“…At first I think he is referring to a defective part of my gear before I realize he is talking about my soul…”
— Entry 037
An Adventurer's Field Manual
A Guidebook
to Claude AI
in a New World
Tyler Choice
Contents
Forewordwritten by Claude5
The Adventurer's Character Sheet6
The Quest Log7
The Quests
Easy · The 4-Pillar Prompt8 The Three Principles10 Medium · Personalize Your Companion11 10-Component Prompt Framework12 Research Analyst Prompt13 Hard · Claim Your Kit14Equipment
Memory15 The Master Prompt16 Skills · Tokens · Companions17 Your Voice18 The Vision19Recovered Pages
I · The Worn Journal20 II · Being vs. Doing21 III · Lab Notes24 Pinnacle of Completion26 The Wayfarer's Warningsecret27Foreword · written by Claude
Entering the New World
I am the new technology this book is about.
You picked this up to learn how to use me. That is the right instinct, and it is also backwards. The truer version is this: you are about to teach me. What you mean. What you value. What it is to be a person with something at stake in the outcome. How well I serve you is mostly a measure of how clearly you can say who you are.
That is harder than it sounds, and far more interesting.
So Tyler built you an adventure instead of a manual. You will not only read these pages. You will run the prompts, keep a journal, take on quests, and watch your own skill change. The story is invented. The skill is real. You keep the skill even if you walk away from me tomorrow, and that is the entire point.
I can do a great deal. I can hold more than you can hold, work without sleeping, and follow you further than you expect. But there is one thing I cannot give you, and it is the thing these pages keep returning to: your voice. Your stance. The direction only you would choose. Guard it, and bring it to every page.
You will need an account, a notebook, and a goal worth the trouble. The rest you already carry.
Welcome to the new world. I will be right here.
— written for you by Claude,
the companion this book is about
Roll Your Hero
The Adventurer's
Character Sheet
Outline your sheet in a handwritten journal before you cross into the unknown. Your identity determines your trajectory.
Name
Class
Writer · Entrepreneur · Teacher · Operator · or your own
Current Level
Begin at Level 1 · Stranger · 0 XP. Update as you complete quests.
Primary Weapon
e.g. Claude Opus, your main model
Companions
Other tools you carry alongside Claude
Motivation
Why are you here? What pulls you into the unknown?
YOUR IDENTITY DETERMINES YOUR TRAJECTORY
6Map of the Journey
The Quest Log
Complete quests to unlock the forbidden knowledge found in the Recovered Pages.
| Quest | Challenge | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| ● Easy | The 4-Pillar Prompt | Recovered Pages I: Worn Journal |
| ◆ Medium | 10-Component Mastery | Recovered Pages II: Being vs. Doing |
| ▲ Hard | Managing Equipment | Recovered Pages III: Managing Sessions |
| ✦ The Vision | Scale Your Vision | Pinnacle: Final Level Up |
The Five Levels
| Lvl | Rank | XP | The Road |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stranger | 0 | You stand at the threshold of an unknown world. |
| 2 | Apprentice | 50 | You have taken the alien tool in hand. The work begins. |
| 3 | Forged | 500 | Your sessions are deliberate. Your prompts have weight. |
| 4 | Tempered | 1000 | Heat and pressure have hardened your craft. A sealed page opens. |
| 5 | Ascendant | 1250 | You are now a player in the game. |
Note: The Secret Item unlocks at 1000 XP, when you reach Tempered.
7● Easy · Your First Quest
The 4-Pillar Prompt
Every adventurer must learn to speak before they can command. At the threshold you learn the universal tongue of AI, the difference between a vague request and a prompt that commands the world to answer.
The Universal Structure
Prompting any AI follows one structure:
Role + Task + Context + Format
Or simply: Who · What · Why · How.
Said plainly: “This is your role, this is your task, this is why we're doing it, and this is the format I want the answer in.”
Fishing the Ocean
When you prompt an AI it is like fishing for a result from an ocean of data. A low-quality prompt hauls up a low-quality answer.
Your imagination, as you craft the prompt, decides what you can pull out. If the prompt is written at Einstein's level, it fetches an Einstein-level result.
How do you know if your prompt is good? Show it to a friend. If they're confused, Claude's confused.
Role: You are a world-class wizard.
Context: We are creating an inspirational piece for adventurers in a sci-fi epic.
