The Contemporary Quixotist

The family and I are leaving in a few hours to visit with friends over New Year’s Eve and Day, but I still have a few Christmas goodies to share with you – so I guess I’ll have to cram them all into one final post.

First up is Book of Beasts: War on Yuletide from Jon Brazer Enterprises. This is a short bestiary of very silly Pathfinder compatible holiday themed monsters. You get the Aberrant Fruitcake, Clockwork Nutcracker, Gingerbread Golem, Eggnog Pudding, Dreidel Swarm, and four others in this collection.

As silly as they are, each entry is given a bit of background info that is well written, and will make it a bit easier for you to find a place for these creatures in your campaign. Just be sure to expect some eye-rolling from your players once they figure out what they’re fighting next. Get your copy at RPGNow.

Next is another freebie from Spectrum Games – this time in the superhero vein. Christmas Comes But Once A Year is a mini-supplement for the Capes, Cowls and Villains Foul RPG, detailing Holly Daye, a supervillain who wants to take Christmas into her own hands. Driven by her superpower – a radar ability that can tell her who is naughty and who is nice – Holly has been known to steal presents and replace them with coal, destroy Christmas displays, and has a distinct hatred for anyone trying to impersonate the One True Santa!

This mini-supplement is mostly character lore, so it would be very easy to convert Holly to any superhero RPG that you prefer. Get your free copy at RPGNow.

Finally, there’s Winter’s Majesty, a collection of evocative background music for your winter-themed RPGs. The music here is clear and shining, hopeful and spooky, all at once. Most of the material is original, with two exceptions – “Scarborough Fair” and “We Three Kings,” and the majority of the music is instrumental, making it a good fit for non-obtrusive background music. (The DTRPG copy protection appears after a delay at the end of every track, so you may want to have a hand on the “Next” button to prevent it from breaking the mood).

Get your copy of Winter’s Majesty at RPGNow.

And that does it for this year’s 1d12 Days of Christmas! I hope everyone has been enjoying the holiday season, and I wish us all a prosperous and adventure-filled 2013!

Here’s another Christmas freebie from DTRPG. It’s Nick the Mall Santa, a bonus character for the Survival Horror board game that includes a printable figure that can be used with any modern horror, espionage, or crime RPG. Print him out, put him together, and let him sort out the naughty and the nice!

Get your Mad as Hell Mall Santa at DriveThruRPG.

Looks like I let a few days slide by whilst preparing for Christmas festivities in the Walton household. Sorry about that, kids. To make up for it, here is a double dose of Krampus freebie goodness!

• First up is Krampus Race, a mini holiday boardgame you can play with the whole family! Sure, it pretty much has all of the strategical opportunities of Candyland (or Driedel, for that matter), but who can resist a game where you’re snatching up naughty children to punish? Get your copy at DriveThruRPG.

• Next is The Shadow of Krampus, a supplement for the excellent Macabre Tales horror RPG. For those who aren’t aware, Macabre Tales is a Lovecraftian horror RPG for one player and a GM that uses dominoes for task resolution (read my review here). This mini supplement puts Krampus in a Lovecraftian context, stats him up for MT, and has a handful of ideas for bringing our furry friend into your game. A great little supplement that you can use in any horror game, not just Macabre Tales. Get your copy at DriveThruRPG.

That’s all for now! Remember to be good, or you might hear some cloven hooves on your doorstep this Christmas Eve!

I’ve always said that the only thing that could make Christmas better is if it were scarier. Like he read my mind or something, Michael Tresca gives us a short list of Holiday Horror Scenarios for Tabletop Roleplaying Games.

It’s an Examiner link, so you’ll have to swat away a few ads to get to it, but there are some pretty nifty ideas to be had here.

It’s that time of year again, kids! Time for a completely random number of holiday-themed Quixotist blog posts!

First up is SNOWBALL WARS, a print-and-play boardgame for 2-3 players (with an expansion that can allow up to 4 players).To play you’ll need a color printer, cardstock some glue sticks, scissors and a hobby knife to cut out the pieces, and some six sided dice (some foamcore board to mount the game boards and bases on is optional but recommended, and can be found at your local dollar store).

It’s a fast and furious snow battle between warring factions of kids, and a great intro to wargames for any budding gamers in your household. It includes rules for morale, indirect fire, critical hits and fumbles, Wild Cards that are drawn and applied when two opponents roll the same number, plus several optional rules (including ZOMBIE SNOW MEN!), six missions, and a solo variant.

Best of all, you can print as many copies of the board and terrain as you wish, making the play area as large and cluttered as you wish!

The rules are well-written and very clear, and the art on the pieces is excellent. You get all of this for the paltry sum of $5 at DriveThruRPG – though there is the other cost of time spent cutting and preparing the pieces, which does take a while. Don’t expect to play this one right away. You’ll want to prepare everything a few days in advance, especially since sharp objects are involved and you really don’t want to rush it.

As I began writing this, I discovered an expansion for Snowball Wars – Elf Help, which adds elves (a band that can be controlled by a player or used as a random nuisance), presents (grab them for a bonus!) and a Snow Beast (who carries kids off and removes them from the game!). A whole lot of additional fun for a mere dollar.

If you’re looking for some fast-paced wargaming fun, possibly even something non-violent that you can play with the whole family, you can’t go wrong with Snowball Wars.