THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO ALCOHOL FOR FANTASY ROLE-PLAYING GAMES THE BIGGEST, BEST, AND MOST POPULAR ROLE-PLAYING ACCESSORY ON THE NET If all be true that I do think, There are five reasons we should drink; Good wine - a friend - or being dry - Or lest we should be by and by - Or any other reason why. --- Henry Aldrich My manner of living is plain and I do not mean to be put out of it. A glass of wine and a bit of mutton are always ready. --- George Washington What harm in drinking can there be, Since punch and life so well agree. --- Blacklock Drunkenness is the vice of a good constitution, or of a bad memory! Of a constitution so treacherously good, that it never bends until it breaks; or of a memory that recollects the pleasures of getting drunk, but forgets the pains of getting sober. --- Colton A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and thou. --- Omar Khayyam He who drinks one glass of wine a day Will live to die some other way. --- Anon Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps. --- Deuteronomy 32:33 We made neere twentie gallons of wine. --- Capt. John Smith ----------------------------------------------------------------------- COPYRIGHT (C) 1996 All trademarks of products, company names, logos, phrases, service names, and/or slogans are trademarks of the respective companies, artists, and/or individuals, where applicable. The following guide is the property of its author, who hereby states that he retains the copyright except for where noted. You may distribute it at will, provided that nothing in the guide, this notice, or any of the credits are altered in any way; and that you do not make a profit from it. This document is not for sale and is made available for private game use only. *** DISCLAIMER *** All contents of this guide are presented for game purposes only. In no way is this guide intended to persuade people of any age to drink alcoholic beverages or to persuade people to reproduce fantasy creations in real life. The author of the guide does not condone the use of alcohol, especially for those under the legal age. Hopefully, information presented in this guide will educated on the dangers of alcohol. In fact, it would be preferred that people use this guide to allow thier fictitious characters to indulge in the use of alcohol in place of them. A character can be thrown in the trash, a person is a lot harder to dispose of. In no way will the author of this guide or the contributors of this guide be held responsible for other persons' actions. Advice oriented information is not to be taken as legal consultation or legal service, but as suggestions and examples of real- world or hypothetical models. Always consult a lawyer for legal and lawful guidance. The opinions and views contained in this guide reflect those of the individual authors. The opinions, content, and organization of this magazine are in no way connected with the faculty and staff of any educational institute where this guide was found. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS Initial Reactions To The Guide Preface Guide Game Mechanics The RPG Drinking Game Introduction To Alcohol Proficiency In Brewing Proficiency In Wine-Making Proficiency In Distilling Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Distilleries When The Still Explodes Effects Of Alcohol Recovery From Intoxication Stimulants for Recovering From Intoxication A More Sinister Side Of Drinking: Alcohol Addiction Alcoholic Diseases Crazy Drunk: A Look At Dipsomania Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Non-Weapon Skills Not A Typical Assortment Of Weapons Getting To Know Your Booze Spells With A Twist Of Lime Lohocla's Tome of Ultimate Chaos Popular & Strange Alcohols Amongst The Worlds Alcohol Drink Additives Extracts From the Net Poison Digest No Guide Is Complete Without Magic-Items (MAGIC-ITEM) La Bouteille Magique de Chandon (Chandon's Amazing Bottle) (MAGIC-ITEM) Dionysus's Chaotic Arrows (MAGIC-ITEM) The Mugs of Endless Refreshment (MONSTER) What A Cute Rodent (MONSTER) Hey Bartender, There's A Fish In My Drink (MONSTER) Have A Picnic With These Ants (MONSTER) The Best, The Beast (MONSTER) Woof, Woof, Hiccup (MONSTER) A Little Worm Can't Hurt (MONSTER) A Monk's Best Friend and a Life Saver: The Saint Bernard (MONSTER) I Think I Saw a Pink Elephant!!! (MONSTER) A Horse is a Horse of Course: The Clydesdales (MONSTER) What Just Flew in My Drink? An Alcohol Hummingbird (MONSTER) Yo-Ho-Ho and a Bottle of Rum, A New Sea-Side Skeleton (MONSTER) That Lich is a Luch (MONSTER) A Dragon With More Than A Drinking Problem The Guardian Of Alcohol Is A Leprechaun? The Mythos The Alcohol Deities Holy/Unholy Alcohol Alcohol Organizations Of All Sorts Revenuer: Fighter Kit Non-Player Characters & Their Work Taverns And Bars From Campaigns Taverns And Bars From Novels Story Time Glossary Drinking Songs Some Famous And Not So Famous Quotes On Wine Other Related Reading Materials Special Thanks UPDATED: 04/01/96 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- INITIAL REACTIONS TO THE GUIDE "NO THANKS." --- TSR's DRAGON magazine "It looks GREAT. You are to be commended on a really terrific job. You have outdone yourself. Enough cliches. I really liked it. Thanks." --- Mr. Blackheart "Great stuff. See ya round." --- Mr. Scott "...I think it is not big... it's GREAT." ---Mr. Fernando "I have several requests from our gaming (or gamey depending on how you look at it) group for your work. It's a hit...! Congrats...! --- Mr. Scott ----------------------------------------------------------------------- PREFACE In December '91, I began to make a small informative guide about alcohol based on discussions on the Internet. It was a small project that served the purposes of the time. In '92 I helped on other guides and they turned into nice guides. I hoped to create a great guide with more useful material than any guide of the past by re-working the initial alcohol stuff, and so The Complete Guide To Alcohol was reborn. I requested some help on the net for people to look it over. Well, this caused quite a stir and I realized that the guide was very incomplete as suggestions for more sections started pouring in. Over a few months, ideas, comments, criticisms, and additions kept coming. I even established a small mailing list to correspond to these people. Eventually, this final product was reached. One objective in making the guide was to make the guide informative. Information is as valuable if not more valuable than just rules. You might just learn a thing or two as well. However, there are plenty of rules in the guide for those who like them. To satisfy all gamers, attempts were made to have an extensive guide filled with stuff. This guide will add a new and often times funny dimension to any campaign. The key is funny. One objective was to try and keep it light and fun. There are real-world problems with alcohol, but RPGs are fantasy worlds where the purpose is fun and recreation. This guide is extensive enough that there should be something