By Anvil N Ink Publishing · 8 min read
Anvil N Ink published this title, so the breakdown below is upfront about both its strengths and its weaknesses.
The Goblin’s Guide to Holiday Courtship is a Christmas DnD date night for two players, with no Game Master and no prep. One partner plays a lamplighter armed with a goblin’s terrible holiday romance manual; the other plays the toymaker she is trying to win. It runs in about two hours with level 3 characters, and suits couples, from first-timers to seasoned players.
It is the Christmas sequel to The Goblin’s Guide to Courtship, our Valentine’s date-night game. That book showed there is real appetite for a game two people can play together at the kitchen table without anyone running it. This one keeps the same goblin, brings a new couple and a snowed-in holiday town, and tightens the rules so the dice matter more. If you are new to playing as a couple, our complete guide to DnD date nights covers the basics.
How the story unfolds
The mountain town of Brindlecrest is snowed in two days before Longnight, its midwinter festival of lamps. Ember Vell, a traveling tiefling lamplighter, lit every lamp in town three days early and is now stuck until the Hollowpine Pass opens on Longnight morning. Earlier that day, at a pedlar’s sled, she paid one silver for a slim green manual called The Goblin’s Guide to Holiday Courtship. Tobin Coppergill, a dwarf toymaker, has kept his late grandmother’s toyshop dark for a year and plans to skip his family’s Longnight supper.
Act One, The Market. Ember backs into Tobin’s last display stall and sends forty clockwork snow-hares across the square. Over mulled wine she consults the Guide, which advises standing between your beloved and the fire. The act ends with her trying to ask him to the skating tomorrow, and Tobin agreeing only with a face-saving excuse.
Act Two, Following the Book. On the frozen millpond the goblin says to fall over on purpose. At the town carol it says to sing his name to any tune, and the tune Ember picks turns out to be the one his grandmother’s music box played. At the inn a fruitcake nobody ordered turns out to be a mimic that clamps onto both their hands and will not let go until they eat it together, exactly.
Act Three, The Crack. Tobin’s sister drags them both to the Coppergill family supper, where Ember can try to out-carve the ninety-one-year-old grandfather. At the pudding a Ledger Imp climbs out of the family gift ledger and reads charges against them, ending with the one Tobin did not know: Ember has already paid a carter for a seat over the pass at first light. A quiet scene in the dark toyshop follows, then the Guide’s last chapter tempts Ember to stage a fake crisis and rescue him from it.
Act Four, The Grand Gesture. At dawn the pass opens. Ember can throw the Guide into the stove; the two of you open the Secret Gifts you wrote at the start of the night; and each of you secretly writes one sentence before a single roll. There are three endings. In In Love, Ember stays and the music box plays again. In Dear Friends, she leaves on the sled with a promise to return next Longnight, and the shop opens anyway. In Beautiful Disaster, she leaves a lamp burning on his bench and finds the goblin’s book, a little singed, back in her satchel.
What makes this Christmas DnD date night different
Two players, two different games
One of you is the Holder, who plays Ember, carries the Guide and rolls the dice. The other is the Heart, who plays Tobin, reads every scene aloud and never rolls a d20. The Heart spends Trust to tease a disaster into a win or to open up and plant a thread: a real detail about Tobin’s past that the Holder can call back later for an easier roll. It is a genuine two-sided game, and swapping seats on a second night plays very differently.
An honest Affection Track
A coin on a 0 to 10 track answers “is this working?” without either player deciding by feel. The Holder makes two plays a scene: follow the goblin’s advice for a fast, risky swing, or speak from the heart for a slower, safer one. Each act has a cap, so a lucky streak cannot rush the ending. The Grand Gesture needs the track at 10 and then one last roll.
Holiday rules and twenty new dares
Each player secretly writes a gift for the other character at the start, and a gift that touches something planted during the night moves the track when it is opened. Once an act, either player can hang the Mistletoe to double the stakes of the next play. The goblin’s twenty new Interrupts each come with an action to perform at your real table, such as wrapping a spoon and insisting it be opened, and the rules reward doing them.
