Newspapers in your setting...

[Waylander the Slayer]

Hey folks,

I am currently in the process of putting together a monthly newspaper (in game)for the current campaign i am running. Has anyone here done this before? What has been your experiences? I am trying to do this using MS Word, what formatting did you guys use? Thanks in advance.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Newsletters yes, paper no but this thread: http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=126432&highlight=newsletter

 

[Wombat]

I've done this in a couple different campaigns (as well as letters from NPCs). I use either MSWord or Open Office for these little writing bits.

I only ever tried to put out a page or two -- good enough for "broadsheet" style journalism. Usually there is something in there as a hook to an adventure, but not always. Sometimes I put in "praise points" for the group: "Hey look, our last adventure got written up in the papers!" There might also be notices of special items for sale or other business opportunities. On top of that, the papers helped give a sense of colour and of depth to the world -- not everything revolved around the players and their adventures. Indeed, sometimes the adventurers found they had rivals who were getting better press!

So here's to The Chelemby Niggler, Shyppnge Adventes, and The Theudurb Herald, glorious papers all!

 

[NewJeffCTHome]

Hey folks,

I am currently in the process of putting together a monthly newspaper (in game)for the current campaign i am running. Has anyone here done this before? What has been your experiences? I am trying to do this using MS Word, what formatting did you guys use? Thanks in advance.

good idea, but back in the day when I was a DM, I would *sometimes* utilize a town crier, but never a newspaper... if I got back into DMing regularly, I might consider it, as I have later found out that centuries before Guttenberg was printing up his Bibles, a printing press was publishing in Asia (Korea was it?)... so, it is something legitimate.

Would it be something that the king licenses? a merchant's guild? Just an independent reporter or two & a willing publisher? Could be an interesting way to introduce propaganda into the campaign (but, the king's newspaper is fair & balanced & says dwarfs are evil... yet, this dwarf just saved my life...)

For Fonts - Old English Text MT maybe? Harrington didn't look bad when I was going through some fonts. Engravers MT. Copperplate Gothic. Century. Book Antiqua.

 

[Crothian]

I tried once but it is a lot of hard work. I mostly do pamphlets and little articles like that.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Oh yes. If I am feeling lazy I use Word Perfect, if I am feeling a bit more energetic I use Page Plus.

Sometimes the party is an in game newspaper, a reward to the characters when they do something that makes it to the front page of the local paper. (my favorite was for Longest Night - the newspaper mispelled one of their names! )

I do the same for Mordheim, and allow the players in that campaign to submit articles. And they can lie if they want to!

The Auld Grump

*EDIT* Wow, a pronoun without referrants... how useful...

 

[MonsterMash]

Not usually in my fantasy campaigns as I don't have high levels of literacy, but useful in D20 modern or Call of Cthulhu games

 

[philreed]

I did this for an Over the Edge game once and it was great. I scanned in OtE card art and used it as "photos." I probably put way too much effort into it.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Given the high level of literacy assumed by baseline D&D, I think newspapers like existed in the Revolutionary War era of the United States (and thereafter) are a great idea. They were mostly just newsletters/broadsheets, IIRC, which is relatively easy for players to handle, historical basis or no, and easy to mock up on your own.

I think Eberron is the only major setting I know to have touched on this idea before, which surprises me.

 

[Rel]

This can probably be improved upon considerably but here's the one that I'm using. I decided to only go with a "Front Page" with a couple of major headlines and some teasers. I would find it too much work to try and put out more than that on a regular basis and I doubt my players would want to read much more than a page anyway.

You may notice that one of the headlines is a truncated version of a Sharn Inquisitive story from the Wizards website. Most of the issues I've put out so far have had one of those and one original creation, frequently stemming from the actions of the PC's. The "teasers" on the left side of the page are a mix of random stuff and things linked to the PC's.

The reaction from the players has been universally good. They like the little campaign hints that I plant in the newspaper and also enjoy (though sometimes wince at) the fact that their actions are making a big enough impact to get noticed in the paper.