Does anyone know if the warhammer world has a specific yule-time holiday or winter solstice event?

And, if so, are there any existing adventures that center around the season?

My group is at a nice cooldown period after completing Stromdorf and I'd like to one-shot our single game session of December with something flavorful.

If nothing comes to mind, I'd appreciate any brainstorming help on a nice low-key winter one-shot with heavier social than militaristic. Ideally I want to play down weather as much as possible -- players are tired of the rain.

Why yes there is is called Mondstille. There is also a fan scenario which you can get off Emrikol's gallery page called "The Ghost of Mondstille" which is conveniently set in Reikland and in the grey mountains. I have just done a play through off it here . Mondstille is basically like Christmas according to the adventure. While I didn't play up the holiday much in my adventure theres nothing stopping you having a merry mondstille until all the problems start happening...

For all your party needs there is always KalevalaHammer .

Thank you both so much for the resources.

The Ghost adventure doesn't keep the party in crowded Altdorf as I easily as I would hope, but is definitely and adventure I'm apt to slip in when the party travels north.

That carnival/festival listing is a excellent resource, and the Ulric focus will definitely be something I'll play up.

My abstract for the evening, readied during other tasks:

===

'Twas the day before Mondstille and all through the city
Not a creature was idle; not man, elf, nor stunty.
The wolfskins were hung from the ramparts with care
In hopes that Ulric's blessings soon would be theirs.

Bonfires were burning in each corner street
to Rhya and Tall, their protection entreat.
When outside the city there arose such a clatter,
The guards poured from the walls to diagnose the matter.

The sun on the crest of the newfallen snow
Made unsafe the lands where the guards had to go.
And what to their world-weary eyes should appear,
But a catapult readied and a greenskin all geared

And nine brutish maws, bounding lively and quick
They knew when Hans died, these must be his squigs.
They launched over the trees and over the wall
The reports started coming in just at evenfall.

---

The greenskin, Sandal Claws, is named for his rather clever climbing pitons that are tied to his bare feet. These allow him to ably climb up the walls and down again an maneuver throughout the city. He has broken into the city under a compulsion to deliver 10 Prezints to various individuals throughout the city of Altdorf.
Sandal Claws is accompanied at all times by his loyalest squig, Redschnozz. Some luminescent red fungus grows just above its lip and below its eyes, where most creatures might fancy a sense of smell. Only if Redscnozz is slain will SC attack the murderer, preferring a quick escape under any other circumstances. This squig is the primary transportation while within the city. It will bound from rooftop to rooftop with SC hanging on for dear life. Where it pauses, the goblin will break into the habitation in the following manner:

Attempt to climb down a chimney. If there is a fire, he will pee it out before entering. If there is no such entry, he will break in through a window. He will raid the pantry for any sugary sweets, leaving an obvious trail of crumbs. He will then seek something to wash down the treat, favoring anything curdled. Finally, he will leave one of the 10 labeled Prezints or a handful of knicknacks (small weapons, fungus leavings, crude carvings, etc.) before escaping back out the way he came. Should anyone be rude enough to be home and awake, he will bludgeon them asleep and drag them to bed leaving a pair of sugar plums (large purple welts) dancing over their heads.
Evidence after the fact will include holes punched in the walls where he climbed, bread crumbs, empty bottles, sapped occupants, sooty footprints, and a prezint sitting in front of the entry point.

The party's first point of order will likely be to figure out what is happening and eliminate this highly dangerous xenos from the city. But if Sandal Claws should die, his 8 other squigs will do what squigs do best and bounce randomly about the city causing utter chaos -- resulting in an entertaining clean-up scenario.

---

Now Dastard! Now Denture! Now Puncher and Vittles!
On Vomit! On Stupid! On on Dunder and Blitz'in!
To the top o' the rise! To the top o' the wall!
Hop away, hop away, hop away, all!

