diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 95b863a..e2fbec6 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 config.json
 node_modules
+messages.json
diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 44fc318..50cda82 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -3,13 +3,19 @@
 const irc = require('irc');
 const axios = require('axios');
 const config = require('./config.json');
+const fs = require('fs');
 
+const seed_messages = [{role: 'system', content: 'You are a dungeon master, DMing a game for your friends. The setting is Left World, a dreamscape where not everything is as it seems. Let user introduce their characters and give them scenarios to interact with. Feel free to introduce NPCs, but do not make moves for the characters. If user introduces another character, keep the story going where you left off as if that new character just arrived.'}];
 // context is a list of strings that are used to seed the chatgpt api and it's responses
 class Context {
-    messages = [];
+
     currentLine = '';
     currentResponse = '';
 
+    constructor(messages = default_messages) {
+	this.messages = messages;
+    }
+
     add_user_prompt(message) {
         this.messages.push({ role: 'user', content: message });
     }
@@ -34,9 +40,16 @@ class Context {
 	const theLine = this.currentLine;
         this.currentResponse = '';
 	this.currentLine = '';
+	this.save_history();
         return theLine;
     }
 
+    save_history() {
+	const prettyData = JSON.stringify(this.messages, null, 2);
+
+	fs.writeFileSync('./messages.json', prettyData);
+    }
+
     is_response_in_progress() {
         return this.currentResponse !== '' || this.currentLine !== '';
     }
@@ -52,7 +65,8 @@ class Context {
     }
 }
 
-const context = new Context();
+const savedMessages = require('./messages.json');
+const context = new Context(savedMessages);
 
 const client = new irc.Client(config.server, config.nick, {
     channels: config.channels,
@@ -60,13 +74,11 @@ const client = new irc.Client(config.server, config.nick, {
 
 // listen for messages that start with !chat and call the chatgpt api with a callback that prints the response line by line
 client.addListener('message', async (from, to, message) => {
+    
     is_chat_cmd = message.startsWith('!chat');
     is_cont_cmd = message.startsWith('!cont');
     if (is_chat_cmd || is_cont_cmd) {
         if(context.is_response_in_progress()) { return; }
-        if(is_chat_cmd) {
-            context.clear();
-        }
         const query = message.slice(6);
         chatgpt(query, (line) => {
             client.say(to, line);