What you’re about to read is an attempt I made last year trying to get an AI to play A Quiet Year. It failed due to the Colab facilitating the AI failing and me losing interest in running the project during the time it took to repair it. This was done before the advent of ChatGPT, when AI really took off and while I’ll be using another AI to facilitate the craft (Claude), the below experiment proves to be promising for the next experiment, encouraging me to give this another whirl. However, it will come after my experiment with playing Alice is Missing Solo. For now though, enjoy:
One of the games I had trouble playing solo was The Quiet Year due to how difficult it was without betraying the overall factor of being a scientist observing an experiment. However, with some recent discoveries, I realized that this may no longer be the issue.
A while ago, an avid Twitch streamer by the name of DougDoug created a board game in which he and his chat vied to take over territories and resources to acquire victory points. Not too far from your usual board game, but what throws things out of whack is the manner of which he simulates successes and failures. It’s not via dice rolls, but by an AI writer.
I briefly mentioned this over in my chat about how playing solo isn’t like writing a book at all, but one of the aspects of a non-authoring solo experience is through these AI writers. The tool DougDoug uses is a paid tool called NovelAI which is an extremely robust and sophisticated tool for beginners to try out, but there’s plenty of tools to use if you look hard enough.
To swing this back to The Quiet Year, as you might have guessed, inspired by DougDoug’s videos, I myself will use an AI writer to simulate The Quiet Year in the most hands-free approach possible so no direct interference from me, meaning no inserting myself as a character. However, I won’t be using Novel AI, but rather, it’s direct, free competitor: KoboldAI, though it may require either utilizing python and a GPU or working with Google Colab to utilize it.
Personally, both services are incredibly good, and I’d even throw Dreamily in there for good measure (especially if you use a phone since it’s tailor made for them in mind) and it ultimately boils down to preference. I’d do a whole review on AI writers because I’m that invested in them, but the long story short is that Dreamily is extremely beginner friendly and great for mobile users, NovelAI is the common approach with tons of user-friendly features, and KoboldAI is your free, open-source alternative with some tinkering required, which is what we’re using for this experiment. Word to the wise, though, Dreamily is free to start but by no means is it completely free.
I’ll be using a 13B Nerys TPU Model, but in the interest of both my time and Google Colab’s time, I’ll only be doing 20 total cards/scenarios and be generating a couple of times to see what the outcome is. I did a few test runs to make sure the AI was running good as well as tweak the AI’s settings to ensure it does the generations well enough. This is going to be our first dive into this, so fingers crossed and knock on wood.
To assist in generating definitions, we have ourselves another AI writer that is mostly used for general stuff that will generate on the fly things for our worldbuilding. One stipulation I have is that I cannot interact with the characters in anyway. The only thing I can do is influence the narrative in an omniscient way, much like how a scientist would introduce new elements to the experiment. Without further to say, let’s go.
Unfortunately, no map since I don’t really have the proper skills to do an image generation, but I might decide to instead draw a map representing what the layout was ultimately like at the end. It won’t be AI generated, but it’s something.
Harm’s County, a bastion of survivors consisting of about 60-80 members. Our encampment is surrounded by three massive stone fortifications on all sides; one for each walled section of the camp. We are located near some large caves where most of us live during winter months when it gets too cold outside.
Already we’re off to a great start since we have stone as an abundance. Using another text generator, I’m able to flesh out the lore.
Our encampment is surrounded by three massive stone fortifications on all sides; one for each walled section of the camp. We mine these stones to make our weapons and armor. The fortifications are made of a hard, black stone that is very durable. It is very difficult to break through.
So, yes, stones are an abundance here.
While we have an abundance of stone, there is a resource that is sorely scarce: wood. There isn’t much forest around here anymore so trees must be brought from far distances. This means using more supplies than usual just to get enough logs to build shelters or furniture.
Makes sense, they live in caves so they’re far from the woods. I’m loving this set up! You know what? I’m gonna try getting some Stable Diffusing. Damn, I’m falling in love with this already! Let’s get this show on the road!
So, my only course of action here is to give the AI the scenarios on the cards and prod it into deciding whether it wants to do a project, discuss something, or discover something. Like before, I’ll “seed” the deck, meaning all the cards will be pre-determined and the scenarios will be loaded in. With this, we begin with…
The group that has the highest status in the community are those capable of hunting animals. They can take down larger game like deer, boar, bear etc., but even then, meat is still limited since we’re constantly fighting over what little food we do find. To gain inclusion in this group, one must prove themselves worthy first. Hunting skills aren’t taught though they are passed along verbally as knowledge is shared between hunters who’ve been successful before you. You need to earn your place among the elite few.
