For rumors about a dungeon that the DM gives to the players before they go: if they could be a lie
Then I’m inclined to disregard them all. I’d rather not indulge any of them if one could be a lie.
This is an overly pessimist view.
How do you do rumors and what are your thoughts about them and what have you learned in using them?
Do you have a philosophy about them? 30% true, 50% half true, 20% lies?
I think of rumors as a way to get the players info and something they might be interested in checking out. I agree that if most of the rumors are lies then the players might tend to ignore rumors so I would lean towards most rumors being partially true, some being completely true, and leave out lies. I don’t think there’s any benefit to having lies in your rumor table. One could argue “realism”, but I don’t think that’s a good reason.
For me, the half truths are more interesting so maybe 80%/20%.
I think lies always fall flat in play. They’re a waste of time. As a GM, I try to only pass on rumors that contain at least a nucleus of truth, some kind of hint that may become useful later.
that’s helpful. thanks!
helpful. I can use that. thanks!
I don’t tend to include outright falsehoods among my Rumors, there’s usually a grain of truth to each of them, but it might be a bit distorted through re-telling or exaggerated sometimes.
I find the best ones intrigue the Players by sometimes contradicting their expectations or contain sometimes tempting inconsistencies. “There’s a Wizard in the Scabrous Swamps that can cure any known Disease” is like this (in a Setting where Wizards don’t have Healing Magic) because it plays with some of that knowledge in addition to being something that might be “useful” later.