What do you eat/drink?

[justanobody]

Now that raises and interesting in-game thing. This eating/drinking contest of the urchin, did it lead to any local patrons actually befriending the hobgoblin so that the party could have beneficial gains from this parlor game? Maybe a contact impressed that woudl divulge information to them after a few more drinks or anything like that?

I have always ocnsidered such as quite possible to create an atmosphere in the game which, not to derail my own thread, seems lacking in 4th with its skill challenges and skill checks, as well older editions where this roleplaying of eating and drinking can lead to the same information and outcome but offer a more enjoyable look at the world the characters are a part of.

All editions assume you eat through survival/tracking and similar skills/activites, but through the use of actual detail in them I think food itself brings a very high potential for bringing players into the world and getting their own creative juices, as well as other juices depending on the description of the food, flowing as it were.

The flavors of Al Qadim mentioned above, as well as Athas, seems to draw you into the world more to fel you are a part of it and help to set the mood of not only the local tavern or your own campsite for the night, but the world and connect the playes to their characters mentaly by being able to take a small part of the surroundings of the characters in for themselves. While you cannot kill orcs, you can have venison.

Most often the people of a world are described somewhat and a little of the culture, but I miss games that delve deeper into the cultures such as regional foods and drinks.

I like the buff beers, and seems an interesting side-effect of fermentation process combined with blessing of the drinkns, that would make me push the DM for more information on it to actual show the DM appreciation for their efforts of their creations, and think that is something many people need to look more into bringing into their games these days that may have been lost.

The one drink I did serve to players was home made blackberry wine for them to try when they went into a halfling village that was famous for it. Some enjoyed it and others despised it, which is the norm with spirits as they don't agree with everoyne, but the players could actually get a sense of what their characters and the rest of the world saw in this drink, and used that in character for personal tastes, and to create a side-trek about this wine and a story was created from it where they PCs were hired to defend the vintnor from raids to steal the process and recipe. The only problem the PCs had with this food related missions was the bonus reward for their services of trying to transport a drum of wine away in their cart and only a single horse to pull it.

 

[Desdichado]

Well, most foods are of a consistency that I can either eat them or drink them, rather than eat/drink them. But I guess a good thick milkshake sometimes fits the bill.

In answer to your question; no, not really. I mean, occasionally I'll throw in a little flavor, but since my main setting is consciously modelled after Barsoom, at least in the sense of having a lot of alien lifeforms, I couldn't really make up recipes for it even if I wanted to, so I stick to a handful of flavorful adjectives to give a sense of what they're eating when they step into an inn or something.

 

[justanobody]

By milkshake, are you meaning to use that as a polite term to say your PCs usually just eat gruel? Or as it were they eat a blended hobo-stew?

 

[disarray2]

We killed some bats so we cooked up the bat wings. Mainly it was a funny because bat wings is a food from WoW.

 

[Mark Hope]

In my Dark Sun games, this kind of thing gets a lot of attention. My "DS PHB" has several pages dedicated to the different kinds of food and drink available on Athas. There's actually a huge amount of info on this in the various DS supplements so a DM can really go to town.

In my homebrew I give it passing mention, but day-to-day survival is less of a factor in that campaign than it is in DS, so it is more in the background. Mind you, the PCs in the homebrew hail from a barbarian tribe, so they do a fair bit of hunting and foraging, so it's still more central than in most other games I have run.

I agree that - so long as the players buy into it - culinary information is a great way to give added texture to a setting. Whenever the PCs head to a new tavern or inn that might feature for more than a few minutes, I try to have a menu printed out and ready for them. Makes for some cool roleplaying scenes. ("Oh boy, red cactus grubs again!", "I didn't order a starter, so I'm not chipping in for the Asticles wine!")

 

[Stormborn]

We have done lots of food and drink related fluff elements of our games.

Just some that I can remember:

-Planescape: Some rather bizzare items showed up on menues in Sigil.
-Eberron: Sharn goblins cooked curries and other Indian style dishes, and we had a fancy menu at a high class gnome eatery.
- A homebrew minicampaign had the PCs going to recover a lost beer formula/keg from a burned down inn. Turned out it was wanted by a group of necromancers because it used zombies as part of the filtration process. It granted +1 to CL on necromancy spells for 8 hours after drinking.
-Period Steampunk and CoC games always wind up having menues from era appropriate resturaunts.
- Recently in the underdark the PCs had an interview with a rakshasa who was something of a glutton. They were pretty sure some of the dishes had once been sentient beings.

 

[Prisoner6]

In my game all Elves a lactose intolerant - so their food contains no dairy. They eat with their fingers, or use a special kind of thin sponge-like bread to pick up their food with.

Gnomes, on the other hand, have special utensils for each and every food. It's not unusual to come across treasure troves that include things like a "gilded grape peeler" or "silver pomegranate seed extractor". And of course anyone who used a beef fork to eat chicken would seriously offend a gnome.

There's a huge amount of distrust in my gameworld, as political assassination is practically a way of life in some parts. Consequently everyone eats from the same plate. Typically the meal is served on a huge round dish in the center of the table, which everyone eats off of. That way no one is going to poison anyone's food. It's a huge sign of mutual trust to share a plate with someone.

Finally, a certain religious sect believes that mixing ingredients is "not how the gods intended us to eat." If you are going to eat an apple, you eat an apple, but eating apple pie is strictly forbidden. The same for sandwiches, etc. Seasoning, except for those necessary to cure meats to preserve them, is frowned upon as well.

 

[justanobody]

@Stormborn: I want to hear more about filtering things through zombies.

@Prisoner6: All of this is golden and things missing of recent D&D official products and many games that rely on them!

I am glad to know that simple color form food is not lost completely these days.

Maybe we could get together and see if ENW Publishing would like a bunch of culinary delights submitted for a forum based book for any RPG. Something made by the forums goers that players can enjoy and bring their own ideas about gaming to the forums?

I must ask though Prisoner6 what happens when that sect suspects assassination attempts? Do they have plates for different things that they must share and must everyone eat from each plate? What happens to the person that doesn't eat something from each plate?

 

[Jack99]

In your D&D games is there any food made that the PCs or NPCs eat to help fill in the world with culture?

Have you made a recipe just for D&D that you have cooked in real life?

How much culinary information do you use in your games?

Do your PCs just eat bark, twigs, and berries?

This is 4e! They eat "Everlasting Provisions"

Well at least mine have. But I guess that has something to do with being stuck in an oubliette for 3 months.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Maybe we could get together and see if ENW Publishing would like a bunch of culinary delights submitted for a forum based book for any RPG. Something made by the forums goers that players can enjoy and bring their own ideas about gaming to the forums?

Spoon and Fork: A Gamers Guide to Cooking and Eating