Village winter festival ideas

[Kafana]

I'd like to be bombarded with ideas :)

I'm starting a short campaign which starts a few days before a festival in a village of about 400, in a war torn country. The villagers are working hard to make a two day event in order to instill a positive mood for the coming winter. Snow has fallen and will be abundant, so all manner of winter games are also welcome.

I really need to set the mood, practically the whole first session will be without combat and will only server to make the players fall in love with the village (so something bad can happen later :smallbiggrin:).

If you have any good festive music that would also come in handy (I can always do the RPG tavern compilations on youtube, but something more fitting would be awesome, possibly even something that can pass as bard music for the evening events).

[Efrate]

Any jaunty celtic tune will help evoke that country feel. For events the local pond is now an ice skating rink, best snow sculpture competition, dancing around bonfires to music, throw in a couple of more slow songs maybe something with more harp than fiddle.

Pie eating competition if always good, and everyone everyone appreciates a hot pie regardless when its snowing out. Do a hedge maze made of snow, showcasing the frozen trees or other parts of the environment that winter can make beautiful.

Use lots of bright colors offset against the backing of the snow, ribbons and streamers. Serve hot cocoa or mulled wine or whatever else hot and maybe boozy concoction that is setting appropriate. Roast whole boar on a spit over a large fire (maybe a dire boar or some such the adventurers killed or that was terrorizing the area). There is of course lots of singing both drunken and not, not even necessarily with the music for dancing.

Have young country gals and guys shyly approach the pcs and ask to dance and have them be full of life, distinct personalities, and simple but wholesome dreams they can chat about while doing a few reels. This works well if the pcs are passing heroes and they are all in awe.

If there is a christmas analog in the camaign, have people good naturedly give gifts to one another, maybe ol' aunt sasha's famous winterberry jam tarts, or just a heartfelt intricately carved heart about the size of a palm made from some significant wood, for the kids and teens to use as pseudo valentines or somesuch.

And of course no festival is complete without a nice good race. Dogsled, sleigh, or anything else that fits, winner being king/queen of the fair and gets a small but significant prize, like spot at the head table in the place of honor, as much booze as he wants, and gets his portion of the feast first. The night ends with a bunch of great storytelling after a big feast which tells great stories (the exploits of the great adventuring pcs and how they saved the village or what have you) along with more traditional tales of how old man Wicket tricked a dragon of his hoard, how farmer jeb fought off the great invasion of goblins which was actually just a couple of kids who pranked him after he offered them sweets for helping around the farm for a day but then gave them each a cube of sugar and said bye. His eyes were so bad he never knew but he told the tale big as any storyteller for a good few weeks.

Just a few ideas. Hope it helps!

[Gildedragon]

Music. Probably look through some carols... Consider what is being celebrated (is there a religious or mystical reason? Is it just a for-something-to-do-in-winter? Is it for lumber?and look for music that works with that theme)

Events: swimming races: lanes cut into the frozen pond. Costumed wrestling contest.

[Kelvarius]

If you're going for a religious holiday and using the standard 3.5 pantheon, it could be a Winter Solstice in honor of Pelor. The shortest day of the year may seem counter intuitive for a Sun God, but from there, the days only get longer and brighter. It's the turning point for the better from Pelor's view.

I'm not familiar with the PF pantheon, but I'm sure they have a Sun God equivalent that could do the same.

If it's not a religious holiday, Winter Solstice is still a good reason to celebrate. And for many of the same reasons, really, though you can also add in things like local superstitions and traditions.

I have no music for you, however.

[Honest Tiefling]

Another vote for dancing! In many places, this was a good method of throwing people together in the hopes of a marriage. It would also mean that the two prospective marriage candidates meet just before spring, which might be a good or a bad thing depending on marriage customs or how long they wait before such. If the place is wartorn, however, there might be a lack of young men, or young men exploiting the situation. (Unless women are also called to the warfront). Therefore, many women might be fighting over the more attractive specimens left, and might decide to take a gander at the new stock coming to town. However, don't forget that some dances aren't about flirtation, so I'd include both group dancing and couple dances.

The best way to make PCs fall in love with NPCs is for them to be helpful and give out stuff. Maybe the village believes in having a good feast with lots of food, and welcoming in travellers? I would give the culture a good hard brew they also like to break out for this celebration, and offer some few mugs of the stuff to the party.

Also have several NPC encounters. A little tyke who might have lost (or even never known) his or her father wants to hear about stories of their brave exploits. Maybe even a slightly older child, even a teenager hangs around them because they might be new and popular since the village doesn't get many visitors. Perhaps the mayor decides to get to know the heavily armed group that has wandered into their town, but believes that being friendly will stop violence as opposed to suspicion and offers them a nip of something he hides in a flask.

What is the party make-up, so we can give tailored suggestions?

[DrMotives]

Funny that you're posting this today, for tonight is Walpurgisnacht. It's a spring holiday not a winter one, but you might take inspiration anyway. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walpurgis_Night

[Vizzerdrix]

How about an event that involves a snow golem of some sort? It could be stuffed with things hard to get in winter (like a pinata) and whoever takes it down gets the goodies. PCs could either fight for low level goods (fresh meats and fruiits. Maybe some coin. Stuff a villager would be into) or do a little quest to help get it set up. Of course youd want the thing to only do subduel damage. Festivals tend to stop when people stark getting offed.

[Inevitability]

The village wizard can create a few snow sculptures with Snowdrift.

An interesting game may be a tracking game. Someone (perhaps a PC) goes into the forest, and the other participants need to find him before, say, sunset. The tracking is of course made easier by the fallen snow.

[Stoic]

Some more ideas


Massive Ice Slides
music competitions (bards/minstrels from across the land come to compete)
dance competitions
drinking games
parades
decorating houses in holly and ivy
crazy free-for-all snowball fights spontaneously happening throughout the duration of the festival
building two ice forts (rival teams then must capture the enemy forts flag while defending their own fort)
mark out a huge chessbord in the snow and have a living chessgame with the villagers acting as chesspieces (or use snow golems instead)
masquerade balls
snowshoe races
polar plunge (contestants show their toughness by swimming in the freezing waters of the local river)
beauty pageant where the winner is crowned snow festival queen
actors perform plays telling the stories of heroes who bravely defended the town
scavenger hunt - goodies have been hidden in a local ice cave
each year at the height of the festival a goddess bestows her blessing upon a random location (for those who manage to find it, enjoy the rewards)
the festival ends with an immpressive fireworks display