Public Access

Public Access is a tabletop roleplaying game of analog horror that takes place in 2004 New Mexico, written by Jason Cordova and published by The Gauntlet. It’s a story about a group of people who grew up in the town of Deep Lake in the ‘80s and ‘90s, now haunted by the memory of a local TV station that disappeared off the face of the earth over a decade ago. It left no trace except its distinctive purple VHS tapes—rare, disturbing, and possibly even dangerous.

I approached Public Access with the goal of creating an object that felt as cursed as the creepypasta-inspired stories it was telling, like a magazine that could trap your soul inside it if you looked too close.

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Public Access is based on the Carved from Brindlewood mystery system, framing its stories around thematic clues that lead to emergent, not pre-written, solutions. I designed handouts inspired by the Mystery Sheets used in Brindlewood Bay, one- or two-page documents for the GM to have on hand to easily reference all the important characters, locations, and clues the players might encounter over the course of a Mystery. I also designed the character sheet and handouts used by players and GMs, and laid out a couple of rules expansions (Lost Transmissions and Skinny Jeans and Summer Screams).

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This edition of Public Access is digital only, but it may someday emerge into reality to haunt your shelves.