Revisiting AI as a GM Support Tool

I know that talking about AI (I know that is a misnomer, but it is the common parlance, so I am going to keep using it) is controversial. I understand that there are some real issues with the way most AI were trained and the provenance of the data, and I understand there are real concerns about employment impacts and tsunamis of shovelware. This thread is not about those things and if you want to talk about those thing, please start a different thread.

This thread is also not about creating commercial products using AI, whether in whole or in part. That is also a separate issue and worth discussing, but it isn't this thread.

This thread is about how to use AI tools such as LLMs and image generators to support your work as a GM in running your game at your table.

I think image generators are the easiest and most accessible tools for GMs. Instead of doing a Google Image search for a picture of a skull shaped hill on a misty moonlit knight, you can just ask bing or midjourney to make one and show it to your players.

Similarly, LLMs can be useful for generating quick NPCs, site descriptions and even stat blocks -- and are ultimately little different than using random charts and tables to do the same.

I have been using anthropic's Claude AI recently and find that it works pretty well as a wall I can throw ideas at when I want to generate something interesting for play. Unlike previous software I have used, it responds to ongoing conversations, refining ideas and generating in-fiction text.

Do you use AI to help you while running games or during prep? How? Which particular AIs? Do you think it is likely someone will soon market a "AI GM Assistant" type app, or fold AI tools into existing products?

Thanks.

I dont use any A.I., but encounter builders would be an interesting tool.

I’ve been using Chatgpt for 1d20 random encounter tables
eg for a haunted swamp:

1. Ghostly Wisps: A group of eerie, glowing wisps of light lead you deeper into the swamp, luring you towards danger.
2. Swamp Zombies: Rotting undead creatures rise from the muck, their limbs oozing with foul swamp water.
3. Phantom Fog: A thick, unnatural fog envelops the area, making it difficult to see and navigate.
4. Swamp Hag: A malevolent swamp hag appears, offering cryptic advice or demanding a toll for passage.
5. Will-o'-the-Wisps: Flickering lights beckon you to follow them, but they lead you astray or into quicksand.
6. Bog Dwellers: Amphibious humanoids emerge from the swamp, either seeking help or wanting to capture trespassers.
7. Haunted Tree: A twisted, sentient tree with glowing eyes whispers secrets or attempts to ensnare you in its roots.
8. Phantom Ship: A ghostly, half-submerged ship emerges from the swamp, crewed by spectral sailors.
9. Murky Waters: You stumble into a hidden pit of murky water inhabited by dangerous swamp creatures.
10. Cursed Relic: A mysterious, cursed artifact lies half-buried in the muck, tempting you to claim it.
11. Swamp Gas Explosion: Flammable swamp gas ignites, causing an explosion that damages the party.
12. Haunted Animals: Ordinary swamp creatures are possessed by vengeful spirits, becoming aggressive.
13. Quicksand Pit: You unwittingly step into a patch of quicksand, requiring a skillful rescue.
14. Lost Soul: A lost soul cries out for help, but it might be a trap set by malevolent spirits.
15. Witch's Hut: You come across a decrepit hut in the swamp, inhabited by a reclusive, possibly dangerous witch.
16. Forgotten Graveyard: An ancient graveyard emerges from the muck, disturbed by recent disturbances.
17. Mysterious Statues: Strange stone statues dot the swamp, and some may animate to attack intruders.
18. Muddy Specter: A spectral figure rises from the swamp, seeking aid in finding their long-lost resting place.
19. Webbed Ambush: Giant spiders lurk in the trees, waiting to ambush unsuspecting travelers.
20. Silent Waters: A peaceful, serene section of the swamp offers a brief respite from the eerie surroundings.

I then asked: What is the connection between the Muddy Specter, the Mysterious Statues and the cursed relic?

and got:
The connection between the Muddy Specter, the Mysterious Statues, and the cursed relic can be part of a larger narrative or mystery within the haunted swamp. Here's a possible connection:

In ages past, the haunted swamp was home to a powerful and malevolent sorcerer. This sorcerer sought to extend their life by stealing the life force of others. To achieve this dark goal, the sorcerer created a cursed relic, an ancient amulet imbued with necromantic magic. This amulet had the power to drain the life force from anyone who touched it, turning them into a Muddy Specter - a ghostly, tormented soul bound to the swamp.

The Mysterious Statues scattered throughout the swamp are the petrified remains of the sorcerer's victims. When the sorcerer used the cursed relic to drain their life force, their bodies turned to stone, forever trapped in a twisted, agonized form. These statues serve as a grim warning to anyone who dares to enter the swamp.

The Muddy Specter encountered by the party is one of these unfortunate souls. It has been trapped in the swamp for centuries, unable to find peace. When it appears before the party, it seeks their aid in finding the cursed relic - the amulet that caused its torment. The specter believes that destroying the amulet will release its spirit and the other trapped souls from their eternal suffering.

As the party explores the haunted swamp, they may come across clues that lead them to the location of the cursed relic. Perhaps the sorcerer's lair, hidden deep within the swamp, holds the key to finding the amulet. This quest to locate and destroy the cursed relic can serve as a central storyline or subplot within your D&D campaign, adding depth and intrigue to the haunted swamp setting.

