Save the Smithy One-Shot

Throwing together the Gnome Tinkerer one-shot yesterday was a blast so we thought we would share another one with ya. This time the mission centers around the town’s local blacksmith!

We’re pulling out all the maker stops today with Skeleton Key Games, Norse Foundry, EC3D Designs, DungeonInfluence, and even a lil’ Hirst Arts all lending a helping hand to build this quick one-shot DnD encounter.

Once again let’s start with the mission at hand. Several children have started to disappear from town including the local blacksmith’s child. The town crier reads the terrible news in the village square and the party sees a distraught mother being consoled by her husband (the resident smithy).

The players have established a bit of rep and afterward, the dwarven smithy approaches them and offers up a deal: “return my firstborn son dead or alive and I will deliver you a rare lucky coin with a unique power (but more on that later).”

The local mayor has already given the party a lead: a creepy old woman deep in the woods is rumored to be the culprit (and a witch) but no one dared venture into the haunted forest and confront her…until now! Besides, what adventuring party doesn’t want to be in good favor with a skilled blacksmith?

Now let’s review our encounter checklist:

• Mission: missing dwarven child
• Main Character Mini & Face Card
• Scatter Terrain
• Magic Coin Reward

Good news – we’ve got all the right maker tools here to put this mission scene together fairly quickly.

For starters, we picked up the immensely handy Townsfolk Dossier Deck by Skeleton Key Games and pulled out a fab dwarven face card: Krufer Promentory.

Next up, we printed and painted this dwarven miniature from EC3D Designs Everyday Folk Kickstarter. Since the model sculpt was support-free, we ran him off our Prusa Mini FDM printer with ease. Then resident painter, Kimmy Utah, put down a few purdy colors to finish it off. For extra flair, we utilized a couple of Hirst Arts fieldstone blocks to craft a cool, makeshift anvil.

Lastly, we utilized a brilliant magic item idea by the talented Mr. Anthony at DungeonInfluence on Instagram. He posts all sorts of cool game hooks, useful NPCs, DM tips, and unique locations on his channel. It’s a must-follow.

The magic item reward will be a simple coin that our blacksmith forged but also enchanted after a sorceress bartered for his hammer services. Once per session, the player can flip it. Heads grants them advantage on a roll, while tails gives them disadvantage. Anthony comes up with cool ideas like this alllll the time.

And for the game prop, Norse Foundry has these addicting Mystery Coin packs that are made using a metal alloy (so they have some heft) and come 10 random coins in a pack. We just love ’em and they make great stocking stuffers. One of these coins will be perfect to pass out to a player upon successful completion of the mission.

But look how easy that was, guys! Just like that, you have all the fun, engaging pieces you need for another DnD one-shot encounter! Let the mission shenanigans commence!