The Night the Reindeer Died
A free seasonal RPG one shot using the Feng Shui RPG System
Introduction
Every year I like to run a Christmas themed adventure for my gaming group. I’ve run sessions using a number of game systems ranging from a Necessary Evil game where the "heroes" had to fight off murderous V'sori gingerbread men to a Shadow of the Demon Lord adventure where the PCs aid one of Santa’s “helpers” (No Spoiler).
I am considering running Gingerbread Kaiju by Stan! because it’s cute and adds eating cookies to the mix. I really love using cookies or candy as miniatures this time of year.
If I wanted to be completely honest about my typical Christmas themed adventure, I’d have to admit that I almost always mean "based on the opening sequence of Scrooged."
What can I say? I love the movie and it makes perfect fodder for role playing action.
This year my gaming group will be introduced to the joy that is Feng Shui 2nd edition. I played a ton of Feng Shui in the late 90s and early 00s, but most of my new group are young whippersnappers who blink unknowingly when I mention films like Killer, Hard Boiled, The Bride with White Hair, or Fist of Legend. Thankfully, they’ve all seen The Matrix and in the case of my daughters the oversight of these other films will be corrected. When playing in our 5e campaign, the players have demonstrated an enjoyment of a cinematic/narrative style of play. The Feng Shui system fosters exactly this kind of play, so I think they’ll have a lot of fun. I don’t think they are ready to dive into a full Feng Shui campaign, or any non-D&D campaign yet, but I think they are ready for a solid one shot.
Since I’m like a lot of you, I don’t have a ton of time to prep between work, teaching as an adjunct, and finishing my dissertation, so I have decided that I’ll be adapting my old standby The Night the Reindeer Died to Feng Shui.
I’ve run game sessions of this in the past and they were very fun. None of the sessions got as far as I'd have liked. If I had my druthers, this adventure would be a launching pad for a full length campaign that begins with the group travelling to 2056 where they facilitate a Jingle All the Way-esque riot that begins to undermine the Buro's control due to people actually caring about a hot Christmas item. Most of the time, players are satisfied with "shutting down the Star Gate."
For those of you interested in playing a session, here is the outline and a couple of special characters as well. We've got Skipper from Madagascar, Lee Majors, and Krampus available for groups who don't have existing characters. Now...onto the show...dim the lights...pull back the curtain...and...
(If you are looking for a twist, you can have Krampus fight for the Buro.)
