prime time adventures 3

U N J U E G O D E D R A M A T E L E V I S I V O

Matt Wi lson

ADVENTURESPRIMETIME

i

Primetime Adventuresun juego de drama televisivo

Matt Wilson

ii

Primetime Adventures

© 2004-2015 Dog-eared Designs

ISBN 978-0-692-35686-9

Third Edition, first printing

Credits

Concept, Development, and Layout: Matt Wilson

Additional Development and Editing: Meredith Reitman

Editing: Ryan Macklin

Proofreading: Lilian Cohen-Moore

Illustrations: Ed Heil (p. 27), Leo Lingas (pp. 3, 5, 7), Jennifer Rodgers (pp. 33, 71), Jake Richmond (pp. 11, 31, 51, 95, 103)

Layout Consultant: John Stavropoulos

Vice President in Charge of Shedding: Emmett

Original Playtesters (way back at the beginning of time): John Aegard, Alan Barclay, Jorg Baumler, Robert Bittner, Luke Crane, James Cunningham, Scott Dierdorf, Wilhelm Fitzpatrick, Mark Goodermote, Matt Gwinn, John Harper, Mike Holmes, Jon Leitheusser, Ralph Mazza, Kerri Miller, Laura Mortenson, Joshua Neff, Clinton Nixon-Dreisbach, Kevin Perrine, Meredith Reitman, Dan Root, Arina Stecay, Ralf Tschulena, Cara Tyler, Joe Zurla.

Third-Edition Playtesters: Leonard Balsera, Claudia Cangini, Silvia Castellucci, Chris Chinn, Jason Corley, Thomas Denagh, Katherine Fackrell, Julia Frey, Mark Frey, Michele Gelli, Bret Gillan, Carly Knight, Golda Lloyd, Danny Nightingale, Leslie Nightingale, Sean Nittner, Jon Perrine, Brian Poe, Meredith Reitman, Richard Rogers, Alex Schrock, Angela Stradaroli.

This game is dedicated to all the creative people who just don’t know it yet.

iii

Contenidos

El Mejor Programa TelevisivoQue hubo Jamás ......................................................................................................... 1

Crea Tu Propio Programa de Televisión ..................................................................... 8

Cooperación Y Colaboración ........................................................................................10

Conceptos de Reglas Básicas ....................................................................................... 12

Creando Una Serie .....................................................................................................15

Para Empezar ..................................................................................................................16

El Productor .................................................................................................................... 17

El Concepto ................................................................................................................... 20

El Elenco .........................................................................................................................28

Protagonistas .................................................................................................................30

Arco Argumental ............................................................................................................34

Rasgos .............................................................................................................................41

Némesis ......................................................................................................................... 46

Sets ................................................................................................................................. 48

El Comienzo ...................................................................................................................50

Jugar Un Episodio ...................................................................................................... 59

¡Acción! ........................................................................................................................... 60

Prepararse para Jugar un Episodio ...............................................................................61

¡Comenzar a Jugar! ....................................................................................................... 64

Escenas ...........................................................................................................................67

Cartas de admiradores .................................................................................................. 80

La Responsabilidad del Jugador ...................................................................................83

La Responsabilidad del Productor .............................................................................. 84

Técnicas Avanzadas .-...................................................................................................85

iv

Episodios Especiales ..................................................................................................... 94

Creando una Temporada ..........................................................................................99

La Perspectiva.............................................................................................................. 100

Trama General .............................................................................................................. 101

Usando Arcos Argumentales.......................................................................................102

Tema .--..........................................................................................................................104

Cambio de Protagonista .............................................................................................106

Material Adicional ................................................................................................... 109

Programas de Ejemplo ................................................................................................. 110

Gráficos y Tablas.............................................................................................................115

Palabras de Despedida .................................................................................................. 118

1

El Mejor Programa Televisivo Que Hubo

Jamás “Se que suena cursi, pero creo que, a la larga, en la

televisión no puedes ocultar quien eres.”

— Robert Urich

1

2 The Greatest TV Show That Never Was

¡Ésta noche! En su imaginación...

…On Bootleggers, a high-stakes drama set in the 1920s,Robert’s high school sweetheart discovers the truth about his family, and Robert has to decide where his loyalties lie. Meanwhile, Roxy has accrued a terrible gambling debt at Moe’s speakeasy, and her estranged father is the last person she can turn to.


Or...

…On Spartans, a show about young warriors training in ancient Greece, the friendly rivalry between Appolonia and Patrochus just might be turning into something more. Will it interfere with Patrochus’ ultimate plan: to kill Laertes and take revenge?


Or...

On Spies for Hire, a show about women who secretly freelance as cutting-edge agents, will Valerie have to miss her daughter’s choir concert in order to stop the ruthless terrorist known as Philaros? Plus, Joan thinks her date might be the agent who bested her a few months back. What will she do?


Make Your Own TV ShowWith Primetime Adventures, you and your friends can create exciting TV episodes just like the ones described on the last three pages. If you’ve ever wondered what would have happened if your favorite character made a different choice; if you’ve ever wished you could bring your favorite show back on the air; if you’ve watched some amazing TV and thought, I wish I could do that; then this is the game for you.

You and a few of your friends – maybe four or five of you altogether – will get together and use this book to create a TV show. Each time you play, you’ll create an episode of the show as if it were airing in its weekly time slot. After you play several times, you’ll eventually complete a whole season, full of drama, intrigue, romance, adventure and whatever else you like in your TV.

How to Use the Book

The book includes 4 chapters, providing you with the basic rules – the what – along with techniques and strategies – the how and the why. Chapter 1 is what you’re reading now. It talks about the game a little and goes over a few examples and concepts. Chapter 2 shows you how to create your own TV series, including premise, characters, relationships, and locations. Chapter 3 tells you how to create an episode of your new show, with drama, tension and screen time for everyone. Chapter 4 tells you how to put your episodes together to create a whole season.

This friendly little TV will offer you important reminders and helpful tips:

You can find a summary of the most important points at the end of each chapter, but sometimes you might want the whole explanation. Look for these callouts.

This is what a helpful tip looks like!

9Make Your Own TV Show

What You Do

To start out, you’ll either create your very own TV series or pick one of the example shows provided in the game. Creating a series helps you agree on the kind of stories you want to tell. Action? Romance? Suspense? Old West? Vampires? You decide that when you create the series. Once you have a series, you’ll get together at an agreed-upon time to play out episodes of the show. You’ll probably play for three-to-four hours.

When you play, each person at the table will play a protagonist, one of the starring characters on the show. You get to decide what your protagonist cares about and what actions he or she will take.

One of you won’t play a protagonist and will instead be the producer. If you’re the producer, you help create stressful situations for protagonists that create the basis for each episode. You also get to play all the supporting characters like sidekicks, love interests, old friends and arch enemies.

What You Need

• At least three people, though the game is more fun if you have four or five. It can get a little slow if you have more than five.

• Paper, or copies of the player sheets (you can download them from www.dog-eared-designs.com). You can also use blank or notebook paper in a pinch.

• Pencils. Not pens. You’ll need to erase things from time to time.

• A deck of standard playing cards (take out the jokers).

• 20–30 Poker chips, beads, bobby pins, coins, or some other countable tokens you can use to keep track of fan mail (p. 80) and budget (p. 61).

• A bowl or similar container to hold the Audience Pool (p. 61).


Cooperation & CollaborationWhen you play Primetime Adventures, you want to help the other players as much as possible. If games make you think of competition and winning, it might help to imagine that you’re all on the same team, and what you’re trying to “win” is the admiration and appreciation of your teammates. The characters in the stories may be competing against one another (or worse!), but the players will always be working in cooperation.

Here’s an example of what that cooperation might look like in action. Terry, John, Meredith, Matt and Judd are all playing a series they created called Bootleggers, a 1920s-era family drama.

Judd (the producer) — “I think it’s Meredith’s turn for a scene, right?”

John — “Yeah, that last one was mine, so Meredith should be next.”

Meredith — “Good, so in that last scene Roxy snuck out to go meet her rich friends. I’m not sure where they’re going...”

Terry — “How about a speakeasy? Wasn’t Claire talking about that new one when you were at the cafe?”

Meredith — “Yeah, that’s perfect! At a speakeasy.”

Judd — “Speakeasy it is. How about we begin with you inside somewhere, already holding drinks, listening to the band. Your new friends are still a little standoffish, so you haven’t quite made the impression you’d like.”

(Notice how Judd sometimes refers to Meredith’s protagonist, Roxy, as “you”? It’s pretty common to do that in the game, and just as common for a player to refer to his or her own protagonist as “I.” )

Meredith — “Hmm, well, Roxy had better think of something bold and brash to do. How about if she buys a round of drinks for the whole place?”

Matt (laughing) — “That’s great! She’s already in so much debt!”

11Cooperation & Collaboration

John — “And that gives me a great idea. I’m spending a point of fan mail to have Billy enter the scene. The family knows she’s snuck out, and Billy has come in here on her trail.”

Terry — “So Roxy’s sixteen-year-old brother is going to be the one to catch her in a speakeasy with the friends she’s trying to impress? Oh, that’s beautiful.”

Meredith — “Hey, not if Roxy can help it! You think she can’t outwit her little brother?”

From this example you can see that there’s a lot of sharing of ideas and cooperation going on. Terry and Matt help Meredith come up with a location for her scene, and John thinks of an idea to help create tension. Everyone is eager to hear what the others thave to say, and they build on each other’s ideas.


Basic Rules ConceptsThis next section is a cursory description of the rules for playing Primetime Adventures. You’ll find a more thorough explanation of these rules later on in the book.

Players • Everyone who participates in a game of Primetime Adventures is a player. Every player in the game is responsible for certain elements of the story. Except for the producer (explained below), each player takes control of one main character (a protagonist) and will decide that character’s motivations and decisions. Players can also contribute to the details surrounding minor characters, locations, and other parts of the story. When you read the book and you see references to “players” and “producer,” you can assume that “players” means everyone else who’s not the producer, unless the rules specify otherwise.

Producer • The producer is a player with special responsibilities, sort of like being the banker in Monopoly®, only much more so. The producer acts as a facilitator and mediator in the game, making sure everything goes smoothy. Also, the producer makes choices for all the characters who aren’t protagonists and provides adversity for the characters in the game to respond to.

Characters • Anyone (or anything) that can communicate and make intelligent decisions is a character. Usually that means all the people (human beings) on the show, but sometimes it might include super-intelligent computers, household pets, a car, or even a sponge.

Protagonists • Protagonists are the stars of the show. Not necessarily the “good guys,” they’re nevertheless the characters the audience cares about the most, the ones the audience wants to see happy or victorious or safe. In a sense, this game is about the protagonists more than anything else, so the rules almost always point directly at them.

Episodes • An episode in Primetime Adventures is equivalent to one episode of a TV show. Like the chapters of a book, episodes divide a large story into smaller portions. One episode usually takes one session of play. Each time you and your

In play, each protagonist is controlled by a different player. The producer controls all the supporting characters.

13Basic Rules Concepts

friends sit down to play a game of Primetime Adventures, you’ll create one episode. If you have a big block of time set aside, maybe you’ll play two episodes. You can learn more about episodes in Chapter 3.

Seasons • Seasons are groups of five-to-nine episodes centered around a common situation or problem. You’ll learn more about seasons in Chapter 4.

Scenes • Much like a TV show, a game of Primetime Adventures takes place in scenes, which the players take turns initiating. A scene is a segment of play that asks a question, which usually has to do with a character achieving a larger goal. “Can I improve my friendship with Billy?” “Can I find out who’s funding the terrorists?” “Can I convince Venkata not to quit his job?” Those are the kinds of questions that scenes answer as you play them out.

Story Arcs • Each protagonist has a personal story arc, which tracks the progression of a character’s personal matters from episode to episode. A story arc consists of an issue, which identifies the source of the struggle, and an episode track, which charts out how prominent the issue will be from episode to episode.

Fan Mail • Fan mail is a resource players can spend to help protagonists (theirs or other players’ protagonists) succeed or fail during scene resolution. Players earn fan mail in play by doing things that jazz the other players. Spent fan mail sometimes increases the producer’s budget.

Budget • Budget’s the producer’s way to make dramatic situations more difficult for the protagonists. If you’re the producer, you can spend from the budget to draw more cards during scene resolution. The producer starts with a certain amount of budget and may gain additional budget when players spend fan mail.

Traits • Traits are descriptors that help to define something special about a protagonist. Being a veteran police officer is a trait. So is having a relationship with a police officer. Protagonists have two types of traits: edges and connections. Where edges describe skills or vocation, connections describe important relationships.

Screen Presence • In a show with an ensemble cast, nobody gets the same number of lines or the same amount of dedicated show time. That’s what screen presence is in Primetime Adventures. For each episode, a protagonist’s screen presence will be 1, 2, or 3, letting everyone know who should get more or less attention. Screen presence also influences how well a protagonist will fare during scene resolution.


Introduction Recap:• Primetime Adventures is a game of imagination. It lets you play the TV stories

you always wanted to see.

• Primetime Adventures is a collaborative game. There’s no winning or losing, just doing the best you can with your friends.

• To play, you need at least three people, a deck of cards, paper and pencils, coins or other tokens, and a bowl.

• It usually takes three to four hours to play, but many groups get together every week to continue the story.

15Basic Rules Concepts

Creating a Series

“What would happen in a circumstance where civilization as we know it was literally wiped out,

and you and a bunch of other survivors would gather together? What elements of the existing society would you choose to continue? What are the things that you would leave behind? What are the things you would try

to retain?”

Ronald Moore

Producer, Battlestar Galactica

2

16 Creating a Series

Getting StartedCreating your own series in Primetime Adventures is a lot like starting up a real TV show. One of the players usually has an idea germinate in his or her head and makes a pitch to the other players: “Hey, I have this idea for a game. You want to play in it?”

The others will have various responses: “I don’t know. Can it take place in the 1920s? I like stories about the 1920s.” “Could it be about high school kids? That would be fun.” And that’s how you begin to decide what the game is going to be like. Imagine that you’re in a conference room at some TV studio. Write down ideas on a white board. Brew some coffee. Roll up your sleeves.

How You Create a SeriesHere’s a quick list of the things you’ll need to do. Give yourselves at least an hour to create your show.

1. Pick one player to be the producer (p. 17).

2. Decide what your show is about (p. 20).

3. Create the cast of characters (p. 28).

4. Agree on how to start the series (p. 50).

The producer will guide everyone through the series creation process.

Make sure everyone has a copy of the series creation sheet or some blank paper. Fill it out as you create the series.

TV SERIES Creation Sheet

Premise: What is Your Show About?3 cards premise idea:

Cast List: Who Are the Primary and Supporting Characters?

