A festive one-shot or short campaign where players must pull off a daring heist at Santa's Workshop! Perfect for holiday sessions or anyone who enjoys a good heist adventure.
It's Die Hard at the North Pole, with a dash of Home Alone ingenuity and A Muppet's Christmas Carol's heart.
Level Range: 5th Level (pre-generated characters included)
Duration: 3-4 hours (one-shot) or 2 sessions
Players: 3-6 players (6 pre-gens provided)
Theme: Heist, Holiday, Comedy/Drama, Redemption
Note: In this campaign, Santa Claus is portrayed as female (she/her pronouns), married to Mrs. Claus.
It's Christmas Eve, 8:00 PM. The annual celebration is in full swing at Santa's Workshop when the impossible happens: Ebenezer Scrooge and his Naughty List Syndicate crash the party and take everyone hostage!
Six workshop employees who weren't at the celebration must use makeshift weapons, creative tactics, and environmental combat to stop Scrooge's multi-pronged plan:
- ✅ Steal The Naughty & Nice List (already done!)
⚠️ Rob the Legendary Toy Vault⚠️ Plant a bomb in the Sleigh Hangar⚠️ Sabotage the Clock Tower to prevent midnight launch
You have 4 hours until midnight. The clock is ticking. Christmas is counting on you.
🗺️ Workshop Map (DM/Spoilers)
Santa's Workshop - Your battlefield for the next 4 hours
This campaign package contains everything you need to run the adventure:
- DM Guide - Comprehensive guide with opening scene, timeline, tips, and 3-hour session path
- Enemy Reference - Complete stat blocks for all 20+ enemies including Scrooge
- Combat Maps - All 15 workshop locations with tactical layouts, hazards, and specialist knowledge
- Pre-Generated Characters - 6 ready-to-play level 5 characters with full sheets
- Character Overview - Jolly (Artificer), Holly (Rogue), Cinnamon (Druid), Ginger (Paladin), Peppermint (Wizard), Northy (Ranger)
- Workshop Walkthrough Slides - Visual presentation to introduce players to the workshop layout
- Maps & Images - Workshop layout, battle maps, room images, and character portraits in
/assets/images/ - Team Portrait - Full party artwork available
Your heroes: Jolly, Holly, Cinnamon, Ginger, Peppermint, and Northy
✨ Playtested - Run with different groups and refined through actual play
🎄 Festive & Fun - Holiday theme with heart and humor
🔧 Makeshift Weapons - Players start without gear - creativity required!
⚙️ Environmental Combat - Crushers, gears, catapults, and Christmas chaos
💔 Moral Choice - Scrooge can be defeated OR redeemed
⏰ Time Pressure - 4-hour countdown with radio taunts every 30 minutes
🎭 Memorable NPCs - Talking reindeer with personalities, Mrs. Claus as ally, and tragic villain
🎲 Player-Driven - Designed as a flexible toolkit, not a rigid script
💡 DM Philosophy & Playtest Tips (DM/Spoilers - Click to Expand)
Your players will do unexpected things. That's not a failure of prep — it's the point.
This adventure is designed as a toolkit, not a script. Rooms, encounters, and paths are intentionally loose so you can adapt on the fly. Players from playtests have:
- Stormed the Grand Hall immediately, or went outside which I hadn't planned for initially
- Crawled through pipes that were barely sketched out
- Optimized routes like a speedrun OR meandered for character moments
All valid. All fun.
The map connections are suggestions. Time pressure is your balancing tool. If a player choice is clever, cinematic, or fun — make it work. Collapse or expand paths based on pacing. The ambiguity is intentional, giving you freedom to shape the session to your table.
- Review the DM Guide Focus on opening scene, key villain encounters, and 3-hour session path
- Skim Enemy Reference Familiarize yourself with Scrooge and key lieutenants
- Review Combat Maps At minimum: Loading Dock, and Clock Tower. If there is time then go to Vault OR Sleigh Hangar. I had one game where they ended up in the Grand Hall and I collaposed the Clock Tower scene there.
