All About Chain×Link - An Interview With Ethan Yen

  An Interview with

Glyphtide Games'

Ethan Yen 

The cover of Yen's fantastic Chain×Link.

Introduction

    I recently conducted an interview with Glyptide Games' founder Ethan Yen about his game Chain×Link via e-mail. As you will see I asked Ethan about his design choices and inspirations, as well as where he is taking Glyphtide Games into the future. I have edited the interview a tiny little bit for readability: changing the questions and answers from a list into more of a traditional conversation format. I hope you enjoy the interview, and if you have any feedback I would love to hear it - good or bad.

Art, Layout, and Graphic Design Questions

Eclectic Dragon: Chains make a massive contribution to the themes, art, and rules of the zine. Was there a specific set of inspirations for the usage of chains as an artistic motif and even in the mechanical system?

Ethan: Chains are an incredibly evocative literary motif. Chains typically represent restriction, binding, and confinement. But the concept of binding can be reinterpreted as something that links us together, a connection that creates a sum greater than its parts. Visually, chains conjure scenes of straining against one another, or anchoring one another as they swing back and forth. Chains are strong in tension, for better or for worse, depending on how they are used. It’s this dichotomy, this study of what brings us down can be repurposed to make us stronger when our convictions are aligned, that CxL explores through play.

Eclectic Dragon: The art, layout, and graphic design are fantastic! There was clearly a unified vision driving these aspects of the zine. What were your artistic design goals for the zine from the perspective of art direction? Furthermore, do you think you achieved those goals and what if anything would you change, artistically, about the final product?

Ethan: The execution of the visuals are all thanks to Tony Tran (art) and Andrew Beauman (layout and additional art). The three of us were actively involved in the visual direction of the game, building upon each other’s ideas. My main artistic design goal was for CxL to separate itself visually from the many dark fantasy dungeon-crawling games in the TTRPG space. CxL is a (reverse) dungeon-crawl game, but its mechanisms and themes are distinctly different from the traditional “OSR” approach. As such, I wanted the art to be reminiscent of the genre through a limited color palette and rough lines, but distinct enough in style to make it clear that this game is not the same. Graphically, I sought to provide a clean layout that was easy to digest, as the mechanisms of this game are new and would need to be clear as possible, while embracing the limited color palette. I interviewed Tony and Andrew on the collaboration process in a blog post on my website.

Ethan: Overall, I think we achieved the goals set out for art and graphic design, as evidenced by our nomination for Best Graphic Design in the 2025 IGDN Indie Groundbreaker Awards. These two aspects of game design are the most expensive for any production. If given a larger budget, I’m confident that we could have produced additional evocative illustrations and honed in on even more distinctive world-building details to truly set the worldbuilding apart from traditional dark fantasy dungeon-crawling.

 

Rules / Design Questions

Eclectic Dragon: Building from the last question a bit; what were your overarching mechanical design goals for the project? As a follow up do you think you met those goals? What was the most challenging aspect of coming up with the systems in Chain X Link?

Ethan: The original goal for mechanical design was to focus on cooperation. Many games have rules for collaboration and combining actions, but these rules are seemingly relegated as afterthoughts, providing an extra die in a dice pool, or adding a bonus to a roll. I sought to make cooperation inherent in the mechanisms of the game through the chaining of contributions, providing both a mechanical and narrative support of working together and building off of the successes of each other. (I call this, “ludonarrative resonance,” as opposed to the term, “ludonarrative dissonance.” RP Deshaies also calls this, “rules bright” design.) The semi-cooperative aspect of the game arrived once I realized the fruitful design space in exploring order and magnitude of contributions.

Ethan: Even as a fairly hefty zine at 64 pages, CxL is incredibly focused in its mechanical design. Everything in the rules refers back to this core resolution system of chaining contributions. In this, I think I achieved the goal to actively engage the players in the intended experience.

Ethan: The most challenging aspect was explaining a completely new system to players. On the surface, the system is simple to explain, “you succeed if your contribution score is greater than or equal to the previous player’s contribution score.” However, the nuances of such a system can feel complicated and overwhelming simply due to the fact that the system runs quite differently from what players of the dungeon-delving genre are accustomed to. I was surprised by how many words I needed to describe the core resolution system which may scare players away, and I think with a finer pen and the assistance of a judicious editor, I could present the rules in a more succinct and inviting manner.

Eclectic Dragon: I really like the mechanics of the trials and how they demand party cooperation yet have a competitive tension in how the last person to succeed becomes the leader of the chain. Moreover, I like that mechanics of the game leave tremendous room for narrative within themselves. I think there is great potential in these mechanics to be hacked into other games and settings. All that being said, do you have any plans on doing more with these mechanics and systems? How would you feel about others hacking this system into another game?

Ethan: I am currently hosting the CHAINLINKED game jam, which encourages game designers to expand the world, write Grave Levels (e.g., adventures), create character options, or design their very own game using the CxL system SRD and associated license. The game jam runs until October, and I’m excited to see what folks come up with, building upon the aspects that excite them, and discarding aspects of the system that don’t serve their design goals. I believe the CxL system is a great framework for creating games focused on cooperation (and competition). I plan on submitting a supplement to CxL with new Reputes, Factions, and Grave Level.

Eclectic Dragon: Something that I think sets ChainXLink apart in a big way is that it has a specific win condition and that the game has an inherent competitive tension between the factions. What made you decide to make a ‘semi-cooperative’ ttrpg instead of a more traditional fully cooperative one? Do you see yourself exploring the space of ‘semi cooperative’ more in the future?

