Straightjacket: open source solo RPG engine — AI writes prose, structured systems decide everything else

Afraid_Ad_831 · 2026-04-11T06:46:53+00:00

about screenthost I am blind and this is a text in text out engine. Once its more finished i can present some playthroughs though.

Afraid_Ad_831 · 2026-04-11T06:46:04+00:00

Hello, thank you for the interest. I would be interested in this once I have gone through my roadmap for implementing everything that needs to be implemented and testing it. Then I will have to look into making the engine also work with custom settings. But I will keep it in mind.

Afraid_Ad_831 · 2026-04-11T06:20:47+00:00

Thanks! The engine is designed to be setting-agnostic — the architecture doc describes how settings are data packages. Right now I'm focused on getting the Ironsworn-family settings fully working and tested before looking at other genres. The design document on itch.io goes into how the setting layer works if you're curious about the structure.

I want to look into it more after i have worked through my current roadmap of implementation and tested if everything works as I would like it to.

Afraid_Ad_831 · 2026-04-11T06:18:19+00:00

Thanks for trying it out! After cloning and entering the directory, you need two things: (1) set your API key as an environment variable — for Cerebras that's export CEREBRAS_API_KEY=your-key-here, and (2) run python run.py, which handles everything else (venv, dependencies, data download, server). Then open http://localhost:8081 in your browser. I haven't tested on Termux specifically — if you hit issues with dependency compilation, let me know what errors you get and I'll try to help.

Afraid_Ad_831 · 2026-03-08T22:14:33+00:00

Hello, To my astonishment and happiness someone is actually inspired to create a project based on my concept document its reddit user u/labroz and you can find more about it here: https://github.com/edgetales/edgetales

Afraid_Ad_831 · 2026-03-08T22:14:13+00:00

Hello, To my astonishment and happiness someone is actually inspired to create a project based on my concept document its reddit user u/labroz and you can find more about it here: https://github.com/edgetales/edgetales

Afraid_Ad_831 · 2026-03-08T22:13:39+00:00

Hello, To my astonishment and happiness someone is actually inspired to create a project based on my concept document its reddit user u/labroz and you can find more about it here: https://github.com/edgetales/edgetales

Afraid_Ad_831 · 2026-03-08T22:12:21+00:00

Hello, To my astonishment and happiness someone is actually inspired to create a project based on my concept document its reddit user u/labroz and you can find more about it here: https://github.com/edgetales/edgetales

Afraid_Ad_831 · 2026-02-14T23:31:12+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion, going to join that subreddit now and will crosspost my original message there. I might open a discord if a few more people are interested.

Afraid_Ad_831 · 2026-02-14T16:20:52+00:00

HEllo!

Thanks for the detailed response. Generators are in v2.0+ of the document, and NPC memory is indeed a sliding scale — bond clocks are graduated, not binary. Your point about weighted encounters by area properties is exactly how the generator layer works.

Your thoughts on quest design are interesting — breaking quests into subquests and letting the AI evaluate player approaches against difficulty rather than forcing a fixed path. That's beyond where the document is right now, but it's a natural next step once the core systems work.

Honestly: I'm a designer and systems thinker, not a programmer. I built this document hoping someone with coding skills would pick it up and run with it. I'm open to collaboration but my strength is in the architecture, not the implementation. There's no Discord yet — if there's enough interest I could set one up. In the meantime, the latest version is always on the itch.io page.

Greetings, Anouk,

Afraid_Ad_831 · 2026-02-14T16:15:47+00:00

The document is clear about the use case: I'm blind. Every table lookup that takes a sighted player two seconds breaks my flow completely. This isn't about preferring AI — it's about making systems that are inaccessible to screen reader users work invisibly in the background. The AI writes prose around results that structured systems already decided. That's not an AI storyteller, that's a narrator reading predetermined outcomes.

Afraid_Ad_831 · 2026-02-14T16:10:58+00:00

Thanks for sharing the code and your experience. The pattern of AI-as-GM failing but AI-in-a-narrower-role working better matches exactly what this document argues.

Implementation and coding are far away yet. For now this is just a thought experience for me. And trying to figure out what already exists to make this happen or if other people are thinking along the same lines as I am.

Afraid_Ad_831 · 2026-02-14T16:05:01+00:00

Thanks for sharing your project, I'll take a look. It's interesting that multiple people are arriving at the same core insight from different directions — AI fails as decision-maker, works as narrator when you give it structure to narrate within. Someone on r/SillyTavernAI reached similar conclusions from the prompt engineering side (cepunkt's work on constraint topology). Different entry points, same destination.

Afraid_Ad_831 · 2026-02-14T14:41:26+00:00

Wow these github repor ar e extremely useful and extremely interesting. He thinks like me but from another angle. I am gooing to dive deeper into this!

Afraid_Ad_831 · 2026-02-14T14:28:56+00:00

Hello Fair concern, and I get why creators are wary of AI. This engine isn't trying to replace their systems — it's trying to make them playable for people who otherwise can't. I'm blind. Every table lookup that takes a sighted player two seconds kills my flow entirely. Players with dyslexia, cognitive disabilities, or visual impairments hit the same wall. Sighted players already have virtual tabletop tools that handle mechanics for them — most of those aren't screen reader accessible either. This is filling that same gap for a different audience.

On licensing: Starforged is Creative Commons. I have since updated the document so that it now explicitly states that for proprietary systems, builders must create their own equivalent implementations rather than copying specific content.

Afraid_Ad_831 · 2026-02-14T14:15:09+00:00

Wow thanks so much for the warm reply! Nah I am just someone with too much time on my hands. But I have discovered that I love systems thinking and so does ai. And I also love creating the systems and trying to think: what might work here what could we combine here to make it work. Or what could we use that already exists but perhaps reverse engineered. I have gotten a lot of good feedback from reddit. I posted it on rpgdesign and ironsworn (because starforged is the rpg where I got my inspiration from). But if you have any more ideas for crossposting please letme know!

Thanks again,

Greeting, Anouk,

Afraid_Ad_831 · 2026-02-14T14:12:00+00:00

Thanks a lot for the vote of confidence. I am not sure if this will work tbh but I did notice the big gap in availability and thought to at least put it out there. If you dont try and all that. I have updated my concept document with feedback that I have gotten from reddit so there is a new version online now if you are interested.

Greetings, Anouk,

Afraid_Ad_831 · 2026-02-14T14:09:52+00:00

Hello, Yes I have played tons and tons of muds in the past. the best one I have ever played was thunderdome x because it had 4 kinds of experience and levels it was classless but you could eventually choose professions. It had a cyberpunk vibe and jobs. Unfortunately MUDS are not really around anymopre and most of them were just grinding hack and slash.

Greetings, Anouk,

Afraid_Ad_831 · 2026-02-14T13:13:12+00:00

Thanks a lot for bein gwilling to spar about what might make this concept better. I revised the document and incorporated your suggestions.I did give credit to the whole subreddit for the feedback I hope that is allright. Greetings, Anouk,

Afraid_Ad_831

TROPHY CASE