The Rumour Table - A Weird Rumour Table for Table Top Villages

The Rumour Table

A nice and simple rumour table for any of your villages or towns that need a bit of character. Throw these in at the beginning of the adventure to give the players something to smile about, or build something darker out of whatever you roll. Are they simply rumours or is there some truth behind them?

1	It is said that once a year, the body of a murdered tax man rises from the grave to collect the tax money he is owed from the descendants of those who killed him. If he knocks on your door, you best pay, or face a grisly end.	11	It has been rumoured that if you should see your shadow split in two, that is the sign that soon death herself will come to claim your soul.
2	It is rumoured that within the next decade a blue moon will rise over the village and shed light on all of the secrets being harboured by the villagers, for all to see.	12	It has been said that licking one of the vile toads that squat in the village ponds will grant you a great and terrible power. You will just need to find the right one...
3	It has been rumoured that all of the cats in the village can secretly speak. You should always cover a cats ears when speaking ill of someone. Cats are gossips.	13	On the day of her wedding, if the bride does not receive a kiss on her right cheek from her mother in law, and a kiss on her left from her father in law, then she shall wake the next morning with bloody, gaping holes in her cheeks.
4	It has been said that if a bard plays "The Cruel Mother" on the night of a full moon, the ghost of The Cruel Mother will steal into the first borns bedroom of all women in the village and stab the children through the heart.	14	There is a tale of two twins who danced on the roof of the village inn one night whilst drunk. Tragically, one slipped and fell to their death. Distraught, the second threw himself off  the roof so he could die with his brother. Now, whenever one twin dies in the village the other twin will die on the same day, an hour later.
5	If the groom does not spit North, East, South and West of the marital bed before taking his bride, he will be doomed to infertility and madness.	15	It is said that in the well is a beautiful water nymph who wishes for a handsome man to climb down to marry her. Everyone who has gone down has not returned.
6	It has been said that when young children play their games in the woods and fields, they must not disturb any mushrooms. If they do, wood sprites will steal into their beds and eat a pound of their flesh for every mushroom moved.	16	It is said that underneath the village lies a great labyrinth of tunnels where naughty children are sent by their parents to starve and be eaten by children who survive.
7	It is rumoured that the young noble lord and lady who own that land are hiding a terrible secret; they have been rumoured to walk hand in hand with the heads of bulls for hoods each night, taking a young lover together each night into the woods and leaving the body old and gray by dawn.	17	It has been rumoured that whoever accepts the role of Captain of the Guard is doomed to repeat the life of the guard before him until he commits suicide.
8	It is said you should always carry a piece of lavender on your person so that if you should meet a witch, you can give it to her as a gift. She will curse you if you do not.	18	On the day of a birth, a pigs hoof or rabbits foot must be placed underneath the child's crib or bed. If not, the creatures that call the underplace of the bed their home will eat the childs feet in the night.
9	It is rumoured that the left sock of a person is stolen by a squat dwarf who uses them to create traps for venomous spiders and snakes; which is why there are no venomous snakes or spiders in the village. What else he is using them for, no one knows!	19	It is said if you are drunk and piss in the river, or lake, nearby the village, something lurking in the water will crawl up inside you and use your body like a puppet.
10	There is a tale that if a young man or woman is defiled against their wishes in the forest or in the village, the attacker will face a trial by the Three Furies, on the anniversary of his or her wrongdoing, who will rip the guilty party limb from limb over and over, forever more.	20	There is a tale that if you do not mark your doorway and windows with white chalk on All Hallows Eve, the house itself will come alive and ooze a liquid in the night to digest you in your sleep.