Rumors

Dear Diary,
I love to use rumors as a tool to introduce future scenarii and plant the mood in the game.
I normally let the players roll for one rumor at beginning of play. I also use this kind of tables when my players visit an inn, a pub or a party to seed informations that might be relevant in a later adventure.

Rumors

1D20	Rumor	True / False?
1	Some cats seem to be intelligent. My neighbour thinks he heard one speak, once. But he’s a drunkard...	True
2	There is a giant shark in the Thames	False?
3	Some kind of priest asks around if people have seen Holy Artifacts of Power or experienced Wonders (Hospitaler of Dunwich)	True
4	One patient of the Ravens (Nulla Corvi) was murdered because he couldn’t pay the monthly dues (or extortion)	False
5	One guy on the docks has opened the chest of a ruffian with his mechanical arms(²) and ate the heart of his victim(³)	T(²) & F(³)
6	There are giant Rats(²) riding crocodiles(³) in the sewer system	T(²) & F(³)
7	Miasma (foul smells) infects you with typhus and cholera	Partly True
8	Prince Regent’s George IV dissolute way of life will ruin the empire and his politics must be as bad as his lifestyle	False
9	Since last week, Thrawl Street is cursed(²). An abominable stink of decay comes from the ground and the houses(³).	F(²) & T(³)
10	An American fleet roams between Ireland and Wales. Only a traitor would try to get rich by selling them black powder.	True
11	A prophet in the dry docks of High-Docks (on the other bank of the Thames in front of Whitechapel) can work wonders.	True
12	An epidemic & a lot of disappearances happened  in the district of Katzenjammer (between Whitechapel & the city center)	Partly true
13	Dr. Reginald Malt is searching for candidates for limb replacement. The prosthesis will be iron made & indestructible	True
14	The Lambeth Street Runners (Whitechapel “police”) have issued a bounty for "The Yorkshire Witch" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Bateman)	True
15	The Ó Céitinn gang was recovering money from bad payers of the Nulla Corvi, but they seem to outstep their duties	True
16	Étienne Vigée, a playwright visiting the Lyceum Theatre, has been seen a lot in literary salons and military receptions (spy?)	True (false)
17	Urchins working as pickpockets on the River Thames frost fair work for Mama Browny (Catacomb Runners)	False
18	Oroku Nagi has placed a 10£ bounty on Dorian Conywood as a traitor and ronin (whatever he means by that)	True
19	A street kid says he hit with his sling a crow flying over the Thames and that it transformed into a man that fell into the River	True
20	The green Toucan (irish pub) offers a bounty of one Shilling for the head of each “filthy” cat (Sons of the Piper)	True

