Occam's Blade of Exile

By Stareye

Around 1300 something, a medieval philosopher, Occam, stated that “plurality should not be assumed without necessity”. In plain English this means, “one should not increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities required to explain anything”. [ Al's Editor’s Note: That’s Not Plain English] [ TM's Editor's Note: Is Too, Nyah] This philosophy has been extended to science saying that one should employ the simplest model, of the theoretically infinitely many, necessary for explaining phenomena.
So how does this apply to Blades of Exile?
In developing or conveying a plotline, an author can tell the needed story in principal an infinite number of ways. Of course some are better than others and it is up to the scenario designer to choose the best one. The author must decide how to tell a story with the necessary details and knowing what extraneous details to omit and what must be included. The best way to illustrate the consequences are through two fictional stories (although based on true stories) of two designers Will and Anne.

* * *

Will is first starting out designing Blades scenarios. After several weeks of experimenting with the Blades of Exile editor so he becomes technically proficient with it, he decides to write his very first scenario. So Will decides to take the advice of many in the Blades community and start out with a short scenario. First Will creates a short plotline which he understands and thinks is worthy of a month of his time.
So Will spends his next month designing the scenario which he decides to call Hero’s Valley, has it beta tested, squishes as much bugs as possible and satisfied with his work, releases it. Hero’s Valley makes it to the CSR tables and people begin to play it. Several people review it and one of the comments is as follows:
“Hero’s Valley shows a lot of technical promise, and the designer knows how to use the editor. The scenario was relatively bug free from a technical standpoint. Unfortunately, Hero’s Valley suffers from serious plot bugs. It starts out with getting some mission from the Mayor to find some artifact, then suddenly I am pulled into a Bandit ring which turns out to be a freedom fighting force. For seemingly no reason I am now allied with the freedom fighters and I go back and kill the oppressive Mayor and all is well. I often felt like the designer just forced me along the scenario without explaining why I was doing what I was doing. The plot simply did not flow well and nothing really seemed to make too much sense. For technical proficiency I give it a 4.5”
Will reads the comments and does not understand how anyone could not understand his plot. It was all completely clear to him. What Will failed to understand is that the author has a unique perspective of the storyline, he knows everything that is going to happen. What killed Will’s otherwise decent scenario was his failure to transition between points in the story adequately and fully flesh out the motives which were all too vague at points. So Although Will knew perfectly well what the player should think he or she should be doing, he left out so many important details that the player did not know him or herself. Will in his haste, failed to develop the scenario to an adequate point, cutting too much meat off the plot.

* * *

Anne is a new designer who is technically proficient much like Will. She decides to do a beginner epic. She develops a brilliant plotline full of twists, turns, and surprises. The scenario, which she calls Epic Quest, is full of interesting NPCs and is heavy in detail. Anne spends six months designer her scenario, beta tests it, and releases it. Epic Quest gets placed on the CSR and receives the following review:
“It was clear that Anne spent a lot of time on this scenario, and the technical side was much better than expected from a new designer. The scenario was quite long and clearly had a lot of effort put into it. There are a lot of interesting characters to meet and there are multiple events going on around the party as the scenario goes on. The plotline quickly becomes increasingly more and more complex as time goes on and I lost track of all the NPCs who are brought up each with separate backgrounds and motives.
For instance, Sylda, queen of Dyad folk joined factions with Embraze, lord of the Mighty mountain to serve as defense against Zolox, lord of darkness, son of Mandala, former ruler of the world for centuries. Embraze’s brothers, Narand and Joston disagree on the alliance of Sylda because she cannot be trusted and go off to join with the Molitar, a race of bull humanoids who live in the Misty Crags of Wintholon. Unfortunately, Zolox decides to strike the Molitar and they split up into two regions as they flee the Misty Crags. One faction with Narand goes into Mirkland and enlists protection from Swarmland, master of the swamps where the other (with Joston) seeks alliance with Alderman the archwizard. It turns out that Alderman is secretly working for Zolox with the assistance of Shela, keeper of the Ocean Shrine whose brother slew Dandran, son of Swarmland who also happened to be the friend of Julu keeper of the Sky Shrine. Meanwhile back in the Misty Crags, Zolox...
The scenario gets increasingly more complicated here and the party’s role is dwarfed by all the other much more powerful characters as they move forward through this contrived and overly complicated storyline. For the effort I give it a 6.0.”
Anne meant well when designer her scenario but she simply put in too much. No matter how well she tells the storyline above, any player is bound to be confused. The motives were decently fleshed out and Anne did as much as she could to explain them. However, it was just too much. Too many things going on only confuses the player and actually hurts the story. More is not always better and hurt Anne’s score on the CSR because of it.

* * *

The stories of Will and Anne illustrate the balancing act that we as Blades of Exile designers must make when developing and fleshing out a plotline. There needs to be enough detail so that the story makes sense, but not so many extraneous details that it confuses the player. Although there is some leeway here and it is often best to err on the side of detail, one must be careful not to go too far.
From my experience new designers tend to commit Will’s mistake and lack the experience in knowing how to flesh out an adequate plot. The most common failure is not in the actual sections of the story themselves, but the transitions between them which are equally as important. As a new designer ask yourself, “Does this plot flow or does it skip?” If it skips you’ve cut too much and you need to strengthen your transitions. More experienced designers have a tendency to gravitate in the opposite direction developing an epic full of NPCs and detail. Chances are that parts of the story have been left out and the player would have been none the wiser, and a lot happier that you did. When developing a plotline, ask yourself, “Do I really need this gem quest or am I just putting this in to make the thing longer?” If you suspect it serves only an extraneous purpose, leave it out despite how painful it is for you -- your players will experience more pain if you keep it in. Players tend to have busy lives too and they do not need to waste their time with unimportant parts. This also has the nice benefit of making your scenario easier to complete, meaning you are more likely to complete it.
When designing a plotline, keep Occam’s Blade close at hand. Whenever you see something that is really superfluous, slash it off and let it die. However, be careful when you wield this plot cutting weapon, for if you cut too much you will definitely hear it. When in doubt, simplify, but do so with care.

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