Kenneth Gauck wrote:
----- Original Message -----
From: “Kenneth Gauck” <kgauck@MCHSI.COM>
To: <BIRTHRIGHT-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM>
Sent: Thursday, September 12, 2002 6:29 AM
Subject: Re: Undead, Energy Drain and Bloodlines
>>> Actually, I prefer that most rumors be false. [snip]
> Generally, bad game ideas make good false rumors. Think
> about what someone said somewhere else that you would
> never want in your game, and that`s a fine false rumor.<<<
Generally, I agree with this statement, but whether rumors are entirely
false or partly true depends on the kind of rumor were talking about. When you present a rumor to your players about a place or event (like the
townsfolk tell you of an old ruin in direction X that is infested by Y) and they go chasing after it, you have to confront them with something, making the rumor at least partly true (There is indeed something out there). Mostly I prefer to present rumors as alternatives, similar to the way theyre often
described in the BR rule books (e.g. there are several explanations for the
spells of the Sons of the Serpent, nobody knows for sure what Mad Maeve is
up to and everyone will tell you something different). The truth of course
may be something entirely different.
One of the best uses for rumors I found so far was to let players choose the
directions they want to follow. When I`m short for ideas of my own I can
usually find several suitable published adventures that I could work into
the Campaign with little difficulty. I can then present the players with
rumors that lead in different directions. This has two advantages. First the
players can choose which path to follow (this is more important I guess with
non-regent campaigns, as most regent players should and often do come up
with ideas of their own). Second the players get the feeling that the game
world is alive, that things happen that are beyond their sphere of
influence. Hm, on second reading this sounds rather obvious, but anyway here
it is.
> The other kind of false rumor is the kind of thing that
> would put characters in the wrong place with regard to
> your scenario. Just make sure that false rumors are
> always mouthed by NPC`s, because the DM ought not trick
players. NPCs on the other hand, ought to trick PCs.
>
Here I agree wholeheartedly. Any PC who takes a rumor for the truth and
prepares accordingly deserves what he gets.
Christoph Tiemann
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