GM book · 1.0.0 · 120-minute plan · 4 players
A paper island folds out of the river every summer. This year its ferry has not returned, and the island’s edge is curling toward the water.
Content notice: Water travel and dissolving shelter; no real boating instructions.
Pilot Cera folded the landing inward to shelter visitors from rain. The return crease was marked with soluble ink and washed away. A dry pattern in the ferry ledger restores the fold; towing visitors off by the reed channel saves everyone but lets the island dissolve.
Use your own rules or play without dice. State the goal, choose an approach, explain a reasonable cost and let the players decide. Plausible careful actions succeed; uncertain actions can succeed with delay, spent supplies or a favour owed. Evidence is always available through its described action. Each player creates an ordinary person with a useful skill, a reason to help, and an item. No character sheet, monster statistics or proprietary rulebook is needed.
Take 10 minutes to introduce characters, read the premise and discuss the content notice. Anyone may say “pause”, pass on a description, or ask to move an uncomfortable moment offstage. Agree on no combat and on treating consequences as delay or repair, not permanent harm. Give one player the route map and another the time sheet.
Follow both investigations; take the break before the immediate problem.
Total: 120 minutes.
Place: River quay
The ferry’s mooring rope ends in a neat paper knot. Nell watches a distant white shore curl like a page.
The loss is a damaged return instruction. Towing visitors out bypasses the fold. Begin with the concrete request in the premise. Ask each character why they care and give them one ordinary useful item. Read both public observations without requiring a roll. Explain that the marked routes are safe to investigate, and offer a choice of the records or the visible trail. Let the group appoint a map reader; do not use hidden travel rolls to block the first lead.
If conversation or a test fails, give the public card anyway. A clear sign points to Paper landing. A missing method can be found again at Return crease; no character skill is required.
Nell: Bring the visitors home Offers directions and ordinary transport for news of the outcome. Voice: Patient, concrete sentences; ask one practical question.
Timeline record: The shelter fold was made just before the rain; the missing mark used blue washable ink.
Give it: Inspect the visible labelled object. Give its full text automatically; a check affects time or extra colour only.
GM inference: The loss is a damaged return instruction.
Fallback instruction: The reed channel carries a towline safely to the landing.
Give it: Inspect the visible labelled object. Give its full text automatically; a check affects time or extra colour only.
GM inference: Towing visitors out bypasses the fold.
Continue: Records and tools or An independent trail
Place: Fold shop
Ori holds a dry ledger under glass. The diagram has a mountain fold and a valley fold, each drawn twice.
The original crease sequence restores the landing. The pilot is at the landing. Put the method card and destination note on the table. Ask what the two objects suggest, then answer direct practical questions from their wording. The maker can trade tools for help carrying or recording them, but refusal never removes these public documents. The trail remains another route. A check, if your rules use one, changes the time or tidiness of the work rather than whether this evidence exists.
If conversation or a test fails, give the public card anyway. A clear sign points to Paper landing. A missing method can be found again at Return crease; no character skill is required.
Ori: Protect the last dry folding pattern Lends supplies if a character helps carry or catalogue them. Public instructions remain available. Voice: Quick, exact words; point at tools while speaking.
Method diagram: Dry ledger: hold the mountain fold, open the valley toward the pinhole, then release.
Give it: Inspect the visible labelled object. Give its full text automatically; a check affects time or extra colour only.
GM inference: The original crease sequence restores the landing.
Destination note: Cera’s ferry ticket is stamped PAPER LANDING.
Give it: Inspect the visible labelled object. Give its full text automatically; a check affects time or extra colour only.
GM inference: The pilot is at the landing.
Continue: An independent trail or The immediate problem
Place: Reed bank
Tev parts reeds to show a narrow current running toward the island. Floating paper cranes follow it.
A physical route leads there. A witness independently locates it. Describe the physical trail before asking for a decision. The witness tells what they actually observed and admits what they did not see. If the group refuses conversation, the physical route supplies the destination. Let a character compare the timeline and another trace the map. For a divided group, take one short turn per side, then reunite at the meeting; do not add another travel encounter.
If conversation or a test fails, give the public card anyway. A clear sign points to Paper landing. A missing method can be found again at Return crease; no character skill is required.
Tev: Find a channel the towing boat can use Guides the party if they share a plan. If refused, points to the visible trail. Voice: Cautious, distinguish observation from assumption.
Physical trail: Paper cranes drift along the reed current to the landing.
Give it: Inspect the visible labelled object. Give its full text automatically; a check affects time or extra colour only.
GM inference: A physical route leads there.
Witness statement: Tev saw the ferry tie up beneath the island’s folded awning.
Give it: Ask any direct question, or read the witness’s signed statement if conversation is refused.
GM inference: A witness independently locates it.
Continue: Records and tools or The immediate problem
Place: Paper landing
Cera shelters visitors beneath a folded awning. Rain beads on the paper, and a return arrow has washed into a blue smear.
Pilot Cera folded the landing inward to shelter visitors from rain. The return crease was marked with soluble ink and washed away. A dry pattern in the ferry ledger restores the fold; towing visitors off by the reed channel saves everyone but lets the island dissolve. State the immediate stakes and offer both listed approaches. Before resolving action, ask who observes, who acts and who helps. Make any cost visible before a player accepts it. Avoid demanding a special ability or spell. When a plan fails, use the slower listed route and mark its time cost; people remain recoverable. Once the goal is safe, mark the immediate goal safe and continue. A refusal by the keeper cannot hide the marked safety instructions.
Tow a small boat through the reed channel and board from the sheltered landing. Explain a five-minute delay before they accept it; mark the immediate goal safe when the people or resource are secured.
