What is Scalable Storytelling?

Greetings, cultists!

Today I want to give you some insight into how we think at Eggplant Cult. I’ve spent much of my career building tools that help companies accelerate their competitive edge by solving problems rooted in inefficient processes. This experience has helped prepare me for identifying opportunities that may otherwise remain hidden.

Knowing that Lyrics & Legends would be a content-heavy product, I was inspired to create tools to streamline our creative process. During a recent brainstorming session, we stumbled upon the methodology that is the topic of this post. It’s unique to Eggplant Cult, and I believe it will help us deliver high-quality campaign content at a pace consistent with the demands of our community.

We’ve been working on an exciting innovation that will transform how we create narratives for Lyrics & Legends. We call this method “Scalable Storytelling,” a novel process we have designed for building quest narratives differently. Rather than creating quests from scratch every time, we craft adaptable “story recipes” that can leverage multiple context-specific story elements to compose discrete narratives.

Let’s look at a simple example of potential outcomes to understand how transformative Scalable Storytelling will be. To do so, we can use a familiar quest trope, such as a simple collection quest. When we apply the Scalable Storytelling method to design a new collection quest, depending on the context we provide, the resulting quest may result in a narrative about retrieving merchant goods stolen by bandits.

If we apply different contextual details, this same methodology can result in a vastly different narrative about rescuing kidnapped children from cultists outside town. The core of the quest remains the same, but its identity is recast based on the changing context. Sounds intriguing, doesn’t it?

This process is so powerful because it can leverage provided context to create something unique yet consistent with the larger narrative. Unlike template-based narratives or procedural generation, Scalable Storytelling enables the supposition that a story trope, when placed in different contexts, can yield distinct narrative outcomes.

For instance, a burrito filled with eggs and chorizo makes a tasty breakfast, while one with refried beans, rice, and carne asada is perfect for lunch or dinner. Although both are burritos, the ingredients lead to an implication of when they are an appropriate meal. Likewise, a quest to save kidnapped children may not be suitable in a large city with military resources available to handle the situation. Context matters and nothing kills immersion like a quest that is out of place.

Now that we have a better understanding of what Scalable Storytelling is, let’s see how it works in action. To fully grasp the potential of Scalable Storytelling, let’s delve into one of the most widely recognized RPG scenarios: The Monster Lair. When describing a Scalable Storytelling trope, we’re essentially defining a formula for a quest. In this case, the Monster Lair formula requires a monster and prey. The prey can be an individual NPC or an entire village. We can generate a relatively engaging quest rich with local lore with just these two variables.

However, if we want to make our quest more interesting, we need to provide further context. Therefore, all of our formulas allow for n number of contextual variables. If we express this formula algorithmically, it will look something like the following:

quest = formula(m, p, c1, c2, ..., cn)

In its simplest form, this trope involves a menacing creature (which we’ll refer to as m) that poses a threat to a peaceful community (p). The fundamental task for the player is to eradicate m to restore peace to p. Any additional contextual variables will be represented by c1, c2, …, cn.

So, in a classic scenario, a dreadful monster is terrorizing a local town, snatching innocent villagers who venture too far from safety. The player’s task is clear: find the monster’s lair and end its reign of terror, hence the name of the trope, Monster’s Lair.

But what happens if we introduce an additional variable into the equation and provide more context? For this example, we’ll use the beloved daughter of the town elder. With the addition of this variable, we will transform a relatively two-dimensional quest into something much more elaborate. Conceptually, this makes sense intuitively. But what will the added context change the quest in practice?

In addition to the variables we demonstrated in the formula above, Scalable Storytelling also has access to an implicit context of the surrounding area where a quest is being designed. This implicit context includes local geography, lore, and landmarks and will apply a layer of polish that makes the quests integrate more seamlessly into the campaign.

Getting back to the elder’s daughter, implications of local lore regarding a curse placed on the town for the unjust execution of a witch can set the stage for both the quest’s foundations and clues that players will encounter.

Scalable Storytelling doesn’t just change the quest; it changes the entire narrative surrounding it. Introducing the elder’s daughter adds a new level of urgency and emotional depth to the quest. The quest has evolved from a story about eradicating a threat to one about saving a life, restoring peace and happiness to a father, and bringing hope to a desolate community.

Superficially, Scalable Storytelling may seem like a systematic approach, but it’s far from robotic. Scalable Storytelling is a powerful tool that allows our team to produce captivating and engaging content more quickly. As with all endeavors, our emphasis on unparalleled quality is at the forefront of quests inspired by this nascent methodology. By that, I mean quests that are capable of shaping the motives and ambitions of NPCs players encounter, adding layers of depth and life to the game world.

We’re still exploring the vast potential of Scalable Storytelling. It’s an exciting frontier, promising unbounded narrative possibilities and endless avenues for player engagement. As we continue fine-tuning this methodology, we’re eager to see how players will react to content crafted using this tool.

I hope this post has helped give you some insight into some of the internal workings at Eggplant Cult and why we’re so incredibly proud of what we’re building. Every aspect of Lyrics & Legends, from the lore written about an enchanted toothpick to our revolutionary VTT, BardVTT, is designed with you, our passionate gaming community, in mind.

Stay tuned for updates and opportunities to glimpse behind the scenes into the Eggplant Cult’s creative process as we continue our quest to redefine TTRPGs. If you want to be among the first to know about our upcoming releases and updates, sign up for our newsletter and join the Eggplant Cult community!