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Palanan
2014-02-16, 04:52 PM
I'm looking for historical examples of broadsheets which I can adapt for use in my city campaign. I'd like to give these to the players when their characters first hit town, both to help set the mood and to introduce them to a few important NPCs and how they're perceived in public life.

For instance, there will be one brief passage on a pirate-lord threatening the sea-lanes (a major villain as the plot progresses), a mention of the healer in the riverside shantytown (an urban druid), a visiting ambassador from the savage nations (a key figure in regional politics), etc. etc.

I'd like this to be fun as well as informative, and I'd like it to look fairly accurate for an Elizabethan-style city. --Trouble is, my google-fu isn't getting me too far, especially my google-images-fu. Can anyone recommend a source for broadsheets with a period flavor?

.

Brother Oni
2014-02-17, 07:42 AM
Ballad broadsheets which were very popular at the time, however the only pictures I can find are from the early 17th Century, so a couple of decades past your time: Ballad broadsheets (http://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/).

I've found some news sheets (including one depicting a murder quite graphically) from about the right time: News broadsheets (http://www.historytoday.com/blog/2014/01/pictures-early-newspapers).

Mocking up a woodblock image might be more work than you've bargained for, but there are a number of downloadable fonts that will mimic the script effectively.

Palanan
2014-02-17, 09:44 AM
Originally Posted by Brother Oni
Ballad broadsheets which were very popular at the time, however the only pictures I can find are from the early 17th Century, so a couple of decades past your time: Ballad broadsheets.

I've found some news sheets (including one depicting a murder quite graphically) from about the right time: News broadsheets.

These are fantastic, thank you. Very interesting, and not quite what I was expecting, but the overall style is exactly what I was going for. Thanks for finding those, they're really helpful.


Originally Posted by Brother Oni
Mocking up a woodblock image might be more work than you've bargained for....

Heh. Don't I know it. I did something similar as a recruiting poster for my seafaring campaign, and it took a lot longer than I'd planned on...but I really liked the result.

Thanks again for finding those. More always welcome.

:smallsmile: