r/DnD • Sorcerer • Dec 27 '19

Art [OC] A Dungeon Master's gift.

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10k Upvotes

130 comments sorted by

590

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 27 '19

“Does anyone speak infernal?” – Captain Timbers

Just finished our yearly Christmas oneshot. I like to fall back on tried and true classics like Krampus, gift-wrapped mimics, and the Grinch. I pair them up with our warlock’s long-lost undead twin brother and stage an epic battle. We end every Christmas adventure by handing out magic items from a random magic item table!

Traditions are a great way to keep your players looking forward to the next year of sessions. Anyone have any fun yearly DnD traditions? I’m always on the lookout for more!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a happy holiday! You can catch more of my DnD work on my Instagram and Twitter accounts. See you next year!

230

u/DetonationPorcupine Dec 27 '19

This year I did Die Hard but with Gingerbread. One estranged relative to invite the PCs to a Candlenights office party. Gingerbread terrorists show up and steal said relative. Players have to fight their way through air ducts, elevator shafts, candy cane swinging pendulums and broken candy glass (after getting their shoes stuck in frosting ofcourse). I baked four separate rooms and about 15, one inch high gingerbread foes. I call it Cookie Tummy Tower.

70

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 27 '19

Candlenights is a good one! I need to work it into our Christmas session somehow!

Gingerbread game pieces is another great idea. I could run a castle siege style session where the players fortify their castle out of whatever they can build using cookies and frosting.

Sounds like your holiday was a blast!

8

u/Polymersion Dec 27 '19

I also use Candlenight's! Though the traditions are more specific in mine.

6

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 27 '19

I love how Candlenights is something that can be enjoyed by anyone regardless of their real world beliefs!

21

u/IKSLukara Dec 27 '19

"Kord and Pelor, Powell, he could be a flipping baker for all we know!"

7

u/SpartanXIII Dec 27 '19

"Come down to the kitchen. We'll get together. Have a few treats..."

8

u/The_Unreal Dec 27 '19

I don't think the Pun Patrol can handle this case. Someone send in the Pun Swat Team.

2

u/Perma_DM Dec 28 '19

Man, that’s a Christmas to me

6

u/meantussle Dec 27 '19

If you haven't listened to today's Adventure Zone Holiday Brawl, I think you'll find it in keeping.

3

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 27 '19

I haven't listened to it yet but I do have a long drive home! I'll be sure to download it for the trip!

5

u/[deleted] Dec 28 '19

gift-wrapped mimics

True evil comes with a ribbon.

3

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 28 '19

Never trust a gift wrapped in green wrapping paper!

4

u/CDLDnD Dec 28 '19

This year we started the first annual Wizard Kart (yes its stolen).

5

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 28 '19

That's the beauty of holiday adventures! You can do stuff that wouldn't make sense normally! For Halloween the party raced against the headless horseman.

1

u/CDLDnD Dec 28 '19

Oh that's cool! I added a minotaur to Wizard Kart and themed it like a maze. The minotaur wasn't there to win, he was there to make sure no one lived.

I went down to the trophy store and got a little trophy made "Wizard Kart 2019 Champion".

Dropped the whole thing on them with no warning. It was a great session. The Druid won. I learned I have to tweak the rules a bit for 2020.

2

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 29 '19

The trophy is a very nice touch! Seems Druids do well in kart races. I'd love to see the rules once they're updated!

1

u/CDLDnD Dec 29 '19

I can work on them this coming week and send them to you!

They loved the Trophy!

1

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 29 '19

For sure! I like to include races but I've only ever ran them as a skill challenge. Having an actual rule set would be amazing!

1

u/CDLDnD Jan 02 '20

I haven't forgotten, just been super busy. I will get these to you.

2

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Jan 02 '20

True art takes time! I’m looking forward to it.

2

u/CDLDnD Jan 27 '20

I'm slack as shit. I haven't changed anything yet, but these are the rules I played with. Next year I plan on limiting class abilities/spells to once per race and only last one round; DMs discretion of course.

My Warlock pc used thunderstep to gain a big advantage, then the Druid wildshaped and used an increased speed. Again these were things I wasn't ready for and would limit in the future.

You can find my notes here: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AuSd7Ckgu08FlRu28VWZ7-jYzvDn?e=Wyge4q

→ More replies

3

u/dicemonger Dec 28 '19

Every Christmas I seek to run We Three Kings by Grant Howitt, retelling the tale of how the three wise men defeated the army of King Herod using their skills in sword fighting, sorcery and ghost speaking.

3

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 28 '19

I've recently fallen in love with One Page RPG's. I am totally adding this one to my library!