Ooooh, I like this! I like this very much!
Alright, now I will try to invoke a gameplay element into the AI… Hope this works:
Every week, we must decide whether we are to start a project, hold a discussion, or discover something new. This week, we decided to make improvements to the weapons used within the walls of Harm’s County. Since everyone was able to contribute ideas towards improving their weapon, no single person had complete control over any aspect of the process.
I’m going to gamemaster this and say that getting weapons as a project will take about two weeks since stones are an abundancy. Speaking of, I will add meat as a scarcity. Alright! Week two:
There’s a large body of water on the map. Most people call it Lake Michigan because its shape resembles that of the lake of the same name. Others say it looks more like a sea monster due to its size, which could also explain why nobody lives nearby. It is located directly west of the city called Chicago. A small island sits out into the middle of the lake. Its location makes it ideal for fishing purposes. Fishing is done mainly for survival rather than pleasure.
We’re getting some good details as to where we’re locating our setting.
Every week, we must decide whether we are to start a project, hold a discussion, or discover something new. This week, we decided to go exploring the islands surrounding the main landmass. While many choose to stay behind in case another attack occurs, the last one took almost half the population, others venture forth seeking adventure, glory, fame… whatever motivates someone to leave home.
I’m giving this the maximum amount of six weeks. However, I decided to do a little intervening and change it to…
This week, we decided to go exploring the islands surrounding the main landmass lake. While many choose to stay behind in case another attack occurs, as the last one took almost half the population, others venture forth seeking adventure, glory, fame… whatever motivates someone to leave home.
To better tie in with the above. Week three, we have…
Someone new had arrived to Harm’s County. He came alone, without friends or family. His story wasn’t exactly clear yet he seemed friendly enough upon meeting him. Some thought his arrival meant trouble would soon follow while others believed he’d bring hope.
Hmmm… Let’s press for more details…
When asked for his name, he said it was John Doe. No surname, no real identity other than being lost somewhere else entirely. Nobody knew anything about him except that he didn’t seem hostile toward anyone and wanted nothing more than to help rebuild society after surviving the recent Jackal invasion.
Mmmmm… Mysterious… I like him. At the risk of once more derailing the point of the Quiet Year, I want to know more about him. Plus, we’re already doing two projects, one of which is already complete, which I will note in the blurb below:
Every week, we must decide whether we are to start a project, hold a discussion, or discover something new. This week, our project to produce weapons has been complete. As such, we held a gathering discussing ways to improve these tools of destruction. Everyone contributed ideas until eventually only one remained–the best idea. Sooner or later, every member of the community should possess access to a powerful gun.
Holy crap! They actually did something different!
That way, everybody stands equal against whoever may come through the door next. For example, I’m sure none of us want to face a horde of zombies armed solely with knives!
As always, we spent several days working on making everything perfect. Then, today, we’ll test the guns’ effectiveness. Hopefully, we won’t see any casualties tomorrow night. If things turn sour, however, my wife and son shall hide inside the cave until it’s safe to emerge once again.
I wonder if the man named John Doe knows about me? Or does he think I died years ago? Maybe someday he’ll return looking for answers. Until then, I guess I’ll never really know.
W-woah! A bit of a lore drop. First, zombies and then the Narrator has a family and then we get a hint that this John Doe person has a connection with said Narrator. What the hell!? Okay, locking it in and doing Week Four:
An important and basic tool the community lacks is firewood. Without fuel, cooking becomes impossible. Luckily, we found a good source close by. After collecting a decent amount, we headed back to the campsite ready to cook dinner.
Nonononono, you do not get a bone there, erasing you getting firewood. Try again.
Luckily, we found a nice supply hidden deep in the woods earlier this summer. Unfortunately, the tree was already dead and rotted away completely.
Much better!
Every week, we must decide whether we are to start a project, hold a discussion, or discover something new. This week, we decided to explore the area around the town. Many chose to remain back fearing another attack, as the last one nearly killed us all. However, others ventured forth hoping to seek adventure, glory, fame, whatever motivates someone to leave home.
