Public Access What is this? Public Access is a storytelling game in which players portray a group of adults who have come together to discuss their memories of a short-lived public access TV show they watched as children. During the course of the game, one character will remind the others about a mystery surrounding the show. Characters will then relate their memories of specific episodes of the show, in the hopes that clues to solving the mystery are contained within. The characters then engage in their own research and investigation, and later confer with each other about what they discover. Inspirations for this game include creepypasta stories like “Candle Cove” and “1999,” and emergent mystery games like The Society of Dreamers and Psi Run. Setting up the Game Public Access is a game that heavily emphasizes the role of narration and improvisation in storytelling. Players are encouraged to freely discuss their ideas during play in order to develop the setting and backstory of the session, and are empowered by the use of tokens to introduce important plot points into the game. During parts of play, players may use tokens given to them at the beginning of the game in order to introduce a key piece of evidence or a possible suspect into the investigation. This enables players to heighten drama at key moments and introduce strange and unexpected twists. The ultimate goal of the tokens is to keep play fresh and interesting, and to propel the story in completely unexpected directions. When beginning a game of Public Access, each player should receive a total of 13 action tokens. Players should keep their tokens hidden until the Conclusion phase of the game. When a player feels as though they have a great idea to add to a scene, they can spend their tokens in order to insert a character or event on-screen, introduce a piece of evidence or an important figure into an investigation, or, in the conclusion phase, to decide the perpetrator of, the location of, and the nature of the mystery. Whether these things are explicit or ambiguous in nature is left to the discretion of the player who spent the tokens. Additionally, depending on the action taken, the player must spend a higher or lower amount of tokens. Players must buy actions independently, without the help of other players, and cannot trade or donate tokens under any circumstance. Token Actions: 1x Token - Place a character or event somewhere on-screen in an episode description 2x Token - Introduce a piece of evidence into an investigation 3x Token - Introduce and portray a possible suspect in an investigation Before Play Begins As a group, players will answer the following questions about the public access TV show their game will focus on. 1. What strange production feature did the show have that made it stand out from other shows you watched as a kid? Perhaps it was wildly varying episode lengths, unpredictable air times, the same weird song playing on a loop in the background, or the characters always being slightly out of frame. 2. The show was theoretically aimed at children, and yet made near-constant reference to a single, adult theme. Name it. Perhaps it was the main actor’s pending, real-life divorce; the virtues of the gold standard; a recitation of the minutes of the last city council meeting; or reviews of restaurants in other cities. 3. What drew you to the show as a child? Perhaps it was hosted by a man in a silly/kid-friendly costume; the characters on the show were puppets; the audio was dubbed-in over old cartoons; or the show featured photo montages of cute animals. 4. If there are any characters implied from the above question, name them. 5. What was the show called? 6. How many episodes aired? The answer should be no fewer than nine, and no more than twelve. For a shorter game, go with nine. Part One - Introductions At this point, the players should, in turn, introduce themselves in-character and talk about a single childhood memory related to the show. Perhaps the show’s short run was during a particularly hard time in their young life, or maybe there was something specific about the show that resonated with them. Since the characters are likely meeting-up on an internet forum, they should strictly use screen names with each other. This is free narration. Anything a player says is acceptable, so long as it is true for their character. The information gained from the introductions can help further develop the lore surrounding the show, or they can simply be personal reflections of the characters themselves. So long as it relates back to the show in some way, you’re in good shape. Here are a few questions that players are suggested to answer in order to better create an idea of how they will react to the strange series of events throughout the session: 1. What is your character’s occupation? What led them to choose this line of work? Have they held any other jobs in the past? 2. What interests does your character have? How well are they educated in these fields? 3. What traits about your character particularly standout? Do they possess immense strength or a great poker face? When have these traits gotten your character into trouble? 4. How is your character’s life going these days? Are they married but unable to have kids? Perhaps they are struggling with a disease? Or maybe they regret a recent fight they got into? What about their current situation would drive them to investigate some old TV show rather than attend to daily life? Part Two - The Mystery After introductions are complete, one player should introduce a mystery surrounding the show. The mystery can be anything that makes sense in the game’s context to that point, but the creepier the better! Here are some examples: a person connected to the production of the show went missing; a series of unsolved child murders took place during the show’s run; an unidentified person appeared on the show once, frightened and crying; the show’s final episode contained nothing but thirty minutes of sustained, unsettling noise, like screaming or animal sounds. The mystery shouldn’t be solvable based-off a simple viewing of the show. (Tip: When creating a mystery, start small. Create a slight disturbance in the show that could be written off as a mishap had it occurred alone. Build from there, adding on little by little until the group feels they have a good basis for a