Gathering rumours
by Cab DavidsonBig Mac wrote:
How does this information gathering attempt work?
Any character can attempt to gather information from, say, a market place, a church congregation, a tavern crowd, etc. They'll get one rumour in a downtime period, or if they're good (a standard reaction roll in classic being 2d6 + charisma modifier, if they get 8 or more that's considered good for this purpose) they get two. 1d30 to pick out one of the ones on the list as it currently is, it gets updated (removing some or adding some - there aren't always 30 but I try to make it fit to a dice roll of some kind because, obviously).
If a character has a specific link to the place (they own the bar, they're a cleric of that church) they get two rumours plus maybe another if the reaction roll goes well.
A character with the information gathering skill can either make a check for getting extra rumour rolls (1d4) or they can instead try and hone down on any of this stuff, a successful check (potentially modified by bribes and good roleplay or clever ideas for how to get the info, or who from) gives them as much of the full story as they might feasibly find.
So, for example, the party fighter goes on a right bender in the tavern one night and is told by a trader who's just down from the mountains that Serraine was seen over Hamsterley the other day. While nursing a hangover in the morning, while the party priest repeatedly dips his bacon in more grease just to make a point, he tells the rest of the party this. The party thief then decides to go and see some of his friends up at the Silver smiths guild, knowing that the trade they do for raw material all comes down through Hamsterley, someone is bound to know what's happening up there. He makes a good roll for information gathering, and he finds out that yes, Serraine was seen there, and all day there were flights of biplanes carrying up some cargo from the gnomes who settled there up to Serraine, and that despite people asking the gnomes remained uncharacteristically tight lipped about what that was. The table also has two related rumours which are relevant here, and they sort of fit together - there's a new gnomish ambassador in town, and isn't it interesting that this should all come about while the gnomes are obviously up to something.
Obviously the party can investigate whatever they want, or even do something else entirely. But it's handy for me to just keep a list of cues like this so whichever way the PC's turn there's a reminder for me here, of the plot cues that are current in the campaign.