Here are ten rumours for characters to hear in or about Town Bridge in Castorhage, also called the Blight, of the Lost Lands setting. They could hear these rumours whilst asking around for other information, or stumble across them in other ways. Whether or not a rumour is true, false or somewhere in between is up to the GameMaster. The rumours can be used as a source of background colour, misinformation or as potential adventure hooks.
Bridge-Cant is a complicated pidgin spoken on Town Bridge that’s unusually difficult to learn and decipher, especially for those who didn’t grow up with it. It’s rumoured that Town Bridge’s residents deliberately make the can more and more complex in order to ensure that outsiders have difficulties with it.
Crown Prince Justice Cornlord, who resides in Angel Tower on Town Bridge, has reportedly been sending agents through to Between to Scrimshaw in order to keep an eye on what’s happening in that outpost of empire. So far, he hasn’t shown any inclination to interfere, though he does seem to be keeping a careful watch on the rulers of the place.
Fire is always a problem on Town Bridge, and it has been burnt down over the years in a number of Great Fires. There are rumours that recently fires have been cropping up on the bridge, though they have so far been successfully put out. Some believe that there may be an arsonist out there; others that it might be something more sinister.
It’s said that the meanings of some words in Bridge-Cant is regularly changed, which is one of the reasons outsiders who haven’t grown up with it find it so difficult, because the meaning of what’s said changes without their knowledge. It’s rumoured that there is a group of bridgefolk who are responsible for these changes.
One of the reasons why the merchant Sir Rathven Tran has made a respectable fortune is because of his contacts with the Royal Family and their hangers-on and relatives. It’s rumoured, though, that Sir Rathven has to constantly keep some of the less stable members of the Royal Family bribed in various ways.
Thanks to a strange quirk in Castorhage’s tax laws, those who live on Town Bridge are exempt from paying tax. It’s rumoured that some of the wealthy are slowly buying up parts of the bridge, intending to convert the sometimes-ramshackle buildings into luxurious manors where the commoners are kept away.
The Darnell Family is a gang on Town Bridge whose members are all related to each other, making it tightly knit. They are based out of the Buttress and it’s rumoured that the Darnells are gradually taking over more and more of the Between trade that flows through it.
The Heath Family of Town Bridge still manage to spread fear thanks to the memory of the brutal, and recently deceased, former leader Uriah Heath. Locals are convinced that Uriah will return as either undead or alchymic-undying, and it’s rumoured that the Darnell Family is planning to steal Uriah’s body and publicly destroy it, and therefore the fear others still have in the Heath’s former Great Father.
The Spine is the main street of Town Bridge, crossing the river, and it’s a twisted and convoluted mess. It’s rumoured that proposals have been put forward on several occasions to demolish many of the buildings cluttering up the Spine and straightening it out to make it more use before any rebuilding is done, but these have never managed to get very far.
Though Workhouse Isle uses its child labour to make bleach from brine and potash lye, it’s rumoured that bleach isn’t the only thing produced. There have been claims that the factory also makes other, less legal but far more profitable, items in hidden workshops.
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Numenera is a game published by Monte Cook Games. Its setting is the Ninth World, and this list has ten rumours for that setting. The rumours, which are similar to the Hearsay that can be found in the official books, can be used as adventure hooks or as simple misinformation.
Banurno is a face-dancing mutant who runs the village of Delormi on the Island of Undoing. There are occasional rumours that Banurno is determined to remain in charge of the settlement at all costs, and has used the island’s health draining to eliminate rivals.
Cultists of the Jagged Dream are rumoured to be looking to book passage to the Island of Undoing. It’s said that they are looking for someone who’s said to be on the island, though it’s unclear just what they are going to do if they find the person they’re looking for.
The flora and fauna of the Island of Undoing is perhaps not as dangerous as might be expected, and the only greater threat is the threat of the Island itself, which is admittedly a serious threat. It’s rumoured that there used to be other dangers, but the Island drained them until they died.