Protagonist Concept: Phrase and Characteristicsphrase adj + noun (e.g. “angry lawyer”)

appearance

personality

manner of speech

background info

Name:

Setting Conventions Tonehistorical accuracy, politics, focus… network, target demographic, rating…

Common Bond: premise protagonists starring character

17The Producer

The ProducerThe first decision you’ll want to make is who will be the producer of your show. You might have already agreed before meeting for the first time. Sometimes the person who gets everyone to play will say, “Hey, I want to play Primetime Adventures. I’ll be the producer. Who else would like to play?” If that hasn’t happened, decide who the producer is before you do anything else.

What the Producer DoesJust like on a TV series, the producer takes on the responsibility to keep everything running smoothly. That includes:

• Making sure that the players, the people playing the game, are happy. Is everyone getting a chance to contribute? Does everyone like how it’s going?

• Making sure that the characters in the game aren’t too happy. Is the story exciting? Is there conflict and adversity? Are the issues getting enough attention?

The producer’s primary job is to act as facilitator, asking questions of the other players, keeping things moving along and making sure everyone is playing the kind of game that they’d like to play.

The producer ensures that the protagonists can’t easily get what they want, because an episode would be pretty short if they could. To do that, the producer plays supporting characters and the show’s “villains”, giving them purpose that clashes with the protagonists. Although the producer has a fairly broad influence on the game, it tends to be in the form of subtle nudges and pushes. This doesn’t mean that other players won’t be providing plenty of nudges and pushes of their own, but the producer will make sure it happens one way or another.

The producer is also a decision maker, when it’s necessary. Many of the rules leave room for interpretation, and often when ambiguities arise in play, it’s best to resolve them with a group agreement. However, in any case where play starts to

Remember: the producer is a facilitator, not a dictator!


drag, the producer has the authority to make a snap decision and get things rolling. It’s okay to discuss the decision later, but in play, the producer’s ruling counts as a rule.

At times it may be a strong influence, but the producer isn’t the only player whose input is important.

You can learn more about the jobs of the producer and the other players on pages 85–86.

Would I Make a Good Producer?You’ll probably have a good idea of whether the producer’s job is right for you. If you think that it’d be fun to play a lot of parts, to be responsible for keeping the pace, to make sure everyone gets their share of participation, and to come up with responses to great ideas on the fly, then you’d probably like being a producer.

Note that being a producer does not mean that you have to think up all the story ideas, or that you have to spend a lot of time preparing for the game. Not at all! It’s possible to play a game of Primetime Adventures without much preparation at all. Being the producer should be fun, not a homework assignment.

If you think you might want to be the producer but it sounds a little overwhelming, remember that you don’t have to be producer forever. Try it for one episode and see if you like it. If it’s not the right fit for you, see if someone else would like to take over.

The Producer: Bootleggers

Judd says being the producer sounds like fun and he’d like to try it. The group agrees to give Judd a go at it.

19Getting Started

Nobody’s the Boss

Remember: this is a collaborative process. It’s a good idea to show up with a few ideas, but don’t get your heart set on something very specific. No matter who comes up with the first idea, no matter who owns the game and invited everyone to play, no matter whose home you’re in, you’re all working together. Everyone needs to talk about what kind of game they want it to be and hash out a few things.

The producer, as explained on the next page, will help facilitate the process, but that’s not the same thing as being in charge.

That’s one way the game differs from actual TV. Nobody plays the part of a studio executive demanding that the show include a talking poodle.

Getting Started: Bootleggers

Matt, John, Judd, Meredith, and Terry are getting together to start a game of Primetime Adventures. Terry suggested that they play, and they’re over at her house getting ready to create their series.

Do We Have to Create a Series?

If you don’t have a lot of time and just want to start playing an episode, take a look at the example shows on pages 112–115. You can choose any of them as your series and start playing right away. If none of you has ever played Primetime Adventures before, the example series make a great introduction to the game.


The ConceptWhen you create the show itself, you need to agree on three basic elements that make up the concept:

• The Premise: what is the show about?

• The Tone: what are the mood and feel of the show?

• The Soap: what happens on the show that creates drama?

Combine these three elements, and you’ll have the formula for your show, allowing you to create a suitable cast of characters and plenty of problems to make interesting episodes.

The PremiseEvery show is about something. You should be able to explain it in a brief sentence. Are the characters FBI agents uncovering an alien conspiracy? Are they the crew of a spaceship, transporting illegal goods around the galaxy? Are they 1920s gangsters running booze across the border? That’s the premise of a show.

Deciding on a Premise

Everyone decides on the show’s premise together. Make sure you speak your mind. This game should involve things that you want. It might not be everything you wanted, but you should expect some degree of compromise between you and the other players.

It’s easy for show creation to wander off track. Make sure everyone contributes and nobody over-contributes. If anyone’s being quiet, ask them what they’re thinking, how they like what everyone else is saying. Don’t let the loudest voices control the conversation.

“I was just sort of joking that if Felicity were recruited by the CIA,

you would suddenly have this wealth of stories you could do, and though I knew you could never do that on Felicity, it occurred to me

that it could be another show.”

JJ Abrams Producer, Felicity and Alias

21The Concept

Can Our Premise Be a Show that Already Exists?

Of course! You can create whatever kind of show you want. If you want to play episodes of Gossip Girl that take place between the existing episodes, do it! If you want a series about what happens to Hermione after the last Harry Potter book, do it! If you want play Lost, but it’s the way you would have done the show, do it! If you want a show that’s about the younger days of the janitor on Scrubs, do it! Your show can be about anything that sounds fun.

Stuck on a Premise?

Sometimes a show idea will hit the table, and everyone will immediately be on board with it. That’s not always the case, and you don’t want to spend the whole time struggling to come up with an idea. You want to tell stories and have fun!

So, if ten minutes go by and you haven’t been able to agree on anything, have the producer pull out a deck of cards and do this:

• The producer deals out two cards, face up, for everyone playing the game (that includes the producer).

• Look up the card on the table on page 23 for the card’s meaning.

• Give everyone a minute or two to write down a few ideas that combine three of the cards into a premise.

Make sure to use the cards as prompts or inspiration rather than law. If you draw the Jack of Diamonds (Prohibition), for example, that might mean that specific time in the United States when alcohol was made illegal, or it could mean some other period of restrictions or oppression.

Think of how all the cards work together rather than looking at them individually. “Near Future,” “Prohibition” and “Dystopia” might inspire a series based on The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, where a totalitarian theocracy has taken over the United States, fertility is a commodity and women’s rights are severely limited. “Workplace,” “City” and “Soap Opera” might get you a series like Ugly Betty.

If you want examples of a show’s premise, check out the one-sentence summaries for TV shows at www.imdb.com. Look up a show you like and see how it’s summarized.


Premise: Bootleggers

Matt, John, Judd, Meredith, and Terry aren’t getting anywhere with a show idea, so Judd grabs a deck of cards and deals out 2 cards for each of them:

• • • • • • • • • •Farm, Hospital, Prohibition, Mystery, Family, Business, City, War, Sports, Suburb.

Judd asks everyone to write down some ideas, and they all like Terry’s the best. It combines Prohibition, Family and Business, for a show about a family involved in the business of bringing illegal liquor across the border from Canada.

Setting Conventions

Every show has a setting, which includes a place and time. The Wild West, Paris in the early 1600s or a space station in the future: these are all settings. Every setting also has conventions or standards commonly associated with it. Tales of the Wild West, for example, often focus on the establishment of law and order.

Once you decide on a premise, you need to discuss the setting and its conventions. Make sure you agree on what they are, and talk about which ones you like and don’t like. Take a little time to think about what matters to you. Don’t worry about minutia, but get a good idea in your head about the big things. What’s happening in that place and time that you do or don’t want to confront in your stories?


Premise: What is Your Show About?

3 cards premise idea:


Protagonist Concept: Phrase and Characteristics

phrase adj + noun (e.g. “angry lawyer”)

appearance

personality

manner of speech

background info

Name:

Setting Conventions Tone

historical accuracy, politics, focus… network, target demographic, rating…


Prohibition

family

business

a family of bootleggers in the 1920s, maybe forced into it

for financial reasons? Right after the war?

23The Concept

• Court

• Hospital

• Police/Agents

• Factory

• Prison

• Hotel

• Mansion

• Business

• Farm

• Boat / Ship

• School

• Restaurant

• Church

• Supernatural

• Aliens

• Middle Ages

• Last Century

• War

• Marriage

• Small Town

• Near Future

• Animated

• Time Travel

• Prohibition

• Antiquity

• Far Future

• Love

• Revenge

• Family

• Justice

• Identity

• Mystery

• Honor

• Duty

• Sex

• Power

• Politics

• Prejudice

• Religion

• Music

• Crime

• President

• City

• Workplace

• Dance

• Sports

• Hunters

• Secret

• Suburb

• Dystopia

• Angels

• Friends


If it’s a modern day series, which contemporary issues are too sensitive? Which ones do you want to highlight? What about the present day interests you? Is it the struggle of everyday people trying to get by? Is it the lifestyles of the fabulously rich? Is it people trying to make a difference in the world?

If your show takes place in some other historical period, you have to answer those questions plus a few more. How historically accurate do you want it to be? The series Rome is fairly accurate. Xena: Warrior Princess is not. You need to set everyone’s expectations.

If your series takes place in a completely fictional setting, perhaps something inspired by Star Trek or The Chronicles of Narnia, you’ll have to agree on which real-world elements you want to address in the setting and which fantasy elements you want to add.

Just as important is to make clear what you don’t want to address in the game. Maybe, if it’s a Wild West series, you’re worried about how Native Americans will be portrayed. If there’s something that would ruin the fun for you, make sure everyone else knows what that is.

Setting Conventions: Bootleggers

John also wants the race issues of the time handled with some sensitivity. Meredith wants to make sure that any violence on the show isn’t gratuitous, so that it conveys the brutality of organized crime during Prohibition.

Meredith remembers the 2 of clubs, which says “hospital.” It gets her thinking. If their show takes place after the war, there may be a lot of returning wounded. How were wounded veterans treated in the 1920s? That might be an interesting topic to explore as they play.

25The Concept

ToneTwo TV shows with similar premises and settings won’t necessarily be that much alike. Compare Gilligan’s Island and Lost! Numerous elements can differentiate them. Is the mood of the show upbeat and fun, or dark and brooding? Can characters accomplish impossible feats, or are they constrained by an attempt at realism? If they have extraordinary abilities, are they the only ones? Are there loads of witticisms being made? If it really were a show, how would it be filmed? Would the music be lively or moody?

All that stuff is the show’s tone. You might not know all the answers at first, but you should at least think of a few ideas before you get too far. The more you clarify the tone, the easier it becomes to play the game. It’s especially important to agree on the show’s tone in order for the players to create appropriate issues for their protagonists. If every protagonist has a deep, brooding issue that provides insight into the human mind, except for one, who has an issue that’s shallow and comical, play might feel a little awkward.

It will help to answer a few questions about tone if you think about which channel the show is on, and in which time slot. The broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) abide by different regulations than the premium ones (HBO, Showtime), and different networks cater to different tastes and expectations. What you see at 8:00 PM Wednesday night on ABC is going to be drastically different than what you see at 11:00 PM on the SyFy Channel or at 2:00 PM on Lifetime.

If you imagine your show airing on a major broadcast or cable network in the United States, you might think about which of the TV Parental Guidelines ratings (see the next page) applies to it.

Tone: Bootleggers

Bootleggers is going to be a pretty serious drama. It may have occasional light-hearted moments, but overall it’s going to be about troubled family relationships. The show will be about everyday people; there’s no fantastic elements involved, no big effects budget. The group agrees that Bootleggers will contain content appropriate for network television. They’re playing at Judd’s house, and his children may be in the room, so he doesn’t want there to be any rough language. It would probably be rated TV 14.


United States TV Parental Guidelines

All Children. Designed to be appropriate for all children, especially ages 2–6.

Directed to Older Children. Designed for children ages 7 and older, especially those who can tell the difference between reality and make believe.

Directed to Older Children – Fantasy Violence. If your show regularly includes elements of fantasy violence, it would get this rating.

General Audiences. Appropriate for all ages but not necessarily targeted at children. Cooking shows and game shows often receive this rating.

Parental Guidance Suggested. Many shows that air in the primetime slots get this rating, especially sitcoms like Scrubs or reality shows like The Voice.

Parents Strongly Cautioned. These shows often include strong language, violence or sexual situations. Grey’s Anatomy and Mad Men receive this rating.

Intended for Mature Audiences. These shows contain explicit sexual or violent content. South Park and Justified have this rating.

27The Concept

The SoapThe last element of a good TV drama is “soap”, which is a TV industry term that refers to the tangle of relationships and personal drama for the main characters on the show. Everyone wants something, TV or not, but the thing that drives TV drama is when the characters don’t get what they want.

For any drama on TV, the characters’ unfulfilled needs play a big part in getting you to tune in week after week. Bradley loves Caitlin, but darn it she can’t just up and leave the plantation while her father is in debt to that vampire! Maybe next week he can find a way to convince her! Stuff like that.

You create the soap for your show in the next step, which is creating a vibrant cast of characters with complex problems and interconnected relationships.


The CastYour series needs a cast of characters. The cast includes the protagonists and all the supporting characters. Remember: each player controls a protagonist, and the producer controls all the supporting characters.

Making a Cast ListNow that you have a good grasp of what your series is going to be, you need to fill it with appropriate characters. You may already have a few ideas in mind at this point, and that’s okay, but for just a little while you’ll need to step back a bit and think about the big picture.

The producer will give everyone a few minutes to write down a list of the characters you might see on your show. Doesn’t matter if it’s an important recurring role or an extra you see once. Who might you see on the screen if you were watching the show? The list doesn’t need to be exhaustive. Try and jot down at least a dozen different concepts. Then just like you did with the premise, everyone will share their ideas and the producer will make a composite list.

If your premise already identifies character concepts – such as police detectives – then start with those characters and work your way outward. Who would police detectives associate with? Who would their friends and family be? Where would their jobs take them?

Everyone should keep in mind that this step is not about making your specific character. Don‘t get too attached to one during this step, because you’ll probably contribute less to the overall cast.

Once you have a list, then you can decide which ones would make good protagonists. As I said above, you might already have an idea, but this helps to make sure a) that everyone can come up with an idea, b) that the producer has an easy time filling in secondary characters, and c) that everyone doesn’t want to play the same character.

29The Cast

Cast List: Bootleggers

The premise of Bootleggers is that it’s about a family. Judd asks everyone to write some ideas down, starting with family members and working out from there. This is what their list looks like:

That’s a pretty good start. Now they need to decide who the protagonists will be, and who’s going to play which protagonist.

