Making food instead of buying food.

[TrefoloGM]

Has anybody, playing any type of tabletop game had an experience with a player who wanted to make some food. Whether it be cooking a stew/roast, or going on to making cured/smoked food? I feel like it could be fun, if anything inspirational for real life cooking.

If you have had an experience like this how did you go about it? were you specific in technique? Did you just make them roll some ability checks? have you implemented a cooking skill (survival could work when cooking in the wilds)?

 

[Sunseeker]

IRL I love cooking. I'm more than happy to engage my players when they want to do it. And I've done it in the past.

Typically I will simply let them do it. No rolls, if they have the ingredients and the necessary equipment and time, then IMO: they accomplish it. It they would like to roll, I'm happy to let them do so, I will use the roll to adjudicate how the food tastes to others. Otherwise the player is free to tell them how it should taste and the other players are free to tell the chef what they thought of it.

Mostly I think it is great room for role-play, which I try to make as roll-free as possible.

I've imposed checks when the player is attempting to make something complex, obscure, or completely original. Rarely are they hard checks because mostly I've never had anyone use it to cook at a time that was dramatically important (like for a King or something).

 

[schnee]

Xanather's has suggestions for using cooking implements with a variety of skills to make them more relevant in the game.

Also, in my game, if the characters invest in the right skills and tools, and build up a bit of RP around it, I just hand-wave away food costs, and the bookkeeping with it. After a while it's just assumed, until a situation demands otherwise.

The stuff you're saying sounds like it could just be treated like crafting; if they had a proficiency that's appropriate, they can do it, and they basically create 5gp a day, for half the cost. Maybe even for less cost if they have Survival, Outlander background, stuff like that and devote time to the foraging.

 

[Jhaelen]

I've only seen this in DSA/TDE (Das Schwarze Auge / The Dark Eye) which has a Cooking skill. In this RPG it's actually rather useful since it's also used to prepare ingredients for potions and poultices.

 

[Gilladian]

I sort of presume evryone knows the basics and can dress an animal, cook it, and render it tasty enough. Or can make porridge. In the rare instance where quality has mattered, I have let them roll With an INT bonus, modified by any other skill they feel is applicable under the circumstances; suvival, alchemy, brewing, etc...

 

[Eltab]

I created a 4e Skill Challenge to cook a meal properly. But there was a plot point involved: one of the PCs would have ingested a poison, which had to be drawn out of his system. The foods and ingredients had to be prepared just so to absorb and chemically interact with the toxin.
(Since I'm not a cook, I hand-waved exactly what was needed ... but the appetizer was oysters, which are reputedly an aphrodisiac and also notoriously hard to make look like appetizing food.)