Unreliable Information

[DRD1812]

I love me some random rumor tables. The convention of 'true,' 'false,' and 'partially true' rumors can keep even setting experts on their toes.

So my question for the board is this: Have you ever come across some dubious piece of setting information that turned out to be unexpectedly true? How did the party find out they were laboring under a misapprehension?

Comic for illustrative purposes.

[blahpers]

My Rise of the Runelords: Anniversary Edition labored under the assumption that

Rise of the Runelords: Anniversary Edition spoilers:

Sheriff Hemlock was in league with the goblins

pretty much all the way until we stopped playing after Book 1. X D

[DRD1812]

blahpers wrote:

My Rise of the Runelords: Anniversary Edition labored under the assumption that

** spoiler omitted **

pretty much all the way until we stopped playing after Book 1. X D

Something similar happened in my Strange Aeons game recently.

Strange Aeons spoilers:

My players misunderstood some clues about the doctor turned doppelganger Dr. Oathsday, and assumed she was experimenting on patients before she turned into a literal monster.

My solution was to shrug my shoulders and then allow that to be true. I wound up adapting to their view of the game world rather than vice versa.

[Mark Hoover 330]

My players... *sighs like a French art film* ... are meticulous planners. I run a homebrew hex crawl type game and have tried handing out false and true rumors for adventures.

Most of these they ferret out in the "planning" phase of the adventure. It's like DMing an episode of a formulaic TV show: the PCs get wind of something the party is interested in. The next part of the "episode" involves all four making Gather Info checks around town, getting supporting details, going to local churches/libraries/sages to research the lore involved, summoning animals of the wild or bug scouts to scour the area, and so on.

The last time I tried a false rumor the players rooted out the falsehood before they'd even gotten after the "dragon" that was terrorizing the locals. Turned out to be a Scooby Doo type situation where the noble was trying to keep folks from going near a particular mine where the corrupt baron was making deals with kobolds.

I mean, if my players are having fun then I can't fault them, but being the old skool type GM that I am, sometimes I wish they'd just go to site x, kick open some doors and adventure.

[Mudfoot]

I've had a couple of players for whom there's no difference between reliable and unreliable information, as they'll have forgotten half of it by the next session anyway. Might as well have read them last week's TV listings for all the difference it made.

[DungeonmasterCal]

Mudfoot wrote:

I've had a couple of players for whom there's no difference between reliable and unreliable information, as they'll have forgotten half of it by the next session anyway. Might as well have read them last week's TV listings for all the difference it made.

Yeah. I know how you feel.