The Cast of an Existing Show

It’s worth listing the cast of your show even if it’s currently airing on TV. For one thing, it prompts discussion. “I wish that character were in more episodes.” “Yeah, we should do that in ours.” For another, it helps everyone remember who all the minor characters are. “Chandler’s mom was on the show?” “Yeah, she was played by Morgan Fairchild, remember?” Maybe you’ll come up with some ideas you wouldn’t have without the list.







appearance

personality

manner of speech

background info

Name:

Setting Conventions Tonehistorical accuracy, politics, focus… network, target demographic, rating…


Father

Mother

Older son

Younger son

Daughter

Gangsters

Police officers

Family friends

Teachers, if the kids are still in schoolLove interests

cousins

grandparents

Speakeasy ownersBusiness rivals

Townspeople (general store, mechanic, bank)Neighbors

Me?


ProtagonistsExcept for the producer, everyone in the game controls the actions of one protagonist each. From your cast list, you need to come up with a character for each player whose story is worth telling in detail. Just like you’ve done so far with the creation of the series, you create protagonists as a group.

It’s likely enough that by this point at least one person has thought, I know what kind of character I want my protagonist to be. That’s okay, as long as you remain open to suggestions and remain considerate of what everyone else wants. Don’t fill in every detail by yourself. Your friends will probably surprise you with good ideas that make your protagonist more fun to play.

The Common BondWhen you choose who the protagonists are, think about why they’re the starring characters. Sure, you can come up with a good story for just about anyone, but why did you choose the ones you did? How are they all connected? That’s their common bond. It gives you all a way to make each episode about something.

The protagonists’ common bond can come from the premise. This kind of bond makes it more likely that episodes will involve a larger plot that the protagonists are all part of. If the show is a law drama (like Suits), the protagonists would probably be part of the same law office. An episode might be about a case they’re all working on.

The protagonist’s common bond can come from the protagonists themselves. It means they’re all family (Everybody Loves Raymond) or old friends (Sex and the City). The stories that bring them together have to do with those relationships, their shared past, or promises they made. They could also be connected through a mutual relationship with a third party who is not actually a protagonist.

The protagonist’s common bond can come from a starring character. It assumes that one protagonist is the actual star of the show, and the other protagonists are all connected because they’re part of that character’s life. On this kind of show

31Protagonists

(such as Ugly Betty), the central plot usually revolves around the starring character, and the other protagonists will have stories of their own.

Having a starring character doesn’t mean one protagonist is going to get more attention than everyone else. It just means that one person’s story defines the show more than the others.

Common Bond: Bootleggers

Matt, John, Judd, Meredith, and Terry agree that the show doesn’t feel like it would have a starring character, but it does feel like it’s driven by a family bond moreso than the adventures they’ll have running booze across the border.


Protagonist ConceptBy this point, if you don’t already have a protagonist in mind, pick someone from the list. Talk to the others about how that character would fit into the common bond you all agreed on.

Your initial protagonist concept ought to be a short phrase. Take the description from the cast list and add an adjective. “Neighbor” becomes “grumpy neighbor.” “Receptionist” becomes “snooty receptionist.” If you’ve already thought of something more complex for your protagonist, that’s fine, but see if you can simplify it for the moment.

Protagonists in Primetime Adventures are imperfect. They have interests and needs that often conflict with the goals of the group. They may be competent and even heroic, but their personal matters are going to interfere from time to time, and as you play the game you’ll find out how those matters do or don’t mess their lives up.

Also keep in mind that this is supposed to model a TV show, and the protagonists need to make sense being on the same show together. If it’s a “cop” show, it would be boring – and kind of pathetic – for every cop to be a maverick who doesn’t play by the rules and disrespects authority. Personality, motivation and background all matter as much as the skills of the protagonist, and they should be weighed carefully by the whole group. Your show needs characters who are interesting and have personal interactions that are worth watching every week. Who in the cast is going to get along with the others, and how well? Do some protagonists have a history together? Is there any political or sexual tension between any protagonists?

All the players including the producer should create the protagonists as a group. Some games encourage group character creation, but in Primetime Adventures, it’s a must. Don’t let the more outspoken players dominate this step. It can be really easy to get excited about an idea and drown out everyone else. Make sure everyone’s had the opportunity to share some ideas.

After everyone comes up with a concept, you should jot down some notes about your protagonist: general appearance, personality, manner of speech, some background information, and so on. Maybe even draw a picture!

33Protagonists

There’s no need to write a detailed biography of your protagonist, although you can if you like. For now, it’s sufficient to concentrate on broad strokes, things that will make the protagonist distinctive, interesting, and above all, full of fuel for storytelling later on. Why commit to an idea in the bio at the beginning of the series when you might come up with better ideas during the show? In fact, on many TV shows even the studio knows little about the characters at the start.

Don’t forget to name your protagonist!

Bootleggers: Protagonist Concepts

The protagonists of the show will all be members of a family: a widowed father and three children.

Terry is playing James, the father. He’s a gruff, detached man, the head of the business. He’s in his late 40s, and somewhat weathered looking.

Matt is playing Robert, the older son, who was a decorated hero in the war. He’s in his early 20s, quiet and serious like his father.

Meredith is playing the daughter, Roxy, who’s something of a would-be socialite. She’s about 19 or 20.

John is playing William, or Billy, the younger son, who is jealous of his hero brother and wants his father’s respect. He’s 16 and a troublemaker.


Story ArcIt used to be the case that characters on a TV show would basically stay the same episode after episode, year after year, and with a lot of shows — especially sitcoms — it’s still true. Someone might get a new job, or a character might change their hairstyle, but they tend to have the same wants, same failings, same tendency to make terrible mistakes. Some shows are even predicated on the necessity that protagonists don’t change. Imagine Everybody Loves Raymond if Ray started making smart decisions and didn’t let his parents influence his behavior so much.

But in the shows that Primetime Adventures emulates best, characters change over time. Sometimes they grow, and sometimes the change isn’t so positive. But as the series goes on, it’s obvious that — usually — they aren’t the same people we were introduced to in the first episode. I say usually because in some cases, characters face an opportunity to grow, and then they don’t! The important thing is that the show sets up that opportunity. Here’s how to do that with protagonists in your series:

Each protagonist has a story arc. It tracks his or her personal struggles over the course of a season, and it helps to divide appropriate amounts of attention between protagonists from episode to episode. By creating your protagonist’s story arc, you have an opportunity to choose the direction your character takes, and to influence the direction of the show as a whole.

To complete a protagonist’s story arc, you need to do two things: 1) decide on the character’s issue, and 2) assign his or her screen presence for each episode in the season.

PROTAGONIST Reference Sheet

Screen Presence — EPISODE —

Name: Played by:

concept

appearance

personality

manner of speech

background info

Issue

Impulse

EdgesConnections

draw your protagonist here if you like

— R

ATIN

G —

screen presence this ep.+trait

+trait

+trait

+fan mail spent

total cards:

Deal the Cards!How many cards do you get?

Fan Mail

helpful reminders• Count up and compare your red cards (diamonds and hearts) to the producer’s.• Your current screen presence is how many times you can use each trait per episode.• Refresh a trait by having a scene on your personal set.• If you spend fan mail to get extra cards, set them slightly apart. Red fan mail cards earn the producer 1 budget.

Personal Set

Now is a good time to start filling out the protagonist reference sheet. Copy over the concept and descriptive info.

35Story Arc

The Issue A protagonist’s issue is his or her most defining characteristic. It is that against which the character struggles the most. Much more than a character flaw, the issue is insight into how the protagonist behaves, and how that protagonist thinks about him- or herself. Through issues players have an opportunity to see the complexity of a protagonist that might otherwise stay hidden beneath the surface.

Choosing an issue is about maximizing your opportunity to explore something meaningful to you, and that applies to all the choices you make in creating the protagonists. You and your friends all want the TV show you create to be exciting, and that often means choosing an issue that could sometimes make the protagonist seem vulnerable or even incompetent.

What the Issue Does

Imagine a character on a show you like making a poor decision. In Primetime Adventures terms, that’s the issue talking. Grief, for example, might make you lash out at your friends. A lack of self-esteem might make you hesitate. A history of betrayal will make it hard for you to trust people when you need to. A protagonist’s issue, then, will manifest as an impulse toward behavior that isn’t in his or her best interests.

Choosing Your Issue and Impulse

The producer will ask everyone to take a couple minutes and think about an issue for their protagonists, and then to write down a couple ideas for impulses, ways the issue might manifest in irrational behavior. If anyone’s having some trouble, ask for suggestions from the other players. Think of it like this: your issue is internal, how you relate to yourself, and the impulses are external, how you relate to others.

“I’m not a violent man, Annie.”

“Everyone’s violent, given the chance.”

Sam and Annalise

How to Get Away With Murder


Issue Examples

Here are six pretty broad and common issues to consider when choosing one for your protagonist:

Anger • Some protagonists are just plain angry, but to make your protagonist your own, come up with a reason why. Maybe the protagonist has seen too much of the hard side of life, or maybe it’s one of the stages of grief. — Elizabeth on The Americans, Raylan on Justified, Annalise on How to Get Away with Murder

Anxiety • Life is about as easy to control as the weather, and a protagonist with anxiety as an issue is dealing with something big and stressful in addition to the main content of your series. If your character has a family, maybe she’s worried about her job security. Fitz on Agents of Shield, Marc on Ugly Betty, Louis Litt on Suits.

Doubt • Doubt is similar to anxiety, but it’s something in the character’s control that he or she can’t decide on. Maybe your protagonist’s marriage is struggling, or your protagonist has become disillusioned with a prior cause. Philip on The Americans, Mal on Firefly, Sarah on Parenthood.

Guilt • Guilt might be specific, or it might be something that the protagonist tends to feel all the time, about everything. Is the guilt deserved? You might decide that as you play. Stephan on The Vampire Diaries, Xiomara on Jane the Virgin, King Francis on Reign.

Grief • A heavy loss can sometimes change a person, and it can definitely provoke irrational behavior. Is your protagonist grieving over the death of a loved one, or struggling with a really hard breakup/divorce. Buffy in Season 6 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Elena on The Vampire Diaries.

Self-Criticism • This might be the broadest issue of all the examples, and you can color it a lot of different ways. Chances are, if you come up with your own issue, it might very well stem from problems with the protagonist’s self-esteem. In general, your protagonist would have serious doubts about his or her abilities or talents. Evan on Royal Pains, Crosby on Parenthood.

37Story Arc

Impulse ideas

When your issue gets the best of you, your impulse might make you:

Abrasive, aggressive, childish, closed-off, compulsive, controlling, cruel, dishonest, disloyal, impulsive, jealous,

manipulative, reckless, ruthless, self-destructive, suspicious, timid, unsupportive, weak-willed.

These are just a few examples. Choose or create an issue and impulse that hit home for you.

Can Two Protagonists Have the Same Issue?

The short answer is, “Issues: yes. Impulses: no.” The longer answer is you want the characters on your show to be believable and interesting. If your show is a teen drama, it’d be hard not to have more than one protagonist who’s insecure, so that’s believable. But people don’t all act out their insecurity in the same way. That would make the show kind of boring.

Bootleggers: Protagonist Issues

James’ issue, says Terry, is his inability to come to terms with the death of his wife. It makes him prone to angry outbursts and tantrums.

Robert’s issue is survivor’s guilt. He’s come home a hero, but he saw so many others die. It provokes self-destructive behavior as he tries to create the environment he thinks he deserves.

Roxy is ashamed of her family’s social status, and she’s prepared to do anything to rise above it. She can be cruel and manipulative.

Billy’s issue is “something to prove”. His mother is gone, and his grieving father tends to ignore him. His brother is a big-time war hero, and his sister is working her way into high society. His determination to be important and win everyone’s approval can provoke him into taking unnecessary risks.


Screen PresenceScreen presence is the second part of a protagonist’s story arc. Over the course of a television season, a protagonist’s story will receive varying amounts of attention. In some episodes, a protagonist will play a prominent role, while in others, he or she will be secondary or even tertiary to other protagonists. That level of story importance is measured by the protagonist’s screen presence. In any given episode, it will be a 1, a 2, or a 3.

If it’s a 3… the protagonist is the center of attention. It’s the protagonist’s spotlight episode. Each protagonist has only one spotlight episode per season, where the elements of that protagonist’s story all come together and we might see the seeds of change. The player of a spotlight protagonist has more influence over the outcome of events.

If it’s a 2… the protagonist plays a secondary role, and the player’s control over scene resolution is reduced.

If it’s a 1… the protagonist plays a minor role, and will have a small amount of influence on scenes.

1 2 3 4 5

Episodes

Scre

en P

rese

nce

1

2

3protagonist hasa prominent role

pilot / season premiere

season finale

protagonist is most important character

protagonist hasa minor role

39Story Arc

How Long Is Your Season?

In the real world, a television series begins as a pilot, a sort of test episode that lets the studio evaluate the series and see if it’s worth airing. If the pilot meets approval, the studio will approve the budget for a batch of episodes, commonly called a season (although in the UK they call it a series, which might be a bit confusing). Most seasons in the United States are 12–22 episodes long. In Primetime Adventures, your season will also include a pilot and a season of episodes, either 5 or 9 episodes in total. Which option you pick will depend on the time you have to play.

5 episode season • Ideal for up to 5 players in the group, with enough time to explore a few important topics. Shows that focus almost exclusively on character drama do well in five-episode seasons. If it’s your first time playing I suggest using this option.

9 episode season • Better if you have more than 5 players in the group so you can make sure each protagonist has time for character development. If you want your series to include complex ongoing plots (like 24), you might choose a nine-episode season.

Assigning Screen Presence

For the pilot episode of your series, everyone has a screen presence of 2. You’re introducing all the protagonists equally; nobody has a spotlight, and nobody is in the background.

For the rest of the season, assign your screen presence like so:

• If it’s a 5-episode season, choose one more episode at screen presence 2, two episodes with screen presence at 1, and one episode at 3.

• If it’s a 9-episode season, choose three more episodes at screen presence 2, four episodes with screen presence at 1, and one episode at 3.

In the case that two protagonists have their spotlight on the same episode, that episode should be extraordinarily dramatic, maybe a two-part cliffhanger. No more than two protagonists can have their spotlight on the same episode, though. The

Remember that you have to assign every protagonist a 2 for the pilot episode!


spotlight episode also cannot be the pilot or the first episode of a season. The show needs time to introduce protagonists to the audience.

Something to remember about issues and the story arc is that they won’t develop the protagonist for you. In order to get any kind of value out of the story arc, you and the other players have to think about who the protagonist is, and where he or she could go.

