Incredibly crippling is fairly accurate.
I started with a weekly newspaper in my campaign - a fairly large stable (for the moment) empire, with fairly high magic. After the first 4 issues, there was an interruption, as the newspaper reported on some things the Empire didn't want publiized. Then the paper was relaunched as a twice a month event. It contatined red herrings, hints of things happening elsewhere, random plot hooks, totally unimportant things for flavor, and a few *big* clues that the party could find. And eventually some of the parties exploits. They had a chance to have a reporter travel with them, but ran away. Quickly.
It was rough. Added 3-4 hours of prep time, in creating the 2 page paper. If you are handing out plot hooks or clues, they have to worded just right. And random fluff needs to still be intelligent and 'fit' within the world and campaign.
Unfortunately, after I developed RSI, creating the paper became a literal pain. So a reporter fired for inventing stories burned down the paper's headquarters. They vowed to rebuild, but who knows how long it will take.
It was a great tool to widen the world and make the party aware of events going on far away. On a smaller scale - a local or city paper, it could make the area come to life, but this was an Empire wide paper. I may restart it, when the party returns to that continent. Have to wait and see.
I started with a weekly newspaper in my campaign - a fairly large stable (for the moment) empire, with fairly high magic. After the first 4 issues, there was an interruption, as the newspaper reported on some things the Empire didn't want publiized. Then the paper was relaunched as a twice a month event. It contatined red herrings, hints of things happening elsewhere, random plot hooks, totally unimportant things for flavor, and a few *big* clues that the party could find. And eventually some of the parties exploits. They had a chance to have a reporter travel with them, but ran away. Quickly.
It was rough. Added 3-4 hours of prep time, in creating the 2 page paper. If you are handing out plot hooks or clues, they have to worded just right. And random fluff needs to still be intelligent and 'fit' within the world and campaign.
Unfortunately, after I developed RSI, creating the paper became a literal pain. So a reporter fired for inventing stories burned down the paper's headquarters. They vowed to rebuild, but who knows how long it will take.
It was a great tool to widen the world and make the party aware of events going on far away. On a smaller scale - a local or city paper, it could make the area come to life, but this was an Empire wide paper. I may restart it, when the party returns to that continent. Have to wait and see.
