Korranberg Chronicle

Your group comprises a team of ace reporters working for a chronicle—one of the many newspapers that provide news and entertainment for readers across Khorvaire. You might be under contract to provide the paper with tales of your exploits as you search out adventure. Or you might be investigative reporters dedicated to shining the light of truth into the darkness of criminal, political, and religious corruption. You might have an unflinching commitment to the truth, or be more interested in selling papers—or you might be in conflict with the chronicle's management over priorities.
The simplest chronicles appear as scrolls nailed to public message boards containing the pertinent news of the week. More ambitious chronicles—including the Aundairian Scroll, the Breland Ledger, and the Sharn Inquisitive—are presented as folded broadsheets nested together to form simple books.

By far Khorvaire's best known and most widely read newspaper is the Korranberg Chronicle. Thanks to its unflinching and mostly unbiased coverage of the Last War, combined with a distribution deal with House Orien, the Korranberg Chronicle enjoys a loyal and avid readership throughout central Khorvaire. The Chronicle is released three times a week (on Mol, Wir, and Far), and each edition features some mixture of news from around Khorvaire, stories of adventurers and exciting expeditions, business solicitations, royal proclamations, and almanac information.
Offices. The Chronicle's main offices are located in Korranberg. The paper also maintains field offices in the Five Nations, the Mror Holds, and Zilargo. Each field office shares space with a House Sivis message station, giving reporters at the office the ready ability to communicate with the home office (at discounted rates). Employees. The Chronicle sends reporters across Khorvaire. Most of them live in Korranberg or near one of the field offices, but correspondents might be stationed in more remote regions for long periods of time, and the paper frequently publishes stories written by freelancers from across the world. Your adventuring party most likely falls into that last category, at least at the start of your career.
A large staff of editors—mostly but not exclusively comprised of Zil gnomes—works out of the newspaper's various offices. They are organized into an extensive hierarchy from senior to junior editors. The top tier of senior editors is responsible for broad categories of stories, such as crime or international affairs. Lower tiers take on increasingly specific subsets of that category, down to the junior editor responsible for the crime beat in Sharn's Lower Dura district.
Even the most senior editors, though, are responsible to the top tier of the Chronicle's management, including its publisher and its secretive board of owners.

Allies

The Korranberg Chronicle is widely known and respected as a source of balanced news coverage. As such, it has friends in many places, including some in positions of power. Some of the Chronicle's closest allies come from the following groups

House Orien

House Orien distributes the Chronicle along its mail and lightning rail runs across Khorvaire, helping the newspaper reach a huge audience. Employees of the Chronicle can travel on lightning rail coaches at a discounted rate of 8 sp/day (instead of the usual 1 gp/day).

House Sivis

The newspaper also cooperates closely with House Sivis to facilitate communication between the main office and the field offices, as well as between reporters and their editors. The house bills the Chronicle directly for communications using speaking stones or sending spells directed to the newspaper's main office.

Zilargo

The gnome nation of Zilargo is generally friendly to the newspaper. The senior editors, publisher, and owners of the Chronicle are influential people in the city of Korranberg and Zilargo as a whole. In extreme circumstances Zilargo officials might be persuaded to advocate for the newspaper's employees.

Enemies

The Korranberg Chronicle is dedicated to learning and reporting the truth, and such an attitude is always certain to arouse the ire of those who would rather keep their secrets hidden. The following represents just a fraction of the enemies the newspaper has made over the years:

The Boromar Clan

The dominant crime syndicate in Sharn is still stinging from an exposé published ten years ago that resulted in the arrest of many of the clan's leaders and gave other gangs a foothold in the city. Members of the Boromar Clan go to great lengths—even murder—to sabotage Chronicle reporters who pry into their secrets.

Karrnath

King Kaius nurses a grudge against the newspaper stemming from its coverage of the peace process at the end of the war, blaming them for several setbacks along the way to the eventual signing of the Treaty of Thronehold. Chronicle reporters operating in Karrnath often face harassment and find bureaucracy impeding their every effort.

House Thuranni

The snoops and spies of the Chronicle have pried one time too many into House Thuranni's private affairs. No member or agent of the house will cooperate with Chronicle reporters under any circumstances.

