Week 9 Session: The message-template workshop

Writing deceptive and helpful message templates for five dangerous locations, using only a fixed, templated vocabulary

26 April 2027

Before the session#

Pick five moments from any game (a hidden item, a fatal drop, an ambush, a secret wall, a fake-safe room) that a stranger passing through wouldn’t yet know about.

In the session#

Design a fixed vocabulary — a small set of templated phrases and blanks, Dark Souls’ own system is the reference — then write, for each of your five locations, one message using that vocabulary that would genuinely help a stranger and one that would deceive them, using the identical words where possible. Trade with a partner: can they tell, from the message alone, which is which? If they can, the vocabulary is carrying more certainty than the system should allow.

Afterwards#

Keep the vocabulary itself, not just the ten messages — a restricted phrase set that can express both help and cruelty in the same words is the actual design object this week studies.