Copper Novel

A copper novel is a work of serialized fiction, cheaply made and distributed in small pamphlets of usually 16-32 pages. They typically have a brown cardstock cover with an eye-catching woodblock-print illustration, and contain a chapter of an ongoing series plus a logic puzzle or word scramble in the back. 
Copper novels are usually considered low-brow culture. They are especially popular with children and adolescents, as well as travelers with little space in their pack for other forms of entertainment. Popular genres of copper novels include mystery, romance, and action. They also may tell stories of a famous Adventurer or adventuring party.
Copper novels are typically not given a second printing run after copies of the first batch run out. This is both to increase immediate purchases by readers afraid of missing out, and because the woodblocks used for the covers (and occasionally the puzzle grids) lose fidelity over too many printings. Thus, early issues of copper novel series that go on to be best-sellers often become highly prized collector's editions.

Famous Series

Below are titles and synopses of a few famous and notable copper novel series, though this is by no means a complete list.

• Elinor Blackhand. A morally ambiguous elfdwarf renegade exposes the crimes committed by a circle of charismatic yet corrupt high priests. Tagline: HALF ELF, HALF DWARF, ALL DANGER.

• The Knights of Val-Nurem. An order of royal paladins with a strict code of honor and chivalry ride into a war of nearly impossible odds with the undead armies of the death knight General Callixtus Skullside.

• Queen Cobra. A disgraced warrior monk trapped in Avernus fights her way through hell to reach the devil who tried to imprison her.

• Lord Battaman of Gothamshire. When a fallen aasimar noble loses his kingdom and his family in the same day, he swears to use what's left of his family fortune to fight for justice under cover of night in the lands where he was raised.

• The Steel Stranger. A mysterious swordsman rides from village to village in troubled ancient Scalados, single-handedly fighting back the dangers lurking just beyond the edge of the woods, yet disappearing before anyone in the village can form a relationship with him or discover his true identity.

• Döktorhjëu. A warlock and her mysterious patron travel through time and space in an Apparatus of Kwalish. Fan theories abound as to the exact origin of the patron and the source of their powers. Originally published in Gnomish.

• Petrified Progress. A noble family falls from grace after its patriarch is petrified by a vengeful and jealous witch; the family's responsible yet resentful middle son struggles to keep the rest of the family from being similarly cursed.

• Times of our Times. The members of two intertwined families, one a disgraced Wizard family and the other a successful Artificer dynasty, live out their drama-filled lives in the city of Cape Hildegard. Members of each family fall in and out of love, compete in both business and romance, and even commit crimes against each other in this larger-than-life series that has published weekly chapters for more than 75 years.

Item type

Book / Document

Base Price

2 cp