The tavern is the fulcrum point of the adventuring lifestyle. It’s where wandering heroes can find food and shelter after weeks out in the wilderness, it’s where quests can often begin… and it’s where quite a few stories find their happy ending. After all, being an adventurer is a tough life. Many adventurers, whether they retire after a successful career or call it quits early, get the idea to be the ones running the tavern, providing the same things they needed back when to a younger generation. It can take some doing, however, integrating back into settled society after a life living on the road and by sword and spell. How do you let go of who you were, and who will you become? Let’s have a taste of Stewpot: Tales from a Fantasy Tavern from Takuma Okada, now on Backerkit with Evil Hat Productions!

Takuma Okada is a name that has danced around on the edge of our radar for quite a while, actually, running jams and inspiring games with their own Alone Among The Stars – those faint pings have mostly conveyed the impression of a designer of solo RPGs, so it’s an interesting turn of events to see a 3+ player game instead.* Stewpot is all about a group of adventurers who have left that life behind and have decided to settle down, not in quiet retirement but keeping busy by running a tavern together. I’m vulnerable to this one, I’ll admit – I’ve had endings on the mind lately, and Legends & Lattes got a reread recently. Right off the top I can see you running this game on its own, of course, but I can also see it being used as the capstone and epilogue to another game entirely.

Settling Down

In order to have Tales coming From it you obviously need a Fantasy Tavern. The foundation of it is easy – where is it, what does it look like, what is it called? Of course, it won’t be a well-run world famous establishment right away.

Your tavern comes with ratings in three different categories: Cuisine, Atmosphere, and Service. When you start, everything is at rating 1, given brief example descriptions of: a cramped kitchen with plenty of staples but nothing fancy, comfortable but a little boring/off, and a former farmhand and an injured local guard helping out, respectively. The maximum for each is 4: a splendid kitchen with good deals and fresh deliveries and specialized tools, the comfiest beds you’ve ever slept in with good company sought out by adventurers after long journeys, and an accomplished head of staff and a prestigious sommelier, again respectively. You’ll have several chances over the course of the game to improve these ratings, and each time you do the players will describe what’s been added or changed.

Now, the tavern is important, but Stewpot is truly about the characters, who are also pretty easy to set up. Everyone has a name, a Look (create your own details and/or pick a Weapon, Armor, and Quirk), an Adventurer Job, and a Town Job. The Adventurer Job is, simply, the role you played back when you were adventuring (Wizard, Rogue, Druid, Bard, etc.) and the Town Job the one you’ve taken up now (Farmer, Chef, Crafter, Scholar, etc.) Your Adventurer Job also comes with three Experiences – each lists several in the book, but you can make your own and borrow from other Jobs as well – that represent the skills, feats, knowledge, and so on that you accumulated out on the road. Some examples include Guidance (a sign from your deity), Legendary Weapon (an artifact of immense power), Golden Words (convince anyone of anything), and Animal Companion (a wild friend).

You’ll note the lack of Town Experiences, and that’s because when you start playing you don’t have any – after all, you only just got started. Gaining Town Experiences is actually integral to the game, both mechanically and narratively. As you play through Stewpot you’ll gradually have need of your Adventurer Experiences, and use them in some way to help you with your new life… but as you do you’ll start to leave them behind, crossing them out on your character sheet. You don’t erase them, it’s not like they never existed… they’re just not a part of your life anymore. When you do that, you describe how you let go of it – perhaps your deity has some parting words and releases you from service, your sword is reforged into a plowshare, you put manipulating others behind you, and you let your animal companion return to the wild. 

Then, you add a Town Experience, describing how your time in town has helped you gain it. Some examples include Warm Presence (you are comforting to be around), Bounty (your harvests are large and exquisite), Parable (a lesson for every situation), and Offerings (on good terms with the local spirits). You can use Town Experiences to overcome obstacles just like Adventurer ones, except you don’t let go of them since they are a part of your new life. Perhaps most importantly, once every Adventurer Experience in the party has been replaced with a Town Experience, a game of Stewpot will come to its conclusion.

Playing The Game

Stewpot is a game that is, when you get down to it, a bunch of minigames in a trench coat – 16 of them at the moment (we’ll address that towards the end). Each has one or more symbols that indicate what you’re getting into: good intro picks after starting the game, games with core mechanics or a unique structure, games that are mainly prompts for freeform roleplay, and games that let you upgrade the tavern. 

Generally speaking each player takes turns picking out a minigame to play. Some may end up solo affairs, but you’ll often be inviting other players in to either play their own character or an NPC. The rule of thumb is that after each one you write down any Keepsakes (little narrative mementos of your time) and check to see if anyone needs to take a break, and to take a break no matter what after every three minigames. The majority of the games can be chosen multiple times; only the first and the last minigame cannot, and are set in stone both in which game gets played and when.

The first minigame is always The First Step, which is of the freeform type, addressing what the characters were doing before they actually decided to put down roots. Everyone plays and gains a Town Experience without having to let go of an Adventurer one, and describe a short scene where they gained it. Characters can be in one another’s scenes, but won’t gain the same experience. Some example scenes are a townsperson you once helped welcoming you back and becoming a mentor of sorts, the seeds you’ve planted in a little box by the window finally beginning to sprout, somehow finding yourself helping out at the library instead of just being a patron, and sharing tips and tricks you learned on the road about taking care of injuries with the townsfolk.

