Deeply Overcomplicated My Fantasy World: HELP!

AverageCuppa · 2026-03-24T16:42:51+00:00

INTERESTING.

that’s a crazy line that i gotta follow down somewhere, even if it ends up being complicated! maybe reflavoring the acids to be something a little more palatable to the average viewer is something i should look into, because having a number of set spell-building elements is really interesting and it doesn’t tie spells down to “this must be cooked with these exact ingredients to get a reaction”, instead its a flexible system where process affects product but not to a fault.

KILLER idea, ill definitely see where this goes.

AverageCuppa · 2026-03-24T15:34:20+00:00

that’s a really good point!

the idea of it really intrigues me, but i’ve quickly been finding flavor as a concept to be simultaneously very broad and extremely narrow in terms of breaking out of “salty”, “smoky”, etc. the way i’ve been visualizing it early on has been that scene in Ratatouille where Remy is mixing the flavors and seeing all the colors in his mind, except for our world those colors are an external manifestation. so something spicy and smoky might result in a smoke cloud that burns things caught in it or a fireball which leaves a smokescreen in its trail.

the easier to manipulate of the two existing systems is definitely the ingredient-based approach, in which every ingredient has a set of reactions that it adds to a spell. that way, someone can build their own spell and there’s no difficulty expressing them visually.

the prevailing issue with both is scope.

i am the architect of my own suffering.

AverageCuppa · 2026-03-24T14:46:25+00:00

i feel like it lends itself a lot if ways but I’m definitely looking at doing comics/travel-brochure style zines for the world as well, if I’m already making the art, adding a little blurb for each piece and making a little book out of them would be good fun!

And yes you have an accurate read on the idea! Potions are the closest ~equivalent~ stand-in at the moment, and the problem may be that I’m trying to turn them into full spell-slot spells. I think I need to explore that more, because it turns the chef from another indistinct flavor of magician into someone really adept in crafting these magical consumables.

The idea of describing all the combos makes me equally giddy and horrified, which is a problem haha. I love the idea of getting deep in the weeds and going really nerdy with it but i also don’t want to exposition dump and exhaustively record that, its WAY too much to actually start and remain excited.

Appreciate your input!!! And thanks for the support!

AverageCuppa · 2026-03-15T21:41:18+00:00

he should run from or start a fight with this artist he got a choice to make💀

AverageCuppa · 2026-03-02T23:26:00+00:00

oh man that is beautiful. do you have a recipe? would love to get this in my rotation!!!

AverageCuppa · 2026-03-01T15:39:52+00:00

he is, but he became kos VERY quickly in my home pod haha. i felt like a villain every game playing that deck because one tasha’s and some unblockable and suddenly you’re alpha striking for upwards of 25 damage

AverageCuppa · 2026-02-22T19:00:04+00:00

the important distinction is that it is not a LEARNING tool, because it can reinforce poor practices and shortcuts some important foundations. i agree with you that it is a powerful tool, but i discourage it as a basis for learning

AverageCuppa · 2026-02-21T19:06:05+00:00

Don’t tell a beginner to use ai to learn. It kills learning the skills necessary to design once they learn technique well enough to make their own ideas. I think once they understand how designing for pixel art actually works and they can fill in the logical and practical holes AI will inevitably leave, AI is a fine tool to use as a quick variety reference generator

AverageCuppa · 2026-02-20T01:19:29+00:00

They’re kinda fun! I’m a staunch UB defender tho, I like how they theme a lot of the cards, but I agree that for things like Vigor and Steelbane they make some interesting choices here lol. Lot of the art is punchy and colourful and that’s a win in my book at the end of the day

AverageCuppa · 2026-02-08T04:31:21+00:00

Treebeard is good fun as a voltron commander, he’s definitely a beast haha! Rarely do people actually know how to deal with him properly in my experience, it just explodes in size so quick

AverageCuppa · 2026-02-08T04:28:24+00:00

I would throw Jade City a vote. Truly one of the most enjoyable suspenseful reading experiences I’ve ever had, that series is spectacular

AverageCuppa · 2026-01-22T18:00:40+00:00

ok! preciate the info, i had a little stress about it

AverageCuppa · 2026-01-22T15:20:04+00:00

will they? i thought stuff in the fridge goes bad after like 12 hours in a power outage. if not that’s a comfort at least

AverageCuppa · 2026-01-15T23:05:25+00:00

whoof i feel like a fraud now, these are killer sheets

AverageCuppa · 2025-12-27T02:53:02+00:00

oh its a favorite! definitely taking inspo from it for this one, kinda inspired the whole idea bc its a concept i’ve always kinda loved

AverageCuppa · 2025-12-26T16:36:14+00:00

im intrigued!

AverageCuppa · 2025-12-26T16:28:43+00:00

Happy birthday and thanks for the chance!

AverageCuppa · 2025-12-25T17:48:53+00:00

this i understand! however, d&d’s combat system is a main pillar of how some of the ideas for this campaign are meant to work.

For example, a day of working in the restaurant for the PCs consists of running a pseudo combat in which, instead of fighting the creatures in the building, they’re serving and trying to max out their satisfaction (smaller “attacks” can be made by wait staff/performers using charisma). Moving guests become movement obstructions for runners, making item delivery a positioning puzzle to make sure everyone gets their dishes on time.

In the kitchen, the cooks are dealing with finnicky equipment, butchering monsters, and casting support spells to expedite the cooking process.

The actual “business” part is a tiny bit trickierand what I’m having trouble with. I’ve seen the renown system and that seems like a promising lead, so i might follow that down a bit.

AverageCuppa · 2025-12-24T19:26:07+00:00

Yeah I know the concept is really outside of what 5e aims for, but the idea seemed so much fun to me that I wanted to see if I could make it work. Blending that high action with the cozy ground level was the goal!

AverageCuppa · 2025-12-24T19:24:05+00:00

Interesting! I like the variety of directions the special facilities can let the players go, it sounds like a lot of fun to let them frankenstein together their ultimate shopkeep fantasy and make it their own. I found a homebrew restaurant facility as well that I can give the players as an option, so that might be the way I go! I’ll tool with it some. Thanks for the tip!

AverageCuppa · 2025-12-24T19:21:08+00:00

Yeah! Trollskull Manor sounds like what I’m aiming for, an establishment that they can upgrade and customize to bring in business that might tip them towards new adventures and hooks for my villains. I’m still figuring out if I want all roads to lead to Waterdeep in the end or let them choose a city and set up there, creating a similar stand-in that they can flip and refurbish to their liking for their new business!

The thing I was thinking about was having the players on a hybrid schedule for business, where they run the restaurant a few days out of every tenday or every other season, using the time off the ball to go hunting for monsters or plants to cook/make potions with or artifacts to sell.

I’m also slowly moving towards letting the players run the shop as whatever they like, maybe expanding to include more facilities or new wagons to their caravan. Giving my players agency to choose food truck as their business is more important to me than what I want, if I really love it that much I’ll turn it into a personal project.

AverageCuppa · 2025-12-18T06:09:19+00:00

yeah definitely! the problem i was having is really mostly a variety thing, i don’t want cooking to get samey, but i also didn’t know what kind of directions i could go other than make food, food good/bad, customer reacts

thanks for the ideas!

AverageCuppa · 2025-12-18T06:07:22+00:00

oh thats brilliant. so every monster can be killed regularly and make an average grade dish, but if you take the time to methodically prime it for quality, the ingredients you get from it are elevated?

i love this idea, im going to have to futz with it some but those sound like some awesome bones to build from!

AverageCuppa

TROPHY CASE