The Island of Undoing constantly drains health from those creatures who live nearby, and there are rumours that this is because the island is alive, a creature of living metal that was seriously injured in some long-ago battle, perhaps in a previous world, and is still trying to rebuild its strength.
The Island of Undoing is a large metal island, though one whose shape changes between night and day. Some believe that the island is not an island, and that it’s actually some kind of craft, though what kind of craft varies, from a space vessel to an interdimensional one to something more mundane like a ship.
The song of the Island of Undoing that attracts people to the island despite themselves fades away as night falls, which is when the Island starts to draw health from those living creatures on it. Some believe that if the song could be correctly duplicated, it would stop all within hearing from having their life drained.
The twin sisters Myph and Matese who live in Delormi on the Island of Undoing and are able to turn almost anything into a healing device. This is perhaps the only reason the settlement can continues, and recently there have been troubling rumours that the twins have been losing their abilities.
There are rumours that some of those who have wound up on the Island of Undoing found the island in a different place to where it normally is, about 250 miles northwest of the Island of the Last Migration in the Sea of Secrets. No-one on the Island has ever noticed it to move, and those who claim to have found it elsewhere are generally assumed to be mistaken, though some wonder if the Island is not quite fixed in space.
Those who remain on the Island of Undoing find their health slowly drained away, and can only be restored with devices and special powers. Healing devices are common in the island, but some which to design a device that won’t be used to heal the damage after it’s done but to stop the health being drained away in the first place.
Ziwoh the Redfin runs a regular ship from several land ports to the Island of Undoing, as well as offering some other services to aid those heading there. It’s rumoured that because the Island kills a lot of those that head there, Ziwoh sometimes just kills his passengers and steals their possessions as no-one will be surprised if they don’t return.
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The Strange is a game published by Monte Cook Games. It is, at least in part, set in the normal world, but there are other worlds out there, in the Strange. This list has ten rumours for that setting, similar to the various different adventure hooks in the books, and these can be used as adventure hooks or simple misinformation.
As Ruk also operates under the law of Mad Science, it’s rumoured that some of the factions of Ruk have been dispatching expeditions to Mesozoica. It’s said that the goal of these expeditions is to find some of the lost technology from the fallen serpent people civilisation of the recursion.
Captain Marab is the person in charge of Fort Erish when it’s occupied. Somehow, the captain manages to survive every event that forces and evacuation of the fort, events that regularly result in the deaths of some of the traders operating out of it, which has led to questions about just how he is always luckier than everyone else.
Earthquakes are not uncommon in Mesozoica and pose a hazard to those in the recursion, but there are rumours that some recursors have claimed that their number and intensity have been increasing. In the Lost World stories on which Mesozoica is based, it’s not uncommon for the Lost World in question to be destroyed shortly after the explorers discover it, and some wonder if this is going to happen to Mesozoica.
Fort Erish is a place that has been claimed by traders out of Ardeyn, though they regularly have to abandon the place or be slain by dinosaurs, hominids, poisonous gasses or something else. It’s rumoured that the traders, as their repairs had to be done by brute force as they are unfamiliar with the Weird Science that Mesozoica operates under, have been looking to subcontract some improvements to the defences to those able to work better under the local laws.
Mesozoica is home to many creatures that lived during the Mesozoic Era on Earth, namely dinosaurs, as well as some creatures that are anachronistic but also extinct. It’s an island considered to be a Lost World recursion, and there are rumours that a group from Earth want to use it for Jurassic World-style tours, without all the negative bits.
Some recursors are planning an expedition to Mesozoica in order to capture some of the creatures, dinosaurs and others, found there and bring them back to Earth. It’s not clear why this is being done, though probably money is at the root of this, whether to get money from selling the creatures or from scientific research done on them.
The degenerate remnant remains of a more advanced serpent people culture still live on Mesozoica, but they only have a fraction of the abilities of their forebears. It’s rumoured, though, that an advanced remnant of the original serpent people civilisation still lives on, buried deep beneath the ground.
