1d10 pirate rumors and superstitions

For weird nautical and pirate campaigns!

1. The blood of a sea serpent can be used to create an infallible compass.
2. Commander Noland’s treasure is buried under the breeding ground of the man-eating crabs.
3. In calm weather on midsummer day, the reflection of your ship is real and you can climb over there to find all the treasure that was stolen from you.
4. Captain Kate “Ruthless” Hawk ascended to the night sky and became a patron saint. Pray to her every day, and she shall send down a mist to cover your escape route.
5. Patch up your sails with captured flags and ride the winds twice as fast.
6. The old pirate king is still alive, imprisoned in the Imperial fortress! The new pirate king is illegitimate!
7. Some shanties are nasty enough to dislodge nails from wood.
8. Every ghost ship has a heart. Steal it to claim command over the vessel!
9. The pearl divers of Taboo Island can talk to fish.
10. You can capture thunder in a brass bell. But beware, you can only keep it imprisoned for a week!

Simple Rumor Mill

Rumors/clues/hooks are a super important part of RPGs, especially sandbox campaigns. Here's a very simple spark table, inspired by Traveller. Roll d6 & d10, look up the result, if you need extra inspiration just roll twice and combine.

	1-2 Location	3-4 Danger	5-6 Tabloid	7-8 Politics	9-10 Lore
1	Treasure	Urban crime	Love child	Faction conflict	History
2		Highwaymen	Adultery	Secret society	Monster
3	Resources	Wild animals	Inheritance	Impending war	Place
4	Person	Monsters	Rivalry	Corruption	Magic
5		Nat. disaster	Marriage	Diplomacy	Technology
6	Mythical place	DOOM!	Dark secret	Spies	Religion

A couple of quick examples:

1. Location (Treasure) & Danger (Monsters) = either a place guarded by monsters, or, to give it a spin: the location of a VALUABLE MONSTER - to develop this further, let's say a local noble is looking for a unicorn for their park, and the rumor is about the last sighting of a unicorn.
2. Danger (Monsters) & Politics (Diplomacy) = Messenger from neighboring kingdom captured by monsters - peace treaty endangered / messenger from neighboring kingdom is actually a doppelganger!
3. Tabloid (Rivalry) & Lore (Magic) = there is a schism in the Wizard Council, caused by the variant readings of an ancient prophecy - and to add that "tabloid" element, maybe the prophecy is about a "chosen one", and the various wizards now want to influence this person.
4. Lore (History) & Tabloid (Love child) = a classic! Genealogical research reveals heir actually being from a different branch of renowned family or something similar.
5. Location (Mythical place) & Danger (Urban crime) = crime lord found an entrance into the Dreamlands.
6. Location (Resources) & Tabloid (Inheritance) = copper mine inherited by young noble is mismanaged by cunning assistant.

Edit: I was also inspired by the rumor tables over at alea iactanda est, and the rumor mill in Luke Kennedy's Basic Fantasy RPG Hexcrawl Supplement.

Edit 2: I was also reminded of Delta's rumor system.

Example of the "36 Character Types" random table in use

I posted the "36 character types" table on Reddit, and r/thebalckveil asked for an example of the generator in use. I thought I would save the example here:

"For example, I would use it to create a court intrigue situation. Roll three times to get three NPCs or inspirational details. *roll roll roll*

65 The Weak, 61 Murderers & Assassins, 21 The Avaricious and Grasping

Interpretation:
NPC #1: Prince Bernardo, the king's eldest but sickly son, heir to the throne (The Weak)
NPC #2: Jacopo, the ambitious husband of the king's daughter (The Avaricious & Grasping)
Situation: Prince Bernardo fears that Jacopo, the newcomer to the family, will try to take advantage of his bad health and seize the throne for himself. Prince Bernardo hires assassins (Murderers & Assassins) to take care of the matter.

How to use this situation in your game? Well, there are a couple of ways, for example:

• The party is approached by Jacopo, who fears for his life and hires bodyguards.
• The party is approached by Prince Bernardo's agent, who wants to hire them as assassins.
• The party hears rumors about the tension between Prince Bernardo and Jacopo, and might try to exploit the situation. Or they hear rumors about the Prince hiring assassins."