Holiday/Folklore Campaign - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Holiday/Folklore Campaign

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
grehnhewe
Mar 06, 2010 14:41:29 Last Christmas, we decided to play a holiday themed game. The game was not meant to be serious or silly, rather it was meant to be a light hearted. It was good fun, and now I have expanded the idea futher to include other holidays and folkore from the real world.

I am calling this 4e campaign Netherworld, and it is meant to be a companion to the real world where holidays, folkore and legends are realized. I have come up with a huge list of potential characters and creatures for the PCs to interact with from variety of sources such as:

Foklore, Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes
Holiday Specials
Classic and Fantasy Literature
Classic Monster Movies
Myths and Legends

A small sample of characters include Puck, Frankenstein, Scrooge, The Heat Mizer, Robin Hood, The Artful Dodger, Rumplestiltskin, Johhny Appleseed etc. etc. etc. (Just to give an idea about how inclusive a list can be) I already have a list of hundreds of potentials.

Basically Netherworld consists of four main realms that emulate the seasons and contain their holidays. They are listed below including some of the more powerful legends.

The North Pole: Santa Claus and Jack Frost (Winter)
Feylund: The Faerie Queen and Merlyn (Spring)
Prehistoria: Mother Nature and The Morrigan (Summer)
The Dark Hallows: Krampus and Black Annis (Fall)

I am currently finishing up an Easter adventure and here is a list of some of the cast of characters include the following:

The Easter Bunny
various anthropomorphic rabbits
Goldilocks
The Three Bears (bugbears)
The Mad Hatter, The Dormouse and The March Hare
The Three Blind Mice (wererats)
Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum (ogres)
The Knave of Hearts
The Jabberwocky
Meleficent the sorceress dragon
The Easter Hen (using dinosaur stats)
Snow White
The Seven Dwarves
Little Boy Blue and Miss Muffet

Making this adventure has been a lot of fun, in particular modifying d and d monsters to emulate these characters and creatures. I am sure others have made or participated in other games that concern the holidays, folkore and legends.

This is just a brief description of what I have come up with, any questions let me know. Let me know any experiences you have had writing or playing in games like this.
#2
jimsteele
Mar 08, 2010 23:20:52 This seems like a real awesome idea. I dont know what else to say, I mean, I guess you could add as many Fey creatures as you can, like spriggans, fomorians, all that jazz.

But yeah, its funny how most of these folk tales could be interpretated into a DnD setting.

Hope it helped.
#3
strand0
Mar 09, 2010 3:33:42 My first thought was "Fight Johhny Appleseed?"

But after I read down a bit I realized he would be a Were-Treant!
#4
grehnhewe
Mar 11, 2010 17:45:42 Part of the reason I made this side campaign is to save myself having to create a lot of background as players generally are familiar with many of these creatures and fables. It also allows me to have fun taking liberty with these iconic characters.

For example in my Easter adventure: Goldilocks is an arrogant elf ranger, the Mad Hatter is a half-elf con artist, the March Hare is a crazed shifter and the three blind mice are wererat rogues (They'll rob ya blind!)

Two of the player characters are left over from a Christmas game: a gnome artificer (shop elf from Christmas Town) and an otherworld human explorer (ala Klondike Cornelius from the Rudolph Christmas special) I am anxious to see what the other players come up with.
#5
MacEochaid
Mar 17, 2010 13:55:00 While anything so "christmasy" as the shop elf etc. smacks of being WAY too cutesy for my tastes, doing a little research normally find some nasty myths from the real world cultures that led to the debased Mall Friednly Icons we know and love today. Make your players understnad that their PoL skinned folktales are Euhemerized stories of major darker and dangerous quests.

And as far as today is concerened,

"A woman in the village tells a story of her Grandfather catching a Gnome Cobbler, he said he was a Leprechaun, and would give him the secret to a pot of Gold . . . ."

What she doesn't know is that it wasn't a Leprechaun Gnome at all, but a rogue Avatar of Correllon. Correllon was delighted by an Avatar who had free will not knowing what he had unleashed, the shape shifting god fragmant had more of the God's love of beautiful things than his noble nature. Now this fay horror's paranoia over the beautiful treasure hoard in a fey copse near Maiden's Rest village threatens villagers straying on paths late at night.
#6
grehnhewe
Mar 17, 2010 19:19:21
While anything so "christmasy" as the shop elf etc. smacks of being WAY too cutesy for my tastes, doing a little research normally find some nasty myths from the real world cultures that led to the debased Mall Friednly Icons we know and love today. Make your players understnad that their PoL skinned folktales are Euhemerized stories of major darker and dangerous quests.

And as far as today is concerened,

"A woman in the village tells a story of her Grandfather catching a Gnome Cobbler, he said he was a Leprechaun, and would give him the secret to a pot of Gold . . . ."

What she doesn't know is that it wasn't a Leprechaun Gnome at all, but a rogue Avatar of Correllon. Correllon was delighted by an Avatar who had free will not knowing what he had unleashed, the shape shifting god fragmant had more of the God's love of beautiful things than his noble nature. Now this fay horror's paranoia over the beautiful treasure hoard in a fey copse near Maiden's Rest village threatens villagers straying on paths late at night.

I completely understand your "cutesy" comment, but I prefer light-hearted. I intended this to be a side game to be run and a few times a year to coincide with holidays just for fun. You are certainly correct about what research into the origin of holidays and holiday creatures reveals, and this research certainly sparks ones imagination as to what adventures and spins can be taken on common holiday lore and tradition for gaming purposes. Your idea about the origin of a leprechaun is a great example of this. Cheers! I am hoping to run a St. Patrick's day game next year.

