How do you write an in-world newspaper for an RPG?

Start with what changed in the last session

Choose one event the public could have noticed: a warehouse fire, a noble's arrest, a vanished caravan or a new curfew. A newspaper is most useful when it reports a consequence the players recognise. If nothing in the campaign has changed, write about a pressure that is about to reach them and give it a named person or place.

Decide the reader before you draft. A city broadsheet wants subscribers and access; a faction bulletin wants obedience; a cheap street sheet wants sales and outrage. The paper's purpose determines which fact it buries, which word it repeats and who gets quoted. Give the paper a name, publication rhythm and place of sale, then keep those details stable.

Write the GM truth beside every public item. The handout can say that the fire was an accident while your notes say the dockmaster paid for it. Players need enough information to make a choice, not a solved mystery disguised as flavour text.

A compact newspaper structure

One page is enough for most sessions. Put the player-facing copy first and keep the answer key in a separate note.

• Masthead and date Name the paper, issue number, place of publication and date. A date lets players compare editions after the campaign timeline moves on.
• The local headline Use a specific event and a named location. 'Three barges held at West Lock after night fire' gives the table more to work with than 'Trouble on the river'.
• Public facts List two or three details that ordinary witnesses could know. Make them accurate, partial or deliberately framed, but record which they are in your GM notes.
• The paper's voice Choose a repeated habit: clipped official prose, breathless gossip, pious warnings or dry trade notices. Add one regular column or sign-off so the voice survives a later issue.
• Bias and omission State whose money, permission or protection keeps the paper running. Show the bias by leaving out a faction, blaming a convenient outsider or praising the person who supplies its ink.
• Rumour with a source Label a rumour as something heard at a named tavern, shrine, checkpoint or office. Note whether it is true, distorted or false, and what the source hopes the reader will do.
• A hook in plain sight End with a notice, advert, missing person, reward or meeting that points to a concrete action. Keep the explanation in your notes so the players can decide whether to follow it.

Make propaganda and truth sit beside each other

A paper can be biased without being useless. Let its claims contain a mixture of accurate dates, selective quotations and a conclusion that serves its patron. A government sheet might report a tax increase precisely while calling the protest that followed a riot. A resistance bulletin might name the right warehouse but invent the number of guards. The contrast gives players something to assess.

Use layout to show status. Give the lead story the largest space, put a faction's denial beneath it, and bury a useful clue in a classified notice. In a digital handout, the same order can be headings and short paragraphs. Do not make every item a puzzle; two clear facts help players judge the third.

When the party changes the world, issue a correction or a new edition. A retraction, missing name or changed advert is a visible timeline consequence. Keep old issues so players can compare what the paper knew, what it claimed and when its story stopped matching events.

Before you hand it to the players

• Name the paper, issue date, place of publication and likely reader.
• Write one headline about a recent or imminent campaign event.
• Include two public facts and record the hidden truth behind each.
• Show the paper's patron or bias through a quote, omission or advert.
• Add one sourced rumour and mark it true, distorted or false in GM notes.
• Give the players one concrete hook with a person, place, time or reward.
• Check every name and date against the campaign timeline before printing.