Dungeon-grown Foodstuff

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Content Warning: gore

I’m thinking of Forged in the Dark dungeoneering game (my own FitD heartbreaker). FitD games have Stress mechanic, gained by pushing rolls and resisting consequences, and relieved by indulging vices. I’d like to make it so clearing stress is hard outside safe haven but cooking might be just the way to do it.

Regular cooking and food doesn’t make it better for you. But having Fresh Food let’s you clear 1 stress. And cooking ability bumps it to 2. It doesn’t seem much but just a one cook doubles effectiveness of food searching – which is an active choice, the food has to be fresh.

Also some types of food have special effects and trained cook can activate them. Like pumpkin seeds healing parasitic effects. Or spicy food giving resistance to cold (it doesn’t have to be realistic, u’kno?) Or some magical root known to provide dimlight vision, held secret by old dwarven sages.

Additionally to using food and getting better bonuses you get recipes. As with alchemy but weaker and more situational. Have you been to old dwarven sages and received their training? Or impressed them with your abilities? Now you can recognize ingredients they use and prepare their special meals like Soup of Allmushrooms, Rootful-Casserole and Weirdmoss Sandwiches.

Well, and as there are recipes for special meals there should be some special ingredients. And why wouldn’t they grow in dungeons?

Undead Infested Dungeon Foods:

Violent Toadstool
– fungus with dark blue or dark violet cap with white dots;
– grows on rocky soil, away from bright light, in places where undead walk and living blood is spilled;
– sour, bitter and very hard has to be soaked in tears (or just properly salted water) for a moment before cooking;
– not very filling or caloric but at least nutritious;
– eating raw or improperly handled will result in serious food poisoning, is characteristically tough to chew and gives bad taste to every meal.

Maybe one village or farm that hosts adventurers is serving a lot of that stuff. If they investigate it seems locals have a captive undead they walk around on the land where soil is of poor quality to ensure constant toadstool growth. What of undead escapes? What if long exposure to toadstool makes people sick? What if the undead is potentially infectious or the toadstools are actually a phenomenon happening right before the deathlands spill into this plane?

Palemoss
– white, light-green or light-brown moss;
– grows on other plants or rocks, requires high moisture and presence of the undead in nearby area;
– sticky and bland, edible only after gilled over fire;
– poor quality food in every way but once found is usually abundant;
– improper processing makes it too sticky to chew and leaves unpleasant aroma.

Local population has to survive on palemoss during harsh winter months. They serve it to outsiders as cheese even though there are little to none farm animals in the area. Palemoss slowly overgrowths their fields and crops. First question is what to do so people don’t have to rely on it to survive before you go look for undead nest that enables palemoss in the first place.

Demon Infested Dungeon Foods:

Fleshvine
– stuff of horror – it grows like a grapevine or ivy but is made of animal tissue, the vines made of tendons, leaves of bloody skin and “flowers” of eyes disturbingly humanlike;
– it grows on soil or sand or wherever it can take root and climb on vertical surface, demonic influence required;
– can be eaten as a whole and tastes just like meat if you’re brave or insane enough to eat it;
– probably as meat but no one did research extensive enough to confirm otherwise;
– the only danger is to your sanity, also it is probably very toxic once spoiled.

It’s just very gross curiosity. Maybe an enemy or slimy ally is eating those, signaling demonic presence or even something worse? Also why this one fleshvine has a ring of your long since passed mother between the roots? And her skin tone and eye colour?

Giftroot
– inconspicuous brown root with intense red pulp inside;
– it hangs of soily walls and ceilings in dungeons where demon gates are or were open recently;
– requires elaborate processing, peeling, slicing, soaking, chopping, mincing and grounding, no thermal processing;
– tastes like beets, increases regeneration rate and gives immunity for infection for a few days;
– if processed incorrectly it causes 4-6 hours of hallucinations and wooziness. Not recommended in demon-infested areas, really.

You can just end up processing it in the middle of demon-dungeon in order to heal a lot, it probably won’t gather too much attention (no fire needed). It is difficult though, so you may heal or end up hallucinating. There may be no active gate open but you will fight the demons either way. Watch out for missing steps and fake recipes, I heard demons like to spread them XD

Dragon Infested Dungeon Foods:

Darkfire Daisy
– flowers with black or dark blue petals and red/orange pollen;
– they grow in groups, directly or indirectly from dragons fertilizer waste;
– has to be pickled or made into jam;
– tastes like strawberries and honey, heals most mundane infections and eases discomfort in those it cannot heal;
– smells like burned hair and tastes like acid before processing. It is immediately causing vomiting after ingestion. It can actually be used to provoke vomit.

Petty King’s son is very sick and only darkfire daisy jam is helping with the pain. Situation is dire enough the king stopped paying full price for it – now he sends people on a quest of capturing living dragon which devastated local population of young and eager. Experiments of fertilizing fields with dragon poop has been partially successful – daisies can be grown but rivers and other fields are poisoned and populace is angry. What is son’s disease? Who wishes King’s demise and kingdom on ruins? How dragons react on the attempt to use them as dung producers?

Dragoncharm Slime
– flame-like yellow streaks on things destroyed by dragon breath. Sometimes also little dragonshape beads growing out of them;
– grows specifically on matter affected recently by dragon breath – no matter the type. It could grow even on ice recently treated by freezing breath;
– it needs to be dried, minced and heated to almost-burning. Then it has to be added to the stew which is cooking three days straight
– it gives this smoked, a little bit spicy taste to the stew, after eating it you are immune to given dragon’s breath weapon;
– prepared improperly will cause serious physical weakness once you’re in front of the dragon and there is no way of knowing before you meet the dragon.

It is the perfect one-time storm. You cannot know if the stew worked until you make a move against the dragon. If it’s bad you’re toast. If it’s good the dragon just lost huge advantage. Do you trust ability of your chef? Are you willing to risk it?

I imagine with enough regular entries (like a small cookbook?) and dedicated player you could at some point stumble into a situation where they go some place, check out their recipe book and go “Violent Toadstool… oh crap, there are some undead here!”or “This huge hill covered in black flowers is actually giant pile of dragon poop!”. And these are moments worth living for.

It is more than half of March behind us! Publish your posts for RPG Blog Carnival about Feasts, Foods and Fancy Drinks! before it marches away to another topic.