Bootleggers: Screen Presence

The group all work together to create story arcs that work well with everyone else’s. Billy’s issue, for example, has a lot to do with his relationship with both his brother and father, while Roxy’s is less tied to the others. They agree that since Billy’s is the most connected to the rest of them that his spotlight would be excellent for the season finale.

Billy’s story arc has a slow buildup: 2 - 1 - 1 - 2 - 3.

Roxy’s and James’ issues are both related to the death of Roxy’s mother, and they entertain the idea of having their spotlights on the same episode. Instead, they decide to make them one after the other, with Roxy’s coming first, followed by James’.

Their story arcs look like this: Roxy 2 - 2 - 3 - 1 - 1, James 2 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 1. James’ screen presence is secondary on both Roxy’s and Billy’s spotlights, since he has some connection with both of their issues.

Robert’s issue is more isolated, since it has to do with things that happened while he was away in the war. They decide that it would be better to address it early on, and have the rest of the season keep track of his progress. His story arc looks like this: 2 - 3 - 1 - 1 - 2. John thinks Robert should be at a 2 for Billy’s spotlight, since Billy’s issue has to do with his jealousy of Robert, and that could easily trigger emotions in Robert.

41Traits

TraitsTraits define what’s special about a protagonist. Some protagonists are known for their strength, some for their skills, and some for their pets. You create traits that apply to the kind of protagonist you want to play. Some examples are included on the next page.

Traits aren’t rated by scores; protagonists either have them or they don’t. Traits may be as broad or as narrow as you like, but the other players will have to approve them. For example, “communes with the spirits” may be an acceptable trait for a show that directly involves the supernatural, but it may not fit well in a gritty detective drama.

Using Traits in the GameDuring an episode, you can use your traits to get extra cards, improving the chances for your protagonist to influence the outcome of a scene.

Kinds of TraitsProtagonists have two types of traits, detailed on the following pages: edges, which are what you can do, and connections, which are important relationships.

Choosing TraitsCreate traits for the protagonists as a group. It’s much easier to come up with good ideas if you have a little help. Don’t hesitate to write down your own ideas first if you have any.

For each protagonist, first create one edge and one connection. Then create one more that can be of either type.


EdgesEdges are a kind of package of abilities, which can include skill, privilege, knowledge, and networking. Contrary to the name, edges can also include flaws or weaknesses. They’re best presented with a story behind them, something that makes the character distinctive. For example, instead of “strong,” try something like “bodybuilder.” The latter implies a membership at a gym, subscriptions to related magazines, and a circle of fellow enthusiasts.

Example Edges

Retired Intelligence Agent • This protagonist will be skilled in the use of spy gadgets and will retain vast numbers of contacts on all different sides. He or she is current on international politics, can speak several languages and stay cool under stress. As for obligations, well, who knows when he or she might be pulled back in? The retired agent is probably still being watched.

Parent • It’s surprising, the things a person learns by being a parent. This protagonist is good at serious multitasking, making it on very little sleep, and being authoritative yet affectionate. He or she will have a circle of friends that seems at times to be exclusively made up of other parents of children the same age.

Control Freak • This protagonist has a knack for maintaining order, whether or not it’s something everyone else wants. He or she has amazing organizational skills and can be very clever when it comes to manipulation. All other fears tend to be dwarfed by the fear of losing control, so the control freak sometimes appears to be brave.

Student Athlete • The student athlete enjoyed a full college scholarship thanks to his or her athletic prowess. This protagonist will still be in great shape and be able to endure a strenuous schedule, sometimes with little sleep. He or she can find focus under severe pressure and can pull off a few impressive physical feats. The student athlete may be recognized from time to time with a warm reception.

“Where’d you learn how to do that, miss?”

“I just do it, that’s all. My daddy says I got natural talent.”

“I’ll say you do at that.”

Mal and Kaylee

Firefly

43Traits

Activist • The activist believes in a cause, enough so that he or she suffers for it. This protagonist will know how to incite others to act, how to research information, and how to remain determined in the face of adversity. The activist will have some skill in persuasion, and will have many contacts to call upon, though their interest in supporting the activist may not stretch far beyond their common cause.

Edges: Bootleggers

Meredith comes up with “Flapper” as one of Roxy’s edges. As a would-be socialite, she knows the cool clubs, the passwords to get in, and how to draw positive attention to herself while she’s there.

Wil chooses “War hero” as one of Robert’s edges. He really is a capable soldier, level headed and brave in the face of danger. It also benefits him publicly, as his story’s made the newspapers. Law-abiding citizens extend him courtesy and respect, while gangsters know not to mess with him.

John creates an edge called “Delinquent” for Billy. It helps him to do petty crimes, skip school and similar things. It’s also useful in disappointing his father, living up to what he assumes James’ opinion of him is.


ConnectionsCharacters on a TV show have relationships with other people on the show, and those relationships often have a significant effect on the things that happen. Your protagonist might have a best friend, or an ex-lover, or an ever-present-yet-annoying neighbor, and how he or she feels about them will influence the protagonist’s decisions. It will even influence how those decisions turn out. These relationships are referred to in Primetime Adventures as connections.

While edges can be used to arrange contacts and find allies when a protagonist is in need, connections use the reverse approach. These characters are permanent – or at least semi-permanent – supporting cast members on the show, and will make regular appearances.

Just like edges, connections should be chosen for maximum storyline potential. Look at the protagonist’s issue for guidance. Is the protagonist prone to anger? Come up with a connection who provokes that anger or who is easily hurt by it. If the protagonist is trying to escape his or her past, choose a connection with ties to that past. The more you have that leads you and the other players toward your protagonist’s issue, the better your play experience is going to be.

When your connections take part in a scene, the producer will choose their dialogue and actions.

When you’re thinking about connections, look at the cast list you made earlier. Which characters weren’t picked as protagonists? They might make great connections.

“I turned your wife into a vampire. You must really hate me for that

one.”

“Okay, give me your glass. Neither one of us is drunk enough for this

conversation.”

Damon and Alaric The Vampire Diaries

45Traits

Example Connections

Dorothy, the protagonist’s mother • Dorothy is both wealthy and controlling. She has resources that can help the protagonist out of quite a few situations, but everything comes with strings attached.

Doc, the protagonist’s coach • Doc is caring and supportive and dependable, but he also pushes the protagonist really hard because he wants to win!

Jeff • Jeff is the protagonist’s best friend, charming but rebellious. He can talk his way into and out of just about any situation, but he also tempts the protagonist into trouble.

Trish • Trish is a lawyer at the protagonist’s law firm. She’s an expert on a number of subjects, but she’s also fiercely competitive and knows how to push the protagonist’s buttons.

Connections: Bootleggers

One of Robert’s connections is Sarah, his high-school sweetheart. She married someone else while he was off in the war, and he still carries a torch for her. Sarah herself seems to be conflicted about it, which makes things all the harder for Robert, who wants to do the right thing.

James has a connection named Joe, a friend of his since childhood who’s on the police force. Joe tends to look the other way with regard to James’ criminal involvement, but he has limits. He seems to be the only one at the moment who can get James to open up even the slightest bit.

Roxy has a connection named Claire, the daughter of a shipping magnate, whom Roxy is working very hard to impress. Claire has some degree of fame and influence via her father, and hasn’t made up her mind about Roxy yet.

Good connections are complicated. A helpful but reluctant ally can make things more interesting.


NemesisMany great TV shows have a nemesis, someone whose goal is to make life miserable for one or more of the characters. He or she shows up now and then and causes all sorts of problems.

Players have the option of creating a nemesis for the show. There’s no advantage or disadvantage, other than providing an opportunity to create part of the story.

This character may be central enough to the story that he or she counts as a starring character. Sue Sylvester on Glee, for example. Or the nemesis might show up on occasion as a recurring guest villain, like Klaus on The Vampire Diaries.

Protagonist as NemesisOne of the protagonists could easily be the show’s nemesis. Having the nemesis be a complex character with a well-developed issue can make the conflict and drama on the show really engaging. Victoria Grayson on Revenge would probably make a good nemesis/protagonist, while Conrad Grayson is somewhat more one-dimensional.

If a protagonist’s issue leads him or her to a really dark place, that’s a good way to become a nemesis.

Nemesis as a Supporting CharacterA nemesis played by the producer gets one edge or connection that the producer can use during the game in the same way that protagonists use traits.

“I will not stop until you’re fired and your little glee club is annihilated

into oblivion.”

Sue Sylvester Glee

Two protagonists at odds aren’t necessarily nemeses to each other. Boyd and Raylan on Justified tend to clash, but they aren’t necessarily committed to one another’s ill fortune.

47Nemesis

Nemeses from TV ShowsKlaus, The Vampire Diaries • A vampire who can’t be killed by any normal means, Klaus really makes life complicated when he wants to harvest Elena’s blood to create werewolf-vampire hybrids.

Daniel Hardman, Suits • One of the original founding partners, Daniel returns with manipulative plans to regain control of the firm.

William Rawls, The Wire • This guy makes me mad just thinking about him. His sole concern for his career often leaves Lieutenant Daniels and his team in a tough position.

Bootleggers: Nemeses

John wants Billy to have a nemesis who’s a rich bully around the same age. Meredith suggests that he be the younger brother of Claire, one of Roxy’s connections.

Meredith prefers that Roxy not have a nemesis this season, focusing instead on her relationships with friends and family.

James’ nemesis is another bootlegger who’s competing for territory in Milwaukee.


SetsWhile the scenes of the show aren’t limited to pre-defined sets, it can be useful for the group to agree upon certain locations where things can take place. In play, sets help frame a scene and give the group a foundation to work from. Over time, sets accumulate details that players can use during the game to enhance that sort of “immersed” feeling and develop continuity.

For example. in season 2 of Gilmore Girls, Luke makes Lorelai a chuppah for a wedding that she doesn’t go through with, but in later seasons you can still see it sitting out in her yard. The nice thing about it is that it might trigger memories for the fans who have seen multiple seasons of the show. Hey, that’s right, he built that for her, and didn’t they almost get together? I wonder if they’re ever going to hook up...

The producer will ask everyone to write down a few ideas for sets and locations where scenes would frequently take place.

Personal SetLocations on TV shows are often closely tied to a specific character. The set might be a character’s office, or home, or it might be a favorite hangout. It might even be a place in the character’s imagination. In Primetime Adventures, protagonists have personal sets, which help the protagonist to develop into a more complex character. Creating a scene that takes place on a protagonist’s personal set allows that player to re-use a trait that had previously been used during the episode.

Personal sets can also be shared by one or more — even all — of the protagonists. The whole point is to create an environment that gives the audience cues about something important going on. When a player brings in the personal set, everyone else in the game goes, oh, we need to focus on character development now.

For a teenage protagonist, their personal set will most likely be their bedroom.

49Sets

Example Personal Sets

Lorelai’s Kitchen • On Gilmore Girls, When Rory and Lorelai get together to talk about important things, it’s usually in the kitchen at the table, with an assortment of unhealthy food.

Harvey Specter’s Office • On Suits, we don’t see much of the characters’ homes. When something complicated or personal happens, it usually happens in Harvey’s office, such as when Louis Litt asks Harvey for a complicated favor and says he’s calling in a chit.

Personal Sets: Bootleggers

Robert and Roxy both have their bedroom for their personal sets. Roxy writes in her diary and James thinks about the war.

Billy’s personal set is a treehouse.

James’ personal set is the barn on the family farm, which is now used for storage and distribution of illegal booze. He goes out there to be alone.


The BeginningAt this point you’ll have almost everything you need in order to create your first episode. You just need to know how it starts. For that, you will need:

1. The event or situation that starts off the series.

2. Some organized backstory so you understand what’s happening when the series begins

The EventMost TV series begin with a change in the characters’ lives. They’ve moved to a new place, they’ve just lost something or someone important, or they’ve found something new. Whatever it is that starts your series, it should signify a beginning for the protagonists as well as the show itself. If the series is about superheroes, the beginning might explore how they acquire their super powers. If it’s about police officers, maybe it’s their first day on the job.

How will your series begin?

The Lead-InWhen you start an episode, you’ll have material from the previous episodes to give you some idea what to do next. For the pilot episode, you will need to agree on some stuff that’s just happened to help you get going. When you start the game, the producer will provide a quick “teaser” that draws from this information.

51The Beginning

The Beginning: Bootleggers

The group toss around some ideas for a beginning, and after looking up some information, John suggests that they start the series a bit earlier: July 1, 1919, the date on which alchohol was made illegal via “Wartime Prohibition” in Milwaukee, six months earlier than the Volstead Act.

The date allows them to focus the first episode on the family’s entry into the business. Matt especially likes it because he can time it with Robert’s return from the war.

52







appearance

personality

manner of speech

background info

Name:

Setting Conventions Tone

historical accuracy, politics, focus… network, target demographic, rating…


Father

Mother

Older son

Younger son

Daughter

Gangsters

Police officers

Family friends

Teachers, if the kids are still in school

Love interests

Extended family (cousins,grandparents, etc.)

Speakeasy owners

Business rivals

Townspeople (general store, mechanic, bank)

Neighbors

Prohibition

Terry

a family of bootleggers in the 1920s, maybe forced into it

for financial reasons? Right after the war?

reasonably accurate, nod to historical events

like prohibition, end of the war, segregation

broadcast network show, targets teens and

adults, probably on 9/8, some violence and

sexual situations

family

business

James

grieving father

mid-to-late 40s, weathered by years of farming, functional dresser

gruff, direct, withdrawn, disconnected after his wife’s death, businesslike

short sentences, like every word was pried out with a crowbar

father of three, widower, farmer who has made a dangerous business decision

died

me

–matt

–john

–Meredith

protagonists are all family members

53

PRODUCER Reference Sheet

ProtagonistsName Issue/Impulse Notes

Screen Presence Per Episode

Supporting CastName Connected to Name Connected to

Starting Budget Budget Remaining3 x screen presence + 3

Series Title

Premise

Bootleggers

James grief / hotheaded, short-temperedsurvivor’s guilt / self-destructiveclass insecurity / Lie, manipulatesomething to prove / take risks

Robert

Roxy

billy

all

billyJames

James billy

billyJames

Roxy

Roxyrobert

robert

billyrobert

roxyrobert

roxyjames

sarah Robert (ex sweetheart)

claire Roxy (wealthy friend)

Joe, police officer James (friend)Alfred, claire’s brother Billy (nemesis)

Pastor Andrew James (friend)Frank Robert (friend)

1920s american family involved in illegal alcohol distribution.

Elmer, Sarah’s husband

Emily Billy (girlfriend)

vincent Trimarco (gangster)

54



Name: Played by:

concept

appearance

personality

manner of speech

background info

Issue

Impulse

Edges Connections


— R

ATIN

G —

screen presence this ep.

