All About Story Cards

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What Are Story Cards?

<aside> <img src="https://prod-files-secure.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/6cd5a73c-9af8-4da4-9fef-c8ea3e73ad44/01902d19-4cac-4538-b34a-8f8152f0a185/four-shapes.svg" alt="https://prod-files-secure.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/6cd5a73c-9af8-4da4-9fef-c8ea3e73ad44/01902d19-4cac-4538-b34a-8f8152f0a185/four-shapes.svg" width="40px" /> Story Cards are notes for the AI about characters, locations, concepts, or any other elements of your story.

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The AI only consults Story Cards when they become relevant. Their relevance is determined by keywords called Triggers. Story Cards only go into context when they are activated because their Triggers occur in the input or output, and they stay in context for a variable period depending on context window size after they are activated.

When Should I Use Story Cards?

You don't have to use Story Cards to enjoy AI Dungeon; they're optional. But if you're willing to take the time to add Story Cards to your Scenarios and Adventures, they can help the AI maintain consistency and add depth to your story. How you use this powerful tool is up to you, but here are some suggestions:

Capturing Elements

As you play, you might encounter something intriguing in your story: a character, a place, an idea. If you want the AI to remember everything about this element after it scrolls out of the context window, you can create a Story Card for it, manually entering what you think is important for the AI to know the next time it comes up.

Fleshing Out Elements

The AI might mention a person or place without providing much detail. If you want to expand on this element, one way is to create a Story Card for it. You can either write the details yourself or use the Story Card Generator to help you. That way, the AI will have more to go on when writing about the newly detailed element.

Preliminary World-Building

Before you start playing, you might want to set up a story world filled with places, people, things, and concepts to use in your Adventure. Story Cards allow you to create this framework, ensuring the AI has access to your custom world-building.

By using Story Cards effectively, you can create more immersive and coherent narratives in which the AI can call up information at just the right time. However, while using Story Cards at a basic level is easy, mastering them takes time. Let's start with card components.

Anatomy of a Story Card

Each Story Card consists of:

Type: Relevant for Character Creator Scenarios, in which case it determines whether the card is available for character selection. In other Adventures, the AI ignores Type unless you’re generating new Story Cards with AI.
Name: For your reference only; the AI ignores Name.
Entry: This is the core information that gets sent to the AI when the card is triggered. Over the history of AI Dungeon, opinions about optimal formats for cards have varied widely. You can and should experiment with formats, but there is no evidence that there is any downside to using plain English, as long as you are concise to save context space. You will find more detailed advice about what to put into the Entry field in the section "Best Practices for Using Story Cards" below.
Triggers: Words or phrases that cause the Entry information to be sent to the AI. Triggers are case-insensitive but sensitive to leading and trailing spaces. A more detailed explanation of Triggers is provided below under “How Story Cards Work,” and suggestions for trigger composition are provided in the “Best Practices for Using Story Cards” section.
Notes: The AI ignores Notes during your Adventures. Its only use is in Character Creator Scenarios, where it is shown to the player as the description of each option that may be chosen in the character selection process. In that case, it can be useful if you want to show the player a shorter or otherwise different version of the option's Entry description.

How Story Cards Work

When a trigger word or phrase appears in the AI's output or the player's input, the corresponding Story Card's Entry is added to the context sent to the AI. Note that only the Entry is shown to the AI, and it is prefaced by the phrase "World Lore:". This allows the AI to incorporate the information into its responses for as long as the Card stays in context. However, keep in mind that the AI does not know Story Cards exist. It does not know to look for them unless their Triggers have occurred. All it knows, when a Card is activated, is that its context now includes this information.

As mentioned, Story Cards are active for a variable number of turns after being triggered depending on the context window size, and they can be triggered by player inputs and AI outputs. However, the same AI output that first activates a given Story Card cannot use the information contained within that card, because its context does not yet include the Entry text. This means that if you have a Card for a character named "Amanda" with her name as the trigger, and the AI includes her in an output when she is not yet in context, it will not have access to the Story Card information about her when generating that output.

Best Practices for Using Story Cards

Composing Entries:
- Use plain English with natural syntax. Use short, simple sentences and unambiguous language, but be thorough.
- Be brief to save context space. Story Cards are among the first elements to be removed from the context when it is full.
- Place the most important information at the beginning and end of the Entry. The AI has a bias towards information in these positions.
- Mention and repeat the name of the thing you're describing. Remember: the AI does not see the Name, so it needs repetition to tie the description to the name.
- Avoid excessive detail in physical descriptions because the AI will often not use it unless it is relevant to the story and not incidental.
Effective Use of Triggers:
- Separate Triggers by commas, generally without spaces, like this: Amanda,your daughter. Triggers are sensitive to spaces, so Amanda is distinct from Amanda.
- Be cautious with short Triggers that could be part of common words. For example, cat occurs in catalog, but cat does not. However, cat also will not trigger on cat..
- Consider using truncated words as Triggers to catch both singular and plural forms. For example, boat will also trigger on boats.
Balancing Information:
- Aim for Story Cards to activate only when needed, rather than taking up space all the time. This is mostly a question of designing Triggers that only occur when relevant. The safest trigger types are, therefore, proper names.
- Since the AI doesn't know whether you have zero or 1,000 Story Cards, you have to get them into context for them to be used. One way to do this is to have Story Cards refer to each other through Entry information. By doing this, you can create a network or branching structure. For example, sub-locations, or characters tied to other characters. A more detailed guide to this card networking approach will be available soon.