The tar pits are a hazard of Mesozoica that aren’t always visible until too late. There are rumours amongst some recursors that something actively hides some of the tar pits so that the unwary blunder into them and are caught, claiming that there is no other way they could have been missed.
There are two types of hominids native to Mesozoica, though they aren’t that advanced, and have no formal language. There are rumours, though, that some clues found at Fort Erish suggest that one or both of the species were responsible for the fort’s original construction.
Webs are common in Mesozoica, and some are created by creatures big enough to go head-to-head with a T. rex. It’s rumoured that some of the largest creators of the webs possess a strange, alien intelligence, and may be catching things in their webs for reasons that make sense to them but not to anyone else.
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10 Hooks and Rumours for Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0.’s Europe
This list has ten hooks and rumours that can be heard about Germany. Whether or not they are true is up to the GameMaster. They can be used as background colour or as potential adventure hooks.
East-style, a new musical sound emerging in Chemnitz, is just starting to make a mark on the European music scene. This is reputedly already drawing the interest of the corps who make money from music, and who are trying to buy up as much as they can before the style really hits the mainstream. This has led to battles between those considered sellouts to the corps and those who resist their advances.
Hamburg is now an arcology and controlled free city, with certain standards of wages and social care. Though EBM believes this aids the city’s growth, and they are probably right in this belief, some corporations with a shorter view think that such should be scrapped.
Security in the Bavarian Freistaat is known to border on the extreme, even patrolling the borders with other parts of Germany. It’s rumoured that this security in particular sometimes gets a little trigger-happy, and that there have been a few instances where things got a little out of hand that have needed to be quietly buried. Often literally.
Siemens has a corporate city in a suburb of Munich, and it’s rumoured that competitors are continually trying to compromise this, or those who work there. It’s said that Siemens’ corporate security is very effective, though, and those who fall foul of it have a tendency to disappear.
The police have given up on attempting to control the ghettos of Chemnitz, and rioting and ethnic warfare happen regularly. It’s also home to a rising alternative scene, and it’s rumoured that more powerful elements of that scene have started to decide to take control of the ghettos back from those causing trouble.
The Köln-Dortmund Conurb is Germany’s premier industrial zone, and is also home to unrest, thanks to workers of Turkish descent and such as actions by the Kurdish PKK. It’s rumoured that some Germans in the region, hailing back to older German racist philosophies, heave teamed up with the PKK in order to attack those of Turkish descent.
The lower pay grades were exiled from Berlin when the government was moved to that city. It’s rumoured that since then there has been a growing trend upwards, with more and more money being needed to live in the city, at least for everyone who doesn’t serve the wealthy or the powerful.
There is a lot of high-tech industry in the Köln-Dortmund Conurb in Germany, and this provides regular income for edgerunners specialising in corporate espionage. It’s rumoured that beneath the surface is a silent war between some of the companies operating in the region, a war that leaves definite casualties, some brain-burned, some dead.
Those who cause trouble in Hamburg and are caught are first fines and then expelled if they continue in their ways. It’s rumoured, though, that some of the more extreme troublemakers are just quietly disappeared, without even a recorded arrest, let alone a trial, and the only time any part of them will be seen again is in an organ donation.
When the government of Germany moved to Berlin in 2000, the radical youth culture for which the city was known moved to the suburbs or other cities. It’s rumoured that some within that culture believe that it’s time to take the city back, and such a belief could end up clashing with Berlin’s high level of security.
D10: Europe Rumours: Germany III is unofficial content provided under the Homebrew Content Policy of R. Talsorian Games and is not approved or endorsed by RTG. This content references materials that are the property of R. Talsorian Games and its licensees.
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Characters may attempt to learn more about types of creatures that they may end up fighting, and there are many sources they might check, but not everything they learn is necessarily true. Here are ten bits of misinformation to learn about humans.