+trait

+trait

+trait

+fan mail spent

total cards:


Fan Mail

helpful reminders• Count up and compare your red cards (diamonds and hearts) to the producer’s.

• Your current screen presence is how many times you can use each trait per episode.

• Refresh a trait by having a scene on your personal set.

• If you spend fan mail to get extra cards, set them slightly apart. Red fan mail cards earn the producer 1

budget.

Personal Set

James

grief (his late wife)

joe, police officerFormer all-star athlete

Pastor Andrew

Terry

grieving father, farmer turned criminal

mid-to-late 40s, weathered by years of farming,

functional dresser, clean cut

gruff, direct, withdrawn, disconnected after his

wife’s death, businesslike

short sentences, like every word was pried out with a crowbar

father of three, widower, farmer who has made a dangerous business decision

xx

xx

x

get angry, lose temper

the barn

55



Name: Played by:

concept

appearance

personality

manner of speech

background info

Issue

Impulse

Edges Connections


— R

ATIN

G —


+trait

+trait

+trait

+fan mail spent

total cards:


Fan Mail


Personal Set

robert matt

survivor’s guilt

self-destructive behavior

sarah, high-school sweetheart

Frank, a fellow war veteran

war hero

war-hero son & brother

early 20s, clean-cut, military posture

sometimes too serious, shaken

words seem carefully chosen, precise

great war veteran, survived an ordeal, haunted

x xx x

x

his bedroom

56



Name: Played by:

concept

appearance

personality

manner of speech

background info

Issue

Impulse

Edges Connections


— R

ATIN

G —


+trait

+trait

+trait

+fan mail spent

total cards:


Fan Mail

helpful reminders• Count up and compare your red cards (diamonds and hearts) to the producer’s.

• Your current screen presence is how many times you can use each trait per episode.

• Refresh a trait by having a scene on your personal set.

• If you spend fan mail to get extra cards, set them slightly apart. Red fan mail cards earn the producer 1

budget.

Personal Set

roxy

status conscious

Lie & manipulate people

meredith

social-climbing sister

(ashamed of her modest social class)

about 18, ultra-modern and stylish

bubbly, energetic, hard undertones

all the latest slang

claire, a rich girlflapper

Honor Student

wants to climb the social ladder and live among high-society

x xx

x x her bedroom

57



Name: Played by:

concept

appearance

personality

manner of speech

background info

Issue

Impulse

Edges Connections


— R

ATIN

G —


+trait

+trait

+trait

+fan mail spent

total cards:


Fan Mail


Personal Set

billy john

something to prove

reckless behavior

insecure younger brother

15, disheveled, tough

outspoken, loud, a bit surly

young, distracted, informal

delinquent Miss Jones, a teacher

emily, his girlfriend

lives in the shadow of his war-hero brother, wants the respect of his father

xx x

xx

treehouse


Series Creation Recap:

• Choose a Producer

• Decide on a Series (draw cards for help if you need it)

• Create Protagonists

• Issue

• Screen presence

• Traits

• Personal set

• Nemesis

• Choose a Beginning

59

3

Playing an Episode

“Things have to go wrong. Bad things have to happen.”

— Joss Whedon

60 Playing an Episode

Action!Once you’ve created the show, you’re ready to find out what happens. From here on out, each time you sit down to play a game of Primetime Adventures, you create an episode, a good story with a clear beginning and end, which involves all the protagonists, settings and other story elements outlined earlier. This chapter tells you how to play an episode, including setup and preparation, what the producer and players should be doing, and the structural elements of a TV show, in real life and in the game.

How Long Does it Take?Primetime Adventures best models hour-long dramas, but your own episodes will take much longer than that. Expect to complete an episode in 2–3 hours of real time. The more people at your table, the longer an episode will take to finish.

What’s Involved?Episodes include a sequence of actions that you’ll take, as well as a number of important duties for each player:

• Setting up to play

• Creating Scenes

61Setting Up to Play an Episode

Setting Up to Play an EpisodeBefore you start the episode, make sure you have a couple things in order:

Producer: Calculate your BudgetAs mentioned earlier, the producer gets a Budget for each episode. Spending points from the budget can make it harder for scenes to turn out well for protagonists.

To determine this episode’s budget:

• Add up everyone’s current screen presence.

• Multiply that number by three.

• Take that number and add three more.

Budget: Bootleggers

For the pilot, James, Roxy, Robert and Billy all have a screen presence of 2. (2+2+2+2)x3 = 24. Judd adds three more to that total for a budget of 27.

Producer: Set Up Audience PoolWhen you start an episode, place a bowl in the middle of the group, and put a token in there for every protagonist. After that, whenever the producer spends budget, that many tokens go into the bowl. Those tokens are the audience pool.

Earning Fan Mail

Any time during an episode, any player except the producer can take a token from the audience pool and award it to another player as fan mail. Award it for whatever makes the game more fun: snappy dialogue, great use of traits, exciting narration, or advancement of the plot. When you do this, you’re effectively telling someone, “that was great, and I hope you do more of it.”


Each player can award at most one point of fan mail per scene. At the end of the episode, if there are any tokens left in the audience pool, they are discarded.

Players: Note your Screen PresenceThe players should all take a minute to review their protagonists’ screen presence for this episode. Your screen presence informs your protagonist’s role in the episode.

If your protagonist’s screen presence is 3...

It’s your spotlight episode (p. 96), so the producer will be most likely directing attention your way. This is your opportunity to make a statement about your protagonist, so think big.

Screen Presence 3: Rescue 2313

In the current episode of Rescue 2313, Gustav is confronted with the opportunity to save his older brother, whose ship has crashed in hostile territory. Gustav’s issue is about his need to impress others, so this is an opportunity for Gustav to impress his brother, by saving his life!


If there’s a spotlight protagonist, then you’re playing a supporting character for this episode. In such case, you have several options available for how to direct your protagonist.

One option is to provide cues that the spotlight player can use to develop his or her protagonist’s issue. If the issue is about anger, have your protagonist make the spotlight protagonist angry. If the issue is about trust, do something to build or break trust.

Another option is to create a parallel story with your protagonist that contrasts the story of the spotlight protagonist. If the spotlight story is about a failing relationship, you could have your protagonist start a new relationship or improve an existing one.

63Setting Up to Play an Episode

If there’s no spotlight character, then a protagonist with screen presence 2 isn’t in a supporting role. See “if there are no spotlight characters” below.


During Gustav’s spotlight episode, Wil sets up a scene for Nate where he buys some of the drug that he’s addicted to, and one of the other protagonists sees him. Nate is ashamed, which creates a contrasting story to Gustav’s drive to impress his own brother.


Your protagonist is a very minor character in the episode if your screen presence is 1. In such case, consider the options above for screen presence of 2, but keep it a little more subdued. Your protagonist will do best at supporting the others in play.


Brea Mackle’s screen presence is 1 for the episode, so Meredith creates a scene where Brea and Gustav are trying to break into a storage locker somewhere on the space station. Meredith plays Brea as a sort of sidekick for the scene, making witty remarks while Gustav remains very serious and focused.

If there are no spotlight characters…

The lower the screen presence scores of the protagonists, the harder it is for anyone to get what they want in a scene. An episode with low screen presence across the board is going to be pretty hard on the protagonists until the players earn and spend some fan mail.


Start Playing!When you play, your goal is to create an episode. Just like in an hour-long TV drama, one episode in Primetime Adventures is made up of four acts, and each act is made up of many scenes. Each scene will create a situation that challenges a protagonist’s issue, and you’ll determine how it turns out with your own creativity and the help of some playing cards.

The Order of Play1. Everyone provides a “Previously On” recap

(For the pilot episode, you do a lead-in instead)

2. Producer provides a Teaser to start the episode

3. Players each create a scene to complete Act 1




Four-Act StructureThe standard four-act structure of a TV drama goes like this:

1. Introduce the Problem

2. Add Complications

3. Add More Complications

4. Resolve the Problem

While not every TV show follows this structure, it’s a tried and true method that has been in use since the dawn of television. Following this structure will help your stories feel more like TV dramas on broadcast and cable networks.

You can read more about the different acts starting on page 87, in the “Advanced Techniques” section.

65Start Playing!

This is the structure of an hour-long drama

Teas

er (Pr

oduc

er)

Act 1: Introduce the Problem

Act 2: Complications

and Contrasts / B Story

Act 3: Second Complication /

Epiphany

Act 4: Resolution / Denouement

co�ercial break


Pilot Episode: Lead-InThe first time you play an episode, go over what you agreed on as the buildup of events to start the show. If you don’t want the producer or anyone else describing your protagonist incorrectly, make sure you clarify anything that needs clarifying.

Bootleggers: Lead-in

For the lead-in, everyone looks back on what was discussed during series creation about the beginning and particularly the “event” that gets everything started. As the producer, Judd can use that information to create a teaser scene that meets everyone’s expectations.

Subsequent Episodes: Previously OnUnless this is the first episode, the pilot (p. 94), you’ll want to make sure everyone remembers what happened last time. Do what they do in actual TV shows and include a “previously on” recap montage.

Who had the highest screen presence the last time you played? Ask that person to provide one or two important moments in the episode. Then go clockwise around the table, giving everyone a chance to participate.

Bootleggers: Previously On...

At the beginning of the fourth episode, everyone recaps what happened in episode three: Billy got into a fistfight at school and was suspended. Roxy gambled at a speakeasy and accrued a debt she can’t pay. Robert convinced his highschool sweetheart to go on a date with him, and James was questioned by the police. It’s a lot to work with for this next episode!

You’ll be surprised by how many things from last episode the other players remembered and you forgot!

67Scenes

ScenesIn TV shows, movies, plays and novels, scenes are the basic building blocks of the story. They divide what’s happening into chunks based on location and action. They focus on the interesting, important moments in the characters’ lives.

As the audience of the show, we judge scenes on how much they move the story along. The good stuff is what tells us more about the story or the characters. On Lost, for example, a scene will usually tell us something about the mystery behind the island and the plane crash, or it will tell us something about who the characters were before they arrived. Why is Sawyer such a jerk? What’s the Dharma Initiative? That’s what we want to know, and that’s what good scenes tell us.

From a game perspective, scenes in Primetime Adventures are the equivalent of turns in a boardgame like Monopoly. Everyone takes turns saying where a scene will take place and what’s happening when it begins. start with the spotlight player and go around the table in a circle. If there is no spotlight character, the producer will pick one of the protagonists with the highest screen presence for the next scene and go in a circle from there. When everyone at the table has had a scene, the act is over.

The TeaserThe first scene of every episode is the teaser, a situation set up by the producer. It will usually introduce a plot-level problem and set up a situation for the the spotlight protagonist, if there is one.

The producer has a choice with the teaser: either a) just use it to provide a short bit of narration and exposition, or b) play it out as a regular scene. If the latter, then the producer decides whether it’s a character or plot scene and chooses the scene ingredients.

“A mistake? A mistake is losing your

keys. You kept my father from me.”

Jane Jane the Virgin


1choose sceneingredients 2

set the scenein motion

5play out

resolution

3build to a

crisis

4deal thecards

Player chooses:• characters• location• action

Producer:• play supporting characters• apply pressure

Other Players:• spend fan mail to join the scene

Producer:1 card + 1 per budget spent(max 6 cards)

Protagonist:cards x screen presence+1 card per applied trait+1 card per fan mail spent

Everyone:Finish the scene based on outcome of the cards

Decide First: Is this a character scene or a plot scene?

69Scenes

Decide: Character Scene or Plot SceneScenes in Primetime Adventures serve one of two purposes: to develop the characters or to advance the plot. When it’s time for your protagonist to have a scene, you need to choose which one of those it’s going to be.

In character scenes, you find out how each protagonist is dealing with his or her issue. Everything that happens in a character scene works toward that purpose. That means if you want a character scene, look first and foremost at the issues. Ask first, “Is there a way this could provoke someone’s issue?” If not, maybe it’s not a good idea for a character scene.

In plot scenes, you find out if protagonists get something they want. Issues will still matter, because they’re the reason you care about the protagonist, but your biggest concern is about whether or not they can accomplish something.

In truth, both things matter to any scene. We care about their issues when we relate to their internal struggles, and we care about the plot when we want them to succeed.

The Question

All scenes ask a question, and as you play you’ll answer it. For character scenes, the question is some form of: will the protagonist resist their impulse? For plot scenes, the question is some form of: will the protagonist get what they want? There are many ways to think about that question, and it may seem a bit unsubtle, but if you’re new to the game, I would encourage you to keep it simple. You can create a lot of interesting stuff just by poking at the issue over and over.

Bootleggers: Reason for the Scene

It’s Meredith’s turn for a scene, and she wants a character scene. Roxy’s issue is her class shame, so her scene should address that somehow. Roxy’s impulse is to lie, so Judd will be thinking about how to provoke that.


Steps to Create a Scene

1. Choose the Scene Ingredients

2. Set the Scene in Motion

3. Build to a Crisis

4. Deal the Cards

5. Resolve the Scene

Step 1: Choose the Scene IngredientsOnce you know why you’re having the scene, then you need to decide:

1. Which characters will be in this scene

2. When and where the scene is taking place

3. What’s going on

Which characters will be in the scene?

It’s a good idea to include the spotlight protagonist in your scenes when possible, but first and foremost, choose characters that are good foils for your issue, who might be good at provoking you.

The player whose turn it is decides who’s in the scene, but if you have fan mail (see p. 80), you can spend one point to have your protagonist in the scene as well.

Where is it taking place?

Every scene takes place somewhere. It helps to think in terms of sets when you make this choice. What’s available from the studio? Where would a TV show film this scene? What’s familiar to the characters and the audience?

When choosing a location, consider revisiting a protagonist’s personal set or one of the sets commonly used. The producer may want to keep track of the sets you use for later inspiration.

71Scenes

What’s going on?

What’s the general action taking place in the scene? Sipping tea? Planning a robbery? Fighting zombies? When you provide this information you give the producer and other players useful context.

Bootleggers: Scene Ingredients

The characters in the scene will be Roxy, her socialite connection Claire, and a couple of girls in Claire’s entourage. It’s taking place at a speakeasy downtown, and what’s going on is they’re having drinks and listening to the band, while Roxy tries to establish herself as a fun party girl and win their approval.

John has spent a point of fan mail to have Billy enter the scene as well. He’s there to find Roxy and get her to come home.


Step 2: Set the Scene in MotionSetting the scene in motion is kind of a cross between writing the script for your show and acting it out in front of the cameras. You’ll describe things, give dialogue to the characters, and provide details that help you imagine what the show would be like if you were watching it.

