Table-Tested Reviews of Christmas TTRPGs
Last Christmas I had a little game hiatus in December, so I was happy to try out some thematic games this year! “To Serve Her Wintry Hunger” and “Hometown Holiday” made it to the table and are featured in this review.
Without further ado, let’s dive in!
To Serve Her Wintry Hunger
Game Designer: Stephen Dewey
Publication Year: 2018
Page Count: 29
Genre: dark fairy tale, folk horror
Content Warnings: bullying, dying from exposure, cold, violence
This definitely was a highlight of all the games I tried this year. It’s written by Stephen Dewey (who also made Ten Candles - check out my review here) and it shows. It is its own game, but has a similar game design approach: there’s rituals, a clear progression to the end and things to do physically. And it’s an absolute blast.
The players each play one of exactly four winter spirits: Flame, Hunger, Cold and Fear. They serve their mistress Yuki Onna by chasing a human through the snow so their mistress can consume it. This is as much a competition as it is a cooperative effort: everyone needs to do their part for everyone to succeed, but they also need to look good while doing it and gain favour with their mistress. In-fighting is highly encouraged.
The mechanics facilitate this playstyle perfectly. The goal is to gather dice rolls from 1 to 6 in order, which gets harder with time, as you lose dice from your pool. And most importantly, you can offer each other pity, should someone else need a number that you rolled. You can make deals, you can break deals, all the while favour shifts and pity points accrue. The facilitator reads text prompts in between rolls and players spin the story as they roll their numbers and answer their prompts. And every time they add a die to their streak, they can make a cut in their paper snowflake. Or, in the case of accepting pity, let someone else cut it. Players get really attached to their snowflakes, but will their pride and vanity be the downfall of their hunt?
The main game will always consist of the same prompts, while the end is shaped by how favour and pity has been distributed and if they succeeded or not.
We played for 2.5 hours in a session with a lot of roleplaying and long answers to prompts. According to the game it runs 1-2 hours and I can totally see that being an average.
I would be intrigued to try this as a GMless game. With some adjustments to the wording of the prompts and maybe even using prompt cards I could see this work really well.
“To Serve Her Wintry Hunger” is a neat no-prep game that I can absolutely recommend for the winter season. Just don’t forget to check which supplies are needed for a session!
Hometown Holiday
Game Designer: Nick Tourville
Publication Year: 2021
Page Count: 19
Genre: Christmas romantic comedy
Content Warnings: relationship drama, toxic relationships, rejection
Christmas romcoms are definitely my December guilty pleasure, so I was very much looking forward to playing Hometown Holiday. Players step into the shoes of characters wooing (or desperately trying not to fall in love with) a bland as well as handsome idiot - unless you’re playing the friend that’s somehow always there and giving advice to everyone. It mostly errs on the comedic side of the romcom and mechanics push players into using as many tropes as possible.
Dice rolls are 2d6 plus a stat (usually -1 to +3) and target numbers are set by the GM, usually between 6 and 10. Rolling doubles triggers one of six possible plot twists, like a dangerous blizzard starting.
Character creation is quick and easy with three stats (”Sweaters”, “Cocoa” and “Cheer”) predetermined by your archetype (e.g. “Cool Single Parent” or “Dating a Jerk”), a short backstory (which you can pick from a list), one of two special skills and a secret agenda. Some of the secret agendas were tougher than others in forcing a very specific narrative (”Throw your child under the bus for personal gain” being a tough one), so rolling for a secret agenda seemed a little harsh for us and players often ended up just choosing one (e.g. “Give your child the perfect holiday gift”). Remember to download the character sheets which can be found as a seperate itch game page.
During the game the GM will keep a tally of how many tropes everyone used and how well they impressed the Love Interest, as well as giving extra points for getting the final chaste kiss or fulfilling your secret objective. The most points win! For me, giving out the points felt a bit vague and we felt like it would be cool if they did more than just determine a “winner” in the end (like being able to steal a scene maybe?). Getting the final kiss gives points, so it’s assumed the winner is determined after the kiss - so someone other than the kisser can “win” apparently. The points are a motivator to lean into tropes, but for us they didn’t do anything else.
The game profits from a tiny little bit of prep beforehand - I didn’t heed the advice to make up some details about the plot beforehand, so we fleshed out the town and the Love Interest together at the beginning and I made up a story on the spot, which worked decently well. But as mentioned, the pdf does tell you to prep a little. The provided three act structure gives you plenty to go on though, as well as d66 one-sentence plot ideas at the end of the pdf.
Overall we had a lot of fun playing Hometown Holiday. I felt like the mechanics could use a little more polish in some places, but nothing came up that spoiled the fun. It’s a nice little game about silly Christmas romcoms and if everyone buys into this, it’s an absolute delight.
