Playing Dungeons & Dragons is nothing if not a social experience. You get together with your adventuring companions, and you laugh, you sweat, you cry, and you bond. And you probably eat. That is after all the meaning of the word "companion," the people you break bread with.
The recipes in this book are designed for D&D fans who want to grow their bond with their companions by sharing delicious dishes grounded in the D&D multiverse. While these recipes stand on their own merits, it's only natural that they might also serve to reward a hungry party who has just saved the day—or to energize one who is about to.
To help make your experience with this cookbook fit in with your gaming, here are a few ground rules and suggestions for making your adventure culinary.
Rule #1:
Support. If you are the Dungeon Master (DM), it might be best to leave the cooking to someone else. You are already doing all of the preparatory work for the adventure. Many DMs offer up their homes for play, and if you are hosting, you may feel responsible for keeping everyone else fed. So, players, show your thanks to the DM by volunteering to bring the food!
If your group plays at your friendly local game store, or some other public space that likely does not have a full kitchen, you should think ahead. You might find a fridge and a microwave there that can hold a few Tupperware containers, if you are lucky. Some dishes that you can prepare ahead of time that will transport well to a game include the Underdark Lotus with Fire Lichen Spread or Halfling Oatmeal Sweet Nibbles. If you know you have an oven for heating up food when you get there, then you might consider bringing Sword Coast Seafood Bouillabaisse or Chicken-Something Dumplings.
Don't forget that cooking and eating can both make a mess, but not all dishes are equally messy. Some recipes that don't require players to have their own plates and utensils include Iron Rations, Hand Pies, Bytopian Shepherd's Bread, and Fried Fingers. But wherever you are bringing the food, figure out how to deal with any leftovers, and how to avoid leaving a dish disaster in your wake.
One fun way to use this cookbook is to try to match the food your group eats with the adventure you are playing. Experiencing the cuisine of a particular region of the Forgotten Realms, for example, can help players and DMs alike get immersed in the setting.
Rule #2:
Plan. Plan serious meals for the beginning or end of a play session. If you are doing a real marathon, and you need to have a full meal in the middle, then take a break from the game. Some of the dishes in this cookbook, like Quith-pa and Delzoun "Tide-Me-Overs", make for good snacks around the table, but if you're laying out a multicourse cornucopia, you're going to need the table space. As a rule of thumb, if you need to have utensils and plates to eat, then set the dice and character sheets aside until you're done. You don't want to have to fish a d4 out of your Community Cheeses.
After all, there's nothing better than taking an hour after a D&D session to decompress with your friends over a refreshing dinner, chatting about the ups and downs of the adventure. These post-game sessions can actually make a big difference in your campaigns—it helps everyone to get on the same page about game events, and it may even lead to some inspirations for the next session. And if your session runs all night, there are some great breakfast options in this book, like the Stuffed Egg-Battered Toast.
There are a few ways to integrate eating into the play of D&D. If you know in advance that the party is going to attend a banquet, you can always arrange to have the meal ready for the players to enjoy in real-time as they roleplay their characters. This requires some coordination, but it can really bring the game world to life, along with a little mood lighting, music, and maybe even costumes.
But if you're going to build a meal into your D&D session, you probably aren't going to be able to make it from scratch during a quick break. Choose dishes where most of the preparatory work can be done before the session starts, where it will only take a few minutes to heat things up and get them on the table. Traveler's Stew and Potato Leek Soup are examples of good choices where you can do a lot of the work beforehand and then heat them up at the last minute. You definitely want to avoid trying to make something such as Pan-Fried Knucklehead Trout while you are in the middle of a play session, because if you get distracted and leave it cooking for too long (like a knucklehead), it could easily get ruined and the smell of this rare aquatic treat will no doubt linger until next week's session.
Rule #3:
Improvise. Every DM knows that sometimes you just have to wing it—that rules are guidelines, and that to keep up the flow of play you may have to do what seems right rather than leafing through rulebooks. Every chef knows the same rule: you have to work with what you've got, and sometimes that means taking a path different than the printed recipe. Most important, these recipes are intended to inspire your creativity. Once you have a sense for the palate of each of the cultures and regions, you can use that as a building block for developing your own recipes in the spirit of these guidelines. If your group takes a liking to recipes such as Elven Marruth, why not try making a variation that captures the spirit of elven cuisine by fusing it with a bit of pulled pork or bacon?
Once you get the hang of it, you can develop your own recipes. And if you are having trouble deciding between ingredients, remember that you are a D&D player—you can always roll for it! For example, you could assign tofu, chicken, pork, and beef each to a number on a d4. Give it a roll, and whatever number lands becomes the accompanying protein for those tasty Kara-Tur Noodles. But like any good DM, if the result of the die roll doesn't feel right, don't be afraid to exercise a little "divine intervention" and reroll. Sometimes it takes a die roll to tell you what your real preference would be.
Dine on!