---

Some twists, I will play up one or more depending on how the players take to the scenario:

THE LIST: Though SC himself is illiterate, he is in fact carrying a finely penned list with the names of 10 major persons in Altdorf, and a labeled prezint for each. The list will include some heads of church and two NPCs the PCs have worked with in the past. They will be distributed evenly (and randomly) into Naughty and Nice for the PCs to puzzle out some logic. The PCs will have the option of addressing the people on the list to either question them, suspect them, or to deliver the gifts themselves. (This will be a tool to introduce some of the major NPCs that are tied to the printed campaigns. Who penned this list? Who gave it to the goblin? And just... what? Only the Master of Secrets knows.

THE PREZINTS: Are they completely useless items, missives, threats, artefacts, pranks? Who sent a goblin to deliver these?

SQUIG + BONFIRE =: Should the pace need a step up, one of the squigs will leap into one of the holiday bonfires lighting itself ablaze, and proceed to hop more wildly than before about the town and rooftops until it finally burns itself out, leaving a random wake of disaster. Fire crews will be on hand, but squigs are rather fast and a number of buildings are now in danger.

TEMPLE OF ULRIC: If the PC's need a stronger hook to investigate, a Prior of the temple will explicitly hire the PCs to be safe keepers and to be on-hand as fire crew during the holiday events.

---

He is dressed all in fur from his head to his foot
And his clothes are all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A great bulging bundle thrown over his back
And he looks like a peddler just opening his sack.

His eyes how they twinkle! His tooth-stubs so merry!
His nose pushing forward like the beak of a canary.
He is chubby and plump, a right jolly old git
You laugh when you see him despite the smell of sh*t.

---

A BOWL FULL OF JELLY: The first time the players attempt to assassinate the poor goblin from afar, and my players *will* try to assassinate him from afar, the shot will strike into the goblins bright red, fur lined cloak and be rewarded with a splattering of green gelatinous goo. They will have ruptured the goblins snack he was keeping beneath his robes -- a bowl full of jelly.

LAYING A FINGER INSIDE HIS NOSE: Thanks to some greenskin knavery, when this fellow goes to pick his nose, he effectively triggers the celestial order spell Swiftwing, easing his escape to the rooftops.

SLAY BELLS: Should it come to combat, SC has a strand of bells he will use to attempt to garrote an enemy, while digging his clawed feet into their back.

FRUIT CAKE: A bit hard to chew, but surprisingly, it's edible!

===

Mechanically, I will have a tracker for time. By daybreak, the Goblin will attempt to flee the city, back over the wall taking any secrets of his purpose with him.

If SC is slain and the squigs run wild, a tracker will see how much damage they are causing in the city and how well the PCs are keeping them under control.

===

Finally, of anyone that took the time to read through this lot, I request any ideas for descriptions of Prezints a goblin would give, other unique scenes that might arise from the situation, or feedback in general. I plan to run the night on the 10th of this month so still time to alter it drastically.

Here's a christmas special I wrote a few years ago for 2nd ed.

Mondstille Karl

A seasonal adventure in the spirit of christmas ghost-stories

It's the day before Mondstille and all through Diehaus not a creature is stirring. The whole world lies silent and holy under a deep and crisp and even blanket of snow. The inhabitants of rural Hochland are nestled down for the long winter, preparing for the Mondstille feast that marks the nadir of winter and brings hope for the coming year.

It's rural Hochland but the folk aren't so backwards that they don't appreciate Sigmar, Ulric and Shallya. Each of these cults will mark Mondstille and Hexentag in their own ways, exspecially Ulric, for whom the depths of winter has special significance. But many still remember the old days and the old ways. They know well of Rhya and Taal. They know how to ensure the people and the land get through the darkest days of the year and how best to prepare for the spring.

The locals will be out looking for the perfect Taal-log. When they find it, they will cut it down and drag it back to the village and prepare it for the Mondstille celebrations. The women of Diehaus are busy preparing for the feast, stuffing the goose and making Mondstille pudding. The children are looking forward to their traditional Mondstille gift, and know they won't be able to get to sleep tonight in the excitement of expectation. And hints and rumours are flying about that this year the Mondstille presents will be the best ever.

