Rumours are a valuable, perhaps crucial, part of any sandbox game. The ideal means for players to passively gather information and learn about a region (or the setting more broadly). And ever since the first rumour table graced a module there have also been false rumours; the classic type being "bree-yark is goblin for surrender" found in Keep on the Borderland.
The pitfalls and potential use cases of false rumours have been written about before, but I'd like to add a variation to the table: the Outdated Rumour.
Similar to having false information come from an obviously untrustworthy source, an outdated rumour banks on players knowing that the information is potentially unreliable. The fun of it thus lies in committing to the risk. For this reason, outdated rumours are best when players either cannot obtain more information or must pay a cost to.
A good example of this can be found in The Hobbit. When staying at Rivendell the dwarves—and Bilbo—act upon old information and avoid a pass subject to goblin brigandage in favor of a less used route. Of course, the goblins have also moved to this new pass.
This might also encourage the players to rely on / react to rumours more, because they were not mislead, they were not fast enough to act on the rumour. I like it.
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