For those who may not remember, once upon a time, we had a rumor system. It got axed in the conversion to the recent system because, while fun, it wasn't crucial.
I'm happy to announce that rumors are back with a vengeance, and this time... it's personal. Players can now post rumors, which go into immediate circulation. You'll find the links for this under the Create Content button or on the Rumormill page.
Please note the rules that appear on the rumor creation form. Rumors are pieces of in-play content like forum posts. Failing to obey a rule won't piss of the website's angry AI or anything (down, Franky), but it might cause other players to report your rumor. The all-seeing wrath of plot will then descend upon your flawed creation and rend it asunder. Also, you'll get in trouble.
Here's how it works as far as the nuts and bolts. You have a 1-in-3 chance of seeing a given rumor. It'll show up in the Random Rumor sidebar and on the Rumormill page if you do. If you see it, you have a 1-in-4 chance of knowing exactly who posted it, a 1-in-4 chance of thinking it was someone else, and a 1-in-2 chance of knowing diddly about who started it.
What does that mean? Nothing if you don't care who said something. If you do, though, you may need to do some footwork. Talk to enough people and, statistically speaking, you should start to see a correlation around an individual. It won't be ironclad, but you should get a pretty good idea of whose kneecaps need breaking.
Either that or you can pay off your friendly neighborhood rumormonger. There is a new merit called Gossip that makes you the Ruma Masta. Characters with Gossip can see every rumor and trace them to their source with perfect, bloodhound-like accuracy. Of course, the person spreading the rumor could have paid them more to throw you off the scent, so I hope you're tipping well.
I hope you guys have fun with it. Plot will be posting rumors, as well, so you should be on the lookout for useful information floating in the sea of bad puns this is sure to become. For the most part, though, it's a tool for everyone, so enjoy!
(P.S., I really hate Adele, but the title fits.)