Krampus on Campus
A downloadable game
It’s the last week of term and you’re trying to get your BIG PROJECT finished before the holidays. You’ve also got to make sure you get in your goodbyes, gatherings, and social engagements before everyone parts ways. Things would be so simple, if it wasn’t for the University Krampus turning up to make sure everyone is behaving themselves… and throw in a bit of mayhem into the mix.
Can you finish your work, keep on top of your social life, and avoid brutal evisceration before the last day of term?
Krampus on Campus is a mini RPG where you play as undergrads trying to get some damn work done before Krampus eviscerates you.
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Krampus On Campus is an extremely solid holiday monster movie slasher about getting through your last week of semester one while also avoiding getting ripped in half by a murderous yuletide monster.
Dark comedy is probably how I'd described this, but it's honestly a little more nuanced than that. There's a good helping of absurdism, but the story is played perfectly straight. And the game's tone isn't automatically cruel towards the characters, even if it wants to watch them get into danger.
Mechanics-wise, everything in Krampus On Campus easy to play, and the core of the system turns on 2d6 vs attribute rolls. Failed rolls escalate situations, summon the krampus, make your future rolls worse, or give you krampus points. Gain too many krampus points or fail to achieve your personal objectives during the week, and you face a final showdown with krampus.
Krampus On Campus' mechanics are *really* good for playing cat and mouse with the PCs, and there's a *lot* you can do with this system to build narrative tension. However, it also kind of incentivizes each PC to be off in their own world, experiencing their own story. Everyone has different majors, different goals, different holiday wishes, and unless the group purposefully bands together in the face of the krampus attack, you might end up with a game that consists of several intertwined stories, rather than one central narrative.
Overall, if you're looking for some snowy holiday horror, this is a phenomenal pick. Great pacing, fun premise, lots of room to let characters' personalities shine, and an excellent force-of-nature antagonist in the form of the big man himself.