Fantasy Newspapers

[Zen]

I'm running a new campaign set on a plane that is all city. It occurs to me that a newspaper would be a great thing for this setting to have, but I don't want to introduce movable type to my setting.

know that cities in Ebberon and of course Sigil have featured newspapers; my question is, how was this done? What magic was used to produce the thousands of copies? Does anyone have any idea?

Thanks in advance,

--Z

 

[Zog]

I think the most important question is: How much free time do you have? Are you willing to generate a newspaper? Even just a few lines of the headlines can take a surprising amount of time. Trust me, I did this.

My old campaign had a weekly newspaper. I actually did introduce movable type, or at least the owner of the (one) newspaper had invented it, and used it to create the Magian Times. It was a great tool for flavor, and sprinkling plot hints. I would have a mention of something in the newspaper that occured on the other side of the Empire, and if the party ever made it over there, they could learn more of that story. Some plots were revealed and unraveled entitrely in the paper, because the party never got involved. (those rarely ended well). But, it took a *LOT* of time. Especially if the party took a few days of downtime. Or heavens forbid, a week. Then I needed TWO papers for one session. In the end, it became to much. So, the paper was destroyed in a blaze of fire by a disgruntled employee who had falsified a story, been discovered, and fired.

But none of that answers your question.

First or Zeroth level spell: Copy. Existed in previous editions, don't remember off hand if it made an appearance somewhere in 3ed.

 

[Zen]

Then I needed TWO papers for one session. In the end, it became to much. So, the paper was destroyed in a blaze of fire by a disgruntled employee who had falsified a story, been discovered, and fired..

That made me laugh out loud. I love it when real-world issues are solved through elegant in-game fixes.

You make a good point. Maybe I'm better off with Gather info checks.

--G

 

[Dragonhelm]

We do this each week with the Palanthas Herald. This is Dragonlance's version, designed to give adventure hooks to players.

We haven't really considered it from an in-world perspective, but I'll go on record to say that it was probably due to tinker gnomes.

I'll also second that this takes a lot of work. I would weigh just how much benefit you would get out of this. The occasional headline, ala WotC, might be more attainable.

 

[Aramax]

I did this for a while but it got to be too big a headache

as to distribution,my world has the printing press

 

[I'm A Banana]

I've never *produced* one myself, but my worlds will occasionally have newspapers in them. They serve more as plot points, though -- reporters show up to harass the party when they're trying to lay low, or to expose vile plots against the city.

Gnomes are big into the thing, since they love the novelty of it, and they love the educational/mind-expanding angle of it.

I've also had papers going to war with each other, each trying to produce their side of the story. And I've had communities who were more interested in weird stories about foreigners than important stories about their own nations

.....So, I basically cribbed from Terry Pratchett's The Truth.

 

[Maggan]

I think the most important question is: How much free time do you have? Are you willing to generate a newspaper? Even just a few lines of the headlines can take a surprising amount of time. Trust me, I did this.

My old campaign had a weekly newspaper. I actually did introduce movable type, or at least the owner of the (one) newspaper had invented it, and used it to create the Magian Times. It was a great tool for flavor, and sprinkling plot hints. I would have a mention of something in the newspaper that occured on the other side of the Empire, and if the party ever made it over there, they could learn more of that story. Some plots were revealed and unraveled entitrely in the paper, because the party never got involved. (those rarely ended well). But, it took a *LOT* of time. Especially if the party took a few days of downtime. Or heavens forbid, a week. Then I needed TWO papers for one session. In the end, it became to much. So, the paper was destroyed in a blaze of fire by a disgruntled employee who had falsified a story, been discovered, and fired.

In my WFRP campaign I have a newspaper. It has an irregular publication schedule, and is run by an anonymous agitator. That way, I can introduce as many or as few issues I like every session. I aim for one new issue every session (every other week), but that is still difficult to keep up with. And it's just a one pager with really short items.

The unforseen result is that the players have now decided to track down the publisher, hi-jack his operations and start their own newspaper. So I'm gonna have to flesh out some details ...

/M

 

[Zen]

In my WFRP campaign I have a newspaper. It has an irregular publication schedule, and is run by an anonymous agitator. That way, I can introduce as many or as few issues I like every session. I aim for one new issue every session (every other week), but that is still difficult to keep up with. And it's just a one pager with really short items.
/M

That's quite useful for the dictatorship setting I'm running. Thanks!

--Z

 

[Tinner]

.....So, I basically cribbed from Terry Pratchett's The Truth.

Quoted for Truth!
If you want to explore the possibilities of a newspaper on a fantasy world, you can't go wrong with "The Truth".

 

[Deekin]

I'm running a new campaign set on a plane that is all city. It occurs to me that a newspaper would be a great thing for this setting to have, but I don't want to introduce movable type to my setting.

know that cities in Ebberon and of course Sigil have featured newspapers; my question is, how was this done? What magic was used to produce the thousands of copies? Does anyone have any idea?

Thanks in advance,

--Z

As for how it was done, there is a spell is the Spell Compendium, 0-th level, called Amanuensis. It copies non-magical text at good clip, and therefore, can be used to copy a single written sheet into many times.