Monthly Archives: December 2011

Convention Schedule

Here’s a schedule of upcoming conventions (note: we can’t make all of them). Look up these dates on the events schedule for more information.

Culinary RP

Some of you may know that my big career was as a chef (well chef was in the title!). Food is a major part of life, and I try to incorporate it into my games, whether it be the soul-nourishing soup fed to the character as he convalesces or the morale-destroying iron rations he’s forced to eat in the dungeons. Food deserves more than a cursory mention when the stalwart adventurers are attending the Duke’s wedding ceremony! In the spirit of exploring this idea I’ve added a new category and tag to the site.

» The RP Ideas category will house quick posts on role playing ideas for your games, for both player and GM.

» The Culinary RP tag will offer some ideas on how to incorporate food and culinary ideas into your game play.

Fish Sauces

One of the easiest ways to evoke a sense of place and thereby immerse your players in a narrative is through food. Food is all pervasive in society, flavors are common threads which are woven into the fabric of a culture; indeed, society developed in order to enhance and protect food supplies. Unless the foodstuffs of your world are utterly unique and fantastic (perhaps the player character races lack or have tastes beyond the basic five – sweet, bitter, salty, sour, and umami) the one thing I can guarantee is that all your players can relate to the smell of red meat roasting on a spit.

Whether it be street-food, peasant’s pottage, or high cuisine food has for as long as anyone can reckon used sauces and condiments to enhance basic food products. Every culture on Earth, past or present, has had fish sauce. The Mediterranean had garum; Southeast Asia has nuoc mam, nam pla, prahoc, and ngan byar yay; Western civilization has Worcestshire sauce.

how fish sauce is made

Unfermented or lightly fermented fish sauce, if not used as a quick stock, is essentially boiled and reduced to a syrupy consistency. The fermented variety is quite a bit more special:

  • The viscera and entrails of one or several species of fish or shellfish are packed in a brine and, left undisturbed in a very warm location, allowed to liquify over the course of months (the salt absorbs the moisture and restricts the growth of harmful organisms);
  • The liquid is either siphoned off the top or allowed to drain through the bottom so as not to disturb the solids;
  • In the last stages, lime or other citrus juices are added;
  • In a game world, each clan or guild would use it’s own jealously guarded recipe of fish species, herbs, and spices.

describing fish sauces

  • The length of the fermentation process determines how fishy the finished product tastes;
  • The sauce is always salty to some degree and, in humans, does activate the sweet receptors on the tongue;
  • The main taste of fish sauces is nearly always umami – often described as savory. Because umami, like salt, activates all the taste buds (on the human tongue) it creates a brothy feel which gives otherwise texturally challenged foods a more pleasant ‘mouth feel.’
  • When used on vegetables or in pottages it imparts the satisfying sensation of a meat-product

culinary uses

  • As a dipping sauce (either undiluted or blended) for various types of proteins and vegetables (usually not red meat of poultry)
  • As flavoring agent for stocks, soups, and pottages
  • As background flavor (umami) for sauces and marinade
  • As a way to fortify the nutritional value of dishes (important, though perhaps not fully realized by ancient and classical cultures)

Our New Look

I’ve changed a few things around, tightened up the page directory a bit, and (obviously) changed the look (and feel) of KoDa Games. We now have some content and I was able to choose a theme that would highlight our features – short, punchy posts and longer, in-depth pages. Here are some tips to help new users:

posts

  • You can print, email, or share a post using the icons below each, after the text.
  • Use the drop-down menu in the sidebar to select a particular category to browse ;  if you find a post interesting, you can browse other posts in its category or similarly tagged items using those links below each post.
  • Be sure to leave a comment by clicking the link at the top of each post.
  • Using the search box you can query by keyword, or you can search the archives by month.

pages

  • Across the header is a vertical list of our features.
  • Record sheets are located in the Campaigns department.
  • Select an article to read by clicking (or hovering) over one of the departments.
  • You can share and leave comments in the same manner as posts.

events

  • The events page contains a calendar of events, mostly convention events.
  • Check our convention sticky frequently. Using the dates listed you can navigate the calendar to find which events we’ll be attending and what games we’ll be running.
  • The agenda view will breakdown the day for you.
  • You may print or copy the event to your own Google calendar.

Joyous Erastide

Merry Christmas

Happy Chanukah

Sweet Solstice

May to whichever God or Nature you appeal smile down upon you and bring to you much joy.

(Bonus points if you got the reference in the title.)

Oops

A thousand apologies for my mess.

Some of you may have received a flood of posts directing you to the download pages for our collection of character record sheets. This was a very poor way of featuring our CRS library – I can only say I thought the result would be cooler than it is, and I am in the process of deleting all those posts.

The better method, which I am now employing, is simply to create a page linking to each of the character sheets. Please find this in the top bar under in the Campaigns Section, and find it in your hearts to forgive me.

-Konnel

New Orleans ComicCon

I have learned but two things in my time here on the planet:

  1. Never let yourself get out of shape, and
  2. If the 2-week old pizza in the fridge smells bad, it probably is.

OK, that one is self-evident – my sub is:

  1. If you step away from a hobby, always keep channels open

I didn’t even realize we had a ComicCon in N.O. yet here it is…

NEW ORLEANS COMIC CON JANUARY 28-29, 2012 SAT-SUN New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center!

The guests I’m most interested in:

and among the others a couple of guys I’ve never heard of (I had to look them up on wikipedia):

$45 at the door is a bargain (not including the $195 for fracking instruction in Jedi light saber!!!); sadly, I probably won’t be able to make it. But if you are, snag me Adam Baldwin’s autograph – I’ll post you a still off Full Metal Jacket.

World of Hurt (Zombiepocalypse) (end theme)

This heroic, action-packed storyline is essentially a hack-n-slash campaign vs. a horde of zombies using the CHILL Role Playing Game.

World of Hurt (Zombiepocalypse) (end theme) is a meta-theme – there are many concurrent, localized scenarios playing out, each following the (remix) theme e.g.:

  • World of Hurt (Zombiepocalypse) (end theme) (tyler’s calypso burn)
  • World of Hurt (Zombiepocalypse) (end theme) (ska’ll eat yer face)
  • World of Hurt (Zombiepocalypse) (end theme) (livingdədgrrl’s buddha-maker boingboing)

Look for our gaming table at CoastCon XXXV (March 16-18, 2012)!

[read more]