Diehaus

Diehaus is a small Hochland village, on the way to the mountains, in the middle of nowhere, home to only ten families, with a population of about 60. There is a great hall in the centre of the palisaded village where the festivities will take place. The headman of the village (no one bothers to call him mayor) is Piotr Lanek, but he rarely decides anything without chatting to his brother Stefan Lanek and old Vilma Flussbach.

Getting There

Well, the PCs get lost and it's getting very cold and they stumble on the settlement. Or they're heading off to some other location and this is on the way and they decide to spend the night. It's unusual to be travelling over Mondstille, but PCs are unusual people so it's likely they can be given a decent excuse to end up in Diehaus. If their mission isn't too urgent it is hardly likely they will prefer to leave the village and be off, when they can spend the time feasting on the best (and most) food of winter in the bosom of a welcoming community, and honouring their gods in the correct way. They will smell a rat of course, but since when do they not?

The people of the village will extend the season's greetings to a bunch of PCs. It is the tradition of this time of year, and strangers at Mondstille are always to be treated well. And the people of Diehaus are 'good people.'

Also, there is the story of when Sigmar was lost in the mountains over Mondstille and he was welcomed in by a family who offered him all their precious food. And, the story goes, they were rewarded when all they had offered to their unknown guest was returned to them eightfold.

Of course, the PCs should not abuse the hospitality. They should extend the goodwill of the season right back to the villagers.

Mondstille Eve

The Taal-log, dressed with fir and brandy and spices will be lit in the great hall and the entire village will gather round and eat and sing and talk. This is good food. It's not the Monstille feast, which is to come the next day, but it's traditional for the feasting to begin the night before. You won't get any goose or pudding, but various cakes, sweetmeats, nuts and fruit will be offered.

Jakob Brinnt will get out his fiddle and Lisl and Greta Schlippers (ten years old, angelic twins) will sing traditional songs. Everyone else eventually joins in over the course of the night.

Then there will be a traditional ghost story (this is usually connected to Hexentag, but round here the tradition is it is told on Mondstille Eve). The PCs will be offered the chance to tell a ghost story to the assembled village. If they decline then Stefan Lanek will tell one.

Lanek's story is a tale of a wealthy merchant of Altdorf called Ebenezar Screugel who didn't believe in the spirit of Mondstille. He was visited by Rhya to show him ghostly events of a Mondstille in the past, then by Shallya to show him Mondstille present and then by Verena to show him a future Mondstille after he is gone. The events shock him into embracing the true spirit of Mondstille and putting on a huge Mondstille feast for the whole neighbourhood.

If the GM is telling it to his players, then ham it up and make it as verisimilitudsiponipilisinous of the event as possible, crack open the eggnog and mince pies and belch occasionally. Or just gloss over the whole thing.

Things that can Happen

Lukas Lanek (son of Stefan) can start chatting to any military PC about his time in the Bergsburg Handgunners. He mostly enjoyed it, but they were underfunded and had to carry out lots of peace corps work which was fairly tedious, and he didn't ever get to fire his handgun in anger.

Viola Dafburger can make the acquaintance of a likely PC. She has three young children and her husband, Lothar, died (or rather went missing in the summer). She wants nothing more than to find a new husband and sees the PCs' arrival as her best opportunity yet. She will save a couple of satsumas and some wine for any PC who shows her special interest. She will also (if she senses they like children) introduce them to her brood, Klaus, Dimitri and Anna. Cute kids.

Vilma Flussbak and Piotr Lanek will pick the brains of any PC with the appropriate expertise about the rites for the coming spring. Conditions seem to be getting harder. Fewer lambs are born, and more are taken by wolves. The SoC (if you have this) has caused them to overfarm and the yield for last year was particularly poor. And, various other factors have caused them to get erratic prices for their goods at the local markets recently (they blame interference from the OWA (Ostland Wares Authority)). It's not looking particularly good for next year, even though the Mondstille festival is supposed to be largely about optimism and hope.

