How would you handle chemistry as a mechanic that players are able to utilize?
My specific case is a modern-ish horror game, where magic isn't super accessible, but early-modern chemistry is in widespread use, producing everything from laudanum to gunpowder. Ideally, real world processes and knowledge aren't critical to producing wonderful medical tonics and lethal gas clouds. I'm not a chemist, and I don't expect my players to be either. But I would like chemistry to matter for role playing purposes.
It's simple enough to create a big list of real or imaginary plants and fungi to grind into a medicinal paste and slap on a wound before bandaging, but I'm low on ideas for how to make interesting, believable recipes for most things an adventuring party might want. And the process feels like it should be more than 'get these goods together, and presto.'
Anybody have thoughts? The only sources I can find pretty much anywhere are fantastical alchemy systems, overly detailed D20 herbalism guides, and literally anything ever published with the word 'chemistry' in it, regardless of it's actual contents. The closest thing I've found is a D20 modern booklet about specifically drugs and narcotics. Not exactly what I was after. Very few systems out there even describe chemistry when it's a skill in the rules. Does Call of Cthulhu touch on this? Does Shadowrun?