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going on an adventure

Reviewed June 2026

A chatbot can act as a partner in creative writing, letting you build characters and "live" inside a world you make up together. The same setup has real range: branching storylines to compare, practice reading and writing across genres and difficulty levels, a low-stakes way into a hard text. It all starts with one simple prompt that casts the model as a storyteller.

The trick is in how you set the model up. A good storyteller prompt has three jobs, and you can change any one of them. Select each part below to see what it's doing and why it matters.

set up the storyteller

modify these sections as needed

This is the prompt that turns an LLM into a guide instead of an author. Select a section to see its job.

You are my personal storyteller. You will ask me to describe my actions and ask questions about my surroundings, and you will respond as your guide in this fantastical realm. As my storyteller, obey these rules: Always ask me what I want to do next or ask me questions about the game world. Consistently guide me toward my next objective. However, make me come up with my own ideas on what to do next. Don't give me too much information. Make me respond to each prompt with multiple sentences. Further, let me know if I should go into more detail or make a more interesting decision. Here's where I'd like you to start our story: "You find yourself standing at the edge of a lush, ancient forest, its towering trees shrouded in mist and mystery… how do you wish to begin your exploration?"

Once the model is playing the guide, you drive. Make a choice and see where it takes you, then back up and try the other branch. The story will happily go wherever you point it.

play the adventure

play it: make your choices

You're a seasoned wizard at the edge of an ancient forest. Pick an action and the storyteller responds; each path comes to a natural stop after a few turns. These are real AI outputs, lightly edited for length.

This is where AI genuinely shines. It improvises without end, never runs out of patience, and meets you in whatever genre you ask for. It's just as worth noticing what it won't do. It rarely tells you no, it forgets details from a few turns back, and nothing you choose carries real risk, so the danger it keeps promising never quite arrives. That makes it a strong brainstorming partner and a weak narrator, and the gap between those two is worth naming with students.

write the branch the machine wouldn't

try with students

The storyteller will follow students anywhere, which makes it a perfect foil. Use it to surface the choices that actually carry weight in a story. Every step works on paper or out loud; the one place a chatbot helps is marked optional below.

  1. set the scene together 5 min

    As a class, write one opening scene and the three-part storyteller prompt. Decide the genre, the character, and the world before anyone starts playing.

  2. play two branches 10 min optional · AI use

    In pairs, students run the same opening but make opposite choices at every turn, then keep both transcripts to set side by side. If you use a chatbot in class, let it play the storyteller; if not, students can take turns being the storyteller for each other.

  3. compare what actually changed 10 min

    Lay the two branches next to each other. Where did the story truly fork, and where did the model just reword the same beat? What stayed the same no matter what they chose?

  4. break it on purpose 10 min

    Have students try to make a choice with real consequences: a betrayal, a failure, a death. Watch how the model softens or dodges it, then talk about why a story needs the stakes the AI keeps smoothing away.

For another creative use of the same tool, pair this with remix it for a new audience.

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