The Rumour Mill

[The Royal Groat]

re: TECHNICAL MATTERS

First and foremost, kudos and all credits to Yamo for kicking off the Rumour Mill with an amazing vintage template. I saw no need to reinvent the wheel, and consistency helps with immersion/realism, so I asked and received permission to follow the format.

Secondly, the Rumour Mill could do with some PC love! One of the biggest hurdle behind playing a PC related to an IC newspaper is the dread of having to actually 'work'; of dealing with photoshop or gimp, of developing the format, and having to do all that mostly alone. Thankfully, the Rumour Mill in EFU:V set the stage for this to be elegantly solved. Basically, all you need to do to play a newspaper PC now is to be present for something awesome, write about it, pass it to me, and I can format and post it (with credits to your character) for you.

Thirdly, alternatively, if you want to format and post it yourself, you can also get the .gimp or the .psd file from myself or Yamo.


re: CONCEPT

The Rumour Mill can make things a little tricky. Presumably, it being an Association means that there is some baseline standard and a degree of restriction when it comes to how blatantly one tries to serve one's own agenda with it (as opposed to a player newspaper, with which you can just write whatever you damn well want). However, it is still meant to be filled with salacious Peer scandals, heroic retellings of the deeds of heroes, and back-page advertisements for services throughout the Rings, so some degree of embellishment is probably acceptable.

Importantly, my hope is that with each article being written by and attributed to a specific character, any embellishment that should attract IC consequences (good or bad) could be pinned on said character instead of the Rumour Mill in entirety. This permits freedom while providing foundations: go wild, but too wild, and the Guildmistress starts becoming angry or the Rumour Mill issues a retraction or something.


re: CHARACTER-SPECIFIC IDEAS

Be a journalist with an agenda. Use the Rumour Mill cleverly to shame your foes, sow discord between them and promote your own agenda. Take coins in exchange for shaping the narrative for a House of scum-lords, or to advertise this or that merchant's store.

Write your own columns: on fashion, politics, or magic. You no longer need to write a complete newspaper anymore. The Rumour Mill is a composite of parts.

[Halfbrood]

This particular association was designed specifically to give anyone with an interest in newspapers and writing columns and other such things, that have been so great in previous iterations of the server, a baseline to start from.

With the work of the current employees, you've got a springboard to greatness already. Of course, the Rumour Mill has its own secrets and politics from within, but its really very much a blank slate for you to work from.

Please don't hesitate to join in, as we all love newspapers!