Thank you for the video and interest in our culture. As someone who grew up with the tradition in the alps there are a few things I'd like to clarify which american portrayals of our folklore get frequently wrong. First of all Krampus is not a singular entity. They are very distinct from each other both in behavior and looks. Some are as small as children, some as tall as adults. Some use wodden stick bundles, sometimes they spit fire, sometimes they use iron chains sometimes they are barehanded. If you watch any recording of a Perchtenlauf (technically not the same but similar enough for the purpose of research on the general folklore) or Krampuslauf there are usually dozens if not hundreds of Krampus running around the villages all day terrifying children who usually have school on the same day and are trying to get home as soon as possible. If you think about it it makes much more sense that children would be more terrified of a roving band of monsters that run through countless streets in and around the villages, sometimes even on motorcycles or camyons. They hear the bells throughout the village and even if they run from the sound of bells they might accidently run into the arms of another. Often they wait around schools and kindergardens for this. The announcement of their presence through sound before you see them is also an important aspect that terrifies the children. The children know that no adults they can normally rely on for safety will protect them further adds to the fear. In Masqurade you could explain this with Mesmerism. An aspect that is rarely adressed in movies and other superficial portayals. In some villages they will even invite one or more krampus to a school or a personal home to terrify children known as particular troublemakers. So in many ways portaying Krampus as an enigmatic lurking presence is the exact opposite of what the tradition actually is or makes it terrifying. Namely a roving band (or on the Krampuslauf an army) of monsters that parents either dont aknowledge or in some cases even actively push their children towards (betrayal of trust, parents working with the krampus). Also the saint nicolas day parade of the next day where saint nicolas just ignores the vile deeds of the krampus running through the streets and hitting everyone they can see from his seat of honor further solidifies the theme of betrayal and sends a message of "Even the most saintly figures wont protect you if you do not behave". You could either use this to imply the krampus hold power over the church/saint or that the saint is evil and the krampus work for him. Either way they will never hurt the saint or his angels. The whole event even looks like a morbid ritual where krampuses are confined to the streets and display the children (who sometimes see the whole affair as a trial of courage and get promptly caught and beaten) they caught throught the day in cages they parade through the streets showing of tricks, spitting fire and showing they own the village, not the children. Sometimes your own parents will look at you and laugh at you as you sit in the cage and are paraded of to god knows where which is an aspect you rarely see utilized in movies even though a storyteller could utilise any of these points easily for drama and make the story something much more unique rather than just another story about a monster lurking in the dark. Hope I could clarify some things and inspire some of you to run a different kind of krampus story. Running a krampus one-shot with a corrupted saint niclas leading an army of krampus catching children to sacrifice them to a greater demon somewhere in the montains while all the parents watch works very well. I can vouch for that with both DnD 5e and Vampire the Masquerade.
Also interesting tidbit. During the Krampuslauf parade krampusses run through streets clearly marked with metal fences. They like to pretend they cannot pass that threshold and rattle against it grasping at and trying to hit children or women who stand too close to it. If a child crosses the fence or provokes a krampus he will however jump over the fence to beat the child. Often a few separate, meeker Krampuses will stalk through the crowds from the onlookers side of the fence to give candy to well behaved the children basically bribing them to go along with the tradition and come to the lauf to participate. You could treat the candy in a campaign as magically compelling or corrupting.. Or just leave it out depending on how mature the setting is. Saint nicolas and the angels to his side will throw out even more candy into the crowds by the bucket.
> I can vouch for that with both DnD 5e and Vampire the Masquerade. I would be very interested in guidelines for the integration of Alpine folklore. :) I am looking for material on German-speaking VTM campaigns.
Absolutely fantastic series of videos, between this, The World of Darkness, and Hunter the Parenting, I am truly spoiled for VtM lore. I gotta ask though, what IS that thing sticking out from the narrators neck?
Hey really enjoying the videos do you make the art stuff been trying to find some all of the source material the lasombra Thumbnail in particular was really cool
I think Krampus would work best as a Fae or some kind of dream monster from Changeling instead of a Vampire, then you would have more play with children's fairy tales and make them into messed-up horror stories. The Chronicles of Darkness Changeling the Lost is way better than Changeling the Dreamin which never really fit World of Darkness that well. One thing that I know would work well for a game is if players mix in stuff from Chronicles of Darkness in a World of Darkness game. I know there are some things that I liked more in Chronicles of Darkness than I did with World of Darkness. One way that can work is if you make Krampus into a Freddy Krueger type of character where he can exist in a piece of the dream realm where Winter is eternal, and your character is a child who dreams of Krampus eating the flesh of children and then sees you and chases after you right before you wake up in a cold sweat, and on Christmas Eve, the line between dream and reality becomes blurred and spirits of dreams come out at night to play with the mortals, mostly in awful ways. Sort of Halloweening Christmas in a way, And for Krampus, he comes out it's to eat the blood and flesh of rotten children before returning back to the dream realm. That could work for me in a game that combines the world of darkness with chronicles of darkness.
excellent , I think Krampus is probably a 5th or 6th gen vampire, Krampus also has mastery of Viccissitude (V5 Protean 5, Dominate 5). that is how he fashions his elves. He also has an alliance with powerful Tzimisce and thru them he has contacts in the sabbat while Krampus is neutral he likes to play all sides. he has the most influence within the SAbbat and Anarchs esp. among the Nosferatu of those groups. the Sabbat and Anarch nosferatu revere him for his successful fights with the Nictuku and his freedom of action. I think while its true power is the main goal of Krampus , his main goal is the destruction of the Nictuku. and his recent actions is his expansion of his war against the Nictuku. the disappeances in Europe are actually casualties in his war with the Nictuku which have recently expanded, and him and his pawns, allies are targetting Nictuku pawns , allies and the Nictuku themselves in a war in the Shadows. I think the Nosferatu of all allegiances see Krampus as a war banner vs. the Nictuku a rally behind. Also Krampus allies besides vampires also include werewolves and mages. The Nictuku have long wanted Krampus dead, and are now going to take major action against him. a showdown is coming.
Krampus is cute okay ? He takes the bad children,making room for more good ones to come, the bad ones are taken to his lair where he makes them make toys for the good children wich will be delivered around ''christ''mas. it is the circle of life.
