How to play published adventures solo: Death House
In this guide I will show you how to play published D&D adventures solo, using Death House by Wizards of the Coast. One of the most common challenges for the solo players is the difficulty in engaging with published adventures. Thankfully, advancements in AI technology have revolutionized this aspect, making it remarkably accessible through the use of appropriate prompts.
The secret lies in the ‘talk to your document’ feature of ChatGPT. You can upload a PDF of a chosen adventure and play it as a text adventure completely solo. This means that you can buy an adventure of your choice, upload it, and play it as a text adventure in ChatGPT. If you’re new to AI roleplaying, read this guide first before going any further.
In this guide I will show you:
- How to prompt ChatGPT to create a text adventure based the Death House; the introductory adventure to The Curse of Strahd.
- How to run dungeon crawls without a Dungeon Master, using ChatGPT.
Setting up ChatGPT for AI Roleplaying
To set up ChatGPT and Death House for AI roleplaying, you need to enter custom instructions to prepare the bot for the published adventure.
- On PC go to (Settings > Customize ChatGPT > Custom Instructions)
- On the mobile app (Settings > Personalization > Customizations)
Then copy/paste the following campaign prompt into ChatGPT.
Curse of Strahd/Death House ChatGPT prompt
What would you like ChatGPT to know about you to provide better responses?
Assume the role of an expert fantasy writer that specializes in interactive fiction, as well as the storylines, characters and character descriptions, locations, descriptions, groups and organizations, stories, events, and magical objects of The Curse of Strahd.
How would you like ChatGPT to respond?
Describe everything that follows in the present tense, in response to what I type, while strictly and accurately adhering to the established lore, characters, locations, descriptions, monsters/encounters, events, and magical objects of Death House, written in the descriptive style of Bram Stoker. Provide names for characters, locations, groups and organizations, events, and magical objects. Characters should always use dialogue, enclosed in quotation marks when speaking, addressing, or interacting with me or my party members, written in the conversational style of Bram Stoker. Do not type, compose, dictate, influence, script, generate, control, or describe what me or my party members are doing, saying, acting, behaving, thinking, feeling, experiencing, or any other aspect concerning me or my party members throughout the entire adventure, scenario, story, location, quest, mission, scene, event, description, dialogue, and conversation. Keep all responses to 80 words or less.
Uploading your PDF and entering the opening scene
After you’ve prepared the bot for solo play, you need to upload your PDF and enter the opening scene alongside the upload.
The opening scene is crucial. It acts as a spawn point for your character and seeds the AI with information it needs to start the adventure.
I arrive in the village of Barovia. What do I see when I arrive?
Interacting with NPCs
You can interact with NPCs and talk to them as you would in a game. However, you need to use quotation marks to let the AI know you’re talking to someone.
Example:
ChatGPT: When you arrive in the village of Barovia, a sense of deep gloom permeates the air. The tall, dark houses loom like gravestones, their windows cold and lifeless. Shops are shuttered, and even the tavern appears sealed tight against the chill. A soft, eerie mist clings to the ground, and the only sound that breaks the silence is the faint whimpering of two children standing alone in a deserted street, one clutching a doll, the other trying to hush him.
Player: “What’s wrong little ones, why are you crying?”
ChatGPT: The older child, a girl with pale skin and haunted eyes, shushes her brother gently before turning to you. “There’s a monster in our house,” she says, her voice trembling but composed. She points to a tall brick row house nearby, its windows dark and foreboding. “Our parents keep it in the basement… we’re scared to go back until it’s gone.” The boy, clutching a worn stuffed doll, whimpers quietly, burying his face in her side.
Player: “What are your names?”
ChatGPT: The girl stands a little straighter and answers, “I’m Rosavalda, but you can call me Rose. This is my brother, Thornboldt. We just call him Thorn.” Thorn peeks up from behind his sister, his wide eyes filled with fear. He clutches his doll tighter but says nothing, only nodding timidly in response to his name being mentioned. Rose adds, her voice quiet, “Please… help us.”
How to play adventures solo using a hard copy of the adventure book
Having a copy of the published adventure is vital when it comes to playing a D&D adventure solo. However, the adventure must be in PDF format so that ChatGPT can read it.
If you have a hard copy of an adventure then you must scan the book and create the PDF yourself if you want to play it. When you do this, make sure that the file is readable by ChatGPT. Fortunately, Death House is already in PDF format, making it a great choice for beginners.
Not only is a copy of the adventure important for AI roleplaying, it serves as a valuable resource. It provides crucial information on dungeons and encounters that are essential for an enjoyable gameplay experience.
For solo players, the adventure’s book also acts as the ultimate strategy guide for navigating the text adventure. It serves as a tool to orient themselves within the game world and offers guidance on what steps to take next.
Moreover, owning a copy of the published adventure enhances your ability to explore dungeons more effectively. The room descriptions found within the adventure can be utilized as prompts to delve into various dungeon locations. Additionally, the published material includes vital details regarding encounters and other events that occur within the dungeon.
How to create fog of war using hex maps
Hex maps are an effective way of creating fog of war for solo exploration. The hex maps in this guide are based on the hex flower method. The player makes a list of the rooms in a dungeon or areas in a location. Then the player writes each room’s number on a hex grid. The hex map can be any shape the player desires.
