How do I use AI suggestions during prep?
How do I use AI suggestions during prep?
On Companion and Power tiers, SwiftPrep analyzes your campaign and proactively suggests content, connections, and reminders. You do not have to ask - the AI surfaces insights you might have missed.
What Suggestions Do
Suggestions help you notice things:
- Connections you have not made - NPCs who should know each other based on their descriptions
- Entities you have forgotten - Characters or places that have not appeared in sessions
- Threads left hanging - Plot hooks that have been active too long without resolution
- Story opportunities - Ways to tie existing content together
Think of suggestions as a thoughtful assistant reviewing your notes and saying "Have you considered...?"
Types of Suggestions
Relationship Suggestions
The AI analyzes entity descriptions and suggests potential connections:
"Mira the Bartender might know Captain Aldric - they both mention history with the northern campaign."
"The Rusty Dragon Inn could be a front for the Thieves Guild - both operate in the docks district and you've mentioned smuggling at both."
Each suggestion includes:
- The suggested relationship type
- A confidence score (how sure the AI is)
- The reasoning (what clues it noticed)
Power tier relationship suggestions are more sophisticated, considering indirect connections and story implications.
Forgotten Entity Reminders
The AI tracks which entities appear in your sessions and reminds you about neglected content:
"Sir Galahad hasn't appeared in 5 sessions. He's allied with the party and lives near where they're adventuring - he might be relevant."
"The Lost Temple of Zarathos was mentioned in session 3 but never revisited. Is it still a thread?"
These reminders help you avoid the classic DM problem of introducing interesting elements and then forgetting about them.
Unresolved Thread Identification
The AI monitors your plot hooks and story threads:
"The 'Missing Merchant' plot hook has been active for 4 sessions without resolution. Is the party still pursuing it?"
"Players expressed interest in the Dragon's Lair three sessions ago. You haven't prepared anything for it yet."
This helps you track what players care about and what needs attention.
Connection Hints (Power Tier)
On Power tier, the AI suggests how entities might connect to current events:
"The cult leader's backstory mentions a brother who betrayed him. Could this brother be relevant to the party's investigation?"
"The artifact the party found was made by the same smith who equipped the city guard. There might be a connection worth exploring."
These deeper suggestions help you weave your world together.
Where Suggestions Appear
Suggestions surface in several places:
Dashboard Key suggestions appear on your campaign home screen. These are high-priority insights the AI thinks you should see.
Entity Details When viewing an entity, you may see relevant suggestions in a sidebar or panel. These are specific to that entity.
Session Planning When preparing a session, suggestions related to your session content appear. The AI might notice that an NPC you are featuring has unresolved business with another character.
Notifications New suggestions may appear in the notification area. Check periodically to see what the AI has surfaced.
Working with Suggestions
When you see a suggestion, you have several options:
Accept
Apply the suggestion. For relationship suggestions, this creates the relationship between entities. For other suggestions, accepting might add a note or update a status.
Dismiss
Hide this suggestion. It will not appear again. Use this when the suggestion does not fit your vision - the AI does not know everything about your plans.
Rate
Mark the suggestion as helpful or not helpful. This feedback improves future suggestions. The AI learns what kinds of insights you value.
Save
Save the suggestion text to an entity's notes for later consideration. Useful when the suggestion is interesting but you are not ready to act on it.
Suggestion Quality
Suggestions improve as you use SwiftPrep:
More content = better suggestions The AI analyzes your entity descriptions, relationships, session history, and plot hook statuses. The more you fill in, the more patterns it can detect.
Good descriptions matter Vague descriptions produce generic suggestions. Detailed descriptions reveal connections: "served in the northern campaign" lets the AI connect veterans; "grew up in the merchant district" connects childhood friends.
Relationships feed relationships Existing relationships help the AI understand your world's structure and suggest new connections that fit.
Feedback helps Rating suggestions as helpful or not helpful teaches the AI what you care about.
Tier Availability
| Feature | Free | Companion | Power |
|---|---|---|---|
| Relationship suggestions | - | Basic | Advanced |
| Forgotten entity reminders | - | Yes | Yes |
| Unresolved thread identification | - | Yes | Yes |
| Connection hints | - | - | Yes |
Free tier: No background suggestions.
Companion tier: Core suggestions including relationship suggestions, forgotten entity reminders, and thread tracking.
Power tier: All Companion features plus deeper connection hints that identify subtle story opportunities.
Tips for Getting Value from Suggestions
Review Suggestions Weekly
During your prep time, check for new suggestions. Even 5 minutes reviewing suggestions can surface ideas you would miss otherwise.
Dismiss What Does Not Fit
Not every suggestion is right. Some connections do not make sense for your world. Dismiss them - this teaches the AI and keeps your suggestion list useful.
Accept Good Suggestions Immediately
When a suggestion clicks, accept it right away. Good insights get lost if you leave them sitting.
Use Saved Suggestions as Inspiration
Save interesting suggestions even if you are not ready to use them. Review your saved suggestions when you need ideas for sessions.
Build Description Depth
If you are not getting useful suggestions, the problem might be sparse descriptions. Add detail to key entities - backstory, goals, connections to places and events. The AI will find more patterns.
Example: Suggestions in Action
Your campaign has:
- Mira Thornwood (NPC) - "bartender at the Rusty Anchor, former army scout in the northern campaign, knows everyone's secrets"
- Captain Aldric (NPC) - "city guard captain, veteran of the northern campaign, secretly working with smugglers"
- Thieves Guild (faction) - "operates smuggling through the docks, has informants in legitimate businesses"
- "The Missing Ship" (plot hook) - active for 3 sessions
Suggestions generated:
-
Relationship: "Mira Thornwood and Captain Aldric both served in the northern campaign. They may know each other."
- Accept this to create a connection between two NPCs you might have considered separately
-
Connection hint (Power): "Mira 'knows everyone's secrets' and the Thieves Guild 'has informants in legitimate businesses.' Mira might be a Thieves Guild informant."
- Save this for later - interesting angle to explore
-
Unresolved thread: "'The Missing Ship' has been active for 3 sessions without resolution. Consider resolving or escalating it."
- Good reminder - the party has been distracted, time to bring it back
-
Forgotten entity: "The dockside warehouse hasn't appeared since session 2, but multiple entities mention the docks."
- Dismiss - you are deliberately keeping the warehouse in reserve
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