for everybody. And if not, then you can just throw it away (it's not like you had to pay for it). For the most part, the material enclosed will have been play- tested and in a workable form. In others, you may have to make further adjustments to fit the ideas into your campaign. All rules are optional and whatever is needed by the GM should be used. It is suggested that you at least try to use everything and see how it goes. If it works well then use it, if not get rid of it. I would be interested in knowing the results and any changes you've made. Acknowledgment to the contributiors is given in the Special Thanks section of this guide. I would appreciate those names in the Special Thanks section are not removed, changed, or altered since we are the ones who deserve credit our names should remain with the guide. Of course I can't really stop anybody from doing what they want. I just ask that you respect those who made this guide possible because I'm sure that they will continue to make great material for net use. P.S. Much criticism has been aimed at the guides that I create. Some feel that characters are forced to roll instead of role-play. Some feel that its contradictory to increase role-playing by adding more tables. I don't think that some rules hamper role-playing. A lot of players don't like bad things to happen to their characters and will prevent these things to happen. Having the rules on getting drunk and having hangovers allows the GM to ensure that the character suffers, but suffers fairly. Of course the player must still role-play the drunk character, but now he will know what abilities are effected. On the same note, I find that tables like the hangover table gives the characters something to work with instead of just saying he has a hangover. Rolling on the table and finding out you are vomiting can be fun. The character still must role-play (e.g. he feels the urge to puke and runs outside only to find that he upchucks on the captain of the city watch). It just helps to give the players some direction. Being free to let a character do anything in the name of role-playing isn't right. Most RPGs have many rules and to criticize rules that others make isn't fair. Why not criticize the combat system, spell casting, and such (of course some of you do)? You could say that the limitations put on spells hampers role-playing. Why not let characters flourish with dramatic spell-use that isn't encumbered with rules? My point is that some rules are to much, but using certain ones that you like at the right time will enhance role-playing by giving players something to work with. Its your game so do what you want. There are many types of players around, some like rules others don't. I just put everything in my guides based on what people ask for. I don't limit the guide to just what I want. I just don't use what I like. I use what people want and suggest. Another complaint is that there is to much work for the GM to use the rules interactivly. The problem is that the GM will have to look at lots of tables and ask players to roll dice and it breaks the game rhythm, but if he just passes a note or tells a player "the next morning you feel very sick and wake-up with a terrible headache" it is quick and the players have the opportunity of giving good role playing. I feel that there is already a lot of dice rolling in RPG. To make a statement about saying "dice rolling in a tavern will hamper role- playing" is like saying "to much dice rolling in combat hampers role- playing". I don't think rolling a few dice while in a tavern will impede role-playing. It is not like the dice rolling is an addition to other dice rolling. Most players don't have many opportunities to roll dice while characters visit a tavern. So this minimal amount of dice rolling for alcohol reasons should not restrict role-playing. Besides good GMs can allow the players to assists in examining tables and rolling dice so it goes by quickly. I would like to quote a friend who seems to say it all about people's complaints: "I think all those that complain that the guides are too strict or difficult to roll are a wee too steeped in the judicial side of the game, i.e. following the rules to the letter. I suppose someone ought to mention that what you're doing is creating guides for those who want to have a bit more realism in certain situations, not creating rules that MUST be played. In general, I've found a lot of useful ideas contained in your guides which can be used or abused to make my games more enjoyable. Thanks for collecting all of this stuff." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- GUIDE GAME MECHANICS The rules presented are intended for any RPG. Because of the variance between games, the mechanics used in this guide are explained here. The guide uses eight attributes for a character. These attributes are as followed: Physical Strength - physical power. Intelligence - knowledge and wit. Wisdom - judgement and common sense. Constitution - heartiness and "spirit". Charisma - allure, charm, and leadership. Dexterity - prowess and quickness. Luck - fortune and fate. Attractiveness - comeliness and physical looks. Number references to attributes use the 3 to 18 scale which is common among RPGs. Some RPGs use a percentile scale for attributes, if this is desired merely multiple the number listed by 5.56 to get the percentage. Most systems have some system for characters to get out or save themselves from dangerous situations. Systems vary but the following categories are used here: paralyzation, poison, death magic, demon/deity power and other really nasty stuff. rod, staff, wand, and other powerful magic-items (no artifacts). petrifaction, polymorph, and other magics that severely alter the body. breath weapon and other powerful natural attacks. spells, and other common magical effects. Spell levels are only provide as a measure for the spells in this guide. The spell levels don't represent spell levels of any given RPG system. Compare the power of the spells presented in this guide with the level of spells in your game system and adjust the level accordingly. A sub-class is a standard class that provides more specific detail. The sub-class sections have the following info: Introduction/Description/Role - Information. Qualifications - Requirements. Specialty - Another name for the class. Preferred Schools/Barred Schools - For clerics and mages, these are the magic schools. There are a variety of schools in many systems so the most popular ones are used here. Schools are necromancy, alteration, enchantment, invocation, evocation, conjuring/summoning/thaumaturgy, illusion, deviation, abjuration. Chosen Disciplines/Sciences/Devotions - Most psionics in RPGs are broken down into a hierarchy of powers. In this guide devotions are the powers at the bottom. Secondary Skills - Other abilities. Weapon Skill - Requirements and suggestions for weapons. Nonweapon Skill - Requirements and suggestions for non-weapon abilities. Equipment - Suggested and banned equipment. Special Benefits/Special Hindrances - The mechanics that make the sub-class. Wealth Options - Monetary information. Races - Races allowed. