Ingredient gathering during exploration using situation-based prompts.
← Back to: Exploration Card System
How to Use This Table
- Flip a Red card (Hearts ♥ or Diamonds ♦) → identifies the foraging situation
- Check the suit modifier → Hearts (easier/safer) or Diamonds (harder/riskier)
- Choose your approach → Determine which stat to use (Foraging, Combat, or Social)
- Roll d20 + stat bonus → Determine success level
- Roll yield dice + bonus → Determine how much you gathered (if successful)
→ Resolution system: Exploration Resolution - Ingredient Yield System → Character stats: Character Mechanics
Red Suits = Ingredients (Situation-Based)
Both Hearts and Diamonds represent ingredient gathering situations, not specific ingredient types. The suit determines the difficulty or context:
- Hearts ♥ - Easier access, safer approach, or favorable conditions
- Diamonds ♦ - Harder access, riskier approach, or challenging conditions
Key Design: Same situation prompt, different suit modifier creates variety while staying simple.
Card Prompts (Ace - 10)
Each prompt is genre-neutral and allows player imagination. The situation determines which stat(s) can be used.
| Card | ♥ Hearts / ♦ Diamonds | PROMPT | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ace | ♥ Hidden and untouched / ♦ Obvious and picked over | You spot signs of a hidden cache nearby. Someone went to great lengths to stash ingredients away from the main path. The condition of the cache depends on how well it was hidden. | Foraging |
| 2 | ♥ Docile and easy to catch / ♦ Quick and evasive, puts up a fight | Small game scurries ahead, oblivious to your presence. Setting a trap takes patience but could net you more meat. Hunting it down is faster and more direct, even if you end up with less. | Combat or Foraging |
| 3 | ♥ Low branches, easy to reach / ♦ High canopy, difficult to access | A tree heavy with ripe fruit stands before you. The question is how to reach it. You could carefully climb and pick the best ones, or shake the tree hard and gather what falls - though you might bruise the goods. | Foraging or Combat |
| 4 | ♥ Fish are jumping, easy to spot / ♦ Fish are deep or hard to catch | A promising fishing spot lies ahead. The water’s surface ripples with movement - or doesn’t. What swims below could be a quick catch or a test of patience. | Foraging or Combat |
| 5 | ♥ Growing in accessible location / ♦ Growing in dangerous/hard-to-reach area | The unmistakable scent of wild spices fills the air. Following your nose leads you to a patch of aromatic herbs - exactly what your dish needs. Getting to them is another matter entirely. | Foraging |
| 6 | ♥ Easy to negotiate, fair prices / ♦ Difficult to trade, expensive or stubborn | A local merchant has spread out their wares - fresh ingredients that would save you hours of foraging. The quality is obvious, but so is their awareness that you need what they’re selling. Time to see if they’re fair or opportunistic. | Social |
| 7 | ♥ Creature is docile and non-threatening / ♦ Creature is aggressive and dangerous | A large creature moves through the area ahead - enough meat to supply your whole kitchen. Its size makes it impressive, but also a real challenge. Reading its temperament will tell you whether to fight or negotiate. | Combat or Social |
| 8 | ♥ Recently abandoned, fresh supplies / ♦ Long abandoned, spoiled or picked over | You stumble upon an abandoned camp with supplies strewn about. Whoever camped here is long gone, but they left in haste. Usable ingredients might still be buried in the remnants. | Foraging |
| 9 | ♥ Unattended, free to search / ♦ Guarded by creature or trap | A sealed container sits ahead, the kind that might hold valuable ingredients. Getting to what’s inside could be as simple as lifting the lid - or you might need to deal with what’s guarding it first. | Foraging or Combat |
| 10 | ♥ Understanding owner, reasonable fee / ♦ Hostile owner, demands steep bribe or fight | You’ve found premium ingredients growing on someone’s property. The owner spots you eyeing their land and makes it clear nothing here is free. You’ll need to negotiate a fair price, pay their demanded toll, or find another way to convince them to part with what you need. | Social or Combat |
Multi-Stat Opportunities
Many situations allow multiple approach options:
If the first approach fails, try a different stat:
- Land owner: Host negotiates (Social fails) → Butcher intimidates (Combat succeeds)
- Fruit trees: Forager climbs (Foraging fails) → Butcher shakes tree (Combat succeeds)
Different approaches may yield different amounts:
- Combat to shake tree → Potentially more fruit (risky, loud)
- Foraging to climb carefully → Less fruit but safer (quiet, controlled)
Group decides who rolls based on:
- Who has the best stat for this approach
- Narrative fit (does it make sense?)
- Player preference and creativity
→ See Character Mechanics for group rolling rules
Ingredient Categories
When you successfully gather ingredients, they fall into generic categories:
- Proteins - Meat, fish, eggs, or protein-rich sources (from game, water, etc.)
- Vegetables - Leafy greens, roots, mushrooms (from foraging, camps, etc.)
- Fruits - Fresh fruits, berries, culinary fruits (from trees, bushes, etc.)
- Spices - Herbs, seasonings, flavor enhancers (from patches, trades, etc.)
Players imagine what these are based on genre:
- Fantasy: Dragon meat, enchanted mushrooms, phoenix eggs
- Sci-fi: Alien protein, synthetic vegetables, hydroponics
- Cartoon: Toon-logic meat, impossibly large vegetables
Track quantities simply: “3 proteins, 2 vegetables, 1 spice”
Yield System
→ See Exploration Resolution - Ingredient Yield System for complete details
Quick reference:
- Roll d20 + stat to determine success level
- On success, roll yield dice + bonus based on success tier
- Yield dice size increases with restaurant tier (d6 → d8 → d10 → d12)
Face Cards
Face cards (J/Q/K) use suit for difficulty tier, not ingredient type:
→ See Job System - Face Card Tier System for complete face card rules
- Jack = Merchant (Hearts easiest → Spades hardest)
- Queen = NPC Side Quest (Hearts easiest → Spades hardest)
- King = Boss Battle (Hearts easiest → Spades hardest)
Design Notes
Inspiration: Colostle’s situation-based prompts with binary suit modifiers
Why situation-based instead of ingredient types:
- Simpler tracking (“3 proteins” vs “2 dragon steaks, 1 phoenix egg”)
- Appropriate for 11-13 year old audience
- Genre-agnostic (player imagination fills in details)
- GM-less friendly (less record-keeping)
- Creates more opportunities for different stats to matter
Why multi-stat opportunities:
- More players get to roll in group play
- Specialists feel useful more often
- Failed attempts can lead to creative solutions
- Matches GM-less design (player choice, not GM arbitration)
Next steps:
- Playtest yield system balance
- Create complication/reward tables for Nat 1/Nat 20
- Design genre-specific example interpretations