My post yesterday was softening/prepping up the audience for this : Do adventurers ever have monster for dinner, not as guests but entrees?
Is eating a monster ever wise? Or is consumption of monsters a sign one is a monster themselves?
Is feasting on roast unicorn a mark of evil? What about troll kebab or Dragon chops?
In my campaigns consumption of other tool users and talkign beasts is generally considered taboo and unpleasant, maybe even evil but I wonder how it would really be for occupants of such a world.
Orcs and goblins are occasionally portrayed as cannibalistic, and I've played in many a campaign where they actively hunt other intelligent species making it pretty clear eating other folk is of course evil but where is the line?
If human where is the cut off on this spectrum: Hell Hound, Dragon, Blink Dog, Unicorn, Troll, Fairy, or Gnome? Are some of those actually dangerous to eat?
Hell Hounds if actually from the nether realms or the results of vile contamination may be entirely lethal to consumption of mortal men. It woudl surprise me at all that Draogns are inedible or only have small portions that are safe for men to eat many are infused with toxins and magical energies.
Blink dogs however should have flesh that is entirely edible but maybe their magical nature makes that risky but what of the moral connection? Unicorns are genrally seen as creatures of magic and beauty but physical and people do eat horses. Trolls in classical D&D are pretty horrible critters that regenerate, woudl their flesh be savory, would it be possible for normal meant to eat them at all? What of fairies that stand slightly apart half in this world half in another, is flattened fairy under glass palatable? What of the gnome they are tool using folk but distantly related to man (if related at all) is it socially inappropriate to dine on them because they are often seen as goodly folk, what if they are more distant or an evil species?
Gorgonmilk has similar ruminations and is looking for dungeon denizen dishes for the next issue of his 'zine.
ReplyDeletehttp://gorgonmilk.blogspot.com/2014/09/underworld-lore-divinations-of-issue-v.html?m=1
We tended to try eating monsters only in desperation, but it did happen. Your pinned down behind the spiked door, a dungeon level lower than you had intended to be and completely lost. Your mage needs to rest to regain the fireball to clear a path through the ravening gnoll horde, which stands between you and the staircase up you spotted in the corner of your eye during your head long flight from the Temple of Yeenoghu. The mage tries to sleep but the DM says his stomach is grumbling. The temptation to try hyena meat becomes overwhelming. There is also the theory of troll meat being a source of infinite rations, but having to smack your lunch sack every ten minutes with your warhammer is a bit of a pain.
ReplyDeleteIn the old DragonHalf rpg from Japan, EVERY monster has an edibility rating. This is in accordance with the manga/anime that inspired it, where most scenes of smacking down the big bad were followed by scenes of the heroes snacking down on the big bad...
ReplyDeleteI feel like a good Dungeon Dozen table on the effects of eating monster flesh might be in order, but these tables could serve the same purpose if needed:
ReplyDeletehttp://roll1d12.blogspot.com/2012/12/when-youre-starving-in-dungeon.html
http://roll1d12.blogspot.com/2012/09/so-you-ate-fruit-of-forbidden-bush-of.html
http://roll1d12.blogspot.com/2012/02/so-you-made-your-save-vs-poison.html
My party recently defeated a bunch of goblins, we decided the best course of action was to slow cook them.
ReplyDeleteRegenerating troll flesh can be a durable source of proteins. Don't forget it in the cellar for too long though. You might have a bad surprise when going for the bacon.
ReplyDeleteOn Friday night one of my party suggested snacking on the Giant Spider they'd killed. One of the other party members offered the opinion it might be poisonous. I don't really know much about spider-venom and where the spiders keep it, but the PC who was worried about poison had already hacked its face off, mandibles and all, so he could put it on his wall at home.
ReplyDeleteI seem to remember reading, back in the day (about 1983, in White Dwarf), the suggestion that frozen troll-meat might work as a trap, as once the party thaws/cooks it, it turns into a troll of course. Never actually used it as a trap, but if there are party-members that insist on trying to eat everything, yeah, why not?
My group eats Dragonsteak every chance they get, preserves as much of the rest as they can fit on the cart, and sells it to high-end restaurants when they get back to town. Not really sure exactly where the idea came from, but it's probably safe to blame the barbarian.
ReplyDeleteI wondered who was responsible.
Deletehttp://www.amazon.com/ThinkGeek-Canned-Dragon-Meat/dp/B00FAW08VE
This reminds me of roguelikes. Usually eating some monster could grant you some unusual power or immunity (or render you ill).
ReplyDelete@ JD:
ReplyDeleteIt's too easy to get food poisoning from goblins and botulism from (pig-faced) orcs. Even if you boil the hell out of otyugh, you never get the smell out of your cook pot.
In my games, you don't get XP for creatures that are edible (deer, rabbit, fish, etc,).
Who would even think of eating Otyugh? If someone suggested it and they had an INT or WIS above 6 on their character sheet I just might have to reduce the XP they earned that session.
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