UGH - Rumor Table / Play Report

It occurred to me during my last playtest of Under Gallax Hall that I needed a rumor table for the players. Who would've thought! (Except, well... Everybody, duh.)

d20	Rumors	True / False	DM Details
1	“Classes are still held in the Basement of Gallax Hall. It really sucks if you have one there, though.”	T	Yeah, it can be rough, having class in a megadungeon.
2	“Make sure to constantly update your watch. Time can get a little weird down there.”	T	There are several traps which can severely and magically waste your time.
3	“The Professors in the Basement usually have really good stuff in their offices.”	T	In fact, almost all the good stuff in The Basement is in offices.
4	“They’re actually pretty nice and supportive in the Torture Department!”	T/F	They treat their own students nice, but everyone else is torture-fodder to them.
5	“The Basement of Gallax Hall is where The Department of Torture has their laboratories and offices.”	T	Yep. That’s where the screaming comes from.
6	“If you say a ghost’s name five times, they can’t touch or curse you.”	F	Dangerously false. Only way to deal with a ghost is to manipulate its delusions or destroy its physical body.
7	“Beware statues! There’s always something dangerous or hidden with them.”	T	This is almost always true. Many statues will animate.
8	“Watch your back in The Basement. Serial killers often come down there to prey on vulnerable students.”	F	Even serial killers know better than to venture beneath Gallax Hall.
9	“Stay away from the Custodians! Don’t inhibit them. Don’t talk to them. Don’t even look at them. Just let them do their jobs and try to stay out of their way.”	T	Custodians are dangerous, and there is little to gain by accosting them.
10	“There's a place in the basement where you can sell stolen textbooks.”	T	Yes, The Textbook Black Market.
11	“I heard there is a powerful dragon living below the Steam Tunnels that steals mens’ names.”	T/F	A wyrm, close enough, but not anywhere near as powerful as implied.
12	“If you dress or disguise yourself like a Custodian, they’ll leave you alone.”	F	They can easily spot those undevoted to The Clean God. Such disguises can fool students and faculty, though.
13	“I heard that The Custodians have a shrine to their god down in the steam tunnels.”	T	Yes, and it’s worse than they know. The Clean God itself resides within The Furnace. It's where new Custodians come from.
14	“There’s a swan that lives down in the Steam Tunnels. A Dungeon Swan! It’s huge!”	T	Dungeon Swan! It feeds on hatred and it’ll kill you dead.
15	“If you see a cat, make sure you swat at it. Supposed to grant good luck.”	F	It will most certainly grant the opposite, and piss off the Witches of the Old Way.
16	“The Black Magic Fraternity and the Sisterhood of the Cell are stockpiling weapons and artifacts down in the Steam Tunnels to spark a student revolution!”	F	They can barely work together, let alone coordinate a revolution. Not that they wouldn’t want it, though...
17	“Once you start seeing Ghosts and the Black Magic Fraternity, that’s where the good stuff is.”	T	Level 3 has considerably better loot than the previous Levels. Quite dangerous, though.
18	“Gallax Hall was built on top of an old cathedral school from way back when. Supposedly the monks never did their burials right, and now their ghosts are cursed to wander the depths forever.” -	T/F	There are indeed monk ghosts and a buried monastery. The reason for them existing is wrong and incomplete, though.
19	“Professor Sitch guards the entrance to the Basement at all times of the day. Watch yourselves, and try not to get on his bad side!”	T/F	Dr. Sitch does, in fact, wander from his office occasionally.
20	“Supposedly, there are two additional levels below The Basement.”	F	There are four below the basement. Nobody’s lived and told tales of Levels 4 and 5.

Anyway. Play report! I was playtesting Under Gallax Hall at a holiday party using Skerples' Many Rats on Sticks edition of the GLOG. Everyone got their choice of a WIZARD, and only a wizard. 

The following we had (character names omitted because I can't remember them):

A Necromancer, who exploded himself while interrupting a dangerous lecture.

A Drowned Wizard, who died in the Necromancer's explosion.

An Animist Wizard, who fell down a pit trap and rolled max damage and wound die to bleed to death from 1 Mortal Wound despite 8 consecutive attempts to repair it.

A Curse-Eater Wizard, who looked into The Furnace and lost all hope.

An Elementalist, who mercy-killed the Curse-Eater Wizard to avoid assimilation by The Custodians after gazing into The Furnace.

A Spider Wizard, who failed to save anyone.

Accomplishments:

• Survived a verbal and physical assault by Professor Sitch by lying, and only getting hit with his pain stick 7 times!
• Traversed the Department of Torture without death and only one minor incident (triggering the Quartering Pylons).
• Mistaking Professor Sitch's name for Professor Snitch, and then dubbing him "Professor Snitch the Bitch", in front of another professor no less.
• Stealing a good deal of books from The Library of Anthropology.
• Pickpocketing several sleeping students and acquiring an Unregistered Key.
• Discovering the Safe Deposit Locker.
• Reaching Level 2 - Steam Tunnels
• Encountering The Furnace.
• 4/6 Characters died.