I’m the guy who winces if he hears Holiday music in stores in October. I give a hard side-eye to folx who put up their Christmas decorations “too early”. I didn’t coin it, but I believe we should just call this time of year Thankshalloweenmas and be done with. But this isn’t a normal year by any stretch, and dear lord if folx need some Holiday cheer early, who am I to stand in the way of that? In fact, I’m here to help.
I am firmly of the opinion that there is a tabletop game for everyone, for any occasion (if there isn’t, simply express your wish in a Tweet and game design Twitter will have a “#[YOURSUBJECT]Jam”up on Itch faster than you can blink). Major holidays are certainly no exception to this, so here are three Indie games to bring a bit of the Holidays to your table. Pour your noggiest nog, gentle reader, and let’s get some of that Christmas spirit!
Christmas on Infinite Earths – Tis the Season, and thus Tis the Season for Christmas movies! Even if you lie and say you’ve never watched one, there is no way you can get through the Holidays without being aware of them, all full of glitter and hope and sweet Christmas endings. Here is your chance to star in a Christmas movie you build along with your friends. Each of you comes from a world that celebrates Christmas in its own way. But you have been pulled to the Prime Christmas Realm and must help discover the True Meaning of Christmas or Christmas will be doomed across the multiverse! A delightfully silly and heartwarming evening of fun for you and your friends, from the brilliant design mind of Tracy Barnett (School Daze; Diners, Dungeons & Dives). I’ve already got a few evenings by the fire set aside for this…
Roll And Write Christmas Card – Not a TTRPG, but definitely a wonderful addition to your Christmas tabletop collection. These are the perfect cards to send along with your gifts this Christmas, or as a thoughtful little gift because times are tight for us all. Everyone needs a way to pass some time over the Holidays and these cards are just the distraction needed. And the game is a good, solid puzzler that is fun and going to occupy your brain for a bit. Hand these out to all your friends and give them a smile. Or do what I did last Christmas; give them to your nephews and tell them the last one to win a game does the Christmas washing up for Grandma. In the end they all did anyway, they’re good lads, but it was blessedly quiet for a whole hour. A Christmas miracle!
Yule Army – I’m not going to spend too much time writing about this game, because I made a YouTube video about it back in April as part of my #ReadIndieRPGs event. I think I summed up why I like this game pretty well there, so check it out. But if you want to be part of a crack team spreading Holiday Cheer, this game is for you! “Yule Army” is part of the San Janero Co-Op Digest, Volume Three, which you can snag from DriveThru RPG along with all the other excellent digests, or as a standalone on itch. And you can follow the adventures of the game’s creator, Secrets of the Masquerade, on Twitter.
There you are, three Indie offerings to bring the peppermint taste of Christmas to your gaming table! Next week I’ll talk about three games that, while not strictly Christmas games, might let you capture some of the same themes and feelings throughout the year. Hope you drop by!
[you can read all of our previous holiday season goodness HERE]
