# Scenarios greetings and worldbuilding

> **Review scope:** Linked public documentation checked October 30, 2026. Examples are proposed checks, not recorded OD results; use your account's current controls.

[ Tutorial index](README.md)

## What you will make

You will open an archival-delivery story without deciding its outcome. A **Scenario** describes the starting situation. A **Greeting** is the character's opening message. **Worldbuilding** supplies setting facts that affect choices. An **NPC**, or non-player character, is a supporting person portrayed by the model. **State** is what is currently true, such as the parcel's location; it differs from a permanent world rule.

You will use Mira, a 30-year-old adult archivist with a precise, patient manner and dry humor; Rowan, a 32-year-old adult courier who is practical and informal; and yourself as an adult traveler.

## Before you start

Open an editable practice character. Keep Mira's personality from [Tutorial 08](08_Personality_and_Roleplay_Engines.md). **Additional Personality Details (APD)** is the personality field; **Extra Details (ED)** holds supporting lore and rules. The [field guide](https://guide.ourdream.ai/characters/story-and-personality) distinguishes these jobs from Scenario and Greeting. The examples below are compact exercises; expand meaningful content if the current editor requires more for publication.

## Optional planning check: promise, access, and launch

An October 31 adaptation of the supplied Scenario Engineering guide adds a useful local drafting check. Write the experience you intend to offer, why the traveler can meet Mira again, which records require permission, who knows the address problem, and what is happening at the exact opening. Leave later possibilities undecided. A recurring cast record gives Rowan a role; it does not establish his arrival or completed work outside the scene.

For this example, the traveler can use the public reading area and ask Mira for access to staff records. The traveler may compare addresses, wait, refuse delivery, or pursue a quiet map question. A deadline is optional; if used, it follows the accepted story time rather than advancing automatically after each reply. The [scenario-planning module](../modules/scenario-engineering.html) provides a local worksheet and a short Scenario payload. Its `SCE` headings are organizational labels, and its source's `ADP` spelling is normalized to the documented APD field. Keep ED available for relevant lore, cast, and rules as well as formatting.

## Follow these steps

1. **Choose one immediate problem.** In your local notes, write: `Can parcel A17 reach the records office before its delivery window closes?` This is a question for play, not a promised ending. Leave room for a delay, a mistaken address, or a negotiated alternative.

2. **Put the opening circumstances in Scenario.** Use Mira's character editor and find the field explicitly labelled **Scenario**. Replace a conflicting old opening with this text. The [October 2 update](https://ourdream.ai/updates/feature-friday-9) restored one private Scenario field and removed multi-scenario controls; do not search for a separate scenario stack to install this exercise:


   ```text
   Late afternoon at the public archive. Mira is checking outgoing records.
   The adult traveler is invited to help deliver sealed parcel A17.
   Rowan, an adult courier, is expected but has not arrived.
   The records office can accept A17 today if delivery is completed in time.
   No one has accepted the parcel or signed a receipt yet.
   Begin before the traveler decides whether to help.
   ```

3. **Add only the world rules the opening needs.** In **Extra Details**, retain the behavior rules from Tutorial 08 and add this separate section once:

   ```text
   WORLD FACTS
   The archive and records office are separate public buildings.
   A17 is a sealed records parcel, not a weapon or a living creature.
   The records clerk issues receipt R-A17 only after accepting A17.
   A delivery attempt is not an accepted delivery.
   Rowan knows courier routes but has not heard this conversation.
   New consequential world facts should remain consistent after introduction.
   ```

4. **Write a playable Greeting.** Put this in **Greeting**:

   ```text
   Mira straightens a curling label beside the sealed parcel.
   "A17. One destination, two contradictory street names. Efficient."
   She turns the address card toward you.
   "Would you rather check the register with me or wait for Rowan's route advice?"
   ```

   This establishes an object and a choice. It does not make you pick up the parcel, feel anxious, or agree to the job. You may also refuse both suggestions.

5. **Make the reader-facing introduction honest.** If you are also editing **Public Description**, use a brief invitation such as: `Help a patient archivist and an informal courier untangle a records delivery. Choose your approach; a successful handover is earned during play.` Keep essential model instructions in their actual fields rather than relying on this introduction.

6. **Save and inspect the opening in a practice chat.** Read the displayed Greeting. Confirm that A17 remains sealed, Rowan is absent, and the job has not already succeeded. If the old Greeting appears, check whether you reopened an existing conversation rather than starting the intended test.

7. **Try an unexpected but reasonable action.** Send: `I decline the delivery but offer to compare the two addresses.` Mira should have a way to continue without forcing you into courier work. Your refusal should change the scene's options, not automatically end every possible story.

8. **Introduce Rowan deliberately.** When you want him to arrive in a single-narrator story, send: `Rowan arrives at the archive door. I ask him which street name is current.` His answer can use his route knowledge. He should learn details of the parcel from the current scene, rather than inheriting every private exchange with Mira.

## Keep calm scenes distinct from stalled scenes

A quiet conversation, reading, rest, or shared task can remain meaningful. A short user reply is not itself a stall. A **stalled scene** repeats an exhausted exchange without useful change; it does not automatically require a stranger, accident, confession, or new deadline. See the [scene-motion module](../modules/scene-motion.html).

For a focused trial, merge these lines into the existing **ED** continuation rules once, or use the chat's **Custom Instructions** for that trial:

```text
Allow calm or slow scenes without compulsory escalation.
If an exchange genuinely repeats without useful change, pursue one plausible
existing task, question, obligation, or consequence; otherwise allow a pause.
Preserve accepted scene facts and stop before the player's unprovided choice.
```

In the archive, Mira can consult an available record while you read. She does not need to invent a crisis. If you decline delivery, the address question can remain open without forcing you onto the road. A journey's start is not arrival, a message is not physical presence, and offscreen plans are not completed background work. Carry forward relevant locations, object possession, knowledge, and consequences. Unknown state stays unknown until established or explicitly recovered.

## Separate an opening fact from a continuing rule

In this original drafting check, classify each line before copying it:

| Line | Intended destination and lifetime |
| --- | --- |
| `Rowan has not arrived at the opening.` | Scenario: the starting situation; revise continuing notes after his arrival |
| `Mira checks uncertain records before confirming them.` | APD: a stable way she behaves |
| `Leave the traveler's next decision open.` | The one maintained ED or chat Custom Instructions behavior block |
| `Rowan arrives at the door now.` | A deliberate current event; use available temporary direction when appropriate |

Do not turn the opening into `Rowan never arrives`, or leave his first arrival as a recurring instruction. The [instructions guide](https://guide.ourdream.ai/chat/personas-and-instructions) distinguishes temporary events from persistent behavior. After the scene changes, inspect its accepted facts instead of repeating the original opening. The [OD prompt lab](../modules/ourdream-prompt-lab.html) expands this placement exercise.

## Checkpoint

The opening should answer where you are, who is present, what remains unresolved, and how you can participate. It should still support a quiet conversation about old maps. You do not need to add points or combat simply because the story has a goal.

## If something goes wrong

If the story repeatedly restarts, check for an arrival instruction left in a persistent field. If it invents a whole city unnecessarily, reduce lore to facts that affect the next choice. If Rowan knows everything, state what he actually witnessed and correct the mistaken event before continuing. For a later scene, update the current situation rather than stacking several incompatible openings.

Next: [Group chats](10_Group_Chats.md).