Page Turners Preview: The Beacon

Page Turners, the game of dramatic interaction for one player and one game moderator, provides rules for play in any genre that revolves around interpersonal conflict.

It includes eleven fully fleshed scenarios ranging from screwball comedy to doomed vampire romance, from a behind-the-music rock ‘n’ roll saga to the emotional journeys of the last humans hurtling through space. Some are by me; others, by collaborators Wade Rockett, Sarah Saltiel, and Ruth Tillman.

The first scenario I created as proof of concept, the one I ran for publisher Cat Tobin and my co-writers, is The Beacon. In this Jazz Age tale of money, envy, and flying too close to the sun, the player chooses to play either the handsome, magnetic, yet failure-plagued Steve Stark, or his equally charismatic but increasingly disaffected wife, Delia.

Readers familiar with F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald will notice a number of parallels with their story, prior to his literary fame.

As the action opens, the Starks move into a cottage next door to the constantly buzzing estate of young magnate Henry “Huck” Stanton. The chosen player character navigates the promises and temptations of this place, dubbed The Beacon.

In a series of scenes where dramatic petitions are either reluctantly granted or painfully rebuffed, the character can form bonds or rivalries with other fixtures at Huck’s wild parties:

• Jane Delisle, Huck’s protector and right hand.

• Rough-hewn Mossy Colbeck, overseer of the less than legal component of Huck’s empire.

• Nell Westerberg, a starlet intent on luring Huck to fulfill her Hollywood dreams.

• Cynical, well-bred bon vivant Abbott Conant.

• Brooding handyman Ned Reuter.

• And celebrated wit and journalist Dorothy Parker.

Before any Page Turners story begins, the player designates one of these as the confidant who will reliably back them up, providing information and relief from the pressure of other dramatic scenes. Will your player select the embittered, dangerously knowledgeable Abbott Conant? Can they resist picking Dorothy Parker, or are they too intimidated to go near her?

If you’ve played GUMSHOE One-2-One you remember the exhilarating pressure that comes with being onstage throughout an entire tabletop session. This affects both player and GM.

If you’ve played Hillfolk or another DramaSystem game, you already recognize the structure of dramatic scenes, where one character places an emotional demand on another, who makes a move toward them or pulls back. As in that game, a granter of a request in Page Turners gains a unit of game currency called a drama token, as does the one who suffers a rebuff. These tokens accumulate, giving additional narrative control to the participant willing to spend them.

A difference that emerged in playtest was that Hillfolk’s token economy, which starts at 0, had to be adjusted for two people. In Page Turners both player and GM start with 3 points.

The other key difference lies in the need for detailed scenarios. In Hillfolk everyone, including the GM, gets plenty of downtime, as scenes they’re not in unfold. With that time to think of the best next move, games take on an unpredictable, improv dynamic. When constantly on stage, a GM needs a ready stock of prepared emotional obstacles to throw into the player’s path. Scenarios provide a wealth of setting inspiration, GMC backstory elements, surprise revelations, and possible narrative turns. The GM reads the scenario, absorbs it, and then pulls responses from memory as the player steers the story with choices based on their interpretation of the chosen protagonist. You’re not trying to steer the player back into one version of the story, but rather raiding the pantry for supplies when they take you down a surprising path.

Every time I ran “The Beacon” the storyline’s events, and for that matter, its tone, varied wildly. My players respectively turned it into a drama of liberating transformation, an American tragedy, an ironic noir, and a far-reaching historical epic.

Some outside playtesters found that they had an easier time roping their players into the game’s various SF and horror scenarios than the straight-up human dramas. If however your player comes to the table with a literary bent or the desire for vicariously consumed Prohibition cocktails, “The Beacon” provides a purpose-made starting point.

Page Turners is coming to your nearest well-stocked gaming shop and the Pelgrane web store later this year.