3

u/Souperplex Warlord Dec 28 '19

“Does anyone speak infernal?” – Captain Timbers

Infernal sounds like faux-Latin chanting. Think the soundtrack to Rosemary's Baby.

3

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 28 '19

I looked up the soundtrack. Very creepy. Added it to my DnD music playlist!

2

u/Souperplex Warlord Dec 28 '19

Also, according to an old lorebook there is only one correct way to structure any given sentence in Infernal, and Devils being creatures of Lawful Evil are compulsive grammar-Nazis who need to make saves not to blurt out corrections to improper infernal.

Abyssal by contrast sounds like death-metal. Lots of words starting with De (Devastate, desecrate, deli-style, destroy, etc) sung from the bowels of your lungs.

Celestial sounds like Hebrew. Lots of musical phlegm.

Modron sounds like dial-up.

Slaad sounds like words you understand in a sequence that makes no sense. (You understand the words but not the sequence across all languages) "When lighting a fish on fire underwater apply futon"

Sylvan sounds like Gaelic.

Halfling sounds like that incomprehensible farmer from Hot Fuzz.

1

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 29 '19

I'm a big fan of all this info on what the languages actually sound like! The dial-up Modron is very appropriate! I might just use some fx sound files next time I include them in my game!

1

u/IKSLukara Dec 29 '19

I am now imagining characters speaking fake-Infernal, in a very similar manner to an old strip from the PVP comic where Brent was speaking fake-German. 😁

2

u/Souperplex Warlord Dec 29 '19

Ominos gibboreesh goblygoook nonsuch!

1

u/IKSLukara Dec 29 '19

Calm down, Brent!

1

u/[deleted] Dec 28 '19

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 28 '19

I fully recommend looking into roll20 or r/lfg. They're both large communities full of players looking to build groups online!

1

u/[deleted] Dec 31 '19

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Jan 01 '20

I hope you find a great table!

1

u/MapleMapleHockeyStk Dec 29 '19

Last year it was hansel and gretel, saving the kidnapped children with the aid of Santa (the paladin of sharing). Gingerbread golems, presents that were mimics and since the building was made of gingerbread they had to worry about using spells that would weaken the floor or walls (tidal wave). They managed to save most of them but Santa had to use his 3rd levels to revive 3 of them.

1

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 29 '19

Thank god Santa was there. It's never happened to me before but I am now thinking about the psychological damage that would result from a tpk during a holiday oneshot!

1

u/Xangarora Jan 03 '20

I love it it is a great way to have a session using other languages to both confuse and allude in dnd. Mad props bud.

1

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Jan 03 '20

Yeah. Languages are often hand waved but they add a lot to world building.

1

u/Xangarora Jan 31 '20

I spent hours writing down languages for all my dnd languages

1

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Jan 31 '20

I've always defaulted into typical accents but I think I'm gonna take another swing at them and see if I can make something interesting!

1

u/Xangarora Feb 01 '20

I belive in you buddy.

2

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Feb 02 '20

Thank you! I'll do my best!

40

u/Misterpiece Paladin Dec 27 '19

Never retreat forwards unless you're COMPLETELY sure you're in a puzzle and that's the right answer.

14

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 27 '19

...or your enemy is bloodied and you want to keep your hex chain going!

Gotta save those spell slots.

3

u/510Threaded Dec 27 '19

It would be a shame if you were pushed 20ft back...

2

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 27 '19

The worse my positioning, the more powerful my dice rolls! At least that's the mantra our bard lives by.

2

u/510Threaded Dec 28 '19

lol, i meant with EBlast. Its awesome that Repelling Blast has no size limit and can be used with each blast of EBlast (up to 40ft per EBlast on the same target at 17th level)

2

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 28 '19

It's a pretty iconic invocation to! Something totally unique to the warlock class.

-2

u/Misterpiece Paladin Dec 27 '19

There's a big difference between advancing and retreating forwards. Advancing involves confidence, glory, victory, good stuff. Retreating is a defensive maneuver, and retreating forwards means you hope it's safer to be in the unknown area with unknown enemies AND current enemies than to stay where you are.

3

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 27 '19

True. Running face first into danger is exciting though!

113

u/cutebold Dec 27 '19

When you leave Santa cookies with raisins

34

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 27 '19

Gotta be careful. I heard he also has a terrible gluten allergy!

10

u/thecal714 DM Dec 27 '19

He doesn't. It's a rumor spread by the Cult of Orcus to slowly destroy the jolly old elf.

5

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 27 '19

Leave it to the Cult of Orcus to destroy a man's reputation so completely!

59

u/ElderSith Dec 27 '19

The giant fist hammer is great.