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- THE RPG DRINKING GAME What can be more fun then playing a role-playing game? Well how about adding an alcohol drinking game? Its a game inside a game. Of course, drinking games aren't for everybody. First, a person must be 21 years of age or older to engage in alcohol consumption. However, this game can still be played with non-alcoholic beverages just as well. Second, those that do drink while engaged in role-playing games might not enjoy drinking games. That's fine. People enjoy different things in life. For those that do like drinking games and enjoy role-playing games, this ones for you. Not all the rules presented here need to be used. Before the game begins, the rules used must be defined. The more rules, the more alcohol consumed. "Must drink" indicates that the drinker must take a drink of his beverage. A drink is typically a swallow (preferably a good gulp). "Must consume beverage" indicates that the drinker must finish his current serving (ex. glass of beer, shot of liquor). NOTE: Drinking alcohol and driving don't mix Drinking alcohol impairs the reflexes and judgment, increasing the odds of killing yourself or murdering someone else. Among young adults between the ages of 16-24 alcohol-related car wrecks are the leading cause of death. So, don't be stupid. Designate a driver who will remain sober before you start drinking. With the proper measures taken in advance for responsible partying, you can enjoy gaming for years to come. BEGINNING THE GAME LEVEL PC Rule: For every level the character has, the player must take a drink. GM Rule: For every level the most powerful NPC has, the GM must drink. MAIN ABILITY PC Rule: For every point in the character's major ability score, the GM must drink. GM Rule: For every point in the most powerful NPC's ability score, the GM must drink. ROLE-PLAYING THE TRIP TO THE TAVERN ROLE-PLAYING PC Rule: Get totally into character; role-playing at its best. When the character drinks, the player must drink. GM Rule: Get totally into character; role-playing at its best. When a major NPC drinks, the GM must drink. DRINKING PC Rule: Every time the character fails his drinking Constitution check, the player must consume his beverage. GM Rule: Every time a NPC fails his drinking Constitution check, the GM must consume his beverage. COMBAT CRITICAL HIT/FAIL PC Rule: Every critical hit the GM rolls, the player must consume his beverage . Every critical fail the player rolls, the player must consume his beverage. GM Rule: Every critical hit a player rolls, the GM must consume his beverage. Every critical fail the GM rolls, the GM must consume his beverage. DEATH All Rule: If a character dies, then everybody must consume his beverage. Then, everybody must make a short speech, eulogy, or at least a toast in remembrance of the character then consume another beverage. FAILURE PC Rule: Every time a save, ability check, to-hit roll, fails then the player must drink. GM Rule: Every time a save, ability check, to-hit roll, fails of a major NPC then the GM must drink. KILL PC Rule: Every time the character kills, the player must consume his beverage. GM Rule: Every time a major NPC dies, the GM must consume his beverage. MISCELLANEOUS CHARGES PC Rule: For every charge a magic-item loses from use by a character, the player must drink. GM Rule: For every charge a magic-item loses from use by a NPC, the GM must drink. HEALING PC Rule: For every point healed, the player must drink. Another option the GM may opt for is to allow the player to drink a glass of water, eat something, take some medicine, or do something else to help heal his intoxication. CURSE PC Rule: If the character gets curse, the player must drink every minute (or other increment of time depending on the severity of the curse) until the curse is lifted. GM Rule: Once a character's curse is lifted, the GM must consume his beverage. RIDDLE PC Rule: If the character can't figure out a riddle, the player must drink. GM Rule: If the player character figures out a riddle, the GM must drink. SPECIAL ABILITY PC Rule: If a character uses a special ability of his class (cast, spell, thief skills, special weapon), the player must drink. GM Rule: If any NPC uses a special ability of his class, the GM must drink. TALK All Rule: Drink every time somebody says a key game word like "spell", "roll", "attack", "damage", "magic", etc.. A list of key words should be set up before the game. Everybody could use the same words or each individual player (and GM) can have their own list so when they say their key word they drink. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- INTRODUCTION TO ALCOHOL Beer after wine is not recommended. Wine after beer is praised. --- Anon People of the ancient world began to make alcoholic beverages not because they wanted to become intoxicated, but for more practical reasons. One reason was that there were very few ways in which food could be preserved (with magic being one way, but common people are limited in this regard). The people of those times found that fruit juice soon spoiled, but that fermented juice, or wine, would keep. The alcohol produced by the fermentation stopped the growth of the bacteria which spoiled the juice. They also noticed that persons who drank fermented liquors did not become sick as often as those that drank water or unfermented beverages. This was not because alcoholic drinks themselves were healthful, but many springs and wells were impure and the drinking of the water caused sickness and death. Another factor that made alcohol popular is that the majority of the population was poor and they spent the little money they had on alcoholic drinks to escape from their sad reality. Brewing and wine making are very important to civilization. Beer and ale are the principal beverages of the poor. Wines in great variety are served at the tables of the rich. Many religious establishments use wine during their services. Liquor is one of the products with which the lords pay their debts under the feudal system. Merchant guilds control the beer and wine trades and regulate business practices. Of course, there are some societies who adhere to the principal of total abstinence from alcohol, or "teetotalism". The term "teetotal" was suppose to be used first in one local society which had two classes of members: those abstaining only from spirits, whose names were marked O.P. (old pledge which allows wines and beers which seems necessary to substitute the dangerous, polluted water) on the roll, and those who included wine (i.e. no alcohol of any type) in their pledge. The latter were identified with the letter T for Total. Beer The common word "beer" seems to be derived throughout the known realms from the word "bibere", meaning "to drink". Amongst the various races, the base of the word is the mostly the same but the spelling is somewhat different. Beer is known as "bier" to