Happy American Thanksgiving, everybody! I expect most people are reading this on Thursday, because they are drinking as often as possible on Wednesday. This is going to be a hard holiday for a lot of people, and I bet bars and liquor stores are looking forward to Black Wednesday. Let’s assume for a minute that you are woefully hungover and are reading this from your smart device while praying to the porcelain gods. First, I feel your pain, and suggest you pop some alka seltzer and make yourself an egg cream. Second, double up on the mashed potatoes, heavy on the butter. Third, let’s talk about a Thanksgiving themed one-shot you can run while everyone is barely keeping it together. Thanksgiving gets the short end of the stick, here in the US. It’s the bridge holiday between the ever-increasingly popular Halloween and the cheery holiday juggernaut that is Christmas. Halloween sparks our imagination in myriad ways. We tell ghost stories, revel in all things spooky, and the work to dress up in ways to really let our imaginations and inhibitions run wild. There is a reason why it has the most one-night stands of any night of the year. Really. Meanwhile, Christmas is basically a season unto itself. We bemoan the insidious creeping of the start of the season, steeling ourselves against an onslaught that now almost overlaps Halloween. We easily mock and lampoon the blurred religious-commercials nature of the holiday, while simultaneously luxuriating in our favorite customs and rituals. Running a Christmas-themed one-shot is a tradition for many people, myself included. One friend runs “A Very Wookie Christmas”, while I run Left 4 Dead Christmas survival games, each different, but with names like “Little Town of Deathlehem” and “Death the Halls.” The point is, both of these holidays are more iconic these days, and each are much easier to theme around. Let’s change that up. To start things off, we’d need some player races. You could play an elf or dwarf or something, but this is a holiday one-shot. People play living toys and shit in other holiday one-shots. Let’s branch out. Gobble-ins First, we have the gobble-in. As we all know, gobble-ins are small humanoids with grey skin, punctuated by bright red, extremely loose skin on their necks, and a large bit of flesh that flops over their noses, called a snood. The snood is the result of a curse from a goddess the gobble-ins will not mention. Ability Score Increases. Your Intelligence score increases by 2, and your Dexterity increases by 1. Age. Gobble-ins reach adulthood at age 10 and live up to 50 years. Some gobble-ins disappear in the fall each year, never to be seen again. Alignment. Gobble-in society is extremely rigid, built on a carefully construct social system known as “The Pecking Order.” As such, they tend toward lawful neutral. Size. Gobble-ins are between 3 and 4 feet tall and weigh between 50 and 90 pounds. Your size is small. Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet. Superior Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 90 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of grey. Snood Awakenings. Whenever you cast a spell, or make a saving throw against a spell, you may opt for your snood to stiffen and glow. You may add half of your level (rounded up) to one spell DC or saving throw. Once you have used this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest. Visionary. You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks to find hidden creatures. Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Auran. Of course, we would be remiss if we did not discuss that majestic race, the centaurkey. Centaurkeys Centaurkeys have the torso and upper body of a gnome or halfling, and the lower body of a large, powerful bird. The centaurkey are guardians of the forest, becoming extremely aggressive when they feel they are being threatened. Ability Score Increases. Your Wisdom score increases by 2, and your Dexterity increases by 1. Age. Centaurkeys have life spans similar to that of gnomes. Centaurkeys reach adulthood in their early 40’s, after their decade long “wild oats” period, and live up to 500 years. During their “wild oats” period, they are expected to wander the world, and have as many adventures as possible. Alignment. Centaurkey society is a loose collection of tribes, with an emphasis on respecting the elderly and those blessed with wisdom. They remain aloof from much of the world, but begrudgingly help those in need. As such, they tend toward neutral good. Size. Centaurkeys are between 4 and 5 feet tall and weigh between 110 and 150 pounds. Your size is small. Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet. Thrill of the Chase. When taking the dash and disengage actions, your base walking speed increases to 40 feet. Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of grey. Of A Feather. You are proficient with light crossbows, short bows, hand crossbows, heavy crossbows, and long bows. Wattle It Be. Centaurkeys are blessed with foresight. During a short or long rest, you may spend a hit die to cast augury without expending components or spell slots. Hit die spent in this fashion are not recovered during the long rest they are spent. Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Auran. Finally, we have the turkenku, a rare sect of the kenku we all know and love…and have more insight into, thanks to Volo’s! Turkenku Unlike their cousins, turkenku are stout, heavily muscled, and are more inclined to speak through repeated songs or poetry, ad they lack the capacity to create songs on their own. Ability Score Increases. […]
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