CHARACTER CREATION:

I would like everybody to base their character on themselves, but it's not
compulsory.

On a piece of paper, notepad document, spreadsheet etc.:

1. Choose a name

2. Pick a real world job/hobby/pasttime/other defining characterstic

3. Pick a real world "out of the ordinary" item for the character to possess. It's
assumed everybody has a mobile, access to the internet
etc.

4. Pick a number between 2 and 5. Low = character better at feelings, intuition,

instinct, have a high emotional IQ. High = character is
logical, knowledgable, "geeky" etc.

INTRODUCTION

It's 23rd December 2021 (a Thursday).

Twas the night before Christmas Eve, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds, (if you have any!)
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads; (if they exist)
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,

When out on the lawn there arose...nothing. You all have a wonderful night's
sleep, never interrupted by the clattering of the supernatural
entity who dresses in red and gives the good children presents, or any other
supernatural entity for that matter.

You awake the next morning to the refrain of "Babe, I got you babe, I got you
babe". You look around through bleary eyes. You are not in
the same bed. You appear to be in an old fashioned B&B bedroom, with chintsy
furnishings, musty wooden furniture, some cheap
reprint of a landscape painting above your bed, and an alarm radio showing
06.00.

The hotel is called Cherry Tree Inn. There is, of course, a Gideon's Bible in the
bedside table.

The music fades out and two DJ's strike up a conversation. "That was Sony and
Cher's "Babe", eh? Good song, Bob, eh?", "Sure is, Jim, eh?"
"But now it's time for the weather on Quebec Radio One, Canada's largest
radio station, eh? There's a storm moving in from the West
today, but should pass North of Quebec and head out to sea. But it's gonna
be a clear and cold one today - it probably won't get
above freezing. Any sign of a White Christmas, eh, Bob?" "It's not looking
likely eh, Jim."

You switch off the inane chatter and wonder how you are going to get back home to
your families for Christmas Day.

1. Cold shower
You all wake up with messy hair, dry mouths, and stinking. You all feel like
you need a hot shower. Fortunately, every room is en
suite.

As the party turns on the shower they hear what appears to be childlike
laughing. There is no hot water. Technical challenge
success tells the party that the hotel's boiler is out of action. Tracing it
to its source shows that it has been tampered with.
Fixing it (another technical challenge) causes the party to hear a childlike
"awwww".

If the party refuse or fail the task, they spend a miserable day in Christmas
Island - there is little Christmas spirit in the town,
nobody seems to care about the season of goodwill, everybody spends a day of
drunken debauchery and they slump back into bed.
Restart.

2. Coffee - man trying to get to Los Angeles for Christmas with his estranged wife,
Holly
Leaving thie rooms, the party hear movement downstairs - the chatter and
clink of a B&B breakfast room. They are met by a comely
middle-aged landlady, a little befuddled, but who smiles and introduces
herself as Mrs Lancaster. She asks if they are ready for
their coffee order - espress with 4 sugars, black with milk. She also asks
the party if they will be attending the annual Christmas
Island Beaver reveal - 11am that very morning, led by the Town Mayor, Mayor
Cramps?

A balding young beefcake of a young man appears and is served his coffee by a
young waitress. He complains that he has recently
split from his wife in Los Angeles - should he try and make up? He has
already bought air tickets to Los Angeles, where they lived,
and he knows she will be at Nakatomi Plaza that night. The party again hear
childish giggling.

This man is Sgt John Maclane of the NYPD, his wife is Holly. Feelings test
to persuade him to go - he asks for a lift to Quebec
airport, for which he will pay gas money and a little extra for the party's
troubles.

Refusal of failure in the test - the party are stranded in Christmas Island
as the storm takes the whole day to pass over. On the
evening news they hear that a Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles has been the
target of a massive terrorist attack and has been blown up
with the loss of many innocent lives. Merry Christmas! Depressed, the party
slink back to their rooms and slump back into bed.
Restart!

3. Broken down minibus

Maclane's minibus is broken down - spark plugs need changing. Technology
test to fix.

Success - party sets off for the airport, onto number 4 below

Failure - the party spends the day in Christmas Island waiting for the van to
be fixed. It's going to be tomorrow at the earliest,
 says the mechanic. There is nothing for the party to do apart from enjoy
what the town has to offer and go to bed. Restart!

4. Man on bridge about to commit suicide

Maclane sets off for Quebec City International Airport. The storm that was
expected to pass to the North does not do so. Maclane
vainly struggles on but has to admit defeat and turns back to Christmas
Island.

The van is crossing a bridge. The party sees a man off to the right with his
head in his hands. He looks really depressed.

Refusal - all the party can do is enjoy what Christmas Island has to off
before going to bed. Restart!

The man's name is George Bailey. "There is nothing for me to live for! It's
all my fault! I shouldn't have let Uncle Billy take
the cash to deposit into the bank! Now he's lost it and it's all my fault!
There'll be scandal and a run on the bank! I've never
done any good, not really. Everything they say I did that was good was just
dumb luck."

a. Saves brother, Harry, from drowning, becoming deaf in 1 ear in the

process.
b. Stops a druggist from accidentally poisoning a customer.
c. Gave tuition funds to his brother, Harry, so George can run the bank,
Bailey Brothers Building and Loans.
d. Creates Bailey Park, a housing development to stop people having to live
in his rival, Potter's slums.

