed ones, Grandma Got Run Over by a Tauntaun would have had to have been one of them. Yeah.
00:32:53
Speaker
ah As you can see, you can find and mine inspiration from the holiday spirit because it's, for better or worse, it is impossible to avoid. void And that's almost a good thing because all the ideas are just right there for you the to sort of dance around your head like sugar plums. if you You know, just a a straight ripoff of the concept of Weird Al's song, The Night Santa Went Crazy, could be an interesting holiday-themed one-shot. Oh, it could be, yeah.
00:33:34
Speaker
Where you have the big gun-toting Santa as the big bad of the session, and you give everybody pregens, you know maybe an elf, an FBI agent, and a few others yeah that have to try to stop Santa.
00:33:53
Speaker
Now, one of the PC pregens would not be Mrs. Claus because, as the lyrics tell us, Mrs. Claus is on the phone every night with a lawyer negotiating the movie rights. Movie rights.
00:34:08
Speaker
Yes, sir. What else is there? Ooh, fun one. If we wanted a moving cinematic, like a moving landscape, the Polar Express.
00:34:19
Speaker
a yeah Obviously. Yep. Except every all the NPCs we would do would be employees on that Polar Express making sure it gets to the North Pole.
00:34:31
Speaker
So we're all Tom Hanks. Yes. Yes. Only I get to be the one that can punch the ticket really fast. yeah Also, everyone loves it as a train scene.
00:34:43
Speaker
Train scenes are fun. Yes, they are. long as we get the car, boo. does Does anybody get to be the Tom Hanks vagrant ghost?
00:34:57
Speaker
Or is that an NPC adversary? Hmm. He could go either Yeah. I'm pretty sure I could give that to Stephanie. Yeah. She'd pick that one.
00:35:14
Speaker
And if you want to go something that's still hol it stoke is still a Christmas movie, die hard. Yep. I'd put that in Walking Dead or Cyberpunk or Blade Runner or whatever. yeah The owner of the same... um same game store where I got the Delta Green GM screen today.
00:35:38
Speaker
A year or two ago, he was telling me about a a Christmas one shot that he ran once. I forget what system it was in That ah it was Hard.
00:35:56
Speaker
It was Nakatomi pal Plaza. It was that Christmas party, but the PCs were... the Part of the reason why the Christmas party was there is Nakatomi had just signed a deal with another company, and the PCs are are
00:36:20
Speaker
representatives of that other company who were invited to the Christmas party because of the deal and because they're in town. during the party, and they're the ones who get split off from the Christmas party and have to stop Hans and the rest.
00:36:42
Speaker
Okay, okay, okay. And so i was like, oh, I might have to steal that idea sometime. I mean, I make no bones of the fact that I stole the idea for the premise of my Walking Dead campaign from him, but...
00:37:01
Speaker
But I always tell him when i was like, oh, I need to steal this. Hey, yeah imitation is the greatest form of flattery. It is.
00:37:12
Speaker
and And that's just like the the the tip of the Christmas tree with what you can do with with a holiday theme. Holiday theme adventures.
00:37:23
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Yep, I mean, did you can even... Like we were saying, it doesn't have to be specifically centered around a specific holiday, too. You can just have it the general winter holiday season because ah when Doctor Who was going into a new season for one of their Christmas specials, some of the monsters in that episode were snowmen, literally killer snowmen.
00:38:00
Speaker
So you could do that kind of thing with it. trekking You could have them trekking through a village that's going through a blizzard. Blizzard have them on an ice plant planet.
00:38:13
Speaker
Things that sort of evoke the vibes. Warm fire fires. coat Cozy but chilly times. Yep.
00:38:24
Speaker
If you're playing a superhero game that's in the DC universe, you have Mr. Freeze or... possibly more appropriate even, Calendar Man, who based all of his crimes on holidays.
00:38:39
Speaker
um If you're... can't think of an equivalent to like a Calendar Man at Marvel if you're playing Marvel Multiverse, but you've got snow and ice themed villains at Marvel, too, that you can use Iron Man 3 is a holiday session.
00:39:00
Speaker
It is. Go ahead, Nick. Say it. it's it's it's it's ah It's the best Iron Man movie and the best holiday special. um you You always tell us it's the best Christmas movie ever made.
00:39:14
Speaker
It's the best Christmas movie ever made. a no No shame. We won't shame you for it. yeah I'll admit that it's on my list of everything and I watch for Christmas movies. It's like, gotta watch Iron Man 3.
