The information loop
In a game like this, information is power. With information, the party has a better chance of conserving resources, and of getting back home in one piece. It might not help them win fights, but it could definitely help them manipulate and win situations. To drive things forward, try to relay information which the player(s) can validate, exploit, or convert into loot which, in turn, they can use to bargain for more information. So imprint that information onto NPCs, onto partial maps, onto trails left behind, onto scraps of evidence, and more.
What kind of information to share with players
Try to focus rumours and intel around:
- What, warning the player(s) of potential threats, traps, creatures.
- Where, pointing them in a certain direction, where an entrance might be rumoured, what points of interest to look for, what chamber something might be in.
- Who, guiding them on potential factions, who hates who, which leader is paranoid or on the take, who might help them if they deal with something or someone, who might be willing to be hired to accompany the party.
- Why, motivating them by sharing titbits about what loot might be here or there, what they might discover, and why it’s definitely worth hunting down and risking their lives for.
Look to spread 3-5 rumours at a time to give the player(s) leads to choose from without feeling railroaded. Some might be immediately actionable, others more long-term and might take time to come to fruition, and some might be plain or partially wrong, although try not to lead the players into dead ends, so maybe a rumour gets them to the right spot but is wrong about how to unlock something when they get there, or isn’t informed about traps in that spot.
Remember the cost
Given its power, information should usually come with a cost or a twist, varying depending on how useful it might be. So the character(s) might need to spend in coins or bribes, in favours or jobs, even in safety or time, before they get their hands on information they need or could use. Every NPC, for example, has their own goal, their own price, so it might not come easily to hand.
And so, the player(s) should be encouraged to scout ahead, to negotiate and bargain, to verify rumours by exploring or checking with someone else before reflecting and planning, to withdraw when it’s smart but to come back with a better angle next time, and to see the continual gathering and exploitation of rumours & information as one of their most vital preparations before they risk their lives.
But this is all on the fly...
Yep, how can you share rumours and information about something you’ve not yet designed? That’s where the fun comes in. Rather than doing things in reverse by planning and writing out what the party might face and then working that into your rumours (and therefore potentially railroading the player(s) towards a set conclusion), try to go wild. Maybe focus instead on cramming meat into every rumour in the same way as you do when presenting encounters. It’s all about juicing things up to hook in the players. Who knows whether the rumour turns out to be wrong or on the money. You can work that out as you go along, based on the player(s)’ response and their next steps. You lay out the rumour, they follow it up, and as they get closer to seeing how it might help them, that’s when you can take all the information you’ve collected from the random tables in this deck, what the player(s) are suspecting or concluding, and mould what they face around the rumours and rolls.
Need a quick rumour?
Sometimes, you might find yourself in need of an actionable rumour or three to get things going at the table. So here's a one-button generator that'll churn some rumours for you. It lays out hopefully a thought-provoking location, faction, situation, and complication, but also some extra stuff to spark something up for you. Given that it's just a lowly generator, some of what this slings together might make little sense, but hey, remember that these are purely for inspiration, so keep clicking until something, well, clicks!
what's next?
Ok, so from here you might want to...
...move onto guidance on how to use darkness
...return to the rules of the chaos intro
...or dive into the character creation rules
Remember, though, that you can navigate anywhere on the site using the menus on each page, and if you ever get lost, roll 1d6 and we'll see what perils you encounter!