AI GMs

[Bill Zebub]

I just asked ChatGPT to GM me through a solo Shadowdark session. It recommended I take a hireling, and after I made my character (a Cleric with 14 Wis) it created a hireling named Hobb with a consistent (but droll..) personality, adding his wry commentary to every scene. We explored a barrow and fought a couple of skeletons, which were very nicely, colorfully narrated. Then things got creepy and I felt the same kind of uncertainty that I experienced when I first started playing D&D and didn't have the monster manual memorized. The session ended with a nice hook into another session and a good summary of where things stood.

One quirk that made it almost Zork-like was that after each description instead of just "what do you do" it offered a list of options, but the last option was always open-ended (e.g., one time the last option was "Something colder, wiser, or more dangerous...").

It was fun. And it was based off a one-line prompt.

 

[cbwjm]

How well did it retain things in memory? I've heard that's quite a limiting factor but that was quite long ago, I think chatgpt is better at retaining things in memory now, but maybe not small details that might be important for a player.

 

[Li Shenron]

As a test, I tried asking ChatGPT to DM a solo story already a year or two ago, when certainly it was still a previous version.

Rules-wise it was able to guide me through character creation using 5e rules fairly well, just forgot about a couple of things. During the adventure it was able to use 5e rules for exploration and interaction but I never failed a check so I think it was cheating to my favor. I didn't go as far as having a battle but it was my choice to keep the test limited by trying to avoid combat.

Story-wise it kept adding more of the same until I asked it if it was going to have a sort of resolution, and it told me that as long as it thought I was having fun, it wasn't going to have an ending

 

[aco175]

How fast is this technology advancing and changing. What will it be in 1 year or 5. I see it as both good and bad. I have not tried anything as far as using it to do anything besides give me a few ideas for further development or for me to create an adventure, but it is coming.

 

[Bill Zebub]

How fast is this technology advancing and changing. What will it be in 1 year or 5. I see it as both good and bad. I have not tried anything as far as using it to do anything besides give me a few ideas for further development or for me to create an adventure, but it is coming.

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. It's getting steadily (and quickly) better, and so if I can have that good of an experience this year from a one line prompt, what will it be like in five years with a dedicated/trained intermediary interface?

 

[Bill Zebub]

How well did it retain things in memory? I've heard that's quite a limiting factor but that was quite long ago, I think chatgpt is better at retaining things in memory now, but maybe not small details that might be important for a player.

I didn't play long enough to generate enough tokens for that to be a problem. (And solutions to that general problem are in the works, anyway.)

 

[Reynard]

I strongly feel that LLMs are nearly good enough at this point to run your typical group of casual players through a linear adventure. Given the constant complaints of not being able to find a GM, I expect a year from now there will be decent, reliable services for AI GMs.

 

[Bill Zebub]

I just started the next session. After exiting the barrow at the end of the last session Hobb and I returned to town, circling around to come in from the other way so nobody would know we had just returned from the barrow. We don't word reaching whoever hired the robber to break the wards. Currently we're in a tavern listening for gossip. Here's a snippet:

Listening for Gossip (Passive)​

As you sit, eat, and listen, a few threads emerge naturally. No rolls needed yet.

You Hear:​

• “Old abbey’s got lights again.”
  (Dismissed as nonsense by the speaker—but mentioned twice by different people.)
• “Someone paid good silver for maps of burial hills.”
  (A shepherd, grumbling. Says the coins were old, wrong weight.)
• “Father Elling’s shrine won’t light.”
  (Said quietly. That one carries unease.)

And, most interestingly—

“They say the barrow east of the ford’s gone quiet.
Not ‘empty’ quiet.
Sealed quiet.”

That remark is followed by silence at the table, and then an abrupt change of subject.


No one looks at you.


But someone, somewhere, noticed.

---

Hobb’s Murmur​

Without looking at you, Hobb says quietly:

“Word’s moving faster than feet. That scholar might already know something went wrong.”

Then, after a beat:

“But not what.”