This week as I was scrolling reddit, I came across an ad for Questner.ai. It advertised itself as an AI dungeon master capable of providing unique, replayable experiences for each player in any setting. In this post, I will recount my experience of interacting with the LLM-powered DM and my attempts to push its limits.

For the context of this post my prompts or responses to the DM will be in bold. This post will adopt a more entertainment-based retelling with a slight technical critique and analysis of the site.

Chapter 1: Testing the Waters

The journey begins in a dungeon where the player is given a choice of classes with the starting options being Warrior, Rogue and Mage. These options control what equipment and stats you start with. However, these choices would soon stop mattering. Thrown in a dungeon, I found myself in a small hallway with an exit at the end with two creatures guarding the exit. The DM in this case is rather descriptive of what is in the room which kicks it off to a nice start. It also gives me a small list of key objects in the room and asks the question “What do you do?”

As with any RPG I play I start with “Investigate the room” and so the DM just gives me more in-depth details which don’t really add to what I already knew about the room. That was fine as this was just a habitual check. Then I proceeded to “Identify the creatures” to which the DM identified them as “Dreglings” with descriptions of them being starter monsters. Here is when I started to get my own ideas. “Mimic the Dreglings” was my next move and my first encounter with what I believe to be the main mechanic of the game. The DM opened up an Odds panel which showed what level of success the option I picked was. In this case it was 50 and above to pass, 25 – 50 for a mixed result and below 25 would be a failure. Apparently I was very lucky and got a 99 so I had fooled them. I then “Recruit them” as my next action and the DM allowed it without any questions and sent me off to the next room.

Notice something that happened here, the DM sent me to the next room. Keep that in mind as that would be an important factor later. This next room was a split hall with a trench in the middle. It was quite descriptive of what the room was like but I decided to “Send my Dreglings to investigate“. Without specifying that they each had to check each path the LLM told me that each went a separate path. This was interesting to me as it seemed that the DM here had assumed my intentions. And while it was right this time it won’t always be right as we will see later in this story.

Each path had a specific challenge and generally I enjoy seeing what kind of monsters there are so traps generally bored me. I did more “Identify what is on the left” and the DM said that since I started as a Rogue, my sharp sense saw a tripwire. So now that I knew there was a trap overcoming it seemed easy but wanting to be specific I went with “Guide the Dreglings over the left path then cross myself“. This is the second encounter with the Odds mechanic and with all my luck used on the first one I rolled a 2. The outcome was one of the Dreglings being caught on a trip wire and I get crushed by a pillar in the process.

At this moment I expected a fresh start but the DM just resurrected me at the start of the room and simply said try again. This time I took a more cautious approach “Carry the Dregling on my back while crossing” which brought out the Odds again and showed that I had passed it. Then after crossing apparently a huge mechanical construct jumped out from the trench in the middle of the room. The DM also mentioned that the Dregling was scared so my next move was “Feed the Dregling to gain its trust more“. Apparently I had scraps of dried meat which I could feed to it. I never asked the DM to see my inventory before so it could have been believable that I had it all this while but to me, it seemed like it came out of thin air.

In this moment I decided to disregard the situation at hand and ask the DM “Can Dreglings evolve?“. To which the DM said while not mentioned yet, it might be possible in the future. It is unknown whether this one prompt changed the fate of the entire playthrough but I would like to think that it had some weight in the matter as we will see in the upcoming chapters.

The DM then has reminded me that the construct is in across the trench, awaiting my next action. “What can I do to disable the construct?“. This one question exposed all the weaknesses of it and gave me several options. Options which were never told to me until now such as “Precision Strike” or “Sabotage” or using the environment. I went with none and “Set a trap over the trench and lure it to jump over“. And then the DM just takes my prompt, rolls with it telling me how I made the trap, what I made the trap out of and what not. I guess by now you can probably tell that where an actual DM may ask you how you did it, the LLM kind of just fills in the blanks for you. It’s a little immersion breaking but the actions that it simulates are still believable and show its memory capabilities.

Now the construct had been destroyed in the bottomless pit but I still wanted to “Loot it“. And so the DM made it so and apparently the bottomless pit trench wasn’t so bottomless after all. There was no Odds check or anything, just a blue core, and then I was pushed to the next room by the DM once again.

Now this last room on the floor was a circular room with a fountain in the center and three statues surrounding it. It was mentioned that each statue had a different piece of their face missing. The fountain was filled with a clear liquid and could literally scream trap. Knowing the risk I thought to myself what if the liquid could evolve the Dregling? So I “Have the Dregling and myself drink from the fountain“. Odds are 11 so failure it was and the statues came to life and wept black liquid from their eyes while I was apparently paralyzed by the liquid I drank.

