Tabletop RPGs take us to wondrous worlds where anything can happen, but sometimes the story you want to tell is more down-to-earth. Food and Evil, a new indie title from Goosepoop Games, has slightly more grounded ambitions than slaying dragons in dungeons. Instead, you’ll play as demons in charge of a food truck whose only goal is to peddle their wares – and maybe sprinkle a little chaos on top.
If you couldn’t tell from that pitch (or the fact that it’s published by a group called Goosepoop), this is a dish well-seasoned with comedy hijinks. You’ll gather unusual ingredients on your travels, serve customers along the way, cause a little mischief, and gradually upgrade your ride.
All of this is controlled by a deck of cards rather than dice. Goosepoop Games hasn’t outlined exactly how the system works, but it breaks gameplay down into five steps. First, say what you intend to do. The GM then assigns a suit (or flavor), and you flip the top card of your deck. If the suit matches, you gain an ingredient! After that, the outcome of your action is resolved.
There are five demon classes for you to choose from, each with a starting deck of five cards to flip during action resolution. Choose from a Grill Master, a Fry Cook, a Pastry Chef, a Green Machine, or a Lab Jockey, then assign three traits that flesh out your infernal food trucker.
While Food and Evil can be played as a standalone system, it can also be used as a setting-agnostic expansion for other TTRPGs. Apparently, it slots easily into a game of D&D or Daggerheart as a quirky side quest.
Food and Evil currently features 10 adventures (though more may be added if the Backerkit campaign reaches its stretch goals). These have charming names like ‘The Western Spaghetti’ and ‘My Soup Has Dungeon In It’. Each offers a whacky scenario for you to shill snacks in, from a “spicy spy mission” to “a mech dating show full of snacks and…snacks“.
A PDF copy is available on Backerkit for $15, while the print version is $30. There’s also a $60 Deluxe To-Go version, which features a custom deck of cards, player sheets, tokens, menus, and a food truck display box (complete with rolling standee wheels). Crowdfunding continues until March 3.
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