d10 Things You Hear In Town

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0711

I often stumble over thinking up rumours on-the-fly. Especially in my sandbox games where there are so many possibilities. I end up just slandering a character or bad-mouthing the establishment. While good for a laugh, that doesn’t drive the campaign forward.

So Jochen and I just added a new generator to Campaign Logger called Town Rumours. It’s meant to help you roleplay NPCs. To put words in their mouths for you. You just need to replace names of people and places with those from your campaign and you’ve got instant rumours dripping with adventure.

Here are 10 examples of Town Rumours I generated this morning:

The builder recently died from a strange disease after visiting a rift near the Village of Peachmoor.
The ghost of the venerable Commander of Galilvany has been spotted wandering the streets late at night.
The papermaker claims the drinks at the Tasty Warrior turned his best friend into a beast of some sort. He hasn’t been seen for days.
The body of a female dragonborn was found near the brownsmith’s shop.
A descendent of the Baronet of Pavyr has been hiding in town as a breeder for many years.
The resident gladiator claims an aasimar that recently arrived in town started a fight at the Random Merchant Inn last night.
A descendent of the Marquess of Nochwold has been hiding in town as a seamstress for many years.
People have gone missing near the shadowy well recently.
Now and then an obese gnome is seen wandering about town performing good deeds, but nobody seems know who she is.
Prices with the butcher have more than doubled since the province has gone to war with the Free Town of Potters.

Reading these, I see a few connections. Plots are brewing!