the dwarves, "biere" to the elves, "bierra" to the gnomes, "bir" to the halflings, and "biru" to those in the Orient. Beer is a beverage obtained by the yeast-caused fermentation of a malted cereal, usually barley malt, to which hops and water have been added. Among the earliest records of its use is a Ancient Baklunish tablet, inscribed with a cuneiform recipe for the "wine of the grain". The origin of beer brewing, however, has not been determined; nor is it known whether bread or beer was invented first. The ancients are thought to have the first to render barley more suitable for brewing by malting, a process in which the barley grains are germinated, developing the enzymes that transform starch into fermentable sugars. Types of Beer Lager is a pale, medium-hop-flavored beer that averages 3.3 to 3.4 percent alcohol by weight and is high in carbonation. Lager is kept for several months at a temperature of about 33 degrees Fahrenheit in order to mellow. One of the problems faced by most brewers of lager is the necessity of storing the beer in a cool, undisturbed place for several months after brewing. The usual solution was the use of underground caves, where such were available or could be made. An extract from the diary of an adventurer: "We've recently discovered a mammoth cave complex that apparently was connected to a long lost Brewery. Our party consists of 8 people. We all carried torches, which were necessary to properly illuminate the dark recesses, and to enable one to find his way out into daylight, should he chance to stray away from the others. After passing through several long cellars, with flagged with stone and roofs arched brick, and lined on either side with rows of huge puncheons, we plunged still deeper into the bowels of the earth, only to find still longer and more numerous arched passages, all lined with the same enormous puncheons, and the puncheons all filled with foaming lager beer, not the typical treasure of our ilk but treasure just the same. The mapper figures the dimensions are 15 feet in width and 12 to 15 feet in height, built of brick and totaling 600 feet of tunnel. With a capacity of close to 100,000 barrels. It really is exciting to discover these caves. I recall one brewery that was named 'Cave Brewery', its cave covered an area of one mile and were three stories deep." The temperature of caves like this one was not always cold enough and in many cases ice had to be used, particularly during the summer months, to assure the proper level for the beer being stored. This was easy enough where ice could be cut from a frozen river or lake and kept for summer needs. Ice could be a very profitable business by clever entrepreneurs. Of course, ice isn't necessary for smart brewers. One master brewer began brewing beer and had his cellar "so near an aceqia, irrigation trench, that the flow of the water kept the brew cold. Another ingenious fellow enslaved a few dozen ice toads to do his bidding in his storage areas. Of course, there are many more monsters that if used properly could be of great service. And one shouldn't have to mention the use of magic. A seasonal dark-brown beer, bock, owes its color to a roasting of the malt, and is heavier and richer in taste than lager. Stout, a very dark beer, is brewed with a combination of roasted and regular malt and has a strong hop taste. Another dark beer, porter, is a mixture of ale and beer which makes a sweet, malty brew, with a 6 to 7 percent alcohol content. Malt liquor is a beer made from a high percentage of fermentable sugars that are largely derived from malt. The resulting beverage has a higher alcohol content (5 to 9 percent by weight) than regular beer. The flavor is mildly fruity and spicy, without a hint of hops. Ale Ale is brewed from the same basic ingredients as lager beer; the difference in flavor is caused in part by a different strain of yeast. Ale yeast ferments at higher temperatures than lager and imparts a distinctive tang and a somewhat higher alcohol content. Also, it is generally brewed with more hops than beer, giving it the tart taste. Ale has a pale color which comes from the use of a light-colored malt, generally barley. Of course, ale is the drink of the dwarf, as they were the first race in recorded history to brew it. Mead Mead is an intoxicating alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey and water, sometimes with fruit and spices added as flavorings. With beer and ale, mead is one of the oldest of fermented drinks. Mead is favorite drink of the elf. Elves are thought to be the founders of mead and given its sweet nature, they are given the credit. Wine Wine is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented grape juices. Growing grapes for wine is one of the world's most important farming activities, and is a major feature of the economy of many wine-producing countries. Most wines are named after the geological places that they are produced. For example, a very popular sparkling wine throughout the world is Champagne, the small wine community that invented the champagne method for creating fortified wines. Wine had a more practical reason in the beginning than the mere pleasure of drinking. Ancient peoples had little pure water to drink, and they learned that alcohol formed by fermentation protected fruit juice from spoiling. The people who drank this fermented juice, or wine, did not get sick so often as those who drank the impure water. This reason for wine drinking continues down to the present day in many parts of the world. Many people take wine as part of their regular diet and use it instead of water for drinking. Bards have sung the praises of wine throughout the ages. They write of the friendliness of wine. Many clerics write of the intoxicating powers of wine. One such reference is "Look not upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in a cup... at the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder". Another reference is "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging". Some gods of wine are also looked on as the god of good living, a lawgiver, and a promoter of civilization. Wine also has come down through the ages as part of religious celebrations. Light Light wines may be either red, white, or rose and also dry, medium, or sweet. For red wine, the grapes are crushed immediately after picking and the stems generally removed. The yeasts present on the skin come in contact with the grape sugars, and fermentation begins naturally. Cultured yeasts, however, are sometimes added. During fermentation the sugars are converted by the yeasts to ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide. The alcohol extracts color from the skins; the longer the vatting period, the deeper the color. Traditional maturation of red wine takes up to two years in 50-gallon oak casks, during which time the wine is racked - drawn off its lees, or sediment -three or four times into fresh casks to avoid bacterial spoilage. Further aging is usually advisable after bottling. The juice of most grape