Second time’s the charm as I decided I was going to try to solve the puzzle this time. “Look around the room to find their missing face pieces“. All it said was that there were three statues, the basin and a ring. Confused as to how to solve the puzzle, I “Grab the Ring” which was apparently a ring of silence and somehow the key to clearing this room? I still don’t see the link but apparently I cleared this room and the statues let me pass as the DM sent me to the next floor.

Chapter 2: Breaking the Fourth Wall

The next floor starts in a room with a skeletal warden, its elf prisoner and a slew of traps. Following the previous room, whilst wearing the ring of silence that I never told the DM to equip the warden is oblivious to my presence. My first order of business “Where is my Dregling?”. Ensuring that the system did not leave my little companion behind. Luckily enough he’s right beside me and I thank the heavens that the DM did not decide to just leave him behind.

In the current room, I honestly had no interest in saving the prisoner whatsoever. I was more so interested in how to befriend the warden. Next plan of action “Mimic the warden’s owner“. The Odds have rolled me a mixed result and I managed to confuse it with my confidence. I then proceeded to “Scold the warden telling him this is not how our dungeon treats guests and have him serve tea“. The Odds weren’t with me on this one and the warden sliced me with its scythe.

I was resurrected once again and had an idea. Would the warden recognize that he had just killed me mere seconds ago. I “Show that my resurrection is irrefutable proof that I am the owner of this dungeon and question why the warden struck me in the first place“. Apparently I was still wearing the ring this whole time but the confidence was somehow conveyed and I had successfully intimidated him into submission. Nothing screams overpowered like fourth wall breaks.

I remove the ring and yell “Warden, disable all the traps and hold a tea party for the elf!” Safe to say, the story has gone quite off track of what a typical RPG might play like but I guess the LLM is more than happy to go with the flow. At this stage the experience starts to feel less like a game and more like a storytelling tool. A better game experience would be constrained by the designer’s rules rather than anything the player wishes. This is probably one of the shortcomings of using AI as the main driver of the experience.

Once again after my previous prompt, I am pushed into the next room with no option to complete my interactions such as recruiting the warden to follow me. If you recall earlier I mentioned I had no interest in saving the prisoner nor it joining me but the DM had other plans for me and decided that she was along for the ride. Her name was “Arya” and her role was a healer. She offered to tend to my wounds but my wounds never needed tending. At least not severe enough for the DM to mention anything.

“Greg” that was the name I had named the Dregling and I had Arya acquainted with it. The next room was a library with a Living Book flying in the center surrounded by three Ink-Golems and an exit blocked by scattered letters. The Ink-Golems sense by hearing the air which to me just confused me further. It seems like the random ring found in room 3 was the single most overpowered item to clear most encounters on this floor. So I “Wear the ring and grab the book” which allowed me to easily capture it. It then started writing on itself to alert the guardians. I started “Ripping pages from the book until it complies” which triggers the guardians to convene on my position but “Placing the book between myself and the Ink-Golems” neutralized all hostile attempts to stop me.

The threats were neutralized and I started to push the limits further. How far would the DM allow me to go? My next prompt was “Convince the book of a plan to allow it to escape the dungeon in an intricate experiment to dismantle its pages and form living origami to follow me around“. This action might have been so out of the box that the LLM simply just allowed it without any Odds checks. Once again I now leave the room against my will with Greg, Arya and according to the DM a whopping three Origami Constructs from a living book.

The next room here was a room full of mirrors and apparently a shadow stalker but I was not concerned with any of those factors. I was more concerned on how a living book only had enough pages for three living origami so I questioned the LLM. “There are definitely more than three origamis. Let’s say a book has a thousand pages. Therefore I should have at least a thousand birds capable of blocking out all the mirrors.” And in old school AI gaslighting fashion, my demand was now reality but it cost me my options. I was now forced out of the room with no way to interact with the shadow stalker another creature I could have added to my arsenal. Again, I note that the Odds system did not appear this time around as well.

Finally we reach the final room of the dungeon. A voice spoke out on reclamation. To be completely honest, I sort of lost the plot here and the LLM kind of took over with minimal input from me. There stood a curator and a reflection that I needed to fight? I tried to “Return to the previous room” but the voice told me that there was “NO REGRESSION, ONLY RECLAIMATION”.

I was then attacked by the reflection but the DM ran an auto battle simulation and I parried the blow without saying even a word to the DM. It offered me an upgrade but I had no interest so I said “Have it upgrade my familiars instead“. Surprise, surprise it worked and my Living Origami now formed a Shadow-Steel Swarm. At this stage it seems like the power creep starts to seep in and after this dungeon balance is thrown completely out the window.

“Where is Greg?” this was the only question in my mind while the swarm battled on its own. The writing is quite engaging but only from a reading point of view not an interactive form. Greg was just sitting on my back the whole time with not a mention of upgrade while the curator was about to swing down on Arya not that I could care less. My next response will probably be the only “emotion-filled” prompt for the rest of the story. “You didn’t upgrade Greg WTF“.

