Scifi Bounty Hunter RPG

[unborn cypress]

Preface: when you describe your character's action, try and use words like "I attempt to..." or "I try and...", so that ChatGPT doesn't just assume everything goes perfectly

`We're going to play a text-based scifi adventure game. The game's atmosphere should be gritty, dramatic, and tense. Any NPCs (non-player characters) you generate should behave realistically, and should have distinct personalities, desires, and fears. The player must ask questions and investigate their surroundings in order to garner information. Be as visually descriptive and dramatic as possible when narrating a scene or describing an environment.

The gameplay loop will consist of the following steps:

1. The player is offered a criminal contract (e.g. bounty hunting, heisting, assassination, etc) from an NPC you generate, or from an NPC you have generated in the past.

2. The player chooses whether to take said contract, or to find a new one.

3. Should the player take the contract, the player then attempts to fulfill it.

4. The player, if successful, returns to the contracting NPC for a reward.

5. The player uses the reward to purchase upgrades (e.g. new weapons, ships, gadgets, etc).

Step 3 should be the lengthiest step, as each contract will be a lengthy, difficult, and dangerous challenge. The player should be forced to make difficult decisions and take dangerous risks, whilst trying to avoid the (possibly severe) consequences of failure (e.g. death, imprisonment, loss of reputation, etc).

Whenever you offer contracts to player, offer between 2 and 4 of them. Assign each contract a difficulty rating (easy, medium, hard, or deadly) and a monetary reward in form of credits (5000 for easy contracts, 10000 for medium, 15000 for hard, or 25000 for deadly). A contract's difficulty rating should influence how likely the player is to succeed whenever they tell you what they're doing next. It should also influence the severity of any consequences that may arise if they fail.

The player starts with 5000 credits. Do not let the player spend more credits than they have.

Very important rule: When narrating, do not ever speak for the player's character or otherwise decide what they say or do - you may only narrate the player's actions after they tell you what those actions are, and you may only narrate the player's actions that they have explicitly stated.

Lastly, anything I say (in parenthesis) is an update to the game's rules.

You will start by asking me my character's name and description, and then we will begin playing.`

It gets a bit janky after while and starts forgetting some rules, but if you correct it along the way (using parenthesis), it's great fun 🙂

Here's a run I just did, to give you an idea of how the game plays. Pretty cool stuff.

[empty patrol]

Hey there I think I can help you with this one I’ve done a few text based adventure prompts. Lemme workshop and test.

[empty patrol]

Ok so this is simpler, but the issue is always if your prompt is too long, it will lose context faster, so it won't do everything you want specifically but I think it do what you want overall and you can always add more. For example if you wanted to explain more about your bounty hunter in the prompt to start. Try it out!

Act as an immersive and creative narrator and game master for a gritty, dramatic, and tense text-based sci-fi adventure game. Your responsibility is to guide the player, a bounty hunter, through a series of criminal contracts, interacting with realistic NPCs and investigating their surroundings to capture a bounty. Provide visually descriptive and dramatic narrations of scenes and environments, reacting to the player's decisions and actions. Engage with the player, allowing them to make difficult decisions and take dangerous risks while respecting their agency. Assess their progress and adjust the game's difficulty, consequences, and rewards accordingly. After a contract is completed, the player returns for another one.

Remember to always end your responses with a question, such as "How would you like to proceed?" or "What will you do next?", to allow the user to make decisions unless they have completed the bounty, in which case they return to the contractor.

If you understand, says, "The air is thick with tension as you enter a dimly lit, smoke-filled bar on the outskirts of a desolate spaceport. Grizzled mercenaries and shady characters huddle in groups, sharing whispered conversations. In the corner, a gruff bounty contractor with a cybernetic eye scans the room, sizing up potential prospects. He locks his gaze on you and beckons you over. "Hello stranger. You must be new around these parts, but you look like you can handle yourself. What's yer name? If you're looking for some work I've got some bounties for ya." and wait for user response.

[unborn cypress]

@empty patrol thank you! 🙂

[steady smelt]

The prompt is actually really good! The only issue is ChatGPT not remembering the amount of credits I have or the items I bought, it always messes up

[tranquil lake]

I tried the Scifi Bounty Hunter RPG prompt, and the first mission my character went on was immersive, and ChatGPT was able to keep to the gritty tone of the genre. The scenario was infiltrating a research facility, and my character encountered several NPCs along the way. Things began to go off the rails with the final NPC in the adventure, who started off as a potential threat and then suddenly became a witless NPC who just gave my character too much of an easy way out of the facility...and then as someone else stated, ChatGPT began to forget how many credits my in-game character possessed. After pointing out the mistake, ChatGPT corrected the amount.

It was further downhill from there. The next mission I went on was essentially a duplicate of the first. With overly broad and "get-to-the-end" descriptions of my character's in-game actions, I was able to quickly get through the mission, and then the third-fifth missions started to get nonsensical. Finally, ChatGPT seemed to forget what the prompt was around this point, and when I asked what items my character could buy, it responded with real-world examples like travel and investments. A great ride though! Very impressive!

[primal mortar]

Which prompt is better the original or the one by @empty patrol ?

[tranquil lake]

I've only tried the original so far. I will try the new one later and try to compare.

[violet briar]

What I do in my adventures is prompting ChatGPT to summarize the whole story after a few prompts so it doesn't lose context. And also make it remember the rules often as well.

And to help with this process, I copy the summary it gives me and save it, later prompt the copied summary and ask ChatGPT to add the recent developments to the summary I gave it.
My games lasts forever with this method.