Shawn

There's an old saying that was coined originally by an architect named Louis Sullivan, and then Frank Lloyd Wright sort of changed it a bit. It's form follows function is sort of the truncated version of what Louis Sullivan said. Form and function are the same thing is what Frank Lloyd Wright said.

There's an old saying that was coined originally by an architect named Louis Sullivan, and then Frank Lloyd Wright sort of changed it a bit. It's form follows function is sort of the truncated version of what Louis Sullivan said. Form and function are the same thing is what Frank Lloyd Wright said.

But really what they mean is before you can decide on the form of something, you need to decide what the function will be. And if you try to create something, give it form, without knowing what its function's going to be, you will end up not making the best possible thing for the job that it's supposed to do.

But really what they mean is before you can decide on the form of something, you need to decide what the function will be. And if you try to create something, give it form, without knowing what its function's going to be, you will end up not making the best possible thing for the job that it's supposed to do.

And while this is for architecture originally, it sort of travels through different industries, maybe with some slight variations, but the concept remains fairly sound to me.

And while this is for architecture originally, it sort of travels through different industries, maybe with some slight variations, but the concept remains fairly sound to me.

Whether you're talking about game rules or settings or adventures or campaigns, this idea of knowing what the function needs to be and all the little intricacies that may be different from a typical version of that need to be sussed out and acknowledged and put into design.

Whether you're talking about game rules or settings or adventures or campaigns, this idea of knowing what the function needs to be and all the little intricacies that may be different from a typical version of that need to be sussed out and acknowledged and put into design.

It's like every corporation that you might work for or work with, they have their guiding principle or their motto or their five virtuous rules. And only this is like a good version of that. This is an actual, rather than just having these pie in the sky thoughts, actually be working toward bringing to life a thing in a form that you can use.

It's like every corporation that you might work for or work with, they have their guiding principle or their motto or their five virtuous rules. And only this is like a good version of that. This is an actual, rather than just having these pie in the sky thoughts, actually be working toward bringing to life a thing in a form that you can use.

The flip side of that is since function may be different, form will also often be different. And that makes it hard for us to come up with thou shalt or thou shalt not commandments for this industry. Because there will always be some out of the ordinary thing.

The flip side of that is since function may be different, form will also often be different. And that makes it hard for us to come up with thou shalt or thou shalt not commandments for this industry. Because there will always be some out of the ordinary thing.

desired function that requires some sort of unusual form and as soon as that form looks different people will sometimes push back against it not realizing that it's that form for a reason because we are trying to work toward this particular function so every time we say do this

desired function that requires some sort of unusual form and as soon as that form looks different people will sometimes push back against it not realizing that it's that form for a reason because we are trying to work toward this particular function so every time we say do this

There's always an implicit do this unless you are working on this other thing or this other goal or this other desired function.

There's always an implicit do this unless you are working on this other thing or this other goal or this other desired function.

Yeah. And that leads us directly into lesson number two, which is know your medium, but never be beholden to it. but know it. Because by knowing it, you can avoid situations where you try to do something different, but you end up inadvertently breaking the form rather than enhancing the form.

Yeah. And that leads us directly into lesson number two, which is know your medium, but never be beholden to it. but know it. Because by knowing it, you can avoid situations where you try to do something different, but you end up inadvertently breaking the form rather than enhancing the form.

When we talk about that, always be ready and willing to break the rules, but know to your heart the rule that you're breaking and understand the consequences of breaking that rule. And what comes to mind for me always is the initiative system for different games, including fifth edition D&D.

When we talk about that, always be ready and willing to break the rules, but know to your heart the rule that you're breaking and understand the consequences of breaking that rule. And what comes to mind for me always is the initiative system for different games, including fifth edition D&D.