by leroy43

Philip Reed is a cool guy. Or at least I imagine he is as I've never met him. One thing that he does have, in spades, is imagination.

For a time, and especially over the pandemic, he ran a series of Kickstarter projects where for a couple of bucks you'd get "A Dozen Disconcerting Rumors" or "Six Unexpected Planar Gates". I bought a lot of them, because, hey, for $1, even one of those suggestions has paid for itself, and over the decades I've spent far more for far far worse.

The Book of Collected Rumors then is a compilation of a number of those "A Dozen [insert here] Rumors", which came with a print on demand code, and I bought the hardcover edition via DriveThruRPG.

What you get is 204 pages of rumours, each of which take a page.

The rumours are meant as seeds for ideas that will need to be fleshed out by the game master, but there's simultaneously enough there to scaffold a stroy idea around, and to hook the players. Each page has artwork that conveys the idea, a big bold title, some flavour text in the form of a quote you might overhear at the tavern, and then some expository information about who's speaking. My favourite part is then the True and False prompt, which gives two outcomes for the rumour. If it's true, then X, if it's false then Y.

For example, The Royal Secret on page 59 starts with "Margaret Smitherman, Duchess of Haerford, is an imposter..." There's more to the text, which is then followed with a description Weland Leofgeat, a local dissenter and rebel, who thinks he isn't being overheard. There's a paragraph of what will happen if the players approach him, and then the two paths for the future. Is it true? Or false? And what happens when the players go to find out?

The book, the printed version of it anyways, makes a perfectly find coffee table or bathroom book. Pick it up, reading a rumour will take you a minute or two, and then you can put it away again. Flip it to a random page. There's something to please everyone here - people, places, monsters, buildings, all available to be dropped into any campaign.

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by Bifford [White Hare Games] (Sam)

The Thursday Thing aims to highlight contests and other interesting things on RPG Geek.
Please Geekmail me suggestions and In My Own Words articles.


On Participation
by [username=Bifford]Bifford[/username]

Re-starting the Review Challenge is doing wonders for our writing skills, and my choice of reviews each week.

I may have to start a challenge for session reports! Only two to choose from in the past week (both good ones mind you) but that's very slim pickings! I know January is almost over but I'd allow retrospective additions (any you've already written), so maybe get a few in before the end of January while I decide if it is something I'll do! :D

:whistle: ;)


RPGGeek adjacent - BoardGameGeek has started to announce the 2026 inductees to the Hall of Fame.
Memoir '44, Puerto Rico and For Sale (so far). Keep an eye here:
https://boardgamegeek.com/geekpreview/72/the-boardgamegeek-h...


Panic table? Sounds like my sort of fun! :D
[Roger's Reviews] Taken to the Cleaners


That's a lot of treasure for one little egg!
Featherstone Gamers - Part 45 - Going For A Song



Every day there's a new Question of the Day. Most of them are game-related but once in a while we get one that'a more geek-related like favorite movies or books. The question changes every day and you can even suggest a QOTD. When you check out this week's Question of the Week, you can see a link to all the old questions and the chance to suggest a question of your own. Here's this week's QOTD:
QOTD JAN 15: What's your most successful experience in recruiting strangers for a game?


Still time to pitch your PbF games here. The initiative will start in the next few weeks.
The 2026 New Player Initiative - Call to GMs!


Here are some other things you might want to check out.
Geek of the Month is a chance to learn more about our community members.
Behind the Screen is an archive of advice by/for GMs written by our community.
RPG Spotlight Event Tracker focuses on questions and ideas for specific games.
Solo RPGs you have played - Jan 2026

European RPG - Heap of Generosity is the European "Pay it Forward" geeklist (you do not have to give something to receive!)
[US] RPGG Pay It Forward: Traditional List is for the US traditional swap of things (2026 edition).
[US] RPGG Pay It Forward: No Obligation List is for the US non-traditional swap/not of things (2026 edition).

Kickstarter RPG Game Books - 2026 details Kickstarter crowdfunding projects in 2026.
BackerKit RPG Projects details Backerkit crowdfunding projects 2021-2026.

Contest Subscription Thread is where we go to find contests on the RPG side.
2026 RPG Character Creation Challenge
2026 Run 5 RPGs New to You in 2026 Challenge
2026 Play 5 RPGs New to You in 2026 Challenge
2026 Ladder of Insanity
2026 Review Challenge

Banners are by the talented [username=pdzoch]Patrick[/username].

by Rachel

Today was spent with Composer's Cat.

The rulebook has been updated for what I hope will be the last time prior to submission... fingers-crossed. As for the video, the actual video footage is 95% done. I like it, I like where it's at. But I need to re-do the audio... I can talk again, kinda, but I'm hoarse and coughing... a lot. The deadline is the 31st, so there's still time, but I'll be cutting it close.

I got up! I'm just coughing too much!
Image Credit: TeeTurtle.

Game Over On borrowed time...

Happy Wednesday and happy playing!
-Rachel

Thank you for reading my blog. If you liked it; then please click the green thumb [microbadge=23724] at the top of the page. If you really liked it; then please subscribe.

A new episode has been added to the database: 131 John Baltisberger wants to make more games about hope