Ryuutama ~ The Book Of Gastronomy

v0.4

What's Cooking
This book includes expanded cooking rules for Ryuutama, including rules for running a cooking contest or tournament.
The campaign I created these for became quite focused on cooking so these rules might not work so well if your journey
is more casual about food. This is a pretty deep dive into cooking as a mechanic and the Crafting/Food skill
specialisation, so please feel free to adjust and discard as you like. Anyway, enjoy!

New Items
NAME PRICE SIZE DETAILS
Cooking Equipment 150g 3 Pots, pans, small knife, cutting board, etc. Allows basic food preparation.

Serving Dishes 100g 3 Platters, plates, bowls, etc. Used for convenient & aesthetic serving of food.

Traveller's Dish 20g 1 Has a wide flat base and curved sides, suitable as a plate or a bowl.

Chef 's Lantern 2,800g 1 Functions as a lantern but can also be used to cook without a campfire.
Adjustable heat. Adds +1 to cooking rolls in the wild (ie without a kitchen).
The power source lasts one month before needing a replacement (400g).

Waiter's Serving Tray
Pleasant Picnic Blanket
Cook's Rations
Delicious Cook's Rations
1,400g 3 Enchanted to preserve a meal until serving. Keeps up to 6 servings of
prepared food at the perfect temperature for up to a day. After that, food
will degrade at the normal rate.
1,100g 3 Blanket woven with magic, intended to allow a comfortable and pleasant
picnic experience no matter the terrain or weather. For those enjoying a
meal on this blanket the topology TN is 6 for the duration of the picnic,
unaffected by weather modifiers.
20g Special rations that can either be eaten as they are or used in the
1
140g preparation of a meal. Impose no penalty when used as an ingredient.

Hunting Variety
Characters using the hunting skill can choose to gain a variety of different food types. For every different type of food
subtract -1 from the total size of food gained. For example, if a hunter rolls a 10 against a topology TN of 6 they can
either take 4 size of one type of food, or 2 size of one type and 1 size of another.
Terrain types have different limits to the variety of food each hunt can yield:
Wasteland, Rocky, Desert, Alpine: 2 types/hunt
Mountain, Grassland, Highlands: 3 types/hunt
Woods, Swamp, Deep Forest, Jungle: 4 types/hunt

Herb Gathering
The healer's herbal knowledge can be used to find herbs and spices useful in cooking. On a successful herb gathering
check subtract the number rolled from the TN. The remainder is the total size of herbs or spices found. These can be
split as per the rules in Hunting Variety. For example, if a healer rolls a 10 against a TN of 7 they can take 3 size of one
herb/spice or 1 size each of two different types. Healing herbs are gained as normal; one for a success, three for a crit.

