Welcome to the world of Muk, a plucky little goblin and his loyal companion, Birdsquirrel. They live in Gob-Town, deep within Dankwood Forest along with a bunch of their goblin-y friends digging up grubs, making mud houses, and picking edible nuts, roots, and berries for their goblin feasts.
But Dankwood is a magical place populated by monsters and ancient ruins. Muk has had many adventures exploring his home and has met many creatures—some friendly and some very grumpy.
Muk's friend, the eccentric gnome wizard, Doonwaggle who created Birdsquirrel, has all kinds of things for Muk to do within the Dankwood. Doonwaggle is always coming up with new experiments and needs ingredients for them which keeps Muk and his friends busy.
How to Play!
This adventure booklet is designed for an adult dungeon master to introduce kids to role-playing and storytelling in a Dungeons & Dragons adventure.
The story hooks are basic and require no maps. All you need are some dice, pencils, paper, and your imaginations. Each adventure hook has a basic problem to solve followed by some questions that you can ask your players to answer about the story. In this adventure, you are going to co-create the story with your players to get them comfortable with using their imaginations to create the world and tell stories within it. These questions are suggestions to get the imagination expanded, so feel free to add your own questions and expand on them. Often, new players don't know that they can think of anything that their imagination can conjure up, so it can take some prompting from the dungeon master to break down the boundaries of what is possible and get to a space where the magic and wonder of the fantasy world truly comes alive.
The Heroes
This adventure activity book has its own cast of characters for your players to use as their adventurers. Every hero has a backstory that you can tell your player about to give them an idea of what their character is like, or you can have your players invent a completely new backstory on their own.
Muk and Birdsquirrel
Muk and Birdsquirrel are an inseparable team of adventurers. Together they love to explore and make friends within the forest. They love to investigate places that the other goblins are afraid of in hopes of finding magical items for the gnome wizard, Doonwaggle.
Ungo
Ungo was once the fiercest of goblin fighters who was rumored to have defeated many orcs. He has since renounced the ways of violence and now lives in a cave, content to wander the Dankwood, talking to the trees and sitting by streams where he watches the small, silvery fish swim in its waters. He knows the Dankwood better than any goblin around and has much wisdom and kindness in his heart.
Wam and Rikruk
Wam is a tough warrior who has a heart of gold. She is older than Muk and has taught him about surviving in the Dankwood. Several seasons ago, she found a baby goblin abandoned in the woods who she named Rikruk. Wam believes that Rikruk was given to her by the goblin gods to raise into a great goblin chief.
Lord Fishbone
Lord Fishbone was once known as Guk. Guk had always dreamed of the Big City that was rumored to be outside the Dankwood but no goblin had ever dared to go there. One day, Guk disappeared and rumor had it that he had finally gone to find the Big City. Guk came back years later as Lord Fishbone, dressed in human clothes and sporting an elegant moustache. Lord Fishbone is full of stories about all kinds strange and wonderful adventures that they had while in the human city. Lord Fishbone is courageous, full of life, and a dashing and daring adventurer.
Adventure Ideas
Every adventure has a solution that can be attained without resorting to combat, and the questions are designed to give your players some ingredients that may jog ideas as to how problems can be solved. There are many possible paths as to how each story can be told, so unlock the mind and let your imaginations lead the way!
The Great Kroom
There's a rumbling in woods and Ungo knows that it's the return of the Great Kroom, a purple worm that digs enormous tunnels under Dankwood. The problem is that Ungo has forgotten what the goblins did to shoo him away the last time the Great Kroom was here. If the Great Kroom keeps digging, the whole of Gob-Town could fall into one of its tunnels!
- How do you think they got rid of the Great Kroom? Did they confuse him? Was it a magical spell?
- Maybe ask the wizard Doonwaggle to see what he thinks!
- What do purple worms like? What do they hate?
The Hungry Otyugh
Nobody likes the otyugh because he's stinky and makes awful sounds. He may be very grumpy but Muk knows that it's only because he's hungry. The problem is that everything an otyugh eats is really gross and he's coming closer to Gob-Town looking for more food.
- How can Muk help this poor, disagreeable monster?
- What are some of the gross things that otyughs eat and where do you find them?
- Is there a way to make the otyugh less stinky?
