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Last night my wife helped me give our group a unique gaming experience. We left off last week just before the start of the banquet. As the first course was announced my wife entered to serve the players with a representation of what their characters were eating in game. I also made a ruling that if the player wanted his character to eat each course, the player had to eat also. If the character wanted to skip the course the player was still welcome to dig in. Waiting for each course to end in the real world made for good pacing in game. My wife's character accepted Mariss Quemp's marriage proposal just before dinner. Quemp made the glorious annoucement at the end of the fourth course that the wedding would take place the next day in the temple of Hextor.
I thought I would share the recipes my wife concocted for each course. Being a graduate of Johnson & Wales Culinary Institute came to great use. A true chef making slimy green worms - priceless!
~laughter~ Oh, man! That is definatly priceless! I give both you and your wife kudos for that one!
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I think this is great. My players would love this type of scenario. It's right up their alley. Unfortunately, I am lacking the disposable income to arrange for such an elaborate feast, and I would feel bad substituting, say, the pizza for the Stuffed Tojanda. Oh, well my group's still a good ways away from Prince of Redhand, so I won't say it's out of the question at this point.
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First Course: The Feast of Worms
8 oz vegetagle cream cheese
8 oz chive and onion cream cheese
8 oz shredded mozzarella
Cooking spray
1 sheet of puff pastry or tub of crossaint dough
1 egg
4 to 5 drops of green food coloring
Tbsp water
Bring cream cheeses to room temperature. Mix cream cheeses with mozarella. Place mixture in pastry bag or ziplock bag with one corner cut out. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray. Pipe cheese mixture out of bag into 3 inch long tube-shaped strips. Place cookie sheet with cheese mixture into freezer until the cheese mixture is solid. Wrap frozen cheese mixture tubes with dough.
Mix egg, food coloring and water to create egg mixture. Brush egg mixture over pastry crusts. Bake "green worms" according to the type of dough used. Puff pastry should be baked at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until heated through. Croissant dough should be baked at 375 degrees for 15-25 minutes or until heated through.
They won't writhe, but if cooked long enough they should ooze nicely.
I think this is great. My players would love this type of scenario. It's right up their alley. Unfortunately, I am lacking the disposable income to arrange for such an elaborate feast, and I would feel bad substituting, say, the pizza for the Stuffed Tojanda. Oh, well my group's still a good ways away from Prince of Redhand, so I won't say it's out of the question at this point.
So are we. So my wife used some pretty cheap common stuff. Although we do have a well-stocked spice rack, so if you don't have those it can get a bit more expensive.
Funny enough, the Tojbassarirge was probably the cheapest thing to make.
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Second Course: Four and Twenty Blackbirds
4 refrigerated pie crusts
2 lbs chicken breasts baked and cubed
3 10.5 oz cans of cream of chicken soup
2 10.5 oz cans of cream of mushroom soup
1 10.5 oz can of cream of celery soup
1 10.5 oz can of cream of broccoli soup
2 lb bag of mixed vegetables
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp marjoram
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
Leftover pastry dough from first course
Yellow food coloring
In a large bowl combine chicken, mixed vegetables, soups and seasonings. Mix well and set aside. Use two pie crusts to cover the bottom and sides of a 9x13 baking pan or very large casserole dish. Pour combined ingredients over crust. Use the other 2 pie crusts to cover and pinch top and bottom pie crusts together at the edges. Cut 1/2 inch vents in the top crust. Use leftover pastry dough from the first course with yellow food coloring to create beak-shaped decorations and place on top of pie. Bake at 375 degrees for 40-50 minutes until golden brown and heated through.
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Third Course: Tojbassarirge
1 Tamale
2 packages of cheap chicken deli slices
1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup of uncooked crushed lasagna noodles
1/2 walnuts (or any nuts) crushed
1 sheet of puff pastry
Green food coloring
Blue food coloring
1 egg, beaten
1 Tbsp water
Wrap the tamale with deli chicken. Mix the crushed noodles and nuts into the ground beef. Wrap the ground beef mixture around the chicken/tamale in an oval shape. Wrap that in puff pastry. Combine food colorings, egg and water. Brush egg mixture over pastry shell. Bake at 400 degrees for 40-50 minutes.