Healing Herbs
With the help of a skilled healer a cook can include healing herbs in a meal. This requires one or more healing herbs and
for the healer to successfully assist in the cooking check. Healing herbs are used up in cooking, count as ingredients for
variety but do not increase the number of servings, and everyone eating the meal enjoys their effects.
Leftovers do not give the effect of the healing herbs. If the meal is turned into rations it does not retain the effect of the
healing herbs.
Expanded Cooking Rules
These rules are intended for a character with the Crafting skill, specialising in Food. Characters without this
skill/speciality combo suffer a -4 penalty to cooking attempts and make all cooking checks at a disadvantage (roll twice,
take the lowest result).
Generally speaking, preparing a meal requires proper equipment, a fire or other heat source, and a good variety of
ingredients. Excepting special circumstances (such as a contest), only one meal may be made per day.
Before rolling to cook apply the following modifiers:
-4 if the cook does not have proper equipment. (-2 if they can improvise cookware.)
-4 if there's no fire or heat source. (Unless they can justify not using heat to cook.)
+1 to +3 if the cook is working in an actual kitchen. (Depending on the quality of the kitchen.)
-3 if only one type of ingredient is being used. It's hard for any cook to create with such limited resources.
+1 if three different ingredients are being used. If four or more different ingredients are being used add +2 instead. If
seven or more different ingredients are being used no bonus is given, and a penalty is applied of -1 per different
ingredient above seven. Excessive variety can be challenging.
+1 for every Delicious or High Quality ingredient used.
-1 if rations are one of the ingredients. Rations are intended to be lasting and filling, edible without further preparation.
Making a good cooked meal from them is possible but takes work.
-1 if more herbs & spices are being used than other ingredients. Balancing strong flavours is tricky.
-2 for every Difficult, Disgusting or Cursed ingredient. For each Disgusting ingredient also add Sour, Bitter, Pungent or
Miasma to the meal. Cursed ingredients add Cursed to the meal. These properties do not count towards the meal's limit.
-1 for every size of ingredients over 8. Cooking in quantity while maintaining quality is hard.
Cooking checks are traditionally [STR] + [DEX] against a base TN of topography, applying weather modifiers.
On a failure the cook has prepared a basic meal. It's edible.
On a fumble, or on a result that is 2 or less, the cook has messed up. Add 1d4 properties from the special list to the meal
(Sour, Bitter, Pungent, Miasma). Anyone eating the meal must roll [STR] + [SPI] against a TN of 7 or suffer a status
effect decided by the GM, and in addition gets -1 to their next day's Condition check.
On a success, the cook has made an exceptional meal. They may choose one property to add. For every point above the
TN they may add an additional property. For example, if the TN was 8 and the cook rolled a 10 they may add 3
properties in total.
Cooks may not add more properties to a meal than their current level+1. Characters without the Crafting/Food skill
combination cannot add more properties to a meal than their current level-1, with a minimum of 1.
Cooks may remove properties from a meal instead of adding a new property. For example, a cook succeeds in their
cooking roll exactly. They can add one property to the meal. However, because of a Disgusting ingredient the meal is
Bitter. Instead of adding a property the cook decides to remove Bitter.
On a critical success the cook may choose one additional property, which does not count towards the meal's limit. In
addition, everyone who eats the meal gains an immediate +1 to their Condition.
Properties
Properties are added to a meal through the skill of the cook or from the ingredients themselves. Properties from
ingredients are always added to a meal, and do not count towards the property limit.
Delicious, Disgusting, and Difficult modify the cooking roll but are not directly added as properties to the meal.
Gross ingredients add Miasma. Smelly ingredients add Pungent. Uncool ingredients increase the cost of Attractive by
1/Uncool ingredient. (For example, if you cook a meal with two Uncool ingredients then it will cost three properties to
add Attractive to the meal.) Cursed ingredients add their curse to the meal, giving those who eat it -1 on the next day's
Condition check. The GM may also decide if there are other effects from eating a cursed meal.
Any lingering effects gained from a meal persist until they are used, until the end of the following day, or until another
meal is eaten.
Note that although there's no mechanical restriction on what properties may be added to a meal, it might require some
justification by the cook. The GM has final say over whether a property may or may not be added.
The following properties may be added once per meal:
Tasty: +1 to the following day's Condition check. Cheering: +1 to the next roll made.
Attractive: The meal gains Beautiful or Cute. Aromatic: The food smells amazing.
Warming: +1 in Cold, Snow, or Blizzard weather. Cooling: +1 in Hot weather.
Sharp: +1 to next Initiative roll. Spicy: +1 to next Damage Check.
Sweet: Next spell or Concentrate action costs 1MP less, Fortifying: Reduce next HP loss by 1.
to a minimum of 1MP.
The following properties may be added more than once, stacking their effects:
Robust: Restore 1HP. Refreshing: Restore 1MP.
Curative: Reduce Poison, Muddled, Tired or Sick by Lasting: Leftovers will keep for one additional day. If
one point. (Only if appropriate ingredient was used.) this is taken six times the food becomes rations.
Hearty: One additional serving is created.
Special properties, normally added as a result of poor quality ingredients or fumbles:
Sour: The food has a very sour flavour. If chosen Bitter: The food has a distinctive bitter flavour. If
twice, Overwhelmingly Sour. chosen twice, Terribly Bitter.
Pungent: The food has a strong odd smell. Miasma: The food has a foreboding aura.
Cursed: -1 to the following day's Condition check.

Conflicting Properties
There are certain combinations of properties that just don't easily mesh. In order to have both these properties in one
meal an additional property must be spent. For example, if a cook makes a dish that includes Cooling they must spend
two properties if they want to also include Warming. Alternately, they could spend one property to remove Cooling and
another to include Warming. The conflicting combinations are:
Cooling + Warming/Spicy Sweet + Bitter Pungent + Aromatic Miasma + Attractive
Herbs & Spices
Herbs & spices differ from other ingredients in the following ways:
They do not add a serving to the meal, but do count as an ingredient for variety.
They are not automatically consumed when used in cooking. That is, you can use a herb or spice as an ingredient in a
meal and still keep it afterwards.
The cook may choose to consume a herb or spice to add its property (or properties) to the meal. Properties added to a
meal by a herb or spice do not count towards the normal limit. If the herb or spice is not consumed it adds no properties.
The cook may choose whether or not to consume the herb or spice after making their cooking roll.
Even on a failed cooking roll herbs & spices may be consumed to add their properties to a meal.
Meals cannot be made using herbs & spices alone.
For example, when cooking a meal using marjoram and 1 size of meat the cook won't suffer a penalty for lack of variety,
but will only make one serving. In addition, the marjoram may be consumed to add the Aromatic property to the meal.
Some example herbs & spices:
Salt: Lasting[2] Polkadot Mint: Curative[Sick], Refreshing Springish Chives: Sharp
Honey: Sweet Crown Garlic: Delicious, Aromatic Moonlight Pepper: Spicy, Warming
Marjoram: Aromatic Buff Fern: Robust[2] Cinnamon: Warming, Aromatic
Frostroot: Cooling Spiny Leaf: Fortifying Expansive Kelp: Hearty[3]

