A number of uncoded skills are provided to support characters oriented toward social life and political intrigue: Conversation, Streetwise, Diplomacy, Detect Lies, Courtier, etc. There are also a set of commands for using Influence skills to start, spread, and stamp out rumors, and also to enhance or harm the reputation of other characters. A character who concentrates exclusively on such skills — a rumor monger, influence peddler, intriguer, power broker, kingmaker, call it what you will — is quite feasible and can be a lot of fun to play. If there is any significant emphasis on politics on your world, the character type can also be powerful: with his impressive Influence skills and Presence, the character becomes the first that people turn to when they really need to know what's going on, or when they need to influence the political climate. The savvy power broker won't oblige for nothing, however. The reward he exacts might be monetary, or it might be more of his stock in trade: information.

The rumor and influence commands figure rolls based on your Presence, modified by your Influence within a particular group. There is no single skill called `Influence'; rather, players select Influence skill for specific groups when they buy skills. Groups are defined by the RP Staff as part of creating an Argo MUCK; they can be any type of group appropriate to the world, including guilds, social classes, subcultures, military outfits, and companies. On a world such as Nim's and Antar's, players would be able to select skills such as Court Influence, Knight Influence, and Pict Influence, and probably some other more specific or arcane groups: elite chivalric orders, schools of magic, cults, and so forth. The towns or cities that serve as the primary settings would also be good canditates for Influence skills.

Many groups have a minimum Status as a prerequisite. Since (barring intervention from the RP staff) you can't change your status once the character is defined, it's a good idea to review all groups on the world, and make sure your Status is high enough that you'll be able to join the groups that you want to or that are important to your character conception (+list groups will give you a list of the groups defined on your world).

Most rumor and reputation commands are `paced' by the rumor_interval system parameter: you can only use them once per interval.

Rumor and Reputation Commands:

+rumors: `+rumors'

Shows current rumors in any groups for which you have Influence.

+gossip: `+gossip', follow prompts

Starts a new rumor on a successful Influence roll. (Once per interval)

+spread: `+spread', follow prompts

Increases the authority and tenacity of a rumor on a successful Influence roll. (Once per interval)

+quash: `+quash', follow prompts

Decreases the authority and tenacity of a rumor on a successful Influence roll. (Once per interval)

+trash: `+trash', follow prompts

Lowers target player's Influence within a selected group on a successful Influence roll. (Once per interval)

+boost: `+boost', follow prompts

Increases target player's Influence within a selected group on a successful Influence roll. (Once per interval)

+investigate: `+investigate', follow prompts

Tells you who started a specific rumor on a successful Influence roll. (Once per interval)

Rumors have varying levels of `authority' or `conviction'. The higher the level, the more widely it is believed, the harder it is to quash, and the less likely that it can be successfully investigated. The levels are, in increasing order:

      whispered
      muttered
      quiet
      persitent
      convincing
      widespread
      accepted fact

When you start a rumor with the +gossip command, it will begin as a `whispered' rumor. At this stage, it is relatively easy to +quash and +investigate. If you or other player's successfully +spread the rumor, however, it will move up levels on the scale.

You can only use rumor commands within groups for which you have Influence. So, for example, there may be a rumor going around among the Officer's group that you cheat at cards, but if you are not a member of the Officer's group, you will never see it with the +rumors command, and you will have no chance to +quash or +investigate it. For any of these, you would need to convince someone who has Officers Influence to work on your behalf.

The rumors commands make full use of critical rolls. Critical successes will usually succeed to a greater degree than a normal success, and critical failures will either fail significantly, or backfire. For example, a critical success when starting a rumor will cause it to begin as a `muttered' rather than `whispered' rumor. A critical failure when trying to +boost someone will cause your influence to drop. A critical failure when +investigating a rumor will cause the program to silently give you wrong information. There are other, similar effects.

Be aware that the +trash command can lower the Influence skill of a player (including you) to zero, at which point you no longer have that skill. The +boost skill can be applied to characters who are not currently members of the group. If you +boost someone who does not have Influence for the group, the targe player effectively becomes a member. A powerful clique of characters within a group can effectively control who has membership.