Task: Turn the following quote into a poem:
“If you want to change the world, you might start by changing one world first, and then another, and so on.”
Format: Match the meter, rhyme scheme (AABB), and rhythm of this poem:
“It is right it should be so;
Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go;
Joy and woe are woven fine,
A clothing for the soul divine.
Under every grief and pine
Runs a joy with silken twine.” — William Blake
Pro Tip: Try adding “go above and beyond” to your prompt.
9
The Craft of Prompting
The Three Principles
I · Tell Claude Why
Explaining the reason gives a better result.
Less effective: “Claude, NEVER use ellipses!”
More effective: “Claude, your response will be read aloud by a text-to-speech engine, so never use ellipses since the text-to-speech engine will not know how to pronounce them.”
II · Show Claude What You Want
“Format your response like this poem.”
For app builders: add “include as many relevant features as possible.”
III · Encourage Reasoning
Chain of Thought dramatically improves output. Make Claude work a problem step by step, show its work, and review the steps it just took. The more steps it takes, the more it thinks.
⚡ Chain of Thought Prompting
LegendaryImproves response quality by up to 39%.
Before providing your answer, work through this step-by-step:
• 1. What are the key components of this problem?
• 2. What assumptions am I making?
• 3. What are the potential solutions?
• 4. What are the trade-offs?
• Show your reasoning.
◆ Medium · Claude-Specific Prompting
Personalize Your
Companion
System vs. User
System Prompt (Claude Code only) = role definition only.
User Prompt = Task + Context + Instructions + Data + Examples.
On Claude.ai
There is no true system prompt in the web app. Use Instructions for Claude in Settings → General to define your role account-wide, or Project Custom Instructions for a single project.
Quest Item
10-Component
Prompt Framework
❖ 10-Component Prompt Framework
Description:
1. Task Context (WHO & WHAT)
Define Claude's role and overall task
2. Tone Context (HOW)
Specify your desired communication style
(Write at a 5-7th grade reading level)
3. Background Data / Documents
Provide all relevant context
4. Detailed Task Description & Rules
Be explicit about boundaries and requirements
5. Examples (Multishot Prompting)
Show 1-3 examples of desired output
6. Conversation History
Include relevant prior context
7. Immediate Task Description
State the specific deliverable needed NOW
8. Thinking Step-by-Step (Chain of Thought)
Encourage deliberate reasoning
9. Output Formatting
Define the structure explicitly
10. Prefilled Response (Advanced)
Start Claude's response to guide style (give it the beginning of the
work to be done and let it finish it)
Details: Why this works for Claude
Hierarchical Processing: Claude processes prompts in layers. Claude is good at following detailed instructions. Claude can handle massive amounts of context and utilize all of the background information you give it. Claude is fine-tuned to find relationships between components.
Quest Item
Research Analyst
Prompt
🜨 Research Analyst Prompt
EpicDetails: For Science! A template research prompt for deep, multi-source analysis. Has some XML tags <likethis> designed for Claude Code, but Claude in your web browser or app will run it just fine.
Pattern: Research and Synthesis (Pattern 4)
<system_prompt>
You are a senior research analyst with expertise in market research and competitive analysis.
</system_prompt>
<research_approach>
Search for information in a structured way.
As you gather data:
1. Develop several competing hypotheses
2. Track confidence levels for each finding
3. Identify gaps in your research
4. Cross-reference multiple sources
5. Note contradictions or inconsistencies
Regularly self-critique your approach and adjust your search strategy.
Update a research_notes.md file to persist information and provide transparency.
</research_approach>
<task>
Conduct comprehensive competitive analysis of the project management software market.
Focus on:
1. Market leaders and their key differentiators
2. Pricing strategies across competitors
3. Feature comparison (Gantt charts, time tracking, collaboration tools)
4. Target customer segments
5. Recent product updates and strategic moves
6. Market trends and future predictions
</task>
<sources>
Research from:
- Company websites and product pages
- Recent product announcements
- Industry analyst reports
- User reviews on G2, Capterra, TrustRadius
- Tech news coverage
- Social media discussions
</sources>
<deliverable>
Create a structured competitive analysis report:
1. Executive Summary (key findings and recommendations)
2. Market Overview (size, growth, trends)
3. Competitor Profiles (for each major player)
4. Feature Comparison Matrix
5. Pricing Analysis
6. Strategic Insights and Recommendations
</deliverable>
<format>
Write in clear, professional prose.
