Welcome to the Krampus Christmas Blog Carnival!
Tales from The Savage Troll is proud to present three new creatures for use in your Christmas themed games: The Were Santa, Krampus, and a Fairy. While we realize that fairies aren't a Christmas critter per se, this one is a companion to the current Were Santa and so merits inclusion.
But first, a little history of how little Pauly Pots began his journey to become the fat man in the red suit. Like most convoluted tales ( Lost
being only one example ), this one begins on an island. People know Pauly by many names in many countries. This is mostly due to the aliases he adopts to avoid unwanted interactions with the authorities.Fairies found an infant washed up on the shores of Hardly Ever Isle. They raised the child as their own naming him Pauly Pots, which in Fairy Speak means, Night Screamer and Vile Pooper. They nourished Pauly on a steady diet of forest food, which helped with the smell, and naturally-occurring, hallucinogenic herbs which stopped the screaming.
As young Pauly entered his pre-teens, he spent his days around the magical creatures of the isle watching the pretty colors that appeared when he waved his hand in front of his his face. His life changed forever when a band of marauding pirates grounded their ship on the shores of the Hardly Ever isle. Captain Crook, the ship's master, was an evil man looking for loot and booty to take back to the mainland.
Pauly learned two things from the pirates. One was that people would pay good money for the herbs he harvested. The other was that there was really good money in crime.
Many fights insued between the pirates and the island natives as both vied for control of Hardly Ever Isle. Eventually, Pauly tricked Captain Crook into accepting some tainted baked goods. Pauly and the islanders took the ship and crew. Crook was fed to a giant crocodile after being forced to make Pauly Captain. With the ship repaired and its crew forced into slave labor, Pauly finally had a suitable distribution chain to the mainland for healthy, naturally-occurring herbs.
While Pauly was on the mainland selling natural pharmacological goods with no harmful side effects whatsoever, he ran across a beautiful young preteen named Breezy and her two brothers with unimportant names. Breezy had more than good looks, however. She was also the daughter of a wealthy merchant.
Pauly convinced the trio of siblings to ‘fly’ to Hardly Ever Isle where they participated in many adventures, a faked pirate attack, and other mind expanding events. Once the parents paid a suitable ransom, Pauly convinced the three to return home with fantastic tales of their exploits. Pauly never saw them again.
Eventually the local king invaded Hardly Ever Isle, proclaiming a war on naturally occurring herbs with no harmful side effects whatsoever that would have been legalized long ago if not for the political pressure from the local alchemist guild and priests. The king ordered the pirates hung, the magical creatures slaughtered, and the island natives relocated to a casino. Pauly escaped with his constant fairy companion; the cleverly named, yet non-copyright infringing, Tinkler Girl.
Pauly changed names and joined a troupe of actors who performed light comedies at hip coffee houses. As Harry Panner, he wasn't the best thespian but the late nights and later wakings of an actor’s life suited him well. Unfortunately, like many child stars, Harry did not age well and was let go after an unfortunate incident involving Tink, some bad mushrooms, and a series of stage lights she mistook for amorous fairy males.
Like many ne'er-do-wells with nothing else to do, Harry entered the education system at Pigmole's school of magic, thanks to forged acceptance papers and a bribed admissions clerk. Harry soon became the big man on campus thanks to the popularity of naturally-grown memory supplements. The headmaster eventually discovered Harry's capitalistic endeavors and expelled Harry, but not before the young man learned an impressive amount of magic. In addition, Harry ‘borrowed’ some of the rarer magic items from the school's library which he somehow forgot to return.
The school's headmaster took a dim view of the theft, forcing Harry to assume his current alias; Dangolf Grayteeth. As he grew older, the nickname 'Grayteeth' stuck due to the ravages of various chemical elements he's eaten, drank, smoked, or otherwise consumed.
Dangolf became a successful Spell for Sell wizard, taking on various mercenary jobs. He became known as the man who'd do anyone and anything for the right amount of gold. Eventually, the Northern Toy Makers Guild (NTMG) hired him to take out a constant and ever growing menace; Nicolas the Red.
Nicolas and his band of stunted arctic elves drastically undercut the NTMG's profit margin by giving away toys once a year the night of the Winter Solstice. This unfair trade practice had to end. The stories tell of an epic battle that raged for days between Nicolas the Red and Dangolf the Gray.
In actuality, Dangolf and Tink infiltrated the polar fortress and discovered an elven slave ring. Their overseer was Krampus, a demon of punishment Nicolas had summoned and bound to his service. The Krampus had the ability to turn children of a hateful or mischievous spirit into a stunted elf form which he enslaved to work in the toy factory.
The poor elves worked on a massive toy manufacturing assembly line. Finding eager accomplices in the elves, Dangolf slipped Nicolas a super mickey cocktail then challenged him to a wizard’s dual. Poor Nicolas never stood a chance. As Nicolas the Red lay in the snow with elves rejoicing all around him, Dangolf picked up Nick's famous bag of holding. Nicolas did all he could to keep the bag but his drug-numbed fingers couldn't hold on. As Dangolf wrested the bag from Nicolas' grasp, a smile came to The Red's face. His last words before passing were "I'm free."
Dangolf shoved many of Nicolas' belongings into the bag and left to collect his payment. As he walked the streets children began to approach and ask for gifts. Dangolf blurted out "HO!" thinking it odd for him to call children prostitutes. Eventually he decided to give the urchins a small gift from his bag in order to shut them up. It’s a tradition that's gone on ever since.