Servings, Leftovers, Hazardous Ingredients & Spoilage

Each size of ingredients used when cooking produces one serving. One serving is enough to feed a person for one day.
For example, if a cook creates a meal using 3 size of one ingredient and 2 size of another then they will create five
servings, enough to feed five people for one day.
If leftovers are not eaten on the day the meal was prepared they are lost, unless the cook added the Lasting property. For
every level of Lasting the food will keep for one additional day. Adding Lasting six times turns the food into rations.
Leftovers cannot usually be used as ingredients in other meals.
Meals generally cannot be sold, unless freshly cooked at a restaurant, market, festival stall, or other venue.
Hazardous Ingredients: If an ingredient inflicts a status effect then eating a meal prepared with that ingredient inflicts the
same status effect. The severity of status effects may be reduced or even removed in a similar way to removing
properties; exchange one property for every point of reduction. For example, if an ingredient inflicts Poison[4] then the
cook must sacrifice four properties to remove Poison from the meal entirely. Alternately, including a curative for that
status effect in the meal will automatically reduce its effects to zero. For example, including both a DokuShroom
(Fungus, Poison[2]) and a Cleanberry (Herb, Curative[Poison]) would result in no Poison effect in the completed meal.
Ingredient Spoilage: Fruit and vegetables, mushrooms, hard cheeses and so on will usually last a week or two, although at
the GM's discretion they might go bad if stored incorrectly or in unfavourable conditions. Meat will last one day before
going bad, unless kept cool via magical or other means. If the weather type is Hot then meat will spoil unless used within
a few hours. If the weather type is Cold, Snow, or Blizzard then meat will last one additional day.
Food that goes bad becomes Disgusting, also gaining the characteristics Gross and Smelly.

Recipes
We're not just talking about simple step by step instructions here. To a cook, a recipe is a collection of detailed notes,
observations, and critical information about a certain combination of ingredients. Recipes are closely guarded and
treated like sacred objects, shared only with those a cook trusts the most.
Creating a recipe takes time and care. Once per session, a character with Crafting/Food may note down the combination
of ingredient types they used to create a meal. They should give the recipe a name and include a brief description. Note
that the exact ingredients don't have to be listed, just the category (so a recipe would be for meat + egg + vegetable, not
snakepig meat + cheepcheep eggs + bitter carrots). If a cook chooses to list a specific ingredient in a recipe then another
ingredient cannot be substituted, but using the recipe gives a +1 bonus to the roll for every specific ingredient.
When cooking a meal with the same combination of ingredients as a recipe the cook possesses, they may roll with
advantage (roll twice and take the highest result).
Buying or selling recipes is taboo among cooks. They may be shared, but no money or other trade can be involved.
Buying Ingredients
The cost of food can vary greatly, depending on local economies, scarcity, quality and so forth. These prices are just a
suggestion. Food can carry the usual modifiers, so Beautiful Apples might be available, or Uncool Potatoes.
Ingredients may (sometimes) be eaten 'as is' but they don't count as the day's meal. You need rations for that if you're not
able to eat cooked food.
Base prices:
1-2g: Disgusting ingredient.
3-8g: Basic ingredient.
20-40g: Delicious ingredient.
For food with properties, including herbs and spices, I usually follow these as a guideline, adjusting as needed:
-1-4g/each level of Bitter or Sour
+3-6g/each level of Hearty, Lasting, Robust, Refreshing, Cheering, Sharp, Fortifying
+7-12g/each level of Spicy, Sweet, Warming, Cooling, Aromatic
+20-30g/each level of Curative.
So a Delicious Hearty ingredient might be around 30g + 6g = 36g/size, while a Disgusting Fortifying Spicy ingredient
could be 2g + 3g + 7g = 11g, and a basic Lasting[2] spice could be 4g + 3g + 3g = 10g/size.
Apply further modifiers to this price as normal. For example, if that Delicious Hearty ingredient is also Beautiful, 36g x 2
= 72g/size. If that Disgusting Fortifying Spicy ingredient is also Smelly, 11g x 0.7 = 8g. If that basic Lasting[2] spice is
High Quality, 10g x 5 = 50g/size.
For a shopping example, maybe the cook wants some protein in their dinner. The GM says there are some nice thick
giant squirrel steaks (Meat, Hearty) for 12g/size, or fresh rainbow tuna (Fish, Delicious) for 25g. For the cook on a
budget there are cheesepig chops (Meat, Smelly) for 3g, and cheesepig fillet (Meat, Delicious but still Smelly) at 15g.
Applying just a few modifiers and properties can add a lot of flavour and fun to your grocery trips.

