So earlier today, I recommended the wonderful third-party book Faeries to someone... I recalled, after doing so, that one of the NPCs detailed in there is the Holly King, who has many other names -- among them, Kris Kringle.
This made me recall something WotC did for the holidays in 2001 and 2002: They presented us with a D&D Santa Claus, Nicholas the Gift-Giver. I tracked down the links, and I'm putting them all here, to make things simple for DMs wanting to do a holiday session.
2022 Edit: The 5E link is still good, but the 3E links no longer work <Insert negative commentary about the Wizards web team here >. I'm leaving the links there, though, so people can copy them and toss them into the Internet Archive and find the content that way, if they are so inclined.
It's funny how traditional elves fit our thoughts of a gnome. I was musing on this the other day, when my buddy sent me a cool drawing of a bad mofo Santa.
If I waited till I knew what I was doing, I'd never get anything done.
One, two! One, two! And through and through The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! He left it dead, and with its head He went galumphing back. --Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass
"Mmm, not the darkness," Myrin murmured. "Don't cast it there." --Erik Scott de Bie, Shadowbane
There really is a Santa Claus. I would, of course, be inclined to argue that mere stats could never truly do him justice.
Thanks for the links, Wooly!
"Instead of asking why we sleep, it might make sense to ask why we wake. Perchance we live to dream. From that perspective, the sea of troubles we navigate in the workaday world might be the price we pay for admission to another night in the world of dreams." --Richard Greene (letter to Time)
Edited by - Rinonalyrna Fathomlin on 18 Dec 2008 21:02:59
So earlier today, I recommended the wonderful third-party book Faeries to someone... I recalled, after doing so, that one of the NPCs detailed in there is the Holly King, who has many other names -- among them, Kris Kringle.
This made me recall something WotC did for the holidays in 2001 and 2002: They presented us with a D&D Santa Claus, Nicholas the Gift-Giver. I tracked down the links, and I'm putting them all here, to make things simple for DMs wanting to do a holiday session.
But I do wonder what Father Christmas might look like in 3.5 terms, especially if he brought his old pal der Belznickle/Knecht Ruprecht along as a bodyguard.
i think it at least pactially comes from mistransation from Scandinavian ... we're calling them 'Nisser' which is interchangeable with 'Alfer' ... 'Nisser' is translated into Gnomes, while 'Alfer' is easy to misread as 'Elfer' which is Elves ... but whereas Gnomes are small 'spirits' protecting the farm, helping the farmer if they respect them, Elves are more whimsy, evil forestdwelling spirits which lures human males into thier hill and dance with them till they die from exaustion :p
what happened to the queen? she's much more hysterical than usual She's a women, it happens once a month
Despite the retailers breaking out the Christmas stuff a little earlier each year, I refuse to consider it Christmastime until I've had my Thanksgiving dinner. That meal is passed, my wife and I put up and decorated our tree, and the Bob Rivers CDs are next in my queue... So I can comfortably call it Christmastime. And since it's that time of year, I decided to resurrect this thread for another holiday season!
Heh. I'll have to dig out the PLANESCAPE interpretation I had for Father Christmas as a Ring-Giver in a one-shot campaign I ran a couple of years ago.
I guess we are still waiting?
"These things also I have observed: that knowledge of our world is to be nurtured like a precious flower, for it is the most precious thing we have. Wherefore guard the word written and heed words unwritten and set them down ere they fade . . . Learn then, well, the arts of reading, writing, and listening true, and they will lead you to the greatest art of all: understanding." Alaundo of Candlekeep
Oh, I almost forgot, actually. Where would be a good place to have his northern palace at in the Realms? Any ideas or suggestions?
Well, we could follow the Holly King's example in Faeries, and suggest a place for his workshop that resembles the Land of Eternal Winter. Say, beyond the Spine of the World. Or, perhaps, somewhere deep in the High Ice [preferably, away from the Smokeholes].
