OPERATION EXPRESS
BACKGROUND:
Santa is real and he’s a parasite known as Sun Tack Louse. Elves exist, and they feed on his fat. Santa gets fat by feeding on the dreams of nice humans. Every nice dream he feasts on makes him fatter. After Christmas is over the elves harvest Santa for his fat until he is a shriveled worm like creature. This leaves him without enough energy to travel each year so the Elves get children to board a train known as the Polar Express and come to the North Pole where their operation is set up. There he feasts on their dreams and gets enough energy to start traveling for Christmas. Sun Tack Louse is a parasite that takes over human bodies, and every 10 years he needs to switch vessels as the body cannot handle the extreme transformations it is put through. Delta Green has a deal with the Elves, they send in agents to fill this role, and Sun Tack Louse continues to be contained. If the ceremony doesn’t occur, Sun Tack Louse’s body will break down and he will be unleashed to feast on everyone’s dreams until their minds are empty. When Santa eats nice dreams he gets fatter, and throws up something they wish for. When he eats naughty dreams he throws up coal.
HANDLER BRIEF:
Ask the players to think about the nicest and naughtiest things their characters have done before starting. They don’t need to answer now, but to think about it.
A mysterious train in Grand Rapids, MI has caught the eye of DG. It’s an older model that isn’t on any itinerary. It shows up mid December, children get on, then come back the next morning where they have forgotten what happened like a dream.
The Agent’s goals are to go to the site, take photos of the location, take photos of the boss, and get back to DG.
Start the adventure already on the Polar Express as stowaways in the storage area in the caboose.
EVERYWHERE:
Cameras:
70% Alertness shows secret security cameras. Elves have cameras that exist everywhere in the world, and can monitor everything always. They are hidden everywhere in the Operation as well.
Make an Intelligence check. If successful make a Sanity Check 1/1d4 as you realize you’ve seen these styled cameras before. They are all over your home.
Christmas Cheer and Hot Cocoa:
The elves make ice cream out of Santa’s fat and hot cocoa out of the coal he throws up. They will be offered these multiple times throughout the adventure, even on the Polar Express. Consuming either of these will restore 1d4 WP. Rejecting either will cost 1WP. Drinking hot cocoa will give players a +10% in the Really Cold section.
Santa San Checks:
If a player discovers that the elves harvest Santa’s Fat, they make a violence SAN check 1/1d6. If the player has eaten Christmas Cheer, and learn that, they make a helplessness SAN 2/1d6. Finding out that the cocoa is Santa’s Coal is Helplessness 0/1 Having drank the cocoa is another SAN check 2/1d6. Learning that Santa’s Gifts and Coal are things he vomits up after eating dreams is a unatural SAN 0/1d4.
Really Cold: Going outside reveals how cold it is, make a conx5 check. Failure requires 1 willpower to continue or take 1 damage. Make this check every time the Agents move locations in the North Pole
LOCATIONS:
POLAR EXPRESS:
The train is fully decorated, the only passengers are the Conductor, and 3 children. The Conductor is aware of the agents the whole time because of the cameras. The agents can find up to 3 items that they are looking for in the storage area if they make a successful Search check. They are going to the North Pole. If they check GPS at all, they will see they indeed took a train to the north pole. This is an unnatural SAN check 1/1d4 arrival takes place several hours later. They will arrive at the North Pole Inn, a combination train station and inn.
NORTH POLE INN
The agents are greeted by 3 elves who will offer to give them a tour. SAN 0/1d4 unnatural when learning that elves exist. They deny that the children are harmed, they go home after their visit. They can sleep here if they’d like. They also give a tour brochure with a map of the North Pole. Don’t forget to keep offering them Christmas Cheer and Hot Cocoa. The children will come on the tour with them where they are eventually going to go to Santa’s Workshop.
Leaving the North Pole Inn takes them through the Elves Village. Santa’s House is also in the village. Every other location is up to the players on where they want to go. Have the children insist on seeing Santa if you want to hurry things along.
ELVES VILLAGE
There are 100 elves. Breaking into a house can find a storage of Santa's fat like a meat locker. They also have scripture in their house worshiping a Sun Tack Louse.
SANTA’S HOUSE
There is a fake Mrs. Claus that waves to the children from the second story window. She is a fake made by the elves to sell the scheme to the children that visit. She lets them know Santa is at the workshop. Players take a -20% in humint to realize she’s fake. This house is actually empty save for 2 elves that operate Mrs Claus. Helpless SAN 0/1d4 for both emptiness and realizing she’s fake.
CANDY SHOP
Here all production is being used to make a vast amount of gingerbread that is being shipped to the North Pole Pole meant to build a giant gingerbread man. The elves say this is for a celebration which you can make up a fake celebration like “Jingle won best Christmas spirit”.
REINDEER BARN
The reindeer barn is where all the reindeer live. Rudolph is held separate from the other deer. Seeing one fly is an unnatural SAN of 0/3. If you have at least a 40% in biology, seeing Rudolph’s nose is an unnatural SAN 1/2d4. Staring at Rudolph's nose is hypnotic. They can spend 5 willpower to pull away from its effects. Or else they make an unnatural SAN check, 2/1d10 as it lights their path and they gain clarity on something in their life.
SANTA’S WORKSHOP
The lobby is decorated with pictures of elves hard at work and Santa over a fireplace. There are two doors. First one leads to a processing factory that seems to be for taking coal and grinding it up into powder and turning it into hot cocoa. The next room is taking Fat and turning it into ice cream. Then a meat locker of just Santa's fat. Then it finally reaches where the second door leads to. The second door leads to a room that’s decorated like a play version of the North Pole. There are several children playing here with 3 elves. Santa is busy and no one can disturb him, they’ll see him later tonight. If they enter the room the light from the door dimly illuminates a shriveled worm like man with wispy white hairs on a throne barely existing. This is an unnatural SAN check of 5/1d20. He will judge a player as naughty or nice. The player can decide if they were naughty or nice. Have them recall the moment they were the nicest or naughtiest as Santa siphons this memory from their minds. If nice, he regains some health and throws up a gift they always wanted, if naughty he will throw up coal. The player will choose to lose 1d6 willpower or make a San check unnatural 5/2d20.
NORTH POLE POLE
If a fight breaks out the elves will try and subdue the Agents and all but one of the players will be dragged here and put into a gingerbread man and set on fire to sacrifice to Sun Tack Laus. The player who’s nicest will have Santa vomit into their mouth and Santa will take over that body as the elves sing about Sun Tack Louse to a cheery Christmas tune. Killing Santa means there’s no Christmas this year but the parasite will escape the vessel. Hopefully the elves can contain him again.
STATS:
ELF
STR 9 CON 12 DEX 10 INT 10 POW 1
HP 6 WP 1
ATTACKS: Cling 40%. Damage -1 wp
Bite 45% (only if they are clinging), they then suck out the fat of the agent dealing 1d4-1 damage.
CLING: The elf remains attached to the agent unless they take 3 points of damage in one hit, or the agent escapes as though they were pinned. Having an elf attached reduces an agent’s skills by 10%.
SANTA has HP of 10 +2 for each agent that was judged nice. He doesn’t do much else but eat dream as described in SANTA’S WORKSHOP
Credits
Operation Express was written by Nick Isaacson for the 2024 Shotgun Scenario contest.
Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-IL_aCmHRNNGcFYIJyf24yUPCAbzHoIwY9CYz7Te7pA/edit