Favoured Ingredient, Area Of Expertise, Signature Dish

As a cook gains experience they develop their own preferences and specialisations. At level two a character with the
Crafting skill specialising in Food may choose a favoured ingredient category from the following list. When cooking a
meal that includes an ingredient of this type they gain +1 to their roll.
Favoured Ingredient: Meat, Poultry, Fish, Vegetables, Fruit, Legumes, Honey & Sugar, Nuts & Seeds, Fungus, Eggs, Dairy,
Cereals & Grains, Herbs & Spices.
At level four a character with Crafting/Food may choose an area of expertise. When creating a meal in their area of
expertise they roll with advantage (roll twice and take the highest result). In addition, they may choose one property. All
meals they cook in their area of expertise may always include this property for free, even on a failure.
Area Of Expertise: Pâtissier (pastries, desserts, bread), Saucier (stews, sauces, sautéed food), Rôtisseur (roasted, broiled or
deep-fried meat or poultry dishes), Poissonnier (fish and seafood dishes), Entremetier (soups, vegetable & egg dishes),
Confectioner (sweets, chocolate, candy), Mess Chef (meals with 3 or fewer ingredients of at least 8 total size), Trail Cook
(meals prepared without a kitchen)
At level seven a character with Crafting/Food may choose their signature dish. This is a specific combination of at least
three ingredients that must fall within their area of expertise. For example, a pâtissier might choose Heartberry Tart as
their signature dish, a meal that requires berries, flour, butter, eggs and honey. When making their signature dish they
roll with a +2 bonus. Anyone who eats a signature dish receives an immediate +1 bonus to their Condition. Additionally,
anyone familiar with the person who created the signature dish will recognise that they were the one to make it.

Cooking Style
There are many different cooks in the world, and just as many approaches to cooking. When choosing the Crafting skill
with a speciality in Food you may select from the following styles for the stats used in cooking rolls:
Traditional: [STR] + [DEX] Technical: [DEX] + [INT] Passionate: [STR] + [SPI]
Cooking Example
While travelling from one village to another a cook and her friends find a grove of mango-apple trees. Collectively they
gather quite a bit of the fruit (size 8 Delicious Fruit). While gathering they're attacked by blibblers but manage to kill the
monsters. Trapping gives almost more blibbler meat than they can carry (size 9 Meat). While the others set up camp the
hunter investigates a nearby lake, returning with a clutch of boneskin fish (size 3 Bitter Fish) and some thin pale
pepperstem roots (size 1 Spicy Vegetable). The cook is delighted to have so many ingredients to work with! She sets
about creating a feast for herself and her companions. She decides to use everything the hunter gathered, as well as one
size of mango-apples and three size of blibbler meat, and finally some salt from her pack. In total this gives 8 size of
ingredients, with a variety of five different ingredients (boneskin fish, pepperstem, blibbler meat, mango-apples, salt) and
including one delicious ingredient.
The terrain is highlands and the weather is clear, giving a base TN of 8.
The cook has a good campfire and her trusty cookware, so doesn't suffer any penalties for lack of equipment or heat. For
variety she gets +2 to the roll, and for a delicious ingredient she gets another +1. One of her companions also helps with
the cooking, rolling [STR] + [DEX] against a TN of 5 and getting a 7. This adds another +1 to the cook's roll. In total the
cook will roll with a modifier of +4.
The cook rolls her [STR] + [DEX], d6 + d8, and gets a 7. Adding +4 gives a final result of 11. Success! The properties
from the food are automatically added to the meal (Bitter from the boneskin fish, Spicy from the pepperstem). The cook
may also add one property for a success, and four additional properties for beating the TN. She elects to make the meal
Tasty and Aromatic, and Hearty enough to increase the servings by two (for a total of ten servings). She also uses up the
salt to add its Lasting[2] property, so the leftovers can be eaten the next day. Finally, she uses her last property to remove
Bitter from the meal.
Everyone enjoys a delicious meal of grilled fish and spicy blibbler and pepperstem sausages, with a tasty mango-apple
relish. It's all perfectly seasoned, and thanks to the salt the plentiful leftovers will still be good for tomorrow's lunch.
 Random Ingredients
These tables are for the times you want to roll up some quick food. In my games we generally roll when the hunter hunts
or the healer goes herb gathering, but sometimes I'll prepare ahead of time and roll/pick ten or so different ingredients
common to a settlement or area. When determining properties for each ingredient I'll usually roll 1d4 times on the
properties table. For herbs and spices I'll usually keep rolling until I get at least one property, although it's possible to
have a herb or spice that doesn't do anything special except add a bit of extra flavour to a meal. For ingredients with the
Curative property I usually roll 1d4 to see what it cures. 1: Poison, 2: Sick, 3: Tired, 4: Muddled.