Humans are genocidal, and they have the intention to eventually wipe every other intelligent people from the face of the world.
Humans are incapable of learning things for themselves, instead stealing all that they know from others.
Humans are not intelligent; they are unintelligent apes with exceptional skills in mimicry.
Humans are poisoners who will kill those they have issue with using such.
Humans are soulless creatures that need to consume the souls of others in order to survive.
Humans are thieves out to steal everything from everyone they encounter.
Humans deliberately destroy the land, making it so that others cannot live on it.
Humans steal the young of other species to brainwash them into accepting that humans are superior.
Male and female humans are actually different species that can only procreate their own kind when with the other.
Some humans regard other species as food, and will eat them when they can.
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Numenera is a game published by Monte Cook Games. Its setting is the Ninth World, and this list has ten rumours for that setting. The rumours, which are similar to the Hearsay that can be found in the official books, can be used as adventure hooks or as simple misinformation.
A small settlement built close to a ruin has been having problems with things starting to work in unexpected ways. A colony of shinspinners has migrated from the ruin to the settlement and is tampering with everything they can find, causing problems as they do.
Power sources across a wide area have been malfunctioning of late, making those things dependent on them malfunction. Unknown to most, a group of tabanids have moved into the area; a rare grouping of the creatures that is, for some reason, acting together to feed on what they find.
Ryn, if left in peace to dismantle installations, vehicles or anything else they have found, will often leave living creatures alone, especially if they don’t have cyphers or artefacts. However, there’s a rumour that one ryn in particular appears to have grown bored of dismantling non-living things and has started dismantling living creatures instead.
Scrow are creatures that have the ability to live in microscopic realms who have recently returned to the macro world in order to loot ruins for needed parts. It’s rumoured that some scrow are hiding within some places and undermining them from within in order to remove potential competitors for parts.
Several manifest warcores were recently created after a community close to a ruin accidentally looted it of several warcores. This community was rapidly destroyed, and now the manifest warcores are on the move, posing a hazard to everyone in the area. Attempts are being made to hire someone to deal with the manifest warcores.
Sferics are automatons that can build things on request, to a plan or even without one. They have a need for bio-circuitry and a tendency to harvest it from whatever living creature is closest, and it’s rumoured that some sferic have disassembled huge numbers of people to make constructions entirely of bio-circuitry.
Synth eaters can be a major problem when they swarm and start consuming the synth they find. There are rumours that someone has managed to uncover a way of controlling synth eaters, sending them against communities that the controller wishes to ruin.
Things of value have been disappearing from a settlement, and this has caused problems for the place. The thefts have all been carried out by several trucklers who had insinuated their way into the settlement and started stealing things; the trucklers have remained for the moment as they have worked out they can steal more by just taking a few things, and doing this repeatedly, rather than everything they can carry.
Thlipsids deal in time stolen from others, and it’s rumoured that some of the creatures have managed to steal so much time from other beings over the years that they have in fact been around for a very long time, from the time of the Eighth World or perhaps even earlier.
Zek are clever vermin that nest inside communities and sometimes eating important mechanisms. A number of settlements have recently been plagued by them, and there’s a belief that someone has been deliberately planting colonies of zek in the communities.
The Strange is a game published by Monte Cook Games. It is, at least in part, set in the normal world, but there are other worlds out there, in the Strange. This list has ten rumours for that setting, similar to the various different adventure hooks in the books, and these can be used as adventure hooks or simple misinformation.
Familiars such as black cats can be seen in Forest Hills close to the lairs of the covens that live there. Rumours say that some of these cats and familiars are in fact what’s left of previous interlopers who disturbed the witch covens and paid the price for this.
Forest Hills on the outskirts of Halloween is home to several witch covens. There are rumours that a number of the witches have had a falling out with Hazel Jenkins, the witch who owns the House on the Hill, but are limited by her being a Power of the Night.
