If you want to bend the \"fantasy only\" rules a little bit, you could incorporate private messaging like in RS and other games - two players could communicate with each other, no matter where they are in the game. But since there\'s no real reasoning behind it (it\'s telepathic!), and it lends itself to player harassment, I wouldn\'t recommend it.
I read LotR long ago, so I don\'t recall exactly what the palantir are - weren\'t they orbs or something? That would be neat, though - magical orbs in certain places that are accessible by the players, and they can contact another orb anywhere in the game, as long as they know about it (maybe they type a name in or something).
In one game I player for awhile, they also had e-messages - you could go to a desk and send a message to someone else in the game, like an e-mail, but it could only be sent or read at a desk.
In most fantasy settings there are \"runners\" who take messages across town for a few coppers, and there are people who carry mail (send it along with a merchant caravan, e.g.). It might be a little harder to implement in-game, though.
Or you could just do what many RS players do, and hang out in the chat room while you play. Many\'s the time we communicated through there - if someone had stuff to give away, or wanted to get a group together to go hunting. You could also, of course, use AIM or MSN or whatever.