- got a new side quest to drop

When I get stuck trying to come up with an adventure, I'll often ask Chat GPT to create one. It's usually a fairly generic outline, and if I ask it to create a different adventure of the same type, it usually comes back with practically the same thing. However, it is usually enough to overcome writers block so I can take what it gave me and hack it into something functional.

The last adventure I asked it to write was an adventure inspired by the movie Idiocracy. The result was both amusing and surprisingly usable.

Fanaelialae said:

When I get stuck trying to come up with an adventure, I'll often ask Chat GPT to create one. It's usually a fairly generic outline, and if I ask it to create a different adventure of the same type, it usually comes back with practically the same thing. However, it is usually enough to overcome writers block so I can take what it gave me and hack it into something functional.

The last adventure I asked it to write was an adventure inspired by the movie Idiocracy. The result was both amusing and surprisingly usable.

Click to expand...

I have had good luck with asking Claude AI to expound on or alter previous responses, fine tuning pretty generic and mediocre initial responses into something fun and interesting. This is why I think of it as a tool to help human GMs do better: on its own it just regurgitates tropes, but you can massage the output into something that you crafted with the help of the tool.

Stuff like this is very helpful, even if it needs massaging:

City NPCs
1. Count Vladimir, male vampire rogue. Charming blood drinker who lurks in the city's underground. Uses his spider climb to scale walls and surprise victims.

2. Madame Mystique, female changeling bard. Can shift her appearance at will, which she uses to go undercover and gather secrets.

3. Haydith, female halfling druid. Lives in the city's central park and cares for the trees and animals within. Talks to squirrels and chipmunks.

4. Korbus the Chronicler, male gnome wizard. Obsessed with recording the history of the city. Uses divination magic to learn secrets and preserve stories.

5. Kallos, male dragonborn paladin. A priest dedicated to community service, helping the poor and homeless. Will go to great lengths to protect the innocent.

6. Tullius, male dwarf fighter. Covered in tattoos and leader of the city's underground boxing league. Has the Tavern Brawler feat and is proficient in improvised weapons.

7. Lady Cassandra, female human noble. A bored aristocrat who adventures in disguise to escape the monotony of upper class life.

8. Valenarus, male elf ranger. A famous big game hunter who now leads safaris into the sewers to hunt wererats and other beasts.

9. Dagan, male half-orc barbarian. A newly-arrived adventurer who is looking for fame and glory in the streets. Hot tempered and easily provoked.

10. Madame Nostara, female yuan-ti pureblood monk. Runs a fortune telling shop and is rumored to have a third eye that sees the future. Breathlessly dramatic.

Sorry for the necro but:

Over time, i have gotten less and less interested in AI as a tool to generate text or images, and more interested in it as a toll and digital assistant. I have been having it help me with my writing -- not generating text or even ideas, but rather collating information about characters I create and write summaries for me (since I do a lot of discovery writing).

Earlier today I had to search through some state regulations for a specific thing and was able to point claude.ai at the text to help find the answer*. It worked great. So tonight I fed Tiny Zombies into Claude.ai as a test and was able to ask a bunch of questions about it in order to get a solid understanding of the game, its systems, how play worked, etc...

One thing i am hoping to do is record my game sessions and then have AI summarize the session, list characters I make on the fly, list story beats, and the like.

In short: AI can be a very powerful tool for gaming (and work and life!) , even beyond having it generate questionable prose and half baked images.

*Yes, I double checked myself, but it still helped me find what I was looking for in the wall of legalese.

Reynard said:

Earlier today I had to search through some state regulations for a specific thing and was able to point claude.ai at the text to help find the answer*. It worked great. ....

*Yes, I double checked myself, but it still helped me find what I was looking for in the wall of legalese.

Click to expand...

And therein lies one of the issues - generative AIs will, kind of frequently, just make stuff up. You may point it at a source, but you cannot rely on them to keep only to the source.

So, while it can be a powerful tool, at the moment you can't rely on their output for any topic you cannot double check yourself.

I've been using AI assistance for three months or so. Chat GPT 3 and various image creators. I began by having it expand upon my notes, filling them out into full descriptions, and expanded from there as I learnt what works.

A prime use I have for it for now is to alter the CR of a critter. Say I want a hobgoblin chief, and the stat block I have is CR 6 and I want a CR 10 critter, AI is decent at this. You do need to double-check, mainly it seems to drop things from one version to the next and it is not super at formatting a stat block. Still much less work and effort than doing it manually.

I have also used it for NPCs. "Give me 5 different barkeeps" and then I pick one. It decently remembers the setting earlier in the thread. I've been recommended to use AI to generate random events, but I am quite happy with the random encounters from Level Up so I haven't moved this to AI yet.

Overall, it really helps to ask the AI to create more than one answer and then pick one you like.

When it comes to images, I've not found an AI that creates good landscapes, but portraits are doable as long as you are not to precise in what you want. Recently, I wanted to make a portrait of a smith with a hammer, apron etc. The AIs I am using just couldn't come up with a smith's hammer and gave them bludgeons instead. After quite some work I ended up with the hammer in a pose where the hammer-head was behind the character's head and thus not visible.

I have two talented drawers in my group and am a little worried using AI images might discourage them, but they are both interested in AI imaging and much better at it than I am, so I suppose what I do won't really matter to them.