Houses and caves are maintained in Forest Hills, each home to one of the covens in the region. It’s rumoured that there are truly hidden places in which far worse things than the witch covens are lairing, and that encountering such is even more dangerous.
It’s rumoured that a new type of monster has recently been seen roaming Halloween, and many suspect that Hazel Jenkins is responsible for it. However, a few suggest that the monsters are unlike anything associated with the witch that’s been seen before, and believe they are something new.
Recent turmoil in Forest Hills has apparently made the district even more dangerous to outsiders than normal. It’s rumoured that all sorts of curses and hexes are dotting the landscape now, just waiting for the unwary to blunder into them.
Since the Starry Cauldron tried to take power from the Coven of the Rusted Knife in Forest Hills, tensions have been high between all the witch covens in the region. It’s rumoured that they are all currently eyeing each other up to see who might next strike at another of the covens.
The Coven of the Rusted Knife is the current Power of the Night that controls Forest Hills in Halloween and recently were the victors of an attempt by the Starry Cauldron to usurp them. The two covens are currently at peace, but it wouldn’t take them much to set them at each other’s throats again, and there are rumours that a third, unknown, coven is hoping to become the Power of the Night by setting the other two against each other.
The House on the Hill is a large and rambling house surrounded by extensive grounds that’s larger than some city neighbourhoods. It’s rumoured that the House is continually growing, and that as well as the aboveground areas, there are parts reaching into the depths of the earth below.
The Night Watchman is one of Halloween’s Powers of the Night, a ghoul in charge of ensuring the orderly internment of Halloween’s dead. It’s rumoured that the ghoul also has a degree of control over those spirits that he’s managed to properly inter, and can unleash them on others if needed.
The various tents, rides and sideshows of the Midnight Circus move around from night to night, only the big top remaining in the same place. It’s rumoured that visitors who are inside one of the other tents and shows when they move disappear, never to be seen again.
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10 Hooks and Rumours for Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0.’s Europe
This list has ten hooks and rumours that can be heard about Germany. Whether or not they are true is up to the GameMaster. They can be used as background colour or as potential adventure hooks.
Administration consulting in Germany has firms familiar with administration techniques help steer their customers through the countries bureaucracy without running into problems. It’s said that these companies mean that the wealthy can get past the red tape whilst everyone else is choked by it.
As well as several megacorps based out of Germany, there are thousands of lesser businesses that fill the niches not filled by the megacorporations. It’s said that these are the country’s true economic strength, and that there have been regular attempts to damage the smaller companies in order to reduce German influence.
Contraband comes through Frankfurt Airport, but thanks to this being Germany, the import of contraband is tightly controlled by the authorities. It’s rumoured that recently a non-German gang tried to muscle into the trade in contraband, only to find they were up against not only local gangs but the government and police as well, none of whom wanted someone unauthorised moving into the trade in technically illegal goods.
Frankfurt is the number two European banking city, with London still holding the number one spot. It’s rumoured that Frankfurt is willing to do anything, as long as they don’t get caught, to displace London from the number one position, and have been hiring mercenaries through cutouts to achieve this.
German companies monitor specific schools in other countries, looking for potential future employees who can fulfil specific needs. It’s rumoured that some of the companies have decided that it would be easier to own the schools themselves, and have started buying up some foreign schools.
Germany has several major political parties, but there are two larger than the others which depend on the smaller ones to gain majorities. It’s rumoured that some of the smaller parties are in truth not as independent as they might seem, as they are indirectly controlled by the two majors.
The demand for employees in Germany is rising, but there are too few natives for this, thanks to the Plague. This has led to companies importing employees from other countries and, reputedly, some megacorporations have been pouring more funding into robotic and AI in the hopes of replacing living employees with these.
The expansion of Frankfurt Airport in 2011 by the Flughafen AG which manages everything in and around it was not appreciated by the locals. FAG were rumoured to have bought an anti-missile system, and it’s rumoured that recently it’s actually been used on several different occasions.