The producer will begin by putting together some of the player’s choices into a short opening narration, just to get everyone going. He or she will throw in an idea, and the other players will build on it.

Players decide what their protagonists say and do.

The producer decides what everyone else says and does.

Bootleggers: Setting the Scene in Motion

Judd describes what the audience would see as the scene begins: a band playing in a dimly lit and crowded place, with Roxy, Claire, and Claire’s friends circled around a table.

Judd — “Claire is fussing with her new hat, which looks expensive, and she clearly wants you to notice it.”

Meredith — “Roxy says, ‘Oh, Claire, I adore that hat.’”

Judd — “Claire frowns and waves a hand at you. ‘Oh, this old thing? It’s terrible. I had nothing else to wear.’”

How to Play Your Protagonist

You always have the authority to make decisions on behalf of your protagonist. What does your protagonist say? Does she want to pull up the rug to look for a secret trap door? Then that’s what she does. Does she want to get in a fistfight with the bouncer? Then that’s what she does.

73Scenes

Step 3: Build to a CrisisIn order for the scene to go someplace, you eventually have to test the protagonist, and to get to that point, you need to put pressure on their issue. I like to think of it like those steam boilers, where if the pressure builds up into the red part of the gauge, bad things can happen.

Putting pressure on the protagonist will create a crisis, a point where things will either go well or poorly for the protagonist.

Pressure can come from just about anywhere. It could be as straightforward as another character deliberately trying to push the protagonist’s buttons, or it could happen accidentally, from a fumbled but well-meaning gesture. Pressure can come directly from other characters, or it could be purely situational, like getting stuck in traffic. It can build up slowly or it can hit the character all at once.

Bootleggers: Building to a Crisis

Putting pressure on Roxy is pretty easy, thanks to the timely arrival of Billy. What could be more awkward for Roxy than her kid brother showing up when she’s trying to make herself out to be the coolest flapper in town?

He switches back and forth between Roxy trying to sell how “cool” she is to her new friends, and Billy working his way through a crowd, drawing some attention to himself. The moment of crisis comes when Roxy turns around and literally bumps into Billy, their eyes meet and…


Step 4: Deal the CardsOnce you’ve hit that crisis point, it’s time to play cards to see if the character either handles the pressure or succumbs to it. If it’s your scene, you draw cards against the producer to see if things go well for your protagonist or not. If it’s not your scene but you have a protagonist there, you can draw cards against the producer, but you don’t have to.

4a: Shuffle and Draw Cards for the Producer

Start by assigning someone to shuffle the deck and deal cards. You can pass this responsibility around the table if you want, or someone can be in charge for the whole session.

• Deal one card to the producer, face down.

• The producer can get additional cards, also face down, by spending budget, 1 point per card. The producer can spend up to 5 points of budget to get additional cards.

Bootleggers: Spending Budget

Roxy is the only protagonist in this scene, but it’s her spotlight, and it seems like an important moment for her, so Judd decides to spend 4 budget, giving him a total of five cards.

4b: Draw Cards for the Protagonists

Once the producer has drawn cards, the participating players decide how many cards they get for their protagonists.

• First, each player draws cards equal to their protagonist’s current screen presence. Deal them face down.

• Second, if you have traits that might apply, you can use them for an extra card each. You can only use traits once each per episode for each point of screen presence.

Scenes where the producer spends 5 budget are “whoa” moments for everyone at the table.

75Scenes

• Third, you can spend fan mail for additional cards, one point for one card, as many as you want to pay for.

When you spend fan mail to get extra cards, keep track of those cards separately before you reveal what they are, because they may count as additional budget for the producer. Set them slightly to one side or in front of the other cards.

Any player drawing cards for their protagonist can apply any of the protagonist’s traits to gain an extra card, as long as you can explain why it applies. Chances are there will be times when the application of a certain trait may seem far fetched, and I recommend the guideline that if at least two people in the game think it’s too much of a stretch, the trait doesn’t apply.

Bootleggers: Applying Traits

Roxy’s screen presence is at 3 this episode (it’s her spotlight!), so Meredith gets 3 cards to start with. She can’t think of a way offhand for her “flapper” edge to apply to this situation, but she does have a connection with Claire, arguing that Roxy would know how to say the right thing to Claire without things getting worse. That gives her a total of four cards.

Billy’s screen presence is only a 1 this episode, so even though he’s in the scene, he’s not as important as Roxy. He gets one card.

Influencing a Scene from Outside

If you aren’t in the scene, or if you aren’t facing a crisis, you can influence the outcome for other protagonists by spending fan mail to gain cards. The cards you get can be applied for or against one protagonist in the scene, however you see fit. You must decide where the cards apply before revealing their result. (See Spending Fan Mail, p. 80)

Bootleggers: Outside Influence

Terry thinks it would make for some really interesting drama if Roxy were to fail, so she spends one point of fan mail to get 1 card, which she says he will add to the producer’s hand against Meredith.


4c: Read the Results

Once all the cards have been dealt to participating players, everyone flips their cards over to show the results. If your protagonist is in the scene, you compare your cards to the producer. If you’re influencing from outside, apply your card for or against one protagonist.

Playing cards gives you the answer to the scene question, either “can my protagonist resist her impulse?” or “can my protagonist get what he/she wants?” There are four possible answers.

1. Count up all the red cards, hearts and diamonds.

2. Look at the highest card you have. Aces are high. High cards trump in alphabetical order: clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades.

• If you have more red cards than the producer, and your highest card is higher than the producer, the answer is yes, and…

• If you have more red cards than the producer, but the producer’s highest card beats yours, the answer is yes, but…

• If you have as many or fewer red cards than the producer, but your highest card beats the producer’s, the answer is no, but…

• If you have as many or fewer red cards than the producer, and the producer’s highest card beats yours, the answer is no, and…

Character Plot

YES You resist your impulse You get what you want

but… there are consequences your impulse is provoked

and… everything goes your way you keep it together

NO You give in to your impulse You don’t get what you want

but… there’s a silver lining you keep it together

and… there are consequences your impulse is provoked

77Scenes

How Does the Scene Go?

Do you have morered cards

than the producer?

Is your highest cardhigher than the

producer’s?


producer’s?

Yes

Yes NoYes

No

No

Yes, And… No, But…

No, And…Yes, But…


Bootleggers: The Cards – Results

The producer gets 5 cards, like so:

• • • • • = 2 red cardsTerry gets 1 card, added to the producer’s total:

• = +1 red card

Meredith gets dealt 4 cards:

• • • • = 2 red cardsBilly gets just one card:

• = 0 red cardsThe results: With Terry’s extra card, Judd has a total of 3 red cards, which is more than Meredith’s 1 and Billy’s 0. Roxy’s issue gets the best of her, and so does Billy’s! Judd also has the highest card, which makes the scene a “no, and…” scene for Roxy and a “no, and…” scene for Billy.

Remember how you were supposed to keep track of the cards you bought with fan mail? Each one of those that’s a red card (a diamond or heart) earns the producer +1 budget.

Terry’s card, bought with fan mail, is a red card, so Judd adds 1 to his budget at the end of the scene.

Is There Really a Difference Between Plot and Character Scenes?

If you take a look at the chart at the bottom of p. 76, you’ll realize that plot and character scenes are really two sides of the same coin. For any given scene that you can come up with, chances are you could play it as either type. You might even

79Scenes

realize halfway through a scene that even though you said plot scene it should really be character, and that’s okay. As long as you know what you’re drawing cards for, you can switch things around.

Step 5: Play Out the SceneOnce you know how the scene’s going to turn out, it’s time to play it out. What do the protagonist do and say? What do the supporting characters do and say?

Who Has Authority?

Everyone in the game has ownership over the characters they play. That means you decide how your protagonist feels about things, what your protagonist wants to do, what your protagonist says. The producer decides what supporting characters say and do. The results of the cards should guide you in terms of how things play out.

Bootleggers: Playing out the Scene

Meredith, John, and Judd finish the scene, with help from Matt and Terry, based on the card results. Roxy’s tendency is to lie, and Billy’s tendency is to make foolish choices. Billy, however, gets some sort of silver lining out of the situation.

They act out some dialogue and description to explain how Roxy and Billy both let their issues get the best of them. Roxy tries to lie about who Billy is and tries to get him to go along with it, but Claire and her friends see right through it and turn their backs on her. She ends up alone in a corner, unsure what to do. In addition, Billy’s loud confrontation ends up getting him caught and kicked out of the club. He has to return home without Roxy.


Fan MailWhen we watch an episode where our favorite hero or villain does something spectacular – witty dialogue, nefarious deeds, a surprising moment of vulnerability – we can’t help gushing about it to our friends on blogs, forums, and our Twitter accounts. Sometimes we reach out to the stars and writers of the show with our praise. We love it when characters do the things we expect, like when Sawyer on Lost gives everyone a funny nickname. We love it when characters do the things we don’t expect, for good or ill, like when Rayland on Justified ignores the warnings of his boss and gets involved with Ava. Those are the moments that get us talking and bring us back.

When you play Primetime Adventures, you want to see those same exciting moments, and you want to reinforce them. After all, you’re not just the writers and actors. You’re the audience too! You want characters that you can’t wait to see in action the next time you play. The way you express those feelings in the game is by awarding fan mail to one another.

As you may have noticed in Resolving a Scene, fan mail is a very useful tool in the game, as it helps players influence the outcome of a scene.

Bootleggers: Earning Fan Mail

Terry says she loves John’s description of Billy’s behavior upon being thrown out of the speakeasy and gives him a point of fan mail. Likewise, John says he thinks Meredith came up with some great ideas and awards her a point of fan mail.

What if they don’t award any fan mail to each other?

Sometimes people get caught up in the episode and forget to award each other fan mail for things they like. Since the producer can’t award fan mail, he or she should prompt the other players when everyone seems particularly excited about something that happened. If the players are all smiling and saying, “That was great!” the producer can ask, “So, that was worth fan mail?”

81Fan Mail

If that doesn’t help, then it might be worth a break between scenes to find out why nobody is handing any out. It’s okay to go back and retroactively award a point if someone agrees a previous thing was worth some fan mail.

Spending Fan Mail

You can spend fan mail to buy two things: extra cards and access to a scene.

Access to a Scene

If you want to show up in a scene after it’s already moving along – but before resolution – you can spend a point of fan mail and explain how the protagonist enters the scene. Fan mail spent to enter a scene automatically returns to the producer’s budget.

Influencing Scene Resolution

If you’re not in a scene, you can spend one point of fan mail to draw one card for or against one protagonist in the scene.

Spend as much fan mail as you want to get additional cards. Any cards bought with fan mail that count as points (that is, those that come up hearts or diamonds) earn the producer a point of budget at the end of the scene.

Bootleggers: Spending Fan Mail

In the previous example, John’s point of fan mail doesn’t get him a red card, so the fan mail he spent is discarded. Wil’s point of fan mail, on the other hand, netted him a 6 of hearts, so the point he spent goes into the budget.

Unspent Fan Mail

Players are under no obligation to spend fan mail by the end of an episode. Any fan mail earned during an episode that hasn’t been spent can be saved until the next episode.


The ProducerspendsBudget

Spent Budgetgoes into the

Audience Pool

AwardFan Mailfrom the

Audience Pool

SpendFan Mail

on extra cards

The Budget/Fan Mail Ecosystem

Producer:• Spend up to 5 budget per scene

Spent budget is availableat the beginning of the next scene

Each player can award up toone point per scene, at anytime during the scene.

Keep track of the cards you buywith fan mail. Did they come up red? If so, the producer gets +1 budget each.

The more budget you spend,

the more fan mail available to award!

83The Player’s Responsibility

The Player’s ResponsibilitySay yes to the scene • Not everything is going to work out the way you hoped it might. Other players are bound to narrate something about your protagonist that isn’t quite right, or the producer will put your protagonist in a position that doesn’t suit him or her. Likewise, you may join a scene that’s contrary to what you had in mind. The best thing to do in these situations is just to agree with what’s been presented to you and make the best of it. When the group is done playing, explain why that didn’t quite work for you, and everyone will be aware of it next time.

Promote your protagonist’s issue • You know best what’s up with your protagonist, and you’ll have the opportunity to create at least one scene that you can use to further develop him or her. What will your scenes be about?

Support the other protagonists • Just like the producer, you have a responsibility to the story, and the story isn’t always going to be about your protagonist. Make an investment in the other stories by helping the other players out. Sometimes your protagonist might be the butt of a joke. Sometimes your protagonist stands back and lets another protagonist “handle the situation.” If you make the other players’ protagonists look good, they’ll do the same for you.

Build on what has already been established • What you choose to do in an episode, regardless of whether it’s a scene you create, should build upon what has already happened in the episode. At the very least, it should not conflict with what has happened. If you had a good idea for a scene, but someone has created a scene before you that keeps the scene from making very much sense, it’s a poor idea to go ahead with that scene as you had imagined it.

Seek conflict • Nothing that happens to your protagonist will reduce your ability to participate in the game; you don’t lose cards or play time or any of that sort of thing. So there’s no reason not to get your protagonist involved in really hairy situations. The producer’s going to be pushing the stuff out there. It’s up to you to engage it. Don’t sit still. Charge forward.


The Producer’s ResponsibilityCreate the spark • The producer always kicks off an episode, and that’s a big responsibility. Something needs to happen that the protagonists (and the players) can’t resist or ignore.

Keep the pace • Scenes should all have a purpose, and whatever’s happening in the scene should be meaningful. The producer should keep an eye on scenes to make sure they don’t wander off topic or detract from the spotlight.

Drive the tension • Without tension, there’s no story. When the tension is urgent or immediate, the story blossoms. Give the protagonists problems, and help the players find problems that interest them. Drive the episode toward moments of crisis.

Say yes to the players • Make a habit of agreeing with the ideas that the players come up with in scenes. As the producer, you aren’t there to judge everyone else’s creative efforts. If you’re dropping the protagonists into immediate situations, let the players resolve it however they like.

Make sure that protagonists shine • To create a terrific story. you need the protagonists to be involved in exciting situations where, even when they’re overpowered or helpless, they’re still interesting and sympathetic. They get the last word (or even just a poignant expression on screen) at the right moment, and so on. The producer should always look out for the protagonists in that regard.

Weave story elements together • The best episodes address multiple stories at once, and these separate threads can deliver a powerful impact when they come together in a scene. Make the most of situations where relationships and goals intersect, especially where two characters may be in conflict with one another.

Take breaks • Primetime Adventures can sometimes tax your creativity. Players will come up with crazy ideas, and you have to respond to them and keep the story moving. If anyone at the table is stumped, call for a 5-minute commercial break and think about what you want to do next. Even if you aren’t stumped, it’s a good idea to take a break at the end of every act.

