On Dragons, Dungeons, and Dinner Parties

I can only sorta cook. I can follow the recipes just fine, Google substitutions when my cupboard does not provide, and reliably under-brown onions. For most of my life, I really only cooked because (people claim) a person cannot survive on a diet composed solely of popcorn and French fries. However, in the last few years, I’ve found more and more joy in the preparation and serving of food. 

This all relates back to role playing, I promise.  

You see, by some lucky happenstance, I have found myself surrounded by friends and loved ones who are enamored with the intricacies of cooking. From amateur dabblers to full-on gastro-engineers, my friends know the ins and outs of a kitchen the way some people can dissect the perfect combination of multiclassing builds for ultimate damage output in popular d20-based RPGs. 

Truly more proficient than I could ever hope to be wearing an apron, these friends love making food and sharing the things they made with others. They’re good at it – great, I would say, but I’m biased. 

Cooking is their love language; they express it by gathering their friends together and hosting the Most Adult™ of all Adult social gatherings – dinner parties. 

One day, while prepping the next session for one of my ongoing campaigns with an episode of Master Chef on in the background, it occurred to me that there are a lot of similarities between hosting a dinner party and running a TTRPG session, and examining one can tell us a lot about the other...