Add Flavor and Excitement with 10 Slightly Dangerous Spices

Of their village, the Stoudtfoot clan was known for its love of food. Boosting a family tree that included renowned cooks and spring fair pie bakers. Food was a part of their family tree. So when the twins Andry and Ander heard about the Weeping Dragon’s legendary “Chilli Chilli”, they knew they had to stop by. “I hear that depending on what the cook serves you, you’ll either be burning hot or freezing cold!” Andry proclaims, with her brother nodding excitedly next to her. “I wonder how he does it,” Ander says, imagining a powerful mage enchanting the pot of stew each morning, or a pious cleric blessing it.

Arriving at the tavern, the two nearly break down the door getting inside. The interior of the tavern seems like any other. The old wood and scarred tables are identical to just about every location the two have been to in the past. But the smell of this location was a mix of excitement. Spices neither Andry nor Ander were familiar with seems to mix and mingle with each other like a orchestra of flavors. The two rushed up and ordered their bowls, Andry getting the spicy and Ander getting the chilly. “Now don’t mix these two together,” the bartender says, putting two seemingly identical bowls of chilli in front of them. The two look at each other, and spare no time digging in.

Andry almost immediately breaks out in a sweat. The heat of this chilli is intense, and she wonders if this is what it feels like to be a dragon. The nearby glass of water, which the bartender had placed down, comes in quite handy. Anders cannot stop shivering. His bowl is obviously a steaming hearty stew, but every bite sends him convulsing with shivers. He seizes the cup of hot tea, his hands shaking. The two look at each other and smile broadly, then immediately switch bowls. The bartender tries to protest, but it’s too late. Once a Stoudtfoot makes their mind up, it’s hard to stop them.

As they try each other’s dish, the twins each experience a bit of disappointment. Andry feels the heat dying away and is met with a normal (but still quite good) bowl of stew. Anders quickly warms up a bit, but feels the same. “I told you,” the bartender huffs. “You can’t mix the two. Then they stop working.” The two look at each other, pass their bowls back, and eat in silence. “What do you have for dessert” Anders says after a while. “Well, the pudding is quite decadent, but it may kill ya,” The bartender says, with a wink in his eye.

I love to highlight the food in my games, and have talked about it a ton (though maybe not enough). To me, food plays a very important role in world building and conveying emotions at your table. The food can tell a lot about an area. In my Curse of Strahd game, for example, the produce indicates the fact that the realm is never in full sunlight. This means that although it is possible to grow crops that require full sun, they are not commonly found. Food also can excellently portray the emotion of a moment. What feels more comforting after a dangerous day of adventuring than a chance to break into some hearty stew, the flavors reminiscent of home? Conversely, how else do you sell the evil nature of the vampire lord but by describing the blood red wine they are drinking? Well, this week on the Runic Press Patreon, we have 10 Slightly Dangerous Spices, a short table of flavorful and exciting spices to add to your game. The story above featured the Bearfoot Chilli and Barefoot Chilly, which you can see below:

Two closely related members of the tomato family, whose ground seeds have similar but jarring flavors. The chilli gives you resistance to cold damage for 1 hour, but every ten minutes you must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or take 1d4 fire damage. The chilly gives you resistance to fire damage for 1 hour, but every ten minutes you must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or take 1 cold damage. If you eat both you get both the negative effects and no benefit.

A simple spice that really kicks things up a notch in the tavern in my story. While I just used them in simple stews, these two could be in anything. Imagine that these are sold at the edge of a desert that lies between two cities. Adventurers need to pass through the desert, but even the quickest routes take a couple days. The Extreme Heat makes it dangerous during the day, but the Extreme Cold makes it the nights just as deadly. So merchants on either sides sell foods and spice blends that use both, instructing to use the Chilly during the day and the Chilli at night, and to never mix up the two!

This pair of devious ingredients makes up one entry on this table. There are other excellent ingredients out there, like the Boompepper which is talked about here. If you are looking to add a little variety to your cooking, I highly recommend checking this out on the Runic Press Patreon. This serves as a place for our group to give you little tastes of what we have cooking behind the scenes. All posts start off as exclusive to our patrons, but eventually become free to the public. If you are curious, why don’t you try supporting us and see what we offer?