Soft Power, And Winning in The World of Darkness

One of the major advantages of the World of Darkness (and its successor the Chronicles of Darkness) is that there is no way to "win" these settings in any definitive sense. No matter what threats you manage to deal with, or how many enemies you put in the ground, there are forces out there that are too big for you to handle individually. Things that are too powerful, too decentralized, or too all-encompassing to be slain with fang and claw, bullet and blade.

You can have victories, and you should. But the struggle will always continue on.

Because there's always one more hand to play.

However, something that both the World and Chronicles of Darkness settings emphasize that is often downplayed in other RPGs is the idea of victory through soft power. And since my 100 Mourning Cant Dialects, Phrases, and Meanings recently dropped for Changeling: The Lost, I thought I'd tell a story about a Winter Courtier of mine, and how his strategies went almost totally unopposed because no one saw the kind of game he was playing.

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The Game of Whispers

Simon Blackridge was born into privilege, and raised by the cool professionalism of the servant class in the ivory towers of Chicago, Illinois. Maids and butlers, instructors and tutors left him a well-spoken but distant young man, who had more of a cordial than loving relationship with his parents. When his father died he tried to look mournful and introspective, because that was what was required of him. But he wandered off into the snow of the cemetery, and found himself in the Hedge.

It was through his wanderings, and his unfailing politeness, that he found himself in the court of the Snow Queen. The True Fae saw how this odd, distant boy had been formed, and took him beneath her wing. Under her tutelage his mind grew sharp, and his tongue grew cruel. Lights blossomed on his skin and in his eyes, and he took on the rainbow hues of the northern lights; beautiful, but cold, distant, and uncaring.

The last thing his Queen did was bid him to return to the world of mortals, and to find a place within the Winter Court. And to ensure he would be welcomed, she allowed him to think she was dead, breaking his heart as she took away the one connection he truly had. This left him in a state of sorrow, and frozen determination to do the last thing she asked of him.

Long live the Prince.

Simon returned, with the aid of his Lady's servants getting him back where he belonged, and he quickly used his skills and Contracts to establish a power base for himself. His fetch had inherited his family's real estate firm and holdings in his absence, and Simon arranged a bargain with the creature that he would help grow the firm even larger in exchange for cooperation. He was accepted to the Winter Court, telling them the truths they wanted to hear while lying only by omission. At that point, he began to build his influence.

While never one to sully his hands with blood, Simon was a strategist, and a master of manipulation. He rapidly amassed a huge fortune using the ability to see into the future, and to adjust his stock portfolios accordingly while avoiding the gaze of investigators. Using those funds he purchased housing and resources for the freehold, making sure other changelings had safe houses they could go to, smoothing the way toward acquiring false identities, and taking care of the costs of living when one has dropped out of the world. Though never fully trusted thanks to his easy smile, arrogant demeanor, and too-smooth answers, he was valued for the services he provided.

Simon's plan was to continue his acquisitions, and to make himself indispensable. To become what he had been under his Lady... a Prince. Alliances were forged with organized crime figures, money laundering operations were opened, and shell companies started in order to set other wheels in motion. Charity clinics were created to be used as fronts for body disposal, and to help changelings get medical care. Legal offices and representatives were acquired to provide cover from nosy investigators. Influence was purchased at political galas and fundraisers, ensuring that if Simon needed something to happen all it took was the right word in the right ear and it would get done.

He was not one of the Monarchs of the freehold, and in truth he had little enough desire to be one. Because he had learned a truth that few still truly understood; that the authority of the clenched fist was often far less persuasive than the debt of the open hand when it came to ensuring loyalty, and power.

Soft Power Gets Results

When most people think of power in a game, they tend to think of hard power. The character who kicks in a door, waves a gun in someone's face, or makes an explicit threat of violence is using hard power, coercing others to do what they want. Soft power, by contrast, is the use of cultural or economic influence to persuade someone else to do what you want. Soft power is using one's social position, greasing a palm with a bribe, or giving someone what they need in order to endear yourself to them so that, later on, they're more likely to side with you in a conflict.

This is usually discussed on the scale of nations, but you can break it down to smaller interactions as well. And it really helps in understanding how to achieve results in a setting like the Chronicles of Darkness.

Given that both World and Chronicles of Darkness are games of modern, dark fantasy, they deal with struggles in the huge, interconnected world we live in. And while there are always going to be small battles that will be fought in the small-scale, many of the chronicle plots involve looking at bigger problems that you simply cannot defeat solely through the barrel of a gun in a meaningful way.

However, through exerting soft power, you can often smooth out challenges, or overcome them entirely.

For example, if a Pentex subsidiary is causing problems in the local area, sure, you can blow up the refinery, or kill the mad scientists who are experimenting in there. It often means you'll just have a new facility with fresh faces moving back in, along with a bigger security team. But if you start up the rumor mill to create negative impressions in the media about the company's corruption, you tarnish their reputation, and create problems for them. If you get people who owe you favors on the planning commission, or in the permits department to review those cases in order to maintain their relationship with you, there might be further problems for the company. And even if you do need to eventually go in and kill the monsters being grown in the lab, that's easier to do when the tide of public opinion is already turned against the research facility, so if something bad does happen no one is going to leap to their defense.

The issue with soft power, though, is much the same as the issue with playing a support character; you don't spend a lot of time in the spotlight.

Soft power takes a lot of time to cultivate and grow in a game. It also tends to be done in downtime actions (whether you're at a tabletop or a LARP), and it can take a lot of XP to buy the dots you need in Resources, Allies, Contacts, etc. to back up your play. And then, when it does come time to wield that power, you do it by making a phone call, sending an email, or talking to a representative. It isn't as dramatic as a knock-down, drag-out brawl, or a contest of wills between potent magical beings, but more often than not it is this subtle ability to influence that solves problems neatly, and cleanly in a game known for being quite messy both literally and metaphorically.

There will always be a place for the blade, the gun, and the assassination. Spies, saboteurs, and enforcers are just as much a part of these settings as the monsters whose skins the players slip into. However, for those who want to try on the role of the velvet glove instead of the iron fist, it can be quite a rewarding experience.

What's Next on Table Talk?

That's it for this installment of Table Talk! What would you like to see next? Or do you have your own story you'd like to share with folks?

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