AI text adventure: start the missing-stamp mystery

Copy this story setup

Send the following as your opening message. Change your character's name before you begin.

Run a short, nonviolent text adventure called The Missing Sun Stamp. I play Alex, an adult traveler visiting the Cloudpost weather station. You narrate and play Finch, the adult station keeper. Leave my decisions and dialogue to me.

My goal is to find the station's missing sun stamp, stamp a postcard, and put it in the outgoing tray. The only locations are the lobby, map room, and greenhouse. Keep the story inside those three rooms. There are no enemies or injuries.

I begin with a ferry ticket and a red pencil. Choose a hiding place for the stamp now and keep it fixed. Put clues in the rooms. Give useful descriptions when I inspect something; never require an exact command or a particular guess.

Use fewer than 100 words per turn. Describe the result of one action, then give me two possible actions. I can also write my own. Track my location, inventory, and discovered clues. Wait for my reply before continuing.

Begin in the lobby. Rain taps the windows. A postcard rack sits beside the outgoing tray. Finch is searching a drawer behind the desk. Ask what I do first.

Play the first scene

Choose one action: ask Finch when he last used the stamp, or inspect the postcard rack.

Sending five actions together leaves little room for surprises. Read the reply before moving to another room.

Try this first turn: "I choose a postcard with a cloud on it. I ask Finch whether the stamp belongs in the lobby."

Then follow the answer. A mention of watering plants gives you a reason to inspect the greenhouse. A note on the desk gives you something to read. You can ask for one gentle hint if neither clue makes sense.

Keep choices within the world

Reading a map or asking Finch a question gives the narrator something to work with. A request to "continue" hands the next decision back to it.

The chat is writing the adventure as you go. Check its details and correct contradictions directly: "Finch left the room last turn. Keep him in the greenhouse until I find him."

Check the inventory every few turns

Ask for a short status note after about five exchanges. Keep objects you actually collected separate from things you only saw.

"List my location, what I'm carrying, the clues I've found, and my next decision. Don't reveal the stamp's hiding place."

If the list includes a key you never picked up, remove it before continuing. If a clue changes, quote the earlier detail and ask the narrator to keep that version. Our companion memory test gives you another way to check continuity across visits.

Save a starting point for next time

Before leaving, copy a short recap into your own notes:

"Alex is in the map room. Inventory: ferry ticket, red pencil, cloud postcard. Finch last used the stamp near the plants. Next action: inspect the greenhouse workbench."

Use your actual story details. Paste that recap when you return and ask the chat to resume from the open decision. Add the original three-room rule if you start a new conversation.

Ready to try it? Choose a companion and send the setup. For shorter activities, use the conversation starters. The AI companion buying guide covers what to check before paying for regular chats.