How do I start a new adventure in AI Dungeon using a community scenario and then customize it for my character?

Quick Answer: To start a new adventure in AI Dungeon with a community scenario, open Scenarios, pick one that fits your vibe, and hit Play to launch a fresh run. Then customize it for your character by editing your name, backstory, and traits in the intro, and dial in the storytelling style with AI Instructions, Story Cards, and the Memory system so the model actually remembers who you are.

Why This Matters

Most games lock you into pre-written paths. In AI Dungeon, community scenarios are more like launchpads than rails—you get a world, hooks, and tone, then you bend it around your character. If you know how to start from a scenario and immediately tune it to your hero (or villain), you’ll dodge generic “you are a hero” intros and get straight to specific, consequence-filled story where your choices and identity actually matter.

Key Benefits:

Faster onboarding into rich worlds: Community scenarios give you instant settings, lore, and NPCs so you skip worldbuilding overhead and start playing.
Deeper character identity: Customizing your character with Memory, Story Cards, and AI Instructions keeps the AI from drifting into vague, generic protagonists.
More consistent long‑term campaigns: Proper setup means the story remembers your character’s history and traits even 50+ turns in, instead of forgetting who you are.

Core Concepts & Key Points

Concept	Definition	Why it's important
Community Scenario	A player‑created starting setup (world, premise, cast, tone) you can launch as your own adventure.	Saves you time; gives you a strong narrative frame while still letting you improvise freely.
Character Customization	Adjusting your name, role, appearance, goals, and personality in the opening and via tools like Story Cards and Memory.	Makes the AI describe your character, not a default blank-slate hero, and keeps that consistent.
Control Tools (AI Instructions, Story Cards, Memory)	Structured inputs that tell the model how to narrate, what to remember, and which lore to respect.	They’re how you steer the model away from clichés, repetition, and forgotten details over long runs.

How It Works (Step-by-Step)

You can think of it as three stages: pick a scenario, launch the run, lock in your character.

1. Choose a Community Scenario

Open AI Dungeon
- Log in at https://aidungeon.com or open the app.
- From the main menu, go to Scenarios or Discover.
Browse or search
- Use search filters or keywords like “cyberpunk heist,” “high fantasy court intrigue,” or “slice of life romance.”
- You’ll see community-made scenarios with titles, descriptions, and tags (e.g., “Faerûn,” “Android Rule”).
Scan for fit
Look for:
- Premise: Does the starting situation match the kind of adventure you want? (epic quest vs cozy cafe vs horror survival)
- Tone: Serious, comedic, dark, romantic, etc.
- Model suggestions: Some scenario authors recommend a story model (e.g., Harbinger for brutal stakes, Muse/Nova for character drama, Hearthfire for chill vibes).
Preview the scenario
- Click the scenario to see its description, any visible Story Cards or notes, and sometimes suggested player roles.
- If it already describes the kind of character you want to play (“You are the disgraced royal heir…”), you’re halfway there.

When you find one you like, click Play (or Start / New Adventure, depending on UI version).

2. Start a New Adventure from the Scenario

Once you hit Play on a community scenario, AI Dungeon spins up a new adventure instance—your save file in that world.

Confirm your starting details
Many scenarios open with a short form or intro block where you can:
- Enter your character name
- Choose your class / role / archetype
- Sometimes pick a starting location or faction
If the scenario doesn’t expose explicit fields, don’t worry; you can customize via the opening text and control tools.
Read the opening scene carefully
The first few paragraphs are your onboarding:
- Who you are (as written by the scenario author)
- What’s happening right now
- Why it matters (quest hook, danger, conflict)
Decide what you want to keep versus rewrite. You’re allowed to bend the scenario around your character—the author’s text is a suggestion, not hard canon.
Take your first action
- In the input box, type what your character does or says. For example:
  
  “I pull my hood tighter around my face and introduce myself as Kael, a former royal assassin trying to disappear.”
- The model responds with the world’s reaction—NPC dialogue, environment changes, consequences.