Cera: Undo her shelter fold without tearing the island Explains both solutions when the party agrees to protect the immediate goal; the marked instructions are available regardless. Voice: Calm under pressure; admit the decision and its cost.
Safety marks: Hold paper at the dry pinhole; wet edges tear under tension. The reed towline avoids the edges.
Give it: Inspect the visible labelled object. Give its full text automatically; a check affects time or extra colour only.
GM inference: Support the fold or use the alternate evacuation route.
A delay leaves less time for the final repair or decision. Explain costs before resolving an action.
Approach A: Hold the dry pinhole with the pole and guide visitors onto the ferry.
Approach B: Tow a small boat through the reed channel and board from the sheltered landing.
4 players: Two pairs take observation and action tasks. Resolve them in two short alternating turns.
Mark the immediate goal safe after either safe approach; a setback costs time, not access to the next scene.
Continue: The final choice
Place: Return crease
Two creases cross at a dry pinhole. A ferry pole rests beside them, ready to hold one fold while the other opens.
The original crease sequence restores the landing. Support the fold or use the alternate evacuation route. Reveal the method and fallback together. Ask the group which tradeoff it accepts and give every character a small contribution. Mark the complete method for the first choice or the fallback method for the second. A risky improvisation should inherit one of these outcomes after its cost is explained, rather than create a third unprepared lock. Keep the immediate goal safe. Return by the known marked route; no new location needs to be invented.
Tow everyone home and leave the wet island to unfold downstream. Mark the fallback method, keep the immediate goal safe and read the cost ending. Do not repeat a failed test.
Ori: Protect the last dry folding pattern Lends supplies if a character helps carry or catalogue them. Public instructions remain available. Voice: Quick, exact words; point at tools while speaking.
Cera: Undo her shelter fold without tearing the island Explains both solutions when the party agrees to protect the immediate goal; the marked instructions are available regardless. Voice: Calm under pressure; admit the decision and its cost.
Method diagram: Dry ledger: hold the mountain fold, open the valley toward the pinhole, then release.
Give it: Inspect the visible labelled object. Give its full text automatically; a check affects time or extra colour only.
GM inference: The original crease sequence restores the landing.
Fallback instruction: The reed channel carries a towline safely to the landing.
Give it: Inspect the visible labelled object. Give its full text automatically; a check affects time or extra colour only.
GM inference: Towing visitors out bypasses the fold.
The complete method preserves the planned service; the fallback preserves the immediate goal at a visible cost.
Approach A: Use the dry ledger to restore the return crease.
Approach B: Tow everyone home and leave the wet island to unfold downstream.
4 players: Work in two pairs, one following the method and the other preparing a fallback or record.
Mark the complete method for the first approach or the fallback method for the second. Both allow return and an ending.
Continue: Home and aftermath
Place: River quay
The river carries an ordinary ferry wake. On the quay, visitors unfold keepsakes that smell faintly of rain.
Choose a complete resolution or a resolution with a cost, then ask the group what happens next. Read the ending matching the selected outcome. Invite each character to add one ordinary detail to the aftermath, then ask the keeper for a concrete next action. Record who accepted the cost and which clues went unused. Spend the last few minutes on one enjoyable moment and one thing to change next time. Characters need not solve every optional inference to earn a resolved ending.
If no method was chosen, first confirm the immediate goal is safe, use the final fallback method and then read the cost ending. Record the unresolved work and give every character an epilogue.
Nell: Bring the visitors home Offers directions and ordinary transport for news of the outcome. Voice: Patient, concrete sentences; ask one practical question.
Cera: Undo her shelter fold without tearing the island Explains both solutions when the party agrees to protect the immediate goal; the marked instructions are available regardless. Voice: Calm under pressure; admit the decision and its cost.
No new evidence required.
Continue: Read an ending and close the session.
The valley fold opens cleanly. The island becomes a little summer shore again, with its return pattern stored in dry ink.
First secure the immediate goal at Paper landing. Choose this ending only after final method A is used at Return crease.
The towline brings everyone home. Behind them, the island becomes a fleet of loose pages. Its visitors begin collecting the dry pattern for another summer.
First secure the immediate goal at Paper landing. Choose this ending only after final method B is used at Return crease.
The loss is a damaged return instruction.
Timeline record
Proceed to Paper landing
Destination note OR Physical trail OR Witness statement
Support the fold or use the alternate evacuation route.
Safety marks · the marked safety instructions supply a fallback.
Decide what to preserve on the river.
Method diagram OR Fallback instruction
h-order: The loss is a damaged return instruction.
h-fallback: Towing visitors out bypasses the fold.
h-method: The original crease sequence restores the landing.
h-note: The pilot is at the landing.
h-trail: A physical route leads there.
h-witness: A witness independently locates it.
h-safe: Support the fold or use the alternate evacuation route.
Record the ending, one memorable choice, and any unresolved work. Ask what was enjoyable and what needs to change. The time plan is a starting point; adapt it to your group.
Start at River quay. Fold shop and Reed bank are independent investigation routes; both connect to Paper landing, which leads to Return crease. All marked connections are bidirectional. Return uses the known route to River quay.
At Paper landing, the marked entrance reaches the immediate problem. Approach A: Hold the dry pinhole with the pole and guide visitors onto the ferry. Approach B: Tow a small boat through the reed channel and board from the sheltered landing. Both reach the onward route. Layout is schematic, with no combat grid or movement scale.
Original AI-assisted fiction. Use and adapt at your own table. Public redistribution and publication terms are to be set by the owner. This package includes no proprietary game rules.