MERRY MONSTERS: AN ICELANDIC HOLIDAY BEASTIARY

Featuring those foul fiends of Icelandic Folklore:
Gryla, Leppalúði, the Yule Cat & the Yule Lads

Greetings adventurers and Game Masters! 

I am pleased to release the fifth book in my Old School Monsters Series, which features folkloric monsters I have interpreted for use in OSR campaigns. This holiday-themed book focuses on the Icelandic folklore baddies Grýla & The Yule Lads!

For the uninitiated, Grýla, is one of the ancient evils of the world. She preys on children, like the demonic beast Krampus. No one is sure where she came from or when she was born, or if she was in fact born and not created by the Chaotic powers of the realms. What is known is that she has been around for time immemorial, troubling the folk of the world by preying on them every Yuletide, snatching up their young ones who she deems to be naughty, cooking them up in her pot and devouring them! She is accompanied in her sinister mission by her pugnacious half-giant husband Leppalúði; their thirteen troublesome tots known as the Yule Lads,  a group mischievous and meddlesome pranksters who like to steal from, vex, and annoy villages each winter; and the family’s massive malicious feline, known as the Yule Cat. Together this brood of evil roams the realms, bringing misery and misfortune to one unlucky village each Yuletide.

Can your players take on these Yuletide baddies and save the holidays?

This supplement contains full OSR monster listing (a la the Monster Manual) for Grýla, Leppalúði, the Yule Cat & the Yule Lads, which are intended to be compatible with most OSR retro-clones. It also includes details on the special magical items and treasure these monsters possess, as well as detailed discussions of each of the 13 Lads particular fighting styles.

The version of these fiends in this supplement first appeared in the pages of my 2021 holiday one-shot adventure “SOS12 Grýla & The Yule Lads”. However, I believed many GMs running OSR and similar retro-clone games might enjoy having a ready-made version of these baddies to drop into their own campaigns at the holidays, so I decided to release this version of these folkloric fiends for your personal use and enjoyment! While scaled for a mid-level (4-6) party of adventurers, this version of Grýla's brood is easily modified to challenge players of any level, by merely adjusting their hit dice and hit points.

PLUS you also get a free copy of my 2022 Starry Knight Press Catalog, which has information on all of my modules and supplements, as well as maps of the known portions of my campaign world of Terrans, and bonus content (new monsters and magic items for OSR/5E) from my published books!

If, however, you do not have time to create your own scenario and you are looking for an original holiday-themed adventure featuring Grýla and her family, then I humbly suggest you try my adventure “Grýla & The Yule Lads”.

I hope you and your players enjoy battling this epic baddies. Thank you for supporting Starry Knight Press! 

Louis “sirlou” Kahn
Starry Knight Press
November 2022