There’s a deep, resonating echo of massive hooves as makes his way through your home. Even from your room, you can hear lungs gurgle as he takes a deep breath to smell his prey. It’s you, you know that now- he’s here because of what you’ve done. You’re snapped out of any kind of rational thought as he thrashes his chains! His deep demonic laugh fills your home and then- nothing. For several seconds it’s quiet and you allow yourself to believe you were just dreaming. You open your eyes and see his large shadow standing in the corner of the room. And now silence is all that you’ll ever know.
We all know about that jolly old man who rewards good children each year with wondrous gifts and fills our hearts with warmth and wonder. Some of us have even run holiday-themed games about this popular figure. Yet there’s another figure that until now hasn’t received as much attention; I’m talking about Krampus!
Krampus usually appears as a hairy, cloven hooved humanoid creature with horns that exists to frighten and abduct naughty children. He usually wears chains and carries with him birch branches or a whip to lash out at his targets and a large bag over his back in which to carry them away to Hell. Sometimes, instead of a bag, he uses a tub strapped to his back that he uses to drown the children before he eats them!
Such a creature would make a wonderful addition to any game session, especially for those who enjoy holiday-themed games and are looking for a new twist. Krampus would most definitely be the enemy of your players’ group, as it would be very hard indeed to sympathize with a demonic creature who loves to frighten, drown and eat little children (then again, we are talking about naughty children here).
In settings where the supernatural is real, such as the World of Darkness, Krampus can be used as an evil spirit, magical creature, nightmare or even a Slasher. In sword and sorcery games like Dungeons & Dragons, he can be a unique monster or demon that begins to hunt children it deems naughty and even in games like Star Wars, he can be some poor soul twisted by Sith alchemy or an ancient Dark Side spirit awoken by the deeds of a few local children.
The great thing about Krampus, is that there’s not a lot that is known about him, so you can add or remove details as needed without feeling like you need to adhere to volumes of lore. In addition, he’s not a very well known figure, so even if you do play up every bit of information you can find on him, you’ll likely still surprise some of your players, and for those who don’t want to dive completely into the deep end of all the darkness, you can call upon what seems to be a natural enemy: Saint Nick himself!
As we close in on the end of this season and the end of the year, I hope you’re all spending quality time with your friends and family and are lucky enough to share new games and new experiences with folks who share this passion and this hobby that has brought so much joy to so many people. Have a great holiday season, be well, but most importantly, be good… because Krampus is watching you!
Alex Montoya
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