NUELOW Games

Wednesday, December 25, 2024

The Twelve Days of the Christmas Dragon

Brigit is what an ancient red dragon calls herself when she assumes human form to interact with mortals. Although she spends most of her time in her isolated dwelling in the mountains of northern Arizona, every December and January, she travels the Earth non-stop to visit as many places and share her love of Christmas with as many people as possible.

The Dragon Who Loves Christmas with her treasure hoard.

Unlike most of her kind, Brigit is fond of humanity and their ever-changing ways and seemingly boundless creativity. She has always enjoyed taking part in their Winter Festivals, and has loved Christmas since villagers invited her share their celebration early in the 9th century A.D. If she visits a town or attends a dinner or party where the Christmas spirit is in the air, things become so magical and festive that those who were present will tell stories about it for years. There will likewise be talk if she comes to a town or enters a home where the spirit of Christmas is being violated with cruelty and selfishness. When encountering such, Brigit first tries to convince the wrong-doers to mend their behavior and outlooks. When that fails, which it almost always does, because Brigit's human form is that of a cute and unimposing young woman with messy red hair and lots of freckles, she reveals her true self and brings a level of terror and destruction to that time and place such as only a red dragon is capable of.

"You better watch out. You better be nice. You won't like me when I'm angry."

Centuries ago, a rhyming game played by human children at Christmas time inspired Brigid to create a set of 12 magic items that reflect the game. As with almost everything Christmas related, her source of inspiration has morphed and changed over time and it is now the Christmas carol known as "The Twelve Days of Christmas".

Brigit makes one or more of the items every month during the year, and, at Christmas time, she gives them out as presents to mortals that were either particularly generous to her of selflessly sacrificing to promote the well-being and safety of others, or to humans she feels could benefit and deserve the help the magic item can provide.

Check back every night on each of the Twelve Days of Christmas around 9pm (2100) Pacific Time for a description of Brigit's signature magical creations as viewed through the lense of the d20 System.

NUELOW at Christmas: Merry Christmas!

Santa Claus has finished his annual rounds and all the stockings of the good kids have been stuffed! Now, he is spending some time relaxing with Snoop Dogg before heading over to their mutual friend Brigit's place to meet up with Mrs. Claus to begin their annual vacation.

Tuesday, December 24, 2024

NUELOW at Christmas: Merry Christmas!

Every year, Brigid the Christmas Dragon makes a point of singing Christmas carols with her long-time friend Snoop Dogg and immortalizing the moment with a photo. Here they are on Christmas Eve, 2020!

The songs? They vary from year to year, but there are always at least three and one of them is always Brigid's favorite Christmas carol. Click here to hear it as she performs it.

(All images featured in the 2024 Christmas posts were generated using computer programs. Snoop Dogg isn't actually friends with Brigid the Christmas Dragon, nor has he ever had his picture taken with her.)

NUELOW at Christmas: Merry Christmas

Brigid the Christmas Dragon has been visiting rapper Snoop Dogg on Christmas since he was a child. When Snoop converted to Rastafarianism, he took to celebrating Christmas in January, which thrilled Brigid because it gave her more time to spend with him and his family.

Here are Brigid and Snoop in 2015, keeping alive their tradition of singing a few Christmas carols and having their time together memorialized in a photo.

NUELOW at Christmas: Happy Christmas!

Since he was a child, rapper and songwriter Snoop Dogg has spent a few hours each Christmas with Brigid the Christmas Dragon. Here's a photo of their get-together on Christmas Eve 2009!

NUELOW at Christmas: Merry Christmas!

Brigid the Christmas Dragon has been friends with rapper and song writer Snoop Dogg since he was 11 years old. She has always stopped in to visit him around Christmas time, and now she is close with his children and their families as well.

Although the pair had always enjoyed singing Christmas carols together and to each other, it wasn't until 1999 that Snoop hit upon the idea of immortalizing their once-a-year joyful reunions with a photo. On this Christmas Eve, we are going to share those with the world for the very first time!

Here's Brigid and Snoop on Christmas Eve 1999.

NUELOW at Christmas: Day Twenty-Four

Merry Christmas everyone! Whether you celebrate it or not, we here at NUELOW Games hope that the next couple of days are as happy and bright for you as if Brigid the Christmas Dragon had shown up on your doorstep wanting to spend it with you!

And speaking of Brigid and Christmas, here's a little bit about...

BRIGID'S FIRST CHRISTMAS

Some music to set the mood...

It was the year 803AD. Brigid had been walking among humans, cloaking her true nature in a form that appeared harmless to them, as they evolved from cave dwellers to builders of mighty towers and beyond. Of all humanity's creations and quirky habits, it was their Winter Festivals that she loved the most. Over the past many decades, these Winter Festivals were increasingly transforming into Christmas, and Brigid was growing a bit anxious that humanity might abandon something she loved about them.

But, on Christmas Eve of 803AD, Brigid came to the defense of a small Christian village in southern Jylland that a Viking chieftain had marked to be a blood sacrifice (and grand gift) to Odin for Yule.
After defeating the Viking attackers--briefly abandoning her human form to do so, she was invited to join the Christmas celebration. They asked her to join them in thanks, despite having witnessed her true form and her terrifying destructive powers. From that day forward, Brigid was in love with Christmas.

Here's a table to randomly generate the threat that ruins the heroes' Christmas. You may not have time to run it this year (unless you actually know what the Twelve Days of Christmas are), but maybe next year. Or maybe for "Christmas in July"!

WHAT RUINS THE HEROES' CHRISTMAS? (Roll 1d12)
1. An old foe they thought long gone returns for revenge.
2. An old foe they thought long dead returns at the head of an army of zombies.
3. An old foe begs for their help to stop an even worse evil.
4. While dinner is cooking, the oven mysteriously malfunctions, and fire elementals escape onto the Prime Material Plane.
5. While dinner is cooking, the oven mysteriously malfunctions and reanimates the Christmas meal as a fiery, murderous beast-zombie.
6. While dinner is cooking, the oven mysteriously malfunctions and causes everyone gathering for the Christmas dinner (and the entire house they're in) to be transported to Hell.
7. Santa has been kidnapped by vengeful Martians, and it's up to the heroes to save him and Christmas!
8. Santa's Daughter, Sugarplum, has been kidnapped by her crazed ex-boyfriend and Santa has come to the heroes for help.
9. Cultists have summoned Narlahohohotep--the Caroler Out of Space--at Nakatomi Plaza. Brigid the Christmas Dragon comes to the heroes for help in stopping the end of the world.
10. Santa's Reindeer have been stolen.
11. A serial killer is on the loose!
12. Roll two more times on the table, ignoring and rerolling duplicate results and additional results of 12. Both things converge to ruin the heroes' Christmas!

And while the heroes may feel like they're Two Steps from Hell, it's Christmas! So everything will hopefully turn out right in the end!