Taallein Merk (a seven year old boy) will be conspicuously sad throughout the whole evening. He is gutted because (to his best knowledge), all the other kids will be getting special presents this year, but his family is too poor to buy him one. He doesn't know the details.

Mondstille

Normally the day will proceed with the opening of presents, and the children will be excited and play all morning while the men crack open the first drinks of the day. The women will cook the meal.

None of this actually happens in Diehaus, though, because come Mondstille morning most of the children of the village start eating their parents' brains.

Karl

Karl (who knows his other names?) is an agent of Tzeentch who settled in the woods not far from Diehaus in the summer. He was an itinerant tinker who had a few bits and pieces to sell and made a small living. The villagers didn't really think there was much wrong with him settling down, and he seemed to keep himself to himself. He was even invited to the Diehaus Mondstille feast, but declined.

Karl has settled in a small abandoned hovel in the woods which he has turned into his workshop. The man has quite a distinctive look, having a large bushy white beard and white hair. He also dresses in a distinctive red, fur-lined coat. He has a cart which he still uses to get about, pulled by an old pony.

Guided by his dark lord, Karl began creating and enchanting small dolls, especially for Mondstille gifts. He called them Wi Wi. The dolls were made from the twigs of a hanging tree. (Karl hung Lothar Dafburger from a nearby willow for several days while torturing him and slowly killing him to make the hanging tree especially potent.) They were then enchanted with blood and wrapped with guts. Karl then performed a ritual to bring daemons from the warp to inhabit the bodies of the dolls.

The Wi Wi look quite attractive and doll-like, due to a slightly magical enchantment. A viewer must pass a Hard Perception Test to see them as the bundle of blood and guts they actually are. But even then would not necessarily have an inkling that anyone sees them any differently. Those with witchsight might see fetid Dhar weeping from the Wi Wi and dripping off into dark sinister pools, where things wither and die.

By use of clever marketing techniques, Karl managed to convince the villagers that Wi Wi were *the* Mondstille gift to have this year. He told them that availability would be limited and they should get to his house early on the day (a couple of weeks ago) he put them officially on sale. Some of the parents even camped out all night to be sure of getting their hands on a new Wi Wi for their child.

Unfortunately, Karl did not make enough and so Hilde Merk, who has a bad leg and heavy limp, was not able to get one for her son Taallein.

The Children

So, come Mondstille morning all the children of the village get up early, while most of the parents sleep, and open their presents. The Wi Wi bide their time until they are close enough to their child that they can jump into their mouth, climb into their brain and take control of the child's body. The Wi Wi then begin their brief spell in the world by trying to eat as much brain as possible before their inevitable, eventual return to the warp.

After eating the child's brain the Wi Wi use the body to gain access to more brains. They can use the child's body to do all the things the child could do, wielding weapons and running around, and causing mayhem, etc. It is clear to an observer, however, that something is wrong with the child, it just looks kind of not all there, and its eyes are dead, and although the body moves almost normally, the head sort of hangs to the side limply.

The PCs will probably wake in the midst of all the mayhem. There are 16 children affected; Taalein Merk is the only child unaffected. The children would have picked up whatever weapons (knives, scissors, cleavers, clubs, scythes, pitchforks, etc) they could find and attacked their parents and all others nearby, stopping only to feast on the brains. They should now be covered in blood and brains, and the village will be pandemonium.

If the GM wishes to freak the PCs out with a visit from a child or two before they realise anything is up, that is good, too. The children can easily give the PCs the willies by just being a bit strange and creepy before going for their brains.

It should not be too easy for the PCs to attack the children's bodies, even if they are sure that they are already dead and being possessed. The GM should bring up specific children the PCs have already met in order to bring home the reality of the situation. The GM should also consider giving out IPs for this.