Story Card Management

Remember that Story Cards are editable at any time, even after starting an Adventure. You can update them to reflect changes in your story.
You can export and import Story Cards to use them in different Adventures, Scenarios, or branches within Multiple Choice Scenarios (only possible from a browser). Learn more about importing and exporting Story Cards →

Troubleshooting and FAQs

Placeholders (e.g., ${What is your gender?}) will soon work on Story Cards for simple Scenarios! You can put ${placeholders} on your Story Cards that players fill in when setting up their Adventure.
If an Entry is very long, the AI might not relay all the information contained in it. This is because the AI generally won't talk about things in a Story Card for multiple outputs, and if your Card is longer than your output length, the AI will pick and choose just some of the information provided. Generally, you shouldn't expect the AI to always use all the information in a Story Card, unless it is very short.
Remember to use the Context Viewer to see if your cards are activating as desired or if some cards are activating when they shouldn't be. It's very common to mistakenly write Triggers that occur at the wrong times.

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How to Generate Story Cards

You can use AI to generate Story cards if you don’t want to manually write them.

Generator Settings

When creating Story Cards, you'll find a "Generator Settings" tab at the top of the popup menu that contains different options to customize your AI-generated cards. We recommend starting in this tab so you can adjust these settings before diving into Story Card creation.

Use Beta Model: Make sure this toggle is turned on to take advantage of the new fine-tuned model powering AI generation. Story Cards created when this is off will not be able to use the following Story Summary, AI Instructions, or Story Information settings.
Speed Create Mode: Quickly create multiple Story Cards in a row by turning on this setting. When enabled, the “Finish” button changes to “Next,” so you can simultaneously save your current card and make a new blank card of the same type. If you love getting into a creative flow and writing many different types of cards at once, this is for you!
Include Story Summary: The AI will consider the information in the Story Summary plot component when generating Story Cards if this setting is toggled on. This is a great way to give the AI some details about your overarching narrative so it can create new cards in the context of your story. Note: this setting is separate from the “Story Information” field discussed below.
Log Generation in Notes: Every AI output and subsequent retry is automatically added to the Notes section of that card when this setting is on, so you can generate multiple entries and choose the best parts for your desired card.
AI Instructions: Tell the AI what kind of card you want it to create and customize the AI-generated outputs. You could include:
- Notes about story style, tone, content preference, or language inspiration
  - Examples: "Write in a noir style with short, punchy sentences" or "Use flowery, poetic language inspired by Victorian-era literature”
- General preferences you’d like the AI to follow when creating new cards
  - Examples: "Focus on creating morally ambiguous characters" or "Emphasize the magical elements in all locations”
- Specific instructions about the content you’re going for
  - Examples: “Describe a type of knight that uses unconventional weapons" or "Create characters that would show up in a Japanese comedy show, emphasizing quirky personality traits”
- Any other directions you want the AI to follow when generating new Story Cards
  - Examples: "Incorporate elements of steampunk technology in all character descriptions" or "Ensure all location descriptions include a hidden secret or mystery”
You can keep your instructions short or include multiple at once—it’s up to you! Play around with it and see what works best for your creation style.
Story Information: Provide additional key details about your story for the AI to consider while generating new cards. You could include:

The AI Instructions and Story Information fields are specific to the Adventure or Scenario they’re tied to, so make sure to update these settings for every story you’re creating!

Details

After adjusting your Generator Settings, switch back to the “Details” tab to start creating Story Cards!

Type: Choose from the default options—”Character” (new!), “Class,” “Race,” “Location,” or “Faction”—or choose “Custom” to create your own Type (e.g. Lore, Item, Event, Spell, Weapon, etc.)
Name: Type in your own Name or use the “Generate New” button to create one with AI, which will also create a related Entry and Triggers.
Entry: Type in your own Entry or use the “Generate New” button to create one with AI. If a “Name” already exists, the AI will generate an Entry based on the Name field.
Generate New with AI: Use these buttons to easily create AI-generated cards or regenerate outputs that don’t work for your desired story. Keep in mind that using the button under “Name” will always create a new Name, Entry, and Triggers.
Triggers: Triggers are crucial for Story Cards to work.
Notes: Since the AI ignores this field, you can leave any kind of notes about the Story Card. If “Log Generation in Notes” is on under your Generator Settings, every AI generation created for that card will be logged in this section, so you can hand-pick which information you want under the Entry.
Finish/Next: Move on to creating new cards with this button in the top right corner.
•••: This button in the top left corner has several options—“Finish and Start New Card,” “Finish and Close,” and “Delete”:

Best Practices for Story Card Generation

Provide enough information: Fill in the AI Instructions and Story Information so the AI has enough details about your story to create the cards you’re looking for.
Keep things updated: Frequently update those sections to ensure you’re creating the most story-accurate cards possible.
Use the right Type: Pick a Type from the dropdown menu that matches what you're asking for under AI Instructions to help the AI create cards that fit your story better.

Examples

Here are some simple ways you could structure your Story Card settings to achieve different AI-generated outputs:

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<aside> <img src="/icons/rocket_gray.svg" alt="/icons/rocket_gray.svg" width="40px" /> Sci-Fi

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<aside> <img src="/icons/search_gray.svg" alt="/icons/search_gray.svg" width="40px" /> Historical Mystery

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