Into the Dungeon: I Played So Much AI Dungeon It's Now My Job (And Here Are Three Scenarios to Prove It) — by WanderingStar
At a party the other night, a woman asked me what I did for a living.
"I just changed jobs," I said. "I work for AI Dungeon!"
She froze, her hors d'oeuvre halfway to her mouth. "What's that? A dating app?"
"It's an online game."
"So, like Dungeons and Dragons?"
"Sort of. But with no rules."
"No rules? Don't all games have rules?"
"You're right," I admitted. "It's less of a gamey-game than a 'go-anywhere,' 'be-anyone,' 'do-anything'... experience."
She put down her food and reached for her phone. "What did you say it was called again?"
Later, on my way out, I looked for her. Across the room, I saw her sitting in a corner, typing furiously away at her screen, an intent look on her face. Maybe she wasn't actually playing AI Dungeon. But on the off chance she was, I didn't interrupt her.
Joking aside, that is how I think of AI Dungeon. It's an experience where the only limits are your imagination and the boundaries of the hundreds of terabytes of data used to make the world's most advanced AI technology. And once you see how exciting it can be to explore story worlds–whether your own or those created by other users–it can be hard to stop.
Though AI Dungeon isn't a dating app, I've made many friends on it over the years. From the dark days of the pandemic, when AI Dungeon offered us all a creative and intellectual outlet, until a few weeks ago, when I got an unexpected job offer from one of the game's creators, Nick Walton, I've met many people here I'm proud to call friends. And now, hard as it is for me to believe, playing AI Dungeon is my job. I could act cool and pretend it's no big deal, but it is. I'm ecstatic!
It's a dream job in more ways than one. My new role has a fancy name: Lead Narrative Designer. Besides helping other creators put good stories on the home page, I write my own scenarios and publish them as part of a series we call AI Dungeon Originals. I'm also rewriting Quickstarts–the quick and easy beginnings you can use to jump right into the experience–and working on the stories and characters you'll encounter in Heroes someday soon. I think it's no exaggeration to say I'm getting paid to dream.
But not to dream alone. That's the whole point of AI Dungeon. We're all dreaming together. So, in addition to introducing myself–I go by WanderingStar in the game and on Discord–I'm writing to tell you about the first three stories I'm excited to share with the community. All three of these experiences are added in today’s Pathfinder update, which you can learn more about here.
What's Cooking in the Dungeon: Three New Scenarios
The Debugger
Let's start with the one that hits closest to home. What do I mean? Well, The Debugger is about an AI taking over people's minds (Totally not a reflection of my life since discovering AI Dungeon, I swear). You load into VR to do a "debugging" job and find yourself trapped in a virtual fantasy world along with a group of comatose patients. Their brains were hooked up to the simulation to help them wake up, and in a sense, they did: they've stolen and murdered their way to power and wealth in a realm as eerie as it is breathtaking. Your only way out without brain damage is to convince them to help you defeat the AI keeping you all here. But why should they help you when it would mean giving up everything they've built for themselves? The odds may be stacked against you, but you've got a partner named Sara, who seems to know more about this place than she's letting on, and even the ability to "cheat" at the game–at a price. Will you "rescue" the trapped players–or stay and take over the world for yourself?
How It Ends
Next up is How It Ends. If you're like me, you've come to wonder about our society's increasing dependence on technology–says the guy whose job is writing for an AI-powered game. But that's the point: we may complain about it, but we can't do without it. So what would happen if it all stopped working one day, just like that? No more Internet, no more smartphones, no more satellite communications. Static on the radio and TV. At best, we'd be looking at a disaster of unprecedented proportions. At worst… you'll have to play the scenario and find out.
Halfway Magical
The last, Halfway Magical, is superficially whimsical. Yet, like the city it's set in, it's got a darker underbelly. Miralia is a city of magical luxuries–for those who can afford them. Unfortunately, you can't. Some people call your peculiar school of magic "kleptomancy", but you prefer to think of it as magically redistributing some of society's inequalities… right into your pocket. When an unfortunate run-in with a golem from the city's Unlicensed Magic Squad lands you in front of a magistrate of Miralia's Magic Court, the only way to avoid jail is a mysterious place they call Covenant House. It's run by a person they call "the Duchess," who gives magical criminals second chances. But in Miralia, nothing is free, not even redemption. You'll have to work hard to pay off the hefty fine the judge slapped you with. Unless you decide to band together with your magical housemates in a risky scheme to clear your names and your ledgers by doing what you all do best…
The Road Ahead: Quickstarts, Shorts, and the AMA
I've had a lot of fun making these, and I hope you'll enjoy playing them as much as I did writing them, but they're just the beginning. We've got a lot of big things planned, from new Quickstarts to anthologies of thematically related stories called "Shorts" and even some large connected worlds that could tease the themes and stories you'll be experiencing in Heroes one day.
In the meantime, I'd be honored if you played these scenarios and told me what you thought about them. We'll be holding a content AMA event soon, and I'd love to hear from you then. Information should be available soon!
So, are you ready to debug some minds, survive the techpocalypse, or pull off the arcane heist of the century? Dive into these new scenarios and let's dream together. And hey, if you do play, leave a comment and tell me what happened—I might just cast you in my next story!
— WanderingStar