varieties is colorless. Grapes for white wine are also pressed immediately after picking, and the must starts to ferment. Fermentation can proceed until it is completed, which will make a dry white wine; or it can be stopped to make a sweeter wine. Minimum contact with the air retains the freshness of the grapes. To make rose wines, the fermenting grape juice is left in contact with the skins just long enough for the alcohol to extract the required degree of color. Vinification then proceeds as for white wine. Sparkling The best and most expensive sparkling wines are made by the champagne method, in which cultured yeasts and sugar are added to the base wine, inducing a second fermentation in the bottle. The resulting carbon dioxide is retained in the wine. Other methods, however, such as carbonation, are also practiced. Fortified The alcohol content of fortified wines is raised by adding grape spirits. With port, brandy added during fermentation kills off the yeasts, stopping fermentation, and leaves the desired degree of natural grape sugar in the wine. Sherry is made by adding spirit to the fully fermented wine. Its color, strength, and sweetness are then adjusted to the required style before bottling. Aromatized Aromatized wines are famous for their distinctive odor, called bouquet. It results from the addition of aromatic herbs and spices to the wine. Such wines have an alcoholic content of 15 to 20 percent. Serving Wine Many persons prefer to serve only one wine with a meal, usually a dry wine. When a number of wines are served with a formal dinner, they are served in the following manner. Sherry is served with the appetizer or soup. Any dry white wine goes well with fish or seafood. Meat courses are best accompanied by any dry red wine. A dry white wine should be served with creamed dishes. A sparkling or sweet wine is good for dessert. Bottle Storage Wine bottles should be laid on their side to prevent the corks from drying out and the air getting at the wine. There should be no great fluctuation in temperature: 55-60 degrees Fahrenheit for reds, 50-55 degrees Fahrenheit for whites being ideal. Humidity should be 70 to 80 percent, and the storage place should be free from drafts, light, and vibration. Liquor Distilled Brandy is obtained by distilling wine or a fermented fruit mash, after it has been aged in oak casks. The alcohol content of brandy is 45 to 55 percent. Whiskey is distilled from a fermented mash of corn, rye, barley, or wheat. It is then aged in wooden barrels. Whiskey has an alcohol content ranging from 40 to 54 percent. Whiskey is designated as straight or blended. Straight whiskey is the pure distillate, which is reduced or cut, to the desired alcohol strength with distilled water. Blended whiskey is straight whiskey blended with pure alcohol. Rum is distilled fermented mash of sugar cane or molasses. Compounded Compounded liquors are pure distilled spirits which have been flavored with various seeds, roots, leaves, flowers, or fruits. Gin is made by distilling a mash of rye, corn, or other grain in a special kind of still called a pot still. Juniper berries give the gin flavor. The alcohol content of gin is about 40 percent. Cordial is made by combining some spirit such as brandy with sugar and certain flavorings, Examples of the fruit cordials are apricot, blackberry, cherry, raspberry, and strawberry liqueurs. plant cordials include creme de menthe (flavored with mint), creme de casso (whose flavor is obtained from cascao and vanilla beans), and creme de rose (flavored with vanilla and essential oil of rose petals). ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SKILL IN BREWING God loves fermentation just as dearly as he loves vegetation. --- Ralph Waldo Emerson Introduction The character with the Brewing skill is trained in the art of brewing beers and other strong drinks. The character can prepare brewing formulas, select quality ingredients, set up and manage a brewery, control fermentation, and age the finished product. The Process Of Brewing Brewing is the making of fermented alcoholic beverages, such as beer and ale, from cereal grains. The term brewing is usually applied to all the steps in the process of making beer and ale, but actually the operation has two steps, malting and brewing. Malting is the preparation of the grain for the brewing. The grain, usually wheat or barley, is soaked in water for 48 to 76 hours. The water is drained and replaced with fresh water at least once a day. When the grain is soft, it is piled in heaps. Here the grain starts to sprout small root shoots. This is called germination. When the sprouting starts, the grain is spread out to a depth of about ten inches. When the sprouts are about two-thirds the length of the grain, the germination is halted by placing the grain in an oven called a dry kiln. The grain, or malt as brewers call it at this stage, is then baked dark and crisp in temperatures ranging 155 degrees to 220 degrees Fahrenheit. The lower temperatures are used in making light beer, and the higher temperatures for dark beer. Brewing begins after the dry malt is crushed between rollers and mixed with water to form a mash. The mash is made thinner with hot water and brought to a temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit. The mash is stirred constantly at this temperate. During this stage of brewing the beer or ale undergoes chemical changes which make the exact temperature very important. The heat is increased slowly to about 160 degrees Fahrenheit. This liquid, called wort, is then drained from the grain, or grist. Hops made from the dried flowers of the hop vine are then added to the wort and the mixture is boiled for one to six hours. One to twelve pounds of hops are mixed with every hundred gallons of wort. The hops keep the beverage from spoiling and also add flavor to it. The boiled wort is cooled and placed in fermenting vats. About five pounds of yeast are added to each one hundred gallons of wort. Most beer is made with bottom fermentation, using a yeast that becomes active at temperatures from 43 degrees to 46 degrees Fahrenheit and stays at the bottom of the fermentation vat. Top fermentation is used for ale, porter, and stout. A yeast is used which becomes active at temperatures from 60 degrees to 68 degrees Fahrenheit. After fermenting several days, the wort is run into a settling vat. The yeast rises to the surface and is skimmed off. The beer is then drawn off and stored in casks and barrels to age before being bottled. Skill A normal skill check is not made because normal skill checks only judge success or failure and not quality. Instead the percentile dice are rolled to decide the quality of the brew (using Table 1). An initial modifier of 6 will guarantee that a brewer will never make a terrible drink. A one time modifier equal to Wisdom is added. Also for each slot given to this skill, a modifier equal to Intelligence is added. TABLE 1: Quality Of Brew Die Roll Quality 01-05 Terrible 06-15 Very Poor 16-35 Poor 36-65 Normal 66-85 Good 86-95 Very Good 96-00 Excellent Thus, our hero Rath (Intelligence: 15, Wisdom: 8) has three non-weapon skill slots allocated to brewing because he hopes to be a master brewer some day and retire from the life of adventuring. He decides to whip up a batch of malt liquor beer. After completing the brewing process, it is time to sample the quality of Rath Malt Liquor Beer. He rolls a mere 13 on the percentile dice, which would normally produce a poor (13+6=19) quality brew. However, due to Rath's experience, Intelligence (3*15=45), and Wisdom (8); he gains a modifier of 53. Therefore, the quality of Rath's beer is good (72). ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SKILL IN WINE-MAKING Bier is Menschenwerk, Wein is von Gott! Beer is made by men, wine by God! --- Martin Luther Introduction The character with the Wine-Making skill is trained in the art of fermenting fruits and making the various wines from them. The character can prepare wine formulas, select quality ingredients, set up and manage a winery, control fermentation, and age the finished product. The Process Of Wine-Making Wine is the fermented juice of the grape or some other fruit. Some fruit juice ferments easily because it already contains sugar. The more widely used fruits are the grape, apple, cherry, and blackberry. The quality and quantity of fruits depend on geographical geological, and climatic conditions in the vineyards, and on the grape variety and methods of cultivation. Some of these factors may be governed by local laws. The crop is harvested in the autumn when the grapes contain the optimum balance of sugar and acidity. Wine falls into two general groups, dry and sweet, depending on the taste and the percentage of sugar remaining or after fermentation. Wine grapes are crushed, but not enough to crush the seeds. The must, or juice from the crushing, is run into vats which hold from 25 to 100 barrels. The juice is then allowed to ferment the length of time needed for the type of wine wanted. The first must that flows from the crushed fruit makes the choicest wines, and is drawn of first. When the fermentation has gone on to the stage desired, the wine is drawn off into casks called tuns. It remains in these casks until it is suitable for drinking. It is in this stage that the chemical changes take place which fix the bouquet, or flavor or aroma, of the wine. Dry wines are made by allowing most of the sugar to turn into alcohol. The sweetness of sweet wines comes from the sugar allowed to remain in the wine. Skill A normal skill check is not made because normal skill checks only judge success or failure and not quality. Instead the percentile dice are rolled to decide the quality of the wine (using Table 1). An initial modifier of 6 will guarantee that a wine maker will never make a terrible wine. A one time modifier equal to Wisdom is added. For each slot given to this skill, a modifier equal to Intelligence is added. TABLE 1: Quality Of Wine Die Roll Quality 01-05 Terrible 06-15 Very Poor 16-35 Poor 36-65 Normal 66-85 Good 86-95 Very Good 96-00 Excellent Thus, our hero Roxanna (Intelligence: 15, Wisdom: 8) has three non-weapon skill slots allocated to wine making because she hopes to be a master wine maker some day and retire from the life of adventuring. She decides to whip up a batch of light, sweet, red, apple wine (one of her favorites). After completing the wine making process, it is time to sample the quality of Roxanna Apple Dimple' Wine. She rolls a mere 13 on the percentile dice, which would normally produce a poor (13+6=19) quality wine. However, due to Roxanna's experience, Intelligence (3*15=45), and Wisdom (8); she gains a modifier of 53. Therefore, the quality of her wine is good (72). ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SKILL IN DISTILLING Introduction The character with the Distilling skill is trained in the art of distilling hard liquor. The character can prepare distilling formulas, select quality ingredients, set up and manage a distillery, control fermentation, and age the finished product. The Process Of Distilling Distillation is the process in which a complex mixture or substance is broken up into relatively pure or individual components by being heated until the components vaporize one by one and are made to condense individually. The next section of this guide deals extensively with the process. Skill Two skill checks are made. The first is a normal 1d20 check. Success or failure is irrelevant. The still will explode on a natural roll of 20. The second check is not a normal skill check because normal skill checks only judge success or failure and not quality. Instead the percentile dice are rolled to decide the quality of the brew (using Table 1). An initial modifier of 6 will guarantee that a brewer will never make a terrible drink. A one time modifier equal to Wisdom is added. Also for each slot given to this skill, a modifier equal to Intelligence is added. TABLE 1: Quality Of Liquor Die Roll Quality 01-05 Terrible 06-15 Very Poor 16-35 Poor 36-65 Normal 66-85 Good 86-95 Very Good 96-00 Excellent Thus, our hero Rath (Intelligence: 15, Wisdom: 8) has three non-weapon skill slots allocated to distilling because he hopes to be a master illegal distiller some day and retire from the life of adventuring. He decides to whip up a batch of whiskey. After completing the distilling process, it is time to sample the quality of Rath Daniels Whiskey. He rolls a mere 13 on the percentile dice, which would normally produce a poor (13+6=19) quality brew. However, due to Rath's experience, Intelligence (3*15=45), and Wisdom (8); he gains a modifier of 53. Therefore, the quality of Rath's whiskey is good (72). ----------------------------------------------------------------------- EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT DISTILLERIES *** IMPORTANT NOTE *** It is a federal felony to actually use this information to build your own still and produce alcohol. The information presented here is simply for informative, educational and game-use only. In no way is this document meant to persuade people to actually produce illegal alcohol. It is ill advised to do so, but if you must there are legal ways to do so. It is possible, in special cases, to get a permit to build an experimental still, work on solar power, or power an alcohol gassed automobile. If you decide you want more information, look in the library under fuel alcohol, distillery, or wine making. Have fun but please use discretion. The following is a large excerpt from a discussion about distilleries with Jesse Duke, Master Bootlegger. Jesse is considered one of the finest moonshiners in the land. Although he operated illegally, many law enforcers overlooked his operations for just a sip of his elixir while others hunted him down because he was considered the prize catch. Now retired, Jesse lives of the riches of his successful career. His love now is telling tales for all who will listen of his many adventures. Many sages have regarded him as an expert on distillation. Unfortunately, nobody