Santa also appeared as an "official" D&D monster in Imagine Magazine #21 back in 1984. We converted him over at the EN World Creature Catalog last year, but didn't quite get him finished until January. Highlights: * Santa's bag (of holding) * Knows who's naughty or nice * Santa's sleigh (major artifact) * 3 new magic item "toys": elven rollerskates, Otto's Irresistable teddy bear, Tenser's floating jellybaby * Santa's reindeer (including Rudolph) * Toymaker elves Come check him out!
I would say the real/main/whatever 'Santa' should be in a frigid part of the Feywild, where his chosen (going by various names on different worlds - Nicholas on Earth, obviously). There would be planer portals (Feygates) that would lead to each world where he has a presence. Since each world would have its own individual Santa, that would explain why he has been called both a Dwarf and Elf in different regions. With the sheer number of worlds he could exist on, he could be of any race, ethnicity, height, etc...
Although the Orc Santa would be kinda scary, its the Illithid Santa I most dread seeing.
And now Sage has yet-another year to give us his interpretation.
Last year (or was it the year before?) I had planned an adventure for FR, starting in the Moonwood and proceeding to Waterdeep, based upon ALL of the Yuletide/Santa lore, including things like Frosty, Rudolph, 'The Bumble' (yeti), etc.
Now I'm thinking of a new spin, using Elaith Craulnober as my Scrooge, and a Hobgoblin Pa-Thom (Drummer) boy.
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
Bumping this up again, and I'm going to sticky it for a few days, I think.
And interestingly, I'm doing this exactly three years after I originally started this thread! Gotta say, a lot has changed for me in those three years!
And it's time for the annual bumping of this thread! Much to my surprise, all of these links continue to be good!
quote:Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
So earlier today, I recommended the wonderful third-party book Faeries to someone... I recalled, after doing so, that one of the NPCs detailed in there is the Holly King, who has many other names -- among them, Kris Kringle.
This made me recall something WotC did for the holidays in 2001 and 2002: They presented us with a D&D Santa Claus, Nicholas the Gift-Giver. I tracked down the links, and I'm putting them all here, to make things simple for DMs wanting to do a holiday session.
I downloaded them when they were new but have no idea where those files are now, so it's cool that the links still work.
I was going to point out that the High Ice only became what it is today at the fall of Netheril, and Nicholas' workshop should definitely predate Netheril... but now that I think about it, I'm not so sure. Reading the description of the Karsus Enclave, with its Elemental Store and QM III, it seems that Netheril is exactly the sort of culture that Nicholas would be from. I'm thinking late-Silver to mid-Golden Age. A "genius before his time" kind of arcanist, who probably had access to a mythallar, but chose not to make an enclave. If you accept NWN's storyline of rediscovering a functional mythallar following the Fall, he could even still be getting some use from it.
With this origin in mind, I also favor the High Ice. Well, technically on the Reghed Glacier, above the High Ice. I suggest a broad peak directly north of the Taglorlar, beyond the latitude of Hartsvale and the Taurax Mountains. Wyrm Rift and the Rift of Stars were once glacial lakes at the High Ice's southern edge, so he would have picked a location further into the ice to avoid accidental discovery/bother by enclaves and wanderers such as the Terraseer. Plus, modern explorers have penetrated the High Ice far enough, and regularly enough, that Wyrm Rift and the Rift of Stars appear on maps. Nicholas' workshop doesn't appear on maps, so it needs to be harder to get to.
Not all mythallars were used on flying cities, so it's entirely possible that the workshop contains a mythallar. The mythallar could be used to maintain some weather-controlling magic, much as some mythals make their area more livable by moderating extreme temperatures. And the gnomes could use quasi-magical items in their construction of goodies.
Ghosts of Christmas Past: Santa in 3.x & 5E
Posted - 17 Dec 2008 : 01:56:07
>. I'm leaving the links there, though, so people can copy them and toss them into the Internet Archive and find the content that way, if they are so inclined.
I'm going to have to find some people to play with so I can use that! Thanks for the link!