00:39:28
Speaker
so that That kind of takes us to you something that we're going to talk about you know probably next year on Casual Nerdity. So what makes not a Christmas movie a Christmas movie, but what makes a holiday session a holiday session?
What Makes a Session Holiday-Themed?
00:39:49
Speaker
Is it borrowing themes from various holidays at the end of the year? Is it basically a wintry setting that evokes the holidays? Does the holiday have to be a major part of the story or can be the be being set during the holiday count?
00:40:18
Speaker
ah like the The argument that always comes up for Die Hard. There are people who say it's not a Christmas movie because it just happens to be set at Christmas.
00:40:29
Speaker
But like... The other side of the... If you turn on Die Hard, my argument is like the Christmas scenery for the is everywhere. The Christmas scenery is everywhere and Christmas is essential to the plot because without the holiday, McLean wouldn't be in L.A.
00:40:51
Speaker
It is part of the plot. And if it weren't for the Christmas party, it weren't for the Christmas party, the staff of Nakatomi Plaza wouldn't be there.
00:41:05
Speaker
So even though it's not about Christmas, without Christmas and the Christmas party, the movie wouldn't happen. Right. Whereas we we can argue, and I won't because I know how you feel about it, we can argue that Iron Man 3 is just set at Christmas.
00:41:28
Speaker
But again, that's an argument. won't. I want i'd say in terms Because I know how you feel about it. Yes, but I will say this. The opinion that I'd have is that it could be a lot more...
00:41:40
Speaker
larger tent than say the discussion on whatever movie is because what the holiday means to your holiday special kind of depends on you and the group.
00:41:54
Speaker
We literally took a session that did have little to nothing to do with the holidays and made it into one because of the time of the year we were playing. Yep. That and I'm just kind of difficult with you sometimes about that kind of stuff.
00:42:09
Speaker
Well, that was also really fun. Yeah, and it's a good sign as a player in GM that you can adapt to the scenario.
00:42:18
Speaker
Yeah, I like to say timing does work for me when it comes to those type of things, especially when in our group we discussed it beforehand. We're like, OK, it's Christmas. Time to think up some holiday themed adventures.
00:42:31
Speaker
But could be time theme or we're all in North America, so we always equate Christmas with winter. And in some places I know winter is basically your guys' is summer, so can always be different.
00:42:45
Speaker
Well, I mean, given where we're at in North Texas, winter feels like summer or spring most of the time.
00:42:57
Speaker
Hey, I will take 50 to maybe 70 weather over the 97 to 100 we get in the summer. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I enjoy it being cold without the ice and snow.
00:43:11
Speaker
Mostly the ice. I could do without ice. But that's usually what we get rather than snow. Yep. Yes. Texas is his very fun place.
00:43:24
Speaker
But yeah. Define fun. Oh God, oh God, we're all going to die. No, more like, oh come on, ok come on, why is my internet broken?
00:43:37
Speaker
Or a few years ago, oh, come on, oh, come on. Why did all the generators pop? yeah
00:43:47
Speaker
That's a general conceit. It's a sort of time, vibes, and players. But that's sort of where it fits in. It's a larger tent.
00:44:00
Speaker
Yes, and then sometimes you actually find that the game systems themselves also take Christmas into account or the holidays, because I know in Cyberpunk, when Christmas came around, they put out a an extra some extra content called the 12 Days of Gunsmith.
00:44:16
Speaker
It was just like, okay, it's Christmas time. Get a bigger gun. Here's some cool guns we made. he like, and that's not an official part of the art of canon. It does fit in with the world of Cyberpunk, so that could be a literal event.
00:44:32
Speaker
It could be. i could I could make basically a Santa Claus, who's basically a corporate mascot, be like, here's guns. Stick more guns. More guns. oh a I'm looking at my collection of RPGs to see if there's anything that has specifically gone Christmas.
00:44:53
Speaker
I don't see anything. Oh my god, you know what would be fun to play a Christmas or holiday session of? Paranoia.
00:45:08
Speaker
Oh. Santa Claus comes to Alpha Complex. and it's It's like, I'm just trying to deliver presents. Lies, you lie. You lie, take him out.
00:45:23
Speaker
Take him out.
00:45:26
Speaker
Oh, and good that would be... Santa's in his shop, just drinking beer. He's like, but I deliver everywhere except one place. Let me tell you the story. Let me tell you about the one time that I went to Alpha Complex.
