Looking for an alternative festive one-shot? London-based TTRPG publisher Shades of Vengeance has hit their Kickstarter for Era: Crueltide – A Yule TTRPG of Magic, Mayhem & Merriment!
The campaign, which crowdfunds until November 16th and delivers digitally in the same month, is about Santa being kidnapped.
We’ve an interview with Shades coming up, but let’s first take a look at the pitch video.
The digital edition is a reward for backers at £10, and the paperback digital combo unlocks at only £15, though shipping is required for the latter.
Shades of Vengeance is also offering signed copies for £30.
Era: Crueltide – A Yule TTRPG of Magic, Mayhem & Merriment! interview
Welcome! For our readers who might just be hearing the name, could you give us the elevator pitch for Era: Crueltide? What makes it the perfect TTRPG for a festive one-shot?
Era: Crueltide is a fast, funny and moderately brutal Christmas-themed RPG where you and your friends have to save Santa after he’s been kidnapped by angry snowmen, masterminded by Jack O’Lanterns who think Christmas is enveloping Halloween!
It runs on the Era d10 Lite rule set, so it’s quick to learn and easy to run, perfect for a single festive session (or a longer, light-hearted campaign!). You can play as anything from a reindeer with a bad attitude to a walking cinnamon roll who refuses to let Christmas to be cancelled, all powered by pun-filled Christmas magic.
It’s lighthearted, chaotic, and ideal for getting a group laughing around the table over the holidays.
The premise notes this is “the only game that approaches Christmas getting earlier every year.” I think we all feel that creeping timeline! How does that idea actually show up in the game’s story or mechanics?
It’s the driving force behind the story and the worldbuilding that you’re going to play in!
The Jack O’Lanterns are scared because Christmas keeps starting earlier every year. They convinced the Snowmen that if Christmas doesn’t happen, they’ll never melt. That belief – although wrong! – is what pushes them to kidnap Santa and try to stop Christmas.
From a play perspective, that tension shows up in how the game is structured: every enemy you face is a holiday creature or mascot, convinced by the Jack O’Lanterns that Christmas celebrations will envelop their holidays, too!
The irony of Christmas magic being the way in which you’re fighting these Halloween and other creatures will not be lost on people, either: in saving Christmas, you’re suppressing them with Christmas magic. Does that make you part of all of the problem?
You describe the tone as full of “magic, mayhem & merriment,” and, most importantly, “awful puns.” How do you design a “lightweight framework” that encourages that kind of joyful chaos and wordplay at the table?
I started by keeping the rules simple and the tone clear.
The Era d10 Lite system doesn’t get in the way: it’s fast, flexible and super easy to learn. I have found that when the rules aren’t distracting people, they naturally start leaning into the jokes, the puns, and the ridiculous situations… especially when the setting encourages it.
The world does a lot of the prompting for these things, too: you’re fighting with sharpened candy canes, throwing snowflake shurikens, and casting unlimited spells with names like “Fir Real” or “Snow Problem”. This is further reflected in character creation, where various Quirks, backgrounds and more also lean into absolutely terrible puns. No apologies for that!
Once that tone is established, the group follows suit. Everyone starts matching that energy, adding their own wordplay or over-the-top descriptions.
It’s a truly wonderful experience when you unleash some of those jokes people would normally be embarrassed by!
Shades of Vengeance is renowned for the Era d10 Rule Set. Is Crueltide built on that same system, and how did you adapt it for this light-hearted, “pick up in just a few minutes” feel compared to your more expansive settings?
It’s built on the same foundation, although the “Lite version” is what I used for Era: Crueltide. I have cut a lot of things out of the system for this game, simply because they aren’t needed.
I’ve cut the normal 8 Attributes and 18 Skills down to just 6 Attributes: Might, Moxie, Wonder, Grit, Magic and Luck. Everything that you want to do is any pairing, including double one of those. Even Combat is an opposed roll between the attacker and the Target, giving people the space to narrate the craziness in almost any way they like!
I also built the world using a lot of cultural awareness. I don’t need to explain who Santa is, or the Easter Bunny. People who run this game will run it in their own way, with their own creatures: one of my playtest GMs had an Easter Lamb, which is not something I would have thought of.
The group will build on their own shared understanding to create the pantheon of characters involved… and that’s one of the best ways to lower barriers to entry as a game designer!
With Santa kidnapped, players get to be the rescuers. What kinds of characters can we play? And, what was the most wonderfully ridiculous festive character idea that almost made it into the game?
The great thing is that the system and world both support anything: you can play mythological figures, classic Christmas icons, or completely original characters that fit the festive chaos.
There are the obvious choices, like elves or reindeer, but people have already come up with some wild ideas, such as:
- The Snow Queen from Hans Christian Andersen
- A North Pole elf with PTSD from the last Krampus War
- A walking cinnamon roll called Able, who is an apologetic alcoholic
- Sherlock Stocking, a detective with incredible deduction skills who can solve any crime he sees… or is it Christmas magic?
So far, nothing has come up that didn’t make it into the game. I challenge people to push my limits!
You’ve hinted that the world of Crueltide stretches “beyond just Christmas” into a “huge world of mythical creatures.” Can you tell us a bit more about the wider world this game hints at?
Absolutely! While the story I have invented so far is about saving Santa and Christmas, the world of Crueltide reaches much further than that. We’ve already spoken about the Krampus War, of course… but every holiday, celebration, or seasonal myth has a place here!
From the Easter Bunny and Cupid to the Leprechauns and Lunar New Year Dragons. They all exist in the same world, this mythical underworld most people don’t know about.
Whether they are being manipulated by the Jack O’Lanterns or just running amok, it’s all potential for a session or campaign. What if the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy decided to do a job share? What if Krampus decided to roam at Midsummer instead of Christmas? The possibilities are limitless!
This world is a shared mythological space where all these traditions overlap, clash, and occasionally cooperate. Importantly, that makes a place that can be revisited long after Christmas is saved.
Shades of Vengeance is a veteran of Kickstarter, with (from what I’ve seen) over 50 campaigns. What is it about this specific project that made you say, “This is the one we have to do right now”?
It just feels right at the moment!
I came up with the idea for Crueltide last Christmas, too late to put it out when people would want to play it. The more I thought about and ran it, the more it made sense to bring it to life properly this year.
It’s a fun, chaotic game that fits perfectly with the season: somewhere between Halloween and Christmas! People can pick this up and play over the various holidays between now and New Year without loads of prep, as long as they have a sense of fun!
I’ve done a lot of serious, long-form projects through Shades of Vengeance. This one is about letting loose and having fun: it’s a chance to do something festive and ridiculous that still carries the same level of polish and care as my bigger games.
Finally, what’s the number one reason Geek Native readers should back the Era: Crueltide Kickstarter, and what are you most excited to see happen once the campaign is live?
It’s not like any other game you’re likely to play unless you homebrew pretty extensively! If you want something you can pick up, play, and laugh your way through with a group as the nights close in, this is it.
It’s light-hearted, fast to learn, and full of ridiculous moments that are the kind of stories you carry for ever.
What I’m most excited for is to see what people do with it. Every time I release a new Era game, players surprise me, but with Era: Crueltide, the possibilities are endless.
I want to see the ideas people come up with, how their groups interpret this strange clash of holidays and what their solution is. That’s the best part for me: watching the world grow beyond what I laid out on paper!
Thanks, Ed.
