Sit for a Spell at the Gobble Inn with Muk for 5E D&D

Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted devise a business plan for the Gobble Inn as a memorable location for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. In the video they come up with several fun concepts and ways to incorporate this location into a 5E D&D game. I couldn’t help but think of the adorable goblin Muk who’s two Dungeon Masters Guild titles introduce and present a bunch of awesome activities, adventure hooks and light hearted fun in and around his home in Dankwood (while also generating money for Extra Life, a charity uniting gamers around the world to play games in support of their local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital). So let’s get into it.

Dankwood’s No. 1 Goblin Restaurant and Quest Hub

Deep within Dankwood Forest lies Gob-Town where a plucky goblin named Muk lives, digging up grubs, making mud houses and picking edible nuts, roots and berries for their goblin feasts. But monsters and ancient ruins also populate the magical Dankwood like any great 5E D&D setting and presents plenty of opportunities to explore and interact with lots of creatures. An establishment with a silly pun name like Gobble Inn fits perfectly in Gob-Town.

My first thought of how to incorporate this Gobble Inn with material from Adventure with Muk and Muk’s Guide to Everything He Learned from Tasha is presenting the activities in those books in the form of handouts in the establishment. Lots of restaurants bring these sorts of things to the table for children in our own world. Why not the goblin proprietor of a themed restaurant in a fantasy setting? Any one of them could generate adventure hooks and these would be especially engaging if the players develop their own goals and motivations. Here’s some ideas to get started based on the activities in Muk’s two titles.

• Draw Your Magical Creature Combo. They’ve heard of owlbears but what the heck are spiderfrogs and rhinosharks? Dankwood is home to many unusual creatures and curious adventures may wish to find some out there in the magical forest.
• What Does Your Shield Look Like? Different shapes and sizes with a blank canvas to create upon sounds like a terrific way for an adventuring party to devise their own cool name and logo together.
• Treasure Map. There’s treasure out there but lots of danger too. Ambitious adventurers can plot their next move and learn about some landmarks in the region from folks at the Gobble Inn. There’s a blank map too so players can do their own cartography and they explore Dankwood.
• What Swims Under Muk’s Boat? Who knows what lurks in Big Water? Clever Dungeon Masters can take what players come up with and weave those things into their adventures. Careful about imagining krakens in those deeps, players!
• Which Vine Should Muk Climb? One leads to safety but watch out — the others lead to a froghemoth or a meenlock.
• Muk Found a Bag of Tricks. Generate various animals and their personalities as denizens of Dankwood, helpful encounters for characters or maybe revisit those magical creature combos. A lovestruck doggoat could really make an impression on adventurers.
• Word Find. Take the first two or three found words for the basis of a Dankwood adventure.
• Charisma Check. Sure adventurers can fight their way past the bugbear guards but a group activity to navigate a confrontation as a social interaction sounds neat.
• Find Birdsquirrel Before the Skeletons Do. A maze is a classic staple of adventure and a beloved friend stuck inside while undead skeletons clack and clatter ever closer makes for some drama.
• Is This the Treasure? A secret code to decipher is right up a 5E D&D character’s alley.
• Muk and Friends. There’s straight up adventure hooks with awesome guidance to keep characters busy exploring Dankwood for a while plus there’s also pregenerated characters for those so inclined.
• Fantastic Creatures. Dankwood isn’t just for the goblin folk — there’s some very interesting individuals out there too.
• Raiding Tasha’s Closet. Players describing their characters is pretty bog standard stuff for a new campaign.
• What’s In Tasha’s Cauldron? Turns out the party’s answers to this ad lib magical recipe create a new quest — gathering the right ingredients. A selection of the sorts of unusual items found in Dankwood helps players to fill in the blanks. The final ingredient is protected by Grumpy Grungs and a maze.
• Can You Spot the Difference? Find all ten or just use all the details to help bring a very special Dankwood encounter to vibrant life.
• Rough River. I’ll bet a DM could run an entire session using just this page with a simple grid puzzle as adventurers careen through bumpy waters.
• Winnieberry Tree. I know for a fact even an impromptu tree climbing scenario can create a very memorable experience. This one’s got vargouilles attempting to stymie adventurers from reaching the top to get a magical fruit.
• Sidekicks. Developing new sidekicks makes for a fun time at the Gobble Inn table and perhaps these new imaginary friends become reality and accompany adventurers in their Dankwood excursions.
• A Spell No One’s Heard Of. Another ad lib for players to fill in together and at the end of it they’ve discovered a brand new spell!

I couldn’t help but become enchanted by Muk and all his adventures in Dankwood. When Dave and Ted came up with the ideas for the Gobble Inn my mind immediately went to the two wonderful DM’s Guild books featuring the lovable goblin. Both titles present 5E D&D concepts in a child friendly way and if I’m honest the games I run aren’t very adult themed anyway so I love this sort of stuff. But more than this the material surrounding Muk brings a lot of basics to light and speaks to the parts of the game I enjoy the most — those fantastical scenarios meant to whisk players imaginations away. I very highly recommend checking out both Adventure with Muk and Muk’s Guide to Everything He Learned from Tasha. You’ll find some really cool and fun things for your 5E D&D games plus all monies generated from sales of these digital products 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.

*Featured image — In Adventure with Muk and Muk’s Guide to Everything He Learned from Tasha a goblin and his friend Birdsquirrel explore Dankwood through fun activities and adventure ideas lovingly crafted and illustrated by D&D’s Emi Tanji