Drugs on Midrea

Thought y'all might be curious about drugs in my game world.

There are a lot of different drugs that can be had by anyone who wants them. Drug control is not that common, so most of them are bought at the corner store or in taverns or specialty shops. The illicit ones can be had by anyone with an appropriate roguish background and the silver pretty easily.

Culturally drug use is pretty rare among everyone. This seems to have been mirrored in game as other than alcohol and tea only one character has ever partaken of any drugs. A Pyromancer PC, name long forgotten had taken some Dream Resin from a slaughtered drug dealer (he and his partner were busy boys) and decided to the meditate near the fire. This, combined with his general rotten attitude and destructive nature put him in touch with Hell. Needless to say wacky hijinks ensued. This culminated in a willing conversion to the Dark Side in the name of mass destruction. Much great role playing and a lot of fun was had by all.

And no it was not a Nancy Reagan moment, I promise. The effects were just, like most of my gaming, what I thought might be fun.

Now on the issue of drugs IRL, no non prescribed drugs other than caffeine are allowed at my table. Booze and gaming just don't mix well with me and while smoking is fine, please do its outside and don't stink up my house. The rest is politics, so we aren't going there. Now onto the list.

Midrean Drugs, in no particular order

Marijuana is widespread and legal. Humans, Haflings and Dwarves use it as do Shan stock humans occasionally

Dream Dust also known as Quadesh (made from Tran flowers) is an drug that creates pleasure and dreams. Its often illegal and somewhat dangerous. Its rare . The idea was inspired by Misty lackey I think.

Dream Resin aka God Call (idea borrowed from Brian Daley's Corramonde series) allows brief contact with other realms, but again is very dangerous and often illegal. It is to Dream Dust what Heroin is to Opium and is made by Alchemy. Its even rarer

Speaking of Opium it is available and widely used as a pain killer and though there is Opium syrup , there is no Heroin, yet. Smoking Opium is called chasing the Dragon in Midrea too and it is rumored that actual Dragons have a taste for it.

There are a wide variety of mushrooms, at least five, some hallucinogenic, some stimulant, some actual magic mushrooms.

Qat (usually spelled Q'et) exists but its strictly a regional drug in the Northern Sands area

Blackroot , also called Bitteroot (inspired by an off reference in Willow) or Kef . Use is very common. Its tastes awful when chewed but is not particularly addictive. The only side effects are a nasty mouth stain, fatigue if abused and a lingering after taste . Soldiers and Laborers favor it as it is a stimulant with mild painkilling effects. Even the Vara, who eschew drug use it it occasionally.

Mild drugs include Coffee (which is rare as of yet) , Tea, Cacao (also rare) and of course Tobacco which is available in every form including chew, snuff, pipe, and cigar. In some places its even delivered as an enema! Brin and Halflings adore the stuff as do Dwarfs though neither of the two other races can be persuaded to take it up an exit as it were...

Last, coca leaf is cultivated by the High Plains Folk. It has not traveled far and as yet, no one has distilled cocaine from it.