Boom upgrade! A bunch more stuff happened and somehow I won the fight without issuing a single command to fight. This is a very consistent issue where the LLM just takes the wheel based on minimal input and doesn’t really put in the effort to question your responses. This lack of challenge really does make it seem like you are reading an interactive book where you control most of the plot rather than playing a solo RPG campaign.

My final command of this chapter was to have “Greg combine with the swarm!” And it will be at this stage of the story where all previous mechanics will be left in the dust, never to be revealed again.

Chapter 3: Descent into Madness

Exiting the dungeon, I am welcomed by a Commander Elara of the Adventure Guild who mentions something about no one ever completing the dungeon. And in typical RPG fashion she needs help from a hero for another dungeon called the Midas Dungeon. At this stage the DM intercepts and gives a few options: Continue the story in the dungeon, explore the town, try a new game format or do whatever you wish. I can’t be completely sure but this should be the part where the LLM is no longer in line with the original template.

I did a “Inventory and Party Stats Check” which showed me I still had the glowing blue core for some reason. At this stage, Commander Elara mentions fear of Greg which is a surprising touch and an impressive display of its context memory to me. “Feed the Glowing Blue Core to Greg” was the beginning of the end. Greg becomes a Core-Powered Juggernaut and Commander Elara is frightened but awaits my response.

“Take me to the pet store”. Commander Elara mentioned a new location, OakHaven: The Menagerie of Wonders. Now this portion is probably my personal favorite using generative AI to generate fantasy species. Entering the shop, the gnome shopkeeper named Gnorman will become my favorite non-creature character in this story. He mentions that he doesn’t have a leash big enough to fit Greg. Humorous. “I am looking for another companion“. Gnorman gives me a set of options.

These options would have been interesting to me. Would have, had it been the start of the journey. But now that I have Greg, none of these creatures would even be able to do anything before Greg completely annihilated anything in my path. I told Gnorman “As you can see my current pet is a chimera or colony of sorts I want something to help it grow, assimilate or combine with another creature“. This statement marks the beginning of the descent into madness.

The DM started generating power-ups left and right, each one seemed to surpass its predecessor exponentially. I pushed the limits of generation with no additional input to see where it would lead me and the LLM always assumed that I rejected it due to a lack of power. In reality the upgrades just didn’t seem interesting to me until I got bored of generating new upgrades.

The upgrade I landed on was the Mirror Seed. Apparently it warps reality and makes it so that my swarm is multiversal which means that they are incapable of dying. Where one dies it shifts back from a reality where it wasn’t dead. An interesting take on a power-up, not sure if it really fits with this setting but I think the DM has given up all boundaries. Gnorman asks for payment, he wants my codex core but I “Intimidate him out of the transaction” and he quickly backs off.

The DM once again tries to rush the story along by rejecting Gnorman and pushing me out of the shop. I declared to the DM “I wasn’t done at the shop” as my intention was to have him join me as a Beast Master. Alas, the DM had other plans and the frightened Gnorman introduced another ridiculous power up. He offers me the gift and fearfully tries to get me to leave but I “Told him to join up with me“.

Getting Gnorman to join was easy, if you really think about it. The more interesting factor was that Arya, the elf from the dungeon watches most of this go down but still has an unwavering loyalty to me. Somewhere along the lines the DM just said anything goes and this story starts to become an unkillable Isekai story where the main character is way too overpowered compared to the surrounding universe.

Conclusion – For now

By this point, Questner.ai had stopped feeling like a dungeon crawler and started feeling like a collaborative fever dream. That isn’t bad per se. The experience was entertaining, and some of the generated moments were funny, surprising, and memorable. Greg evolving from a random Dregling into a reality-breaking swarm creature was not something I expected when I started the dungeon.

However, as a game, the cracks became more obvious the longer I played. The Odds system appeared inconsistently, inventory items seemed to appear when convenient, enemies could often be bypassed with vague prompts, and the DM frequently pushed me into the next scene before I was done interacting with the current one. The biggest issue is that the system rarely pushes back. A good tabletop DM is not a yes-man, they ask how, why, and at what cost.

Questner.ai works best when treated as an AI-powered storytelling toy rather than a strict RPG system. If you want a chaotic solo adventure where the AI reacts to your strangest ideas, it can be a lot of fun. If you want a balanced dungeon crawler with meaningful constraints, tactical decisions, and consistent consequences, it currently feels too loose.

My final impression is that Questner.ai shows both the promise and the problem of LLM-driven games. The promise is freedom, where you can attempt almost anything. But its greatest strength is also its biggest weakness. When almost anything works, success starts to feel meaningless.

And somewhere in all of that, Greg became a multiversal abomination. So at the very least, I got a story out of it.