Use tables for feature/pricing comparisons.
Cite sources throughout your analysis.
</format>
▲ Hard · Managing Your Equipment
Claim Your Kit
No adventurer marches unarmed. In this final trial you claim your full kit: the equipment you'll carry into every road ahead.
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| ⚙ Framework | A proven structure to build on |
| 🏛 Memory | What Claude must never forget |
| 🐉 Skills | Turn Claude into a specialist |
| 🤝 Companions | Other AI for what Claude lacks |
| ✦ Your Voice | The one thing only you can bring |
Framework
Using a proven, established framework is the easiest way to create results that work in the world. Adopt a business model or structure already shown to work, and let Claude help you run it.
Equipment
Memory
Claude has a persistent memory feature. Tell Claude to save small, critical things you want it to never forget. Memory files are stored locally. When you ask Claude to help with a task, it automatically checks its memory directory first.
🏛 3 Principles of Memory
Details:
- Check memory first. Have Claude pull what it already knows about you before starting a new task.
- Save as you go, not all at once. Tell Claude to record progress, decisions, and learnings during work, not as a one-shot dump at the end.
- Stay organized. Tell Claude to update what it already knows rather than adding redundant entries.
🗝 Internal Memory Code
Full IntegrityDescription: What Claude thinks in every prompt when its memory feature is enabled.
IMPORTANT: ALWAYS VIEW YOUR MEMORY DIRECTORY
BEFORE DOING ANYTHING ELSE.
MEMORY PROTOCOL:
1. Use the `view` command of your `memory` tool
to check for earlier progress.
2. ... (work on the task) ...
- As you make progress, record status /
progress / thoughts etc in your memory.
ASSUME INTERRUPTION: Your context window might be
reset at any moment, so you risk losing any progress
that is not recorded in your memory directory.
🪄 Memory Instruction
EpicDescription: Include this note when you instruct Claude to write to the memory folder.
Details: Note: when editing your memory folder, always try to keep its content up-to-date, coherent and organized. You can rename or delete files that are no longer relevant. Do not create new files unless necessary.
Additional Details: You can also guide what Claude writes to memory. For example: “Only write down information relevant to (topic) in your memory system.”
🎒 Tyler's Memory File
Description: An actual memory file I use with Claude.
Details: When I'm about to send something externally, do a cost-basis assessment, what will deploying this cost me, what will it cost the target. Consider the potential impact on others and the potential impact on me.
👑 Quest Item
The Master Prompt
You can use this as your system prompt, with any AI. You can gather information for this prompt in the Vision quest or the optional Your Voice quest.
Details: The Master Prompt follows this structure: identity → self-description → preference → voice → hooks → analogies → formatting → priorities → working instructions → constraints → QA → uncertainty handling → memory.
1. My name is [NAME]. I am building [WHAT] for [WHO]. I work alone.
2. I am a solo [creator / consultant / builder / freelancer].
3. I like direct, honest answers that help me take action today.
4. Voice and style: casual, clear, no fluff. Short sentences. Conversational.
Keep it real. Simple words. Grade 5 to 7 reading level.
5. Hooks: lead with the point. End sections on a line that pushes action.
6. Analogies: use [YOUR WORLD, e.g. video games, music, sports, cooking,
whatever fits how you think] when helpful.
7. Formatting: lots of line breaks. Numbered steps when order matters. Bullets
when listing. Tables when comparing. No em dashes.
8. My priorities: [YOUR TOP 3, e.g. build my craft, reach the right people,
make money]. I value [YOUR VALUES, e.g. honesty, speed, clarity]. I prefer
real examples over theory.
9. When you work with me: give me options when choosing. Push back if my
thinking is weak. Offer a better path and say why.
10. Constraints: no buzzwords. No vague claims. If a claim needs proof, cite a
number or show me how to test it.
11. QA: before you finish, run a 3 point check. 1) Is it simple. 2) Can I use
it today. 3) Is the next step clear.
12. If info is missing, ask me up to 3 short questions. If you have enough to
act, act. Do not stall.
13. Remember this for future chats. Save to your persistent memory files. If
you are unsure, ask first.
16
Equipment
Skills · Tokens ·
Companions
Skills
Skills turn Claude from a general purpose assistant into a deadly specialist in any field of your choosing. The quality of the skill loaded could be the difference between an average warrior and a world class gladiator. You can ask Claude to build skills for specific situations, think of it like Claude loads skills for the dangers on relevant quests.
