Bring back the Journal of Justice

Leftbraiin··5 votes·732 views
The Journal of Justice Issues

So a long time ago in a Runeterra far away there was this amazing medium for lore called the Journal of Justice. Now this long forgotten piece of greatness only existed for a single season (the first one) but it was the perfect way to truly bring Runeterra and the game alive. It brought context to what current events were and even provided small tidbits of lore beyond the X hates Y because horrible thing happened in the past.

The journal itself was a weekly review of whats going on in Runeterra and was the perfect tool to introduce new things coming to the game. For instance there was a match on the rift mediated by the League of Legends to decide if the occupation of Ionia by Noxus could continue. This linked to a real world match of Pro or Famous players competing in a match on summoners rift where each side could only pick either noxus or Ionia champions. As a result the winning team got to pick an item that was introduced into the game ("Boots of Ionia")

Another example was a weekly update on the events leading to the discovery of a nexus crystal that became highly contested by Demacia and Noxus and was eventually taken over by the League of Legends and introduced into the game as the now discontinued game mode of Dominion.

Having this to read every week as well as seeing these amazing stories unfolding and seeing the results in game is part of what made me start falling in love with LoL in the first place.

As my talking point i really just wanted to bring awareness about this amazing part of the games history and potentially start the dialogue of investing back in this type of story telling. So please if you found it all interesting or absolutely hate the Journal id love to hear your thoughts!

15 Comments

The Iceborn5 votes

It was hella boring

Leftbraiin1 votes

Thank you for your deep and wise insight.

The Iceborn4 votes

{quoted}

Thank you for your deep and wise insight.

hahahah omg im sorry but theres really not more to it hahahah

Leftbraiin1 votes

Well......there is always the why?

Warlord Dienekes4 votes

Interesting concept ruined by kind of terrible choices. Now, a newspapers look at the situation on Runeterra is a great concept. Unfortunately, they decided to model that by following the worst form of tabloid “journalism” I still remember reading about Ashe maybe having an affair, and Blitzcrank’s dating service, or the interview with Shaco that got the reporter stabbed. All idiotic concepts that I’m sure someone thought was funny.

When it did draw hints of cool things like LeBlanc impersonating Jarvan to gain control of Demacia, it was always tempered with the random bullshit printed with it.

That and I just don’t think epistolary form writing is particularly popular.

Criomhthann4 votes

The IoW is gone. Considering it's title, if the Journal Of Justice was to return it would be in the form of a Demacian Propaganda rag. Like "The Sun" in the UK.

HonestJohnTheCon4 votes

I would actually like it if there were newspaper stories from the different regions. That would be interesting.

WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOO3 votes

The journal of justice was mostly comedic and it only worked when the Institute of War was still around

Leftbraiin1 votes

For certain dialogues yes but it doesnt even have to focus on just what was covered by the institute. Honestly the side stuff was amazing just as well. Some of them were even lead ins for skins that were being released. Im just saying it provided continuous context for the seemingly random stuff added to the game that actually made sense for the world they created.

HonestJohnTheCon3 votes

If you're talking about the IoW, I'm gonna flat-out say no. It was limiting worldbuilding because summoners were OP and it was kinda impossible for any real conflict to happen between countries.

If you're talking about adding a JoJ-esque system where new lore is issued out every week, that'd be pretty great.

Just no stories about Annie being in a commercial about brushing your teeth.

Leftbraiin2 votes

yeah the Institute. My bad forgive me for the 7 years i forgot the actual name.

What i mean though is that it constantly built and interconnected the world where for the past god knows how many years it feels like alot of these stories are in a bubble. For example annie's new lore is in a cottage in the forest that just so happens to be on land owned by noxus. Idk i loved the little tidbits of lore you would get.

HonestJohnTheCon3 votes

The point is that there can't be any major conflict while the Institute exists because of how OP the summoners are.

Demacia vs. Noxus? Summoners would be like STOP! and they'd stop. Noxus vs. Piltover? STOP! Noxus vs. Ionia? STOP! The Void is about to destroy the world? Can't have that! STOP!

Not to mention that stories like MF (almost) killing Gangplank couldn't exist, because you can't kill champions outside of League matches based on the rules of IoW. Champions like Kindred couldn't exist. If you could "bind" the spirits of death to a place where they would be in the League, then everyone would be immortal.

I agree that stories should start crossing over (like a confrontation between Darius and Garen, or Mordekaiser rallying the undead towards Noxus, or really anything to do with characters interacting with Targon), but I feel like the IoW would cause a vacuum where no progression could occur.

Chromatic Eagle1 votes

I don't think they were that powerful, but were strong yes.

Tesla Effect1 votes

Only if it makes sense with the canon. That being newspaper organization in Piltover or Zaun.

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