In this ravenous episode, Violet is joined by returning guest Roz Leahy as we* talk about hunger mechanics. Don’t get confused with cozy campfire cooking: we’re discussing the tension and drama of *not* getting the sustenance you need. Everyone’s gotta eat in real life, but what does it mean for our storytelling?

How do you make ingestion interesting? Should there be benefits to “staying hungry”? Does it matter whether your tummy is half full or half empty? Are toothless hunger mechanics worse than none at all?

And most importantly, why does mechanised hunger work great for vampires, but not so well for hunters, a grab bag of “beasts”, and *checks notes* mummies?

Violet’s calamari hooks her on a white whale. Roz struggles to retain retainers. Violet snacks on a hunger bar. Roz hungers for punishment. Violet rates rational numbers. Roz has one square meal.

Timestamps

What’s new? - 0:01:18

Intro to the topic - 0:11:16

Content warning (eating disorders) - 0:29:41 to 0:30:49

History - 0:34:37

Deep dive on Vampire: the Masquerade et al - 0:51:27 to 1:04:59

Taxonomicon** - 1:07:47

Strong opinions about “usage dice”*** - 1:46:54 to 1:53:13

Content warning (eating disorders) - 1:55:25 to 1:56:25

Design Dreams - 1:56:36

Wrapup - 2:09:44

Design Dreams

Violet - Expeditions & Anticipations

Roz - Truly Miserable Hunger: Trench Foot Edition

Violet - Hungry Hungry Homunculi

Games discussed

Carved in Stone

Leathers

OD&D

Bluebeard's Bride

Heart

Castle Ravenloft/Curse of Strahd

Vampire the Masquerade (in particular, 5th edition)

Mothership

Black Hack

Wilderfeast

Delving Deeper

Basic Fantasy

OSE

Hyperborea

Chivalry and Sorcery

Traveler

AD&D, specifically Wilderness Survival Guide, and Dark Sun

The Morrow Project

Aftermath!

GURPS

Rifts (briefly)

Werewolf the Forsaken

Mage the Awakening and Exalted (briefly)

Hunter: the Vigil

D&D 3.5, 5e

Beast: the Primordial

Vampire: the Requiem, Werewolf: the Apocalypse, Hunter: the Reckoning, Changeling: the Lost (briefly)

Mummy: the Curse

Monsterhearts

Masks

Apocalypse World

Torchbearer

Ryuutama: Book of Gastronomy

Golden Sky Stories

Lamentations of the Flame Princess

His Majesty the Worm

Errant

Knave (Briefly)

Mausritter

Daggerheart (Beast Feast)

Yes, Chef

Bakto's Terrifying Cuisine

Algophilia

Nechronica (Briefly)

Spire

Swyvers

Other media discussed

Articles by Jay Dragon (see links below)

Resident Evil & Stardew Valley (in the same breath!)

It Has Come To Pass (painting by Sergei Lukin, 1958)

Delicious in Dungeon / Dungeon Meshi

Lord of the Rings & The Hobbit

Outdoor Survival

Chainmail (briefly)

The Complete Guide To Role-Playing Games (Rick Swan, 1990)

Article by Merritt K (see links below)

The Score (Thi Ngyuyen)

Radical Uncertainty (John Kay & Mervyn King)

Battle Chef Brigade

Consume Me

Fear and Hunger

Notes & links

* Well, not me, Freya. I’m writing the shownotes, but I wasn’t in this one!

** …which does, as it happens, start with two more World (well, Chronicle) of Darkness games!

*** We don’t strictly define “usage dice” in this section, though! Basically, instead of tracking item quantity / durability on a numerical scale, you roll a die of a certain size when you use it, and something bad (such as the die shrinking next time) happens if you roll badly. As Violet remarked when I was writing this comment, we *did* talk about usage dice way back in episode 1, so, long time fans will surely remember ;-)

The official-ish website for ZiMo - Zine Month - doesn’t actually commit to when exactly Zine Month might happen, other than to clarify that it’s distinct from the two other things also called “Zine Month”. So, keep an eye out and solve their riddles three if you want to participate next year! https://iwanttoplay.games/zinemonth

Jay Dragon articles:

https://possumcreek.medium.com/a-dozen-fragments-on-playground-theory-684104bcb4ab

https://possumcreek.medium.com/the-game-left-unplayed-60062beadded

https://possumcreek.medium.com/rules-are-a-cage-and-im-a-puppygirl-69e8d569b2b6

The rather endearing life level index chart from Outdoor Survival:

https://boardgamegeek.com/image/254292/outdoor-survival

The Merritt K article no longer seems to be available, or at least neither of us could find it - sorry!

“Sekhem” appears to be etymologically related to words for “power” and “form”, with connotations along the same lines as mana / chi / your life force of choice. Googling it in 2026 provides a long list of new-age healing businesses…. Followed by the White Wolf wiki. Disclaimer: I am not an egyptologist.

Content warnings

Given the subject of this episode, we discuss:

- Eating disorders

- The biology and physiology of starvation

Notable instances are logged in the timestamp section.

Contact us!

Thank you to everyone who has emailed into our mailbag - If you too have a question, idea, or interesting game you’d like to share with us, email systemshoppodcast@gmail.com

Additional Credits

Our intro music is

"Magic Escape Room" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/