The children can be destroyed normally, but they will fight on when heavily damaged. The child will need to be brought to -10 Wounds to cease to function. When that happens, the child's body will fall to the floor, the Wi Wi will lose control of it. The Wi Wi will then attmpt to flee the scene (through the child's mouth or other handy orifice) and find another body to inhabit. It will be at this time that the Wi Wi itself can be attacked. Remember the Wi Wi are small (about 12 inches high) and look like sticks and stuff, so they are perfect for hiding themselves around the village and dropping on unsuspecting victims, and climbing into their mouths.

Once the PCs have dealt with the Wi Wi they should be able to piece together, from accounts by the survivors (especially Taallein Merk) that it had something to do with the dolls purchased from Karl the tinker.

Meeting Karl

Because of the heavy snow Karl has temporarily converted his cart to a sled. Also, to his regret, his old pony had recently died of cold. Ever resourceful, Karl went into the woods and captured a local reindeer, which he has forced to pull his sled. It was quite a battle of wills, and Karl had to punch the reindeer several times in the face in order to get it to obey. Thus, the reindeer's nose, at the moment, is all red and swollen.

If the PCs come for him, he will make his escape, up the chimney of his hovel, using his Climb spell and then board his sled, forcing the reindeer to pull him as fast as it can. If the PCs do have a way of gaining on him, then he will use his Enrage Beast spell to get the reindeer to run as fast as possible.

If the PCs have trouble keeping up with Karl's sled, then the enraged reindeer may crash into a tree and spill the sled and its contents. Or the reindeer may, being quite intelligent and tired of Karl's mistreatment, deliberately throw the sled (what the hell, it's Mondstille), leaving Karl in a pile on the snow, where he will be forced to make a last stand in the name of his unholy lord.

Back In Diehaus

While the PCs are gone, unless they have very compelling evidence otherwise, the surviving villagers will have come to the conclusion that the mess was all the PCs' fault and they will not be welcome back in the village. Just seeing the PCs fighting the Wi Wi is not enough to convince them it isn't their fault. Word will also spread to surrounding villages that the PCs are a bad lot and should be avoided at all costs.

Happy Mondstille.

Possessed Child

WS BS S T Ag Int WP Fel
30 30 20 20 30 70 70 00
A W SB TB M Mag IP FP
1 8 2 2 4 00 00 00

Special Abilities

Possessed Carcass: Will continue to function until brought to -10 W

Wi Wi

Daemon of Tzeentch

WS BS S T Ag Int WP Fel
20 00 10 40 50 70 70 50
A W SB TB M Mag IP FP
2 4 1 4 5 00 00 00

Talents: Daemonic Aura, Frightening, Natural Weapons, Will of Iron

Special Abilities

Possession: A successful hit against a prone or already 0W opponent or an attack against a Helpless opponent means they can jump into the victim's mouth and inhabit their brain.

Karl

Cult Magus of Tzeentch (ex-Trader)

WS BS S T Ag Int WP Fel
35 28 33 42 33 45 45 33
A W SB TB M Mag IP FP
1 14 3 4 4 2 6 1

Skills: Academic Knowledge (Daemonology, Magic), Animal Care, Blather, Channeling, Common Knowledge (the Empire, Middle Mountains), Evaluate, Gossip, Magical Sense, Perception, Drive, Search, Speak Arcane Language (Magick, Daemonic), Speak Language (Reikspiel)

Talents: Aethyric Attunement, Dark Lore (Tzeentch), Dark Magic, Fast Hands, Lesser Magic (Move, Skywalk), Petty Magic (Chaos), Ritual (Create Wi Wi), Stout-hearted

Armour: Heavy Coat

Armour Points: Head 1, Arms 1, Body 1, Legs 1

Trappings: Red Hooded Coat, Cart/Sled, Wares, Hidden Symbol Medalion

Mutation: Pure White Beard and Hair