What do you serve with games?

[jason taylor]

Popcorn? Chips and dip? Mixed nuts? What?

[Mark Skarr]

My group is all digital now, so, nothing.

Back when we were playing Hero with GummiBear and Darque, it would be dinner. Part of the gaming session was moved to the kitchen where we would work on dinner, then we'd eat, and finish our game afterwards.

Even after we stopped gaming with them, we continued making (less ambitious) dinners but would feed our gamers--Pasta, burgers, and things that could easily be grilled or made with limited supervision.

[khorboth]

This is part of game planning. We've got some dietary restrictions among the gamers and some picky eaters in the children, so it's non-trivial at this point.

Fortunately, we also have some good cooks. Sometimes, we go for standbys like taco bar or stew or pizza. When we were playing 7th sea, we made sure to have culturally appropriate cuisine for the first session in each country to add to the experience.

When possible, I do something that will add to the game. Popcorn for a movie theater scene. Hearty food if we're in the shire. etc. Most of the time, it's a good dinner that works for everyone.

[Anders]

We have a good cook, so it varies from week to week.

[Phantasm]

Back when I still ran actual tabletop, we had bowls of the usual snacks at the table: potato chips, pretzel sticks, Chex mix, Coco Puffs, dips. Also soda and the occasional beer in the fridge. Plus everyone would chip in for ordering pizza. (This was before I was diagnosed with celiac.)

Nowadays, it's primarily digital, so nothing.

[Agemegos]

Nowadays my only RP gaming is by way of internet AV chat. I drink coffee, and the character-player drinks whisky or red wine. We don't snack.

[Icelander]

When we have long Saturday sessions, we like to cook something together. Wings, ribs, chili, tacos, curry, steaks, etc. We might also make burgers, tacos, pizza or pasta on a Friday night before a game session, but that sort of requires that two or more of us finish work early enough to want to bother to shop and cook before starting.

Shorter sessions, like Sunday afternoons or weeknights, we tend to pick up takeout before starting the session. Burgers, pizza, tacos, shawarma, kebab, curry, fried chicken, the usual. Or we'll stop by a fast food place and eat there before the session. KFC or the local shawarma place most often.

During gaming, potato chips and soda or energy drinks are pretty universal. Some players eat Cheetos or even some off-hrand equivalents, but those people are bad and should feel bad. Some people drink carbonated water instead of sugary sodas, which I guess represents evolution in health-consciousness over the past couple of decades, going from carefree teens to sober citizens in our mid- to late-thirties, about half of us with families.

Candy is popular and I used to have huge bags of it every session, but I'm not allowed to eat anything fun anymore. I also drink Powerade mixed with water now, because that has only about 16% of the sugar content of Coke. Or I drink sugar-free energy drinks and eat sugar-free candy, while sighing.

We used to drink beer, vodka, rum, whiskey and various mixed drinks during sessions on Friday and Saturday, but we rarely do any more. None of us are in AA or anything, it's just gotten harder for the players with young kids to wake up in the mornings if they have too many drinks. Accordingly, some of my players very rarely drink anymore, which is too bad, because I quite enjoy a good drunken session.

Of course, some players deliberately don't drink during gaming sessions because they say they can't concentrate on gaming while drunk. Which is no doubt true, but in my opinion, is more than compensated for by the enormous gains in immersion, willingness to attempt accents and amateur dramatics and a general lack of shyness or inhibitions. In my experience, sober people tend to be more self-conscious than drunk people and absent extensive amateur actor experience, few players are willing to throw themselves into a role as enthusiastically as one would like.

I do not excempt myself from this criticism. I don't view myself as being particularly self-important or serious, but still, I find that I default to mostly my own voice and accent during roleplaying, especially when no one else is willing to attempt amateur theatrics.

[johndallman]

I keep a large pile of biscuits, chocolate and crisps (US: cookies, candy and chips) in my living room for snacking on during games.

On weeknights, we order pizza or Chinese food; at weekends, I usually cook soups and serve bread and cold cuts, with fruit, ice-cream or cakes for desert.

Drinks are water, tea, coffee, and various fruit drinks. I try to keep track of people's tastes and stock what they like. There isn't usually alcohol because some of the players drive to get here. This doesn't seem to inhibit people from being theatrical or extrovert. We're mostly in our fifties.

[shawnhcorey]

Bring your own snacks and potluck for meals.

[sgtcallistan]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

Popcorn? Chips and dip? Mixed nuts? What?

We're in England, so: fresh tea, biscuits, small cakes, in summer, occasionally soft drinks, soda water, etc.

One guy brings some awesome lemoncake now and then. We are properly thankful to his wife, too.