The only failure here was that the guys actually liked eating this. I had hoped it would be grosser. The guys suggested various potted meats (deviled ham, spam, etc) while I suggested seasonings that didn't mesh well. Someone even suggested pumpkin pie spice.
Third Course: Tojbassarirge
I had a similar idea, though I wasn't going for 'gross' but just fun food. My plan includes sour gummy worms, a chicken pot pie, and a Turducken. Turducken is a chicken in a duck in a turkey. There are many recipies for it on the web. Here is one example.
http://www.thesalmons.org/lynn/turducken.html
-BS
This is absolutely awesome...
Strangely enough, this is taken from the first draft of the adventure:
'Run this part in whatever way will make your players squirm like the worm they are about to eat – you could demand a Fortitude save if you wish, but remember the heroes are very tough now – maybe going round them individually and describing the worm as they eat it will be enough. (Dungeon writer Steve Greer for example would no-doubt have some form of edible handout for his players at this point…).
Anyone who doesn’t eat the worm will have offended the Prince.'
I once did a similar thing with a MERP adventure where I had a big pile of cakes as a handout and watched the greedy players (who were all hobbits) tucking in, whilst happily noting who was eating the eckles cake which, in the adventure, was of course poisoned.
And cudos to your wife for being such a good sport!
Rich
I hope that my wife will be as willing to help out as yours. I can hear it now: "WHAT is this supposed to be again...?" Heheh. Thank you for sharing these interesting recipes.
My wife had incentive. She plays in our group. I hand out XP bonuses to players that update the campaign blog each week. So I told her that if she could pull off this dinner I would give her the equivalent of the blog XP reward for each course she completed.
Third Course: Tojbassarirge
I had a similar idea, though I wasn't going for 'gross' but just fun food. My plan includes sour gummy worms, a chicken pot pie, and a Turducken. Turducken is a chicken in a duck in a turkey. There are many recipies for it on the web. Here is one example.
http://www.thesalmons.org/lynn/turducken.html
-BS
Her's turned out pretty gross looking, but tasted pretty good. I wanted it to be grosser to fit the story and make a Fear Factor moment for our game. Oh well.
I plan to post the last two recipes when I have time at home.
This is absolutely awesome...
Strangely enough, this is taken from the first draft of the adventure:
'Run this part in whatever way will make your players squirm like the worm they are about to eat – you could demand a Fortitude save if you wish, but remember the heroes are very tough now – maybe going round them individually and describing the worm as they eat it will be enough. (Dungeon writer Steve Greer for example would no-doubt have some form of edible handout for his players at this point…).
Anyone who doesn’t eat the worm will have offended the Prince.'
I once did a similar thing with a MERP adventure where I had a big pile of cakes as a handout and watched the greedy players (who were all hobbits) tucking in, whilst happily noting who was eating the eckles cake which, in the adventure, was of course poisoned.
And cudos to your wife for being such a good sport!
Rich
The green worm was the best. One character refused to eat it as did the player. Another character refused to eat but the player dug it for a bite or two, until I described exactly what they were being served. He put his fork down and refused to eat anymore as he was grossed out by the description of the worm. The cleric of Wee Jas in our group used death touch to kill the worm before she would eat it.
Unfortunately the party ruined all the poisoning fun Zeech ordered as they had eaten an extended heroes' feast that morning.
This is absolutely awesome...
Strangely enough, this is taken from the first draft of the adventure:
'Run this part in whatever way will make your players squirm like the worm they are about to eat – you could demand a Fortitude save if you wish, but remember the heroes are very tough now – maybe going round them individually and describing the worm as they eat it will be enough. (Dungeon writer Steve Greer for example would no-doubt have some form of edible handout for his players at this point…).
Anyone who doesn’t eat the worm will have offended the Prince.'
I once did a similar thing with a MERP adventure where I had a big pile of cakes as a handout and watched the greedy players (who were all hobbits) tucking in, whilst happily noting who was eating the eckles cake which, in the adventure, was of course poisoned.
And cudos to your wife for being such a good sport!
Rich
The green worm was the best. One character refused to eat it as did the player. Another character refused to eat but the player dug it for a bite or two, until I described exactly what they were being served. He put his fork down and refused to eat anymore as he was grossed out by the description of the worm. The cleric of Wee Jas in our group used death touch to kill the worm before she would eat it.
