Alcohol

Representations

• Bottle. Often found in restaurants and the cellars of old mansions. Wine bottles are the most common. A corkscrew might be needed to get at the contents.

• Can. Generally holds beer. SHAKING a can might make it explode.

• Drinking glass. These turn up in social settings, especially just before or just after a murder.

• Barrel. Found in cellars and warehouses and on ships. Might require a tool to open. Probably can't be carried about, but might be rolled between rooms.

Possible uses

• Alcohol readily catches fire and can be burned as a fuel.

• It cleans and sterilizes things.

• Alcoholic drink dulls pain and relaxes the muscles. It might make a crude anaesthetic, or help the PC take less damage from physical trauma.

• Alcohol has a dehydrating effect. Something to throw at a slime-covered monster.

• Social drinks can be adulterated with drugs/poison/potions to affect an NPC. The easiest way is to slip something into a glass while the NPC isn't looking, but tampering with bottles is also a possibility.

• Spirits (particularly brandy) are a traditional means of reviving people who've been half-drowned or half-frozen.

• Excessive consumption might render an NPC unconscious.

• Alcohol lowers social inhibitions, enabling a character to do something they would not otherwise do.

• Quality drink makes a good gift or bribe for an NPC. A really fine vintage might qualify as a treasure.

• Drink might be part of a recipe.

• A bottle of wine makes an effective blunt instrument. It can also cut things if broken.

• A bottle of (usually red) wine can serve as a colour filter.

• White cloth might be dyed with wine.

• An emptied bottle can become a container for other liquids or can be resealed with a message inside. Corks make impromptu fishing floats or bungs.

• As heavy objects that can be rolled, barrels might figure in a seesaw-and-weight puzzle.

• An emptied barrel might be enterable, depending on its size. Being packed in a barrel could enable the PC to sneak in (or out) of a location. A barrel will also float if sealed.

• The PC might have to show familiarity with social customs involving drink. Help could come in the form of observing NPCs or consulting a manual of etiquette.

• You can get drunk. I know of one game in which you have to be drunk in order to pass through a doorway.