Ingredients (d12 + d6)

1 2 3 4 5 6
1 Beef/Bovine Pork/Swine Lamb/Ovine Deer/Game Exotic Meat Monster Meat

2 Chicken/Small Fowl Turkey/Large Fowl Duck/Small Aquatic Goose/Large Aquatic Pheasant/Game Exotic Poultry

3 Fish Crab/Crustacean Oyster/Shellfish Octopus/Cephalopod Roe/Fish Eggs Exotic Seafood

4 Toadstool Mushroom Morel Truffle Exotic Mushroom Monster Mushroom

5 Potato/Tuber Carrot/Root Lettuce/Leafy Green Cabbage/Brassica Tomato/'Fruit' Exotic Vegetable

6 Melon/Gourd Apple/Pome Strawberry/Berry Lemon/Citrus Grapes/Vine Exotic Fruit

7 Insect Eggs Reptile Eggs Small Bird Eggs Large Bird Eggs Exotic Eggs Monster Eggs

8 Bean/Common Adzuki/Small Chickpea/Large Seed Pea/'Vegetable' Lentil/Small Seed Exotic Legume

9 Barley/Ancient Rice/Grain Flour/Refined Oat/Coarse Quinoa/Pseudo Exotic Grain/Cereal

10 Milk/Bovine Milk/Ovine Milk/Plant Milk/Bactrian Milk/Grain Exotic Dairy

11 Almond/Seed Macadamia/Kernel Peanut/'Legume' Pine/Tree Sunflower/Flower Exotic Nut/Seed

12 Grass/Weed Stick/Bark Lichen/Bracken Flower/Leaf Insect/Vermin Bizarre/Wonderful

Herbs & Spices (d3 + d6)

1 2 3 4 5 6
1 Chives/Hollow Leaf Mint/Flat Leaf Ginger/Root Garlic/Bulb Exotic Herb Monster Herb

2 Raw Sugar Fine Sugar Nectar Syrup Molasses Honey

3 Salt/Mineral Mustard/Seed Saffron/Flower Cinnamon/Bark Star Anise/Fruit Exotic Spice

Ingredient Properties (d8 + d6)

1 2 3 4 5 6
1 Cursed Disgusting Poison[d6] Tired[d6] Sick[d6] Muddled[d6]

2 Gross Bitter Smelly Uncool Sour Difficult

3
4 No Special Property

5
6 Lasting Warming Spicy Sweet Sharp Huge (3 Size)

7 Fortifying Robust Refreshing Hearty Cooling Cheering

8 Cute Beautiful Aromatic Curative High Quality Delicious

 Cooking Contests & Tournaments

Allez Cuisine
Cooking contests usually take place in an arena, although more informal contests also exist. They have set rules and
limitations, are almost always judged by one or more neutral parties, and tend towards being serious but flamboyant
affairs full of tension and thrills.

Judge Likes, Dislikes & Quirks

Judges should generally have 1-4 properties/ingredients they like, 1-4 they dislike, and from 0 - 2 quirks.

Judge Likes/Dislikes (d4 + d6)

1 2 3 4 5 6
1 Meat Poultry Fish Vegetables Fruit Legumes

2 Honey & Sugar Nuts & Seeds Fungus Eggs Dairy Cereals & Grains

3 Cheering Cooling Warming Spicy Sweet Sharp

4 Fortifying Robust Refreshing Hearty Sour Bitter

Judge Quirks (d8 + d4)

1 2 3 4
Appreciates The Odd Broad Palette Five Alarm Can't Take The Heat
1 -3 Attractive +2 Sour, Bitter, Pungent +5 Spicy -5 Spicy
+10 Miasma +1 Warming +3 Cooling

Lemon Heart Cat's Tongue The Aroma, The Fragrance! Oh The Aesthetics
2 +5 Sour -3 Warming +1 Aromatic +5 Attractive
-3 Sweet +1 Cooling +5 Pungent -5 Miasma

Vegan
Subtle Palette Conflict Fan Unusual Taste
-10 if the dish includes meat,
+3 Refreshing, Cheering +10 if the meal includes a +3 Sour, Bitter
3 -3 Sour, Overwhelmingly Sour,
poultry, fish, eggs, dairy, honey,
conflicting combination of +5 Overwhelmingly Sour,
or any other ingredient derived
Terribly Bitter, Sharp properties Terribly Bitter
from animals

Complexity Fiend Simple Tastes Bam Gimme Sugar

4 +5 for six or more ingredients +5 for three or fewer ingredients +1/herb or spice +3 Sweet

Monster Lover Big Eater Eye For Detail Variety Lover

5 +5/monster material +1/serving +5 for Technical Style +1/ingredient category used

Traditionalist High Notes Recycler Nostalgic Traveller

6 +5 for Traditional Style +3 Sour, Sharp, Spicy +5/Disgusting ingredient +5 Lasting or Rations

Delicate Nose Black Like My Soul Such Gusto! Waste Hater

7 -5 Pungent, Aromatic +5 Bitter +5 for Passionate Style +10 if servings = judges

Mature Palette Carnivore Vegetarian Black Hole

8 -5 Sweet -10 if the dish does not include -10 if the dish includes meat, -5 if servings <6
+3 Bitter meat, poultry, or fish poultry, or fish +5 if servings >8

