GSP's Christmas 2019 Brainstorming thread (SWL)

Secret World Legends General Discussion
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As some of you may know, I collect ideas every year at GridStream parties for Christmas brainstorming. After two weeks, I curate them into a somewhat ordered list, we put them in some semblance of order, and I put a little more detail into our favorites, with reference images where appropriate. Then I send those off to FC roughly two months before the event, hopefully around the time they patch in whatever’s new for Halloween and start planning Christmas.

I’m starting a little earlier this year so we’ll have three weeks, just in case the instabilities we’ve been dealing with lately slow things down. So if all goes well, we’ll have three weeks to collect ideas, and if not, I should still be able to get this posted before Halloween events.

Posting the official list on the GSP forums and linking to it from the AO and SWL forums worked well last year, so let’s go with that again. On the GSP forums, I don’t have to worry about dividing the list between AO and SWL, and the post length and editing restrictions are much looser, so I can manage the list better as ideas come in.

If you have an idea you’d like to add to our list, the thread is at http://forums.gridstream.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=29712

If you’re too lazy to make a GSP forum account to post it, (or that’s just not working for whatever reason,) go ahead and tack it on here. I should see it within a day or two and I can just copy it over.

Once I’ve finalized the list, I’ll post the whole thing here too, but separated into AO and SWL posts.

And yes, you can always just post your own suggestion any time you want, but I find that these threads, especially the discussions of them at parties, bring up a lot more ideas and more of them actually get posted in a big pile FC can more easily find. So let’s hear it. What do you want to find under the Agartha Christmas trees this year?

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I checked your thread and seen your post, let me get this straight : you went through all that trouble to ask for more clothes in a game in which we hardly have anything left to do (and more than plenty of clothes, that’s without saying)?
That’s not the kind of suggestion I was thinking.

What I want, is… you know, the word that almost seems like a threat or an offense nowadays : CONTENT

Like missions, acheivments, animated/voice-acted stuff that is interesting. Not goofy caches and fashion streams with oversized Andy.

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OP is trying to do a nice thing. Leave the elephant in the corner where it is.

And I’ll add a suggestion: Morninglight St Nicholas outfit.

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How about the ability to make stacks of Krampus rockets into a big Krampus “treat”? Like a boom and a large stinky cloud, something like that? @Perstyr I like your suggestion :slight_smile:

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Sweet candy cane outfits for the girls, lump of coal outfits for the boys :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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A minigame where you deliver construction paper to random children in the Tokyo slums. You choose either to give a red piece or blue piece to protect them from the appropriate Namahage. Getting a certain amount correct nets you the Morninglight Santa outfit.

And if you’re a Dragon, rather than construction paper, it’s toilet paper (no kidding, the Korean ‘namahage’ sits in bathroom stalls to scare children).

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Maybe I’m missing the reference because I never got past Egypt, but what’s the Morninglight version of a St. Nicholas outfit? Do you mean the outfit the ghost of St. Nicholas was wearing at the end of the Christmas Conspiracy mission?

There are candy cane / Starbrite Mint outfits already on the list. Have been for years. I even drew one to see if that would help, but it hasn’t yet. Guess we can just keep at them about it. So this is the first one I drew.

A couple years later, I had an idea for a strappy set that went well with the stockings.

Those were for AO, but the same should work in SWL. Is that what you meant, or did you have something different in mind?

And what do you mean by lump of coal? Like a coal golem? Craggy rocky lumpy outfit? Or a coal miner? Or a big sooty sack that says “coal” on it?

I have no idea what you’re talking about, but it sounds like a cultural thing I’m just not familiar with. Is there a name for it I can tell them to google if they want to look up what it’s about? Namahage? Also, not everyone would be able to partake in that, but there’s been plenty of other holiday content that wasn’t available to everyone, so that’s not a deal breaker. Would something like that work in Seoul where anyone who’s played more than an hour can get to, or is it a specifically Japanese thing?

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I was basically imagining St Nicholas, as in a chap in bishop’s outfit with a mitre, but in the Morninglight white & gold colour scheme. There are examples of Morninglight clergy later in the game. I can’t stress just how much you really should play through the story to see the whole thing!!!