Unfortunately the party ruined all the poisoning fun Zeech ordered as they had eaten an extended heroes' feast that morning.
This sounds like an incredibly fun group to play with:) I love the concept of having a heroes feast for breakfast - there must be a whole adventure in that concept somewhere...
Almost forgot...
My wife wanted me to point out that the recipes in this thread are meant to serve 10, half of which are big eaters. So you can cut any of these recipes down based on the size of your group. Most groups could probably cut these recipes in half.
My wife's two sisters were so intrigued by the dinner that they showed up to play the parts of Miszen Mitchwillow and V'juss during dinner.
I hand out XP bonuses to players that update the campaign blog each week. So I told her that if she could pull off this dinner I would give her the equivalent of the blog XP reward for each course she completed.
I know this is a bit off topic, but... Vyvyan, I have been toying with the idea of giving out xp for summaries, blogs, etc, for our AoW campaign. Just out of curiosity, how much XP do you give? Does it change at higher levels?
I hand out XP bonuses to players that update the campaign blog each week. So I told her that if she could pull off this dinner I would give her the equivalent of the blog XP reward for each course she completed.I know this is a bit off topic, but... Vyvyan, I have been toying with the idea of giving out xp for summaries, blogs, etc, for our AoW campaign. Just out of curiosity, how much XP do you give? Does it change at higher levels?
I give a 10% bonus the session following the contribution.
Fourth Course: Purple Worm Aspic
3 small packages of grape gelatin
4 four ounce containers of grape applesauce (we used Musselman's)
4 cups boiling water
1/2 cup miniature marshmallows
Bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add marshmallows and stir until melted. Stir in the gelatin until dissolved. Take off of heat and add grape applesauce. Stir well. Pour into clear container and chill until set.
This one was pretty gross. I'm not a big fan of applesauce anyway, but the combined textures of gelatin and applesauce bound together with marshmallows was...odd. We also discovered one of the guys has a "thing" about Jello. He had to leave the room as just the sight of the shuddering purple mass on his plate was making him ill.
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Fifth Course: Sweet Conclusion
2 packages of spiced cake mix
1 lb butter
2 lb powdered sugar
Red, yellow and blue food coloring
Slivered almonds
Honey
Bake cakes according to packages. Cut cakes into different sizes to form the ziggerat.
Beat the butter until smooth. Slowly mix in powdered sugar. Continue until mixed through. Use 8 drops red, 6 drops yellow and 10 drops blue to color frosting a brownish-red. Adjust color with additional drops until you get the exact color you wish.
Frost the cake bottom to top. Sprinkle slivered almonds over cake. Drizzle honey over cake as desired.
We didn't smash this cake, nor was it 8 feet tall. But this was really good.
This is simply brilliant. I am going to try this on my group when they get to this part of the AoW. OF course, knowing them, they'll just draw steel and try to fight their way out *sigh*
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This sounds like an incredibly fun group to play with:) I love the concept of having a heroes feast for breakfast - there must be a whole adventure in that concept somewhere...
House Ghallandra, the li'l halfling hostelers from Eberron, offer hero's feasts as one of their services. I've always imagined ther serving of them with much the same flourish as Lumiere and company during "Be Our Guest", heheh.
This is an excellent thread, and my players will hate all of you!
Prince of Redhand is next up this Friday and/or Saturday night. Although I will not get as elaborate as a full-fledged five-course meal, I will go to the local supermarket and pick up some food items that are barely edible for my players to eat, representative of the food the PCs will eat.
Peppered gummi-worms, chili-prunes, etc.
We'll know Vyvyan has invented a whole new sub-type of role-playing when recipe inserts start apearing in Dungeon - Hoorah!
Great fun everyone, do tell how the feasts go!
Rich
We'll know Vyvyan has invented a whole new sub-type of role-playing when recipe inserts start apearing in Dungeon - Hoorah!
Great fun everyone, do tell how the feasts go!
Rich
Maybe they'll pick these up for the hardcover.
I love the concept of having a heroes feast for breakfast - there must be a whole adventure in that concept somewhere...
Wheaties, the breakfast of champions!
Seriously, though, I thought this was a standard tactic for high-level play. My party did this throughout Greg Vaughan's Istivin arc (yes, much as you'll hate me for it, we enjoyed it greatly), even though it took a big chunk of the cleric's high-level arsenal every day. After all, it doesn't make much sense tactically to eat a Hero's Feast for supper, after you're done fighting for the day, much as a little ambrosia might go down smoothly after a hard day in the dungeon.
