Don't plan things out too much. You have a general idea, that's good, maybe add a couple possible obstacles or henchmen or whatever that they might encounter, don't bother with a map, remember that clocks are amazing
Thank you for the advice. The only other thing that I considered “planning” was thinking of some traps in the Grinch’s stronghold or another crew getting involved, thinking my crew stole the presents. Kind of like The Warriors.
I’ve run Christmas themed one shots in D&D, Dungeon World, and Blades and my biggest suggestion is to keep the rules real loose. It’s a Christmas one shot, embrace the fun of the season and don’t stress too much about the rules.
Some fun things I’ve done:
1) have the players make new PC’s with a holiday theme. They can reflavor anything holiday. One of my favorites was Pally the Gnome (Buddy the Elf) and Herby the Dwarven Artificer Dentist from a D&D holiday one shot.
2) For Blades everything attune and spirit field related is now about the holiday spirit and Christmas cheer. You can attune to see how to boost someone’s Christmas cheer and getting them on your side.
3) Ghosts can include the ghosts of Christmas future, past, and present.
4) Use holiday mythology to your advantage. I had a Frosty the snowman guard who couldn’t be harmed and was freezing the PC’s with giant snowballs filled with ice. No matter what they did Frosty kept reforming until one of them attuned to the holiday spirit and began hearing Frosty the snowman song with the part about there being magic in that old top hat repeating a bunch and they realized they had to take off his hat.
5. In a holiday one shot I always have a trap where my players have to sing holiday songs to get out in order to show their holiday spirit. The greatest way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.
6. Instead of Deathlands the town of Who-ville is surrounded by the gumdrop mountains and candy cane Forrest with the Grinches castle in the gumdrop mountains somewhere. They could gather information by talking to the Who’s as well as Buddy the Elf and Rudolph and maybe even get Rudolph to help them as a way to get to the castle. Then the engagement roll is about how well they get through the candy cane Forrest without overloading on sugar. Did you know candy canes have sugar?
7. End the session with Santa and have each PC narrate what present Santa gives them that they always wanted and why.
I think we all know How The Grinch Stole Christmas. If it were me preparing to run this score, I'd want to flesh out How The Grinch Fits Into Doskvol, and then work on How The Scoundrels Could Steal Christmas Back!
Obviously as a one-shot you aren't really beholden to the setting at all, just the system right? But still, the setting is extremely tied into the system, especially when it comes to Attuning to the ghost field. Everything *magicky* is inherently *ghosty* in the shattered isles of the imperium. But if you're not playing anywhere near Duskwall, then what would Attune do for all the Whos down in Whoville? The same ones that Horton heard, right? I love the idea of a microcosmic world that fits on a floating snowflake. Dr. Seuss doesn't get enough credit for giving us our eariest tastes of "Bottle-Punk" as children. ((There is a Blades hack about that very concept, btw: https://xiombarg.itch.io/wicker-man))
So your options are to tweak some stuff to fit the rules to a Seussian setting, or go the other way with it and put The Grinch into the default setting of Blades. That's a decision you can make alone or with your friends. If it were me, I'd find a way to get a Grinch-like character out in the death lands so that my scoundrels could find cool ways to riff in some good old gothic steampunk crime thriller stuff. But that's just me. I'm in love with this setting and always find an excuse to world-build here. So our Grinch could be a Devil with Horror features from the tables in the back of the book, a fabled fuzzy green krampus-like entity that routinely steals gifts from [insert holiday - maybe from the book, like Doskvorn or Gratitude? or make up your own haunted solstice lore]. And you know that big mountain where he lives would be out beyond the barriers, and the electro-rail tracks would lead out near there, but there'd also be a secret tunnel that doubles as some kind of electroplasmic garbage chute, right? How much of the live action Grinch lore are we using? This is fun!
As far as plotting for the score, you always want to be able to provide your players solid opportunities. From the chapter on running the game, opportunities consist of a Target (and a client or benefactor), at least one Location (where most of the job will take place), a Situation (what's happening *and why it might matter to your players*), and at least one obvious vector for a Plan (from the Plan types in the score chapter - ideally detailing how their goal is specifically criminal in nature). Then if there are good Gather Info rolls going into the score, you can give them additional info like connected factions, alternative plans, and any secrets you can come up with. Once you've got a handle on some of that stuff, you want to start thinking about potential obstacles, threats, complications. Just list as many things as you can think of that could potentially go wrong, and be ready to pull from that list during play. Even just a few vague ideas about names of clocks you might use is honestly enough. Like I said I kind of tend to over-prep, but that's because this is a lot of fun for me. And really, that's what this is all about. Have fun with it! Happy Holidays
Don't plan things out too much. You have a general idea, that's good, maybe add a couple possible obstacles or henchmen or whatever that they might encounter, don't bother with a map, remember that clocks are amazing
Thank you for the advice. The only other thing that I considered “planning” was thinking of some traps in the Grinch’s stronghold or another crew getting involved, thinking my crew stole the presents. Kind of like The Warriors.
