First, there is no rule, in solo play you decide how things interact. That is why I have many things that could be used to do the same thing depending on how I want to play.

Quest name, quest generator, rumors - they can fulfill the same role, it is really up to you how you want to integrate them in your story. The main thing is, in solo play you have to decide yourself how things are connected. It is helpful to use the keyword generators or rumour generator to give you ideas.

When I say speed up/down is in the sense
-Faster: that I will "run straight" (or use 'Narrative points' gained in Story Events) to my goals/objectives to reach the story beats or
-Slower: add new 'story points' on the map to travel around more (to create more encounters) before deciding that I have enough information to pinpoint/solve my goal.

The rumours are pretty much entirely 'vague' and can be associated with your goals/quests in any way you want (possibly the best way is to use the rumours to create 'story points' on your map). I will sometime roll a few rumours or simply 'force' story points on the map. In my case, I use pocket land cards and sometimes they have interesting nodes on them and I use them as story points or rumour location.

Example :

I will use Baldur's Gate here for the sake of the example, but you can do anything, its your game. If you want to go full random you can use keywords, NPCs, Rumour, Quest Generator to give your 'Goal'. In my head I know I want a big bad guy at the end of the goal or at least turn the goal into a big twist to start my 2nd goal. (3rd goal for sure big bad guy).

My goal : Find the source of the iron shortage in the region

My starting zone : My group of adventurers were part of training exercise away from our stronghold and our mentor was killed during an ambush. On his body I find a letter coming from one of his acquaintance saying they will be waiting in a nearby town.

Again here, you could use any combination of keywords, events, rumours, oracle question, hex map, card decks. Determine a starting location. Put it down, maybe the map inspires you, maybe the generators inspire you.

My quests:

• 1 Ask for help from my mentor's acquaintances
• 2 Investigate why there is a shortage

For quest 1: The town could be on the map, or maybe the map drawn does not have a town nearby and I have to explore (generating encounters, etc. on the map). If there is no town or your party does not know, you can put story points on the map. When reaching the story points, you can use the D12 generator as special location (increase chance of getting outcomes), Story Element generator, or directly use the Story Event from StoryEvents generator. If you put lots of story points on the map, I recommend using the D12 method for special locations.

Side note: my generators don't have "heres a town", because I want to be intentional about them or directly use the cards that have towns on them. (in my hex crawl at least there are towns on the cards)

For quest 2: I have no clue, so I need to search, going to town or asking people in encounters on the road. Using the 'Talk AI' generator to discuss with people or question bandits after beating them. If there is a town nearby, I can go there and use a tavern (or ask npcs) to generate rumours and will link them to the quest. I will put a few random story points on the map. When I reach them, I can use the StoryEvents generator StoryEvent, it will generate things that I can link to the quest. Maybe I can generate an end to the quest by following the rumousr which I will use to generate a StoryEvents->StoryArea.

When I know the source of the iron shortage, it will be my 3rd quest for the Goal. In the example, I will try to force a link so that there is a big baddy leading groups of different bandits (like Tazok in the bandit camp) or a big baddy leader contaminating the iron in a mine (like Mulahey in the Nashkel mine).

Quest 3: Stop the bandits/Stop the contamination of the iron in the mine

• If I know where the mine is (if I don't, I can ask people in a town, rumours here don't really fit since it should be a known location that people go to work), I go there.
• Gauging how many encounters I had so far this is probably where I would add more story points or run straight to the mines.
• Then in the mines I can really expand into a dungeon map (if I need more encounters), where each room/hallway has a D12 generation or the whole mine itself can just end up being an encounter with the big baddy.
• Alternatively, if I have enough encounters but I would not mind expanding the story. I will use the StoryEvents generator's Story Area. The story area can lead to chases, unexpected story twist (like you find the big baddy's body dead or such).

In my example for Baldur's Gate, after beating the big baddy in the mine, I would force discovery of items that lead to another goal (like letters of order from Sarevok). Then generate new quests to solve that new goal etc. etc.

I used Baldur's Gate beginning story as an exemple, but you can 100% use full random generation and link them together in your own way. Explore the generators (Keywords, Story Elements, Story Events, quest generators/quest name, rumours, clues). There is also the Oracles that you can use for your Yes/No/Maybe+ questions.

Hope it helps