Rumor-Mongering

Rumor-Mongering (Communications/Rogue) by Taalismn

Gossiping and starting rumors sounds easy, right? Maybe tattling the odd bit of gossip or starting the odd short-lived rumor is easy, but to plant long-lived rumors with staying power in society takes SKILL. The experienced rumor-mongerer knows who to target to get things rolling, how to pitch the story to get inception, and how to keep a rumor going. Telling the right shaded truth to the right receptive audience is key to getting a rumor spread through social networks. A high MA is also important, in order to establish the credibility of the ‘source’ of the rumor. A successful rumor-mongering roll means that the rumor has been planted and is rolling along(Optional: average lifespan of a rumor can be generalized as the success roll divided by 10 for the number of days the rumor is considered credible and ‘the buzz’---so a success roll of 75% will result in a rumor with a week-long lifespan before it becomes ‘yesterday’s news’). An UNsuccessful roll means the rumor fizzles almost as soon as it is told, the teller is met with skepticism, and the rumor is quickly shot down. This skill can also be used to COUNTER rumors, by identifying the most likely audience, and starting a counter-rumor or information campaign akin to starting a backfire to stop a brushfire.

Note: It IS possible for this skill to go beyond the Palladium standard of 98%. These represent rumors with SERIOUS staying power, told by an adept rumor-mongerer or character assassin. The worst sorts of rumors take on lives of their own, and may even graduate to becoming memes.

Base Skill: 25 % + 5% per level of experience +M.A. rating, +5% if the Streetwise skill is also taken, another +5% if the Contacts skill is also possessed.

Modifiers:

If countering a rumor, add +5% if Public Speaking is also taken.

Some occupational Character Classes are better predisposed towards the successful inception of rumors than others:

Rifts Black Market Information Brokers get a +10% to this skill.

Rifts Black Market Expediters, Con Men, Newscasters, and PFRPG Bards get a +5% to this skill.

GMs may want to impose a penalty of -5% to -15% for particularly implausible or ludicrous rumors. A rumor that “the Coalition States are going to cut electrical power to the ‘Burbs” sounds perfectly reasonable, but something like “Kevin Siembieda is really Bigfoot and is going to make a run for President of the United States in a special off-year runoff election” beggers belief.

Internet Modifier: Rumor-Mongering can also be applied to internet communications with a Computer Operation skill. There are no modifiers to the skill, as, despite the fact that the rumor-mongerer is able to reach a larger and broader spectrum of possible rumor-spreaders, the rumor is also liable to come under greater scrutiny from critics and cynics inclined to disprove it. Rumor-Mongering does NOT apply to the creation of viral videos.