- Send Character Sheets to Players - Let them pick a pre-gen, modify one to their liking, or create their own level 5 character
- Print/Prep Materials - Character sheets, workshop map, reference sheets
- Prepare Atmosphere - Christmas music playlist, timer visible to players
- Choose a Pre-generated Character, modify one to fit your playstyle, or create your own level 5 character from scratch
- Read your character's personality and "Why Not At Party" section
- Understand your role - Tank, damage, support, skills
- Be ready to improvise! - Things are not always as they seem at the start
📖 Campaign Structure (DM/Spoilers - Click to Expand)
- Opening scene and convergence
- First combat at Loading Dock
- Gather makeshift equipment and intel
- Meet Mrs. Claus (ally in Kitchen)
- CHOICE: Stop the Vault heist OR disarm the Sleigh bomb
- Major combat encounter
- Optionally recruit reindeer allies
- Find Easter Eggs (Santa's Office or Coal Processing)
- Complete second objective OR race to Clock Tower
- Face SLUSH (snowman saboteur)
- Final battle with SCROOGE
- Redemption or defeat
- Victory epilogue and rewards
Total Runtime: 3-4 hours
🎲 Play Testing Notes (DM/Spoilers - Click to Expand)
This campaign has been run successfully and here's what we learned:
- ✅ Makeshift weapons were hilarious and creative
- ✅ Time pressure kept energy high
- ✅ Environmental kills were player favorites (crusher, gears, catapults)
- ✅ Players enjoyed redeeming or trying to redeemScrooge (more satisfying than just fighting)
- ✅ Mrs. Claus's kitchen was perfect rest point
- Keep fights to 3-4 rounds max
- Use Scrooge's radio taunts religiously - they're great for pacing
- Let players steal from Gift Wrapping and Paint Workshop early
- The bomb puzzle is tense - give them the clue if they're stuck
- Gremlins fleeing at 3 HP creates great comedy
- Final fight in Clock Tower with rotating gears is epic
- Path A: Loading Dock → Kitchen → Sleigh → Vault → Clock Tower
- Path B: Loading Dock → Kitchen → Vault → Reindeer → Grand Hall Assault → Clock Tower
- Path C: Loading Dock → Gift Wrap → Paint Shop → Sleigh → Clock Tower (speedrun)
- Flexible Structure - Players choose objectives, multiple paths to victory
- Scalable Difficulty - Easy to adjust enemy HP and reinforcements
- Rich Environments - 15 detailed locations with hazards and secrets
- Memorable Villain - Scrooge is tragic, not evil - redemption possible
- Time Management - Built-in timeline keeps things moving
- Creative Problem Solving - Makeshift gear encourages improvisation
- Environmental Interaction - Workshop is full of deadly toys
- Moral Choice - Save Christmas AND save Scrooge?
- Fast-Paced Action - No long rests, constant pressure
- Heroic Moments - Reindeer cavalry, legendary toys, dramatic rescues
⚙️ Customization Tips (DM/Spoilers - Click to Expand)
- Give players their real equipment after first combat
- Reduce enemy HP by 25%
- Mrs. Claus provides more healing cookies
- Extend time limit to 5-6 hours
- More gremlins in every encounter
- Frostbite has legendary resistance
- Vault AND Sleigh must both be secured
- Shorter time limit (3 hours)
- Grimdark: Scrooge can't be redeemed, hostages die if you're slow
- Comedy: Lean into reindeer personalities, slapstick environmental kills
- Epic: Add more legendary toys, bigger set pieces, Scrooge has minions in final fight
- Heist Focus: More stealth checks, alarm systems, guard patrols
Created by: M Warrick / nyghtowl
Campaign Development: Developed with AI assistance and refined through playtesting
System: D&D 5th Edition (roughly)
Inspiration: Die Hard, Home Alone, A Muppets Christmas Carol
- Roll20 D&D 5e Compendium - Quick reference for spells, rules, conditions, and mechanics during play
See LICENSE file for details.
This is an open campaign and contributions are encouraged! Whether you've run this campaign or not and have improvements, found errors, or want to add optional content:
- Bug fixes & typos: Submit a PR or open an issue
- Balance adjustments: Share what worked/didn't work for your group
- Optional content: Additional enemies, rooms, or story hooks are welcome
- Play reports: Share how your heist went!
- Assets: Maps, character art, handouts, etc.
Feel free to fork this campaign and make it your own!
/dm-materials/
├── dm-guide.md # Complete DM guide with all encounters
├── enemies.md # Enemy stat blocks and tactics
└── combat-maps.md # 15 detailed location maps
/characters/
├── README.md # Character overview
└── characters.md # All 6 pre-gen character sheets
/assets/
├── /maps # Workshop maps and battle maps (add your own!)
├── /images # Character art, items, locations (add your own!)
└── /pdfs # Printable handouts (add your own!)
README.md # This file
LICENSE # License information
Place your workshop maps, room layouts, and character art in /assets/maps and /assets/images
Add printable character sheets, handouts, and reference materials to /assets/pdfs
- Workshop overview map
- Grand Hall (hostage situation)
- Clock Tower (final boss arena)
- Sleigh Hangar with bomb
- Legendary Toy Vault
- Character portraits (optional)
Ready to save Christmas? Start with the DM Guide! 🎄
"Welcome to the party, pal! 🎄🎅"