00:45:43
Speaker
And never went back. They're all on the crazy list. Not the naughty list. They're just on the crazy list. Oh, man. If I were... if i If I ran that and I were particularly ambitious, I would try to come up with a song for the computer that runs Alpha Complex to the tune of the Heatmiser and Snowmiser song.
00:46:14
Speaker
Oh, that would be so fun. I'm Mr. Com-puter. ah um I am your friend.
Paranoia RPG with Santa
00:46:27
Speaker
ah But then who's his brother?
00:46:31
Speaker
but His brother is also the computer. Because hail the computer. The computer your friend.
00:46:43
Speaker
yep No, it's the same computer. It just does a different song to to try to appeal to you. ah I am making notes as we talk.
00:46:58
Speaker
But yeah, there's so many. There's literally wherever you look, you can find inspiration an end where to take the vibes of where to take it.
00:47:13
Speaker
to account the holiday times. And like I mentioned near the top, my goal my reasoning for doing a holiday session in the first place was simply to give my players a bunch of bonus XP.
00:47:33
Speaker
So, you cause I was like, okay, I want to give the players a gift of some kind because they've spent a bunch of time with me over this past year and indulged me running the game and have worked with scheduling and I've worked with their scheduling. I want to give them something, but I don't have, you know, I can't afford to give everyone in the group a nice actual gift.
00:48:03
Speaker
let's give them like double triple XP so that they can advance their characters and do it in a fun way that, you know it doesn't feel like I'm just throwing XP at them, but we, we have some fun doing it and it's low stakes.
00:48:24
Speaker
And yeah, and that's always the important thing. It's like, it's just you're doing a side holiday themed adventure, make it low stakes. yeah Because you don't you don't want to kill someone in a holiday adventure. It's like, oh, my character's dead. You got to make a new one for the campaign. Sorry. Oh, I better get back to the drawing board for Walking Dead then. ah Hey, no, no, no. Walking Dead is fine because you're just going to Nick again. So he'll get a new character.
00:48:55
Speaker
You know, if yeah I'll even allow that. You can kill me at a Christmas like you know they that's they need it That's what we need to start doing. We're going to make a tally in Walking Dead for every time Nick dies. Because we're already at two.
00:49:10
Speaker
I must have a really good... In this alternate AMC version of The Walking Dead, i have a really strong contract.
00:49:20
Speaker
It's like, okay, you died again. okay we got a we gotta... We gotta make another one. Dang it. I'm sorry. Alright, am I going to regrow the beard or not this time?
00:49:32
Speaker
Yeah, you're the one that on Talking Walking Dead, you just keep reappearing. He's like, returning to us again. isn Nick. He's like, so, why do you keep dying? Because I'm horrible at this. I would die in a real zombie apocalypse. He's like, because I'm horrible at this.
00:49:53
Speaker
and the And the director used kate went to school with me and he did not like me. But mostly, I'm pretty bad at this.
00:50:05
Speaker
Yes. But hey, we found we found it. We found that cyberpunk you actually are good at. You roll roll well and you and you rolled the one card that stopped you from dying. will admit, that was like it was both a mix of dumb luck and good luck at the same time.
00:50:24
Speaker
Yes, we called it Failing successfully.
00:50:29
Speaker
You know, i I just had another thought. Especially since I was getting some pretty darn good rolls most of that session. If you're playing a Marvel Multiverse campaign, or you're playing a a DC Heroes campaign, you know that system's been out of print for a long time, and I'm surprised that there is no new current DC RPG.
00:50:54
Speaker
But I digress.
Santa in Marvel and DC Campaigns
00:50:57
Speaker
In both the Marvel and DC universes, Santa Claus canonically exists. This is true.
00:51:08
Speaker
And... you're like During the off-season once, he hired She-Hulk to help him with a problem.
00:51:19
Speaker
And you know it it was around March. and I think it was a legal problem. Probably. I mean, she's a lawyer. Yeah. And then in DC,
00:51:34
Speaker
haven't i want to say one of the more recent DC Christmas specials established that Santa Claus was one of Batman's trainers.
00:51:47
Speaker
What? Yeah. oh I have so many questions. Specifically, which one? quote me on that. I know that it involved something with Batman and Santa Claus. Now I now i got a look. you know You know, now that they introduced the absolute Batman series, I'm just curious what's how Santa Claus is in that universe.
00:52:14
Speaker
Well, considering that the Absolute Universe is is born of Darkseid... And he and Santa have beef. Canonical beef. I'm just imagining him with a cigar. like well one ah One of the DC Christmas specials has Santa Claus...