Ethan: I am a big proponent of “few-shot” games that have defined endings. As my friends and I acquire more life responsibilities, playing together becomes a rare and highly prized event, such that I desire sessions that encourage maximum play with a variety of games. I am fascinated by the concept of “semi-cooperative” TTRPGs because they provide a fruitful environment for character and narrative drama. I speak a lot about this “losing mindset” in a blog post. Semi-cooperative play in TTRPGs is not new, with PbtA games using moves to facilitate dramatic narratives featuring characters with conflicting goals. Any dramatic narrative features this. I anticipate exploring this space further in my future games, especially as it pertains to the tension of characters with conflicting personal goals working together. In many ways–that’s just life!

Eclectic Dragon: The examples and flow charts throughout the zine are excellent. They made understanding the underlying rules easy. What made you want to include so many examples and flow charts? Was there a specific inspiration?

Ethan: The core resolution system is new to many TTRPG players, eschewing “skill checks,” “saves”, and “moves” as is common in many dungeon-crawling games. As such, I wanted to ensure that the flow of the core resolution system was easily understood through both visuals and text through flow charts. I did not have any deliberate inspiration, but upon reflection, I realize the figures provided in games made by Exeunt Press, and the MIRU series by Hinokodo served as subconscious inspirations.

Setting Questions

Eclectic Dragon: I found the first two pages of the book to be extremely evocative and worked well at laying the foundation for the game’s setting. What creative sources did you draw on when designing the setting for this game?

Ethan: My main worldbuilding inspiration was the video game, Pyre by Supergiant Games. Pyre is a game where disparate rebels have been exiled into this “otherworld.” The rebels need to team up and participate in “rites” against other exiles, with the winner returned to their original land to continue their rebellion. CxL uses a similar premise, including this concept of relying on ancient magic as a way to facilitate escape, but replaces the eclectic color palette of Pyre with a more minimal color palette and “traditional” megadungeon environment. Thematic inspirations included the criminal and flawed characters of Blades in the Dark and Spire: The City Must Fall.

Eclectic Dragon: I really enjoyed the world building you did through all aspects of the zine, from the rules to the examples it all flowed well and built a solid sketch of both the Grave and the world above. Do you have any plans to do anything else with this setting? Such as with the revolution that is ChainXLink’s win condition?

Ethan: Depending on reception of the game, I may release additional supplements that facilitate implied worldbuilding through additional character options, magic subsystems, and Grave Levels. At least one supplement will be released as part of the CHAINLINKED game jam. CxL excels in its limited scope, so any exploration of the revolution as it occurs in the Life Above after CxL finishes may be better explored through a separate game, depending on the scope of play.
GM Questions

Eclectic Dragon: A question I always am always going to ask developers is - how much preparation should GMs undertake when running this game?

Ethan: CxL relies on a collaborative worldbuilding approach to create the setting and characters through character creation prompts. Once the setting is created, sessions require the GM to prep each Grave Level before play. Each Grave Level is intended to be completed in one 3-4 hour session, so the degree of preparation is fairly limited, especially as each Grave Level features only a couple key NPCs and conflicts that drive play.

Eclectic Dragon: I thought it was an excellent idea to include the miniature adventure for escaping Spadefront in the zine. It illustrates, with minimal word count, how to plot out an adventure for ChainXLink. What drove you to include an example adventure in the zine when many other zines forgo them?

Ethan: A main point of inspiration was LONGSWORD by Videtya Voleti, which also features a starting adventure at the end of a new game. The value of starting adventures is that it conveys what is required to run adventures in this game, provides an adventure to lower the friction of starting a game as soon as possible, and provides a template for the creation of future adventures. In a game like CxL which relies on a very different core resolution system than traditional dungeon-crawling adventures, it was important to showcase how such an adventure would be structured, and how the game mechanisms interface with the adventure. Ideally, a “complete” version of CxL would feature as much as ten different Grave Levels, such that a GM would have even less to prep, and could run the entirety of CxL using the pre-written material, similar to Deathmatch Island or Agon (which were key mechanical and formatting inspirations for CxL).

 

Other Questions

Eclectic Dragon: With a zine page count is often at a premium. Due to this, was there anything left on the proverbial cutting room floor? If so, what was it?

Ethan: As a zine, CxL is already quite large at 64 pages. While I was given the option of producing a perfect-bound book, I wanted to keep the scope contained in the zine form-factor as an exercise in concise design. That being said, I cut out some character options and some worldbuilding lore to fit the form-factor. If there was a “2nd edition” of CxL, it would contain more character options, more examples of play, more Grave Levels, and additional guidance on embracing semi-cooperative play.

Eclectic Dragon: I noticed that Chain X Link was published through Plus One Exp’s Zine club. Personally, I am a big fan of the zine club. But I am curious, what made you decide to go down this route for publication?

Ethan: Plus One Exp is doing tremendous work in supporting burgeoning indie game designers. My main goals for working with Plus One Exp was to meet new creators and collaborators, and to take advantage of the built-in audience that Zine Club provided. Plus One EXP continues to market and sell the game at conventions throughout the year, a feat I would not be able to accomplish with my current life responsibilities. Zine Club allowed CxL to reach a yet unreached audience for my work, and it’s been a joy to see the game reach new players.

Eclectic Dragon: What is next for you and Glyptide Games? What projects are you working on and is there anything about them you would like to share?

Ethan: I am currently working on two games, both only partly announced. “Drawn from the Wellspring” is a regenerative apocalyptic map-altering game using a dots-and-boxes resolution mechanism which I have playtested at conventions the past few years, but am currently re-working the scope and game loop. Another game is a cyber-fantasy dice-battling game that features solo, co-op, and GM-ed play, which I have just begun playtesting this year. I currently don’t have any hard deadlines for completing these games. You can follow my game design journey by subscribing to my newsletter, or following me on bluesky.