1
00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:15,440
Do you guys know this this this 
game? 

2
00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:21,440
If you're listening on Spotify 
or something, I'm showing Breath

3
00:00:21,440 --> 00:00:23,800
of the Wild, The Legend of Zelda
Breath of the Wild. 

4
00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:27,480
And I don't mean have you played
it once or did you bounce off it

5
00:00:27,480 --> 00:00:30,360
after a few hours? 
I mean, do you remember how it 

6
00:00:30,360 --> 00:00:34,520
started? 
You wake up, you're wearing next

7
00:00:34,520 --> 00:00:37,240
to nothing. 
You get handed a stick. 

8
00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:40,640
And very quickly, without 
ceremony, without build up, 

9
00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:44,800
without the long tutorial arc, 
you come out of the little hole.

10
00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:47,200
You walk up to the edge of the 
Cliff. 

11
00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:51,720
The music swells. 
This looming, dangerous looking 

12
00:00:52,120 --> 00:00:57,880
castle in the middle appears, 
and on the screen appears. 

13
00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:01,560
Defeat Gannon. 
That's the goal. 

14
00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:07,000
No further qualifiers, no first 
you must prove yourself. 

15
00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:11,760
No invisible walls politely 
asking you to come back later. 

16
00:01:13,040 --> 00:01:18,280
The castle is right there the 
whole game through, and you can 

17
00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:19,600
immediately go there if you 
want. 

18
00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:23,400
You can also see this castle 
from almost anywhere on the map 

19
00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:26,200
you can walk towards 
immediately. 

20
00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:29,520
You can absolutely get 
annihilated if you try too 

21
00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:33,360
early, but the game never tells 
you that you're not allowed to 

22
00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:37,040
try. 
And that design decision has 

23
00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:44,800
stuck with me for years because 
that game came out in 2017. 

24
00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:47,760
Do you feel old yet? 
Yes, I do. 

25
00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:51,000
Yeah. 
What that opening does is 

26
00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:56,800
incredible, incredibly simple 
and incredibly confident as 

27
00:01:56,800 --> 00:01:59,400
well. 
It gives you the ending upfront.

28
00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:03,160
You know what done looks like 
from minute 1? 

29
00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:05,680
Pretty much. 
You don't have to guess what the

30
00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:09,199
game is about or where it's 
ultimately heading, and 

31
00:02:09,199 --> 00:02:14,000
everything else you do exists in
relation to that one ultimate 

32
00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:17,800
fixed outcome. 
You don't do shrines to unlock 

33
00:02:17,800 --> 00:02:20,200
the ending. 
You don't get better weapons to 

34
00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:22,720
unlock the ending or skills to 
unlock the ending. 

35
00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:26,560
You don't gain any specific 
knowledge that unlocks it. 

36
00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:30,160
None of that gives you 
permission to immediately go to 

37
00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:33,440
Gannon and kick his ass or get 
your ass kicked. 

38
00:02:34,600 --> 00:02:38,040
All of it just changes how 
survivable the final attempt is 

39
00:02:39,040 --> 00:02:40,880
and you can see everything is 
leveraged. 

40
00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:44,240
Pretty much. 
And that distinction from 

41
00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:47,800
preparation instead of 
permission is the thing that 

42
00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:50,760
clicked most for me as a game 
master. 

43
00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:58,440
But a quick pause first. 
Real talk for a second. 

44
00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:03,320
This channel gets way more 
viewers than I had ever hoped or

45
00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:07,320
dare dream of. 
Of course for most of you it's 

46
00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:09,800
like, what? 
Rookie numbers man. 

47
00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:14,800
But genuinely, to me, thousands 
of people have passed through 

48
00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:19,520
and only a small fraction of you
are actually subscribed. 

49
00:03:19,520 --> 00:03:23,240
Did you know that if you've 
watched more than one video of 

50
00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:28,680
mine and if you're into this 
kind of long form, slow design 

51
00:03:28,680 --> 00:03:34,640
heavy TDRPG talk it subscribe. 
It helps the channel a lot more 

52
00:03:34,640 --> 00:03:39,040
than you think and it tells the 
algorithm that there is room for

53
00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:42,960
this kind of content. 
So with that said, let's get 

54
00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:45,640
back to it. 
Not an expert in adventure 

55
00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:48,000
design. 
I am not a theorist. 

56
00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:52,720
I am not a historian. 
I have not done super extensive 

57
00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:56,960
research in all these things, in
writing and all that. 

58
00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:02,680
But yeah, I'm just a hobbyist 
who runs games. 

59
00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:05,880
That's pretty much it. 
I'm not here to tell you how 

60
00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:08,240
adventures should be written, 
not at all. 