This first turn already starts shaping your character, but to keep it consistent over time, you’ll want to set up deeper customization.

3. Customize the Scenario for Your Character

This is where you turn “generic hero in someone else’s scenario” into “your campaign, your protagonist, your tone.”

A. Rewrite or extend the starting text

Before you get too many turns in:

Edit the intro (if the UI allows it)
- Some versions let you edit the adventure’s first prompt or “Story” block.
- Swap out generic lines like:
  
  “You are a brave adventurer in the kingdom of Elaria…”
  With something like: “You are Riven Karthis, a one‑armed smuggler with a reputation for never asking questions—until someone puts a price on your head.”
Clarify your goals and flaws
In the opening paragraphs, bake in:
- A clear goal: “You’re trying to get out of debt before the gang you owe finds you.”
- A flaw or tension: “You can’t resist saving people in trouble, even when it jeopardizes your cover.”

The more specific you get here, the more strongly the model will anchor to it.

B. Use AI Instructions to tune storytelling style

AI Instructions are your backstage director’s notes—how you tell the model to behave for this adventure.

Open AI Instructions
- In your adventure, look for AI Settings, Model Settings, or AI Instructions.
- Each adventure can have its own set of instructions.
Add character‑ and tone‑specific guidance
Examples you can paste (and modify):
- For a character‑focused, emotional run:
  
  “Focus the story on the protagonist Riven Karthis. Show their emotions, internal thoughts, and moral conflicts. Keep scenes grounded, with detailed dialogue and body language. Avoid overusing phrases like ‘with practiced efficiency’ or ‘a mixture of emotions.’”
- For a brutal, consequence‑heavy adventure:
  
  “Choices have real consequences. Characters, including the protagonist, can die or fail. Don’t protect the main character with plot armor. Highlight danger, injuries, and the cost of mistakes.”
- For a cozy, slow‑burn campaign:
  
  “Keep the pacing relaxed. Linger on sensory details, atmosphere, and small character interactions. Action scenes are rare and meaningful, not constant.”
Lock in perspective and format
To keep the model from drifting into second‑person tutorials or meta chatter:

“Write in second person (‘you’) and past tense or present tense consistently, describing the protagonist’s actions and perceptions in a narrative style. Do not explain game mechanics or break the fourth wall.”

AI Instructions persist across turns, making them one of your strongest tools to keep the story aligned with your character and style.

C. Create Story Cards for your character and key elements

Story Cards are like pinned lore notes the model can draw from. They’re perfect for nailing down your character’s identity inside a community scenario.

Open Story Cards for the adventure
- In the adventure UI, find Story Cards or Cards.
- Click Create / New Card.
Make a Character Card for your protagonist
Include:
- Name: Riven Karthis
- Role: One‑armed smuggler in the port city of Karthos
- Traits: Cynical, hyper‑observant, secretly compassionate
- Backstory: 3–5 sentences on where they came from and what they’re running from
- Current goals: Short list (“Pay off debts,” “Hide from former crew,” “Protect street kids in the docks district”)
Keep it concise but specific. Example:

“Riven Karthis is a one‑armed smuggler who lost their right arm in a botched heist for the Crimson Tide gang. They’re known in Karthos for getting contraband through impossible blockades. Outwardly detached and sarcastic, Riven has a soft spot for runaway teens and street kids and quietly funnels money to help them. They’re heavily in debt to the Crimson Tide and constantly on the run from bounty hunters.”
Add Cards for important NPCs or factions
- Any recurring NPC or group from the community scenario that matters to you: mentors, rivals, guilds, cults.
- This helps maintain consistent behavior and relationships over time.

Story Cards act like structured lore that the model can pull into scenes instead of hallucinating new personalities for the same character every five turns.

D. Use Memory to keep your character consistent over long runs

AI Dungeon’s Memory system (Auto Summarization + Memory Bank) is designed to fight “amnesia” in long adventures.