Patron Benefits

With a newspaper as your group's patron, you gain the following benefits:
Compensation. Assuming that you regularly provide the newspaper with stories it can print, each member of your group earns 1 gp per day, or enough to sustain a modest lifestyle.
Expenses. In addition to your salary, your group can be reimbursed for expenses related to your work. The newspaper covers the cost of travel when it's required for your stories, food when you perform an interview over a meal, communication costs using courier services or message stations, and similar work-related expenses. If your expenses are excessive, your patron might refuse to repay them.
Equipment. Your group can request access to equipment owned by the newspaper, such as a printing press. With permission, you can use this equipment for your private purposes, within reason.
Press Access. Each member of your group is issued identification papers from the nation where the newspaper is based. These papers establish your identity and identify you as a member of the press, which commands a certain amount of respect. You can often secure an audience with those you want to talk to. Of course, this isn't a guarantee of safety—if you discover a damaging truth, some people will do whatever it takes to make sure it never sees print.

Build Your Group

Newspapers employ a wide range of adventurers to bring news back to the home office. Consider some or all of these roles for the characters in your party:
All the more reason, loyal readers, to rely on the Voice of Breland for unbiased news you can use.
Civilian. Some groups include members whose skills are great for reporting but less useful on adventures. This could be the designated writer, a political cartoonist, or a chronicler who records the party's adventures. This might be a challenging role for a player character to fill, but an NPC could provide services to the party, making them worth keeping around.
Face. Typically gifted with a high Charisma score and skilled in a combination of Persuasion, Intimidation, and Insight, the Face takes the lead in conducting interviews or talking the group's way past obstacles. A character with access to enchantment magic (such as a bard or sorcerer) can supplement natural Charisma with magical persuasion. A character with the charlatan background, proficiency in Deception, or proficiency with a Disguise kit might also fill this role.
Muscle. Sometimes sources need a bit of physical cajoling to share their stories. The Muscle has a knack for getting people to talk. Alternatively, when those in power lock away the truth, the Muscle physically wrestles it free. Any character who's proficient with armor and martial weapons (such as a fighter) makes a fine choice for this role. Characters in this role are often former soldiers or more-or-less reformed criminals.
Networker. The Networker knows exactly who can get the party what they need. This character makes extensive use of contacts and friends to facilitate the party's work. A character with the criminal background likely has underworld contacts, while an urchin could be familiar with the ins and outs of the city. Interpersonal connections are typically more important than any particular skills or abilities for this character, although many Networkers have high Charisma scores.
Snoop. A Snoop pries into secrets and pieces together the clues behind a sensational story. High Intelligence and proficiency in Investigation often aids the core work of the Snoop, and knowledge of Arcana, History, or Religion can be helpful for background research. Divination magic can also prove useful (perhaps in the hands of a wizard or a cleric), while a character with the sage background might have a knack for research.

Types of Reporting

Decide as a group, in consultation with your DM, what kind of reporting you do for the newspaper. It's possible that different members of your group have different specialties, or that only some members actually write stories while the rest aid the reporters. Choose an option or roll on the Journalistic Focus table to determine what sort of reporting you specialize in.

Journalistic Focus

d10 Reporting 1 Investigation. Your job is to uncover the secrets that governments, dragonmarked houses, and other powerful people don't want the public to know. 2 Muckraking. You look for scandalous and titillating secrets that famous people would rather hide. 3 Local News. You care about the local community and report on local events and government. 4 International Affairs. You report on the activities of national governments and their relationships. 5 Crime. You work with police and inquisitives—or do some inquisitive work yourselves—to report on criminal activity. 6 Cultural Reporting. You write about arts, fashion, and similar events and trends. 7 Science and Magic. Your job is to investigate scientific and magical advances and explain them in jargon-free language anyone can understand. 8 Personal Interest. You seek out stories of personal triumph over adversity, such as how people are rebuilding and working together in the wake of the Last War. 9 Travel. You travel extensively and write about the best way for others to enjoy such journeys. 10 Adventure Logs. Your job is to entertain the public with exciting stories about your life as an adventurer. Famous Story Is there one story that hangs over your group's head, for good or ill? Maybe it sets a high bar you might never reach again, or ensures you'll never write a story of a different kind. Consult the Famous Story table to determine what reporting has most colored your career.

