AI Creates New D&D Monsters

This has been doing the rounds recently - Janelle Shane, a scientist who works with artificial intelligence, programmed a neural network to produce new D&D monsters based on a list of over 2,000 creatures from an old Monster Manual. welcome to the Spectral Slug, Desert Beeple, Purple Fang Dragon, and many more!

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You can view the whole list here.

I'm a fan of the Fumble Unicorn, Burglestar, Spider Brain Horse, and the Chromatic Wolf.

Shane previously used the same AI to produce 265 spell names, which included such classics as barking sphere, hold mouse, and vicious markers and a second experiment which produced an even better set.

She is now crowdsourcing a data set to do the same for character names.

 

[mach1.9pants]

It is just a list of names, but I think it is better (either usable or funnier) than what a completely random generator would come up with.

Not hugely better

Gasling
Ashclaw
Cryptwraith
Cryptmutant
The Aromatic Dweller
The Haunting Monstrosity
The Black Woman
The Chaotic Hunting Spider
The Primitive Terror Ape
The Titanic Corpse Critter

http://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/monster-names.php

Those are all far better than Derp Spider or Kurt or Golf - for anything other than a comedy game. I mean memeball? Really?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The Aromatic Dweller? Some kind of Onion Lich, then? Or a sentient Lovecraftian herb form another plane, similar to Juiblex?

Human Druid: *sniff* “Do you smell...nutmeg?”

Dwarf Fighter: “This close to a troglodyte den, are you nu...” *sniff* “Wait, YES! And cinnimon!”

Elf Wizard *sniff* “I smell mint, lavender and a hint of pepper.”

Halfling Thief: “Stop sniffing and run, you fools! RUUUUUNNNNN!!!”

 

[Mistwell]

Hmm, what might a Marraganralleraith be?

Let's see, to Mar is to disfigure.

Agan is "to own, possess, or have".

Rall is short form of a word that means, "becoming slower" (rallentando)

eriath is close enough to wraith.

So we have a wraith-like disfigured creature that possess others and causes slowness.

Creepy nuff!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Hmm, what might a Marraganralleraith be?

Let's see, to Mar is to disfigure.

Agan is "to own, possess, or have".

Rall is short form of a word that means, "becoming slower" (rallentando)

eriath is close enough to wraith.

So we have a wraith-like disfigured creature that possess others and causes slowness.

Creepy nuff!

In some circles, it’s called “The Itis”...

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Not hugely better

Gasling
Ashclaw
Cryptwraith
Cryptmutant
The Aromatic Dweller
The Haunting Monstrosity
The Black Woman
The Chaotic Hunting Spider
The Primitive Terror Ape
The Titanic Corpse Critter

http://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/monster-names.php

Those are all far better than Derp Spider or Kurt or Golf - for anything other than a comedy game. I mean memeball? Really?

There is nothing wrong with comedy. And the thing with standard generator is it can only come up with something that the writer has consciously thought of to put in there in the first place. This method trawls the human subconscious, thus producing names that are consistently funnier.

 

[Hussar]

Love the shout out to Sufficiently Advanced. Absolutely my favorite SF RPG out there. And free too. Fantastic stuff. Just a ton of fun. We even riffed on it to create a Terry Pratchett campaign.

Fun stuff.

Now, if the program would also give us stats...

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I missed this one:

The Black Woman

Y’all done gone too far.
View attachment 95959

 

[GMMichael]

But since one of those names is "Marraganralleraith," it's still priceless.

When Modos 2 reaches 100 downloads, I'll reveal what a Marraganralleraith is.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/rpgdownloads.php?do=download&downloadid=1437

Hint: it's not pretty.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Marraganralleraith

Part Fey, part carnivorous theropod, all undead.

 

[Ancalagon]

Rain Golem sounds awesome.

It does yes...

The slugmen of the Yellow City are skilled in the art of golemology, and have made liguid and even light golems. A Rain golem is right up their alley