Social characters part three

So what do I have to say about social characters that I haven't yet. The last time I discussed the positive effects that the character could have on the group socially. This time around I think we're gonna get into something a little bit more malevolent. The idea of how to cause trouble and ruin your enemy socially. First off, the necessary disclaimer.

This kind of thing should not be treated lightly, nor engaged in casually. Seriously the idea is to play this way infrequently, if you do these kinds of things consistently you will destroy a social game like vampire the masquerade. Everyone will hate you because most people don't appreciate the artwork of this kind of play. They only see the damage you have wrought, and will often lapse into despair. Even if you are completely upfront about intending to play this way you will catch others off guard and humans despise betrayal. I have also found that it is a rare player who can sufficiently detach from their character to appreciate the tragedy that has befallen said character. You have been warned.

The most subtle approach to damaging your opponents is to sow doubt and suspicion about them at every turn . To give an example of this let's say a character, we will call them Jim, defeats a powerful enemy. Thus  saving the rest of the group from having to deal with this. When people are singing their praise and congratulating Jim you insert: "It's a good thing Jim is such a powerful warrior, can you imagine how bad it would be if he ever turned on us?

Congratulations you have now just inserted doubt and fear about Jim in his moment of glory. Do this enough times and the group will generally start to constantly fear what Jim might do if he's ever angry with them. It's a long-term project, but you weren't going to just show up for one session were you?

The next thing is starting rumors about them. This is actually much easier than most people suspect. Going back to Jim, say you're talking with another character and you casually insert: hey I saw Jim over by the bar the other night, I wonder what he was up to, he doesn't usually go around in that area.

Jim of course probably wasn't anywhere near the bar, and won't have any explanation as to why he was. He will probably deny it and there's nothing quite like denial to start suspicion about someone.

I could go into the psychology of why this works, but that would make this tedious. For now I will leave you with your plotting and scheming to say goodbye.