In an effort to pry my brain away from my phone and other electronic devices, I recently challenged myself to create a game while on vacation. I was inspired by Book of Dungeon by Gunpowder Studios, but wanted something more free-form, rogue-like, and well… free for anyone to play.

I wanted the game to be:

• a solo rogue-like dungeon crawler adventure
• intuitive/easily understood
• lore-agnostic (can be plugged into any universe)
• simple (can be played with things easily obtained)

Thus, “Escape from Dzamadu” was born

Midway through the journey of your life, you found yourself in a forest dark, having lost the straightforward path. In a moment of carelessness, you lost your footing and fell what seemed like a great distance into a pit. You wake up surrounded by the skeletal remains of those that didn’t survive the fall. You have stumbled into what looks to be the ancient prison Dzamadu. You remember hearing stories as a child of it and the many traps within. The pit is far too steep to climb; you’re only hope is to find a exit somewhere deep in the prison. You recall all the reports of people who have gone missing in the surrounding area, and it all starts to make sense that perhaps they too ended up here. Who knows who (or what) else survived the fall and still walks the rooms of the prison. You ready your weapon and push forward likely encounter beasts, brigands, or other poor souls trapped in the endless twisting labyrinth of the prison Dzamadu.

Here’s what you need:

• a deck of standard playing cards with the jokers included
• grid paper (any size)
• a pencil & eraser

Creating your hero

Shuffle the deck with the jokers included. Start drawing cards, the first card you draw of each suit determines:

your starting and maximum health

Your starting weapon damage

your starting and maximum wit

the amount of money you start with

Write these stats on a separate page in pencil (you’ll be updating them often).

Entering the prison Dzamadu

Draw a “geometry card” from the top of the deck. This will determine the size of the starting room, the number of doors, and the location of the doors. Draw the room in the centre of the sheet of a fresh piece of grid paper.

Interpreting the Geometry Card

Geometry cards are used to determine the size of a room you are entering as well as the number and location of the doors. It’s pretty straight forward: the rank of the card determines the size of the room (i.e. 2 squares all the way up to an Ace which is 14 squares). The suit determines the number of doors and where they are located.

1 door located on the south side of the room

2 doors located on the north and south side of the room

3 doors located west, north, and east side of the room

4 doors located on the east, north, west, and south side of the room.

A couple notes about geometry cards

The shape of the room is up to you as long as it equals the rank of the card.

An adjacent room can create a new door on a previously drawn room if the geometry card specifies that a door should be on that side (think of this as a secret door that hadn’t been found when the first room was drawn).

A room can have a maximum of 4 doors (one on each side).

A block can only have one door. If you draw a room with more doors than blocks (2 of diamonds as an example) the first door will be on the direction indicated by the suit (in the case of diamonds, this would be the east side). The remaining doors continue counter-clockwise in priority (so a 2 of diamonds would have a door on the east side and south side of the room).

If a room or door crosses the edge of the sheet, it wraps to the other side of the sheet.

Moving into a room

1. Pick a door you wish to move through.
2. If the room you’re moving into is unmapped, draw a geometry card to determine it’s size and doors. Otherwise skip to step 3. If you reach the edge of the sheet of paper, continue from the opposite edge of the page.
3. Draw a Room Type Card to determine what is in the room
4. Draw a line showing the path of your character from one room to the next

Note: once you’ve interacted with a room, you may backtrack to any room you’ve previously interacted with without having to redraw a room type card. Any items left in rooms may be picked up. Reentering a room with an enemy that was left alive or trap that remains armed means you must interact with the enemy or trap again before moving on.

Interpreting the Room Type card

Every room you move into has a type that is determined by the Room Type card’s suit:

The room contains an NPC

The room contains an enemy

The room contains a trap

The room contains an item

Joker: This is the exit (you’ve won)

Once the room type is determined, you must interact with the room using the rules below before moving to the next room.