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The Namahage parade is already in the Kaidan slums. You see them marching around, with music, with three hunched over kids in raincoats.

The Namahage are like the Krampus in that they steal misbehaving children (which is what the kids in the raincoats are). You counter blue with red, red with blue. They already have the ofudas to stop the kyonshi. Just need colored ones. The mechanics of actually putting something like this in game would be nigh impossible, I imagine. More than what the current staff could manage. But taking out the Namahage parade, putting them around the projects as single spawns, then… something something… keep them away from children… something.

The Korean one is more of an urban legend. The legend talks of a ghost that emerges from the toilet and asks you if you will use red or blue toilet paper. If you choose red, the ghost will cut you open. If you choose blue, the ghost will suffocate you. While not necessarily Namahage, they do have the red/blue dichotomy. Come to think of it, the Japanese Aka-Monto is the same thing. Palette-swapping spectres could be done. Come to think of it, they already have children assets in Seoul, so playing hide and seek with the Korean Aka-monto could be funny.

Hey, I’m throwing spaghetti at a wall and seeing what sticks. I’ve always liked the Namahage (and Krampus) legends. Seeing them both in Secret World made me squeal with glee.

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I reinstalled the game and signed on simply to get pictures of the Namahage parade in Kaidan. It actually creeps me out to this day. You can imagine the shivers I got when I first heard their music, then saw the parade behind me.

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I know they use the Bogeyman’s “skeleton”.

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Would love to see an event with these guys. There’s huge festivals (again, nut unlike Krampusnacht) with these guys, though not necessarily around Christmas.

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I honestly have no idea what I mean, but a coal golem pet sounds like splendid idea, so I’ll just roll with that :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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At this point i just want to see Auxiliary weapons under the Christmas Tree…
not just for us Vets whom had them in TSW, but also everyone!

The very limited time with the Rocket launcher in [Venetian Missile Crisis] & [Wrath of Dawn]
feels worse then getting coal, because that at least have a use to Summon (True) Hel.

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There’s hasn’t been any actual discussion on the GSP forums, which isn’t surprising considering the few people who use them are probably the same who come to the shows, so I figured I’d post the list in progress here, even if it means I have to split and duplicate it for the separate forums for each game. There’s a bit over a week left, so if anyone has comments or more ideas to add, please feel free to do so.

  1. Virgin killer minidress, knit grey with silver threads

  2. Green Spanx with red handprints

  3. iridescent rainbow taffeta and opal bead steel boned corsets
    https://www.facebook.com/RainbowCurveCorsetry/photos/a.1490242064629430/2369541866699441/

  4. starbrite mint bikini and stockings
    like this or this

  5. Pet snowman that moves like BB-8 by using the rolling animation from a rollerrat on the bottom snowball, but the two snowballs on top just lean forward
    with creepy and cute variations

  6. wassail

  7. a variation of AO’s hula outfit, but with silver tinsel instead of a green lei, and a little microskirt made of holly, tied on with a mistletoe vine

  8. a fairy godmother wand, the kind with a big star on the end, that you can equip to wave around and click to cast random sparkles

  9. red satin babydoll and thigh-high stockings, white panties, green hollybough belt and sparse details.

  10. marching baton, possibly spinning in your hand when clicked, red and white spiral like the candy cane, but straight and narrow, and a gold and purple marching band uniform to go with it

  11. eggnog that gives some kind of visual effect, like red and green and silver sparkles over a mild inebriation blur

  12. spray can of canned Christmas hearth smell, the smell of chestnuts roasting on a pine fire in a stove made of peppermint sticks

  13. mini-sleigh vehicle, pulled by a team of antleets

  14. mistletoe bikini bottom
    matching men’s thong made from a holly leaf and two fir cones

  15. Something like Adrienne’s heart halves quest that involves cooperation with other players. Like cooperative snowman construction.

  16. a shoort [sic] red and white skirt with a bikini top

  17. Oversized sunglasses with holiday bling

  18. Scrooge as a boss in mission
    Apparently that’s legal. “A Christmas Carol” is so old it’s public domain. So there could be a mission with ghosts of past, present, and future, and even NPCs named Marley and Tiny Tim and a boss named Scrooge, and it would be fine.
    The reward could include a glamour that makes you translucent like the shade of Saint Nicholas or Elena Zhelikhovsky.

