Step Aside Krampus - Alternative Yuletime Villains for D&D.
From folklore & stories across the world!
Anyone who has been a dungeonmaster for at least 12 months has probably considered - or been asked - to run a Christmas one-shot game1.
The most common method for writing a christmas2 oneshot is that Krampus is doing dastardly things (like stealing Santa) and the party needs to go and stop him. It works, and Krampus forms an excellent villain, but it’s no secret that Krampus has become common enough knowledge to be, regrettably, predictable. I would say that at least half the Christmas oneshots out there revolve around Krampus. So, here’s a list of alternative villains (and other NPCs) for constructing your Christmas one-shot!
Grýla, the Yule Cat, and the Yule Lads.
A classic depiction of Grýla by Icelandic artist Tryggvi Magnússon (1932)
This Icelandic legend is likely going to take off this year and next year, though I won’t say why3. The legend comes from a 17th-century icelandic poem, on which notes can be found here.
Loathsome and ugly was Grýla the Hag
She looked over the country from her home in the Crag
Grýla was described as an Ogre, a Troll, and a Hag, all of which are D&D monsters, but it seems the Hag fits the best - she is a large and powerful monster who steals naughty children and cooks them into a stew, which she then eats with a neverending hunger.
Grýla is the mother to the 13 Yule Lads, and lives with the Yule Cat.
The Yule Lads are called Sheepcote Clod, Gully Gawk, Stubby, Spoon Licker, Pot Scraper, Bowl Licker, Door Slammer, Skyr Gobbler, Sausage Swiper, Window Peeper, Doorway Sniffer, Meat Hook, and Candle Beggar. They are supposed to arrive each on a different day across the Christmas period, and each of them has a different personality and supposed role in causing chaos in whichever town they visit.
Sheepcote Clod has two peg-legs, and harasses sheep. Gully Gawk hides in gullies and sneaks into cow sheds and steals milk4. Stubby steals cookware for the food baked onto the inside. Spoon Licker is emaciatedly thin, and steals cooking spoons, which (unsurprisingly) he licks. Pot Scraper steals cooking pots to scrape out the leftovers. Bowl Licker hides under beds to steal food bowls left on the floor. Door Slammer just goes around slamming doors at night to wake people up. Skyr Gobbler just wants to eat Skyr, a traditional icelandic yoghurt. Sausage Swiper steals sausages hung to smoke in the rafters. Window Peeper goes around peering through windows to find things to steal. Doorway Sniffer has an acute sense of smell, which he uses to find and steal Laufabrauð (also called Snowflake bread)5. Meat Hook uses a hook to steal meat6. Finally, Candle Beggar follows children to steal their candles, to eat the tallow.
Honestly, they mostly sound like they’re just hungry. However, in addition to their specific activities, they all kidnap naughty children to give to Grýla for her stew. So don’t take too much pity on them!
The Yule Cat is a huge cat which has a very unusual penchant - it eats people who do not recieve new clothing before Christmas eve!
The concept of Grýla and the Yule Lads/Cat offers some good options for reflavouring within the D&D world. Three ideas, offhand, would be:
Grýla is a huge hag who is kidnapping children who are naughty for her stew. The party are assigned to recover the lost children, fight the 13 lads, and then overcome Grylla and her Yule cat to save the day, before the stew pot starts to boil.
Grýla is actually referring to an Elder Brain in the underdark. The 13 Yule Lads are mindflayers, and the Yule Cat is the result of a mind-flayer tadpole being applied to a giant snow leopard. They kidnap the children they deem the town will miss the least to expand their underdark population of mindflayers. Cue the party to investigate the disappearances.
Grýla is seeking to stop Santa from giving children presents, because her standards of “good” are not realistic - she thinks all the children are bad. The Yule Lads find a way to make the Yule Cat fly, and attack the reindeer in mid-flight. Cue the party trying to save the day!
Belsnickel
Belsnickel as depicted by artist Ralph D. Dunkelberger in Alfred L. Shoemaker, Christmas in Pennsylvania: A Folk-Cultural Study (Kutztown, PA: Pennsylvania Folklore Society, 1959), 75.
Belsnickel is a Germanic alternative to Santa, and is also called “Kriskinkle” - sound familiar? Belsnickel appears as a dissheveled man, with a switch to beat naughty children and sweets to reward good children. The writings of Jacob Brown from around 1830 describe Belsnickel as throwing sweets on the floor for the children to grab, and then striking them whilst they were stooped to pick up the sweets. Kinda harsh.
I doubt Belsnickel could carry a oneshot story alone, but he’s7 an interesting option nonetheless.
La Befana
La Befana is an italian legend, which speaks of a witch who rides a broom, climbs down people’s chimneys, and leaves presents for the good children and coal for the bad children. Sounds familiar, eh?
Apparently she doesn’t like being watched, and if children see her, bad things happen to them. A possible theme for a game might be that La Befena’s night is approaching, but there is some magic on the town which prevents people from sleeping. This would be a multiple-in-game-day oneshot in which the party cannot rest properly, and thus must conserve their resource. There may be a Fey trickster who has somehow stolen the town’s nights, leaving them always awake, which the party needs to find and either make a deal with or fight.