00:52:35
Speaker
going through a gauntlet of weapons and traps on Apocalypse to every deliver his... Every year. Every year to leave coal in Darkseid's stocking.
00:52:46
Speaker
ah dart You continue to vex me, old man. That was pretty much it. Yes. Yeah. And he just jolly. It's jolly. It's jolly. It's jolly.
00:52:57
Speaker
It's jolly. It's jolly. It's jolly. Going through for a god to the traps and laser trip wires just to deliver the coal and then just dip out of there.
00:53:07
Speaker
So you are not my nemesis, Superman. He is. okay so.
00:53:17
Speaker
DC did miniseries in 2024 called Batman Santa Claus Silent Night.
00:53:29
Speaker
Of course, night with a K. yeah um And the summary that I'm looking at doesn't show all of the stuff. But yeah, there's there' is a connection between Batman and Santa Claus in Yeah.
00:53:47
Speaker
I am intrigued.
00:53:52
Speaker
yeah forget freedom Forget the Tibetan monks. Batman's like, I never want to train with Santa Claus again. yeah like What specifically Batman trains with Santa for?
00:54:07
Speaker
That's the more funny question. I mean, he's pretty stealthy. He taught him how to fly. He got him his pilot's license.
00:54:18
Speaker
And now there's there's a sequel miniseries, Batman Silent Night Returns. And the solicitation for the first issue of that is, Horrors haunt the Christmas season as life-drained bodies litter the countryside, each marked with a strange symbol. The Justice League responds, but it's a trap.
00:54:39
Speaker
The heroes are pulled from our world, but not before Batman helps Robin escape. Now Damian Wayne must seek out Zatanna and the one and only Santa Claus if there's any hope of saving their friends and family. Santa comes to the aid of the DCU heroes, in the crossover event sequel you wished for. And you must have been extra good because a wintry mix of DC's wildest characters arrived this time to face a powerful foe, the Silent Knight.
00:55:11
Speaker
That sounds amazing. I am so in. in. I'm bought in. That sounds good. You know what? I know South Park has... know one of the South Park games that Santa fight those furry tree...
00:55:26
Speaker
friend, whatever people. We need Santa Claus fighting aliens. hit this Here it is. Santa trained Batman in infiltration.
00:55:37
Speaker
You know what? that It was that or stealth. because like That's when Santa was like, you know, I leave Cole and Darkseid stalking every Christmas. I can teach you a thing or two. Yeah.
00:55:52
Speaker
Yeah. So, yeah, that that could be fun. a eight That's something else that you could do. You could do a team-up adventure. yeah Regardless of your system.
00:56:05
Speaker
You know, Delta Green, Santa Claus isn't a cosmic horror, but Santa Claus is real, and the characters have to team up with him. And Santa Claus has maxed out stealth.
00:56:19
Speaker
I mean, hell, for that matter... You could do Red One, the movie, as less of a lighthearted Christmas action movie and do it as a dark horror that, you know, Grilla is a dark horror and she's kidnapped Santa Claus and wants to imprison everyone on the naughty list.
00:56:47
Speaker
I mean, you take out the wackiness from the movie? That's a Delta Green plot right there. Yep. Alright. That is a Delta Green plot.
00:57:02
Speaker
Pure and simple. Okay, more more notes for next year. so yeah Instead of red one, it's green one.
00:57:13
Speaker
Yes. s really You can all wait. Holidays always give everyone a great idea. So whatever game system you're running, it always, keeps on giving you can just think of anything. It could be a movie, a show, the actual holiday, a book, a magazine, a comic, doesn't matter. You can make it work. You can make it work.
00:57:33
Speaker
A single line of a song can spark off an idea. A single comment from a character in a, in a movie, ah you know,
00:57:45
Speaker
Existential Horror. It's a Wonderful Life is existential horror. Oh yeah, it is. it's it's a it's a It very much is. if i enter You could easily twist the entire plot of that and be like, wow, this it does really suck.
00:58:03
Speaker
Yeah, there's just so much that you can do and all in all in the name of just having some fun with your friends around the holidays.
Closing Thoughts and Listener Engagement
00:58:13
Speaker
Exactly.
00:58:14
Speaker
what the holiday is all about. And I know this is shorter than usual, but do we have any other elements that we wanted to to toss out?
00:58:26
Speaker
yeah I think I got got my ideas out of the oven. I can't think of anything else. Nope, I think I got everything I wanted to say.