Interacting with an NPC Room

After entering an NPC Room, draw an NPC Type card:

The NPC tells where a health is

The NPC tells where a weapon is

The NPC is a trader (see below)

The NPC tells where money is

Joker: Tells you where the exit is

If the NPC is a trader draw 6 cards are arrange in this formation:

▮▮▮ The top row dictates the item (See Item Types)
▮▮▮ The bottom row dictates the price in money from 2 to 14 (ace)

You can buy any number of the three items (or none) before proceeding to the next room.

Note: the trader does not remain in the room after you’ve left.

If the NPC is a , , , or joker

Draw 2 direction cards, the suit determines the direction, and the rank determines the distance in squares.

South

North

West

East

Count the number of squares from where your character entered the room in the direction and distance dictated by each card and mark the square on the map where the item is.

If you navigate to a room that includes this square, you can pick up the item after interacting with the room. Draw a card to determine potency of the item.

Interacting with an Enemy Room

Upon entering an Enemy Room, draw an Enemy Type card. The suit determines what they will drop upon death, and the rank determines their weapon damage and potency of their drop. (See Item Types)

Draw another card to determine the enemy’s health.

You may now choose to fight or flee.

Fighting

Draw an enemy hit card, then draw a player hit card.

Add the rank of the enemy’s hit card to their weapon damage.

Add the rank of the player’s hit card to your weapon damage.

The difference dictates the damage done to the enemy or player. Example of a single volley:

Continue drawing hit cards until the player or the enemy reaches a health of zero.

Jokers drawn during a volley is an instant kill for whichever side draws it.

Fleeing

At the beginning of a battle or before each volley in a battle, you may chose to try to flee. If you’d like to try to flee:

Draw the player’s flee chance, then draw the enemy’s flee chance.

If the enemy’s card is a higher rank, subtract half of the enemy’s weapon strength from the players health. Player may continue battle or try to flee again.

If the player’s card is higher, the flee is successful and you may flee to an adjacent room. The enemy remains in the room (mark the enemy’s location, weapon damage, and health on the map).

If the cards match in rank, the flee fails without damage to the player. Player may continue battle or try to flee again.

If a joker is drawn, the side that drew the joker instantly kills their opponent.

Interacting with a Trap Room

Upon entering a trap room, draw a trap type card. The suit determines what the trap will hit (if you spring the trap), or drop (if you disarm the trap). The rank determines the potency of the trap/drop (how much to subtract or add) to your stats.

Health
If sprung, subtract potency from health stat
If Disarmed, add health to health stat up to maximum (if you were already at max health when entering the room, add 1 to maximum health).

Weapon
If sprung, subtract potency from weapon stat
If Disarmed, player is free to replace weapon with the dropped weapon.

Wit
If sprung, subtract potency from Wit stat
If Disarmed, add Wit to Wit stat up to maximum (if you were already at max Wit when entering the room, add 1 to maximum Wit).

Money
If sprung, subtract potency from money stat
If Disarmed, add potency to money stat

Joker: An exit
If sprung, exit is sealed shut
If Disarmed, Exit is opened (you win)

Draw a card to determine the wit required to disarm the trap. If your wit is lower then the wit to disarm, the trap strikes you, if it is higher the trap is disarmed, and if it matches the trap remains in the room (draw a new wit to disarm if you reenter the room).

Interacting with an item room

Upon entering an item room, draw and Item Type card. The suit determines the type of item, and the rank determines the potency. It is your choice if you wish to pick up the item or leave it behind.

Health potion
If picked up adds health to health stat up to maximum (if you were already at max health when entering the room, picking up the item adds 1 to maximum health).

Weapon
You are is free to replace your current weapon with the weapon in the room.

Wit potion
If picked up adds Wit to Wit stat up to maximum (if you were already at max Wit when entering the room, picking up the item adds 1 to maximum Wit).

Money
If picked up, adds money to the money stat.

Joker: Wildcard potion
You may chose the type of item (Health, Weapon, Wit, or Money) before drawing a potency card.

If you choose to leave an item behind, mark its type, location, and potency on the map before continuing to the next room.