What’s included
- 83 pages, four acts, 13 scenes and three endings
- Full rules, so no earlier book is needed, plus a one-page Quick Reference
- The goblin’s manual: holiday chapters and a 20-entry Interrupt Table with table dares
- Two ready-made characters, with a full level 3 sheet for Ember and a reference card for Tobin
- Two cooperative creatures with stat blocks: the Fruitcake Mimic and the Ledger Imp
- A photocopyable Play Aid with the Affection Track, Courage and Trust, threads, Mood faces and secret scraps
- A town guide to Brindlecrest, a What If? page (play as friends, over video, in 90 minutes) and the goblin’s holiday poems
- A closing page on Ink Hammer, our in-house map maker, for anyone who wants to draw Brindlecrest themselves
There are no battle maps in this book and no map pack, because nothing in it is fought on a grid.
Who is this for?
Couples first: partners who want a cozy, funny night in over the holidays. Neither player needs to know any fifth edition rules, and the book explains every roll the first time it comes up. It also works for close friends or siblings with a few tweaks the book lists. Experienced players get a light, story-first evening with real choices; anyone wanting tactical combat should look elsewhere.
How long does it take to run?
About two hours, by the book’s own estimate, plus short breaks between the four acts; the book suggests a longer break after Act Three. For a 90-minute evening, the book suggests cutting three scenes (the first goblin reading, the millpond and the supper’s opening courses) while keeping the toyshop scene, which carries the emotional weight.
Strengths and weaknesses
Strengths. The Heart role gives the non-rolling partner real power instead of making them an audience. The fruitcake and ledger imp set-pieces are short, silly and cooperative. The rules now cap each scene at two plays, so the endings feel earned, and the goblin’s voice carries the comedy without either player having to be funny on cue.
Weaknesses. It is a narrative game first: anyone expecting dungeon crawling or combat will be disappointed. The Heart reads a lot aloud, which some players find tiring; the book suggests trading reading duties. Act Three goes somewhere tender, with a grandparent’s death and a family supper, which may land hard during a real holiday. The book offers a swap, but couples should know before they start. And because the characters are set, some players may want their own; the book supports that, but it takes five minutes of setup.
How it compares
| Title | Players | Level | Tone |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Goblin’s Guide to Courtship | 2, no GM | Level 3 characters | Valentine’s romantic comedy |
| Yule Be Sorry | 2-3 plus a GM | 2-3 | Holiday heist, clockwork fantasy |
| Krampus: A Yuletide Quartet | 2-3 plus a GM | 2-3 | Christmas horror, four one-shots |
Holiday Courtship is the only one of these with no Game Master, which makes it the pick when there are only two of you.
A taste of the writing
Brindlecrest is buried to the windowsills, and every lamp on the market square is already lit, three days early, glowing gold against the snow. The stalls are doing a slow trade in roast chestnuts and wool socks. One stall, outside a toyshop with its shutters closed, holds forty clockwork snow-hares in neat brass rows. A lamplighter walking backwards, nose in a small green book, backs straight into it. The hares go everywhere. They are, unfortunately, wound up.
Where to buy
The Goblin’s Guide to Holiday Courtship is available as a paperback on Amazon ($12.99), as a Kindle ebook ($4.99), and as a PDF and EPUB on Payhip ($4.99), which includes the interior art as a bonus. For more holiday games, see our Christmas DnD one-shots roundup.
Key takeaways
- A Christmas DnD date night for two players, with no Game Master and zero prep
- About two hours, level 3 characters, fully standalone
- One player carries a goblin’s terrible advice; the other decides when the walls come down
- A fruitcake mimic and a ledger imp are beaten by teamwork, not damage
- Three endings, decided by the dice and a sentence each of you writes in secret
- Best for couples who want story and laughs over combat
Frequently asked questions
Do we need to have played The Goblin’s Guide to Courtship first?
No. Every rule is reprinted, and Ember and Tobin are new characters. Players of the first book will notice tighter rules and the same goblin.
Do we need to know DnD rules?
No. The book explains every roll, and the only number Ember needs is her +3 Charisma. You need dice, two pencils and some scraps of paper.
Can friends play it instead of a couple?
Yes. The What If? page turns the romance into a friendship story and swaps the mistletoe for a sprig of holly.
Is it suitable for kids?
It is written for players aged 13 and up. It is light, with no explicit content, but it includes a grandparent’s death and some romantic teasing.
About Anvil N Ink Publishing
Anvil N Ink Publishing makes ready-to-run adventures for small groups in the Dungeons and Dragons fifth edition tradition, along with solo games and date-night games for two. For a two-player game with a Game Master instead, see our guide to DnD for 2 players.
Light the lamps, share the fruitcake and make this year’s Christmas DnD date night the one you both remember.
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