61
00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:13,760
I'm kind of good at creating 
rule sets and creating worlds 

62
00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:18,360
and setting a tone, creating 
factions and something that can 

63
00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:22,840
provide long term pressure. 
But for a long time now, writing

64
00:04:22,840 --> 00:04:26,840
adventures that actually held 
together at the table was pretty

65
00:04:26,840 --> 00:04:29,360
hard for me. 
Because players don't play the 

66
00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:34,360
way you imagine they will. 
They skip things, they 

67
00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:38,560
misunderstand things, they 
fixate on details you made-up on

68
00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:41,800
the spot and ignore the stuff 
you thought was obvious. 

69
00:04:42,360 --> 00:04:44,880
And my prep used to crack when 
that happened. 

70
00:04:44,880 --> 00:04:49,080
But what I do bring to this 
conversation is my day job. 

71
00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:52,520
I work in user experience 
research and design. 

72
00:04:52,520 --> 00:04:56,440
I spend my professional life 
watching people interact with 

73
00:04:56,440 --> 00:04:59,240
systems in ways the designers 
didn't expect. 

74
00:05:00,200 --> 00:05:02,840
People don't follow flows the 
way you want them to. 

75
00:05:02,840 --> 00:05:05,360
They don't read instructions the
way you want them to. 

76
00:05:05,400 --> 00:05:09,440
They don't behave correctly. 
Now, good systems can survive 

77
00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:10,880
that. 
Bad systems. 

78
00:05:10,880 --> 00:05:14,000
They demand more compliance and 
start pushing users around, 

79
00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:16,880
leading to even more unwanted 
behavior. 

80
00:05:17,280 --> 00:05:23,920
And slowly and painfully, I 
realized that a lot of tabletop 

81
00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:29,520
adventures are exactly designed 
like these bad systems, and most

82
00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:32,120
adventures are written as 
sequences. 

83
00:05:32,960 --> 00:05:36,080
This happens, then this happens,
then this happens. 

84
00:05:36,560 --> 00:05:41,400
And that works beautifully for a
movie or in a book, or on paper.

85
00:05:41,840 --> 00:05:45,160
But at the table it come becomes
very fragile very quickly, 

86
00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:50,480
because tabletop games allow 
players to attempt anything in 

87
00:05:50,480 --> 00:05:53,800
any order, with incomplete 
information to boot. 

88
00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:58,240
If your adventure only works 
when players behave the way you 

89
00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:03,720
want them to behave, with the 
actual information you want them

90
00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:06,880
to achieve, well, then it's 
going to fall apart. 

91
00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:11,640
Now, to be very clear, this does
not mean that procedural design 

92
00:06:11,640 --> 00:06:14,240
is bad. 
Gradual revelation is powerful, 

93
00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:18,920
and mysteries rely on it, Horror
relies on it, pacing relies on 

94
00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:21,800
it, and procedural disclosure is
written well. 

95
00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:24,960
It's fantastic. 
Frankly, the problem isn't 

96
00:06:25,280 --> 00:06:27,400
procedure. 
The problem is when everything 

97
00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:31,960
depends on one fragile chain of 
events, one missed clue, or 1 

98
00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:35,840
NPC that has to survive. 
The thing that helped me wasn't 

99
00:06:35,880 --> 00:06:39,680
to write better plots, it was 
changing what I designed first. 

100
00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:42,600
I stopped starting designing 
scenes. 

101
00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:46,920
I stopped starting with paths. 
I started with the end. 

102
00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:49,240
Pretty much. 
What does it look like when this

103
00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:52,240
problem is actually resolved? 
When it's over. 

104
00:06:53,280 --> 00:06:57,400
Not the story, not the 
explanation, the true end state.

105
00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:01,160
And that is where this little 
shorthand comes from. 

106
00:07:01,720 --> 00:07:05,440
It's called get to 4. 
Now 4 isn't special, it's just 

107
00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:10,720
it means end state Enough the 
finish line, enough pressure, 

108
00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:13,920
enough leverage, enough change 
pretty much that the situation 

109
00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:17,080
can't sustain itself anymore in 
a good way or in a bad way, 

110
00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:21,400
depending on how it turns out. 
Players never see this number, 

111
00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:25,440
it only exists so it can stay 
consistent when judging impacted

112
00:07:25,440 --> 00:07:29,520
the table. 
How to get to 4? 

113
00:07:29,960 --> 00:07:32,720
Anything that genuinely changes 
the situation can count. 

114
00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:36,320
Information that removes 
uncertainty can be plus one. 

115
00:07:36,680 --> 00:07:38,800
Allies that shift the balance 
can be plus one. 

116
00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:44,600
Resources that reduce risk can 
be plus one, like the shrines in

117
00:07:44,600 --> 00:07:47,320
Breath of the Wild or getting 
better weapons. 