Judge Investigations
If they have both the time and opportunity, a cook or their companions may make investigations into a contest judge.
Roll a negotiation check ([INT] + [SPI]) against a TN of 8. The Merchant's Well-Spoken skill applies its bonus to this
roll. Success reveals one like, dislike, or quirk of the judge. For every point above the TN the investigator may choose an
additional like, dislike or quirk to reveal.
Fumbling on this roll will reveal one piece of false information. The cook must act on this if possible. For example, a
fumbled investigation incorrectly reveals that a judge has the Lemon Heart quirk. The cook must attempt to add the
Sour property to their dish.
Cook To The Judge
When cooking in a contest you're attempting to appeal to expert judges who have their own quirks, likes and dislikes.
They might make it known what they expect, could drop cryptic hints about their preferences, or it could be entirely up
to the participants to do their own research.
Points are awarded or deducted for properties as follows:
+3 points for Tasty, Attractive, Aromatic.
+2 points for Sweet, Spicy, Warming, Cooling.
+1 point for Robust, Refreshing, Cheering, Sharp, Fortifying.
-1 point for Sour, Bitter, Pungent, Miasma.
-3 points for Overwhelmingly Sour, Terribly Bitter, Cursed.
+4 points for each property/ingredient the judge likes.
-2 points for each property/ingredient the judge dislikes.
-10 for every level of negative status effects inflicted by the dish. (For example, Poison[2] would result in a -20 penalty.)
Dishes earn points for each level of a stacked property. For example, a dish with Robust[2] gains +2 points.
The judge might also award or deduct points based upon the combination of ingredients and properties used. For
example, a sweet fruit tart with a fish in the middle of it has some explaining to do. Apparent contradictions, such as a
dish that manages to be both Warming and Cooling, probably also require some justification. On the other hand a tart
made from fruit + flour + eggs + dairy that has properties such as Sweet and Cheering (with no jarring Spicy or Sour
properties to mess things up) would certainly deserve a few extra points.
As you might expect, the highest score wins. In the case of multiple judges each judge will vote in favour of one of the
participants. The participant who gains the majority of votes wins.
In the case of a tied score, judges will decide in favour of the dish that contains more properties and ingredients they like.
If still tied, judges will decide in favour of the dish that contains less properties and ingredients they dislike. If scores are
STILL tied, judges will decide based on their own whimsy; randomly decide who wins. Alternately, allow each
participant to speak for their dish. Best speech wins. One thing is certain: cooking contests never end in draws.

Finally, The Contest

When both participants are ready to begin and all of the conditions for the contest have been announced, the timer
starts. Participants have one minute to write down what they're going to make and what ingredients they're going to use.
After the minute is up both participants roll their cooking checks, the TN dictated by the arena. Supporters who are able
to call encouragement to a participant may roll [STR] + [SPI] against the arena TN. Each success adds +1 to the
participant's roll (critical successes add +3), to a maximum of +3.
Once the results of both rolls are known, and properties from ingredients have been added, each participant has one
minute to decide how to apply properties and finalise their dish. The result of their roll should be written down, as well
as all properties added to their dish.
After this minute is up the judge(s) will assess each dish. If a participant 'cheated', whether intentionally or accidentally,
by adding more properties than their dice result or their level allowed, and if this is discovered, they will be disqualified
and removed from the tournament. Otherwise, each dish will be rated and the winner of the contest revealed.
For a slightly more relaxed contest you can extend the time limit to two minutes, or even remove it entirely.