  19. Morninglight St Nicholas outfit
    the same outfit the ghost wears at the end of The Christmas Conspiracy, but opaque and in the Morninglight white & gold colour scheme, instead of translucent red and white, and maybe with a matching mitre

  20. make stacks of Krampus rockets into a big Krampus “treat”? Like a boom and a large stinky cloud

  21. lump of coal outfits

  22. pet lump of coal (shem)

  23. A minigame where you deliver construction paper to random children in the Tokyo slums.

  • You choose either to give a red piece or blue piece to protect them from the appropriate Namahage.
  • Getting a certain amount correct nets you the Morninglight Santa outfit.
  • And if you’re a Dragon, rather than construction paper, it’s toilet paper (no kidding, the Korean ‘namahage’ sits in bathroom stalls to scare children).

  1. yule log and fruitcake weapon skins

  2. cookie frosting as chest clothing … or legs if you’re up for the pun

  3. a proper blouse and some nice slacks

  4. wrapped gift backpack

  5. chocolate toffee

  6. giant box that a character can burst out of, for screen-cap photos

  7. SWL needs some Australian Christmas

  • Christmas bikinis like AO
  • Plastic stumps (three upright posts), plastic cricket bat (hammer skin) and a tennis ball

  1. photo-op cutout Christmas scenes with holes so you can stand behind them and take a selfie

  2. glowing red nose

  3. a pet snowman who wakes up and throws snowballs at the Orochi drone pets to make them stop zapping the poor kitties

  4. tiny pets

  • a little mousie in a nightgown and cap, stirring a cup of tea
  • a mouse-size antleet (in the Scrooge mission, with a stapler)

  1. hockey stick hammer skin

  2. flannel pajamas

  • green and red plaid
  • red and white check
  • blue too, but please not faction-exclusive

  1. snowball gizmo that looks like the snowball social emote, but inflicts a knockdown, confuse, or stun like a normal gizmo

  2. candy cane hammer skin

  3. weapon skins that look like toys

  • pistols full of blinking lights and sparklers
  • a frizbee for a chaos focus
  • garishly colored rounded swords
  • Carethulhu’s pop-up book of greater demons
  • super soaker shotgun

  1. A dead pine tree strung with blinking UV LEDs and burgundy tinsel the color of dried blood

  2. hot chocolate

  3. a VR gaming rig with a simulation speed setting so you can get in a full week of gaming every night

  4. a hippopotamus

  5. a pet wooden cuckoo bird that escaped from a very large and slightly magical clock

  6. a Bing Crosby mask and suit

  7. white leet with red spots in a dalmation pattern

  8. red and white color swap of AO’s Oscura outfit, with some green details, like a holly brooch or a thin vine of mistletoe for a belt

  9. Slow Djinn Fizz - a carbonated drink made by intellectually challenged elemental spirits, so viscous that the bubbles take a full minute to rise to the top and pop

  10. a tangled bunch of old school Christmas lights, like the fist-sized frosted bulbs and tear-shaped ornaments and boiling bubble lights, all too tangled to get on a tree, so they’re held up in a big vaguely tree-shaped tangle by a hovering drone, like the AO’s pet balloons inverted

  11. Christmas cards like the Valentines
    … as long as there’s some solution to how much space they take up. Treat collectable holiday items like mission items. No inventory cost so things that were supposed to be gifts aren’t a burden. Or make a card box or folder or something that only takes one inventory slot and it holds any number of cards, but then we can take them out to trade them.

  12. Informer Snowman toy that says random things when you poke it, like mixes of Lovecraft and Snow: “Informer Cthulhu R’lyeh fhtagn Tekeli boom boom down”

  13. crop top and microskirt and stockings outfit like AO’s Play Costume – Sixth Edition in Christmassy red with white trim and a ribbon bow instead of the neck tie

  14. Christmas lights with more colors, particularly purples and pinks

  15. unicorn (AO silvertail) with red and white stripes and a candy cane colored horn, still the horn shape

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That idea also applies to AO. The valentines there aren’t a space issue. And I could attach a note about finding some solution to the space problem if they add Christmas cards to SWL. Then maybe that would help when Valentine’s Day comes back around, instead of just worsening the problem.