… Wait a minute…
go exploring the islands surrounding the main landmass. While many choose to stay behind in case another attack occurs, the last one took almost half the population, others venture forth seeking adventure, glory, fame… whatever motivates someone to leave home.
explore the area around the town. Many chose to remain back fearing another attack, as the last one nearly killed us all. However, others ventured forth hoping to seek adventure, glory, fame, whatever motivates someone to leave home.
YOU SNEAKY SNEAKY AI! YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD PULL ONE OVER ME!?
Because of that, not only do you get a token of contempt from me (which increases the Repetition Penalty by .2 points until it reaches 1) but I’m going to outright rewrite what you decide to do.
This week, we discovered a source of fresh drinking water. Although it seems odd considering the lack of rain lately, the ground beneath the surface holds plenty of moisture despite appearances. Even better news is that although it smells bad, it doesn’t taste very good either.
A new abundance! Though I question why it tasting and smelling bad is good news, so I’ll throw you a bone here and say it tastes good despite its bad smell. Week Five, the final week of Spring.
An old man confessed to past crimes and atrocities. Many agreed with his words regarding the dangers facing mankind. However, others disagreed claiming that humanity itself is evil and deserves extinction. Regardless of opinion, the matter ended peacefully thanks to the intervention of Mr. Whitehead, our leader. The old man claimed that his crimes were committed under duress. After hearing both sides, we accepted his apology and let him join us.
This morning, we tested four different types of ammunition made from various materials including steel, iron, lead and copper.
Uuuuh, no, the card asked specifically what his crimes were. This is where John Doe will come in handy.
John Doe came to the old man and asked him what sort of atrocities he committed, to which he replied “murder.” And proceeded to tell him a story involving himself killing five men (or possibly six) back in ’92. All of whom happened to be children. At least according to the old man anyway. Of course, we couldn’t verify the truthfulness of his claims either way, nor did we care. Despite having murdered innocent young boys, the old man appeared remorseful and sincere. Perhaps he truly felt guilty for committing heinous acts decades prior.
Perfect. Now we need a name.
This old man was named William Cooper. During the conversation, he told us stories about life pre-apocalypse including tales of his childhood growing up in New York City. Apparently, he lived across the street from Central Park.
John Doe asked William Cooper why he killed those children under duress. To which Cooper responded saying he feared for his own safety given the current situation. Specifically referring to the Jackals attacking his neighborhood. According to Cooper, the gangsters started showing up shortly after the bombs fell. As penance, he serves as an elite hunter.
We’re getting so much deep lore here it’s amazing. I added the elite hunter to tie it back to the first prompt. Alright, now you can do your thing.
This week, we tested four different types of ammunition made from various materials including steel, iron, lead and copper. Each bullet fired differently depending on material composition and design. With further testing, we plan to create bullets specifically designed to kill certain creatures. We went on a journey yesterday afternoon searching for edible plants. Today, we’ll cook up dinner and eat well knowing that tonight, we’ll sleep soundly knowing we’re prepared for any danger lurking ahead.
So they basically have bullets for days. With this, I’ll give the AI five generations to say anything to spice up the story.
With that, Spring has ended. Summer begins anew and brings warmer weather accompanied by longer daylight hours. Not surprisingly, seasonal changes affect human behavior causing increased activity throughout the day. People spend less time sleeping and eating. Instead, they focus on getting jobs done faster. Also known as spring fever.
We built a huge bonfire early this morning burning all sorts of debris accumulated over the previous month. Before going to bed last night, we gathered close to fifty sticks of dried grasses. Once lit, the flames quickly spread consuming the dry twigs and leaves forming a thick pillar of smoke rising high above the treetops. Within minutes, the entire area glowed orange casting shadows everywhere. By midday, the sky turned dark gray turning the landscape below black.
Soon thereafter, lightning struck followed closely by thunder booming loudly in the distance. Rain began falling heavily hitting the earth hard creating puddles everywhere. Thunder rumbled overhead sending flashes lighting up the sky momentarily illuminating the world in shades of blue and purple.
This… this is beautiful. I like to call this moment the Inazuma Ceremony.
Unfortunately, this is where the experiment ended but thankfully with evolving tech, we no longer need to rely on Google Colab and I can move onto using both Claude for the main story and ChatGPT for the worldbuilding.
Though, once more, I will need to do Alice is Missing first. Until then, Bon Voyage, gamers.
Solo RPG Voyages 
