What an AI game master should do
Any AI can tell you a story. A game master does more: runs a world fairly, lets you fail, and remembers. If you are choosing an AI to run your solo campaign, these are the things to hold it to.
Six things to expect
1
Remember what matters.The debt from fifty turns ago, the name of the guard who let you in, the sword you left at the inn. A story that is summarised as it goes loses exactly these things.
2
Let the dice decide, in the open.When something is risky, a real roll settles it, and you can see the roll. A game master that decides outcomes by feel will drift towards whatever you seem to want.
3
Let you lose.Wounds that need rest, money that runs out, deaths that stand. Without stakes, a win means nothing.
4
Keep the world moving.People with plans of their own, news from the road, threats that come closer whether or not you act. A world that waits for you is a stage set.
5
Follow your lead.No plot to railroad you down. Take the job or refuse it, settle down or leave town. The story is what you do.
6
Keep the rules steady.The same rules on the first turn and the five hundredth: what a sword does, what a skill adds, what a night's rest heals.
Questions to ask any AI game master
Will it remember?Play fifty turns, then ask about someone from the first five.
Can I see the dice?If you cannot see a roll, you cannot know one was made.
Can I fail?Try something reckless and see whether it lets you get away with it.
Does anything happen if I wait?Rest for a day and see whether the world moved without you.
How Ellor does it
A record, not a summaryPeople, places, debts, plans and what you carry are kept as facts, for good. The story is never summarised away.
A rules engine rollsEvery risk is a d20 roll you press yourself, with every part of the sum shown. Ellor tells the result and cannot change it.
Real stakesMoney is a ledger, time passes, wounds take rest to heal, and a death stands.
A world with plansPeople want things and go after them. News arrives, quests appear, and someone may be at your door when you wake.
Open rulesAbility scores, skills, weapons and armour on the System Reference Document 5.1, the same on every turn.
Watch three turns play out step by step in How it works, or read Why Ellor.