The Legend of Droopsmas

Droopsmas is a holiday that our Cooldude board game group has celebrated for the last 6 years where we get together for an uncommon early start and weekend night so we can go long hours and eat unhealthy food. We started this tradition in the spirit of a beloved D&D NPC character that both stole the show and stole our hearts. Droop is life, Droop is love, and Droop is within all of us. If you continue to read this article, I will explain why every game group should find their own Droop and join us in a yearly celebration.

The legend of Droop started in the early years of our game group. Raf had joined our group officially and had dangled a possibility of running a D&D campaign for us since he had done it many times in college and online with other friends. Matt, Tom, and I were all “RPG curious” so we enthusiastically agreed, rolled characters, and started our first tentative steps into our first role playing game. Our characters were a kleptomaniac tree man, a former circus performer, and a manic little halfling who would scream “top of the morning to ya!” to every other NPC we came across.

Our motley crew started out with the pre-fab initial campaign scenario where we took on a Bugbear and his crew of goblins. We all fell into the trap of being fantasy murder hobos until we came across a destroyed room that initially appeared just full of broken furniture. It was there that we met Droop, hiding under a bed, and looking for a way out of the abusive and inhumane living environment that he was currently living in. We immediately adopted him into our group and Raf happily allowed it to happen as the DM. Droop continued his adventures with us and his character started to become more fleshed out. He was enthusiastic about everything, no matter how mundane. He developed an intense love for corn dogs and any other tubular food item. Raf even allowed him to “level up” to become our team cleric and he started to worship the god, Maglubiyet. Droop was an enthusiastic healer, but his spells would just as likely give you warts and explosive diarrhea then return your hit points.

It was around December time when the four of us decided to have our first holiday party to celebrate our friendship and good board game vibes. We were searching for the right theme and landed on “Droopsmas” because Droop was the embodiment of the enthusiasm, love for food, and general good hang vibes that we always strove to have during game nights. Thus, the legend was born.

The first Droopsmas was hosted in the dingy corner of the unfinished basement in my first home where I carved out a small little area that I could call a “game room”. I found some unused Christmas decorations, a small tree, and strung up lights through the rafters of the ceiling. We brought lots of unhealthy snacks such as: chicago blend popcorn, mini corn dogs, pizza pillows, and white castle sliders which we knew the spirit of Droop would smile benevolently upon. To top it off, we purchased a full box of the 1st wave packs of Star Wars Destiny where we dumped the box out, distributed packs, and created decks to play that night in a fun and raucous atmosphere. Far into the next morning, we walked out of the basement with bleary eyes, tummy troubles, and the soothed spirit of a content board gamer. We agreed that this was a perfect way to celebrate a year of board gaming and the adult friendship bonds we have formed (which isn’t always a common thing to have nowadays).

Droopsmas have evolved over the years and we have added different elements as time has passed. During COVID, we had it in Matt’s garage where we played “Honey Heist” and kept a safe distance from each other. Tom hosted one year and created such a spread of delicious treats that even Dionysus would have been jealous. The food ranged from sushi, chilli bar, taco bell, egg rolls, tarts, pies, white castle, chicken wings, and nacho cheese to put on all of it. We all ended that night agreeing that we had flown too close to the sun and needed to pull back just a little of the gastric debauchery. One year, Matt added a nacho cheese fountain to dip sliders into and we learned why the cheese needs to be thinned with another ingredient.

We also started to bring gift giving into the Droopsmas as well. We started with small gifts and they progressively got more complicated and oftentimes, more thoughtful. Tom and I got Matt a huge inflatable slide for his lake house that was both hilarious and obnoxious, but he continues to use it today and all our kids love it. My favorite year was when I had enough time to become a beginner wood worker (before my third daughter, I don’t have time now) and made home made presents for each cool dude. Matt got a dice tower, Tim received a metal inlaid box for minis with a magnet snap lid, Raf was given a custom brush holder that I blacksmithed the legs for, and Tom was was gifted a silhouette of a broken Death Start that was LED lit in the back to hold his minis. All of the cool dudes still use these presents to this day and it brings me happiness every time I see it.

If you have a current game group, I encourage all of you to find your own Droop that is unique to your set of gaming friends. If you can’t come up with one, then Droop will always be there for you. He is a non denomination lover of all people and is enthusiastic about all good things in life. We all got into this hobby for different reasons, but the consistent through-line is that we use it as a way to spend time with other people where we can do an activity that we all enjoy. Droopsmas is a celebration of those personal connections that we can make around the table and the camaraderie that can be made after a night of gaming. So this year, gather your friends around the table, enjoy a spread of delicious and unhealthy treats (corn dogs are a must), and know that the spirit of Droop is smiling down upon your gaming group!