Famous Story

d6 Famous Story 1 Fear Monger. You spiced up a story by stretching a few facts, instigating a wave of misinformation that plagues public discourse to this day. 2 Hit Piece. You have revealed secrets that many famous people wanted kept under wraps. You try to keep a low profile when dealing with the rich and powerful. 3 Unheeded Warning. You've been tracking a significant story and have published damning articles. Unfortunately, those who keep the truth hidden work to make even your most ironclad proof look shaky. 4 Scandal. You reported on a massive scandal that completely upended the local political scene. 5 Buried Headline. You almost broke a story, but then received a threat or bribe so significant that you put it on ice. 6 Double Cross. You thought you had the scoop of a lifetime, but you were fed false information and published a story that was pure fiction.

Reporting Repercussions

Your reporting changes lives—you like to think for the better. Sometimes, though, your work has drawn some fairly pointed criticism and earned you an enemy. Reference the Story Aftermath table to determine the repercussions of one of your most impactful stories.

Story Aftermath

d6 Aftermath 1 Business. Your reporting put a serious dent in a business, and that organization refuses to deal with you. 2 Dragonmarked House. One of the dragonmarked houses has sworn revenge against you. You avoid showing your face in their facilities. 3 Criminal. You exposed a criminal conspiracy. Most involved were arrested, but a few crooks remain free. 4 Politician. You ended a politician's career, and they've sworn to return the favor. 5 Rival Newspaper. You got the scoop of a lifetime by stealing it from another newspaper. Now that paper tries to undermine you at every turn. 6 Innocent Victim. You rashly published the name of a person you incorrectly thought was connected to a scandal, ruining their life.

Newspaper Contacts

Usually, your primary contact—the person who gives you assignments for the newspaper—is an editor of some kind, who takes the stories you write and makes them suitable for the printed page. Depending on the editor, you might not even recognize the stories when they're printed, and your editor's personality and goals can have a tremendous impact on your work for the paper. Consult the Newspaper Contact table to learn about the editor or other newspaper figure you're responsible to.

Newspaper Contact

d8 Primary Contact 1 A tough-as-nails senior editor who holds you to high standards but rewards you well when you reach them 2 A wealthy newspaper owner who demands the paper use your work even though the editor doesn't want to 3 An ambitious junior editor who hopes that your work will help them rise through the ranks 4 A senior reporter obsessed with their own supposedly groundbreaking work, making you run down the day-to-day stories they don't consider "real journalism." 5 An editor who is more interested in keeping powerful friends happy than in reporting the truth 6 An editor who thinks the way to make reporters do their best work is by making them compete with each other, setting your group up against a team of rivals 7 An editor who suffered horrors during the Last War and is desperate for signs of hope 8 A cynical editor who seeks the corruption and down side in every story

Other Newspapers

Besides the well-respected Korranberg Chronicle, other newspapers in Khorvaire can be grouped into a few different categories:

The Korranberg Chronicle Special Sul Edition WAR IS OVER! Treaty of Thronehold signed. Galifar is no more.

Local Rags

Small papers such as the Vathirond Journal, the Vedykar Sentinel, and the Write of Passage are limited in circulation to their own home city, and their coverage is similarly limited in perspective.

Mainstream Media

The Breland Ledger, the Sharn Inquisitive, the Aundairian Scroll, and papers like them present generally balanced coverage of world events. They are usually a little slanted in favor of their home nations.

Propaganda

Some newspapers, such as the Voice of Breland and similar papers in other nations, print fiercely partisan news that seems designed to fan the flames of resentment that linger after the Last War.

Running Your Own

Rather than work for an existing outlet, you can run your own newspaper. You own a small office and a printing press, and keep 2d4 employees to manage daily tasks and keep the paper going to press. You gain the benefit of press access as described earlier. Additionally, you can use the Running a Business downtime activity to direct the activities of your paper in hopes of increasing your earnings, as described at the start of this section.

Полный доступ ко всем материалам по сеттингу имеют только подписчики.