Hello!
Originally I was making these for my Patreon, but I enjoyed the end result so much that I wanted to share them in some way with everyone.
Today I’ve got a special treat for Patrons and Non-patrons alike that I hope you enjoy. This PDF document is a form-fillable card document. With it you can create what I’m calling RLS Cards: Rumor, Lore, and Secrets. Hopefully this will provide you with an easy and aesthetically pleasing way to beef up your information game.
Patrons get early access to the full color version, but everyone gets immediate access to the more printer-friendly black and white version.
Here are some example pictures. (The actual file is near the bottom of this post.)
Note: My Printer was low on ink, thus the weird print. Yours should come out better.
How the Cards Work
When the PCs gain some bit of information, throw a card at them. You might also create a large amount of Rumors or Lore (or even Secrets) to give at random when they are searching for information, in place of a more traditional Rumors table.
Rumors are meant to be things that the PCs can easily overhear and can act as hooks or red herrings. Things such as local town gossip and recent news that might bread crumb the party into a larger or deeper situation – or that might simply lead them astray. These are a good way to provide motivation or guidance in a more open-world style game, by providing rumors leading to places or situations in the immediate vicinity.
Lore is meant to be historical or legendary information that can be useful, such as the origins of local customs, what sort of people used to build the dungeons and ruins that dot the land, and things like that. It is information that is sometimes locked behind a check such as a DC in certain games, requiring a successful Arcana, History, Nature, or Religion skill check, or a Knowledge check, or perhaps simply requiring that Intelligence be a certain amount (depending on the game you are playing).
Secrets are key pieces of information gained through action, exploration, or role-playing and can lead directly to quests, rewards, or expand the adventure in some way. Secrets aren’t common knowledge, and the PCs can’t access them with good knowledge checks.
Of course, you can use these in any way that YOU want to, these are simply what I had in mind while making these cards.
Constructing the Cards
When you have filled out the information that you want on the cards, print it – though keep an eye on on your print preview to insure nothing is getting cut off. Adjust for Actual Size or Fit as well as Borderless if that is an option until it looks like how you want it.
The best way to make the cards is to print them on some kind of card stock and fold the page in half (hot dog style!), using a glue stick to stick the card backs to the card fronts. They should be aligned correctly if you fold straight, so keep an eye on that.
Give it some time to dry then cut carefully with scissors!
If you want sturdier cards you might glue the sheet to card stock before folding and cutting.
The cards are below. This is the black and white version for those that want to save on ink. Patrons have exclusive 30 day early access to the color version before that is released to everyone, so if you want the color version make sure you check back in a month.
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