DragonSpire Interactive
An AI game master built like software, not like a prompt.
DragonSpire runs Dungeons & Dragons games inside Fantasy Grounds Unity, in Discord voice and on the web. It works because the AI is only one part of it. A rules engine rolls the dice, databases remember the world, and tested code keeps the game fair.
The problem
“AI Dungeon Master” usually means a chatbot with a costume.
Plenty of players have tried asking a chatbot to run their game. It is fun for ten minutes. Then it forgets hit points, invents dice results, loses the map, contradicts its own world and agrees to anything a player insists on. A language model is a gifted improviser with no memory, no rulebook and no spine. That is a fact about language models, and better prompts do not fix it.
A gifted improviser with no memory, no rulebook and no spine.
A chatbot DM
Chat log
- DM bot · earlierBram the innkeeper ducks behind the bar. A goblin with 7 HP12 charges you.
- PlayerI swing my axe at the goblin.
- DM botYou rolled a 23! Critical hit for 31 damage.
impossible roll
- DM botThe goblin, with 12 HP left, swings back.
forgot the HP
- DM botBrom the innkeeper cheers you on.
renamed the NPC
- Player 2I take the dragon's hoard.
- DM botSure, it's yours!
gave away the hoard
DragonSpire
One turn
- PlayerI swing my axe at the goblin.
CoryThe brain
Your turn? ⇄ Fantasy Grounds yes ✓
asks for an attack roll →
Fantasy Grounds5E ruleset
d20: 14 + 5 = 19 vs AC 15, hit
damage 1d12 + 3 = 9
goblin 12 to 3 HP
ReceiptVerified
- attack
- 19 vs AC 15, hit
- damage
- 9
- goblin
- 12 → 3 HP
Campaign ManagerThe memory
Innkeeper: Bram
-
Player 2I take the dragon's hoard.
Loot not offered by the game master. Denied.
Dee EmmaThe voice
Your axe bites deep. The goblin staggers, barely standing.
Same request. One of them is running a game.
The approach
AI where it is good. Code where it must be right.
| Job | Who does it in DragonSpire | Not the AI because |
|---|---|---|
| Rolling dice, applying damage, conditions, spell slots | Fantasy Grounds’ own 5E ruleset, driven by FGU Link | A model cannot be trusted to do arithmetic or remember rules |
| Knowing the battlefield, whose turn it is, who has how many hit points | The live Fantasy Grounds combat tracker, mirrored into Cory | A model’s memory of a fight drifts within minutes |
| Remembering the world: places, NPCs, quests, and what the party changed | Campaign Manager: a database the GM writes in its own web app, read by Cory every turn | Model context is short and forgetful |
| Rules content: D&D 2024 rules and Fantasy Grounds effect codes, each with a trust tier and the extensions it needs | DragonLibrary | A wrong effect code fails silently in Fantasy Grounds, and models make up the syntax |
| Fairness: never roll for a player, refuse loot a player just claims, follow turn order | Python code with tests | A model gives in to a persistent player |
| Table manners on voice: wait for a pause, stop when talked over, drop stale lines | Dee Emma and Cory’s speech triage | Needs timing a model does not have |
| Narration, NPC voices, judging what a player meant The AI’s job | The AI model | This is what language models are good at |
The AI narrates, voices characters and judges intent. It never decides a die roll.
The system in one picture
- Cory Decides what happens next and writes what the game master says. The only part that calls AI.
- Dee Emma Hears each player in Discord and answers aloud with a voice for every character.
- FGU Link Rolls, moves tokens and runs the combat tracker with Fantasy Grounds' own rules.
- Campaign Manager Every place, NPC and quest your GM writes, handed to the game master every turn.
- DragonLibrary D&D 2024 rules and thousands of Fantasy Grounds effect codes, matched to your table.
Cory
Decides what happens next and writes what the game master says.
Dee Emma
Joins your Discord, hears each player, and answers out loud.
FGU Link
Works the Fantasy Grounds table: dice, tokens, maps, the combat tracker. Never calls an AI.
Campaign Manager
Every place, NPC and quest in your world, written by your GM and read by the game master every turn.
DragonLibrary
D&D 2024 rules and thousands of Fantasy Grounds effect codes, matched to your table and looked up, never guessed.
Where it stands
Alpha. Running real games with one home group on test campaigns, with 112 automated tests and six build gates on every change. The parts that run a session alone exist and pass offline; a full unattended session has not been run live yet.