creepy story that requires further investigation.) Part Three - The Episodes At this point, the characters will attempt to gather clues based solely on their memory of each episode. The first player, in-character, will describe Episode 1. This is free narration. He should start at the beginning and proceed through a description of what his character remembers taking place in that episode. He should go out of his way to add-in details about things that appeared on screen, or that could be heard in the audio. A few minutes of narration should be sufficient. During this time, other players should feel free to ask questions to the narrator in order to elicit more details about Episode 1. The first player may choose how to answer these questions, either with a lot of detail or a little. Details may be clear, or ambiguous. Only once per episode, a player besides the narrator can spend a token to position a character or event on-screen, either in the foreground or background, and can detail why this character or event seems eerily out of place. This is automatically considered a clue gained from the episode, and the narrator should note it on her index card. Once the first player is finished recalling Episode 1, the other players will have a discussion about whether the narration included a clue related to the mystery, and, if so, what it was. If a consensus is reached, the first player should write the clue on an index card, with a note that it came from Episode 1. If there is no consensus, play simply proceeds to the next player. The next player repeats the process with Episode 2, and so on, until all episodes have been recalled. Remember: the clues written on the index cards should not be able to directly solve the mystery on their own. They should be things that give the players leads to follow in Part Four. Part Four - Field Investigation At this point, the group should have around 6-10 clues. The next player in the rotation will be the spotlight character. The player to their right will be the Guide. The Guide chooses one or two clues and uses them to frame a scene which sees the spotlight character engaging in an investigation related to the clues. The Guide should describe the setting, indicate why this area is important based on the relevant clues, and should ask the spotlight character how they personally feel about the clues and the investigation. The Guide will identify any NPCs who may be present in the scene, and will portray them as the spotlight character interacts with them. During this time, players can spend tokens up to two times to introduce evidence or possible suspects to the investigation. Each player can only spend tokens on one action, meaning up to two players can interact with the scene. Suspects could claim to be bystanders or even victims, but until more about them is learned, nothing is for certain. If evidence is placed in the scene, the player spending tokens must describe how the spotlight character came upon it, and the gritty details about the item’s appearance and the specific location it was found. How the spotlight character interacts with the evidence is up to them, but at the very least they must acknowledge its existence and examine it to the point that the character would know the details about it given by the player who spent tokens on the evidence. Should the character investigate it thoroughly enough to reveal even more details about the evidence, the player who spent tokens on it should reveal those details. If a character is introduced in the scene, the player who spent tokens on introducing that character must portray the character for the duration of their stay in the scene. The character does not have to interact directly with the spotlight character, but is automatically noticed by the spotlight character. At the point of introduction, the player spending tokens should describe what details the spotlight character can notice, and the spotlight character must at least approach the character as part of the investigation. How the two characters interact is up to the two players participating in the scene, but the spotlight character should end the investigation relatively safe from harm (how much damage any character is able to receive should be discussed at the beginning of the game. No matter what though, all characters must be healthy enough to continue discussion about the investigation with the other members, and should be able to investigate again in the future should the game rotation come back to them again.) The scene should be played to a natural conclusion. This includes the character witnessing a horrible act, finding a clue of great significance, or enduring a strange and possibly violent encounter. Once it ends, the player of the spotlight character will determine if any facts about the mystery were learned. If so, he will write those facts on the Fact Sheet. No more than three facts should be written down per scene. Play continues like this around the table until all clues have been used to frame a scene. Please note: players should avoid outright solving the mystery during a scene. The facts gathered can heavily imply a certain outcome, but avoid having a character say, for example, “I know who killed all those kids. It was me!” Conclusion Once scenes have concluded, the group uses the Fact Sheet to have an open discussion about the mystery. Players should feel free to offer their theories, as well as different interpretations of other players’ theories. The game ends when everyone has had a chance to present their theory, or when the group coalesces around a single theory. At that point, the player with the third most tokens left decides the final location(s) at which the acts shrouded in mystery took place, the player with the second most tokens left decides the perpetrator(s) of the events, and the player with the most tokens left decides the nature of the mysterious events. Using the setting and perpetrator described by the other two players, the player with the most tokens at the end of the game describes how the mysterious events went down exactly. However detailed or ambiguous the explanation, the player should wrap up the game with a description that at the least heavily implies an undisputable conclusion. Whether or not the perpetrator is ever caught is also up the player with the most tokens at the end of the game.