can get Jesse to put his knowledge on paper. At least we can listen to him... "So you want to know about a still do you? Well, I suppose I'm the expert around these parts. Your not with the law are you? Of course, I'm in retirement now and don't distill, except for medicinal reasons. A still is a very old, very simple concept. It has been postulated that perhaps the reason that people actually started farming was in order to produce an excess of grain from which to produce alcohol. At any rate beer is made simply from fermenting most any grain starch. Whiskey, hard liquor, or other distilled drinks are made by removing water from the base material. If you distill beer you have whiskey, wine wields brandy, potato mash wields vodka. The technology to do this is available among almost any people's that are capable of speech it seems. All that is required is a source of heat, a cooking vessel, and some sort of cooling element. The principle of the distillery, or still for short, is that water boils (i.e. becomes vapor) at 100 degrees Celsius (212 Fahrenheit). Alcohol (ethyl alcohol that is) on the other hand boils at about 73 degrees Celsius (170 Fahrenheit). If a liquid contains both water and alcohol and is heated to a temperature somewhere between these boiling points then it is possible to drive off the alcohol and leave the water behind. Now all that is left to do is capture these intoxicating vapors to increase the percentage of joy in the drink. How is this done? The absolute simplest way is to place a freshly fermented, malted drink (beer in the raw) into a container and heat it. Seal the container except for a single tube/pipe/etc. leading away and into a tub of water. At the other end, allow the tube to empty into a cup or jug that has been set in a bed of ice. This is not the safest, or easiest still to run, it is the simplest. Constant care must be taken of the temperature, as there are no safe guards against overheating the beer (thus boiling off a good bit of water too) or an explosion. This can be caused by the careless who don't clean the equipment properly. A build up in the tubing can cause the pot to build up steam, and the you can say "Good night!" The basic workings of the still are as follows. The pot is the containment vessel for the crude fermented beverage. A heat source is applied to the bottom of this to drive vapor out of the top vent pipe. This then leads more or less directly to the worm. The worm is a coil of tubing which acts to cool the vapor back into a liquid, which will hopefully be noticeably more intoxicating than the original material. A pressure gauge and/or valve can be added to the pot as a safety measure. A thermometer/rheostat can also be added to the pot to more closely control the temperature for optimum performance. However as hundreds of years of backwoods moonshining can attest, there is no need for such extravagances to produce good quality liquor. The worm can be made from almost anything. At one point car radiators were popular, however due to their less than clean nature, this is HIGHLY unrecommendable. The lead used in soldiering at the manufacturer can also easily react with alcohol to produce lead nitrates and other nasties that can permanently relieve you of the necessity of sight. More common, and safer is a quarter inch diameter copper tube, wound into a coil, and submersed in a barrel or bathtub of cold, slowly running water. A heat source should be diffuse if possible, a common trick was to place the pot on a piece of slate, then use a wood fire to heat the slate. This produced an even, slow heat that tended to prevent scorching of the grain sediment and eventually leaving a burnt taste to the end product. Improvements are constantly being made to this basic design. One of the most revolutionary, and important additions is that of the thumper keg. When this is added to a still, it halves the distilling time and doubles the final proof of the beverage. The thumper keg is nothing more than a second pot which is not directly heated. Hot vapors from the real pot are piped over into the bottom of the thumper keg. The vapors then percolate through the thumper keg's hold of new crude alcohol. As it cools the vapor, water is drawn from the vapor. As the thumper keg's liquid warms, more alcohol is vaporized. Thus, when the vapors finally leave the top of the thumper keg, they have essentially been processed twice. Before the advent of the thumper keg, the crude mash would first be run for "singlings". These singlings would be run through the still a second time to produce the final whiskey. Now it was possible to produce a high quality, high alcohol content liquor on the very first run. An additional attachment was invented long before the thumper keg, but is attached after it in the normal sequence of the still. This is the dry box. Simply said, it is a air-sealed box that takes the vapors from the thumper keg (or the pot, if a thumper keg is not used) and sends the vapors out the other side. In the mean time, the vapors have cooled slightly and water has condensed on the inside of the box. (Please note that this box is empty, thus "dry", except for the vapors passing through it.) The box is so angled that any water condensing inside runs through a pipe back to the thumper keg or pot. There should be three pipes attached to this dry box. One leads out of the box towards the worm, one leads out of the box into the thumper keg, and one from the thumper keg to the dry box. The reason there are two pipes between the dry box and thumper keg is to prevent a back log of liquid and a build up of pressure in the dry box. The pipe meant for the return of water to the thumper keg should be visibly lower to gravity than the pipe meant primarily for transportation of steam/alcohol vapor. Water from the dry box can be alternatively bled out onto the ground, or into a nearby stream, but it may still contain some alcohol, and for this reason it is often simply cycled back into the still. The worm is probably the most important piece of the still, as far as final quality goes. All the careful care in the world can be put into making sure that the pot doesn't get too hot, the still can be clean as a whistle every time you run it, and if the worm is nothing more than gunky, disgusting, rusty piece of metal, your liquor will suck. Besides, that's not how they did it in the good old days, right? They used wooden kegs for the pot and thumper keg, and chances are that they used a can in place of a coil. A can is a sort of sleeve that has an input opening in one side for the vapor, and an output port for the leaving liquor. Basically it looked like a very thick walled can without the top or bottom. This allowed the cooling water to flow over a lot of surface area. It isn't easy to make something like this. It would involve a good bit of soldering with plumbers solder (i.e. no lead) and two large, closely matched cans. Perhaps a better way is to use copper tubing, coiled and submerged in a contained of water. (The can has to be