118
00:07:48,040 --> 00:07:51,160
Environmental changes that close
options or open new ones. 

119
00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:54,880
You can unlock things in the 
world, it doesn't matter how the

120
00:07:54,880 --> 00:07:57,440
players get there. 
What matters is that the world 

121
00:07:57,440 --> 00:08:00,440
isn't the same afterwards. 
That there is change, meaningful

122
00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:03,320
change. 
And once I frame things this way

123
00:08:03,320 --> 00:08:07,000
for myself, I realized this is 
exactly how Breath of the Wild 

124
00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:09,600
also works. 
Nothing unlocks the ending. 

125
00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:13,520
The ending is always there. 
Just everything makes the 

126
00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:18,320
attempt, the final attempt, more
survivable At some point. 

127
00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:21,400
As a player, you look at the 
castle in the middle and you 

128
00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:24,800
think, yeah, I can, I can try 
this now. 

129
00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:27,920
I've collected this many hearts,
I have the Master Sword, I have 

130
00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:31,360
everything I need. 
And once you see this, you start

131
00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:34,880
recognize these patterns. 
In the best tabletop campaigns 

132
00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:39,760
people still talk about years 
later, they usually have strong 

133
00:08:39,760 --> 00:08:43,840
and visible threat. 
A ruler in a castle like Strat 

134
00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:47,920
or a dangerous frontier, or a 
mega dungeon looming near 

135
00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:51,680
civilization. 
From early on, players know what

136
00:08:51,680 --> 00:08:55,680
the problem is, where it lives, 
and that dealing with it is 

137
00:08:55,720 --> 00:08:59,680
inevitable. 
There's always the castle on the

138
00:08:59,680 --> 00:09:04,960
horizon, 'cause when you look at
the world of Breath of the Wild,

139
00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:07,760
wherever you are in this world 
and you look at the center of 

140
00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:12,280
the map, there's always this 
part of the castle that you can 

141
00:09:12,280 --> 00:09:15,760
see as a looming threat. 
Now, those campaigns, they don't

142
00:09:15,760 --> 00:09:18,080
work because players follow the 
right steps. 

143
00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:21,040
No, they work because the ending
never moves. 

144
00:09:21,320 --> 00:09:24,720
You can wander and you can fail.
You can do things out of order. 

145
00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:26,840
That's fine. 
The campaign survives because 

146
00:09:26,840 --> 00:09:28,880
nothing you're doing is 
unlocking the ending. 

147
00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:33,320
You're only preparing for it. 
And that's get to 4. 

148
00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:37,120
In tabletop terms, the adventure
ends when enough has changed. 

149
00:09:37,320 --> 00:09:40,800
You can rush the ending early 
and you can suffer, or you can 

150
00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:44,200
stack the odds. 
Same logic, different medium. 

151
00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:47,360
This is also what agency 
actually feels like at the 

152
00:09:47,360 --> 00:09:49,760
table. 
It doesn't mean infinite 

153
00:09:49,760 --> 00:09:52,600
freedom, but meaningful risk 
assessment. 

154
00:09:53,120 --> 00:09:55,680
Players aren't asking what are 
we supposed to do, they're 

155
00:09:55,680 --> 00:10:00,120
asking are we ready to face this
final confrontation. 

156
00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:04,520
Thinking this way made my 
preparation a bit sturdier. 

157
00:10:04,520 --> 00:10:08,800
It's it make me prepare better 
for skipped content and it 

158
00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:11,480
doesn't become a problem 
anymore. 

159
00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:14,320
Unexpected plans. 
They are no longer a threat. 

160
00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:18,800
So I stopped protecting scenes 
on their own and I started 

161
00:10:18,800 --> 00:10:23,160
protecting the outcome. 
That's why the image of the 

162
00:10:23,160 --> 00:10:27,000
castle matters so much to me. 
It doesn't chase you, it doesn't

163
00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:29,200
disappear. 
It waits there. 

164
00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:32,600
And good adventures, I feel like
do the same thing. 

165
00:10:33,120 --> 00:10:36,320
They define the problem early. 
They let players decide when to 

166
00:10:36,320 --> 00:10:40,320
step into it. 
So if this resonated, hit the 

167
00:10:40,320 --> 00:10:42,720
like button. 
And if you want more long form 

168
00:10:42,720 --> 00:10:45,440
TDRPG design talk like this, 
subscribe. 

169
00:10:45,600 --> 00:10:48,040
And if you've ever watched your 
carefully planned adventure 

170
00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:51,640
wobble at the table, just know 
that mine still wobbles every 

171
00:10:51,640 --> 00:10:53,840
now and then as well. 
See you next time. 

172
00:10:54,040 --> 00:10:54,320
Bye bye.