The entire tribe sat around the feast. They’d managed to down a mammoth and this was cause for celebration. The shaman claims the downing of the beast coincides with the yearly Midwinter celebration Hogash. All the children have been making gifts for each other and the adults have been creating altars for their ancestors. Now the tribe is sat all around the fire pit, feasting on delicious meat.

Ulv stands up. The entire tribe hushes and the shaman waves for Ulv to speak.

“I wish to attempt the trials. I will lead this tribe.”

Suddenly the men of the tribe start beating the ground with their weapons and chanting.

The shaman stands up. “Dnuk has accepted the call to the trial. Truly this is a celebration!”

We being the preparations at dawn!”

IntroWarrick’s Problem.

Main Topic: Tips on How to Make D&D Christmas ThemedJustin* Add in a Random Celebration in the setting where your players are. * This will give the feeling of the holidays even if the celebration is set in the middle of a desert. * Change the “skins” of NPC’s * Your players don’t actually have to fight Santa Clause. They could fight a giant that looks like Santa Clause but has all the same stats as a giant. D&D is half narrative and half mechanics. Instead of homebrewing your own Santa, just take the mechanics of something else and say it looks like Santa. * Give your Players a Gift * Every player loves getting new loot. Have a random patron show up and gift the adventurers some sort of interesting item. If you don't want to break your game have them give some sort of consumable item that is interesting. If you don’t know what sort of consumable, just choose the form (potion, food or other time) and then pick your favorite ability and give it a one-time use. * Change the weather. * For most people, Christmas is synonymous with winter. Make it obvious that the weather is changing. Make it snow and give them consequences for the snow. Either have someone open up their home during a snowstorm (spread Christmas cheer) or have the characters have to avoid getting stuck in a blizzard. * Go all out with Christmas Homebrew Monsters

You can subscribe to people like GamingBrew from Episode 63. He for example has loads of themed monsters that are custom created for the right feeling and setting. Subscribing to him saves time because you don’t have to do anything other than plug and play.

Mentioned in this episode:

Housekeeping and Show Intro

Welcome back to How to Be a Better DM. I'm Justin Lewis and I'm Tanner Weyland and We are here to help you tell better stories as you DM sessions of D&D.Here are our announcements for today:We still have room in our upcoming one-shot. Go to betterdungeonmaster.com/one-shot/ to sign up for free!We are also still looking for feedback on the show. Go to betterdungeonmaster.com/feedback/ to tell us what you think.

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