Make an item from a brief
Work from inspiration and campaign context, including batches when several related items are needed.
Prepare
Item Forge
Prepare useful items and keep track of awards.
Item Forge helps a GM make, review, and organise equipment and treasure. Give an item enough history and practical detail to use in the game, then keep its campaign context and award record with it.
What it helps you do
Review the game details
Check mechanics, balance, value, weight, limitations, and presentation before accepting a draft.
Maintain a library
Import and review saved items, compare proposed repairs, and retain a way to restore earlier material.
Award a specific copy
Send a saved item to a linked character with an award receipt and a snapshot of that particular copy.
Record loot settlement
Keep a loot ledger for guild settlement, party shares, buybacks, and accepted trades.
Getting ready
Select the game context before creating or awarding material. Check the campaign identity and linked character roster, rather than relying on a typed GM name. For an item design, decide its purpose, who might use it, its limitations, and what DragonQuest details will matter during play.
Separate the reusable library design from physical copies awarded to characters. A template can be revised later; a saved award retains the particular write-up, weight, value, and recipient used at delivery. If you are settling an adventure, also gather the agreed item values, proceeds, participants, and opening purse balances.
How to use Item Forge
Work through Make Item
Use setup to establish the design brief, then choose inspiration from suitable existing items or library knowledge. Generate a manageable batch, family, or supported transformation and compare the alternatives. Combine Two Items uses two selected anchors; do not treat every creation mode as an unrestricted bulk request.
Review and revise the actual design
Check the item’s purpose, activation, primary mechanic, limitations, DragonQuest validity, originality, weight, value, and price workings. Compare the original and edited versions. Apply a revision when it improves the design, or Restore the earlier material when it does not. Save a reviewed record rather than accepting the first polished description.
Example item artwork from the project folder. Pair the picture with a reviewed write-up describing its effect, activation, limitations, and value. Bring an existing collection into the library
Use supported uploads, JSON imports, or Google Document references. Follow file and page progress, inspect extracted items and source metadata, and review staged records before persistence. Resolve duplicate or ambiguous material. Text-only source entries may have no illustration, and scanned or complex layouts can need manual correction.
Award a saved item to a linked character
Select the exact library item and intended character, then enter quantity, session or encounter, and an optional note. Check the recipient before saving. Each physical copy receives a stable identity and award snapshot. If sharing to Characters fails, keep the saved award and use Retry Sharing rather than issuing another award.
Prepare an adventure settlement
Verify the roster and participants, list physical copies with agreed SP values, and enter opening purses and other proceeds. Starting selection records the Guild purchasing the listed loot. The ledger calculates the ten percent Guild tax, whole-SP party shares, and any remainder kept in the party pool. Opening purses and buybacks are not new taxable income.
Record selections and accepted trades
Have players roll physical dice, enter the results, and resolve ties as GM. Record purchases in the selection order until the chosen stopping rule is reached. Later loans, gifts, sales, and swaps use recipient acceptance, with pending copies reserved. Distinguish ownership from custody: a borrower can hold an item while someone else remains its owner.
A game example
A distinctive treasure item with a clear award trail
For example, design a travelling lantern with a narrow useful effect, a stated activation, and a limitation the GM can remember. Review its mechanics and value, then save it to the campaign library. Award one copy to the intended character and check the delivery receipt. If another copy enters the adventure’s loot ledger, settle that copy through the Guild and selection workflow. The two copies share a design but have separate award and ownership histories.
What you keep
Reviewed library designs
Saved item write-ups with mechanics, limitations, values, source context, and controlled revisions.
Specific-copy awards
A stable award identity, recipient, item snapshot, allocation record, and delivery status that can be retried safely.
Settlement and trade receipts
The party’s proceeds, tax, shares, original selections, and accepted ownership or custody changes inside the ledger.
How it fits with the other apps
Common questions
Does an award receipt prove a character still owns the item?
It proves delivery of that award. The item may later be consumed, lost, deleted, or moved. Retrying a delivered award should not create a second copy merely because its inventory entry has since been removed.
Do ledger purchases and trades automatically update Characters?
The settlement ledger and Character App inventory or wallet are separate records. The summary does not establish automatic synchronisation of every trade and purse change. Check the relevant inventory and currency records before assuming the ledger has updated them.
Usage guide based on the 7 October 2026 project summary, reviewed 8 October 2026. Examples illustrate possible games. Some connected features require sign-in, GM permissions, or a configured local table.