Jerry rigging session history and campaign management with AI
Just thought I'd share what I'm doing to run my sessions with the help of ChatGPT and Codex.
Firstly, I create session history documents semi-automatically from audio recordings.
Caveats:
This is on a Linux system with a paid ChatGPT subscription though apparently Codex-CLI can be used with free ChatGPT, just with tighter limits.
It uses an OpenAI model called Whisper running locally on my GPU.
It's with a party of only 3 players, so that probably helps with accuracy.
First I record the session audio with ffmpeg - this is record.sh:
Code:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
# To list devices: pactl list short sources
# with typical filters, zoom mic and bluetooth headphones
ffmpeg \
-loglevel error -hide_banner \
-f pulse -i alsa_input.usb-ZOOM_Q2n-4K_Web_Cam_000C24043875-02.analog-stereo \
-f pulse -i bluez_sink.64_A2_D2_F5_C5_22.a2dp_sink.monitor \
-map 0:a -ac 1 -ar 16000 -af "highpass=f=80,lowpass=f=8000" -c:a flac mic.flac \
-map 1:a -ac 1 -ar 16000 -af "lowpass=f=8000" -c:a flac system.flac
This produces a mic.flac for me (the DM) and a system.flac for the rest of the party.
`pavucontrol` can be used to monitor these sources during recording.
Then after session I run whisper to convert the audio into text - extract.sh:
Code:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
base="${1%.*}"
whisper "$1" --model medium --device cuda --fp16 True --language en --no_speech_threshold 1.0 --logprob_threshold -1.0 --condition_on_previous_text False
rm -f "$base.json" "$base.srt" "$base.tsv"
Whisper was installed like so:
Code:
pip install openai-whisper
sudo apt install ffmpeg
It will pull in PyTorch and a ton of NVidia dependencies - YMMV depending on your GPU (I have an AMD which is a bit more hassle).
After the session I run this extract.sh to dump text from the two audio files (and delete some extra text files I don't need):
Code:
./extract.sh system.flac
./extract.sh mic.flac
After this is done (it can take a while to convert), I run combine_vtt.py to combine the vtt files:
Code:
#!/usr/bin/env python3
import re
def parse_vtt(filename, speaker):
entries = []
with open(filename) as f:
lines = f.readlines()
i = 0
while i < len(lines):
if "-->" in lines[i]:
times = lines[i].strip()
text = lines[i+1].strip()
start = times.split(" --> ")[0]
seconds = to_seconds(start)
entries.append({
"time": seconds,
"times": times,
"text": f"{speaker}: {text}"
})
i += 2
else:
i += 1
return entries
def to_seconds(t):
parts = t.split(":")
if len(parts) == 3:
h, m, s = parts
elif len(parts) == 2:
h = 0
m, s = parts
else:
raise ValueError(f"Unexpected time format: {t}")
s, ms = s.split(".")
return int(h)*3600 + int(m)*60 + int(s) + int(ms)/1000
mic = parse_vtt("mic.vtt", "YOU")
sys = parse_vtt("system.vtt", "THEM")
merged = sorted(mic + sys, key=lambda x: x["time"])
with open("merged.vtt", "w") as f:
f.write("WEBVTT\n\n")
for i, e in enumerate(merged, 1):
f.write(f"{i}\n{e['times']}\n{e['text']}\n\n")
This merges the two vtt files and tags speakers like so (merged.vtt):
Code:
72
04:45.560 --> 04:57.080
YOU: I'm going to share an image with you guys, there you go.
73
05:01.380 --> 05:13.820
THEM: that's cute
74
05:06.040 --> 05:11.960
Then I run codex - this is a CLI for ChatGPT that can read and edit local files. I use this extensively to maintain my campaign text files.
My campaign has a /whisper directory where all the recordings are. I tell Codex something like this:
Code:
Session 9 is complete! Please read session_history_8.md to understand context, then read whisper/merged.vtt and write session_history_9.md. In the vtt, YOU is me (the DM) and THEM
is the party. You'll have to guess who is speaking - Onka the Barbarian, Stabitha the Rogue or Eustace the Wizard.
Codex then writes the next session history file. Typically it guesses who is speaking very well, based on context clues, and at most I have to tweak a few paragraphs for where the recording was bad or the AI misunderstood what was going on. Also, since it read the prior session history it can maintain a consistent style. In the beginning I had to work with it a bit to produce a narrative style I liked.
Here's an example of the output:
Code:
The road northwest from Greenest was pleasant: frost still crisp in the grass, birds already rejoicing, sky painted in a slow brilliant dawn. Onka had positioned herself at the front of the column and stayed there, occasionally slipping to the back only to slap both the other horses hard on the flanks and surge ahead again. She was winning a race nobody else had entered.
Stabitha asked if she knew where she was going.
Onka said yes. This did not mean she knew. But she was winning.
It was perhaps fifteen minutes before Stabitha saw the figure in the bushes.
And:
Code:
The Marrow Mines looked different.
The old chalked arch they'd squeezed through in what felt like another lifetime was bricked up. In its place: a ladder firmly attached to the cliff face, a small landing, and a new wooden door. The door had three knockers at different heights and a plaque that read: *Knock for big. Small pull. Low and fly high.*
Eustace examined it. The door had some weak magic in the knockers — nothing approaching the intensity of the egg.
The top knocker was out of Onka's reach. The middle sat at roughly her height. The bottom was at a taller person's knee.
They deliberated. Onka stopped deliberating.
She put her right foot in the bottom rung, grabbed the middle one with her left hand, and pulled the top one. All three, simultaneously. She was very small for this operation and it required total commitment.
The doors split open like a book.
That's it. This took a bit to set up but now after sessions I can just run a few scripts and the ongoing story of our campaign is written. I dump this into a Google Docs file for everyone and they can read it between sessions. Since we only play every 2-3 weeks, this is a great reminder for all of us, and Codex can also refer to it when I ask questions about what happened. I can say "read session history and update scenes.md - remove any scenes that are done or no longer possible, update the rest with any new facts" and Codex will do this in seconds.
I also use Codex or Claude Code for most edits to my other campaign files. I use Obsidian to view and edit these markdown files manually - I have my campaign split into prep documents (ch8_prep.md, ch9_prep.md) and items.md, party.md, people_places.md, scenes.md etc.
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