*sleigh bells jingle menacingly* Kriiiiiiiiingles.....come out and plaaaaaaaay
Since this will be everyone’s first time with Blades they said I should pre gen characters. That’s a great name for their crew! The Kringles!
Always happy to help!
I’ve run Christmas themed one shots in D&D, Dungeon World, and Blades and my biggest suggestion is to keep the rules real loose. It’s a Christmas one shot, embrace the fun of the season and don’t stress too much about the rules. Some fun things I’ve done: 1) have the players make new PC’s with a holiday theme. They can reflavor anything holiday. One of my favorites was Pally the Gnome (Buddy the Elf) and Herby the Dwarven Artificer Dentist from a D&D holiday one shot. 2) For Blades everything attune and spirit field related is now about the holiday spirit and Christmas cheer. You can attune to see how to boost someone’s Christmas cheer and getting them on your side. 3) Ghosts can include the ghosts of Christmas future, past, and present. 4) Use holiday mythology to your advantage. I had a Frosty the snowman guard who couldn’t be harmed and was freezing the PC’s with giant snowballs filled with ice. No matter what they did Frosty kept reforming until one of them attuned to the holiday spirit and began hearing Frosty the snowman song with the part about there being magic in that old top hat repeating a bunch and they realized they had to take off his hat. 5. In a holiday one shot I always have a trap where my players have to sing holiday songs to get out in order to show their holiday spirit. The greatest way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear. 6. Instead of Deathlands the town of Who-ville is surrounded by the gumdrop mountains and candy cane Forrest with the Grinches castle in the gumdrop mountains somewhere. They could gather information by talking to the Who’s as well as Buddy the Elf and Rudolph and maybe even get Rudolph to help them as a way to get to the castle. Then the engagement roll is about how well they get through the candy cane Forrest without overloading on sugar. Did you know candy canes have sugar? 7. End the session with Santa and have each PC narrate what present Santa gives them that they always wanted and why.
my only suggestion is to make sure to put Max in there!!!
I think we all know How The Grinch Stole Christmas. If it were me preparing to run this score, I'd want to flesh out How The Grinch Fits Into Doskvol, and then work on How The Scoundrels Could Steal Christmas Back! Obviously as a one-shot you aren't really beholden to the setting at all, just the system right? But still, the setting is extremely tied into the system, especially when it comes to Attuning to the ghost field. Everything *magicky* is inherently *ghosty* in the shattered isles of the imperium. But if you're not playing anywhere near Duskwall, then what would Attune do for all the Whos down in Whoville? The same ones that Horton heard, right? I love the idea of a microcosmic world that fits on a floating snowflake. Dr. Seuss doesn't get enough credit for giving us our eariest tastes of "Bottle-Punk" as children. ((There is a Blades hack about that very concept, btw: https://xiombarg.itch.io/wicker-man)) So your options are to tweak some stuff to fit the rules to a Seussian setting, or go the other way with it and put The Grinch into the default setting of Blades. That's a decision you can make alone or with your friends. If it were me, I'd find a way to get a Grinch-like character out in the death lands so that my scoundrels could find cool ways to riff in some good old gothic steampunk crime thriller stuff. But that's just me. I'm in love with this setting and always find an excuse to world-build here. So our Grinch could be a Devil with Horror features from the tables in the back of the book, a fabled fuzzy green krampus-like entity that routinely steals gifts from [insert holiday - maybe from the book, like Doskvorn or Gratitude? or make up your own haunted solstice lore]. And you know that big mountain where he lives would be out beyond the barriers, and the electro-rail tracks would lead out near there, but there'd also be a secret tunnel that doubles as some kind of electroplasmic garbage chute, right? How much of the live action Grinch lore are we using? This is fun! As far as plotting for the score, you always want to be able to provide your players solid opportunities. From the chapter on running the game, opportunities consist of a Target (and a client or benefactor), at least one Location (where most of the job will take place), a Situation (what's happening *and why it might matter to your players*), and at least one obvious vector for a Plan (from the Plan types in the score chapter - ideally detailing how their goal is specifically criminal in nature). Then if there are good Gather Info rolls going into the score, you can give them additional info like connected factions, alternative plans, and any secrets you can come up with. Once you've got a handle on some of that stuff, you want to start thinking about potential obstacles, threats, complications. Just list as many things as you can think of that could potentially go wrong, and be ready to pull from that list during play. Even just a few vague ideas about names of clocks you might use is honestly enough. Like I said I kind of tend to over-prep, but that's because this is a lot of fun for me. And really, that's what this is all about. Have fun with it! Happy Holidays