I know it is a little late considering the holiday is today, but does anyone else have any ideas for a Leprechaun/St. Patrick's Day one session game? Silly to serious, benign to sinister, or in between?

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 grehnhewe Mar 06, 2010 14:41:29	Last Christmas, we decided to play a holiday themed game. The game was not meant to be serious or silly, rather it was meant to be a light hearted. It was good fun, and now I have expanded the idea futher to include other holidays and folkore from the real world. I am calling this 4e campaign Netherworld, and it is meant to be a companion to the real world where holidays, folkore and legends are realized. I have come up with a huge list of potential characters and creatures for the PCs to interact with from variety of sources such as: Foklore, Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes Holiday Specials Classic and Fantasy Literature Classic Monster Movies Myths and Legends A small sample of characters include Puck, Frankenstein, Scrooge, The Heat Mizer, Robin Hood, The Artful Dodger, Rumplestiltskin, Johhny Appleseed etc. etc. etc. (Just to give an idea about how inclusive a list can be) I already have a list of hundreds of potentials. Basically Netherworld consists of four main realms that emulate the seasons and contain their holidays. They are listed below including some of the more powerful legends. The North Pole: Santa Claus and Jack Frost (Winter) Feylund: The Faerie Queen and Merlyn (Spring) Prehistoria: Mother Nature and The Morrigan (Summer) The Dark Hallows: Krampus and Black Annis (Fall) I am currently finishing up an Easter adventure and here is a list of some of the cast of characters include the following: The Easter Bunny various anthropomorphic rabbits Goldilocks The Three Bears (bugbears) The Mad Hatter, The Dormouse and The March Hare The Three Blind Mice (wererats) Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum (ogres) The Knave of Hearts The Jabberwocky Meleficent the sorceress dragon The Easter Hen (using dinosaur stats) Snow White The Seven Dwarves Little Boy Blue and Miss Muffet Making this adventure has been a lot of fun, in particular modifying d and d monsters to emulate these characters and creatures. I am sure others have made or participated in other games that concern the holidays, folkore and legends. This is just a brief description of what I have come up with, any questions let me know. Let me know any experiences you have had writing or playing in games like this.
#2 jimsteele Mar 08, 2010 23:20:52	This seems like a real awesome idea. I dont know what else to say, I mean, I guess you could add as many Fey creatures as you can, like spriggans, fomorians, all that jazz. But yeah, its funny how most of these folk tales could be interpretated into a DnD setting. Hope it helped.
#3 strand0 Mar 09, 2010 3:33:42	My first thought was "Fight Johhny Appleseed?" But after I read down a bit I realized he would be a Were-Treant!
#4 grehnhewe Mar 11, 2010 17:45:42	Part of the reason I made this side campaign is to save myself having to create a lot of background as players generally are familiar with many of these creatures and fables. It also allows me to have fun taking liberty with these iconic characters. For example in my Easter adventure: Goldilocks is an arrogant elf ranger, the Mad Hatter is a half-elf con artist, the March Hare is a crazed shifter and the three blind mice are wererat rogues (They'll rob ya blind!) Two of the player characters are left over from a Christmas game: a gnome artificer (shop elf from Christmas Town) and an otherworld human explorer (ala Klondike Cornelius from the Rudolph Christmas special) I am anxious to see what the other players come up with.
#5 MacEochaid Mar 17, 2010 13:55:00	While anything so "christmasy" as the shop elf etc. smacks of being WAY too cutesy for my tastes, doing a little research normally find some nasty myths from the real world cultures that led to the debased Mall Friednly Icons we know and love today. Make your players understnad that their PoL skinned folktales are Euhemerized stories of major darker and dangerous quests. And as far as today is concerened, "A woman in the village tells a story of her Grandfather catching a Gnome Cobbler, he said he was a Leprechaun, and would give him the secret to a pot of Gold . . . ." What she doesn't know is that it wasn't a Leprechaun Gnome at all, but a rogue Avatar of Correllon. Correllon was delighted by an Avatar who had free will not knowing what he had unleashed, the shape shifting god fragmant had more of the God's love of beautiful things than his noble nature. Now this fay horror's paranoia over the beautiful treasure hoard in a fey copse near Maiden's Rest village threatens villagers straying on paths late at night.
#6 grehnhewe Mar 17, 2010 19:19:21	While anything so "christmasy" as the shop elf etc. smacks of being WAY too cutesy for my tastes, doing a little research normally find some nasty myths from the real world cultures that led to the debased Mall Friednly Icons we know and love today. Make your players understnad that their PoL skinned folktales are Euhemerized stories of major darker and dangerous quests. And as far as today is concerened, "A woman in the village tells a story of her Grandfather catching a Gnome Cobbler, he said he was a Leprechaun, and would give him the secret to a pot of Gold . . . ." What she doesn't know is that it wasn't a Leprechaun Gnome at all, but a rogue Avatar of Correllon. Correllon was delighted by an Avatar who had free will not knowing what he had unleashed, the shape shifting god fragmant had more of the God's love of beautiful things than his noble nature. Now this fay horror's paranoia over the beautiful treasure hoard in a fey copse near Maiden's Rest village threatens villagers straying on paths late at night. I completely understand your "cutesy" comment, but I prefer light-hearted. I intended this to be a side game to be run and a few times a year to coincide with holidays just for fun. You are certainly correct about what research into the origin of holidays and holiday creatures reveals, and this research certainly sparks ones imagination as to what adventures and spins can be taken on common holiday lore and tradition for gaming purposes. Your idea about the origin of a leprechaun is a great example of this. Cheers! I am hoping to run a St. Patrick's day game next year. I know it is a little late considering the holiday is today, but does anyone else have any ideas for a Leprechaun/St. Patrick's Day one session game? Silly to serious, benign to sinister, or in between?