Damn this sounds cool.
I don't cook, though, nor does anyone in my group (I think), & we play on a university campus & thus have no place to cook.
Aside from gummy worms, anyone have any ideas on uncooked foods/snacks that could suffice?
Y'know, even though I don't cook, I'm considering finding some way of doing this anyway, just because it'd be something my players (& I) would never forget.
Yesterday, during an all-day Labor Day marathon AoW session, my party went to Zeech's feast, and I also cooked a big meal for the players the mirror the feast. Some of my ideas were similar to the ones in this thread, but one was different. We did the cheese & croissants and the chicken pot pies as suggested here, but for the tojbassarrirge we made something a little different.
First, we pounded out a turkey breast until it was flat and thing. We then spread a layer of mashed potatos over the top of that. Then, we pounded out a chicken breast to lay on as the next layer. Next, we made a spinach-parmesan puree that we then spread thinly over the chicken breast. We took the whole thing and wrapped it up around a smokes sausage, seared it, then baked it. It was out of this world. It was kind of like a turducken, but with extra layers. SO good.
We did the grape Jell-O and the ziggurat cake as well, and the whole thing was a big hit. We made two pot pies, so I am having leftovers of that and cake for dinner tonight. Yum!
I actually did almost all of the cooking myself, with a little aid and advice from my girlfriend (who is a chef at a local fine dining restaurant). Man, this couldn't have gone better!
I am running the feast in two weeks. One of my players has offered to help with the cooking. The trick is to have her fix the items that won't give a way any of the shock value. I assigned her the 4 & 20 blackbirds and sweet conclusion. When I present my offerings she will be just as repulsed as everyone else!
Incredible thread!!
As a full time chef, part time DM, these recipes are excellent!!! (more elaborate than what I was going to do; green gummi worms, pot-pies topped with toasted Bugles(beaks), wrapped deli slices and purple jello were what I was going to use since I have about 1/2 hour before gametime to prep) I was just pondering what I was going to serve my players, and if I had the time to prepare the aforementioned recipes would do so. Its always refreshing to know there are DMs out there who pull out all the stops!Thanks for the recipes!!! (I might end up using some of these anyways!! Again, well done!)
We're getting ready to start Prince of Redhand in a couple of weeks, and I'm planning to use most of the recipes above. (When I was at GenCon, I made a point of mentioning to James Jacobs that if/when they make an Age of Worms Hardback, these recipes should be included.)
For the Tobassarrirge, I'm going for repulsive. The current plan is: chopped up summer sausage mixed with liverwurst for the innermost layer, surrounded by honey chicken slices (probably extra-sweet with some sort of honey glaze), surrounded by hamburger meat with sunflower seeds (for unpleasant crunchiness) and a few french-cut green beans (for unpleasant mushy green veining), all surrounded by lemon-dill-sprinkled tilapia fillets and then the outermost pastry crust. I'm a bit afraid that the hamburger and fish might not cook properly, so we might actually make a test-batch next week just to see how it comes out.
We're getting ready to start Prince of Redhand in a couple of weeks, and I'm planning to use most of the recipes above. (When I was at GenCon, I made a point of mentioning to James Jacobs that if/when they make an Age of Worms Hardback, these recipes should be included.)
Thanks! My wife will be ecstatic when I tell her you did this.
Well, my group had their turn at Zeech's table tonight and had a blast! The entire meal looked SO ODD! The second course was very tasty while the third was met with more than a bit of dread. The aspic had a good flavor but a texture that was a bit off-putting. By farming out the first, second & fifth courses out to my players, I was able to cut down on the work and still offer the shock of the other two. The guy who made the worms had fun crafting just the right shade of green. The cake looked so cool; it even had ramps spiraling aound the levels!
We're getting ready to start Prince of Redhand in a couple of weeks, and I'm planning to use most of the recipes above. (When I was at GenCon, I made a point of mentioning to James Jacobs that if/when they make an Age of Worms Hardback, these recipes should be included.)Thanks! My wife will be ecstatic when I tell her you did this.
My daughter is a freshman and Johnson and Wales here in north Miami. She got a kick out of this thread.