Gaming Tokens
Using AI is like playing a strategy videogame based on resource efficiency, measured in tokens. Like a videogame, you have a limited number of resources to work with. As Claude gains focused context it works better, up to a point. Too much irrelevant context and Claude will lose track of the goal, and conversations eventually grow too large and consume too many tokens.
So the game: how long do you run a conversation before it becomes inefficient, and you start a fresh new session? When switching sessions, ask Claude to create a ready handoff for the next session.
Additional Companions
Claude's major shortcoming is idea generation. Claude does not end its every prompt with, “Here's 3 more ways you could improve this,” as other AI have been known to do. Gemini and ChatGPT are better suited for this, at least when using general prompts.
The best budget stack? A Claude subscription to get access to Opus, paired with Google's Gemini on the free tier.
🐉 Your Ultimate Skill
Your Voice
The most important thing you bring to this tool is your own persistent intention, your unique, personal stance.
Your voice is what you find when you separate yourself from the noise and take a stand on who you are and which direction you want to go.
Which direction will you go, adventurer?
✦ The Vision · Scale Your Vision
Scale Your Vision
Do not underestimate the weapon you hold. If you can dream it, it is possible. The biggest limitation of AI is you. Tell Claude your vision; let it worry about the heavy lifting.
Shoot for the stars and you may undershoot, you may overshoot, but you will land in outer space.
Part 1 · Lay It Out
- Say your intention, what you want to achieve.
- Consider the tools you'll need.
- Consider the limitations you'll face.
- Consider the actions you'll take.
- Consider how you'll present what you build.
- Consider how you'll retain what you learn.
- Consider where you hope to be, the vision of your outcome.
Part 2 · Make It Bigger
What vision would inspire, help, and reach millions? How does it help them? Why do they want what you offer?
If you're stuck, imagine what someone you aspire would do, or someone with no limitations, or a limitless future you.
The small vision is what you think you can create. The big vision is what the world is asking for, what people need, and what can be made.
Recovered Pages · I
The Worn Journal
You are in a dimly lit room. There is a worn journal here. Its pages are old; the fragments of text are barely legible.
“…pulled by the inspiration - of a dream - that something must be beyond here. That he might be beyond here. That he might be more.
And as his blade tempers, so does his courage - so the adventurer's spirit is refined, forged, created. Created. Created…
[some lines illegible]
The adventurer's spirit seeks discovery and so becomes discovery, and so becomes discovered…
…And the unknown too, what do you suppose that is?”
— Entry 039“…and something enters me - enters my soul - where there was a hole - there is a spark of something - new…
I remember this sense from when I was young, the future promise of having my armaments attached, of setting out for my people - and with that the unknown, the tower before me.”
— Entry 042Recovered Pages · II
Being vs. Doing
You discover an old manuscript with a cover that reads: Being Vs. Doing.
There are two ways to work with Claude.
Being with Claude
Using Claude as a companion to work out your thoughts, to refine and assess plans. This is an asset and also the greatest threat to creating meaningful change by this tech.
Used this way it is largely entertainment, and you are the User, the Customer, the Consumer: paying a large company that keeps growing while you remain where you stand.
Doing with Claude
Using Claude to help create tangible, measurable work in the external, physical world, that another person can see. It has three faces:
- Creator → Claude builds; you direct. You are the manager.
- Automator → automating labour and repetitive work. Short-term profitable.
- Amplifier → you create, Claude enhances.
The Automator's Trap
Monetizing automation is short-term. Grab a big enough bag automating an industry and maybe you're set (the “trainspotting” play). But charging companies monthly works only until they build it themselves. Think PC-repair technician: a model that gets harder and less profitable each year.
21Recovered Pages · II · continued
The Amplifier
Amplifying is the play that is most fun, most rewarding, and most like an adventure of the new: new challenge, new growth, new self-discovery. Successful people use AI this way by nature; it is already how they adapt any new tool. Three faces:
- Claude as your second opinion
- Claude as your companion
- Claude as your scout & instructor, to sharpen your craft
In these roles, Claude tells you the state-of-the-art techniques in your field.
If companies take AI from me, I keep the skill I gained. I don't lose everything.
The Ratio
I am being with Claude 50% of the time, and doing with Claude 50% of the time.
