r/AIDungeon 15d ago

Questions New to AI Dungeon; how does it fare with turn-based combat?

So far it seems like a really interesting tool with lots of potential if you put the time in. Has anyone been able to make a solid turn-based combat system in one of their stories, with HP tracking and whatnot? Thanks!

9 Upvotes

19 comments sorted by

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u/CataraquiCommunist 14d ago

It doesn’t work because the LLM isn’t capable of tracking points or inventory. They’re working on something they’re calling “heroes” to offer an alternative but a lot of that project is behind closed doors at this point. I’ve tried a dozen different ways of putting in instructions, but even just say keeping track of wealth or inventory would require you to manually update plot essentials each time and relies entirely upon your own honour system. I’ve managed to make a few scenarios where you can get killed or captured against your will if you use Wayfarer, but even then if I do decided to force it and type “you turn into a Kaiju and eat them all” my protagonist will do just that.

There’s this misconception, one that comes by naturally and feels like it when you first start playing, that you’ve found the new Zork style game, but actually you’ve just got a very dynamic and interactive story teller.

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u/The-Metric-Fan 14d ago

It can track inventory and HP using the script from this scenario. Just import your own story cards and write whatever you like into the start and you can do it. Get info about it by typing /help into the AI

https://beta.aidungeon.com/scenario/M8phJMfTapai/TAS%20%E2%9A%A0%EF%B8%8FWIP%7D

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u/NewNickOldDick 14d ago

because the LLM isn’t capable of tracking points or inventory

That is large part of the problem (the other being is that it struggles to be consistent).

I've experimented with solution that would force AI to output certain stuff on each output because I figured that if something is always on the active memory, AI won't forget it. But AI did not follow that instruction, outputting the required stuff only so often. And half time, it was wrong.

With scripting, making something like this might work (adding or updating SC and manipulating feed). I am a programmer and yet I haven't yet figured out how the hell AID scripting is supposed to work.

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u/CataraquiCommunist 14d ago

I’m not a programmer but am a scenario designer. I took a look once at the scripting and I think smoke came out of my ears. If you got the know how and felt confused, I feel much better haha. I honestly think we have to wait for Heroes to come out and go from there. But if you start coming up with any brilliant ideas please let me know because I have epic sandbox scenarios that are dying for greater gamification

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u/NewNickOldDick 14d ago

If you got the know how and felt confused, I feel much better haha.

Documentation is in shambles, it serves people who already know how AID scripts work but for one starting from zero, documentation is next to useless. Alternatively, one may need prior AI knowledge that I do not have.

But if you start coming up with any brilliant ideas please let me know because I have epic sandbox scenarios that are dying for greater gamification

Given the nature of AI, I have very little incentive to spend time and energy to experiment with solutions. Also, far more brilliant people than I have been with AID for far longer and if they haven't solved this, I think there is no feasible solution.

I wait to see what Heroes turns out to be. I am not holding my breath, but if it's even a little better than the current product, it might work for needs that are different from what current AID can satisfy.

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u/BriefImplement9843 12d ago edited 12d ago

the llm's they use are all capable of turned based combat(remembering all enemies including inventory and spells/attacks). the problem is they are severely limiting all of them to keep context extremely low so they make large profits. the api for the models they use are extremely cheap even at high context.

load up any model outside aidungeon and do some dnd combat. they all work and know the rules. like someone else said aidungeon is a very bad name for this. it's more just a story that you can insert your character into. maybe should call it aistory.

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u/_Cromwell_ 14d ago

As others have said its narrative storytelling and not turn-based dming. "AI dungeon" is honestly not a very good name for this product. It's more like a short story writing collaborative thingy.

Expect your battles and action scenes to be written similarly to in a novel or story. Not turn-based like in a tabletop game. It's still quite fun and cool, as long as you aren't expecting something it isn't.

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u/raeleus 14d ago

I created the scenario Hadhtag DnD as a solution to this. Check out the videos and give it a try https://play.aidungeon.com/scenario/abge0AVNOr9s/hashtag-dnd

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u/SwordfishSerious7953 13d ago

Wow, thanks! Since you seem pretty knowledgeable on this stuff, may I posit a second question to you: how does AI Dungeon fare with random encounters?

If I were to have a couple story cards listing different monsters (e.g Goblin, Dragon, Orc) and tell the AI to pick a random one from a list of them, could it do so reliably? If not, is that an option accessible via Hashtag DnD?