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Here’s the SWL portion of the final list of Christmas ideas I just sent in. The full list is at http://forums.gridstream.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=29712&p=235223#p235223

To whichever elves, space-elves, fae, notum miners, and/or code monkeys may be tasked with Christmas content for Secret World Legends,

Here’s GSP’s annual brainstorming contribution of Christmas ideas. Ideas were collected over three weeks of GSP parties, plus a few from the forums and some set aside since last year. GSP DJs, Dancers, and staff helped put them in order so I could fill in extra details on our favorites, but the whole list is here. One difference this year is I tried to limit the repeats instead of asking for the same things we ask for every year. We still want that stuff too, but I’m sure you still have the old lists, so just consider this an addition, rather than an update.

  1. [both] Scrooge as a boss in a new Christmas Carol mission

Apparently that’s legal. “A Christmas Carol” is so old it’s public domain. So there could be a mission with ghosts of past, present, and future, and even NPCs named Marley and Tiny Tim and a boss named Scrooge, and it would be fine.

Maybe all the spooky stories about some misanthrope stealing, commercializing, or otherwise ruining Christmas are on the verge of congealing into a new occult disaster that would let so many Krampus through that they’d overrun The Common Sense World and take all of Christmas to Hel. To save Christmas, the Ghosts of Past, Present, and Future have to be confronted in their own times, with some good old Agartha Time Travel. Or in Transylvania, New England, and Tokyo, which is pretty much the same thing.

Maybe the reward includes a ghostly glamour that makes you translucent, like the spirit of St. Nicholas, but doesn’t change your outfit, just your alpha. Or Marley’s chains wrap around you and rattle as you move. Or a little boy on crutches follows you around, dragging a huge Christmas turkey on a sled and occasionally calling out, “Gaia bless us, every one!” But not so often that you can’t hear yourself think when there’s three in a room.

  1. [both] rolling pet snowman

Give the bottom snowball the rolling animation from a rollerrat and the top two just lean forward, so it moves like BB-8. I’m sure it’s more complicated to implement than to describe, but it would be really cool if you could make it work.

Bonus points if it comes in creepy and cute variations.

  1. [both] A new mission or activity that encourages some cooperation

Something like Adrienne’s “You’ve Got Heart” Valentine heart lantern quest or properly summoning Hel that involves cooperation with other players, but with new rewards to actually encourage us to make the effort. Maybe something like cooperative snowman construction, for example. Why are AO’s snowman parts NoDrop anyway? Who builds snowmen all by themselves?

  1. [both] glowing red nose

I know there’s a clown nose in SWL already, but it doesn’t glow. Something just like that, but glowing bright enough to cut through fog, and yet not so bright it blinds the wearer, might be tricky. Or magical. Probably both.

  1. [both] a fairy godmother wand

The kind with a big shiny star on the end, that you can equip to wave around and click to cast random sparkles. The kind of thing anyone who ever wore rainbow fishnets, a fluorescent tutu, and a glow in the dark bikini to a rave always wanted, but less pharmaceutical-powered. And yes, once we had the wand, we’d probably ask for that outfit next. At least, I would.

  1. [both] AO’s Play Costume - Sixth Edition, Christmas version

That’s the sexy school uniform one, but in Christmassy red with white trim and a ribbon bow instead of the neck tie. Maybe some holly details, like holly on the back of the stockings.

  1. [both] Hawaiian Christmas (tourist edition)

A variation of the hula outfit, but with a silver tinsel garland instead of a green lei, and a little microskirt made of holly, tied on with a mistletoe vine. In AO, that’s the miniskirt/skorts type. The legs mesh, not the skirt mesh. If you have to put a green thong under it for censorship, that would be acceptable.

  1. [both] Virgin killer minidress, knit grey with silver threads

Like this: https://www.amazon.com/Lucky2Buy-Sleeveless-Cosplay-Turtle-neck-Pullover/dp/B074HZBW1T

But a slightly looser knit so you can /almost/ peek through it, but still not actually see anything, and the silver threads give it a little bit of sparkle.

