At the start of each session of my Call of Cthulhu campaign, I have been giving the players a the front page from latest issue the Arkham Advertiser. I’ve used ‘newspapers’ before to help dispense a few clues, establish the date of the session and evoke a bit of atmosphere. For you to download and use editable PDFs as well as a few other useful resources and links that might come in handy for others setting their Cthulhu sessions in 1920′s Arkham…
Two options for editable PDFs
I based these around a 3-column broadsheet. If you want to see an example of how I used it, see the example below. I couldn’t embed the fonts I wanted in the PDF (they weren’t freeware) so it I used Helvetica and Times instead. For the purists out there, it’s true that neither of these fonts were available in the 20s. Perhaps the time slip is due to the terrible machinations of Yog-Sothoth.
Version 1 including an advertisement:
Version 2 without an advertisement:
Arkham Advertiser Mastheads
Useful for those who want to design their own versions of the paper.
Arkham Advertiser Full Banner - Click to open then 'Save As' to download
Arkham Advertiser Masthead - Click to open then 'Save As' to download
Example of the Arkham Advertiser
This was the first of several, used as a player handout at the start of the first session for the campaign. It set up a few sub-plots and characters that would eventually connect (hot tip: it’s the escaped madman and Egyptologist, Dr Hall). The rest of the articles are edits taken from the HP Lovecraft Historical Society’s very excellent download of 1920′s news reports, photos and advertisements (their site seems to be having some issues at the moment, but as soon as it’s fixed I’ll provide direct links). These guys are an inspiration. Go buy some of their stuff to keep them going!
I guess industrious Keepers/GMs could use the story seeds in this example of the Advertiser to run their own Call of Cthulhu/Trail of Cthulhu sessions. As always, I’d love to hear back from people who have used these resources 
Like this:
Tags: arkham, call of cthulhu, campaign set-up, session notes
Some more great aids, thanks.
There are a bunch of good worn-looking types (for instance, JSL Ancient, or Dominican) that *are* freeware; they just may look, if anything, *too* old.
Well, the Advertiser didn’t just start publishing in the 1920s, and it might have held onto its legacy type for a long *long* time.
Ooh ooh ooh, and the Fell Types that are now even available as webfonts from Google!
Thanks for the tip off! Big fan of the Fell Types. It’s nice to see them pushed on Google.
Good point about the legacy type. Although I do enjoy pushing the 20s style fonts in my handouts (and reminding everyone that they are playing during the Jazz Age). Also sticking in lots of Deco ornamentation and Egyptian-faddishness, to help evoke the age.
To be honest, if I’d realised what a success the Advertiser was going to be, I would have put in the hours to track down some embeddable fonts that would work for both Acrobat’s requirements and my own sense of historical accuracy. Oh, well. I can always review and re-release at some point in the future.
Good point. Although I do enjoy pushing the 20s style fonts in my handouts (and reminding everyone that they are playing during the Jazz Age). Also sticking in lots of Deco ornamentation and Egyptian-faddishness, to help evoke the age.
To be honest, if I’d realised what a success the Advertiser was going to be, I would have put in the hours to track down some embeddable fonts that would work for both Acrobat’s requirements and my own sense of historical accuracy. Oh, well. I can always review and re-release at some point in the future.
The HPLHS site has been restored sufficiently to have that file of 1920s newspaper ingredients available again:
http://www.cthulhulives.org/toybox/PROPDOCS/PropNews.html
It’s a fantastic resource. I’m glad they have up back up again.