85Advanced Techniques

Advanced TechniquesOnce you understand the basics of scenes, you can try adding the following options into your episodes to make them feel even more like great television.

More About ActsActs divide up the progress of the story, from the introduction of a problem to its resolution. You should be familiar with the act structure of television shows, because it’s divided up by commercials. Everyone’s seen a show where a big discovery or predicament befalls the characters, and just as your pulse starts racing, the show cuts to a commercial. That’s the end of an act. Primetime Adventures follows that four-act structure, described below.

How Long is an Act?

An hour-long TV drama will have four acts in order to accommodate commercials every 10–15 minutes. When you play, figure on an act taking longer than that. Depending on how many people you have at the table, an act may take 30 minutes or longer. The more people you have, the more table chatter there is, the more dialogue happening between different characters. The first time you play, things will probably take longer while you get used to how the rules work.

Act One: Introduce the Problem

Even the most amazing heroes have ordinary days, but that’s not why we watch TV. We tune in to watch the good stuff, and good for us usually means bad for them. We don’t want to watch Sarah Connor on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles1 buying stamps. We want to watch her making hard choices as she fights to save her son. We don’t want to watch Mary on Reign sitting quietly with her friends doing some needlepoint. We want to watch her struggling to protect the interests of her kingdom. When we watch TV, we want the characters to face problems. Your episode needs problems.

1 My favorite shows are always cancelled.


If this episode features a spotlight protagonist, then the producer must introduce a problem that resonates with that character. You may very well have two problems in the episode, faced by two different protagonists.

Some examples include:

• A friend of one or more protagonists is in trouble, missing, or dead.

• The protagonists find evidence of a new threat against them.

• A friend of one of the protagonists has started behaving uncharacteristically strange, doing things like breaking off important relationships or getting into fights.

Act One will usually conclude when the protagonists have decided how they want to react to the situation at hand. It’s also the place to start feeding the issue of the spotlight protagonist, and to plant the seeds of the plot threads to come.

Producer: it’s okay to be heavy handed in Act One. The game can fumble around a bit in the beginning if the protagonists don’t have something big to respond to, so get in their faces with urgent problems.

Bridgewater: Act One

Stacie, Kira, Joel, Carly and Bret are playing an episode of Bridgewater (see p. 113). Stacie sets up the opening scene with Preston, played by Joel, returning from school to the protagonists’ shared house. Entering his room, Preston sees a mirror image of himself staring back menacingly. They fight, and the real Preston wins, while the fake one dissolves into a puddle of goo.

Now the protagonists have a problem to solve: who’s making weird gooey clones of them? Who else might be a clone?

Act Two: Complications and Contrasts

If resolving the problem were easy, it would make for a really boring and short episode. So even if it seems to be easy at first, it never is.

Act Two is all about what stands in the way of the protagonists achieving their goals. There are bad guys with big knives, or there’s an exam that keeps


the character from skipping class, or someone’s friend or loved one is being uncooperative or inconsiderate. No scene should be without its roadblocks. Act Two ends on the halfway point, and it usually culminates in a big reveal or a shocking twist.

Bridgewater: Act Two — Complications

Nicola is in her laboratory on campus, attempting to analyze the gooey residue left behind by the clones. While Nicola’s preparing, her love interest, one of the lab techs, makes a surprise visit and interrupts her work. Nicola has to keep him from finding out what she’s working on without upsetting him or falling behind schedule.

At least one player should consider taking the opportunity for character development in the second act. These subplots — called “B story, C story, etc” in screenwriting — should develop, and protagonists in supporting roles should be doing things that put attention on the spotlight protagonist.

Bridgewater: Act Two — B Story

To contrast the self-control issue of Lauren (the spotlight protagonist), Bret has Preston ignore the tasks assigned him and go play pool in a smoky bar.

Act Three: Second Complication

Just when everything seems to be taken care of, the third act introduces yet another problem. The villain they were after turns out to be working for an even more powerful villain, or what appeared to be a case of burglary turns out to be linked to a string of unsolved homicides. Action in the third act should continue to escalate in scale.

Act Three often ends with an epiphany moment for one or more of the characters, a revelation about why things have been happening the way they have, or why it’s been difficult to resolve certain problems. “Of course! I know what to do! We need to get back to the boathouse!” Something like that.


Bridgewater: Act Three

In Act Three of the Bridgewater episode, Lauren has gone to her love interest, Professor Sloane, for help in solving the mystery of the clones. The players discover that Sloane is apparently in cahoots with the people creating the clones, and now Lauren is in terrible danger.

Act Four: Resolution

Act Four provides the climax of the episode, a final confrontation with the problem. In this act, somebody wins, and somebody loses, and most often that happens as a result of the protagonists’ choices. Both the main story and the subplots should reach a point where, although they may not be resolved for good, someone involved has either gotten or not gotten what they wanted.

Bridgewater: Act Four

Lauren, with her blur power, manages to overcome Sloane, but she has to make a choice about what to do with him. She chooses to let him go, and will have to face the inevitable consequences.

In contrast, Nicola’s relationship with her love interest has improved, and by the end of the episode he has asked her out to dinner.

Preston’s shirking of his responsibilities has created a rift between him and Lauren, and while that story is far from over, the episode ends with Lauren telling him she can no longer trust him.


Denouément

The spotlight player has the privilege of narrating a dénouement scene at the end of the episode, highlighting the aftermath of the spotlight protagonist’s story. This scene foregoes the usual steps of building to a crisis and playing cards. Instead, that protagonist’s player gets to narrate something about the protagonist. It’s most often a quiet, short scene. Sometimes it’s a nice upbeat after a hard episode.

If there’s no spotlight character this episode, the producer narrates a denouément.

Bridgewater: Denouément

Carly chooses to create a denouément scene for Lauren. She describes Lauren sitting quietly in her room, looking at a photograph of her and Professor Sloane.

Spending BudgetHow much budget have you spent already? You’ll get some extra budget as the players spend fan mail, but figure that your budget needs to last you the whole episode. If you want to spend 5 budget on one scene, you’ll have less for later on, so make sure that scene is a really important one.

It helps sometimes to connect the resource budget with a real-life budget in terms of money and time. How much would this scene cost? Is it important enough that they would film it from multiple angles? Would it require a lot of takes? Would you really need to get that look on her face just right? That’s the sign of a really important scene, and it’s when you should spend 4 or 5 budget.


Scene CutsIt’s common on TV shows for scenes to be interrupted at tense moments, only to cut to a different scene with different protagonists. The viewers at home shift around uncomfortably in their seats, desperate to know how the scene is going to resolve.

Why not do that in Primetime Adventures? The producer, if he or she wants (or at the prompting of another player), can cut away from a scene at an appropriate moment, starting a new scene. It can be a really good idea to keep the pace of the show up. One good spot to cut away from a scene is just as you’re about to draw cards. Jump back to the cards when you get the next protagonist into an interesting situation.

Obviously, if the player whose turn comes next is in the scene you just cut from, the cut won’t work very well. Don’t feel like you need to cut away if it’s going to add confusion to whose turn it is and who hasn’t had a turn yet.

Bootleggers: Scene Cuts

Just as Billy enters the speakeasy to look for Roxy, Judd tells John and Meredith, ‘hold that thought,’ and cuts to a scene with James and Robert.

A really good place to cut away is when a scene turns out poorly and the consequences could take some time to make themselves apparent. Say someone gives in to their impulse and tells a lie, and the cards tell you it’s a no, and... scene. the consequence might be that someone the protagonist cares for learns about it later on. There may be other scenes that you want to have happen in the meantime, so you can cut away from the cards and start a new scene, coming back to resolve it later on.


Commercial BreaksDuring a real television show, commercial breaks divide up the acts. Network shows typically follow a four-act structure to allow for commercial breaks about every fifteen minutes.

In your game, anyone can call for a commercial break as a “time out,” when you want to literally take a break (get food, visit the toilet) or when you just want to think a bit about what’s happening in the episode.

Commercial breaks are a good opportunity for a player or the producer to pause and think when faced with an interesting complication or dilemma. They’re also useful pauses for the producer to check in with the other players and see how the episode is going for them.

Bridgewater: Commercial Break

Carly has Lauren investigating a group of sinister agents who have been trying to capture the protagonists. Stacie, the producer, has just revealed that one of them is Professor Sloane, with whom Lauren has been having an affair. “Whoa,” says Carly. “Let’s take a commercial break. I need to think about that for a minute.”

“Next Week On…”At the end of every episode, the group will describe a teaser of the next episode, to represent ads that the station might run at the end of a show, during the week or just before the show starts. Real-life previews are typically made up of quick “moments” of the upcoming episode, one- or two-second glimpses of what’s to come. Previews in Primetime Adventures are just the same, and each player, starting with next episode’s spotlight player, gets one moment to describe. The producer gets to contribute one as well.

As a rule, the preview moments usually suggest all the problems that the protagonists are going to face, so appropriate preview moments would imply complications or dramatic situations.


This is powerful storytelling fuel for everyone involved. Players can ensure that an upcoming episode includes locations, people and problems that they want to see, and producers leave the table with a page full of story ideas for the next play session.

Bridgewater: Next Week On…

Stacie, the producer of the Bridgewater series, offers a next-week-on shot of two scientists working at some kind of operating table. The camera pans over to reveal the face of Lauren. A voice says, “She’ll be ready in three hours.”

Bret describes a shot of Preston surrounded by hostile clones of all the protagonists in a dark alley, saying, “So it’s gonna be like that, is it?”

Audience ParticipationIf you ever have guests at your game, you can involve them — assuming they’re interested — with the following rules.

An audience member sits in with the group like a regular player but does not control a specific protagonist. He or she may request scenes in turn like any other player and can give and receive fan mail like any other player.

For every scene, an audience member is dealt one card. He or she can play the card to support any other player’s hand (including the producer!) but must decide before seeing what the card is. This card also applies toward winning narration.


CinematographyTelevision makes use of clever camera work to enhance the drama, and there’s no reason why you can’t describe that camera work in your game. Everyone should feel free to describe close-ups, sweeping shots, and so on. Bring out the tone of the show by describing how it would appear on the TV screen. It’s a great way to harness your love of television and add another level of detail. Here are just a few examples:

• Rack Focus: A shot with two elements in it, one in the foreground and one in the background. Only one element is in focus at a time, and at some point, the camera will shift focus between the two.

• Smash Cut: An especially abrupt cut edited to deliberately jar or startle the audience, usually to make some kind of ironic point.

• Match Cut: A transition in which something in the scene that follows in some way directly matches a character or object in the previous scene.

• Point of View: indicates that the camera is seeing from a particular vantage point, that we’re looking through a character’s eyes.

• Freeze Frame: The image on the screen stops, freezes and becomes a still shot.

• Montage: Used to show a series of scenes, all related and building to some conclusion.

• Off Camera: The character that’s speaking is present in the scene but is not in the camera shot.

• Off Screen: The character that’s speaking is not present in the scene.

• Tracking Shot: The camera follows a character as he or she walks around in a scene.

• Wide Shot: The camera sees all the characters present in the scene.

Bridgewater: Cinematography

The previous scene has ended with Lauren shouting angrily at professor Sloane. For Preston’s scene, Bret describes a match cut where we next see Preston shouting angrily at the football game as he watches it in his room.


Special EpisodesPrimetime Adventures features two kinds of special episodes, the pilot and the spotlight. The pilot lets you test proof of concept for your series and possibly make some changes afterward. The spotlight episode happens frequently during your series, zooming in on a particular protagonist’s story. Both apply some changes to the standard episode rules.

The Pilot EpisodeThe pilot episode is the first game session of a new show. TV studios use pilots to try out a series and see if it’s worth airing, whether or not any changes need making. The pilot of your own series serves the same purpose: to see how everything works and test out concepts. It should function in play like any other episode, except that everything is being evaluated by the players to determine whether it’s worth keeping in the game. Every protagonist has his or her issue introduced, and the producer will bring in some hopefully recurring characters.

When the pilot is over, everyone should check in to discuss what he or she liked or didn’t like. Everyone at this point has the opportunity to revise or completely remake their protagonists.

Special Pilot Episode Rules

The pilot episode occurs outside a regular TV season. Assume that it’s shot by the studio to see whether the series is worth airing. Because of that, a pilot does not automatically count toward a protagonist’s story arc. Each protagonist in the pilot episode will have a screen presence of 2, so that everyone gets an equal opportunity for evaluation.

“He described the appearance of the man I saw in perfect detail.”

“He described a man with no head. Would you like to corroborate that,

Lieutenant?”

“No, sir.”

Abbie and Captain Irving

Sleepy Hollow

95Special Episodes

If the pilot gets approval from the group, then you can continue on as planned with episode 2. If not, you might need to make some changes first.

Bootleggers: Pilot Episode

In addition to exposing the issues of the protagonists, the pilot episode of Bootleggers addresses the economic impact of prohibition on Milwaukee and explains James’ desperate decision to adopt criminal behavior. It also takes place on the day that Robert comes home from the war.


Spotlight EpisodeEvery protagonist has one spotlight episode per season, and it presents a player with a clear opportunity to reveal that protagonist’s complexity. Spotlight episodes are the ones where the studio knows they have a doozy and promote it like crazy all week. For this episode, the spotlight character blossoms in front of the camera, and by the end, that character can’t help but to have grown.

At the conclusion of the spotlight episode, everyone in the group should have a bit of insight into what that character’s issue will be in the following season. It may remain the same, or it might turn into something new.

Note that a protagonist doesn’t have to change during the spotlight episode, undergoing some kind of epiphany or transformation. The spotlight episode just needs to illuminate (no pun intended) the protagonist’s issue and hint at some possible outcomes.

“What could possibly make us even for the Tampa Job?”

“How about the known whereabouts of the man who ruined

your life?”

Sawyer and Hibbs

Lost

97Special Episodes

Bootleggers: Spotlight Episode

Roxy’s spotlight episode brings to a peak her obsession with social climbing and presents Meredith with a question: just how far will Roxy go to get what she wants? In previous episodes, Judd, the producer, has paid careful attention to the choices Meredith has made for Roxy. For this episode, he escalates things drastically.

In the opening scene, Judd creates a problem for Roxy: her wealthy and influential friends have grown bored of her and are preparing to completely ostracize her from their clique. Roxy decides to impress them by revealing the truth about her father’s business and tells them that she can get them as much alcohol as they want.

For the remainder of the episode, Judd introduces problems that involve police, rival gangsters and Roxy’s family, requiring Roxy to choose what really matters to her and how much.

Two-Part EpisodesSome episodes may be too big to fit into one session of play. When two protagonists have their spotlight episode at the same time, that’s going to be the case; it’s not really fair for a protagonist to effectively get half an episode for his or her spotlight. The group may also agree at some point —maybe during play— that there’s so much going on that they should finish it up next time rather than force a conclusion.


