Quick Start Guide

CritForge is an AI-assisted prep tool for D&D 5e Game Masters — generate stat blocks, adventures, maps, and 16 other types of campaign content in seconds. Everything it produces is SRD 5.2 compliant, so there's no trademarked Wizards of the Coast material to worry about.

The 19 Generators

Click Generate in the top navigation to reach all generators, organized by category.

Characters

• 🧙 NPC Generator — Full stat blocks, personality profiles, backstory, and plot hooks for any NPC
• 💀 Monster Generator — Custom creatures with stat blocks, lore, and encounter tactics
• 👑 Deity Generator — Gods with domains, followers, and mythic backstory
• 🛡️ Legendary Hero — Legendary figures with epic backstories and lasting influence on your world

Stories & Adventures

• 📖 Plot Generator — Complete adventure plots with the Three-Clue Rule, branching outcomes, and read-aloud text
• ⚔️ Encounter Builder — CR-balanced combat with terrain, tactics, loot, and action economy analysis
• 📚 Complete Adventure — Full multi-session adventures with NPCs, encounters, maps, and story arcs
• 🎲 Skill Challenges — Multi-stage skill challenges with DCs, consequences, and improvisation lifelines
• 📋 Scene Roster — Pre-built rosters of NPCs, encounters, and hooks for a specific scene or location

World & Maps

• 🌍 World Generator — Campaign settings with regions, cultures, history, and conflicts
• 🗺️ Map Generator — Battle maps and multi-room dungeons with terrain and tactical features
• 🏛️ Establishment Generator — Taverns, shops, temples with owners, inventory, rumors, and floor plans
• 🏰 Map-Driven Plot — Adventure plots that emerge directly from your generated maps

Loot & Challenges

• 💎 Treasure Generator — Loot tables, magic items, and treasure hoards scaled to party level
• 🪄 Magic Item Generator — Unique magic items with lore, mechanics, and attunement requirements
• ⚠️ Trap Generator — Traps with triggers, effects, DCs, and disarming methods
• 🧩 Puzzle Generator — Puzzles and riddles with solutions, hints, and scaling difficulty
• 📜 Random Table — Custom d100 and d20 tables for any situation your players throw at you

Your First Generation

Every generator follows the same workflow: pick a generator, fill in the form, click Generate, review the output, save to your library. Here are two starting points depending on what you need.

Option A: Generate a Complete Adventure

If you have a session coming up and need a full adventure, start here.

1. Click Generate → Complete Adventure
2. Choose a Starting Point (villain concept, location, theme, McGuffin, or party situation)
3. Pick an Archetype (dungeon crawl, political intrigue, mystery, heist, and more)
4. Set Party Level and Number of Sessions
5. Click Generate — Pass 1 creates a plot spine for you to review
6. Approve and click Materialize — Pass 2 builds out the full adventure with NPCs, encounters, maps, clue networks, and session boundaries

You get a session-ready adventure with read-aloud text, the Three-Clue Rule applied throughout, branching outcomes, and a villain timeline. Each piece (NPCs, encounters, maps) can be refined individually with chat.

Option B: Generate a Single NPC

If you want something quick to see how CritForge works, start with an NPC.

1. Click Generate → NPC Generator
2. Pick a Role (Villain, Ally, Shopkeeper, Quest Giver, and 12 others)
3. Set a Challenge Rating (CR 1-4 for most NPCs, CR 10+ for bosses)
4. Choose a Tone (Heroic, Dark, Comedic, Mysterious, and 6 others)
5. Click Generate NPC or press Cmd+Enter — takes 5-15 seconds

You get a full stat block (ability scores, AC, HP, actions, spells) and a personality card (backstory, motivations, plot hooks, secrets, mannerisms). Everything is ready to use at the table.

Save to Library

Click Save to Library or press Cmd+S / Ctrl+S. Your content appears in Library and on your Dashboard.

Refine with Chat

After saving, a Chat panel appears below the stat block. Use it to iterate on any aspect without regenerating from scratch.

Examples of what you can ask:

• "Make them more cynical and world-weary"
• "Give them a higher Dexterity and add Stealth proficiency"
• "Write a specific plot hook about their missing sibling"
• "Add more detail about what happened during the siege"

The AI makes only the changes you asked for — everything else stays the same. Each turn is visible in the conversation history so you can track what changed.

Save and Organize

Library — All saved content lives here, organized by type. Click any item to view the full output, edit via chat, regenerate a fresh variant, or export.

Campaigns — Create a campaign to group related content together. Link NPCs, plots, encounters, and maps to a campaign so everything for a given adventure is in one place. Access campaigns from the top navigation.

VTT Export — From any content detail page, export to Roll20, Foundry VTT, Fantasy Grounds, Owlbear Rodeo, or JSON. No manual transcription required.

Generation Power

CritForge uses a unified credit system called Generation Power (GP). Each generation costs GP regardless of content type — you're not limited to a fixed number per type.

Your remaining GP is shown in the form header before you generate. See Generation Power for full details on costs per content type and how to make the most of your credits.

Display Modes

CritForge has two display modes you can switch at any time.

Simple Mode (Default)

Uses plain-English labels and shows only essential information. Good for new GMs or quick generation during a session. The NPC form uses labels like "Bad Guy" instead of "Villain" and hides advanced fields.

Expert Mode

Full D&D terminology, all optional fields visible, complete stat block detail. Recommended for experienced GMs doing campaign planning. Switch under Settings → Display Mode, or via the toggle in the navigation bar.

You can also force a mode for any generator via URL: /generate/npc?mode=expert

Keyboard Shortcuts

Next Steps

• NPC Generator — Deep dive on all form fields, output sections, and best practices
• Generation Power — Understand GP costs and how to plan your prep sessions
• Campaigns — Organize content by campaign and share with your players
• VTT Export — Get content into Roll20, Foundry, Fantasy Grounds, and Owlbear