Today I worked on the alchemy system (‘herbalism’ doesn’t seem appropriate now that a lot of the mixables aren’t herbs), making big spreadsheets to keep track of all the combinations and what-does-what–there are basically three things you can do to a ‘base’ (eg scavenger claws, silver fern leaves): Drying, Boiling and Grinding. Drying requires a drying mat, little preparation time and expenditure of energy but you have to wait until the next game day to see the results. Boiling takes time but little energy, and also firewood (and a pot). Grinding varies depending on what you’re trying to grind, but usually takes both energy and time (although less time than boiling). It requires a mortar and pestle. Each base can produce various ‘essences’, depending on the actions taken. Sometimes different actions will produce the same essence, but in varying qualities and sometimes with a quality modifier. Sometimes an action will destroy the base or have harmful results.
Once the player has some essences they can either combine them together, or attempt to make something with them by ‘finalising’. Most essences have three possible ways to be finalised: The creation of an ointment or unguent (boil with oil and place into a jar), flasking (putting a liquid essence into a watertight container of some sort), or simply putting the essence into a pouch (only works with ‘dry’ essences like powders).
Currently there are around a dozen bases, of varying rarity, which can produce around three dozen essences between them. I’ve only just started working on combinations, but there should be around a hundred different ‘results’ of alchemy. Quite a lot of work, but I think it’ll be worth it.
