Interest in an in-game newspaper or magazine?

I'm thinking about creating a monthly PDF that would look like a magazine or newspaper, but designed for in-game use. I think that it could be a cool idea, but I would plan to keep it somewhat generic so that it would not be horribly system specific. I'm thinking a few stories that could be adventure leads, a classified section, and also placing mock ads throughout the PDF that could direct players where to buy specific types of goods. I'm posting here to see if this would be something that there would be any demand for. I am shooting for somewhere around eight to twelve pages of content, with the first couple of issues available for free, after that, maybe charging $1-3 for each issue. I'd really apprectiate any feedback on this!

In general, I like your idea. How much interest there will be in the wider RPG community? I'm clueless on that.

I'm guessing that you've already done your research on this, so I may be preaching to the choir in what follows.

If you want it to fit into the general Middle Ages / Rennaisance ambience of most D&D adventures, instead of the multi-page publication you have proposed, you might want to consider the single-page broadsheets that were the forerunners of the newspapers we know today.

Since you mentioned advertisements, I'm guessing you will be concentrating on local issues and businesses along the line of "Hooligans From the Market Square Fracas Last Week are Sentenced to 3 Days in the Stocks. Per the Magistrate's ruling, where he admonished the louts, "As ye sow, so shall ye reap", ruined produce from their scurrilous rampage is available for a small fee, if you feel so inclined as to want to pelt the miscreants with it. All Proceeds are to go to Recompense the Wronged Merchants by Order of the Court." and "Worter's Cooperage - Best Made Kegs Anywhere - You'll Get Your Silver's Worth at Worter's on Tonkin Lane".

There was at least as much disagreement about politics, religion, etc., in the past as we have today, so by producing shorter pieces, you can provide opposing viewpoints put forward by different factions. Neutrality in print may have existed at times, but then as now, it's the need to have one's perspective heard and acknowledged that drives anyone to (When I hear people complaining about the mud-slinging in politics these days, I wonder what planet they're from; there has never been a shortage of it.)

So the small business advertisements and local news stories can be made generic more easily than the impassioned viewpoints stuff. In either case, maybe using a fill-in-the-blank option in the articles, ads, and editorials for names of locations, factions, principle NPCs, and the like, would be the way to go.

Mind you, the earliest publication considered to be a newspaper was, according to The Timeline of the Newspaper Industry (http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventions/a/printing_4.htm), the Acta Diurna, first published in Rome in 59 BCE. A monthly newspaper (Notizie Scritte) began publication in Venice in 1556, and the first printed weekly newspaper (Relation) started up in Antwerp in 1606.

A couple of the other sources I looked at after reading the OP are:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_newspapers_and_magazines

and

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q...history+of+newspaper+advertisements&FORM=IGRE

Thanks for the reply! I haven't done a terrible amount of research, though I did just read the articles you shared, and I agree that a single page would probably make more sense. I'm not too sure of the writing style that I'd use just yet, although I will definately be looking to the old style ads to model the in game advertising. Currently, I'm leaning towards a front and back print with one main story on the front that takes approximately half the page (including the headline), followed by three to four smaller stories below that. The back would consist of maybe one more story, but mostly a style of classifieds and advertisements that could direct players not only to specialty shops, but some small side quests thru the classifieds. Kinda like "Atrion the Farmer has been experiencing loss of livestock, looking for someone to investigate" or "Local group of adventurers looking for work, find us at Millies Tavern." Currently, I'm mostly looking at this as a tool for gamers to provide some immersion into the game, but also as something a little more structured than a random quest/item/news generator.