Dangolf occasionally has fits which lead to blacks outs. Horrible pain and hair growth proceed these spells. The worst episodes occur around the Winter solstice - after which he wakes up exhausted, covered in soot and cookie crumbs, with the taste of sour milk in his mouth. He also blacks out during times of extreme stress. Sometimes he wakes up surrounded by toys. At other times he awakes to flying animals who obey is every command. He normally excuses this away as a 'bad trip' or 'flashback'.
Tink literally crawled into a bottle and stayed there after the first Soltice. She now functions as a magical lantern and occasionally dispenses pixie dust to get parties going.
Dangolf considers the bag of holding is prize possession and never lets it leave his person. It allows him to detect past good and bad behavior (restricted to one calendar year starting from the last Winter solstice), the ability to squeeze through small openings, and fire resistance. It also provides interesting items in time of need. Sometimes the items help, other times they hurt, but there is always something interesting that comes out of the bag.
If Dangolf does transform into Santa, the bag will always produce beneficial items. As Santa, Dangolf is a holly, jolly old fellow that fits the classic definition of Santa Claus with the exception of a large cigar. During combat or other stressful times, Dangolf must make a Spirit roll against the standard chart to determine if he Santas-out. The more stressful the situation the more likely he is to transform. On the night of Winter solstice, the roll occurs every round until he succumbs.
On failure, a huge sleigh appears belching smoke from a coal fired furnace which somehow powers the vehicle. The Krampus is always on board.
Dangolf, Krampus, and Tink fly from house to house dispensing presents made during that calendar year by the enslaved elves. Krampus finds the very bad children and takes them back to the factory for transformation.
Dangolf has no knowledge of the night-long ride. During bad weather, he straps Tink to the front of the sleigh to provide illumination on foggy nights. The Krampus rides in back stoking the first of the coal furnace and giggling to the children he's taken.
Krampus has the ability to produce sticks and lumps of coal at will. He uses this to power the sleigh or give to bad children who don't warrant enslavement. These he either berates, warns, or spanks with a stick. While Krampus is technically and evil being, he has strict guidelines as to whom to punish.
WereSanta (wild card) - Unique Creature - Currently Dangolf Grayteeth - Wizard
Rank/Race: Legendary/Human
Attributes:Agility d8, Smarts d8, Spirit d10, Strength d8, Vigor d10
Skills: Climbing d8+2, Fighting d8, Lock picking d8+2, Notice d8, Persuasion d8, Shooting d8, Stealth d8+2, Streetwise d10, Taunt d8, Knowledge(Pharmaceuticals) d10, Knowledge(Herbs) d8
Languages: 4 setting specific languages
Derived: Pace 6, Parry 6, Charisma 0, Toughness 7, Bennies 2
Hindrances: Major: Greedy, Minor: Habit, Mean
Edges: Thief, Arcane Background - Magic
Powers (30): Barrier, Blast, Blind, Bolt, Confusion, Detect/Conceal Arcana, Entangle, Teleport, Wall Walker
Gear: Cursed Bag of Holding (powers(40) Beast Friend, Darksite, Environmental Protection, Fly, Grow/Shink, Shape Change, Wall Walker), bottle with Tinkler Girl inside, Cigar
Tinkler Girl - Fairy (wild card)
Attributes:Agility d12, Smarts d6, Spirit d4, Strength d4, Vigor d4
Skills: Fighting d12, Lock picking d8+2, Notice d8, Shooting d12, Stealth d12+2, Taunt d4, Knowledge(Forest Creatures) d6, Knowledge(Herbs) d6
Languages: 4 setting specific languages
Derived: Pace 10, Parry 8(10 for normal size creatures due to size), Charisma 2, Toughness 2 (-2 for size), Bennies 2
Hindrances: Major: Envious of other females around Dangolf, Minor: Habit, Clueless
Edges: Thief, Attractive
Gear: Tiny sword Str+d4
Powers: Pixie Dust (allows other to fly) - 40 power points. Also has hallucinogenic properties if inhaled
Krampus - Black Santa (wild card)
Race: Demon
Attributes:Agility d8, Smarts d10, Spirit d12, Strength d10, Vigor d12
Skills: Fighting d12, Intimidate d12+2, Notice d8, Stealth d8+2, Taunt d10+2, Throwing d8, Trick d10+2, Climb d10+2, Lock Picking d8+2
Languages: 4 setting specific languages
Derived: Pace 6, Parry 8, Charisma -4, Toughness 12(4), Bennies 2
Hindrances: Major: Vengeful, Minor: Mean, Ugly
Edges: Thief, Strong Willed, Improved Trademark Weapon (switch), Imp. Level Headed
Gear: Krampus Switch (d4+Str any hit with a raise, regardless of damage, shakes opponent), Flaming Coal (thrown weapon 3/6/9, d4+Str+ignition of flammable materials), Claws d6+Str
Powers: (all powers permanent until dispelled) Puppet (against members of the naughty list), Shape Change (of those Krampus Puppets), Environmental Protection, Grow/Shrink (self), able to produce lumps of coal and sticks at will.
Demonic Traits
- Immunity: Demons are immune to poison and disease.
- Infernal Stamina: Demons gain a +2 bonus to recover from being Shaken.
- Resistant to Normal Weapons: Demons suffer only half damage from non-magical attacks except for cold iron (see below).
- Weakness (Cold Iron): Demons take normal damage from pure iron weapons. “Cold” refers to their relative purity—not their temperature.
Tomorrow's installment of Tales from The Savage Troll includes stats for Santa's sleigh. Until then, Merry Krampus!
Merry Krampus Blog Carnival
SteamPunk vs. SteamPulp
Free Merry Krampus Artwork
Artwork is by British illustrator Steve Austin and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. This basically means that you are free to use his artwork so long as you a) give him credit, b) share the artwork under the same license, and c) don’t use it for commercial purposes (i.e. you can’t resell it)
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