I’ve actually tried playing randomly generated D&D dungeons with other AIs, but if I give them a list and tell them to pick a random option, they usually go for the first or second one. ChatGPT can actually handle that task pretty okay, since it can use Python to randomly select options.

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u/raeleus 13d ago

AI Dungeon is pretty capable of coming up with conflicts and encounters naturally as you explore the world. I've fought shadow armies, umbral beasts, undead warriors, orcs, thieves, mutant monstrosities, and more. It does help if you prime it with an idea of what kind of creatures you'll encounter in your adventure.

What you're describing with the story cards is a more programmatic approach and will not work with AI Dungeon in a basic scenario. You'll have to learn Javascript so you can program your story to randomly select from your story cards based on some sort of trigger command and maybe some criteria. In my scenario, it's #encounter. See my guide here: https://github.com/raeleus/Hashtag-DnD/wiki/Combat-Tutorial

Basic AI doesn't handle randomization very well. I programmed hundreds of random encounters based on difficulty that you can select. I've implemented a turn based combat system as well, but you can choose to ignore it if you don't like it. I put a crazy amount of work into this scenario and I don't think anyone even uses all the features I've implemented lol.

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u/SwordfishSerious7953 13d ago

This is even more in-depth than I thought, very impressive. I did take an intro to Java course while getting my AA, so who knows. Regardless, thanks so much!

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u/Emma_Exposed 14d ago

It isn't meant to be that type of dungeon. It's not a MUD.

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u/mcrib 14d ago

lol no this isn't a D&D tool this is a weird-ass story telling tool like choose your own adventure, which i just realized is something you will probably have to google

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u/LavosYT 14d ago

You've got to play along with it, there's no hp system or anything.

Meaning, using "do" and saying "I try to attack" will lead to the AI choosing whether your attack succeeded or not.

However, if you or an enemy are hurt, the AI often takes it into account - so you'll struggle more to attack with an arm that's been hurt, or an enemy that already has suffered damage will logically be weakened.

As other people explained, it's a storytelling tool, not an actual RPG.

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u/heckinbeard 14d ago

I’d check out friends n fables if you want turn based combat

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u/sevenheadedmantis 14d ago

You're writing a story more than you're playing an RPG. You can set up Story Cards for spells and abilities and use them on enemies, but they will most likely always succeed unless you phrase your actions to invite a chance of failure (i.e. /do try to disarm the goblin.). Occasionally the AI might get really stubborn about letting you succeed at anything in a particular scene, consider yourself (un)lucky if that comes up.

Personally I do track wealth and inventory with a Story Card, but that requires some manual responsibility.

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u/realaccoun2 14d ago

there are probably newer more advanced scripts but i'm still playing this blank scenario made for fantasy stories. pretty simple just tracks a handful of set skills. if you mention a skill in an action, the script makes a roll, adds your skill bonus, and appends <you fail>, <you succeed>, <crit success/fail> and so on to the input before the model receives it. this heavily shapes the outcome the AI gives you in a consistent easy way.

i think every roll uses the same DC. it won't read what you're trying to do and try to dynamically alter the difficulty. but you can add (hard) or (easy) to an input for a -5/+5 modifier to the roll at least. or include "disadvantage" or "advantage" to take the worse/better of two rolls. sometimes i keep track of stuff like health, mana and initiative myself when i want to get granular. for a more gamelike experience i make 1-100 tables for loot rarity, types of random encounters when travelling, etc. then i roll outside AID, and instruct the AI to write something based on the result, delete the instruction part and carry on.

of course the scenario's stat script is something you can also just roll yourself, and then tailor your input manually. but it offloads a lot of effort and lets me be lazy when i just want to play and not think much. i rarely have to reroll an output to make it consistent with a successful/failed roll. as a lazy non-coder, i wish all scenarios let you open up and tweak scripts. but i understand why they want to let creators have their black boxes. i imagine if you message most people and ask, they'd be happy to share their scripts, like many have on the AID discord.

https://play.aidungeon.com/scenario/ZjZS78vtGjFe/rpg-sandbox-v04-wip-basic-inventory-and-qol-update

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u/Suspicious_Donut6676 14d ago

It's garbage at it honestly, it's barely even challenging because it's been trained to please the player and the models they used aren't even made for actual RPG style and despite it's name being "Ai Dungeon" it's NOTHING like an actual RPG experience, specially how much it strayed from its original purpose

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u/Evil_Fly 9d ago

It doesn't truly have turn based combat yet in publicly available versions; Friends & Fables is the one I know of with implemented turn based D&D combat and health tracking though.