Villages in Germany often have various benefits to encourage small businesses to come to them and cooperate with each other. One way in which they cooperate is in security, which allows small companies to, combined, field as much security as the megacorporations. It’s rumoured that some of these are considering joining forces in their own security company, to really make a mark on the global scene.
Volker Mohr made many enemies during his time in power, eventually becoming too radical even for those who agreed with him, but he made a lasting mark on German politics. It’s rumoured that there’s a new group forming on the political fringes that takes Mohr’s ideas as their inspiration, with the aim of doing more with them than he ever managed.
D10: Europe Rumours: Germany II is unofficial content provided under the Homebrew Content Policy of R. Talsorian Games and is not approved or endorsed by RTG. This content references materials that are the property of R. Talsorian Games and its licensees.
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Sewers can be dark places, with things hidden out of sight, or at least out of lanternlight. Characters exploring a sewer may hear things from beyond the circle of light.
Chittering of rats in the distance.
Dripping can be heard, falling as steadily as a metronome.
Something roars loudly in the distance.
Something scuttling along the bricks.
Splashing steps are heard disappearing into the distance.
The scrape of something catching the floor of the sewer.
The grate of metal on metal.
The splash of something entering the water.
Unusually loud squeak that sounded to have come from a rodent.
Water is suddenly heard lapping against the channel.
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Numenera is a game published by Monte Cook Games. Its setting is the Ninth World, and this list has ten rumours for that setting. The rumours, which are similar to the Hearsay that can be found in the official books, can be used as adventure hooks or as simple misinformation.
A new inn has reputedly been built on one of the less travelled routes, though there don’t appear to be any firsthand accounts of anyone having visited the inn, though there are some second-hand accounts of people having seen it. The inn is actually a mature meepril, known as a Hunger in the Halls, and those who do enter never come out again.
A settlement has recently lost a number of valuable items when parts of many of the buildings suddenly moved off of their own accord and took the valuables. These parts were revehent, and the settlement seems to have been affected by an oddly large number of them and is now in dire need thanks to the thefts.
An Oorgolian envoy has been turning up in a number of different settlements, apparently looking for a specific individual, but they seem to be uncertain as to just who that person is or what they look like. The envoy even seems to struggle with knowing the person’s name, and it’s said that they are seeking help in identifying their quarry.
Explorers of a nearby ruin have suddenly stopped returning after exploring it, even though they always have done so before. Some within the closest settlement believe that this is because the explorers have found something of great value, but the truth is a group of oniscids has just moved in and is making sure no-one can return to tell of their presence.
Fossicks are humanoid creatures who seem to have a hatred for humans, apparently blaming them for their flaking skin, emaciation and light-sensitive eyes. There are rumours that some fossicks have been trying to come up with ways to inflict these conditions on humans in apparent vengeance.
Griefsteel are self-aware automatons that were crafted to serve as companions to long-dead individuals and feel unending sorrow as a result. It’s said that sometimes griefsteel can decide that someone is the one they were intended to serve as a companion for, and adopt them, though with erratic results that often end in death.
Idolum take the skins of their victims in order to pose as them so that they can find more victims to eat. There are rumours of waystations catering to travellers and even small villages on travelled routes that have been entirely taken over by idolum, who prey on travellers until the number of disappearances becomes so large that attention is drawn to the locations.
Mech shamblers are machines that have started to wander and incorporate other devices into themselves. It’s rumoured that some mech shamblers have spoken of a voice speaking to them directly that has told them to leave where they are, gather as much technology as possible and head to a specific destination.
Mimetans have the ability to take on the semblance of objects, and several can take on the appearance of a larger object. It’s rumoured that there are conglomerations of dozens of mimetans that have formed themselves into the appearance of entire buildings.
Various settlements have recently been destroyed with tracks leading from one to the next. If followed, the tracks lead to the latest settlement, which is currently being dismantled and fed into a rabid fabricator that has squatted within the place.
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