Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Gus L" data-source="post: 9627619" data-attributes="member: 7045072">Rumors aren't about ensuring the party explores everything, they are about quickly providing opportunities/options to the party.&nbsp; A magic sword may or may not be interesting to your players, but if you are committed to running an open world that's their decision to make.&nbsp; It doesn't matter if they need that magic sword to fight some scary threat or if the sword gives clues to another dungeon ... the players are the ones deciding what rumors to follow. So make the rumors interesting...&quot;+1 sword in a cave&quot; is not an interesting rumor.Part of this is as others have said ... +1 swords are boring.&nbsp; They are also not especially useful as a concept unless you are running a OD&amp;D style game that focuses on demesne management and skirmish combat.&nbsp; In an RPG style game with a more granular scale you can offer more interesting stuff.&nbsp; There was a sort of a fad about 10 years ago on OSR blogs to offer &quot;+1 sword replacements&quot; - which is to say swords that don't have pluses but provide other minor benefits. I'll add that rumors themselves should be interesting - they don't need a huge amount of backstory but they are another place where designers and referees can easily add setting flavor.&nbsp; This is also a rumor that there are magic swords in a cave.&quot;The chariot kings of old rest uneasy in their stone line barrows ... their tomb blades, clenched in skeletal hands are fat with the unstable power of blood and souls whisper them awake ... The swords yearn to be released from centuries of dark silence and again reap red ruin on the fields of war.&quot;Don't worry if this sort of thing will draw your players in - they don't have to clear the map or something, they just have to adventure somewhere.... plus the rumors they ignore can grow.&nbsp; The chariot kings can wake - driven to conquest by the mad souls trapped in their blood quenched blades ... and what fantasy game doesn't benefit from an army of undead bronze age warriors roaming about making trouble?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Gus L, post: 9627619, member: 7045072"] Rumors aren't about ensuring the party explores everything, they are about quickly providing opportunities/options to the party. A magic sword may or may not be interesting to your players, but if you are committed to running an open world that's their decision to make. It doesn't matter if they need that magic sword to fight some scary threat or if the sword gives clues to another dungeon ... the players are the ones deciding what rumors to follow. So make the rumors interesting... "+1 sword in a cave" is not an interesting rumor. Part of this is as others have said ... +1 swords are boring. They are also not especially useful as a concept unless you are running a OD&D style game that focuses on demesne management and skirmish combat. In an RPG style game with a more granular scale you can offer more interesting stuff. There was a sort of a fad about 10 years ago on OSR blogs to offer "+1 sword replacements" - which is to say swords that don't have pluses but provide other minor benefits. I'll add that rumors themselves should be interesting - they don't need a huge amount of backstory but they are another place where designers and referees can easily add setting flavor. This is also a rumor that there are magic swords in a cave. "The chariot kings of old rest uneasy in their stone line barrows ... their tomb blades, clenched in skeletal hands are fat with the unstable power of blood and souls whisper them awake ... The swords yearn to be released from centuries of dark silence and again reap red ruin on the fields of war." Don't worry if this sort of thing will draw your players in - they don't have to clear the map or something, they just have to adventure somewhere.... plus the rumors they ignore can grow. The chariot kings can wake - driven to conquest by the mad souls trapped in their blood quenched blades ... and what fantasy game doesn't benefit from an army of undead bronze age warriors roaming about making trouble? [/QUOTE]

Verification