How Dungeons & Dragons Turned Hansel and Gretel Into a Near-Perfect Adventure

The vast majority of published Dungeons & Dragons campaigns lean heavily into grand, epic fantasy. They typically task adventurers with banishing ancient necromancers, repelling demonic incursions, or halting massive invasions to avert total catastrophe. Yet, such monumental stakes aren’t strictly necessary for a phenomenal tabletop session; a generous dose of whimsical charm can resonate just as deeply as any high-drama clash. That precisely explains why one of my absolute favorite Wizards of the Coast modules is a delightfully eccentric fairy tale directly inspired by Hansel and Gretel.

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“Baker’s Doesn’t” debuted in 2024 within Dragon Delves, a curated compilation of ten dragon-centric escapades tailored for the updated ruleset. While the majority of the anthology embraces conventional heroics—such as unearthing cultists devoted to Orcus or battling white dragons amidst feuding frost giants—this particular scenario takes a wildly different path. Here, your party is tasked with tracking down Briochebane, an unruly young wyrmling who has been snatched away by a cunning hag.

Seamlessly integrated into practically any woodland-adjacent village, the adventure commences with a sudden fire at a local confectionery. Edith Applegarth, the resident candy-maker, immediately points an accusatory finger at her professional rival, the baker Fill Flourforge. However, Fill quickly clears his name, explaining that the true culprit is his delinquent assistant and surrogate ward, Briochebane, who has since vanished into the wilderness.

Following the wyrmling’s sugary trail brings the party to a surreal gingerbread cottage overflowing with delightfully absurd hazards. Forgetting to wipe one’s boots on the fruit-leather doormat, for instance, results in an aggressive attempt to smother the trespassers. Adventurers will also contend with chocotrices—vicious fowl whose sharp bites transform targets into solid chocolate statues—alongside burly bugbears spinning saltwater taffy who love nothing more than entangling intruders in sticky restraints.

The module also provides plentiful opportunities for player characters to undergo sudden, confectionery transformations. While these bizarre morphs carry no heavy mechanical penalties, they offer an incredible roleplaying excuse to cheerfully inform your players that they’ve been pressed flat like a cookie after triggering a heavy rolling-pin trap.

Virtually every element of this scenario exudes charm—from the punny naming conventions and vibrant artwork to the clever negotiation paths. Even the most intimidating guardian, a magical construct wielding a massive lollipop like a brutal greatclub, can be completely neutralized through strategic bribery using sweets collected elsewhere. This setup rewards outside-the-box thinking, enabling players to orchestrate plans like distracting chocotrices to pilfer their eggs or having a druid charm local dryads into handing over coveted candied apples. The ultimate antagonist, a wicked hag named Uncle Nibblecheek, currently holds Briochebane under a powerful charm. Fortunately, resourceful parties can bypass a fiery breath weapon encounter by offering the young dragon some of Fill’s signature cinnamon rolls instead.

How to run Baker’s Doesn’t

I cannot recommend this adventure highly enough. Tailored specifically for third-level groups and easily completable within a few hours, it serves as an ideal choice for a quick meetup or a casual introductory session. It heavily encourages creative problem-solving over brute-force combat tactics. Granted, it features a rather dark twist: Edith is secretly allied with Uncle Nibblecheek, having traded away her own brother, Asger, as a prisoner in exchange for an endless supply of exotic sweets for her shop. However, implementing a few minor tweaks makes the experience infinitely more rewarding.

As written, Briochebane is a gold dragon and Fill is a reformed brigand who originally stole the egg she hatched from. The module notes that Fill hides her away out of fear that the villagers might try to execute her. Taking inspiration from the cozy fantasy novel Legends & Lattes, I instead reimagined Fill as a retired adventurer and dragon-slayer earnestly attempting to raise a young red dragon along a righteous path.

Furthermore, the book bizarrely suggests that if characters confront Edith about trading her brother for confections, she will simply see the error of her ways and care for him moving forward. Frankly, trusting her after that feels entirely unjustified. I chose to recast her as an unrepentant, classic fairy-tale villain who ultimately faces arrest or banishment, leaving Fill to officially adopt Asger into his eclectic found family.

Another minor critique lies with the gingerbread minions tasked with guarding Asger. While the concept is fantastic, the provided statistics essentially amount to bloated pools of hit points devoid of engaging or threatening mechanics, which turns the encounter into a tedious grind. Feel free to substitute a trickier humanoid creature to undergo the cookie transformation, or “candify” your favorite low-level monster instead. Stock up on some real-world sweets to hand out as encounter rewards, and get ready to treat your table to a memorably delicious adventure.

Source: Polygon