[RPG] What types of food are typically grown in the Underdark

dungeons-and-dragonsfood-and-drinkforgotten-realmslore

I'm currently working on a story arc where a bunch of Drow have just had their major food supply threatened by a demon of the Underdark, and as a consequence they are rising to the surface and usurping the food trade of the upper world.

The only problem is I don't know what they would have eaten.

In order to flesh out the conflict and add more depth to the Drows' struggle, I'd have to know what types of foods that the denizens of the Underdark have been living off of in the first place.

So what kinds of food would the Drow be eating down there?

Best Answer

Plants and Fungi

Not surprisingly there are edible mushrooms and plants that adapted to the Underdark. There are hundreds of different wines produced from fungi. "Spiderblood" is a one of the most expensive and seasoned with spider's venom.

  • Barrelstalk is a fungus as big as a tree. Only the inner flesh is edible. In the centre there is a large reservoir containing water.
  • Bluecap is an inedible fungus, whose spores can be ground into flour and made into bread, commonly called "sporebread".
  • Firelichen of pale orangish color is used to produce a spicy paste put onto sporebread, liquor or to season soup or stew.
  • Ripplebark is a fungus resembling a pile of rotting flesh. It is edible raw, however after preparation it has better taste.
  • Trillimac is a fungus with broad gray-green cap and a light gray stalk. The stalk can be cleaned, soaked and dried to produce bread-like food.
  • Water orb is a bulbous fungus that grows in shallow water. It's structure is similar to sponge, soaked with water. It is edible, but rater chewy and tasteless.
  • Zurkhwood is enormous mushroom and a source of food and timber. Because of hard and woody consistency it must be properly cooked to be edible. Its spores are nurtritious and may be eaten raw.

Animals

  • Bats are very common in the whole of the Underdark, and includes regular, dire and even weirder species.
  • Fish are mostly very small, pale and harmless. In greater bodies of water more dangerous versions of subterranean fish may be found, e.g. sharks.
  • Rothé are common livestock very similar to muskoxes.
  • Vermin are the most common source of food in the Underdark. Some of them are bred like livestock, mostly beetles and crickets.

The source materials are:

  • Underdark, the D&D 3.5e campaign accessory

    Underdark's cover

  • Out of the Abyss, a D&D 5e adventure

    Out of the Abyss's cover