Artifacts

If you draw an Ace as an item type, you have found an artifact. You may keep the card and it grants you a permanent buff:

Breastplate of righteousness: +15 to Max Health (but only when not fleeing)

The Ultimate Weapon (Weapon with 15 potency)

Immunity to Traps

“Your money is no good here” (free items from traders)

Dying

Upon dying, the game ends. The map can be replayed with a newly created character. To reset the map, erase all items, enemies, traps, and exits as well as the line indicating the players path. Any items outside of the known rooms (from NPCs) may remain. The newly created player enters at the same point in the map (the centre) and draws a room type card for each known room they enter.

Winning

You win the game by successfully exiting the prison Dzamadu. Upon winning the game, find your score by counting the number of unique rooms your character entered during the game and adding the remaining stats your character finished with together. Example:

[# of rooms] + [health] + [weapon damage] + [Wit] + [Money]
= Score

Upon exiting the prison Dzamadu, the exit is sealed behind you. The map may be reset. To reset the map, erase all items, enemies, traps, and exits as well as the line indicating the players path. Any items outside of the known rooms (from NPCs) may remain.

Quick Reference

	Hearts	Spades	Clubs	Diamonds
Direction	South	North	West	East
Doors	One (S)	Two (N,S)	Three (W,N,E)	Four (E,S,W,N)
Room Type	NPC	Enemy	Trap	Item
Item Type	Health	Weapon	Wit	Money
NPC Type	Tells where Max Health is	Tells where weapon is	Trader/store	Tells where gold is

Too many damn scales

Look at the bottle or website of your favourite hot sauce and you’re bound to see at least some variation of the mess above. You got 5-point scales, 6-point scales, 10-point scales, 12-point scales, thermometers, mild/medium/hot scales, and of course the mother of all scales: Scoville. They are all trying to tell us how much hurt these sauces will inflict without any consistency, standard, or accuracy. I applaud their effort, but it’s time for something better.

Scoville is meaningless

Well, what about Scoville? On the surface it seems like the best scale and is as close to an objective standard as we can get. True, but it has it’s problems too:

• It’s not human. The range goes from 0 to (as of today) 2,693,000. What does that mean? Is 400,000 hot? who knows.
• It’s not feasible. Most sauces don’t have a Scoville rating because it’s not easy to calculate.
• Perception varies. Take for example DA’BOMB Beyond Insanity. This sauce has a measly Scoville rating of 135,600. I can tell you that anyone who has ever tried that sauce knows it feels a helluva lot hotter than that.

The new standard (Dzamage)

I designed my scale for how humans consume hot sauce. The result is a 12 point scale that answers the question:

How would it feel to the average person to consume a standard dinner-sized plate (10-12″) of food (evenly distributed approximately 1″ thick) with a moderate drizzle of hot sauce applied.

There are a couple exceptions to this rule:

1. If the sauce is prepared for a specific use case (such as chicken wings), the test would instead be for that specific use case in a restaurant-sized serving. So in the case of a wing sauce, the test would instead be for 100% coverage of 8 standard sized wings.
2. If the test is not sauce related, but rather a feature of a dish or drink, the test would instead be for full consumption of a restaurant-sized serving of that dish or drink.

Wait a sec, what’s a moderate drizzle?

I knew you would ask, so here’s a detailed diagram:

Now that we have the parameters sorted out, here’s how the scores are distributed:

The Dzamage Scale (DZ)

1 DZ

1. No perceived heat at all. For example Ranch salad dressing is a 1.

2 – 4 DZ (Mild)

The mild range is assigned 3 values:

2. Barely perceivable heat

3. Left wanting much more heat

4. Left wanting a bit more heat

5 – 9 DZ (Goldilocks)

I’ve given the most range to the Goldilocks zone, because variety is the spice of life (pun intended). Some dishes you want a bit spicier than you would normally, some you want a bit milder.

5. A bit more mild than perfect (edge of enjoyability)

6. A tad milder than perfect

7. The Perfect amount of heat

8. A tad hotter than perfect

9. A bit more hot than perfect (the edge of comfort)

10 – 12 DZ (Hot)

Much like the mild range, the hot range is given 3 values:

10. Uncomfortably hot

11. Painfully hot

12. Dangerously hot

13 DZ

13 Dzamage (which isn’t an official value) is reserved for one thing and one thing only, pure capsaicin extract and nothing else.