Other Things
MP may be spent during a contest to concentrate, as normal. Use of magic is dependent on the judges but usually fine.
Participants in a contest are usually expected to bring their own cookware.
Extra equipment (aside from cookware) may or may not be allowed, depending on the contest. If a participant is holding
something other than their cooking tools then apply a -1 penalty to all cooking checks. If a participant is holding
something that needs both hands the penalty increases to -3.
Push Yourself: HP may be spent to change a failed roll into a success at the rate of 1d4 HP/difference between the failed
roll and the check's TN. For example, if the TN is 8 and you roll a 5 you may turn this failure into a base success at a cost
of 3d4 HP. You may not push yourself out of a fumble. If HP are reduced to zero or less during a competition the
participant collapses or is otherwise unable to continue. Their opponent wins by default.
Arena Terrain & Weather
The arena's terrain could be literal, resembling (or actually taking place in) grasslands or a swamp or whatever, or
metaphorical, reflecting the spirit of a terrain type. In any case the cooking TN depends on the topology of the arena,
and cooks gain bonuses for their favoured terrain and weather types.
Grasslands: Good facilities, basic ingredients. Modern and well-stocked, easy to use.
Highlands: Basic facilities, basic ingredients. Nothing special, rough and ready.
Wasteland: Basic facilities, sparse ingredients. Not much to work with, spartan layout.
Rocky: Rough facilities, sparse ingredients.
Alpine: No facilities, sparse ingredients. Extreme inventiveness required.
Woods: Basic facilities, natural ingredients.
Deep Forest: Rough facilities, natural ingredients.
Swamp: Rough facilities, unusual ingredients.
Mountain: Basic facilities, unusual ingredients.
Jungle: Rough facilities, exotic ingredients. Challenging cooking conditions.
Desert: Good facilities, exotic ingredients. Unique challenges requiring ingenuity to overcome.
Weather (or 'weather') is important too. Again, it's either the spirit of the weather or it's literally raining or whatever in
the arena.
Clear: Good lighting, no distractions, even temperature.
Rain: Dampness, constant small distractions, leaky ceiling or a hole in the roof.
Wind: Dusty, hard to keep one's footing, uneven flooring, just very blowy.
Fog: Poor lighting, confusing layout, steam or smoke obscuring vision.
Hot: Bad ventilation, unusually hot day.
Cold: Cold kitchen, notably chilly day.
Dark: Very poor lighting, cooking by candlelight.
Hard Rain: Combination of 'fog' and 'rain' conditions; constant distractions, poor visibility, confusing layout.
Snow: Combination of 'cold' and 'fog' conditions; chilly, poor visibility, confusing.
Deep Fog: Combination of 'fog' and 'dark' conditions; very hard to see, confusing, bad conditions.
Hurricane: Combination of 'fog', 'wind' and 'rain' conditions; poor visibility, constant distractions, terrible conditions.
Blizzard: Combination of 'cold, 'fog' and 'cold' conditions; poor visibility, chilly, terrible conditions.

Ingredients & Facilities

Alpine, Rocky, Wasteland: Sparse ingredients; one of meat/poultry/fish, one vegetable, two random ingredients, one herb
or spice.
Grassland, Highlands: Basic ingredients; two vegetables, a grain or cereal, one of meat/poultry/fish, eggs, dairy, one herb
or spice, and two other random ingredients.
Woods, Deep Forest: Natural ingredients; one fungus, honey, a nut or seed, one fruit, one vegetable, one herb or spice, and
two other random ingredients.
Mountain, Swamp: Unusual ingredients; fungus and five other random ingredients, two herbs and spices.
Desert, Jungle: Exotic ingredients; six random ingredients, three herbs and spices.
Facilities determine the cooking equipment available, and the bonus given.
Grasslands, Desert: Good; modern oven and stovetop (possibly magical), sink. +3 kitchen bonus.
Highlands, Wastelands, Woods, Mountains: Basic; cast iron (or similar) oven and stovetop. +2 kitchen bonus.
Rocky, Jungle, Swamp, Deep Forest: Rough; grill or spit over firepit, brick or stone oven. +1 kitchen bonus.
Alpine: None; space to make a fire. No bonus.
 Arena Terrain (d4 + d6)
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 Alpine (14) Desert(12) Jungle(12) Mountain(10)

2 Deep Forest(10) Swamp(10) Rocky(8)

3 Wasteland(6) Highlands(8) Woods(8)

4 Grassland(6)

Arena Weather (d4 + d6)

1 2 3 4 5 6
1 Hurricane(+5) Blizzard(+5) Hard Rain(+3) Deep Fog(+3)

2 Hot(+1) Cold(+1) Dark(+3)

3 Fog(+1) Rain(+1) Wind(+1)

4 Clear

Tournaments
Tournaments are a series of contests, usually involving 32, 16 or 8 participants. Brackets are drawn up, pitting
participants against one another in a series of 1v1 contests. The winners of each contest move up in the bracket, until the
final two engage in a contest to determine the ultimate winner of the tournament.
Tournaments usually have an entrance fee, which is then split (minus a little for the organiser) between the 1st and 2nd
place winners. For example, for a tournament with 8 participants and a 1000g entrance fee the winner might take 4000g
and second place 2000g. Tournaments might also have prizes of special items or privileges.

Contest Considerations & Suggestions

Ingredients: Set (participants are provided with a list of available ingredients before the contest), Secret (some or all
ingredients are kept hidden until the contest begins), Gathered (participants are given a set time to gather ingredients
before the contest begins), BYO (participants must bring their own ingredients, often with limitations)
Menu: Open (make what you want), Special (participants must use a specific ingredient), Set (all participants must make
a specified dish)
Dishes: Single, Three Course Meal, Dégustation, Feast
Arena: Set (participants are provided with details before the contest), Secret/Random (revealed at the time of the match)
Judge: Single (one judge), Panel (multiple judges, almost always an odd number)

