Scene structure
Purpose, timing, player choices, checks, consequences and what to cut when time runs short.
A better night for busy Game Masters
Less prep.
More tale to tell.
Give the goblins your table details. We return with a complete 5E one-shot: scenes, clues, characters, encounters and notes you can run tonight.
- 4, 6 or 8 hours
- 2014 or 2024 rules
- Print and table ready
Ready to run · Scene 0345 min
The Bell Beneath Briar Hill
The Lantern Market
- Party
- 4 at level 3
Paper lanterns sway above a hundred stalls. Under the cobbles, a bell rings for the twelfth time.
Essential clue
Silver wire hums near the sealed well. No roll needed.
If they fail
A lantern seller brings the clue, asking for protection.
New to the table?
What is a one-shot?
A whole adventure built for one sitting. No campaign binder, no week of homework, no frantic scribbling behind the screen.
Read the beginner guide- 01
Set the table
Choose how long you have, how many heroes are coming and how experienced they are.
- 02
Get the whole tale
We write the plot, scenes, people, clues, battles and endings as one connected adventure.
- 03
Run it your way
Read the boxed text, follow the GM notes, or change anything before the dice hit the table.
The forge
Tell us who is at the table
Four choices are enough. Leave the fiddly bits to our goblins, or open Custom Forge when you already know the shape of your tale.
01
Table basics
Complete core adventure, one signature creature stat block, SRD references for ordinary creatures, compact NPC profiles. Optional scenes on demand.
Quick Forge chooses the genre, tone, setting and challenge. Good defaults, no homework. Clever little goblins, eh?
A short trip through the forge
From blank page to game night
Set the table, then wander off. The forge keeps working even if you close the page.
- 01 · Choose
Give us the rules, hours, level and number of heroes.
- 02 · Forge
The story and game material are written and saved in the cloud.
- 03 · Review
Open the finished adventure, edit any part, or rewrite one section.
- 04 · Play
Keep it open at the table, print it, or copy the pieces you need.
Inside the finished adventure
Useful at a glance, sturdy under pressure
Every module has a job at the table. No pile of pretty prose to dig through while your players set fire to the inn.
NPC card
Role, motive, secret, voice cue and exactly what they know.
Clue trail
Where each clue sits, what it means and how it still appears after a failed roll.
Encounter brief
Objective, foes, terrain, tactics, scaling and a way out besides bloodshed.
Quick reference
Names, difficulties, initiative notes and the whole night's flow on one page.
Open the table copy
Built for the moment players go off-script
The goblins give you direct answers: what happens now, which clue matters, what to roll and how the story moves forward.
Read aloud
A brass bell rings below the stones. Every lantern turns toward the sealed well.
GM note
The market crowd will not fight. If threatened, they scatter and reveal the silver trail.
Ability check
DC 13 Investigation. Success finds the false cobble. Failure costs ten minutes, then the clockmaker's raven scratches at it.
Lantern Wisp · CR 1/2
AC 13 · HP 11 · Speed 0 ft., fly 30 ft.
Flicker. Teleports 15 ft. to a lit lantern it can see.
First game or fiftieth
Plain help when you need it. Serious tools when you do not.
New GM? Underlined terms explain things like DC and Party level. Old hand? Skip the lesson and shape the premise, pacing, threats and final confrontation yourself.