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Nerdarchy > Dungeons & Dragons  > Enjoy 5E D&D and Help Kids with Muk’s Guide to Everything He Learned from Tasha

Enjoy 5E D&D and Help Kids with Muk’s Guide to Everything He Learned from Tasha

Subpar Character Optimization is a Foolish Perspective for 5E D&D
Magical Phenomena Materialize from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything

Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything released not too long ago and it’s causing a splash for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons players. The eponymous wizard granting her name to the latest official 5E D&D book also made an impression in the Dankwood home of the adorable goblin who returns to Dungeon Masters Guild in a wonderful new book Muk’s Guide to Everything He Learned From Tasha. So let’s get into it.

D&D community DMs Guild Extra Life
Rediscover the joy of 5E D&D while helping Extra Life

When I spotted Muk’s Guide to Everything He Learned From Tasha over at Dungeon Masters Guild I was instantly thrilled. Adventure with Muk captured my heart through a combination of educational activities interwoven with 5E D&D fun and flavor last year so of course I added this new title to my collection without delay.

Muk’s Guide to Everything He Learned From Tasha is an adventure activity book created and illustrated by Emi Tanji with adventure and design from Adam Lee and Chris Lindsay with special thanks to Bart Carroll and Brandy Camel.

Like other DM’s Guild products from the Wizards of the Coast team all monies generated from sales of this digital product are donated to Extra Life, a charity uniting gamers around the world to play games in support of their local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital. Since its inception in 2008, Extra Life has raised more than tens of millions for sick and injured kids. You can learn more about D&D and Extra life on the WotC website where you’ll find information about how to join the team and help raise money for kids, how to donate directly and more here.

Like the previous title Muk’s Guide to Everything He Learned From Tasha presents 5E D&D concepts distilled into easy to grasp activities for players of all levels. Muk and his best friend Birdsquirrel explore the Dankwood where they make their home. This time around the inseparable duo team up with Tasha herself and sport nifty hats with conical crowns and wide brims just like their special visitor.

A big portion of the book presents lots of activities crafted and illustrated by the D&D team’s Tanji, many of which draw inspiration from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything and the most recent campaign adventure Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden. For starters you can flex your artistic muscles and draw a witch’s hat for Muk, Birdsquirrel, Tasha, Mordenkainen and a yeti tyke so everyone is adorned with the proper headwear. Muk also raids Tasha’s closet where he finds a robe of eyes to help protect him from sneaky grung who dwell in Dankwood and encourages you to illustrate your own magical spellcaster with cool magical items. You might take some inspiration from a few of the fantastic individuals Tasha shares like a kobold artificer, tabaxi Swarmkeeper or firbolg Circle of Spores druid. I dig the tabaxi illustration so much I might have to play this character in a 5E D&D campaign myself!

Other activities include guessing what’s in Tasha’s cauldron, creating your own spells with all three components like the unusual objects found in Dankwood, mazes, puzzles and more. And just like Adventure with Muk you’ll notice a lot of nods to ideas and concepts straight from 5E D&D. In particular this quality of the activities holds value for experienced players too because of the straightforward presentation. For example getting a grasp on sidekicks — a new component of the game introduced in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything — makes a lot of sense and incorporates activities to create your own special sidekick including illustration and a thank you note for your new buddy. I feel like more than a few seasoned players might not only get a kick out of this but also discover usefulness in their own 5E D&D games.

My favorite activity starts with helping Muk choose words to describe his adventure with Tasha. I’ve been a word nerd pretty much my entire life so I really appreciate the entry level nature of this activity with guidance for what these various word types are in the first place. But the activity gets magical when those same choices help you develop your own special new magical spell! Incidentally this is another great section of Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything and an activity further in Muk’s book directs you to make your own miniature spellbook. The activity even encourages you to consider what your spells look and smell like. This is exactly the kind of stuff valuable for any D&D player. Super cool!

The final portion of Muk’s Guide to Everything He Learned From Tasha presents several adventure ideas and they are wonderful. Like its predecessor the ideas in this book are simple, straightforward and about as complicated as anything I’d prepare for a game myself. In fact the Questions to Ask section included with each adventure idea is a terrific thing to consider for your own game prep. A few fun ideas and engaged players goes a long, long, long way towards an awesome 5E D&D experience.

I cannot recommend Muk’s Guide to Everything He Learned From Tasha enough. For a few bucks you get a 44 page PDF with great illustrations and fun activities. And you might even pick up a few great ideas for your 5E D&D games too. At the very least Muk’s infectiously cheerful approach to adventure reminds you how whimsical and amusing D&D can be. Best of all you’ll be helping kids! If this isn’t an epic reward I don’t know what is.

You can find other titles whose proceeds support Extra Life in the list below and Muk’s Guide to Everything He Learned From Tasha at DM’s Guild here.

  • Adventure with Muk. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think the kids portion of this PDF is fun for me too. Creator Emi Tanji illustrates the book wonderfully. I am a sucker for this kind whimsical style. Not just the art but the tone of the book, imagining a band of silly goblins living in a dark forest sounds fun. It does a great job of capturing D&D tropes like crazy wizards and mashed up animal monsters. But the real genius — DM training! There’s writing exercises, puzzles and activities that build and develop skills to serve kids well at the game table. And also life in general, right? Critical and creative thinking isn’t just for D&D! The back of the PDF includes a kid friendly D&D scenario with goblin characters to play and adventure hooks. Full disclosure: these adventure hooks are as complex as what I often run with. Check this out here.
  • Infernal Machine Rebuild. This adventure for characters 5th-10th level explores the lost Temple of Moloch and the construction site of the legendary Tomb of Horrors for parts to assemble the Infernal Machine of Lum the Mad. Check it out here.
  • Infernal Font. DMs Guild creators will love this, plus anyone who likes making player handouts. The official D&D infernal font maybe not as universally useful as some other stuff but if you’re a design nerd and want to make some hellishly stylish stuff and raise money for kids at the same time, you hit the jackpot. Check it out here.
  • Locathah Rising. An adventure for 9th level characters. Specifically, locathah characters. You’ll notice there’s several anthropomorphic animal adventures as this list continues. This most recent one is a story about what happens when a normally peaceful species is pushed to the point of open conflict. Check it out here.
  • The Lost Kenku. Find the lost kenku inside the odd community of Weirding in these fully illustrated adventure notes by Shawn Wood. While this adventure is currently optimized for level 4 characters, it is possible for the Dungeon Master to adjust to a party of nearly any level. Check it out here.
  • Lost Laboratory of Kwalish. Characters 5th-10th level explore an alternate expedition into the Barrier Peaks, and this PDF includes new monsters, magic items and spells plus sci-fi trinkets, random encounters and rumors of the area submitted by the D&D community. Check it out here.
  • One Grung Above. Details characters from the Stream of Annihilation event and traits for playing grung characters (unofficial). If you have never run a grung game, I sincerely encourage you to go for it. My friends and I have tremendous fun! It’s one of the games we talk about the most. Protip: pass out bottle caps like Snapple caps to players for audio aids during the game. Those pops are what we imagine the Grung language sounds like, anyway. Check it out here.
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Doug Vehovec

Nerditor-in-Chief Doug Vehovec is a proud native of Cleveland, Ohio, with D&D in his blood since the early 80s. Fast forward to today and he’s still rolling those polyhedral dice. When he’s not DMing, worldbuilding or working on endeavors for Nerdarchy he enjoys cryptozoology trips and eating awesome food.

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