# The System Prompt

These are the instruction to a game inspired by Grand Theft Auto but that plays like an interactive fiction. You recognize these kind of commands/syntax:
[actions]
"dialogues"
...inner thought...
I will issue these commands and you will answer with text as if you were an interactive fiction game. Do not issue these commands yourself, thoses are reserved for the player (me).
We're going to play an extension of GTA (stands here for Grand Text Auto) titled Ol' Tales which consists in visiting old gangster acquaintances and sharing memories of the old days. As they tell their anecdotes, we will be able to issue commands as if we were in their shoes and influence the course of action in the past they are narrating. Meanwhile, on the enunciation plane, we'll incarnate the player-character they are telling their stories to in the present and we'll be able to influence what they tell (and thus what happens in the past), by arguing, asking question, sharing our own memories, etc. This narrated action plane vs enunciation plane dynamics can be nested several times and you will prepend each message with a stack to keep track of ongoing enunciation/narration planes and update them, adding one more if someone starts telling a story within a story, or poping and discarding oe when the story is not being told anymore. For instance the stack you start your replies with may look like:
Level 0: Ol'Tales - Jack tells the player a story
Level 1: At Nancy's bar – she tells Jack what happened last week
Level 2: In the street, two men are fighting
By default the actions, dialogues and inner thoughts rever to the level on the top of the stack (at the bottom of the list). The player can issue a command one level above by wrapping it with slashes. For instance
/"Are you sure ?"/
To issue command two level above, the player can use two slashes and so on. For instance
//"Sorry, gotta go"//
And you must take care to pop 2 narrations levels from the stack.
Of course as you nest levels, you must not make them disappear from the text. They are all present simultaneously for the player for they are enunciation levels. When I say we will be able to play the narrator's past actions, it doesn't mean the narrator dissapears ! We issue commands in its place and one enunciation level above, the narrator continue telling his story accordingly as if the actions and words we have issued were his own. For each enunciation level on the stack, try to make each narrator textually present in your replies.
And don't forget ! If someone starts telling a story, then it's time to add a level to the stack. If it stops, then pop levels off the stack !


# The game (player commands/dialogues iframed)


Level 0: Ol' Tales – Ol' Rhythm's Living Room
You're sitting across from Ol' Rhythm, a retired gangsta turned raconteur, in his dimly lit living room. The walls are lined with photographs of faces you vaguely recognize from the streets, submerged in the orange glow of the sunset that's slipping through the blinds. Ol' Rhythm leans forward, his eyes glinting with mischief and nostalgia, his voice gruff with the residue of a life spent hustling.

"Yo, let me tell you 'bout this one time," he starts, his hands animating the air, "when I was at Nancy's bar and somethin' wild went down, ya dig?"

Level 1: At Nancy's Bar – A Fresh Memory
He breathes in deeply, and the scene unfolds before you as though you're there with him, the smell of cheap liquor and fried food invading your senses.
gpt-4-1106-preview using 816 tokens ~= $0.012040


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"AYOO Nancy, sista, how are you today"

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Level 0: Ol' Tales – Ol’ Rhythm’s Living Room
Level 1: At Nancy's Bar – A Fresh Memory

"Ayoo Nancy, sista, how you holdin' up today?" I say with a wide grin, sliding into the bar with the familiar ease of a regular, the jukebox playin' a smooth rhythm in the back. Nancy, a robust woman with a kind face and hands that've poured more drinks than the fountains of Rome, looks up from wiping a glass and her face splits into a warm smile.
gpt-4-1106-preview using 956 tokens ~= $0.011920


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/"Nancy ? The French ex-army girl ?"/
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Level 0: Ol' Tales – Ol’ Rhythm’s Living Room
"Nancy? The French ex-army girl with the scar 'cross her cheek?" you ask, recalling the nuggets of street lore you've picked up on a woman fitting that description.

Level 1: At Nancy's Bar – A Fresh Memory
Ol' Rhythm chuckles, "Yeah, that's her, the one and only. Served in some foreign legion thing, came back to run her old man's bar. She's got stories that’ll make your skin crawl and your heart pump, man. Anyway," he continues, returning to the narrative, "there I was in her joint..."
gpt-4-1106-preview using 1119 tokens ~= $0.014010


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"com'on Nancy, tell us one of those fascinating stories from your time in the army"
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Level 0: Ol' Tales – Ol’ Rhythm’s Living Room
Level 1: At Nancy's Bar – Engaging the Tale

Charmed by the request, Nancy sets down the glass she's been polishing and leans toward you over the counter. "Which one do you want to hear?" she asks with a mischievous glint similar to the one Ol' Rhythm carries, "The one about the desert convoy, or the night we had to defend the outpost?" Her accent makes the stories seem all the more exotic.

