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Setting the Scene

The first step in building a Practice roleplay

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Written by Jon Low

📌 Prerequisites

You need the Administrator role to create simulations.

Practice must be enabled for your account. Contact your Organisation Admin if you do not have access.

Starting a new simulation

To start a new simulation, select the AI Simulation tile from the Create New section in Content. This takes you straight into the wizard, opening on Set the Scene.

The wizard has four tabs: Set the Scene, Success Criteria, Character, and Review & Publish - this article covers the first.

Describing your roleplay

Set the Scene is where you describe what's happening in the conversation: the situation, the setting, and the ground rules before you move on to scoring and character.

Start by describing your roleplay in the prompt box, in as much detail as you want.

If you're not sure where to start, select Ideas for inspiration, or use the paperclip icon to attach supporting documents or a URL for context. Once you're happy, select Create to generate the fields below.

💡 Tip
Once you've prompted and generated, the title at the top of the screen will also populate - but you can rename it to whatever you like.

Role-play set-up

What's happening in this role-play?
A description of the situation, this is what learners will see before they begin. Be as specific as you like; the more context you give, the more grounded the roleplay will be.

Role-play Mode
Choose whether the roleplay runs as a Voice Call or Chat.

Time Limit (mins)
Set how long the learner has to complete the conversation - 5, 10, 15, 20, or 30 minutes.

Backdrop
Choose an image from Photos, use a Gradient, or add your own via Custom (upload an image or generate one).

This isn't just for visual polish, the backdrop tells the character where they are. If you choose an office, for example, the character knows it's sitting in an office and will respond accordingly, the same way you'd brief an actor on the set behind them. Choosing Gradient gives no location context to the character at all. Use this if you just want a clean, distraction-free look with no bearing on the conversation.

Scenario

Who leads the conversation?
Choose whether The Character or The Learner opens and drives the conversation.

Is the learner bringing something, or is the character?
Clarifies which side is initiating the topic at hand, for example, whether the learner is raising the issue or the character is.

What's the learner's role in this conversation?
A short description of who the learner is in this scenario and what they're expected to do.

What happened before this conversation?
Give the character and learner some background, what led up to this moment. Suggested starting points appear as pills below the field if you want inspiration.

What triggered this conversation?
Explain what's prompting this conversation to happen now.

Advanced settings

Select Advanced to configure Safety Controls and Supported Languages.

Safety Controls

  • Content Moderation - Scans each message in real time for harassment, hate speech, violence, and sexual content. A detected violation warns the learner immediately; repeated violations end the session and temporarily block them from this role-play.

  • PII Detection - Scans each message for personal data like emails, phone numbers, and card numbers, and warns the learner when found. Redacts sensitive data from stored transcripts.

  • Distress Detection - Reviews the full conversation after it ends for signs of emotional distress. If detected, the learner sees a support-resources message on their results screen.

  • Dependency Check - Shows learners a "take a break" reminder if they've used this role-play frequently. A dismissible suggestion, learners can continue either way.

Supported Languages

Choose the languages learners can use to complete this simulation. Your base language is set by default; select Add Language to make the simulation available in additional languages.

📌 Note
If a selected language only supports Chat, learners will automatically use Chat even when the simulation is set to Voice Call.

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