Birdsquirrel's Journey
By all accounts, Birdsquirrel was created by the nutty wizard, Doonwaggle. But Birdsquirrel now takes Muk on a quest deep into the woods to find a family of birdsquirrels. The only problem is that they have been captured by a wicked hag who wishes to use these unique and magical creatures in her latest soup!
- What other the other ingredients that are going in the hag's soup?
- Why is the hag making the soup?
- Is she grumpy? Or does she have a soft spot?
- Does she have any pets?
- Is she lonely?
Doonwaggle's Contraption
Doonwaggle needs three things for his latest magical experiment and he would like Muk and his friends to get them for him.
- A pearl from a freshwater clam that live only in the waters within the Crystal Cave and which are guarded by a group of merfolk.
- A golden nut from the sacred Boontu tree which is rumored to be filled with grumpy monkeys.
- A feather from Saleeth, the gentle couatl who dwells in a ruined temple, high up on a hill within the forest.
Once Doonwaggle gets his materials, he says that this contraption will be his finest creation to date!
- What do the merfolk want for their pearl? A song? A gemstone?
- How do you get the nut without disturbing the grumpy monkeys?
- What does Saleeth want for her feather?
- What does Doonwaggle's contraption do once it's built?
The Big Water Slurpent
The Big Water is a place that few goblins go. The elders say that a great wizard's tower once stood on an island in the middle of the Big Water. The wizard created a giant monster to swim around the island to guard all the treasures in the tower. Legend has it that one day, long ago, the wizard cast a forbidden spell and the whole tower sunk into the lake, all of its treasures going with it.
The Big Water is a strange and magical place where few ever go, but Lord Fishbone says that if someone could swim underwater and get into the tower, they could see if there's treasure there.
- How far down under the water is the tower?
- What are some rumors about what the treasure within the tower is?
- How do you get by the Big Water Slurpent? Does it like to eat goblins? Can you shrink it by using magic?
- Is there a magical potion made of forest plants that can allow Muk and his pals to breathe underwater?
Dealing with Dummy Goblins
The Dum-Dum tribe of goblins lives far enough away that they don't cause too much trouble, but just this morning, Wam discovered that some Dum-Dums had snuck into camp and stole Rikruk's favorite toy—a two-headed snake rattle. She knows it was them because Wam is an expert tracker and she discovered their footprints.
The Dum-Dums aren't all bad and maybe there's a good reason why they took the rattle. It's going to be hard to figure out how to get it back without a fight breaking out.
- Why did the Dum-Dums take the rattle?
- Is the rattle magical?
- Where is the rattle hidden?
- How can Muk get the rattle without starting a fight?
The Dwarf King
Just as you get to the Snowy Hills, there's a cave that many goblins are told about when they are wee goblets. This cave is called the Giant's Cave as it is rumored to be the home to a very grumpy hill giant. Hill giants have been known to eat goblins who stray too far from Gob-Town, so only foolish goblins go to Giant's Cave.
But there's another rumor that says long ago a dwarf king went in there to look for a legendary gemstone known as the Eagle's Eye. He never returned from his quest. Goblins have seen dwarves looking for their king, but they have never looked in Giant's Cave, and the goblins are scared of dwarves so no one has told them about their king.
But now Muk has found a dwarf weeping in the Dankwood, she's the king's daughter and she misses her dad. Can Muk and his friends brave the hill giant and maybe find the dwarf king?
- How does Muk get past the grumpy hill giant?
- Did the Eagle's Eye put the dwarf king into a magical slumber?
- Does saving the king make dwarves and goblins friends?
Monsters
The following monsters have been simplified/modified to be used in Muk's Adventures. The following stat blocks are for your reference. Feel free to adjust or add in whatever you'd like to customize it to your story.
Dankwood Goblins
Ahh the Dankwood goblins! I have adventured far and wide in my time and never have I met such unique and interesting goblins as these. Perhaps it is the magical nature of the Dankwood itself as this forest was once rumored to have been the ancient sanctum of a powerful Netherese wizard, but who is to say? This world is a wondrous one and everywhere you go, something new is there to dazzle and amaze!
Dankwood goblins are much like any other run-of-the-mill goblin but they are much more gentle and artistic than the savage and uncouth goblins of the world.
They are inquisitive and have a magical bond with the small forest creatures with which they are often friends. They are fast and nimble and love to explore. Because of this they make great adventurers and guides.
Character Sheets
Create your own Dankwood adventurer, or play as one of the goblin heroes!