Sliced is both a good intro game and a mechanical one, and if you like me have been delving into Delicious in Dungeon lately then it’s arriving at the perfect time (yet another way this game happens to be targeting me): we’re cooking with monster parts! One player is the Cook, and the others are Tasters. You draw three cards from a standard deck of playing cards, and then for each one roll two six-sided dice. The cards’ suite and value will help you figure out what kind of ingredient you’re looking for and a quality about it (a 6 of diamonds would be a rare seasoning, a 7 of hearts would be something from an animal with natural camouflage) and the dice determine how big the monster is and its habitat (something tiny from underground, something mountain-sized from the desert). The Cook interprets the results and the Tasters provide either a Highlight (it has an interesting texture and adds variety to the dish) or a Difficulty (it is very easy to overseason) about each ingredient; the Cook should make sure to describe how they get around any Difficulties. 

At last, you roll d6s equal to 4 plus your Tavern’s Cuisine Rating, and assign the results to a series of categories: Goal, Seasoning, Preparation, and Texture. Each tells you how things went and provides a prompt. Goal is straightforward, if you assign a die with 4-6 to it you succeed in cooking the dish and a Taster gives you a compliment, but if you assign 1-3 then something goes wrong and you describe what happens. A 5-6 in Seasoning has a Taster describe a pleasant memory evoked by the dish, a 3-4 in Presentation asks the cook about one flourish they are proud of, and a 1-2 on Texture has the Taster detail which inedible materials the dish reminds them of.

Shields and Skillets is another good intro option, this time a more freeform one, as the former adventurers are visited by an enchanter and blacksmith who can make sure that increasingly volatile and old enchanted items are made safe. Each adventurer with an enchanted item describes it, then recounts a story of how it was used in the past – perhaps an unexpected solution to a puzzle, a daredevil feat, a time it saved your life, or an absurd situation. Then, it’s time to let go and hand it over to the enchanter and blacksmith – the owner of an item describes how they got it in the first place, and then what becomes of it – and if it persists in any form – comes down to a coin toss.

Wear and Tear is an interesting one, another freeform game that nevertheless has some important mechanical functions in relation to the overall game. After you’ve played three mini-games and taken your break, you must play Wear and Tear. You can also choose Wear and Tear on your turn, which resets the clock for having to play it again. This is because this minigame is the one that is used to upgrade a Tavern Rating of your choice (other upgrade games are very specific with which one gets improved). Simply put, there’s always something to fix, clean, or pay off. The group decides what needs touching up and what they’re adding, and then each player character describes what they’re working on – how an experience is used to get the work done lightning fast, how you struggle to lead the project for your new addition idea but receive encouragement, which townsperson would be exactly the person to ask for help, what you do on break to let off steam, and so on. Once you’re done, a single Tavern Rating is increased by 1.

In The Rhythm Of Things is the final minigame of Stewpot, played after the last Adventurer Experience has been replaced with a Town one. The characters have fully settled down and into their new lives. Every player describes a habit their character has picked up while living in town, and then takes turns picking ending questions from a list. What was the hardest part of fitting into town? What do you miss (or not miss) about adventuring? What was the worst dish you remember eating that one of you made? What are you most proud of yourself for? What do you look forward to every week? When every player has answered two questions, the game is over.

And, it must be said, you’ve got a tavern and its colorful cast of characters if you want to drop them into another campaign as a treat.

Conclusions

Stewpot is one of those games where I struggle a bit to point out flaws or incompatibilities because they’re inherently tied to the game’s strengths, so it’s not immediately obvious to me that they need to be pointed out. – why does this keep happening with games related to some sort of accommodations? To wit, the game at its strictest can be described as ‘rules-loose’, a pretty solid outline with a lot of undefined stuff in the middle, and for some that might not appeal. I should also point out that for those who want to play a tavern management game that also deals with resource management, Stewpot might fall a little short – you’re just not going to have a lot of mechanically important resources to gain, track, or use like ingredients, equipment, or NPCs-with-stats.

Now, to flip that coin.

Stewpot is a game with a very strong batch of evocative scenarios and prompts, each one providing a great jumping off point to explore your tavern, your town and its people, and most importantly both who your characters are and who they become. 

When it has mechanics, they do what they need to do and otherwise get out of your way, either giving you something to work with or helping to resolve a scenario once you’re done with it. You’re then free to romance a stranger, go on one last NPC quest, settle (or start) a tavern brawl, compete in a festival, mix drinks and change lives, or whatever else you’re getting up to! I also think the fact that minigames will often be repeating and that In The Rhythm Of Things is the last one is a very clever bit of design, a self similarity that will put the players into the same headspace as the characters as they get into routines and deepen their ties to the tavern and town.

If you want a free preview for yourself there’s a Sampler Platter Edition, which includes a Roll20 Quickstart. As for the full game you can get the PDF version of Stewpot: Tales from a Fantasy Tavern on Backerkit for $15, and I say ‘get’ because you’ll immediately gain access to the Backer Preview Edition of the game, which is fully playable. That PDF version also includes an at-cost Print on Demand copy from DriveThruRPG, if that suits you. Normal and Fancy hardcover versions go for $25 and $40. 

There are a few fancy doodad add-ons like cards, dice, and coins to flip, but nothing too egregious. Stewpot is already fully funded and has torn through several stretch goals, the first batch of which had to do with adding new minigames from Okada to the book, enough to bring the total number to 20!  Additional ones have added new creators to the roster to make more jobs and journal entries, and I was pleased to see our friend Thomas among them! Now the stretch goals are simply about paying all involved creators more, which is always great to see.

There are things to pick up at the market, the homegrown crops need to be tended, a distinguished guest is dropping by, and a familiar ache in your bones tells you a storm is coming. What tales will your tavern tell?

Thanks to Sean Nittner for sending us the Backer Preview Edition of Stewpot to take a look at!

*If you want a solo tavern simulation game, might I suggest checking our archives for The Broken Cask?