Check the Memory panel
- You’ll typically see a Memory or Notes area tied to the adventure.
- This is where you store crucial facts the model should keep in mind.
Add core character facts early
Example text you can drop in:

“You are Riven Karthis, a one‑armed smuggler indebted to the Crimson Tide gang. You secretly protect street kids in the port city of Karthos. You avoid killing when possible, but violence is part of your life. You fear being recognized by your former crew.”
Update Memory after major milestones
When big things happen—arm gets healed, you become guildmaster, you betray an ally—update Memory:
- “Riven now works undercover for the city guard.”
- “Riven’s debt to the Crimson Tide is cleared; now the guild wants revenge.”

By feeding these back in, you stop the model from “resetting” your identity and relationships as context gets long.

E. Pick the right story model for your character and scenario

Different models feel like different GMs:

Hearthfire (cozy, slice of life): Great for character‑first, chill campaigns in community scenarios about everyday life, romance, or low‑stakes drama.
Muse / Nova (emotion- and character-driven): Strong for intricate interpersonal plots—political intrigue, romance, slow-burn character arcs.
Harbinger / Wayfarer (consequence-heavy): Ideal if the scenario promises danger, permadeath, and “GAME OVER” moments; these models lean into risk and payoff.

If your scenario is a brutal dungeon crawl and your character is a doomed mercenary, switching from a cozy model to Harbinger will make the world push back harder and keep stakes high.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Starting the scenario and never touching settings:
If you just hit “Play” and type, the model defaults to generic heroes and vague motivations.
Fix: Spend 3–5 minutes upfront on AI Instructions, a Character Story Card, and Memory.
Letting the scenario override your character identity forever:
Some community scenarios assume you’re a specific role (e.g., “You are the Chosen One wizard”). If you fight that only in the input box, the model can get confused.
Fix: Explicitly rewrite the intro and update AI Instructions and Memory to describe your actual character so the system has a single, clear source of truth.

Real-World Example

You find a popular community scenario about Faerûn-style high fantasy intrigue. The description promises court politics, assassins, and ancient magic—perfect.

You hit Play and the intro says:

“You are a young knight sworn to protect the queen from the shadows of treachery.”

But you want to play a jaded bard-turned-spy instead.
You edit the opening text to:

“You are Lira Vales, a traveling bard who moonlights as an information broker in the royal court. You’ve survived this long by selling secrets to every side—until one of those secrets nearly gets the queen killed.”
In AI Instructions, you add:

“Focus on political intrigue, secrets, and social tension. Center the story on Lira Vales, a morally gray bard-spy. Highlight manipulation, hidden motives, and the consequences of betrayal. Avoid generic fantasy narration and clichés—keep dialogue sharp and character-driven.”
You create a Story Card: Lira Vales with her appearance, past jobs, and the one secret she can’t let anyone find out. You add the queen, a rival spymaster, and a rebel cell as separate Cards.
In Memory, you log:

“Lira Vales is an information broker posing as a bard in the royal court. The queen trusts Lira, but Lira has secretly sold information to her enemies in the past. If the queen learns this, Lira could be executed.”
Ten sessions later, when a random courtier accuses you of treason, the model remembers enough to escalate it into a real crisis instead of shrugging it off with vague drama. Your past decisions come back, and your campaign feels like a single, coherent political thriller rather than loosely connected scenes.

Pro Tip: When the story does something almost right but not quite—like forgetting your missing arm or softening a consequence—don’t just accept it. Use Edit to fix the current turn, then update Memory or your Story Cards so the model learns the pattern going forward.

Summary

Starting a new adventure in AI Dungeon from a community scenario is the fastest way to jump into a rich, prebuilt world—but the real magic happens when you reshape that scenario around your own character. Pick a scenario that matches the genre and stakes you want, launch a new adventure, then immediately personalize the intro, add AI Instructions, define your protagonist with Story Cards, and lock their core facts into Memory. Do that, and the story will treat your character as the center of gravity instead of a generic stand-in, even across long, consequence-heavy campaigns.

Next Step

Get Started