Impressions: Primetime Adventures

December 2, 2008 No comments

Based on actual play experiences, I’ve written two previous posts about Primetime Adventures. Both of those were more heavily into describing the shows we created and played out, rather than an overview of the system itself. To rectify this, here’s a very quick summary of how the game works, peppered with some personal opinions.

The premise of the game is that the setting is a television show, and the players are the protagonists in that show. Part of the first session is supposed to be spent brainstorming a premise, with the players collaboratively coming up with the setting and characters. This is how it was done both times I played it, but I also know people who came to the table with a very specific setting or premise in mind. General elements that need to be agreed upon are genre (cop show, reality show, cartoon, sitcom, anything at all, really), tone (serious, fantastic, network or cable, and so on), and general themes and/or metaplot. What is the show about, in a shirt pitch.

Character creation is simple: each character starts with Edges and Connections. Edges are like Fate‘s Aspects or Risus cliches. They can be anything that describes what a character can do or what they’re about. Connections are also like Aspects, but are about the relationship between the character and other protagonists or supporting cast members. Rather than typical Attributes or Skills, when a conflict arises in the game the player can tap into these Edges and Connections, which I’ll explain in more detail shortly.

The next thing to determine is the length of the season. The game recommends between 5 and 9 “episodes” as idea. Players then figure out their Screen Presence for each episode, which is rated from 1 to 3. This will affect how much a character can do in an episode, and how well. A 1 means the character is relegated to the background. 2 is average involvement, balanced against the other protagonists. 3 is a spotlight episode, placing that character center stage.

The gamemaster is called the Producer. He controls the supporting cast, and the Budget (which I will also get to momentarily). He starts off narrating the first scene of the episode. The other players, in turn, set up and narrate subsequent scenes. When you’re narrating a scene, it doesn’t even have to involve your character. You just set up what you’d like to see next, based on the last scene, in terms of characters, location, and moving the plot forward.

The Producer’s Budget is based on the characters’ screen presence for the episode. It’s used as Screen Presence for supporting characters and plot conflicts, and a portion can be doled out as Fan Mail. When protagonists do something interesting, cool, or entertaining, the players can give each other Fan Mail. People watching the game, random passers by, can give players Fan Mail. Fan Mail is good.

Conflicts are resolved with playing cards. In Primetime Adventures, a conflict isn’t a physical fight, although it can be. It doesn’t even have to be a conflict between characters. A conflict occurs when a player wants things to go a certain way, but it either doesn’t seem like it should automatically happen that way or a player contests the action.

The player and the Producer each start with one card. They player can then tap Edges, Connections, Screen Presence, and Fan Mail to buy additional cards. Other players can pitch in their Fan Mail to help, if they want. The Producer can spend Budget points to buy extra cards. Red cards are successes; the most successes wins, so they’ll get what they want from the conflict. However, high card narrates so it can be a “yes, but…” situation. It’s all about dramatic tension.

Those are the basics. Most of the 106-page book is devoted to the structure of series, episodes, and scenes, examples of play, and sample shows. Everything to need is included in one small, concise book.

Primetime Adventures is great for roleplayers who love television, and makes a great introductory game for non-roleplayers.