What’s behind it

1. That would be an Isfet, a kind intelligent cat. They mostly live in the district of Katzenjammer (between Whitechapel & the city center). They are at war with the Zoog (evil were-rats)
2. I mean, why not. A shark would be too much for my taste, but some kind of big Monster in the Thames like in the Doctor Who episode “thin Ice” (S10E03) is something that can be interesting.
3. The Hospitaller Order of Dunwich is searching for artifacts. They can be great allies, but also dangerous enemies
4. This is not really true: some people saved by the Nulla Corvi have been roughed up by their collectors, but never killed. However, the Ó Céitinn gang, who was in charge of collection for them up to recently, has begun racketting the families of the healed people and a few have been found dead from “falling in the stairs”. The Nulla Corvi has stopped their collaboration with the Ó Céitinn gang, but they continue collecting. The Nulla Corvi will certainly try and find some courageous party to stop this problem that tarnishes their reputation.
5. The inhuman strenght that the mecanical arms of the Ordo Mechanica can give you is impressive. A band of ruffians attacked one of the modified dockers on a foggy night and he defended himself, opening the ribcage of one of the attackers. All others good-for-nothing fled on the spot, chased by the docker. Once the runners arrived on the scene of the battle, the heart of the dead bandit had been surgically removed by a third party, but the docker had nothing to do with it
6. There a lot of giant rats under London, quite a lot of them being Zoogs. There are dangerous enough as it is, but they don't ride crocodiles. But a swimming Zoog might be confused with a crocodile in the darkness of a sewer...
7. This was a common misconception back then that the smell was responsible for getting sick, when it's actually the lack of hygiene that is the real prick
8. George IV was hated by his population. His rule was a bit ruthless, he lived in an indecent comfort and had a dissolute way of life (Partying and women, mostly). The quite biggot population of the Regency Era could not stand his way of life, but loved his wife and daughter, who were behaving a lot more within the society standards of the era. But retrospectively, his results are not bad: Under his rule (and under the regency where minister had a lot of power), the kindom developped to an impressive world power, improving it's colonial grasp on the world (which is nowadays a politically difficult subject, but was considered very positively back then) and allowing the industrial revolution. The kingdom could have done worse economically but his way of life was considered a problem and he was therefore never a popular King/Regent.
9. Last week, Sir Charles Wale KCB of the Royal York Rangers (a distinct member of the Hospitaller of Dunwich) was assaulted in Thrawl Street while searching for the "Heart of Coal" , a relic from a peat swamp (arcana) and could only defend himself by casting a "Rain of Gore"-miracle. His attackers remain unknown, but are sure not to try again soon, happy to have survived an actual "miracle".
10. A very enterprising chemist and his crew could try and contact the Committee of Secret Correspondence and sell them black powder or food for the fleet. Such deadlings would be very lucrative, but also very dangerous, the crown threading not lightly around traitors.
11. That Prophet is known as the Fisher. This rumor is a reference to the adventure present in the french Into the Odd introductory Kit
12. This is a reference to the fact that a lot of people in Katzenjammer are transformed into Zoogs, eaten/killed by zoogs, and a lot of Isfet and cats disappeared. This is a reference to the introdution of the mini-campaign "Into the Cave" developped for the crowdfunding for the french version of Into The Odd (Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3 & Episode 4)
13. Dr. Reginald Malt is part of the Ordo Mechanicus
14. The Yorkshire Witch was a female murderer whose Modus Operandi was to seek employment and poison its "masters" and rob them dry of all their possessions. The bounty for her identification is of 1£ and her capture 1.5£ on top of the identification. It would be a shame if one of your players was identified as the Witch "by error"
15. The Ó Céitinn gang is a lawless band of ruffians, that not only recovered missed payments from the people cured by the Nulla Corvi, but also extorts racketing money from the poor population of Whitechapel ("it would be a shame if the house of your neighbours would burn down, bringing yours down in the process") and lately started to target the families of the persons cured by the pest doctors. The Nulla Corvi did cut them off, but they continue "collecting" the money. A participation to the collected money is offered for any party getting rid of them in the Name of the Nulla Corvi (treat it as a D4 enterprise)
16. Louis-Jean-Baptiste-Étienne Vigée is a french playwright, in short exile in London fleeing from Girondist persecution in France. As a supporter of Napoleon, his political views are unpopular in the literary salons of the City, but his wit and word skills are highly regarded. His mother was a friend of Lord Byron. He's not a spy in my campaign, but a false trail. But you can do what you want with him, he's long dead anyway.
17. The frost fair on the Thames is an incredibly Odd place to use for a scene or adventure. I recommend watching Thin Ice, the 3rd episode of the 10 Season of the new Doctor Who series  which takes place 1814 at the last great frost fair in London. This kind of fairs are back then full of con artists, pickpockets and other unsavory characters. One band of pickpocket is particularly well organised, but they have no affiliation with Mama Browny and her Catacomb Runners
18. Oroku Nagi is a shinobi Master training the Sons of piper in the art of silent deplacement and soundless assassination. Dorian Conywood was one of his most promising students, but I discovered the ploy to create a Zoog army. He didn't want to be part rodent, therefore he defected. His old master hunts him since, but since he could not find his trace, he put a bounty on his ex-student's head. In my campaign, I consider Dorian to be one of the good guys, that was mislead by the Sons of piper
19. The bored kid did hit Dr. Michael Finley Barlow, a member of Nulla Corvi that was using his Arcana to fly a patient needing help on the other side of the Thames. the Raven Doctor survived the hit, the fall into the dirty Thames, and the temperature shock, and was quickly fished out of the River. A generous Pound offered to the rescuing fishers help them "forget" the fact that there was no bridge around where he could have fallen from.
20. The green Toucan is a Pub that is used by high ranking members of the Sons of piper (Sean Devlin is a recurent guest). Brychan Gwynn, The bartender and owner of this "fine establishment", a man convicted for Anarchy under another name 10 years ago in Cardiff, is a general in the Zoog army, and he will pay a bounty of 1 Shilling for every cat head that is brought to him. He will even pay 5 Shilling if it can be proved that it was an Isfet's and not only a cat's head. This is also a reference to the mini-campaign "Into the Cave" developped for the french version of Into The Odd (Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3 & Episode 4)