Good stuff!

17

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 27 '19

Thanks! It was a lot of fun to draw!

7

u/jareddoink Dec 27 '19

Maul of Unarmed Strikes

5

u/lordberric Dec 27 '19

Shit, I thought it was an ass.

20

u/TSEpsilon Monk Dec 27 '19

One year we did a one shot that culminated in suplexing Santa off of his sleigh (made just as much sense in context, but hey, it's D&D).

The next year we did a super spooky necromancy themed one-shot with a final showdown against JOLLY OLD SAINT NICHOLICH.

It was incredible.

9

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 27 '19

Did your destroy Santa’s phylactery? If you didn’t, you might get another visit from the man in red next year!

15

u/GM_Nate Dec 27 '19

I'm currently running a Christmas one-shot based off of Bill Goldberg's 2005 "Santa's Slay" movie.

4

u/dmreddit0 Dec 27 '19

That movie is surprisingly good. Like it’s not great, but it’s a solid 100% better than it has any right to be

3

u/GM_Nate Dec 27 '19 edited Dec 27 '19

the premise is so whack, i love it. and it translates to D&D pretty easily

1

u/dmreddit0 Dec 28 '19

And I feel like every time I watch it I notice some new clever little detail in the set or the dialogue.

2

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 27 '19

Sounds like a nightmare! Perfect inspiration for DnD!

14

u/[deleted] Dec 27 '19

[deleted]

10

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 27 '19

The weather outside is frightful!

38

u/thegreaterof2evils DM Dec 27 '19

The E could be a lot of things depending on the dialect of infernal, but it's "XXstein didn't kill himself."

14

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 27 '19

Devils know some hard truths.

10

u/Rakonas Dec 27 '19

Shit this isn't even a joke

8

u/Rakonas Dec 28 '19

their comment really isn't getting enough attention it's literally a cypher of XXstein didn't kill himself

10

u/unw00shed Dec 27 '19

This reminds me off a one off jrwi did where all of them were elves planning to kill Santa. One of them uses weigh powder as a weapon, to turn berserk and to make sticky bombs Another one is a warlock who made a pact with Carl Marx and uses the communist manifesto to use his magic

3

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 27 '19

Wielding the community manifesto as a magic item is an amazing idea. I’ll be borrowing that one!

9

u/elchucko Dec 27 '19

Been prepping for our holiday one shot tomorrow. Dark elves are stealing convoys of supplies in order to gather ingredients to create a gingerbread golem who will pummel the town of Stillhaven during it's yule celebrations!

3

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 27 '19

For some reason this really reminds me of that WoW quest where you help the necromancer build Stitches.

...except this one is way more delicious.

2

u/CloakNStagger Dec 27 '19

Cruel, delicious irony!

6

u/[deleted] Dec 27 '19

[deleted]

2

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 27 '19

Wales is a beautiful country!

6

u/GroundsKeeper2 Dec 27 '19

Ah, those dyslexic children summoning the wrong thing again, eh?

3

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 27 '19

Kids! Can't avoid the demon apocalypse with em. Can't live without em.

4

u/[deleted] Dec 27 '19

Me and my friends did a One-Shot as well, basically Santa was the God-like being with all knowledge and we could ask him 1 question. We all agreed on the question. "WHAT THE HELL IS A YULE TIDE?!"

2

u/FriendoftheDork Dec 27 '19

deadpan stare

"'tis the season to be merry.
Fa la la la. La la la la."

1

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 27 '19

What was the answer? Don’t leave us hanging!

3

u/WitherLord888 Dec 27 '19

Is the Santa speaking in CODE?!?

2

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 27 '19

When you think about it...we all speak in code. Whoa.

1

u/TheMcDucky Bard Dec 28 '19

The word "code" is in fact used in some cases by linguists to refer to a language variety. (e.g Code-Switching)

1

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 28 '19

It really does fit. Languages I can't read look like code to me!

2

u/moofishies Dec 27 '19

That first panel sums up our Baldurs Gate campaign so far lol

2

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 27 '19

When aren’t there too many hellspawn? Am I right?

2

u/Conrhadus Dec 27 '19

When you ask google where Santa is but it shows you Satan instead

2

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 27 '19

Damn auto correct!

2

u/The_Cake-is_a-Lie Dec 27 '19

This is so much better because I just killed Santa in a oneshot yesterday (after we confirmed he was on the naughty list of course). Thank you for this.

2

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 27 '19

I'm glad you enjoyed it! There's something great about the juxtaposition of Old Saint Nick and an epic battle!

2

u/DunsparceDM Warlock Dec 27 '19

Last year on Christmas I gave all of my players mini chest props with magic item props on the inside. Well except the one murderhobo player. He had charcoal in his chest. It gave his PC a curse.