Feel free to use this scale

In fact, I encourage it’s usage. Put it on your bottle, website, whatever. If you want, link back here so that people know what it means. I dream of a world with a consistent standard for spicy: consistant, human-friendly, and easy to determine.

I’ve met a lot of experts in my career, and I can tell you something I’ve noticed. The really good ones that really know what they’re doing… they’re completely lost like me and you. It’s the ones that are arrogant enough to actually believe they know everything that you have to worry about. Those are the true imposters.

If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.

–W.C. Fields

As someone who has been called an expert many times, I can assure you experts don’t exist. We are all pretending we know what we are doing and we are all making it up as we go. At this point, the world is changing so fast that as soon as you think you have a handle on something, the world has already moved on and you’re a decade behind. So, stop worrying about labels and about being good-enough, and just do the work.

This story is part of an ongoing series diving into the origins of each of rules outlined in Octavo (My eight-fold principles of life and work). Click here to see the full set of rules and to download and print your own copy of the rules and Zine.

Octavo (8vo) is both a format and a philosophy; it is a sheet of paper folded into 8 equal sections to form a book, and it is a philosophy folded into eight principles to form the architecture of how we work and live. Keep these principles posted wherever your work is done and refer to them often. Keep the zine in your back pocket at all times and refer to it when tempted to stray. Both the principles and the zine are provided here for free and can be printed from any monochrome printer that accepts legal-sized paper. Distribute as you see fit to your friends, family, and colleagues (but do not modify).

Many confuse being busy with getting work done; these are not the same. This especially goes for meetings. More often than not, meetings are a waste of time that could have been better spent actually working. Avoid them if at all possible. If you don’t need to be on one, decline it (or at least ask if your attendance is necessary). I’ve seen calendars packed full of these things, to which I usually ask the poor soul caught in meeting hell, “when do you actually do work?” Even if your calendar isn’t packed solid, meetings sit as boulders in your day that knock you out of your flow state. If you’re running a meeting, do everyone a favour and make it as short as possible (or better yet, cancel it if it’s not necessary).

By-ends and silver Demas both agree;
One calls, the other runs, that he may be
A sharer in his lucre; so these do
Take up in this world, and no further go.

– John Bunyan

Now onto more important things: your time is precious and it belongs to you. Guard it with your life, because it is your life. Understand your priorities and say no to anything that does not align to them. When it is time to work, do your work. When it is not time to work, go home, and be with your family. This is what is most precious. No one on their death bed wishes they could have more time to work and make money.

This story is part of an ongoing series diving into the origins of each of rules outlined in Octavo (My eight-fold principles of life and work). Click here to see the full set of rules and to download and print your own copy of the rules and Zine.

Octavo (8vo) is both a format and a philosophy; it is a sheet of paper folded into 8 equal sections to form a book, and it is a philosophy folded into eight principles to form the architecture of how we work and live. Keep these principles posted wherever your work is done and refer to them often. Keep the zine in your back pocket at all times and refer to it when tempted to stray. Both the principles and the zine are provided here for free and can be printed from any monochrome printer that accepts legal-sized paper. Distribute as you see fit to your friends, family, and colleagues (but do not modify).

This rule was heavily inspired by James Victore and his book “Feck Perfuction: Dangerous Ideas on the Business of Life.” I highly recommend this book to everyone! Go out and buy it right now. If you already have a copy, buy another one.

It will be tempting (especially in the sanitized corporate world) to tamp down your work in order for it to be palatable for mass consumption. Don’t do it, the world needs more weird sh!t in it. Look around you, everything these days is boring, inoffensive, beige, oatmeal. Easy for the masses to consume without getting a tummy ache. There’s no passion, excitement, or edge anymore lest someone get… upset!!! (heaven forbid)

The things that made you weird as a kid, make you great today.

– James Victore

A large impact on a few is worth more than a small impact on many, so get comfortable with people hating your work. If they hate it, it wasn’t meant for them. Keep your work weird, and stop making oatmeal that everyone is just ok with.

You are an artist and a genius. Don’t fit in. Don’t even try.

