Very cool adventure with the real "Bad Santa". Recommended to anyone who wants a little different Christmas story.

Night of the Krampus! is a Xmas-themed adventure for the Basic Action Super Heroes role-playing game. As the title suggests, the players must face Krampus, Santa Claus' opposite number. Not so obvious is that you must play superhero children. This does not mean that the game is intended for kids, though it certainly can be played with them. The game also allows it be played with the original characters, even adult ones, though those might have a harder time because Krampus has the power to corrupt adults.

All of this might sound cheesy, and it is- but Xmas stories like this are an old tradition for superheroes in comics and cartoons. Also, despite a few silly moments (like fighting a giant christmas turkey) the story is surprisingly dark: all of the children, for example, are orphans; even the super-villain kids who work for Krampus make you feel bad for them because of their origins. Also, adults get turned into monsters, children are endangered and put in chains, and Krampus' plan goes beyond punishing naugthy children- something very bad will happen if the heroes don't stop it!

The story is short and simple, yet enjoyable. If played right you get to be a kid who gains superpowers during Xmas (from Santa Claus) and must then save the world! Ironically, the Jolly Old Elf himself is missing from the story. He shows up to deliver the powers and is never seen again. There isn't even a character sheet for him. Now I understand he was only a plot device, but you know many players would have wanted to interact with him, especially children. Not to mention that the question of "So why does Santa let a bunch of novice kids handle something so serious?" is left hanging.

The art is cartoony, which helps the impression that this a goofy adventure. On the other hand it diminishes the scare factor as well. I feel it did a good job describing the characters, although for some reason there are no illustrations of Krampus' super-children to go with their character sheets.

Rules-wise, I was a bit puzzled by certain details in the character sheets. For example, I don't feel Red Shift really needs the Instant Change Advantage for her shape-shifting powers, while Terryn does. And many characters did not have matching sets of Advantages vs Disadvantages. But this is nit-picking; the game is perfectly playable as it is.

Overall, Krampusnacht is both a nice superhero and Xmas adventure; good Narrators might even make it better by goading their players into helping their "evil" counterparts overcome their loyalty to Krampus rather than just beat them up.

Krampus is coming this Christmas to the children of the St. Nicholas Orphanage, and these forgotten kids will not be dreaming of sugar plums and opening presents in the morning: they will be busy trying to save the world from a hellish fate.

Krampusnacht: Night of the Krampus! is a nightmarish, holiday adventure featuring 5 protagonist heroes, aged 10-16, given super power gifts from a being that may have been Santa Claus (but not necessarily so, if you find that too silly) and must use their newfound abilities to fight an unholy, supernatural creature and its helpers.

If you’ve seen the movie Krampus (and why wouldn’t you?), you’d know how creepy this demonic entity can be? Sure the artwork for this product looks a little campy and cartoonish, but don’t let that detract from what is otherwise a quite crafty adventure.

The adventure takes place over three acts. Act 1, “Have You been Good Little Boys & Girls?”, sets the stage for the story with a visit from St. Nick and gifts for the children. This is the fun bit where players get to do a lot of roleplaying amongst themselves, the other children and the various adults (including the jolly gift-bearer, himself). It is also the point where the weirdness begins to unfold and their young characters ultimately find that they must use their Christmas ‘gifts’ to save the other children.

I won’t go into too many details as I don’t want to spoil the fun but Act 2, “It’s Krampusnacht, Tonight!”, dials up the badness level when the players encounter and confront the Kinder (Krampus’ little helpers, children like themselves with their own unique gifts) in their neighbourhood and first meet the Krampus itself.

Act 3, “Krampusnachtocalypse!”, is the final showdown between the heroes and Krampus. If they succeed, then all is well for another year: but if they fail…

The Bad:

• The art for this adventure is cartoonish and might unfortunately turn off a few buyers.
• It’s a Christmas-themed adventure which will probably dissuade some from purchasing what usually turns out to be half-inspired scenarios meant to fill the holiday season with related tropes.
• If you haven’t seen the Krampus movie then you are probably like me and rolled eyes at the idea of a Christmas ‘demon’. Seriously, a demonic nemesis to good old St. Nick? Please…
• Super children. You play super-powered children fighting a lame Christmas demon… Okay, I’ll stop there. You probably catch the drift.

The Good:

• The art. Yes, it is cartoonish, but its actually quite nice. If this were an adventure for Monsters and Other Childish Things (a very serious horror game, aimed at adults playing child heroes) then it would fit very nicely. Sure Storn Cook, Jon Gibbons, or some other artist could have turned out some seriously cool, superhero-worthy artwork for Krampusnacht: Night of the Krampus!, but that would have been expensive and Skirmisher Game Development Group would never have made even half of their investment back. As it is, William T. Thrasher made some character images that are quite interesting. He shows us each of the five heroes both in, and out of, costumed identities (among other things in the adventure).
• Ages. The heroes are allowed to define the age range of their heroes across a 4-5 year span (10-16 years). They can be the older children at the orphanage, dealing with teen issues, or young kids struggling with the awkward tween, transition stage of life, where they are not quite children and not yet the cool teenagers they’d like to be.
• A campaign starting point. Whether or not you want to include an actual Santa Claus in your game, this adventure provides an interesting origin story, campaign launching framework for young heroes within a supernatural theme. There is a lot of potential for superhero adventures set outside of the usual mutants and four-color genres. You have a flame-based character that can transform into an insubstantial, smoke form; a four-legged, centaur warrior; a rock-bodied, earth controller; a tough, regenerator with the ability to radiate a damage field; and, a shape changer with a red-coloured, give-away tag. All characters are built around the 25-point, Street-Level campaign scale (some a couple of points over, others a couple under).
• The Kinder (! Spoiler alert !). These young villains make interesting, possibly recurring, opponents for the heroes for an ongoing campaign. Darklord, Gargoyle, Grim and Tween Wolf are villains characters on par with the hero’s super abilities. They are presented with both motivations and a “Greatest Fear” that adds some interesting colour to their character.
• Ritual magic (! Spoiler alert !). Krampas is not just a big bad boss character for the heroes to beat; he is a supernatural creature that intends to use some heavy magic that could dramatically change things on Earth, forever (depending on how well the heroes succeed). The ritual spell being used is a great example of an Extended Check in action. It puts the heroes under the gun when trying to end this villain’s diabolical plan and makes a great, exciting climax for the adventure.

Overall, Krampusnacht: Night of the Krampus! is a worthy super hero adventure, that just happens to use Christmas-themed elements. There are plenty of advice offerings to use this adventure differently (as part of an existing campaign, or to even dissect and re-skin for use in new ways).

Do yourself a favour and pick it up!

Krampusnacht: Knight of the Krampus is a fun little adventure. It starts off a bit light but as the story progressess it gets quite deadly. It is designed to use in 3 acts (sessions) but can easily be modified other types of Gaming Nights. The art fits the feel of the product and the production values are quite good, something that is normal for Skirmisher Publishing.

A fun little product that can bring a bit of the bizarre to the holiday season. Well worth picking up.