  1. [both] Christmas eve nightwear, just slightly naughty

A red satin babydoll nightie, maybe something like this:
https://www.wantitall.co.za/fashion/kranchungel-women-s-sexy-santa-lingerie-christmas-babydoll-set-chemises-outfit-lace-sleepwear-small-__b07l845r9v

… with thigh-high stockings, white panties, and green hollybough belt. Maybe a little mistletoe detail on the front of the waistband, instead of the typical bow. That’s pretty skimpy though, if you can see the bow with an opaque nightie that doesn’t /actually/ ride up or flutter, so maybe it’s just a bit more than slightly naughty.

Or how about something more like this:
https://www.amiclubwear.com/clothing-lingerie-kk89hc-2349red.html

So it goes a little lower in back, but ties in front and doesn’t fully close. It only almost closes where it’s tied at the waist with a holly-colored silk rope belt with little leaves. Or maybe it doesn’t go lower in the back so it’s a separate chest item and the lacy white panties and ruffle-topped wide fishnet thigh-highs are a separate leg item.

Okay, it’s not slightly naughty, it’s slight and naughty, but that’s just a different kind of good, right?

  1. [both] mistletoe bikini bottom

Either a Christmas bikini like the one AO already has, just with a mistletoe design on it, or one that looks like just some leaves and vines of mistletoe and holly. Like AO’s “Leaves” outfits, but just the bikini part, not all the way down the legs or up the abdomen.

And a matching thong made from one holly leaf, two fir cones, and a ribbon for the menfolk.

  1. [SWL] weapon skins that look like toys
  • pistols full of blinking lights and sparklers
  • an off-brand Frisbee-like flying disc for a chaos focus
  • garishly colored rounded plastic swords with a silly amount of plastic jewelery on the hilt
  • Carethulhu’s pop-up book of greater demons
  • super soaker shotgun
  • a giant hollow candy cane full of other candy that swings like a hammer and breaks like a pinata
  • a handful of regular candy canes between your fingers for a fist weapon
  • classic Red Ryder BB Rifle, not guaranteed to shoot someone’s eye out
  • knotted up bundle of Christmas lights that glow with elemenatlism magic only when they’re not plugged in
  1. [both] Christmas cards like the Valentines

Just make sure there’s some solution to how much space they take up. Maybe you could treat collectable holiday items like mission items, but still tradable? They have to have no inventory cost so things that were supposed to be gifts aren’t a burden instead, like that horrendous blouse your sweet old aunt bought you at from a local independent artist. Or make a card box or folder or something that only takes one inventory slot and it holds any number of cards, but then we can take them out to trade them? Hopefully however you solve it, it’ll apply to the Valentine’s Day cards too.

  1. [both] iridescent rainbow taffeta and opal bead steel boned corsets
  1. [both] starbrite mint bikini with candy cane stockings

This is an old favorite that keeps getting requested every year. I tried to minimize the repeats in this list, but this one’s kind of a tradition. I even drew my own examples twice because I couldn’t find any reference images close enough to what was suggested.

like http://forums.gridstream.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=21449&p=177432#p177432

or http://forums.gridstream.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=21449&p=226775#p226775

But with better shoes. I never did get around to fixing the shoes on those.

  1. [SWL] Australian Christmas
  • Christmas bikinis like AO
  • Plastic stumps (three upright posts), plastic cricket bat (hammer skin) and a tennis ball
  1. [both] tiny pets
  • a little mousie in a nightgown and cap, stirring a cup of tea
  • a mouse-size antleet (in the Scrooge mission, found next to a stapler)
  1. [both] a shoort [sic] red and white skirt with a matching bikini top

  1. [both] a little black skullcap hat with a model yalm on top - a Yalmica

  2. [both] unicorn/silvertail with red and white stripes and a candy cane colored horn (normal horn shape)

  3. [both] Christmas lights with more colors, particularly purples and pinks

  4. [both] make the cookie frosting wearable

  5. [SWL] A minigame where you deliver construction paper to random children in the Tokyo slums.