Episode Recap:• Previously On: Go around the table and summarize what happened last time.

• Producer kicks off each episode with a teaser scene.

• Every player gets one scene per act.

• In every scene, you find out if you can resist your impulse.

• For each scene, the producer needs three additional things from the player: where it’s happening, who’s there, and what’s going on.

• Resolve scenes by playing cards. Resolution determines a yes/no answer for each question, and it assigns director power to one player.

• Players award fan mail to each other from the audience pool. You can spend fan mail to get extra cards during a scene or to have your protagonist enter a scene uninvited.

• When your protagonist’s screen presence is 3, it’s his or her spotlight episode.

99

Creating a Season

“Whenever we broke one of these spy stories, we would always stop and ask, ‘Is the personal story working? Is the marriage

story working? Is it compelling, in and of itself, without any of the plot elements? …Is it provoking interesting character

stuff?’”

— Joel Fields, Producer, The Americans

4

100 Creating a Season

The Big PictureA successful season in Primetime Adventures – 5 or 9 episodes – relies on characters changing. At the end of a season, you should all be able to say with confidence that the characters are different than they were during the first episode, for better or worse. That’s why it’s important when you play to make sure that your season isn’t just a collection of random episodes tossed together. Your episodes need to work together, just like you as players need to work together.

This chapter provides you with tips and tools to help you take the game beyond a successful episode and make a whole season of play that really hums.

Series StructuresSeries in television typically take one of two forms: episodic, where each episode is more or less self-contained; and serial, where the episodes tie together to form a larger story.

Episodic

Up until recently, most primetime TV series followed an episodic storyline. Episodes of this type focus most of their attention on a single story, and little on events that have happened in previous episodes. You could play them in any order with little impact. These sorts of episodes apply best to a series where protagonist issues are less dramatic and need less long-term development; in a series filled with intense drama they should be used sparingly. Protagonists will change only over the course of multiple seasons.

Serial

Serial episodes pay strong attention to continuity and how protagonists change over time. There may or may not be an overarching story involved, but the audience will definitely recognize whether a given episode comes earlier or later in the season. This type of episode is preferable when you’re playing Primetime Adventures.

101Overarching Plot

Overarching PlotThe producer has the opportunity during a season to introduce an overarching plot, a major problem that takes multiple episodes to resolve, maybe even the entire season. Such a story should ideally affect the events of the series as a whole, and not just one protagonist. It should never interfere with the story arcs of the protagonists.

Note that ‘plot’ does not mean playing with a predetermined outcome. Connecting episodes is as easy as stating or even implying that multiple events are somehow related to one another, or introducing a supporting character who provides antagonism across several episodes. Often you can involve a protagonist’s nemesis.

Overarching Plot Examples

• Parenthood – Kristina Braverman runs for mayor.

• The Vampire Diaries – The discovery that there may be a cure for vampirism.

• Sports Night – A ratings race threatens the show’s survival.

Bootleggers: Overarching Plot

The pilot episode of Bootleggers has established that the family is involved in the business in order to save the farm. Judd introduces an overarching plot where a rival from Chicago has his eye on the Milwaukee territory and wants to drive the family out.

This long-term plot fits well with the series because it forces the characters to decide how much their home is worth fighting for.

“Until you figure out who burned

you, you’re not going anywhere.”

Michael Westen

Burn Notice


Using Story ArcsEach protagonist’s story arc is the outline of a personal journey. In play, the producer’s job is to feed players situations that connect with their protagonists’ issues and keep the protagonists going. The momentum created by these story arcs, and fueled by the producer, will carry you through the season.

In any given episode, the general problem the protagonists are facing is only as important as its connection to the protagonists’ issues and the resulting decisions that push their story arcs forward.

The story arc has a lot of fuel built into it, and a lot of room to work. The choices a player makes in planning the story arc should also mean something. You can have any episode in the season except the first one be the protagonist’s spotlight episode. Why did you pick the one that you did?

If the spotlight episode is early in the season, it means a quick buildup is necessary, and that’s where players can direct the bulk of their attention. If it comes late in the season, players can contribute small pieces that accumulate over time.

By the end of a season, the behavior of a protagonist in relation to his or her story arc should in fact tell a story about that protagonist. It may not always explain why the protagonist makes every single choice, but it should definitely explain who the protagonist is.

“I wanted to live, to see my friends again, to explain to the people I

loved and trusted, my side of what happened.”

“We know what ha—”

“You don’t know anything.”

Wesley and Gunn Angel

103Using Story Arcs

Rescue 2313: Story Arcs

Keith is playing the character Nate Spisak, a doctor with a mysterious past whose issue is an addiction to a powerful narcotic. Over the course of the season, Keith, with the help of the producer and the other players, explores what the addiction means, why and how Nate became addicted, and what that says about the direction Nate is taking. His dysfunction causes tension between Nate and the other protagonists. Some want to help him, and others are disgusted with him.

Nate, Keith slowly reveals, is using the drugs to escape the pain of a terrible loss, with which Nate is finally confronted during his spotlight episode.


ThemeA theme is an underlying philosophical statement made by the people telling a story. It often expresses insight into human nature, especially in the various styles of science fiction. Not every story has or needs a theme, but themes can turn your game into something much more rewarding than “we figured out the clues, caught the bad guys, and had a beer.”

In Primetime Adventures, the theme is best identified as what the protagonist has learned as a result of the decisions he or she made.

Theme in Primetime Adventures typically emerges from two elements: the protagonist’s issue and the common bond (p. 30) that the protagonists share. That is, if they are all working at the same job, then the theme may have to do with the job. If they’re all family, the theme will revolve around family.

Addressing Theme

Theme happens as a result of play. Nobody decides what it is ahead of time. Based on each protagonist’s story arc, the producer decides how to present situations and characters for the protagonists to react to. Through those situations and characters, the producer asks each player questions about their protagonists. How the players answer is what determines the theme. Each protagonist’s contribution to the theme should be distinct.

“These are tough times. If a man can get a job, he might not look too close at what that job is. But a man learns all the details of a situation like ours, well, then he has a choice.”

“I don’t believe he does.”

Sheriff and Mal

Firefly

105Theme

Bootleggers: Addressing Theme

Bootleggers is about a family, so the overall theme will have to do with family relationships and how they relate to each protagonist’s issue.

James is grieving over his departed wife and lets this grief come between him and his children. His realization of this pushes him even further into self destruction. His contribution to theme: ‘if family doesn’t come before personal pain, it only leads to more pain.’

Robert is trying to overcome the horrors of the Great War, and he is able to find no comfort from his family. He turns instead to his high-school sweetheart, and it only causes trouble. His contribution to theme: ‘there is no substitute to family.’

Roxy is trying to make a better life for herself, and by doing so she is forced to hurt her father and brothers; in doing so, she finds her new life less appealing. Her contribution to theme: ‘it’s impossible to completely separate oneself from family.’

Billy is trying to gain the approval of his father and in doing so creates tension between himself and his brother and sister. His contribution to theme is perhaps ‘you can’t sacrifice family for family.’


Changing a ProtagonistCharacters in Primetime Adventures develop and change just like characters do on TV dramas. Two ways you express change for your protagonists is through their issues and traits. Each protagonist will always have one issue and three traits, and that’s a good thing. It keeps you and everyone else aware of the sort of things you want to show about the character. So look for things you feel you’re done highlighting about your character for replacement.

Changing the IssueAs protagonists change, it’s only natural that their issues should change along with them. Protagonists in Primetime Adventures will always have an issue of some kind, and a protagonist’s new issue will probably result from the protagonist dealing with the old one.

A player can choose to change his or her protagonist’s issue at any time following the protagonist’s spotlight episode. The new issue cannot be changed until the protagonist’s next spotlight episode.

Bootleggers: Changing the Issue

James’ issue for season 1 is grief and how he deals with it. Over the course of the season, Terry, playing James, decides based on the outcome of various scenes and storylines that James handles his grief poorly, and his issue for season 2 is about his spiral into self destruction, as he turns to alcohol and continues to push away his children.

107Changing a Protagonist

Changing a TraitThere are four times available for a player to change a trait, if he or she wants:

• Between seasons of the series.

• At the end of that player’s spotlight episode.

• At a pivotal moment during the protagonist’s spotlight episode.

• When events make that trait no longer available (an injury, death of a connection).

This change may or may not mean that the protagonist doesn’t have certain abilities anymore. What it does mean is that the trait that’s been replaced will not have a mechanical impact on the story.

Changing a trait should imply an important change in the protagonist, one that the player wants to make very clear.

Changing a Trait: Bootleggers

Roxy’s issue of ‘making it big’ changes after season one, and Meredith decides that her Flapper edge no longer makes sense in conjunction with that. She comes up with a new edge that’s more suitable to Roxy. That doesn’t mean that Roxy wouldn’t still be familiar with popular music, fashion, and various clubs. That just won’t be as important to her story — or to Meredith — as it used to be.

“Since when did you get an ulcer?”

“Since the Armenian mob started

looking for me.”

Vic and Lem

The Shield


Season Recap:• Primetime Adventures is better suited for serial rather than episodic

structure.

• The producer has the opportunity to introduce an overarching plot.

• The elements of your series can create a theme when you put them together well.

• Players can change their protagonist’s issue any time after the spotlight episode.

• Players can change a trait after a pivotal moment, after the spotlight episode, or when the current trait is no longer applicable.

109Changing a Protagonist

Extra Stuff“Mark my words, Seinfeld. Your day of reckoning is coming,

when an evil wind will blow through your little play world and wipe that smug smile off your face. And I’ll be there, in all my glory, watching, watching as it all comes

crumbling down.”

– Newman, Seinfeld

4

110 Extra Stuff

Sample ShowsPREMISE

three cards:

Brea, Gustav and Nate form the crew of a spaceship that performs dangerous rescue operations. Part of each episode involves their personal lives onboard the space station where they’re based, and part of it includes a crisis/rescue operation.

PROTAGONISTS

Name Concept Issue/Impulse

Brea Mackle Pilot Pride / shut people out

Gustav underwood starship technician responsibility / meddle

Nate Spisak medicaddiction / unethical behavior

SUPPORTING CAST IDEAS

superior officers

romantic connections

station crew

bartender (like quark on DS-9)

medical personnel

politicians

family members back on earth (video chat?)

other rescue ship crews (rivals?)

criminal elements

tourists

friendly and hostile aliens

RESCUE; 2313

boat/ship (10♣) hospital (2♣) far future (K♦)

111Sample Shows

PREMISE

three cards:

as far as their friends and neighbors are concerned, Joan, valerie and Bianca live ordinary lives with their jobs and families, but the three of them moonlight as covert agents. The Americans meets Scarecrow and Mrs. King.

PROTAGONISTS


joan med student / profilerGrief (breakup) / reckless behavior

valerieHead chef / hand-to-hand combat specialist rage / cruel

biancaairline pilot / tech specialist

betrayal / push people away


family members (spouses, ex-spouses, kids, parents)

neighbors

recurring enemy agents

friendly agents

people at the “day job”

their handlers

romantic interests

SPIES FOR HIRE

secret (9♠) business (8♣) suburb (10♠)

112 Extra Stuff

PREMISE

three cards:

this show follows the students and instructors at a warrior-training school in ancient greece. While it’s inspired by real people and events, it’s probably not terrifically accurate. episodes might contrast/compare student character drama with local/ world events.

PROTAGONISTS


appolonia cocky exchange studentsomething to prove / impetuous

Patrochus vengeful orphan anger / be cruel & hurtful

laertes aging instructorlack of confidence (getting old) / doesn’t try


instructors

other students

locals (villagers, etc)

family members

SPARTANS

school (J♣) anitquity (q♦) war (5♦)

113Sample Shows

PREMISE

three cards:

four students at bridgewater college are given unusual powers via a mysterious event, and now a secret organization is trying to capture them.

PROTAGONISTS


Preston wealthy slackerrebellious / shun responsibility

Lauren uptight law student grief (her father) / controlling

nicola gregarious science student insecure / withdraw


professors & instructors

BRIDGEWATER

school (J♣) mystery (6♥) supernatural (5♦)

114 Extra Stuff

• Court

• Hospital

• Police/Agents

• Factory

• Prison

• Hotel

• Mansion

• Business

• Farm

• Boat / Ship

• School

• Restaurant

• Church

• Supernatural

• Aliens

• Middle Ages

• Last Century

• War

• Marriage

• Small Town

• Near Future

• Animated

• Time Travel

• Prohibition

• Antiquity

• Far Future

• Love

• Revenge

• Family

• Justice

• Identity

• Mystery

• Honor

• Duty

• Sex

• Power

• Politics

• Prejudice

• Religion

• Music

• Crime

• President

• City

• Workplace

• Dance

• Sports

• Hunters

• Secret

• Suburb

• Dystopia

• Angels

• Friends

115Charts & Tables

Charts & Tables

1choose sceneingredients 2

set the scenein motion

5play out

resolution

3build to a

crisis

4deal thecards

Player chooses:• characters• location• action

Producer:• play supporting characters• apply pressure

Other Players:• spend fan mail to join the scene

Producer:1 card + 1 per budget spent(max 6 cards)

Protagonist:cards x screen presence+1 card per applied trait+1 card per fan mail spent

Everyone:Finish the scene based on outcome of the cards

Decide First: Is this a character scene or a plot scene?

116 Extra Stuff

How Does the Scene Go?

Do you have morered cards

than the producer?


producer’s?


producer’s?

Yes

Yes NoYes

No

No

Yes, And… No, But…

No, And…Yes, But…

117Charts & Tables

Character Plot

YES You resist your impulse You get what you want

but… there are consequences your impulse is provoked

and… everything goes your way you keep it together

NO You give in to your impulse You don’t get what you want

but… there’s a silver lining you keep it together

and… there are consequences your impulse is provoked

118 Extra Stuff

Parting ThoughtsBack in 2002, a TV show I really liked was canceled after only 13 episodes, and I spent some time imagining what the rest of the series might be like. Then I started thinking about what I might do if I could take up the reigns. I had some pretty clever, imaginative friends, and we liked to make up stories. What if we had a way to do that together, and it would really feel like a TV show?

And that’s how this all got started. I hope that it gives you the opportunity to be creative in a way that you haven’t been before, to do something new and fun and interesting.

If you have questions about the rules, or a particular love or hate about some part of the game that you really want to get off your chest, you can contact me here: [email protected].

Also be sure to visit www.dog-eared-designs.com to see if other people share your feelings about the game. While you’re there, you can download a protagonist record sheet and maybe some other cool and useful things.

— Matt

prime time adventures 3

Documents