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This month we offer thanks to; Sean P Kelley, Philippe Marcil, Adept Icarus, Noril of Cold River, R Waibel, Allen Varney, Adam J Rose, Kate, Paul Wilson, and Heike.
We’re listing all qualifying patrons this month, plus everyone else at the geek citizen level, because you all deserve a thank you.
The last honouree of the RPG Publisher Spotlight in 2025 will be GearGames. I’ll get in touch and line up an interview.
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The candidates for January 2026 are:
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RPG Advice from History: The Christmas Truce of 1914
December brings with it one of the most poignant and surreal moments in military history: The Christmas Truce of 1914.
Following the patterns of our previous looks at the Great Fire of London and the Gunpowder Plot, we are looking at how a major historical event can improve your tabletop sessions. While the previous entries focused on disaster and intrigue, the Christmas Truce offers a lesson in pacing, humanity, and the narrative power of the “unofficial ceasefire”.
Here is how the events of 1914 can inspire better roleplaying games.
The History
By December 1914, the First World War had settled into the grim stalemate of trench warfare. The propaganda that the war would be “over by Christmas” had proven false. On Christmas Eve, despite orders from High Command to maintain alertness, German soldiers began decorating their trenches with candles and singing carols. The British responded in kind.
Eventually, soldiers from both sides ventured into No Man’s Land. They didn’t fight. They exchanged gifts of tobacco, food, and buttons. They buried their dead in peace. In some sectors, they famously played football. It was a spontaneous outbreak of humanity in a mechanised slaughter, driven not by generals, but by the soldiers themselves.
Lesson 1: Humanising the “Mob”
In Dungeons & Dragons or Pathfinder, players are conditioned to view “minions” (goblins, bandits, guards) as bags of Hit Points that stand between them and the objective. They are obstacles, not people.
The Christmas Truce occurred because the soldiers realised the men in the opposite trench were suffering the same cold, mud, and fear as they were.
At the Table: Challenge your players’ “murder hobo” tendencies by creating a scenario where the environment is the true enemy. A blizzard, a collapsing cavern, or a magical anomaly forces the party and their enemies (the bandits or orcs) to share a shelter.
Force a social encounter where weapons are sheathed not because of diplomacy checks, but because of mutual survival. When the storm clears, do the players still want to attack the orc who just shared their rations? This adds a layer of moral complexity, making combat feel heavier.
Lesson 2: The Unofficial Parley
The higher-ups widely disapproved of the Christmas Truce. General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien famously issued orders forbidding such “friendly intercourse” with the enemy. The truce happened despite the plot, not because of it.
At the Table: Game Masters often plan for the “Big Bad” to offer a truce, but rarely expect the foot soldiers to do it. Allow your NPCs to be tired.
If the players have been raiding a dungeon for hours, the remaining guards might not want to fight to the death. They might want to negotiate a pause to collect their wounded. If your players initiate this, let it happen. It creates a fascinating narrative friction: the party is now friendly with the henchmen, but still has to kill the Boss.
Lesson 3: The Horror of Resuming Initiative
The most tragic aspect of the Christmas Truce was that it had to end. In the days following Christmas, officers forced the men to start shooting again. Many soldiers fired into the air, refusing to kill the men they had played football with just hours before. The return to combat was psychologically more damaging than the initial fighting.
At the Table: Use peace to maximise tension. If you are running a horror or grimdark campaign, a moment of light makes the dark feel darker.
Give the players a session of genuine peace and camaraderie with an opposing faction—perhaps during a city festival or a neutral parley. Let them learn names and backstories. Then, force the conflict back upon them through external circumstances (a king’s order, a curse, a misunderstanding). Rolling for initiative becomes a moment of dread rather than excitement.
Summary
The Christmas Truce teaches us that the most memorable conflicts are often the ones we try to avoid. By allowing enemies to become human, even for a single night, you raise the stakes for every dice roll that follows.
