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Reindeer Games: The Rudolph Campaign

You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen. Comet, Cupid, Donner…ah, you probably recall all of them including Rudolph - the most famous department store mascot reindeer of all. If you're a regular reader of the blog, it shouldn’t be any surprise we’re bringing up a Rankin-Bass Special yet again. Previously, we've dissected Mad Monster Party, frequently referenced their animated Tolkien adaptations, and taken inspiration from both Santa Claus is Coming to Town and, yes, Rudolph.  This time though, especially after having just passed the 60th anniversary of the original airing, we revisit Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and take a look through the lens of a classic tabletop adventure. So pull up your ice blocks, lend your ears, and keep an open mind about treating this holiday classic as an adventure.

Peppermint!

The story itself works best as a starting point, or even backstory followed by a shorter truncated adventure. You get introduced to a few of the main characters, find out who they are and their reasons to head out adventuring, and then they forge a path into the unknown. The first two party members, Rudolph and Hermey, run into third member Yukon Cornelius, close to the beginning of the adventure. The trio then evades a Yeti-like creature in the Bumble (whom we’ve previously focused on), finds a new mode of transport by cutting up an ice block, travels to a far away land (the Island of Misfit Toys), and in an agreement for a place to stay the night, they accept  a quest from King Moonracer to petition the king of Christmas Town (Santa), to find homes for the Misfit Toys. They then defeat the Bumble in their own way and rescue the parents (and lov)e of one of the heroes. We also have the heroic acts of Yukon seemingly sacrificing himself during the rescue attempt and Rudolph leading the sleigh off on a new adventure.

I Wanted to Be a Dentist! (Or Maybe a Lumberjack, They’re Okay)

So sure, we have an adventure that the characters can go on - but how do you even relate that back to a tabletop game? It's not like they fit particular character builds… or do they? Let's start with Hermey, our elf . While Santa’s elves might not fit the mold of those featured in D&D or Tolkien, they are elves nonetheless. You might even attempt to compare them to Star Trek's Vulcans. While the elves in Rudolph are more emotional, both groups are technology leaders in their respective universes, have fairly rigid hierarchies with focused logic and reason, and both even tend to shun those who fail to conform to societal norms. Clearly, the elves want Hermey to be some sort of science officer or artificer, but he just wants to be a dentist (cleric?) or medical officer. Moving on to Yukon, while we don’t have a ton of background, he still has "adventurer"  written all over him. He's hunting for silver, gold, and peppermint, is a tracker,  and has an extensive knowledge of Bumbles. Clearly, he's sort of Ranger (or Space Ranger, depending on your setting). That brings us to Rudolph. He's clearly the leader of our party, though not necessarily the Face. Charging in, I'd say we have to call Rudolph a Fighter or Warrior/Trooper type. That leaves a three-person party though, which can be pretty slim when it comes running many tabletop games. Normally, you might have some sort of rogue/thief or at least a magic user. That brings us to Sam the Snowman. Perhaps, as he's the one telling the story, he's just a member of the party that we never really see - preferring to relate the events than give himself grandeur. Not only is he an excellent storyteller, but he's known to sing a bit too. Sam the Snowman is our Bard (or other variety of performer) behind the scenes, which rounds our party out to four adventurers.

Unmush, will ya?

Should we really model our tabletop characters after the characters in Rudolph? Well... probably not. Heremy doesn’t even really want to adventure - he just wants friends and to be a dentist. Yukon is just in it for the loot. Rudolph only left because he felt unwanted. These aren't exactly fantastic motivational backgrounds, and are unlikely to keep the party moving without larger GM intervention.  It couldn’t hurt to have one (or maybe two) of these in any given party, but maybe not the whole party. You can also start with one of these concepts as a base, and then put your own twist on it. Heremy might want to start a societal revolution, Rudolph might want revenge on those that laughed and called him names, Yukon might…just keep hunting for more gold. Sometimes, you don’t need to change anything. Until next post folks, enjoy your holidays and your tables.

- A

Send questions, comments, and concepts for a Misfit Toys spinoff RPG to neversaydice20@gmail.com or tweet us @neversaydice2.

 

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