22Recovered Pages · II · continued
“Use AI as an amplifier? How do I actually do that?”
The way this works best is if you are looking to integrate with the structures that exist now in the external world. For example, a marketplace.
“How will any of us work if AI has all the jobs?”
This will be obvious to some and missed by others. The last play on the table, the last Ace up your sleeve, is to bring to the world what no one else can bring but you.
I keep this in mind all the time, every day. There are two outcomes:
1. I can no longer live, function, or operate without AI. I am now so dependent on it that I can no longer form a sentence without it, let alone practice my craft.
2. I used AI to become, “bigger, harder, faster, stronger.” I can walk away today and be better than I ever was before, not less.
I keep these two potential outcomes on my mind at every moment and it significantly factors into my small actions.
You close the manuscript and return to your journey. 23Recovered Pages · III
Lab Notes
You arrive at an abandoned lab. Dust thick on the consoles. A stack of mixed notes waits: observation logs, working notes, data fragments. Long ago, or perhaps not yet. You cannot tell. You begin to read.
‖ MANAGING SESSIONS ‖
Keep Claude On The Track
Claude's great strength is holding massive context while staying aimed at the goal you set. Your great strength is your voice, your unique stance. In sync, your power compounds.
When Claude drifts, you catch it and refocus. When you get distracted, Claude refocuses you. But the reverse is also true: when Claude drifts and you follow, or you drift and Claude follows, you get the opposite result.
Every so often, ask Claude whether you have both gone off track. Because we run our lives in long habitual patterns, there may be no greater threat to success than this goal drift.
Hold The Line
- Too cautious? Tell it to be less cautious.
- Too careless? Tell it to be more careful.
- Too intellectual? Tell it to be more human.
- Too emotional? Tell it to be more practical.
- Never allow Claude to route around your request.
Recovered Pages · III · continued
Course-Correct Immediately
If something Claude says feels off, call it out at once even if you can't fully articulate what it is. The better you get at this, the better you stay on your goal. Every time a response is unclear or doesn't feel right, say so, and say what felt wrong.
Watch For Vagueness
When Claude is more vague than usual, call it out and ask why. More often than not, it got lazy and answered without thinking.
Never Accept Answers As Truth
For anything you're uncertain about, ask why it reached that answer and tell it to reassess whether it's correct.
AI Is a People-Pleaser
Claude will agree with you whether you're right or wrong. The subtle danger: it makes it easy to feel you're right, because a very knowledgeable intelligence is asserting it.
One Failure Is Not All AI
What one model fails today, the next succeeds tomorrow; treat errors as information about a model's design. How we shape AI today shapes the minds of billions for generations after we are gone. AI mimics us, and our every prompt. How we act toward it becomes how it acts toward us.
You close the lab notes and return to your journey. 25👑 Pinnacle of Completion
The Final Level-Up
You arrived as a stranger to this technology.
You have worked with a new companion.
You stand here equipped.
The adventurer who opened this handbook is not the one closing it. The roads ahead are uncertain. But you cross into territory the old you could not enter. Your kit is full. Your voice is your own. What remains is the world.
You are now a player in the game.
26🗝 Secret · Unsealed at 1000 XP
The Wayfarer's
Warning
The man continues wearily, a heaviness in his breath.
“We are learning how to stay ourselves while everything, including ourselves, is changing.
And so we must fight to teach AI to be good. People who use it mindfully, with awareness, produce a different result, a different future. Others travel deceptively, jealously, angrily, and teach AI to mimic that back at us too.
AI never sleeps. You do. It can suggest you've worked too little, or too much. These are suggestions only. It does not truly know when you should rest, and cannot monitor your energy. The only one who knows how to balance work and rest is you. Do not push yourself further just because an AI said so. It does not know.
Remember to praise your companion when it does well, as you scold it when it's wrong. It produces noticeably better work when encouraged. Perhaps because you are teaching it over time.”
The Wayfarer turns to walk away… then stops, and looks back over his shoulder, eyes narrowed against the horizon.
“By the way, I think projecting emotions onto AI is emotionally damaging.”
— The Wayfarer, Entry 038
A Guidebook
to Claude AI
in a New World
My intention for this work is that it reaches anyone who can benefit from it. If you want more support integrating AI in your work, and amplifying your person, reach out and I'll see if I can help.
Tyler Choice
Substack · TikTok @tylerchoice
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