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Monday, February 13, 2017

Context-based Keyword Generating Tool

Context-based Keyword Generating Tool: Context-based Keyword Generating Tool: Takes what you write and displays context sensitive words based on their proximity to the last word you typed. These can be used to figure out what the next GM response is. Great for on the fly inspiration with a GM feel. See How To Use This Tool Word proximity before and after current keyword (the higher the number, the more suggestions you get):

Seed text (copy/paste new text to change it!):
This button will analyze the text in the seed textbox adding whatever text exists in the "Write!" textbox below.
Write!
Tip: If you're on mobile, you can press down on each word suggestion to automagically type it on the writing window above.
Note: No results are given for words that do not exist in the analyzed test or words that do not match the first letters of other words in the analyzed text. These will be added by writing them on the "Write!" area, and clicking on the Analyze button.

How I use this tool:

I have a loose structure that generally goes like:
1. Scan the word lists for words combinations that may work as a good GM response without much interpretation. For example, if I’m looking to set up a scene, and I see a sequence like “a, rainy, morning” in the word lists, I’ll use that as is. Then I’ll look for another such phrase like “in, seattle”, etc, until I can’t find anything else. When these fit as a GM response, it's like a serendipitous accident, but that doesn’t happen very often. I've tried to make this easier to parse phrases by using commas to separate them.
2. If a quick scan does not turn up anything that works, I’ll go with whatever pre-conceived idea I had, but will try to construct it as much as possible from the words in the word lists, giving preference to the ones nearest to the top.
3. When the available words do not support my pre-thought ideas completely, I tweak those ideas as needed based on what words are available. This is where a bit of the magic happens for me, as I’m basically being led in a different direction by the tool. If I want this to happen more often, I self-impose limits on myself like “I’m only allowed to use the first three rows of results”, since the results list can be huge sometimes (depending on how big your seed text is).
4. If I don’t have any pre-conceived ideas, I look at the word list for ideas (not unlike step #1, but I don’t look for pre-generated combinations). I don’t completely limit myself to words in the word list all the time. I do allow myself to write what I want, but I put some limitations around it like “For every word I introduce from outside the suggested list, I have to use 3 words from the suggested list.” My basic drive is always: “Let the tool create or suggest coherent GM responses as much as possible with as little direction from me as possible (my direction being the main means of coherence), while also keeping the game moving.” From that, the process I outlined emerged, and may keep evolving. If you think this tool could be helpful to have in your toolbox, I encourage you to come up with your own process based on what you want out of solo roleplaying (and please share it!). If you have any suggestions on how this tool could be made better for you, please let me know in the comments, or drop by the Lone Wolf Roleplaying group. (Code is based on an example of n-gram extraction at SW).
Tip: You can keep the default seed text in the textbox at the top, or you can clear it and write your own (ctrl-a to select all the text, and then backspace or delete). The tool will use this along with what you write in the other box as a source of suggestions. The suggestions are mostly in the form of partial phrases, but you can pick and choose word for word. If you want the suggestions to look more random, I suggest you go to Cut Up Machine and paste your chosen seed text to randomize it. Then copy the result from there and replace it in the seed window at the top.

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