There may or may not be a method to this madness.

replicated:

Being young is about self imposed exile no I won’t elaborate

(via dietcrystalbebsi)

“What do I know about this place?”

pomrania:

Have the player roll an Intelligence check. If they can present a decent argument as to why it would apply, then allow them to add their proficiency bonus.

Each score result will give you four options, and say how many to pick. Roll randomly for which of the options you select, and don’t tell anyone what they were. This will give the player one or more pieces of information, which might or might not be true and might or might not be useful.

Two people in the party can roll for a given place. However, instead of giving them their results individually, or giving one person advantage, figure out what pieces of information each person would get, and then present them all together. So, if one person rolled a 3 and the other person rolled a 16, the party would get three total pieces of information – one that’s probably useless, and two that are probably useful – but they don’t know which is which.

4 or less: (pick one) false and trivial, true and trivial, true and misleading, false and misleading
5 to 9: (pick one) false and trivial, true and trivial, false and relevant, true and misleading
10 to 14: (pick two) true and trivial, false and relevant, true and misleading, true and relevant
15 to 19: (pick two) false and relevant, true and misleading, true and relevant, secret
20 or more: (pick three) false and relevant, true and misleading, true and relevant, secret

“Trivial” means that it’s something along the lines of the flag, national anthem, famous export, etc. The kind of thing you’d see in maybe the sidebar on its wikipedia page, or that you’d learn in grade school in a unit about other places in the world.

“Misleading” is something that would get the party looking in the completely wrong direction, if they choose to follow it; or that will give a false impression.

“Relevant” is pretty straightforward. This is stuff that matters to the problem at hand, or that will likely be important if they go to the place.

“Secret” might or might not actually be a secret. However, it is true knowledge that most people living in the location in question, wouldn’t know; and, in the right context, it is valuable. It could be the conclusion from years of economic analysis, a spy’s report, or a keen mind’s judgment. It might or might not be dangerous to spread around that you know this.

For illustration, consider the following situation. The party has been hired to go to Town City to discover what’s been interfering with Patron’s shipments through the area. As the DM, you know that the mayor is secretly a green dragon, who has Evil Plans for the type of things which Patron ships, and it involves a ritual that will take place underground in the middle of Town City. Here’s some examples of what to give, for each of the categories.

False and trivial:
Minor things that won’t screw over the character, but will make them look stupid if it goes uncorrected. Rumours that actually apply to a completely different location with a vaguely similar name. Commonly-held (but false) beliefs about the place.

True and trivial:
Nothing that would provide a particular benefit, unless the character is particularly creative. The location of someone’s favourite bakery in the city. Major landmarks near the city.

False and misleading:
a) “There’s an influential underworld and black market in Town City.“ (Town City’s criminal underbelly is more a matter of knowing someone who knows someone; it’s unorganized and barely even a minor player in the city.)
b) “A disgruntled wizard placed a powerful curse on the city’s gates.” (There is magic on the gates, but only normal and minor spells for strength and stability.)

True and misleading:
a) “Bandit activity is prevalent in Town City’s surroundings.“ (The bandits attack frequently, to make up for how they flee at the first sign of serious resistance; they cause at most only minor losses to any given shipment.)
b) “All religions are legally tolerated in Town City.” (That’s what’s on the books, but in actual fact there’s a strong prejudice against worshippers of storm-related deities. This is here as an example of something non-story-related which is ‘true but misleading’; however, if the party includes worshippers of a storm deity, something to that effect, that there’s strong prejudice, would go under ‘true and relevant’.)

False and relevant:
a) “The mayor is secretly a werewolf.” (The mayor isn’t a werewolf, but is indeed secretly monstrous.)
b) “There’s an entrance to the Underdark beneath Town City.” (There is no entrance to the Underdark, but investigating beneath the city will lead to other clues.)

True and relevant:
a) “The city council has recently made a number of unpopular decisions, including shutting down a popular theatre house because it’s ‘disruptive’.“ (The theatre house is above where the dragon’s Evil Plans will take place; shutting it down was to secure the location.)
b) “There was substantial political turmoil in Town City a few years ago, and most officials were replaced then.” (That’s when the dragon came into power there.)

Secret:
a) “Shipments other than Patron’s have also gone missing near Town City, and they all seem to be the same type of thing.” (The dragon is taking them. The other merchants didn’t want to advertise their loss; if the party isn’t discreet about this knowledge, then they might face some very pointed inquiries, and suspicions of working for rival merchants.)
b) “A few years ago, there were signs of a dragon’s presence in the area surrounding Town City, although a dragon itself was never seen. There’s nothing to suggest what happened to the dragon next; no body, no signs that it left the area, no signs that it’s in the area.” (The dragon will attempt to kill anyone suspected of suspecting a dragon.)

(via criticalrolo)

leaflicker:

I Died In 2010 and Was Replaced By Someone With Absolutely No Motivation and Complete Emotional Unavailability, a conspiracy thread

(via fontofterribleideas)

alteanlance:

alteanlance:

me when im working on something: oh i am so fucking genius,

me looking at the completed work: absolute fucking garbage who allowed my hands to make this

me coming up with concepts and ideas: this is so fucking good wtf

me actually having to work on it: what kind of fucking bullshit 

(via cesareeborgia)