Tableau Games: Advanced Playtester

Shape the Future of Tableau Games!

Unlock Early Access to Upcoming Tablet Games like 'Lovecraft Country: A Study in Madness,' 'Generations,' and 'Steampunk Oz' for just $50!

What’s in it for you?

• Early Access: Explore and immerse yourself in our games before they are released to the public. 
• Shape Game Development: Your valuable feedback and creative suggestions will contribute to the enhancement of gameplay and storytelling experiences across genres, from suspenseful mysteries to heartfelt journeys and family-style adventures. 
• Rewards & Recognition: Be listed as an ‘Advanced Playtester’ on our website, and for substantial contributions, earn the title of ‘Creative Contributor,’ and receive a code for a copy of the final game.

How it Works? 

1. Join the ‘Advanced Playtester’ Program by paying a one-time fee of $50.
2. Gain Immediate Access to various PDF playlists in the form of downloadable ‘Print-N-Fold’ Booklet Storysets 📖 & Playsets 🎞️ via itch.io.
3. Option to Request Codes for ‘At-Cost’ Print-On-Demand poker-card versions of Playsets 🎞️ in development, pre-crowdsourcing (printing & shipping fees still apply).

What Are You Waiting For? Dive into a World of Innovative Storytelling!

 Become an ‘Advanced Playtester’ Now!

Once you’re on board, prepare to delve into diverse storytelling experiences, providing insights that will aid Tableau to offer versatile and adaptive games, ensuring there’s something captivating for everyone!

FAQs

• How do I provide feedback? You can submit your feedback and suggestions through the dedicated forum here on itch.io or through direct email communication with the designer, Christopher Allen.
• Is there a limit to the number of games I can test? No, as an  ‘Advanced Playtester’, you can access and contribute to as many games as you wish.
• But  “I do reviews, live streams and videos” or “I'm an experienced play tester!”
  We are glad to offer a free code for access to all of these games to qualified people. Just contact us at Team@DyversHands.com with your bonafides and your itch.io email address, and we'll send you a code.

Terms & Conditions

By joining the  ‘Advanced Playtester’  program, you agree to provide constructive feedback and maintain confidentiality about the game details until they are officially released.

Available Now to Advance Playtesters

In Early Development

(playtest only, insufficient playtesting, first draft v0 needs final editing)

• Misc.
  • Generic Story 📖 Elements (A two-page Print-N-Fold Booklet Storyset 📖):  Each of the five Story 📖 Elements in a ‘generic’ form,  to serve as a catalyst for when a Story 📖 Element is not available or has not been written yet. 
• Element Storysets
  
  • Shadows & Revelations 🎶 introduces five Tones 🎶 to caste unique shadows of mystery and concealment. Ideal for stories where truths are not merely hidden but deliberately obscured.
  • This two-page Booklet Storyset 📖, complements the Tableau: Collaborative Cinematic Storytelling system and is adaptable for use in Belonging Outside Belonging style storygames. In Tableau, Tones 🎶 are a form of Story 📖 Element ☯ that aid storytellers in crafting an emotional ambiance into their narrative. Each Tone 🎶 lends a unique voice to every tale, serves as a compass to guide the emotional journey and ensures a consistent mood and style.
    • Enigma 🎶: Craft tales that ignite curiosity with the allure of the unfamiliar. Enigma focuses on subtly weaving anomalies into the narrative to entice the Leads to uncover the layers beneath.
    • Investigative 🎶: Here, the narrative thrives on the hunt for hidden truths, guided by logic and observation. Challenges the storytellers to create a puzzle where each clue is a step toward unveiling what lies concealed.
    • Intrigue 🎶: Suited for stories laden with political maneuvering and brinkmanship, where various characters’ & [faction’s] hidden motives and clandestine actions drive the story forward, setting the stage for mind games and betrayals.
    • Suspense 🎶: This Tone 🎶 is all about the slow build of tension, where the anticipation of what's to come simmers beneath the surface. Suspense grips the Leads, teetering on the brink of perils unknown.
    • Thriller 🎶: For stories marked by a sense of urgency, danger, and the pursuit of survival. In a world where the stakes soar and the truth is won with courage, skill, and wit.
  • This Storyset 📖 ensures that your journey to uncover the hidden is as enthralling as the revelations themselves. Employ these five Tones 🎶, craft tales with deep emotional resonance, to weave together mystery and emotion, and orchestrate a narrative ballet between shadows and light.

Early Releases

(available for purchase, more playtesting useful,  mixed v1 final editing completed and first draft v0 needs final editing )

• Lovecraft Country: Tidal Secrets ⚓️ 
  • Dive into the abyss of Tidal Secrets ⚓️ where ancient tales meld with the ocean’s roar, guiding the curious and ensnaring the unwary. A two-booklet Storyset 📖 with five Story Elements 📖, and our first playtest files for Lovecraft Country. 
    • Setting Lovecraft Country 🏘️: Venture through a land haunted by its own myths. Here, every wind whispers an old tale, every creak could be a beckoning from the deep.
    • Setting Innsmouth 🏘️: Etched by time and tides, this quaint seafaring village echoes with the breath of the sea. Tradition seeps through its winding cobblestone streets, aged houses, and salt-encrusted boats, crafting a rhythm of life as enduring as the sea’s tides.
    • Theme Family of Origin 💢: Dive deep into the heart of relationships, where every shared memory might be a treasure and every secret, a potential tempest.
    • Genre Beats Generations 🥁: Embark on an odyssey through time, witnessing the rise and ebb of a family's legacy. But be wary, for every era brings its own trials.
    • Faction: Kin of the Deep 🫂: Engage with the veiled guardians of the abyss. Some seek to preserve age-old rituals, some long for transformation, while others guard their secrets with a fierce determination.

Current Releases (r1.0)

Print-on-Demand from DriveThruCards:

• Twilight Road 🛣️: A Playset 🎞️ for Tableau Games (72 US Poker Cards with Tuckbox, retail $29.95, available to Advanced Playesters ‘At Cost’ )
• Gate Watch 🚪: A Playset 🎞️ for Tableau Games (54 US Poker Cards with Tuckbox retail $25.95, available to Advanced Playesters ‘At Cost’ )
• Tableau Improv 🎪: A Playset 🎞️ for Tableau Games (US Poker Cards with Tuckbox, retail $14.95, available to Advanced Playesters ‘At Cost’ )

• Rules
  • Tableau Core ꩜ Rules ("Name your own price" Booklet 📖)

• Storysets
  • In Courtly Shadows 👑 where honor meets deception, whispered secrets, and hidden agendas. A two-page ‘Print-N-Fold’ Booklet Storyset 📖.
  • Endure a world reshaped by calamity in Trials of Tenacity 🍽️, a three-page ‘Print-N-Fold’ Booklet Storyset 📖.
  • Touched by the Veil 📖, where the unsolved intertwines with the unseen, setting hearts racing and souls searching. A two-page ‘Print-N-Fold’ Booklet Storyset 📖.