submerged in cold water too by the way.) This coil of copper tubing is what is most commonly referred to as the worm. That is the basics of the hardware. There are other nifty little adaptations that can be added but each requires a bit more technology than the last, so we'll keep it simple. Next is needed the knowledge of how to actually take field corn and produce drinkable white lightening from it. The true artists will insist that it be done with grain, and grain alone, while the pragmatist will say that adding sugar really doesn't affect taste that much and greatly increases the yield. You can decide for yourself whether sugar should be used or not. First you need starter stock. Take 10% of whatever amount of corn your going to work with and place it in a warm damp spot for about a week. Perhaps you will keep it in jars behind the stoves (don't allow the seeds to become submerged, they can drown believe it or not) in a burlap sack buried in a manure pile (please, please wash them VERY well) or whatever. After they have sprouted with 3-4 inch growths (and preferably before the leaves break free of their casings) grind them up. For small batches a sharp knife and cutting may work. Larger batches may require a meat grinder or something. This will act as an enzyme to start breaking starch down into sugar. Next thing that needs done (and should be down simultaneously with making the starter) is to grind up the other 90% of your corn. You might try buying ready round corn meal, maybe use that meat grinder again, perhaps soak the corn in water then try to grind them up. Whatever works for you. Then mix the ground corn with water to make a mix that won't quite hold a spoon straight up. About a gallon of mashed corn to three gallons of water, or less if you have already soaked the corn in water prior to grinding. Now heat this grain/water till it is almost boiling, keep it simmering for 10 to 30 minutes. Then let it slowly cool, when you can comfortably put a finger in it, mix in the starter. Stir this around for another 20 to 30 minutes. Keep it warm during this time. If you desire (and it is a good idea to do this) yeast can be added at this point. Best thing to do is get brewer's yeast at a store that sells supplies for making wine, and then culturing the yeast in sugar water as per instructions with the package (if any). Otherwise you can use regular baker's yeast, or not use any, and trust wild yeast to do the work (keep your fingers crossed here). Watch the mix carefully, as without sensitive equipment it is hard to tell when the yeast have stopped working. The yeast will form a foam or crust as they work. As they finish, the foam will break up and disappear. The proper time to run it through the still is when the foam is pretty well gone, but not totally, there should be a film of it left with some holes poking through. Wait to long and you will have wood alcohol rather than grain, it is not possible, no matter who tells you different to return wood alcohol back to grain alcohol. I cannot possibly emphasize enough the number of injuries and fatalities occurring from attempts to "purify" wood alcohol. Run it too early and you won't get a good yield of anything but corn starch and water. It is better to run it too early, trust me. The next major thing to know is how to know when to stop collecting the distillate. One easy way is to collect a small amount of the end product, splash it on the pot, and light it with a match or lighter. It should burst into blue flame. If it doesn't, there is too much water in it. Either turn down the heat on the pot if you are just starting, or stop collecting if its been going a while. By this time you have as much of the alcohol as you'll be able to get. Another, better way, is too watch the distillate as it pours out of the worm. It will sputter at first, slowly develop into a ready stream (hopefully), then at a certain point it will sputter a bit again, and then the twist to the stream will change very slightly as the content changes from mostly grain alcohol to mostly water. These are very hard changes to catch, and it takes practice to learn. It is however the most accurate means by which to gauge the distillate without high tech equipment. That is about all there is to it. There are many, many other details that have been discovered in the many years of distilling, but these are the basics needed to build a simple still. Now, don't go off half-cocked kid. Distilling is illegal in this country without an official permit from the High Court. And of course, permits are only issued to the rich merchants that can put some gold pieces in important people's pockets. But of course, you young adventuring types try everything at least once, more until you get a sword in your face." -- Jesse Duke Master Bootlegger ----------------------------------------------------------------------- WHEN THE STILL EXPLODES When a non-proficient character distills, a GM should decide if a still explodes or not mainly based on campaign use (i.e. plot use, serves a purpose to an adventure, etc.). If the GM wants to leave it up to chance, a still will explode on a roll of 15-20 on a 1d20. A proficient character will have an exploding still on a roll of 20 on a 1d20. An exploding still does a lot of damage to creatures and things that are near it. Most of the damage comes from the force of the blast and from the intense heat of the steam. A smaller amount comes from the shrapnel created by the still itself flying apart. Once a still explodes, a creature in the area of effect (see Table A, Distance) suffers damage if not sufficiently protected. Only half the damage is received if a save vs. breath weapon is successful. TABLE A: Heat Damage Distance Damage 00' - 01'11" 4d10+10 02' - 05'11" 3d10+10 06' - 11'11" 2d10+10 12' - 16' 1d10+10 The heat damage is not the only danger. Anyone in the vicinity could easily take shrapnel damage from the pieces of the still flying about. Typically, stills are of wood or metal. A wooden still tends to produce more shrapnel. A metal still tends to split rather than truly shatter. Once a still explodes, a creature in the area of effect (see Table B, Distance) suffers shrapnel damage if not sufficiently protected. Only half the damage is received if a save vs. breath weapon is successful. TABLE B: Shrapnel Damage Distance Wood Damage Metal Damage 00' - 01'11" 4d4+5 4d4+1 02' - 05'11" 3d4+5 3d4+1 06' - 11'11" 2d4+5 2d4+1 12' - 16' 1d4+5 1d4+1 The GM should note that the information provided here is for a still with a pot of 40-80 gallon capacity. This would make about 1-2 gallons or 5-10 bottles of liquor in a run with a maximum of about 8-10 runs in a day. Of course, fermenting time must be taken into consideration. Generally, fermenting time is a week or more depending on fermenting material, starting yeast, starter mash, temperature, and other factors. For different sizes of stills, the GM should adjust the damage and make the area of effect larger. -----------------------------------------------------------------------