Hey everyone! Hope everyone is doing well :)
Recently I've been working on my own campaign and I wanted to do some interesting stuff for a (running cliche) festival in the beginning. I was wanting to actually attempt at making a cook-off/cooking contest, but wanted something more creative than "Do a Profession:Chef/Craft:Cooking check". I was thinking a possible point system where a check might add a couple of points, or deduct, if they fail really badly. And maybe make a few different judges be of different races, nationalities, and enjoy different tastes to maybe effect how the food is judged. Something that really includes a bunch of stuff about cooking :)
Has anyone out there tried anything interesting like this or custom rules that worked well for a more complicated cook-off? I just don't want it to be one of those carnivals of skill checks, as it were. Though I don't mind involving them on occasion, I don't want it to be the pure focus. So just curious on others' experiences :)
Thanks for the time and attention :D
Profession cook and or maybe craft alchemical? contested roll whoever rolls highest wins that round.
have 3 judges or whatever Give them "Taste modifiers"
Judge 1 likes sweet foods so sweet foods have +2 for that judge overall.
judge two loved orc quizine but hates spicey stuff. +2 orc dish +2 for spicy dich.
so on and so forth.
Three checks for three courses. Mitigates the problem of one bad roll ruining things. Allow some other rolls to grant circumstance bonuses, such as Kn local to know favorite dishes of the region, perform or diplomacy to entertain the judges(maybe), appraise to get the finest ingredients, sense motive to play to the judges, etc. Maybe each contestant rolls the extra skill once, highest gets the +2.
So maybe a roll of a few different skill checks? That could work. Was trying to think if there's any other active things the PCs could do to alter the outcome (I don't really mean through some form of cheating or anything, though with an evil character, that wouldn't be unheard of).
I mean if there's anything... well, the appraise thing works actually! If they go to the market or something and actively appraise veggies to find good quality ones or something. :) Not a bad idea.
You could always do the cooking contest as a modified "chase" with the finish line being the best possible meal.
Example obstacles...
The main ingredient is trying to crawl away!
- Spear it with your knife! (Melee Attack DC 15)
- Coax it into the pot (Handle Animal DC 12)
You're losing the audience
- Juggle and joke (Perform (any) DC 15)
- Dazzle them with your skills (Craft (Cooking) DC 20)
The Gordon Ramsey effect
- Outshout the jerk (Intimidate DC 15)
- Tune the jackass out (Will Save DC 15)
The secret's in the spices
- Harvested the spice yourself (Knowledge (Nature) DC 10)
- The perfect seasoning blend (Craft (Cooking) DC 15)
Onions always make me cry
- Luckily I know how to cut them just right (Craft (Cooking) DC 15)
- I can tough it out (Fortitude Save DC 10)
Getting a judge on my side
- A smile and a wink (Diplomacy DC 15)
- A scowl and a growl (Intimidate DC 15)
Quality ingredients are important
- I picked the best of the bunch (Appraise DC 15)
- Swiping them from the another chef (Sleight of Hand DC 12)
You have a few options to decide who won.
1. Whomever get to the finish line first wins.
2. When someone reaches the finish line the contest is over. Each chef makes a Craft (Cooking) check with a +1 bonus for each obstacle they overcame.
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You could even have something of a scavenger hunt for prime ingredients. Consider having the chef character (PC or otherwise) choose dishes, then figuring out what kind of ingredients they want. Prepare a pool of potential encounters that revolve around acquiring said ingredients.
Need mushrooms for that perfect soup? Looks like you can find it near a faerie circle (hopefully not as part of the circle...).
In fact, why not watch a few episodes of the anime "Toriko". Silly as it is, I imagine that cooking in a fantasy game could (and maybe should) be just like that.
I love those last two ideas. I might make it a fusion of a modified chase to actually cook it while adding in the scavenger hunt part, along with a list of bonus tasks to get bonus points in the cook-off, like using Knowledge Local to know how the best chefs in the city cook or what is a known local favourite. Stuff like that. :D Thanks everyone! I think I'll try and get to work on this.