Potion ingredients aren't their actual names.
 

All those potion ingredients that were rare and macabre aren't really so.

Apparently Cidrian chemists and alchemists made up some names to dissuade people from making potions.....just like IRL.

Eye of Newt is apparently just mustard seed IRL.

https://people.howstuffworks.com/is-...real-thing.htm

So Dragon hearts and Gargoygle gallbladders are something else entirely than you think......

Re: Potion ingredients aren't their actual names.
 

That may be so, but to keep the ruse going, Alchemists and Chemists still have to buy Gargoyle gallbladders all the same. Just for cover.

Re: Potion ingredients aren't their actual names.
 

I love this!

Re: Potion ingredients aren't their actual names.
 

I don't claim to be an expert on real-life alchemy. But I was the creator of the alchemist guild for a multi-GM SJGames campaign at Strategicon Conventions (OrcCon, Gateway, Gamex), and wrote the coming [REDACTED].

Certainly the idea of alchemists disguising their ingredients to keep their secrets could be useful in gaming. And alchemists keeping secrets can be as true of real-life ones as it can be for any researchers.

But alchemy was quite a bit different in different cultures. While some forms did deal with magical transformations, alchemy was also concerned with medical preparations, natural philosophy, mysticism, and is a precursor to chemistry. It still exists in modern day, although modern day alchemists are mostly into the philosophical side while chemists and/or pharmacists took up much of the science and medicine.

So while I think this article is a bit of an oversimplication, and I wouldn't quote it for an academic article, it can be a good inspiration for gaming!

Re: Potion ingredients aren't their actual names.
 

this is quite in line in how a guild would keep secrets in the oppen.

A guild code book of ingredients would be very valuable.

Maybe the gargoyle gallbladders are used for something else, like containers for some of the concoctions or because you can produce an acid or liqueur with them and this can speed some process, but the actual potion don't need them. Same with some of the other grotesque products they regularly buy.