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EnglishKitsune
2013-12-17, 08:08 PM
Hello People of the Playground!

I need help designing an introductory one shot adventure at last minute for a group of new/experienced players. Normally this wouldn't be a problem except we decided, as we're meeting on Christmas day due to most of our families being unavailable it should be of a festive theme. I'm probably looking to set it in DnD 4th edition for (Pre-Genned) Level 1 characters, no specific world in mind cause hey, one-shot. Although I guess there is always the chance for something bigger out of it. So what should it be? Pseudo-Santa Kidnapped by Jack Frost and his army of Frosty the Snow Golems? A crazed Dwarf toy-maker creates an army of Nutcrackers that go bezerk? I see so many great ideas on here regularly I'm sure you could help me.


Any suggestions in terms of PLOT for a one shot adventure, featuring a heavy festive tone and designed for level 1 characters. Anything goes, Father Christmas, Jack Frost, Nutcracker Golems, just need ideas.

Honest Tiefling
2013-12-17, 08:11 PM
Krampus needs your help to return naughty souls to hell.

WbtE
2013-12-17, 11:47 PM
For 1st-level characters you need to keep the plot kinda low-key. Maybe the PCs have to raise funds to save an orphanage, or recapture presents that were intended for the children there?

Slipperychicken
2013-12-18, 12:56 AM
Maybe some elves went on strike to protest their working conditions (and are holding up production at a presents sweatshop), and the PCs are tasked with cracking down on the strike. If they can free up the machines and neutralize the resistance, then surge labor can be moved in to finish the presents quota on time. Santa would prefer to avoid casualties, if possible, since that's bad press. The elves, however, are not going out quietly. They're dug in deep, and have all manner of Christmas-themed defenses at their disposal.

They might be tasked with defending a shipment of presents, as it moves from a factory to the sleigh's loading dock.

Or a spin-off of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The Grinch might have stolen a town's Christmas (decorations, presents, roast beast, who-hash, etc). The PCs are hired (during their stay at the WhoVille Inn. Or maybe they're natives of WhoVille) to infiltrate the Grinch's mountaintop lair and retrieve Christmas before morning by any means necessary. Tracking indicates that the Christmas is loaded up on a massive sleigh housed in the lair, and it must have been pulled by a rather large animal. There might be an encounter on the way up the mountain too. If the PCs manage to evade the Grinch's defenses and leave the lair with the sleigh intact (gravity will move it at an alarming pace down the mountain's slope), they might be pursued on the way down the mountain as well in a car-chase-type situation.


recapture presents that were intended for the children there?

This is basically what I was thinking too.

The Dark Fiddler
2013-12-18, 06:06 AM
I'm doing quite the same for my group (though not on Christmas itself). It might not work for you, but I suppose the easiest way to give an idea would be to share the idea I'm running. I will start by saying that this is for Fate Accelerated Edition (available for free from Evil Hat's website), which I feel is much better for this type of thing than most other systems.

Anyway, the basic plot is that the players are elves in Santa's workshop, and Santa's gone missing the week before Christmas! As it turns out, he has a brother that nobody really knew about, one who lived in the South Pole, and is tired of living in the big bro's shadow. He's kidnapped Santa so he can deal with Christmas this year, and he's not going to let it go easily.

It's probably going to end with the players delivering the presents for some reason or another, rather than Santa doing it. Or maybe doing it with him.

As far as characters go, I'm going to let them build their own but have two pre-built just in case. One is an inventor who prefers quick work and flashy demonstrations over anything else (with the aspect "If Nobody Sees It, Nobody Knows How Good I Am!" and a stunt that lets him get great benefits from an invention of his in exchange for it going "spectacularly wrong" later). The other is an elf who wants oh so badly to be a human, probably because of his unusually large stature.

inexorabletruth
2013-12-20, 03:15 PM
How Christmasy are we getting?

Dark Christmas:
It's a zombie apocalypse. It's Christmas time. A little child's mother was bitten on Christmas Eve and turned, trying to kill the child. You manage to save him/her, but now the child is an orphan on what used to be a special family time for (lets just go with her). In order to cheer her up, you and a small cell of the group decide to infiltrate a zombie infested toy store, fight your way through, and get a special toy, board game, whatever, that she used to play with her parents before everything went to hell.

(A simple dungeon crawl through a zombie infested mall or toy store)

Secular Christmas:
There are good boys and girls in the world of Faerun too! Santa's on his first extra-planar trip to the wild world of D&D. But once he gets there, he realizes it won't be easy. Bandits, orcs, goblins, and anything else that would love Santa's swag keeps trying to ambush his sleigh and take the sweet loot for themselves. It's up to his trusty band of workshop Elves to defend Santa and his sleigh on this important night of nights!

(A protection quest. The elves (PCs) have to protect Santa and his loot as they travel the Realms in one night)

Religious Christmas:
The magi seek the Christ Child, that they may bring him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrhh. You are the traveling entourage that will travel with the magi to protect them, guide them through the desert and deliver the gifts safely to the child of prophecy. But it won't be easy. The desert is no place for the feint of heart.

(A protection quest mixed in with survival quest.)

A Jewish Christmas (some call it Hanukkah) :smalltongue:
The mighty forces of Antiochus IV shall hold domain over the Holy Temple of Jerusalem no longer! It's 165 BC, and the practice of Judaism has been outlawed by tyrannical forces that have routed, looted, and plundered the Holy City. Now is your moment of triumph! The defiled temple stands before you, fight to reclaim that which has been lost and light the menorah candle once again.

(A one-up battle royal for God and glory + an interesting history lesson)