It’s that time of year again, the one where you dust off your dice, cozy up beside an imaginary hearth, and run a game soaked in holiday spirit.
Holiday-themed stories like "A Christmas Carol" provide a rich narrative framework for tabletop roleplaying games. Designing a scenario based on these stories, however, requires careful structuring to maintain narrative coherence while allowing player agency. Below is a possible step-by-step approach to scenario design based on a holiday story framework.
Step 1: Define the Core Theme and Emotional Tone
Identify the central message or emotional arc that will drive the scenario, typically tied to holiday themes like redemption, sacrifice, or renewal. The tone can range from hopeful to grim, depending on genre and desired player experience.
Fantasy: Redemption through sacrifice and self-realization.
Sci-Fi: Renewal amid dehumanizing technology and societal control.
Historical: Reflection on past cultural or personal mistakes during a significant holiday.
Horror: The inevitable reckoning and confrontation with inner or external demons.
Step 2: Establish the Setting and Situation
Create a vivid context consistent with the chosen genre that immediately immerses players in the holiday atmosphere. Introduce a problem or crisis to propel the plot.
Fantasy: A besieged mountain village celebrating the solstice festival faces an ancient curse reawakening its ghosts.
Sci-Fi: On a remote space station during the universal day of remembrance, a mysterious power outage jeopardizes life support.
Historical: A small town during World War II’s Christmas Eve where soldiers and civilians wrestle with loyalty, loss, and hope.
Horror: An abandoned asylum during a winter festival, where the party must survive supernatural hauntings tied to the facility’s dark past.
Step 3: Design “The Past” Segment – Revelations and Stakes
Introduce encounters (visions, ghosts, memories) that reveal critical history and personal stakes for the characters and setting. This segment helps contextualize current dilemmas and motivates change.
Fantasy: Ghosts of past villagers appear, showing abandoned promises to protect the village or mistakes leading to the curse.
Sci-Fi: AI-driven holograms replay pre-disaster recordings revealing hidden conspiracies tied to the station’s mission failures.
Historical: Flashbacks or letters from soldiers/family members expose personal regrets or betrayals with real consequences.
Horror: Sinister spirits reenact past atrocities, forcing characters to confront buried guilt or secrets.
Step 4: Design “The Present” Segment – Conflicts and Moral Choices
Develop challenges that reflect ongoing consequences and demand meaningful player decisions. Focus on social interactions, ethical dilemmas, and problem-solving over combat, unless genre or tone calls for it.
Fantasy: Players must decide whether to perform a costly ritual, negotiate with spectral entities, or protect townsfolk skeptical of magic.
Sci-Fi: The group must restore power, decide who to save with limited supplies, or navigate conflicting station factions.
Historical: Characters broker peace between divided groups, distribute scarce resources, or grapple with obedience versus morality.
Horror: Players attempt to escape or exorcise evil entities while balancing survival and uncovering the asylum’s secrets.
Step 5: Design “The Future” Segment – Outcome Visions and Final Choices
Present characters with a vision or scenario illustrating the consequences of their actions (or inaction). This section culminates in a moral or strategic choice with meaningful stakes.
Fantasy: Vision of the village’s fate if the curse remains—desolation versus rebirth through sacrifice.
Sci-Fi: Preview the potential collapse or salvation of the space station and its inhabitants depending on player choices.
Historical: A letter or scene depicting future reconciliation or continued conflict shaped by player actions.
Horror: A terrifying glimpse of eternal torment or haunting peace based on confronting the asylum’s truth.
Step 6: Plan the Resolution and Thematic Closure
Design a conclusion that reflects the players’ choices and reinforces the scenario’s themes. Allow room for both somber reflection and, if appropriate, hope or redemption.
Fantasy: The village either is freed or succumbs, with survivors forever changed.
Sci-Fi: The station’s fate is revealed, and characters must live with their decisions amidst the void of space.
Historical: The scenario ends with personal letters, a community rebuilding, or lingering scars.
Horror: The aftermath could be escape, possession, or eternal imprisonment by the asylum’s horrors.
Step 7: Integrate Mechanics and Player Engagement
Modify or introduce mechanics that emphasize the scenario’s emotional weight and themes – social influence, moral points, sanity tracking, or resource management can all reflect the holiday spirit or dread.
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