Perchta
Well, this one is something of an overreactor.
Perchta is a Baravian and Austrian character of folklore, who appears during the 12 days of Christmas and enters peoples homes. If the people she finds have been good, and have spun their allotted amount of flax in the year, and have eaten the correct feats of fish and gruel (yum…) on her day, then she might give them a silver coin as a reward. If they haven’t been good, or finished their work, or they ate something, you know, nice, then she slits their bellies, pulls out their stomachs, and stuffs them with straw and pebbles.
Yeesh.
A potential use for Perchta might be as a hag who is forming an army of scarecrows made from the straw-filled cadavers of those she deemed as being naughty. Honestly, this sounds sufficiently macabre to be more of a halloween game!
Mari Lwyd
Image from user Mickwidder of Wikipedia
You may be able to tell from the lack of vowels in the second name that Mari Lwyd is of Welsh origin. The tradition is still active in some areas, and can be summed up succinctly by a stranger knocking on your door whilst holding a horses skull on a stick and covered in a sheet, and then engaging in a rap-battle with you to pursuade you to let them into your house, which if you lose, you must give them food and beer. Honestly, it sounds amazing.
Interestingly, Mari Lwyd doesn’t appear to be emulating any particular entity, and to bring it to D&D, it may be best used in it’s intact form - as a tradition, which is taking place in a town. The premise of Mari Lwyd is that they are both hidden, and asking to come into your home. As such, this is a perfect opportunity to introduce vampires to the game. Vampires cannot enter a house unless invited in, so using the Mari Lwyd as a disguise, they can gain entry to peoples homes and be “given something to drink”.
Hans Trapp
This one might be a little tenuous, but still full of potential.
The story originates from Hans Von Trotha, who was a German Knight in the late 1400’s. Hans Von Trotha was folklorificated8 into Hans Trapp, who was a black knight who would (as per time honoured tradition, it would seem) beat naughty children with a rod.
Hans Trapp would make for an excellent villain as a death knight. Perhaps the town holds a tradition where people dress as a knight and battle one another, but this year, the real Hans Trapp has returned, and sets to punishing the naughty people. With proper foreshadowing of how the standards have changed in the region, this would be quite a good political intrigue game. Perhaps there was recently a ban on alcohol lifted, and this is the first year where the town can celebrate with alcohol, and one of the political peoples is against this and has re-summoned Hans Trapp to punish them. You might make a combination of Sleepy Hollow with Scooby-Doo, to have the knight unmasked by the party whilst they try to avoid being killed. Good for a low level party with a good session zero explaining that they will die in a straight up fight, so run!
Looking for something pre-made to run?
There are some great D&D adventures out there! Here are a couple to have a look through!
How Orcus stole Christmas
How Orcus Stole Christmas has the characters begins at a happy village’s beloved holiday feast. The joy-filled townsfolk spotted an scary stranger arrive in his unusual sleigh. With a deep belly laugh the pillaging began… Can your party save the children from the mysterious visitor’s clutches by Christmas?
Designed for four to six characters between 3rd and 5th level for use with Fifth Edition, this adventure is filled with holiday highjinks and plants tongue firmly in cheek as players face off against Orcus Claws in an effort to rescue all the News down in Newville from being written in blood onto the naughty list by the Demon Prince in Red and his Crueltide Elves.
Inside you'll find a complete adventure, new magic items, and even the dreaded artifact Orcus's Christmas Slay!
It’s less than £3, and you know people will enjoy it for longer than the waxy chocolate in their advent calendar!
Looking for a whole Grim Yuletide setting for less than the cost of an overpriced coffee?
Then this might be the one for you!
Honestly, with a subclass for every class, an entire “Spirit System”, and over 20 spells, over 20 magic items, and over 20 creatures, I should be doing this one it’s own article. I may well do so, actually. But for now, you can find this awesome-sounding 110+ page supplement for just £4.31 here:
Thankyou all for reading and have a marvellous Yule, Christmas, Xmas, Holiday, or just time-off-work - however you enjoy the midwinter holidays!
I am, in fact, writing this when I should be prepping my own Christmas oneshot. I consider it research.
Christmas is here used for familiarity, and the majority of these traditions outdate modern Christianity. Those who feel that it should be the word “Yule”, please take these and paste them over the top: Yule, Yule, Yule, Yule, Yule, Yule, Yule, Yule, Yule, Yule, Yule, Yule.
For spoilers are the enemy, and I do not abide them! If you know, you know!
What a lovely opportunity to tie in a thief causing Santa to get really thirsty, for all the milk put out for him is gone!
I have looked this up, and now I wish to make these. They look amazing!
Didn’t expect that.
Beltsnickel is also called the Christmas Woman, and was supposedly masculine but wore womens clothes, so “he” may not be the right word!
This is a word. It’s the past tense of “Folklorificate”.
I LOVE this article! What fantastic suggestions. Gonna share and get myself inspired too. Thank u Ducky!