  • You choose either to give a red piece or blue piece to protect them from the appropriate Namahage.
  • Getting a certain amount correct nets you the Morninglight Santa outfit (#60 on this list).
  • And if you’re a Dragon, rather than construction paper, it’s toilet paper (no kidding, the Korean ‘namahage’ sits in bathroom stalls to scare children).
  1. [both] flannel pajamas
  • green and red plaid
  • red and white check
  • blue too, but please don’t make them faction-exclusive

  1. [both] photo-op cutout Christmas scenes with holes so you can stand behind them and take a selfie

  2. [both] Green Spanx with red handprints

  3. [both] new backpacks

  • ornament
  • snowflake
  • holly leaf
  • snowman’s head
  • Xmas tree
  • Star
  • wrapped gift
  1. [both] Oversized sunglasses with holiday bling
  1. [both] marching baton, possibly spinning in your hand when clicked, red and white spiral like the candy cane, but straight and narrow, and a gold and purple marching band uniform to go with it
  1. [both] Snowball Grenade launcher
  • like an OT-12 (from AO) with a candy cane skin that fires the social snowballs on clicking, like Adrienne’s bow does
  1. [SWL] a pet snowman who wakes up and throws snowballs at the Orochi drone pets to make them stop zapping the poor kitties
  1. [both] red and white color swap of the Oscura outfit, with some green details, like a holly brooch or a thin vine of mistletoe for a belt
  1. [both] a proper blouse and some nice slacks
  • not the awful one your fashion-blind but well-meaning free-trade shopping local-artist supporting aunt picked out, bless her heart
  1. [both] a variation of the Phasefront Sleigh nano pulled by a team of antleets wearing jetpacks
  • SWL version: mini-sleigh pulled by running antleets

  1. [both] Informer Snowman toy that says random things when you poke it, like mixes of Lovecraft and Snow: “Informer! Cthulhu R’lyeh fhtagn, tekeli boom boom down!”

  2. [both] pet lump of coal shem/heckler

  1. [both] a hippopotamus

  1. [both] lump of coal outfits

  2. [both] a VR gaming rig with a simulation speed setting so you can get in a full week of gaming after work every night

  1. [both] wassail
  1. [both] Rupert the Red-Nosed Swiftwind and/or Randolph the Bright-Horned Silvertail
  1. [both] eggnog that gives a red and/or green sparkle effect
  1. [both] spray can of scent deletion nanos, or canned Christmas hearth smell, the smell of chestnuts roasting on a pine fire in a stove made of peppermint sticks
  1. [both] Morninglight St Nicholas outfit
  • the same outfit the ghost wears at the end of The Christmas Conspiracy, but opaque and in the Morninglight white & gold colour scheme, instead of translucent red and white, and maybe with a matching mitre

  1. [SWL] make stacks of Krampus rockets into a big Krampus “treat”, like a boom and a large stinky cloud

  2. [SWL] yule log and fruitcake weapon skins

  3. [both] translucent pastel colored pet hecklers/shems - rock candy

  4. [both] chocolate toffee

  1. [both] giant gift box that a character can burst out of, for screen-cap photos

  1. [SWL] hockey stick hammer skin

  2. [SWL] snowball gadget that animates like the snowball social emote, but inflicts a knockdown, confuse, or stun like a normal gadget

  3. [both] A dead pine tree strung with blinking UV LEDs and burgundy tinsel the color of dried blood and black lace garland

  4. [both] hot chocolate that buffs cold AC and chocolate craving resistance

  • maybe +2 Stamina even, like an extruder bar

  1. [both] a pet wooden cuckoo bird that escaped from a very large and slightly magical clock

  2. [both] a Bing Crosby mask and suit

  3. [both] white leet with red spots in a dalmation pattern

  4. [both] Slow Djinn Fizz

  • a carbonated drink made by intellectually challenged elemental spirits, so viscous that the bubbles take a full minute to rise to the top and pop
  1. [both] a tangled bunch of old school Christmas lights, like the fist-sized frosted bulbs and tear-shaped ornaments and boiling bubble lights, all too tangled to get on a tree, so they’re held up in a big roughly tree-shaped tangle by a hovering drone, like the AO balloons pet inverted

Thanks again for reading and letting us participate in the making of festivities, and thanks for continuing to bring more festivities to our favorite worlds. I hope you found something useful, interesting, or at least amusing here and we’re all looking forward to seeing whatever the holidays bring!

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