Feelings test. Success - George thinks of where his Uncle might have left
the money - in a pile of papers he was sorting through.

Failure - George throws himself into the river. He dies of hypothermia, and
the news spreads around town, depressing the
inhabitants, who did really love him. There is little for the party to do
but go to bed a little shocked and depressed. Restart!

5. Main square - Beaver sees a shadow

Carrying on from the bridge, Maclane parks up a little way from the main
square, where the Beaver Reveal is in full swing.

The party should walk to the square. (Refusal = the Beaver reveals a harsh
winter, making the town depressed etc.) Blending with
the crowd, they see a man in victorian-era garb take a piece of paper from a
lectern, take a beaver from out of a cage, and announce
to the crowd that the beaver has revealed that he did indeed see a shadow,
and winter is going to be harsh.

The townsfolk are immediately depressed. After a few hours killing time the
party goes to bed. Restart!

The party should sneak the piece of paper away and forge it so that it says
the beaver did NOT see a shadow. Needs successful
feelings AND technology rolls - the former to make a nice forgery, the latter
to get the forgery right. When the man reads the
forgery there is much rejoicing among the crowd. The man holding the beaver,
however, looks in turn confused, perplexed and angry.
He hands the beaver back its handler and stomps off.
6. Reindeer into right stalls
Off to the side of the main square there is a set of stables where the
reindeer the public were enjoying seeing were being kept.
The reindeer have been led back into the stables but there is an almighty
noise coming from the complex - the banging of hooves
against wooden doors, the reindeer themselves screeching away.

When the party investigate they are told by an exasperated stable hand that
someone has removed the name tags from the stable doors.
The reindeer are very unhappy because each individual stable "smells funny".
Can you help them sort out the mess?

The reindeer need to be in the order from the poem "'Twas the Night before
Christmas". Each reindeer has a name tag hanging from a
collar around its neck.

No failure here.

7. The Hu's instruments are being stolen by Max Grinch

Leaving the stables, the party notice a hubbub among the crowd. The band
that had been hired, the Hu, have had all their
instruments stolen!

Off to the side there is a van with the business name "Max Grinch courier
services". It is about to pull away up the nearby
mountain.

When the party catch up with Grinch he explains that Christmas is much too
commercialised. They'd even hired a band! And that
costs money.

The party have to convince Grinch that Christmas is more than the commercial
stuff. They can get the crowd to sing, even without a
band. Feeling test. Success - Grinch relents and gives the instruments
back, even helping to set up the stage. The Hu dive into
thrash metal versions of the Christmas classics - I wish it could be
Christmas Every Day, Mistletoe and Wine, War is Over etc.
Failure - the crowd disperses, disappointed that they've missed out on a free
concert.

8. Old school friend tries to sell insurance to the party

The party are on their way back to the hotel. A random passing stranger
called out to one of them.
e.g. Paul. "Paul? Paul Sharp? It's me, Ned! Ned Ryerson! We were at
school together! I'm in insurance now. But this year's
been hard - lots of pay outs. I'm not sure how I'm going to pay for
Christmas. Say - you can't have enough insurance! Am I right?
Am I right, am I right, AM I RIGHT? Ned the Bull, that's what they call me!
You don't need any insurance do you? Life, health,
home?"

Very simply, the party have to buy insurance off this guy to make his
Christmas.

9. Evening concert - bad piano player

The party have nothing to do but return to the hotel. Mrs Lancaster tells
them there is a concert at the Town Hall tonight - a
rendition of Grieg's Piano Concerto, conducted by Andrew Preview.
 When the party get there (yes, the instruments are all present), the pianist
is awful. The conductor tears a strip out of him.
"You're playing all the wrong notes!"

The party can do 2 things. They can either step in and play (Lasers or
Feelings roll) or give the pianist the correct response -
"I'm playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order.
I'll give you that, sunshine." That will hopefully give
the pianist some confidence and he starts playing better - Lasers roll.

Failure - the crowd go home disappointed. RESTART!

10. Showdown with gremlins and Krampus, helped by elves

There is a flash of light and a cloud of smoke. The man who led the Beaver
Reveal earlier jumps up from the front row, transforming
as he does so into some unhuman goat creature.
He yells, "THAT'S IT! I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF ALL THIS CHRISTMAS MERRIMENT! IT
STOPS NOW! MINIONS, ATTACK!!!"
Other members of the front row transform into small furry creatures full of
teeth. Gremlins! They chatter excitedly as the jump at
the panicking crowd, stealing hats, scarfs, wallets, you name it. The final
battle is on!

To defeat a minion, the party have to roll exact matches on d6 of the

laser/feelings score. Each time, a gremlin goes "awwww!!!"
and disappears in a poof of smoke. When all the gremlins are gone, Krampus
yells, "AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!! If it wasn't for you
meddling...adults I would have enough consternation banked up to last me
another decade! But, mark my words, I'll be back next
year! But for now, unhappy Christmas to all and to all a bad night!"

At that, he casts another spell and disappears, never to be seen again in

Christmas Island. Or, perhaps next year.

CONCLUSION
Sgt John Maclane is good on his word and gives everybody a lift to Quebec airport
on Christmas Eve. He leaves on his plane to Los Angeles,
and the party can travel on to wherever they wish, no doubt picking up late
presents from duty free as they do so.

THE END