So my current party have recently discovered that because we don't hang out in Hooters (thats what we call the temple/tavern of Cayden in Absalom) that our party is getting a reputation, now its not all bad but there are some rumours flying around that we need to fix (some of them are far to accurate).
We currently have done a lot of work for good causes (some of it even pro bono) that seems to have been twisted by the rumour mill to make us sound evil (some of us are), and our aquisition of property (villa in absalom, pirate ship, letter of marque from chileaxian merchant) has been frowned upon by some of the more goody goody adventurers (bloody caydenites) and i'm worried it may start to effect business.
So with that in mind how do i go about boosting my adventuring company "Hired Goons" back up to a stirling reputation?
Well we're doing good out of what you may call enlightened self-interest. We already killed a cloud dragon that was terrorising shipping and the rumour started that we sold the body to a necromancer (i don't know if he was a necromancer tbh, i just took his cash).
We've also recently saved several citizens from being murdered in a Kuthite ritual however theres also a rumour going around that my wizard (LE) and the party rogue (CE) have been teleporting around Absalom at night torturing and brutally murdering suspected Kuthites to get information. That wasn't even me it was just some darkfolk npc i hired called Hush, technically he's one of the BBEG's minions but we're on speaking terms.
I think the biggest problem is that we get results by an means then people don't like our methods. We only found out when our healer retired and we had to hire a new one who asked all sorts of weird questions.
Are any of you Lawful Evil? If so, pump up the PR. Sprinkle gold coins about your feet aound watch as the poor scurry beneath you. Buy people to spread GOOD rumors about you. Use these to secure economic control of the town. Once you are seen as a wealthy, generous saint, run fear and hate based smear campaigns against anyone who threatens your fiscal wellbeing (or anyone you simply dislike). Essentially, take the place of the rumormongers or folks who spread hatespeak nowadays on the radio (usually about "dem muslims what with their obama and family hatin'")
try and stay off the radar for a few weeks doing little jobs for good causes. people are fickle and will quickly move on to villanising some other group of mercs, leaving you alone.
Well we're doing good out of what you may call enlightened self-interest. We already killed a cloud dragon that was terrorising shipping and the rumour started that we sold the body to a necromancer (i don't know if he was a necromancer tbh, i just took his cash).
We've also recently saved several citizens from being murdered in a Kuthite ritual however theres also a rumour going around that my wizard (LE) and the party rogue (CE) have been teleporting around Absalom at night torturing and brutally murdering suspected Kuthites to get information. That wasn't even me it was just some darkfolk npc i hired called Hush, technically he's one of the BBEG's minions but we're on speaking terms.
I think the biggest problem is that we get results by an means then people don't like our methods. We only found out when our healer retired and we had to hire a new one who asked all sorts of weird questions.
Wow.... I was going to write something up about potentially being a GM run anti-PR machine in the background.... but then I re-read things, and at the end of the day...
- You DID sell the body of a DRAGON to some random. Most of the time people interested in bodies aren't doing nice things to them.
- A hireling of yours (You paid him, he was in your employ while he was doing it) DID run around torturing people.
And you think that you might be getting an bad reputation? Honestly? I'd say that your party is getting the rep that it's behavior deserves.
Salvaging that would involve hiring some bards to spread good stories about you and possibly trying to track the source of the bad rumors. In both cases, they aren't sounding like things that someone could just guess at unless the necro happened to animate the dragon in front of the local press or something. Maybe Hush has been giggling himself stupid telling people "Sure I've been torturing people, but THEY hired me to do it!". Possibly some 'community service' style work that you don't ask for a reward for (go cull the local goblin tribe that has been raiding things lately). Buy a tavern yourself. Become a local patron of the arts. Have the party wizard teach courses in defense against the dark arts (he'll only have to do it for a book before he's replaced). Have the cleric bless the local fields. I would say apprentice yourself to a paladin (it's hard to be think the apprentice of a pillar of virtue is a bad dude), but given I've seen 2 from 2 evil alignments so far... bad thing.
Which segues into the next point. Be aware here.... if you do bad things, you will have a bad reputation. It doesn't matter HOW many orphanages you donate to, if you go around doing 'not good' things, some of it is going to get out and you'll be constantly repairing your rep with the lines of "Look... that didn't happen... OK, it DID happen, but not like that.... look, OK... it was MOSTLY like that but there were some circumstances around it... I know when you put it like that it sounds stupid.... ". The successful 'bad' people are traditionally those that have an amazing PR machine working behind the scenes and an iron clad grip on what is said about them. They are smart, intelligent, charming, witty, can think of their feet and respond to those pointed questions with re-direction and a whole lot of "I didn't actually tell you anything, but you think I did, and by the time you realize I didn't, you'll have a black bag over your head."
Is your party capable of doing that? Or would it be easier to just go "I'm evil. Did you want to argue that point, or would you rather the local bugbear problem 'went away'?" Just because your evil, doesn't mean you might not be a necessary cog in society.
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try and stay off the radar for a few weeks doing little jobs for good causes. people are fickle and will quickly move on to villanising some other group of mercs, leaving you alone.
Take this a step further and find a group to paint as villains. Hire people to spread terrible rumors about them. People love bad gossip more than good gossip. Did you hear the Heros of Cayden were caught selling orphans as slaves?
How is the public finding out about underhandedness? You may have an information leak. If these acts were supposed to be secret, you could try to plug your leaks.
How is the public only finding out about the bad stuff? You may have an enemy bard actively working against you. Either find your enemy, or hire your own bard(s) for positive PR.
If DM is on board with it, take ranks in Profession PR yourself, enchant up a nice suit with a bonus to the skill, and spend some time working your rep yourself between adventures.
Start your own adventurer/pathfinder tavern for those that want a classier atmosphere than the caydenites. Martinis and mobsters style. Make sure to take the same PR precautions, as this could be seen as an aggressive act by the caydenite bar owners. If you want material profits from it, take an appropriate profession (or whatever house rules you've done for profit from your other properties).
Sounds like an interesting dynamic in the campaign. I think like others said maybe spending some of your coin and time/effort on a propaganda machine of your own my be helpful. Also, searching out who is spreading the 'bad' information about you and 'discouraging' them might be useful as well.
I've invested a grand in bards, hopefully that will keep the heat off for a while. Got them singing our praises high and low. Good idea getting some of the blame shifted, i'll need to look into patseys, maybe i can sponsor a lower level group, hmm.
I'm fine with people being aware i'm evil, i just want necessary evil status. I don't really "brag" to the public about being evil since i'm far to busy actually doing things like killing and torturing other evil people so paladins can keep running around braiding each others hair and picking flowers. The imp is a tool, its no more evil than a sword and i make it change into a dog in public most of the time. Peterrco is our cleric btw, goody two shoe-ing me even on the forums...
The biggest problem is this bloody pirate ship we picked up, need to stop people associating us with pirates, it never goes down well.
Hire a bard to write a ballad of your good deeds.
Hire a better bard to put a good spin on your worse deeds.