00:58:41
Speaker
Oh, a Marvel multiverse holiday thing. The 12 days of Xmas.
00:58:52
Speaker
X dash a s NAS. I'm surprised I haven't done that already. that's They've gone through every pun with the X that I can imagine out.
00:59:06
Speaker
Yeah, um who knows? Maybe they have at some point. They have? They clearly didn't make it cool make it funny enough. I mean, back in the early 80s, they did a riff on Alien with Kitty stuck in the mansion over the holidays with an alien stalking her. Ooh, ooh.
00:59:27
Speaker
I know. I forget this game system it's called, but you guys at a con. You were like wizard familiars, I know, because Nick always said, I want the snake.
00:59:39
Speaker
So what instead... i said that very normally. So what if you're all reindeer and have to help find Santa Claus or save Christmas? Yeah.
00:59:51
Speaker
That was Genesis using GM Chris's familiar setting.
00:59:59
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, that could work. That could work. Hey, Chris. We need to borrow some. Well, I mean, I've got the familiar setting. I i have the download of it because it was available.
01:00:15
Speaker
Yeah. He made it available. So many ideas and we're already almost through the Christmas season this year. Next year, we are setting aside December.
01:00:26
Speaker
Where is this? It's Christmas time. Next season, we are setting aside December for a bunch of one-shots that might be tied to the campaigns or might just be standalone one-shots like Familiar. and Yeah.
01:00:45
Speaker
Yeah. So, I think we've covered all of our bases here. Pretty much. Mm-hmm.
01:00:56
Speaker
All of this talk of the holiday spirit, I'm not really wanting to bully Nick. No, I don't want to either. In fact, why don't we give him a compliment?
01:01:08
Speaker
Nick, you are an amazing host and very patient in dealing with us invading your home nearly every weekend. Yes, you are very hospitable, and may I say you decorate very well.
01:01:24
Speaker
Thank you. yeah thank you very much. Much appreciated. And I hope everyone listening to us is it is short going to be enjoying the holiday spirits and care to share with us. Like, have you played it in any role-playing games? Or do you have any ideas that contribute you to our next year holiday game extravaganza? Yes. Yes. If you can think of any crazy adventures or out-of-there adventures, feel free to post them.
01:01:51
Speaker
I can assure you nothing is too crazy for us. No, nothing is too crazy for us. and yes sir but The ways that you can reach out to us is you can check out our website at howwerollgaming.com.
01:02:08
Speaker
On the website, you'll find information about our current campaigns, the podcast archive, most importantly, not just links to our merch store, but all of our social media. That website is howwerollgaming.com.
01:02:25
Speaker
you can also yeah You can also directly support the show through Patreon. Just go to patreon.com slash howwerollgaming and you'll see our different membership tiers starting at just $2 a month. A special recognition on our Discord server and higher tiers giving you on-air credit and discounts on our merch store because it's the giving season.
01:02:43
Speaker
It is. And let me just you put out another plug there through Christmas Day. Our... holiday themed shirts, t-shirts and sweatshirts will be up. And you know for those of you watching on YouTube, wearing our Santa Claus is Coming to Town Roll for Initiative shirt.
01:03:05
Speaker
It's super comfy and soft. And you can also get 15% off of your entire order through Christmas Day.
01:03:16
Speaker
yeah Exactly. Finally, if you have any questions you'd like us to answer, topics you'd like us to cover, or even submit to your favorite, your own RPG Glory Story, shoot us an email at podcast at howwerollgaming.com.
01:03:31
Speaker
Or shoot us those holiday session ideas that you have. Trust me, we are open. Yes, our email is open. And we will gladly read some of those on the air.
01:03:45
Speaker
But until then, if we we will have one more episode before the holidays that drops on Christmas Eve. But if you don't listen again before then...
01:03:59
Speaker
Yes, then we hope that you have an amazing and wonderful holiday season, whatever holiday you celebrate. And hope that you have wonderful, good times with your loved ones. And if you have any games in there, may all of your dice rolls be fantastic.
01:04:22
Speaker
Yep. But until then, thank you once again for joining us. I am Daryl. I'm Nick. And I'm Robert. And this is How We Roll.
01:04:34
Speaker
Merry Christmas.
01:04:38
Speaker
This episode of the How We Roll Gaming podcast is copyright 2025, How We Roll Gaming, LLC. All games and associated intellectual properties are copyright their respective owners, and How We Roll Gaming makes no claim of ownership by discussing them here.