Special Contests
Battle Chef: The contest takes place in an area filled with harvestable ingredients and edible monsters. Participants must
hunt and gather ingredients before creating the best dish possible within a time limit. Helpers/teams may or may not be
allowed.
Feed An Army: The contest is judged not only on the quality of the dishes, but the quantity produced. If there's not
enough for everyone then the participant is disqualified. Maybe they have to make enough for the whole crowd (one
serving is enough to give four people a taste), or enough to feed a sports team, squad of guardsmen, or other large group.
Wild Cook: Each participant must travel through wild terrain before arriving at the arena kitchen, to cook with whatever
they gathered along the way.
Shopping Spree: Each participant is given a budget of both money and time before the contest, to purchase ingredients for
their dish.
Crowd Participation: The crowd is involved in the contest, voting on the arena, ingredients, and rules. Charismatic
participants might be able to appeal to the crowd, to sway the contest in their favour.
Ingredient Drafting: The participants have a shared pantry of limited ingredients. Before the contest, they take it in turns
to choose ingredients they want to use in their dish.
Ingredient Battle: Before the contest, participants engage in a series of games, fights, or competitions to win ingredients.
 Example Arenas
Lentil Arena
Terrain/Weather: Highlands(8)/Fog(+1) Facilities: Basic, +2
Named after the owner's love of legumes. Rough and old-fashioned, but well maintained and with a fond reputation
locally. More than one tournament winner got their start in practice contests here.
Ingredients
Fluffy Lentils Goat Milk Wheat Flour
(Legume) (Dairy) (Flour)

Cosy Mushrooms Gobblechook Meat Gobblechook Eggs

(Warming Fungus) (Uncool Hearty Poultry) (Uncool Egg)

Bumpy Trot Lemonroot Lemon Lemon

(Sharp Vegetable) (Sour Vegetable) (Sour Fruit)

Herbs & Spices

HotPods Crown Garlic
(Spicy) (Delicious, Aromatic)

Frostfire Arena
Terrain/Weather: Mountain(10)/Cold(+1) Facilities: Rough, +1
Sparse open arena, magically chilled to keep ingredients fresh. Enormous firepits provide the only warmth.
Ingredients
Conspicuous Fungus CuteShrooms Stench Beans
(Gross Delicious Fungus) (Cute Fungus) (Smelly Legume)

Sea Goose Sea Goose Eggs DokuShroom

(Poultry) (Hearty Eggs) (Smelly Tasty Fungus, Poison[2])

Herbs & Spices

Chuck Salt Silver Pepper
(Lasting, Fortifying) (High Quality, Spicy)

Downpour Forest
Terrain/Weather: Woods(8)/Hard Rain(+3) Facilities: Basic, +2
Large outdoor arena with constant driving rain. All ingredients are growing in the arena and must be gathered before
use. Cooking is done over magical runes that generate heat, which must be found and activated before using.
Ingredients
Longstalk Honeyshroom Tongueish Vinefruit Roundboy Carrots
(Beautiful Sweet Fungus) (Meat) (Vegetable)

Floral Barley Gnarled Potatoes Yellow Oranges

(Aromatic Cereal) (Vegetable) (Fruit)

Herbs & Spices

Finecone Seeds Heartflower Petals Heartflower Nectar
(Cheering, Robust) (Refreshing, Curative[Muddled]) (Sweet, Cheering)
The Grand Faithful
Terrain/Weather: Swamp(8)/Hot(+1) Facilities: Rough, +1
Basic arena set up in the wetlands. Damp and steamy, with plenty of ingredients for those who can find them. Boiling hot
geysers provide heat for cooking, but the timing can get a bit tricky.
Ingredients
Damp Pods Swollen Shrooms Redgrass
(Bitter Bean) (Fungus) (Beautiful Grain)

Slush Pears Witherstalk Haunttoad Spawn

(Disgusting Fruit) (Lasting Fungus) (Cursed Delicious Eggs)

Herbs & Spices

Great Spongemoss Starleaf Basil
(Hearty[3], Curative[Injury]) (Cute, Refreshing[2], Curative[Tired])

Dream Road Arena

Terrain/Weather: Wasteland(6)/Wind(+1) Facilities: Rough, +1
Once a famous contest arena, fallen into disrepair in recent times. Draughty and dusty with an atmosphere of faded
glory. The once magnificent facilities are dirty and ill-maintained.
Ingredients
Mountain Yoghurt Squawk Meat Rock Spuds
(Robust Dairy) (Poultry) (Disgusting Vegetable)

Midget Squealer Meat

(Sour Meat)

Herbs & Spices

Highpeak Sugar
(High Quality Sugar)

Shadow Arena
Terrain/Weather: Alpine(14)/Dark(+3) Facilities: None, +0
An expansive arena formed of cold flat stone, shrouded in darkness, shining points of magical light marking gather
points for ingredients and coffers holding dry firewood. Considered the ultimate testing ground.
Ingredients
Giant Rodent Meat Toughleaf Salty Cowpea
(Disgusting Meat) (Vegetable, Curative[Tired]) (Lasting Legume)

Rocknut
(Bitter Fortifying Nut)

Herbs & Spices

Cheeseweed
(Smelly, Warming)