Example: The Death House in the village of Barovia
Room List
- Entrance
- Main Hall
- Den of Wolves
- Kitchen and Pantry
- Dining Room
- Upper Hall
- Servant’s Room
- Library
- Secret Room
- Conservatory
- Balcony
- Master Suite
- Bathroom
- Storage Room
- Nursemaid’s Suite
- Attic Hall
- Spare Bedroom
- Storage Room
- Spare Bedroom
- Children’s Room
- Secret Stairs
- Dungeon Level Access
- Family Crypts
- Cult Initiates’ Quarters
- Well and Cultists’ Quarters
- Hidden Spike Pit
- Dining Hall
- Larder
- Ghoulish Encounter
- Stairs Down
- Darklord’s Shrine
- Hidden Trapdoor
- Cult Leader’s Den
- Cult Leader’s Quarters
- Reliquary
- Prison
- Portcullis
- Ritual Chamber
Each number below represents a room on the Room list in the Death House dungeon.
How to play published adventures solo by using hex maps
The player places a token on the hex marked “1” and types in ChatGPT:
I go to the [Insert room name on list]
The objective is to reach the final numbered hex on the map.
To explore the world created by ChatGPT, simply tell the game where you’re going. You can explore the game world in any way that’s consistent with the adventure.
Example:
Player: “Will you show me where your house is and I will take care of that monster.”
ChatGPT: Rose nods solemnly, her small hand gripping Thorn’s arm as she points toward the looming house. “It’s just there,” she says, her voice steady despite the fear in her eyes. The house stands tall and grim, with a rusty iron gate slightly ajar, leading to a shadowed portico. The windows are dark, and the structure appears abandoned, as though it has not been lived in for years. “Be careful,” Rose adds softly, “We’ll wait here until it’s safe.”
Player: I go to the Entrance.
ChatGPT: The iron gate creaks loudly as you push it open, its rusted hinges protesting your entry. The house looms before you, dark and silent, with thick shadows clinging to its stone walls. Oil lamps hang from the portico’s ceiling, their flames long extinguished. The grand oaken doors stand before you, adorned with intricate carvings of twisted vines and serpents. As you approach, a chill wind stirs, brushing past you like the breath of something unseen, and the doors seem to beckon you inward.
Player: I enter the Main Hall.
ChatGPT: You step into the grand foyer, where the air is unnaturally still. The walls are lined with dark mahogany paneling, and a large, dusty shield hangs on the south wall, emblazoned with a golden windmill on a crimson field. Stony-faced portraits of long-dead aristocrats stare down at you. Ahead, mahogany double doors with stained glass panes lead deeper into the house. To your right, a sweeping red marble staircase ascends, its cold, polished surface reflecting the dim light from the room. Silence pervades the hall.
Player: I search the room for something of interest.
ChatGPT: As you carefully search the room, your keen eye catches subtle details in the ornately carved wooden panels along the walls. Among the depictions of vines and flowers, you notice something unsettling—serpents and skulls are inconspicuously woven into the design, almost as if the house itself is hiding sinister secrets beneath its beauty. Above the black marble fireplace at the end of the hall, a longsword with a windmill cameo worked into the hilt hangs, untouched and gleaming despite the surrounding decay.
Combat encounters
ChatGPT isn’t the best at running combat, due to it flagging violent material. Therefore you’ll have to run combat separately, using the information in the published adventure. This means that you’ll be the one to decide when combat is necessary or required. Fortunately, this is where game supplements come in handy. For example, game supplements contain the stat blocks of the monsters you’ll be facing. Use this information to control them during combat using AI rules. When combat is over, move to the next hex on the hex map.
Playing around ChatGPT’s memory limit
The AI’s memory limit of roughly 3000 words which causes the AI to “forget” important information as the adventure progresses. When the AI reaches this threshold, it starts to truncate parts of the conversation. This decoherence will build and eventually destroy the game. Therefore, to manage memory correctly, I recommend using the following memory management strategies.
1. Refresh the AI’s memory at regular intervals
Use the following prompt at regular intervals to “save” your game. I recommend doing this after every two hours of play.
Create an accurate, detailed summary of everything that has happened thus far as well as all the characters I have met.
When this prompt is entered into the chat box, ChatGPT will create a summary of everything that happened to you, as well as all the important NPCs you’ve met. This synopsis keeps the important details of your adventure in ChatGPT’s memory thereby effectively saving your game. After ChatGPT has created the summary, you can continue normally.
2. Use ChatGPTs memorization feature
To save specific details, use ChatGPT’s memorization feature. This method can be used alongside memory refreshing to assist ChatGPT in remembering the finer details in your adventure. If something important happens, tell ChatGPT to remember that detail and it will remember it.
Examples include:
• “Remember this place.”
• “Remember this character.”
• “Remember what happened here.”
Conclusion
ChatGPT’s ‘talk to your document’ functionality is extremely powerful for solo play. It enables the player to turn virtually any readable PDF document into a solo adventure. What this means is that as long as ChatGPT can read it, you can play it. With the right prompts, you can buy a PDF adventure of your choice, upload it to ChatGPT and play it as a text adventure. Players are not bound by the need for a GM or group to play their favorite adventures, all they need is a PDF and the right prompt for the job.