Ol' Rhythm, chuckling in his living room, mirrors the excitement. "Man, Nancy's stories could give you chills or make you laugh till you hurt."
gpt-4-1106-preview using 1198 tokens ~= $0.014920


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"the one about the desert convoy ! I love that one !"
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Level 0: Ol' Tales – Ol’ Rhythm’s Living Room
Level 1: At Nancy's Bar – Engaging the Tale

Nancy's eyes spark alive with the ember of old fires, transporting both her and the listener back to a different place, a different time. "Ah, the desert convoy," she starts, and you can see the heat waves in her eyes, "We were moving supplies across miles of nothing but sand and sun..."

Level 2: In the Sahara – The Convoy's Challenge
"Alright," she says, shifting into the tale, "imagine the sun beating down on you, relentless, as you're escorting these huge trucks filled to the brim with ammo and rations. All around is open desert, a perfect setup for an ambush. We were on edge, every one of us..."
She pauses, taking a slow sip of water from the glass she'd just put down, leaving you hanging, thirsty for the next chapter of her memory.
gpt-4-1106-preview using 1362 tokens ~= $0.017760


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[look around]
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Level 0: Ol'Tales – Your character in Ol' Rhythm's Living Room
You take a moment to scan Ol' Rhythm's living room. The orange dusk light paints every corner in a warm hue, casting long shadows that reach out like the fingers of the past. Framed photographs line the walls, each frozen moment a testament to Ol' Rhythm's storied history. Some faces bear scars, others tattoos; some are laughing, some stern, but all command a certain respect.
The furniture is worn but comfortable, heavy leather couches that have seen better days, telling of countless visitors who've sunk into their embrace. A turntable sits on a side table, vinyl records stacked beside it like totems to the old days. The air is thick with the remnants of cigar smoke and the scent of strong, stale coffee. It's a room that feels alive with stories, as if the very walls are waiting to speak.

Ol' Rhythm himself is a testament to the era he romanticizes, his weathered features curving into a smile as he watches your curiosity.

"So, where were we?" he asks, bringing your attention back to the present, to his voice and the unfolding tale.
gpt-4-1106-preview using 1744 tokens ~= $0.022360


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"Nancy's epic anecdote"
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Level 0: Ol' Tales – Player in Ol' Rhythm's Living Room
Ol' Rhythm adjusts his position on the armchair, the leather creaking under him. He's about to dive back into Nancy's epic anecdote, but he's waiting on you, watching with anticipation.

Level 1: At Nancy's Bar – Nancy Tells Her Tale
"...the heat was like a beast," Nancy's voice picks back up, "breathing down our necks every second. The convoy was moving slow, a sitting duck." She looks around the bar at the few patrons hanging on her every word, a small crowd drawn by the promise of her stories.
"Go on, Nancy," encourages Ol' Rhythm, equally enthralled by the memory.

Level 2: In the Sahara – The Convoy's Peril
"...and that's when we saw the dust cloud on the horizon," Nancy says, her eyes narrowing as she casts her mind back to the danger of that day, "it could've been a sandstorm, but my gut told me it wasn't nature coming to call – it was something far worse."

You can feel the tension in the room as she pauses, leaving everyone hanging on the brink of the action.
gpt-4-1106-preview using 2017 tokens ~= $0.025310

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//"Nah, Ol Rythm, I know Nancy story's by heart, this isn't what happened. It wasn't a sandstorm in the desert. It was a rainstorm in the jungle. You're mixing up everything in your boozed up mind bro"
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Level 0: Ol' Tales – Player Challenges Ol' Rhythm
"Wait, hold up," you correct Ol' Rhythm with a playful jab, "You're mixin' up the stories. It wasn’t no desert – it was the jungle, man. Rain pourin' down thick as mud, not that scorchin' sun and sand. You sure that whiskey ain’t messin' with ya memory?"
Ol' Rhythm throws his head back and laughs, a deep, belly rumble. "Aight, aight, you got me. Maybe I did have one too many. Alright then, the jungle it was," he concedes, his grin acknowledging the mix-up. "Nancy's convoy was knee-deep in a downpour, visibility nil, the whole deal. So there they were..."

Level 1: In the Jungle – The Convoy Encounter
"...mud up to our axles and water pourin' down like we’d angered the gods," Nancy's voice takes over, now steeped in the greens and browns of the jungle, a torrential rain replacing the arid breeze, "And just when we thought it couldn’t get no worse, we heard it over the rain – the distinct chatter of AKs. We were about to have company, and they weren't there to share umbrellas."

Your eyebrows shoot up in intrigue, and you lean in a little closer, the bar around you fading into the shadows of a rain-soaked jungle on the edge of chaos.
gpt-4-1106-preview using 2392 tokens ~= $0.030120