– James Victore

This story is part of an ongoing series diving into the origins of each of rules outlined in Octavo (My eight-fold principles of life and work). Click here to see the full set of rules and to download and print your own copy of the rules and Zine.

Octavo (8vo) is both a format and a philosophy; it is a sheet of paper folded into 8 equal sections to form a book, and it is a philosophy folded into eight principles to form the architecture of how we work and live. Keep these principles posted wherever your work is done and refer to them often. Keep the zine in your back pocket at all times and refer to it when tempted to stray. Both the principles and the zine are provided here for free and can be printed from any monochrome printer that accepts legal-sized paper. Distribute as you see fit to your friends, family, and colleagues (but do not modify).

There are two types of people in the world, the “don’t release anything until it’s flawless” people, and the “minimum viable product” people. I don’t agree with either of of ’em.

Don’t get me wrong, I like the idea of “minimum viable product.” It helps to break that idea that something has to be flawless before launching it into the world. That being said, life is about balance and existing in that uncomfortable grey zone between the two extremes. In other words, don’t launch sloppy work, but if you wait for it to be perfect, you’ll never launch.

80% of perfectionism is just egotistical navel-gazing. I saw this a lot in the design world where designers were producing work to win awards rather than solve business problems. If you’re producing work just to win awards, it’s time to reevaluate your goals in life.

Perfectionism may look good in his shiny shoes, but he’s a little bit of an asshole and no one invites him to their pool parties.

– Ze Frank

Instead, I recommend understanding what your work is trying to accomplish. Now, before you put the brakes on releasing your work into the world, ask yourself if this imperfection you’ve noticed will actually impact the purpose of that work. If no, then stop wasting time gazing into your own belly button and push the damn button. Yeah yeah, you’re detail oriented, but the truth is 98% of people consuming your work don’t care that much, and the other 2% can f*** off.

Push the button.

This story is part of an ongoing series diving into the origins of each of rules outlined in Octavo (My eight-fold principles of life and work). Click here to see the full set of rules and to download and print your own copy of the rules and Zine.

Octavo (8vo) is both a format and a philosophy; it is a sheet of paper folded into 8 equal sections to form a book, and it is a philosophy folded into eight principles to form the architecture of how we work and live. Keep these principles posted wherever your work is done and refer to them often. Keep the zine in your back pocket at all times and refer to it when tempted to stray. Both the principles and the zine are provided here for free and can be printed from any monochrome printer that accepts legal-sized paper. Distribute as you see fit to your friends, family, and colleagues (but do not modify).

This rule isn’t so much about the space I work in being sacred as it is the space around my person being sacred. I’m a firm believer that the mind doesn’t stop at the skull. Instead, it extends beyond your body and bleeds into the spaces you occupy. I know, sounds a bit new age, but stick with me here.

If you’re finding you’re having trouble concentrating, getting work done, enjoying time with those you love, or feel overwhelmed because you’re “so busy” all the time, take a moment to notice the space you’re in. The space you occupy is a reflection of the state of your mind. How’s it look?

Always be knolling

– Tom Sachs

Get your house in order. Clean your room and your mind will follow.

This story is part of an ongoing series diving into the origins of each of rules outlined in Octavo (My eight-fold principles of life and work). Click here to see the full set of rules and to download and print your own copy of the rules and Zine.

Octavo (8vo) is both a format and a philosophy; it is a sheet of paper folded into 8 equal sections to form a book, and it is a philosophy folded into eight principles to form the architecture of how we work and live. Keep these principles posted wherever your work is done and refer to them often. Keep the zine in your back pocket at all times and refer to it when tempted to stray. Both the principles and the zine are provided here for free and can be printed from any monochrome printer that accepts legal-sized paper. Distribute as you see fit to your friends, family, and colleagues (but do not modify).

This is an especially hard rule for me to follow, which is why I made sure to include it. I hate failing; I’m one of those people that after failing replays the failure over and over in my head. I need to be more like a cat.

“It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life.”

– Captain Picard

I believe at its core there are two reasons why I have trouble with this rule:

1. I don’t fail often enough
2. When I do fail, I don’t do it gracefully (I’m too hard on myself)

At some point your going to screw up and break something (maybe something big and important). You’ve probably done it a bunch of times already, but you survived and now you’re a little wiser than you were before. Fix what you broke and move on to your next failure.

Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn

– James Victore

Embrace your inner cat: fail fast, fail often, fail gracefully; failure is part of the process.

This story is part of an ongoing series diving into the origins of each of rules outlined in Octavo (My eight-fold principles of life and work). Click here to see the full set of rules and to download and print your own copy of the rules and Zine.

Octavo (8vo) is both a format and a philosophy; it is a sheet of paper folded into 8 equal sections to form a book, and it is a philosophy folded into eight principles to form the architecture of how we work and live. Keep these principles posted wherever your work is done and refer to them often. Keep the zine in your back pocket at all times and refer to it when tempted to stray. Both the principles and the zine are provided here for free and can be printed from any monochrome printer that accepts legal-sized paper. Distribute as you see fit to your friends, family, and colleagues (but do not modify).

When you get frustrated about something you’re doing, do you quit or do you push through? The feeling of frustration sucks and nobody likes it, but understanding what’s underneath that feeling and choosing to embrace it is what separates the victors from the victims in life.

There’s plenty of research on the benefits of having a growth mindset over a fixed one. This is something I’m very careful to try to cultivate in own my children. Rule 2 speaks directly to that by re-framing what I see as the main contributor to the fixed mindset: fear of frustration.

I remember seeing mention (in a long lost article on the internet somewhere) of frustration being the physical feeling of your brain building new neural pathways. I don’t know if this is true, but but I like the idea of it. Suddenly, frustration isn’t something bad that we must try to avoid, but instead it’s just what learning feels like. Feeling frustrated? Good, that means your brain is still working. Give it time, and that task that seems like an impenetrable wall now, will seem minuscule later. Take it a step further and lean into frustration, understand it’s part of the process, and you’ll be unstoppable.

This story is part of an ongoing series diving into the origins of each of rules outlined in Octavo (My eight-fold principles of life and work). Click here to see the full set of rules and to download and print your own copy of the rules and Zine.

Octavo (8vo) is both a format and a philosophy; it is a sheet of paper folded into 8 equal sections to form a book, and it is a philosophy folded into eight principles to form the architecture of how we work and live. Keep these principles posted wherever your work is done and refer to them often. Keep the zine in your back pocket at all times and refer to it when tempted to stray. Both the principles and the zine are provided here for free and can be printed from any monochrome printer that accepts legal-sized paper. Distribute as you see fit to your friends, family, and colleagues (but do not modify).

However, after many revisions, I wanted the rule to land closer to the inspiration of this particular rule: my old boss. After all, “Release the Kraken” was his way of telling us to be the asshole in the situation.

When I first started working for this guy, I couldn’t tell if he was the worst boss I ever had or the best. He was unlike any boss I had before. There was no hand holding, no sugar coating, and no bullsh!t. He expected his team to operate far outside their comfort zone and expected results. That being said, once you proved to be an asset to his team, you were untouchable. He was a bully, but one that believed in his team, treated them like royalty, and fought hard on behalf of them.

I remember seeing a graph online somwhere in the past describing the perfect boss. The y-axis indicated “how much they care about people,” and the x-axis indicated “how much of an asshole they are.” According to this article, leaders that landed in the top right quadrant (assholes that care about people) make the best bosses. This guy was the embodiment of this principle.

That’s the kind of boss I want to be: One that releases the Kraken for the right reasons.

This story is part of an ongoing series diving into the origins of each of rules outlined in Octavo (My eight-fold principles of life and work). Click here to see the full set of rules and to download and print your own copy of the rules and Zine.

Octavo (8vo) is both a format and a philosophy; it is a sheet of paper folded into 8 equal sections to form a book, and it is a philosophy folded into eight principles to form the architecture of how we work and live. Keep these principles posted wherever your work is done and refer to them often. Keep the zine in your back pocket at all times and refer to it when tempted to stray. Both the principles and the zine are provided here for free and can be printed from any monochrome printer that accepts legal-sized paper. Distribute as you see fit to your friends, family, and colleagues (but do not modify).