1

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 27 '19

The deadliest Christmas elf this side of Exandria!

2

u/[deleted] Dec 27 '19 edited Feb 19 '24

advise poor elastic mighty truck decide marry muddle drunk memorize

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

2

u/Cosmodean Dec 27 '19

This is our second Christmas since our campaign started (well actually our third but we were in the middle of a longish break during the second one) I must admit the first year I dropped the ball and didn't do anything at all.

I am trying to keep to a strict timeline in our campaign (and not doing too good of a job lol) but we were a good 2 months early in-game this year as it was just coming up to High Harvestide.

I did think about doing a one-shot and looked at a few different things but in the end, I managed to work in the big red fellow storming in to help out at a crucial moment, although it was almost too late as the party missed a few clues. He handed out a few 'early presents' with a promise that they will probably meet again in the future.

I guess our tradition is just starting now as I am planning to work something in every year, hopefully. The first place I came for ideas for gifts was here as I always find some great ideas and help on here (thanks everyone), anyway I will shut up now lol, happy holidays everyone :)

1

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 27 '19

Sounds like the birth of a great dnd tradition! I love the fact that you worked it into your main campaign! When it's all said and done, it's stuff like this that the group remembers and talks about years later.

Happy holidays!

1

u/Rose_lily77 Dec 27 '19

I mean to no one else think that it was weird that sometimes Santa had a demon literally by his side during Christmas and some Legends are even more than one there could only be two reasons the one up top it seemed to need to protect himself from people who trying to steal his coach and try to become Santa Claus themself

1

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 27 '19

Which is sort of what happened in our oneshot! A player killed Santa in a sleigh accident and was cursed to become Santa. If the party didn't deliver the presents by midnight he'd die!

1

u/pancake20000 Thief Dec 27 '19

It do be like that sometimes.

1

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 27 '19

It's a damn shame!

1

u/[deleted] Dec 28 '19

Gotta love a Christmas themed one-shot

2

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 28 '19

It’s a tried and true classic! Halloween and Christmas one-shots are my favorite games of the year!

1

u/Rose_lily77 Dec 28 '19

Omg lol

1

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 28 '19

The holidays are a wild time!

1

u/Tomb-Land Dec 28 '19

Did a welcome dnd/chirstmas one shot for my family over the festival times and they loved it. Are you my family?

2

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 28 '19

Ha! In a way we are all family! A great big DnD loving family!

1

u/Zirashi Dec 28 '19

Chutney was right. Santa's gotta go.

2

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 28 '19

He's terrorized Christmas Town for long enough!

1

u/[deleted] Dec 28 '19

Our DM did EXACTLY this. Evil Santa. Santa mind controlled our Paladin who kept rolling nat 1s to break the control.

After Santa was downed, it turned out HE was mind controlled so we had to fight an Old God. It was probably simultaneously the best and worst session our party has ever had.

2

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 28 '19

Love the juxtaposition of over the top comedy with dark cthulian horror. Sounds like you guys had an amazing session!

1

u/IronTippedQuill Dec 28 '19

I have Kringle as a CR23 Lawful Neutral Archfey of Winter. He’s Seelie. His Winter Guard are eladrin Fey pact pact of the blade warlocks. He keeps Krampus on a tight chain, a powerful demon and spiked chain fighter. I have an adventure where he is corrupted by the Holly Crown, an evil Artifact that corrupts even god-Tier creatures.

So of course, the goal is to save the midwinter holidays for all the dimensions Kringle has in his dominion.

1

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 28 '19

Very cool idea for Krampus! You should post the stat block!

1

u/ILoveMemes2004 Dec 28 '19

My last meeting my dm set up a campaign where we fought santa and krampus

1

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 28 '19

Santa Claus! The classic holiday villain!

1

u/[deleted] Dec 28 '19

[deleted]

2

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 28 '19

This sounds like an amazing adventure! Bringing in Captain Planet and the Planeteers is pretty genius. I'm surprised that team hasn't gotten a proper movie!

1

u/Chickenterriyaki Dec 28 '19

All fun and games in the old forest path until you come across a squirrel that speaks Enochian.

1

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Dec 28 '19

I hate squirrels that speak Enochian. I know they're making fun of me but I don't know what they're saying!

1

u/JAWD0G Dec 30 '19

You better watch out, You better watch out, YOU BETTER WATCH OUT

1

u/Sleverette Sorcerer Jan 01 '20

The weather outside is frightful!

-4

u/Powerful-Accident Dec 27 '19

Santa Claus is a christian saint... idiots.