Gossip and Rumors (New Mechanic)

[Vutall]

Courtesy of Mindshred, GM of the Hollow Throne campaign.
Gossip and Rumors

Gossip and rumors are a natural part of Rokugani society, and as such, nearly anything is capable of becoming a rumor. These rumors will be posted in the weather thread each day.


Spreading Gossip
Characters may use the Courtier skill to spread gossip. To do so, they must succeed at a Courtier (Gossip)/Awareness check against a TN equal to 15 plus the target's Glory x5, minus their Infamy x5 (Both rounded down). If the rumors involves multiple characters, calculate the TNs for every character involved and then use the highest TN. If the rumors involves no characters at all, calculate the TN of the rumor as if it involved a Glory 3.0 character (TN 30). Characters may call a Raise on this roll to conceal the fact that they are the source of the gossip.

The actual phrasing of the gossip will be left to the GMs, as the exact wording of the rumor may change as it passes from one character to the next. As such, we ask only that you post the general intent of the rumor in your private forum, such as "I wish to imply that Doji Baru is having an affair with a mysterious Scorpion suitor" or "I want to slander the Crab by suggesting that they're all stupid and sort of smelly." In order to save us time, please note if your roll is a success or failure. If your character possesses the Bayushi Courtier Rank 1 Technique, you do not need to Raise to conceal the source of the gossip, so please make a note of that as well.

A separate check must be made for each piece of gossip you wish to spread in this manner. The number of rumors a character may spread on a given day cannot exceed their ranks in the Courtier skill.


Tracking Down Gossip
If the character that created a rumor did not call a Raise on their Courtier roll to conceal the source of their gossip, it may be possible for someone to track down the rumor back to its source. This is time consuming work, requiring at least one time slot and an Investigation/Awareness roll against the TN of the rumor +10. On a success, the character manages to track the rumor back to its source, and learns who first began that particular bit of gossip. On a failure, the character has learned nothing and may try again in a later time slot, but each additional attempt beyond the first requires one Called Raise. This use of the Investigation skill is considered to be a Social Skill Roll.

If the character that created the rumor made a Raise to conceal the source of their gossip - or if they possess the Bayushi Courtier Rank 1 Technique - then any attempts to mechanically locate the source of that rumor will be unsuccessful. Any characters making a successful Investigation roll to locate the source of the rumor will learn that the source of the rumor has been expertly hidden, and that there simply is no trail to follow.

Of course, characters can still just bypass all these investigations and inquiries and just guess who is spreading the rumor or piece of gossip! This might lead to incorrect guesses, of course, such as assuming that the slander spoken against them came from an enemy rather than an assumed ally, or that the compliments given to their beauty originated with the object of their affection rather than a hidden admirer. Then again, the character could get lucky and guess correctly... but the GMs will not confirm or deny the origin of the rumor either way.