AI/LLMs How are you using AI in your gaming?

[trappedslider]

A couple of years back, I used one of the LLMs to go over some setting fluff, I had developed a few decades previously and it had pointed out an error in the document that I didn't pick up on and asked how I wanted it fix and then it actually improved on the setting by rounding stuff to make it more believable.

Recently,however I haven't used any of the LLMs or other generative AI tools for my gaming needs since I'm running a D20 Modern game. How has the raise of such tools impacted your gaming either as a player or as the G/DM?

 

[The Firebird]

Currently, I use it mostly for formatting. It's quite easy to generate a nice looking document for Overleaf or something like that.

Then, I have a workflow to make 'monster tear sheets'--basically a condensed spreadsheet with stats for the monsters I'll use in a session, so I don't need to reference the book. I had a version for this for 5e that I wrote by hand, pulling from the SRD. I used AI to clean it up substantially and make it easier to use.

I played around with AI as a campaign setting assistant. They were useful in some ways. For example, I'll often tie things in my world to real history. I can describe a vague idea, look up historic parallels, read into those further, and then develop that.

I imagine the state of things is much stronger now than when I did it. I've had an idea to try again seriously, but I'm not running anything actively and haven't had the time. I think it could quite sophisticated, because you could store your random tables, longer-term memory files (npcs, locations, campaign history &c), other details about style preferences.

One thing that is lacking here is the ability of AI to process pdfs. Ideally, I would want to be able to store modules in the same directory for easy reference, and I'd want the AI to be able to read and reference material from those. It can, but it is token intensive and more error prone than reading markdown files. PDFs are a hard problem, but I think it would be cool if some creators started offering less structured markdown files along with the pdfs. I don't think it would be too big a challenge because the formatting is minimal.

 

[Morrus]

Note--we are not going to be supporting the use of [+] threads to compel agreement with the use of generative LLMs, any more than we would any other ethical stance. [+] threads are not a way to circumvent ethical challenges. I have removed the + from the thread title.

 

[cranberry]

In my private free games that I do not profit from or represent as my own, I've used AI to fill out/add more meat my ideas. I've also used AI to create monster pics. I've used AI for spelling and grammar checks as well as suggestions for flow.

 

[aiouh]

Sometimes when I'm bored at work I ask Gemini to run a solo game of D&D for me (we're encouraged to use AI at work, so not even a strange sight) but I figured that all the stories I liked are part of some conversation where I as a player get to have choice in the adventure or what happens next and risky outcomes hinging on a dice roll I make IRL. So I think it is a very nice engine for filling out blanks, but I don't rely on it creatively, because it is trained on such a range of works of fiction, that it always turns out extremely bland if you just let it do its thing.

In terms of campaign prep I don't use it at all, because writing your own stuff in your own words is a useful memory technique. I've tried letting it generate dungeons before but it just felt like it was mish-mashing a bunch of previously published materials and video game FAQs together without really critically thinking about it.

I really dislike Art generation for games, because it almost always ends up as some generic 4K ahh fantasy image that is neither here nor there. You can always delude yourself into thinking that's what you wanted, but you basically just play roulette until it hallucinates something passable. At that point you might as well just trace someone else's fanart.

As far as I am concerned, Role Playing Games are something deeply (inter)personal and opinionated and AIs/LLMs are just not good at doing the truly heavy lifting required to make good game material. I'd even be wary to use it as a random generator, because those are opinionated as well. Not all random tables are created the same or create the same kind of adventure.

One thing it IS good at, is rules questions or pointing you to the right pages.

 

[Bill Zebub]

I don't use it for creating things but rather to refine my own work. I'll write out my ideas for an adventure and ask for feedback/critique, then do a back-and-forth. I find it both generates new ideas, and refines ideas I already had.

I've also been (very slowly) writing a story, with my kids as the audience. I'll give Claude entire chapters and ask it to analyze for specific things (largely lifted from the 36 rules for good writing in "Good Writing" by Neal Allen and Anne Lamott.) The results are pretty amazing.

Or I'll ask for some specific ideation, such as when I asked it to write "several entries from a medieval diary, in archaic-sounding English with some words using out-dated spelling, of a boy-crazy young noblewoman documenting social life in the castle". The results were far, far funnier than I had hoped for.

(But the story itself is still really bad, so don't ask.)



P.S. I hope that even without a [+] this thread doesn't, like all the other threads in this forum, turn into repetitive savaging of everything about AI, including the people who use it.

 

[bloodtide]

*Maps--AI can make decent maps, though mostly for common things. But it is great for just a random tavern. And I can edit the simple maps with more complex things on my own.

*Pictures of Places- I've used my photo library for ages to saw players what things like "a castle" looks like....though limited by the pics. Now, AI can make me whatever I want and it's great.

*Pictures of People- Like the above. Now I can make 'prefect pics' of characters with AI.

*Handouts--I don't have to make these by hand anymore. AI does just fine for the generic D&D/fantasy slop. So when a character "reads a book about dragons", I can send the player an AI dragon essay.

*Research--AI is somewhat helpful to recall somethings some times...better then nothing. Works well with more real world things like history and things I can add to the game.

*Selma--Give a character an "orb of all knowing" that the character can ask questions too , that lets the player use AI at will to ask questions. This works so great for the annoying players that ask questions, I can just say "Ask Selma".

 

[cbwjm]

My group have used it to create images of our characters and background where the DM can show us an image of a gnome and their store, things like that. I think my DM mentioned that he had chatGPT do up some short speech's or writings for his setting.

I've played around with it to create settings, more for an experiment than for play, and it came up with some unique creatures on the random encounter tables. It can be quite good for this sort of thing, I've gone from very general (create a campaign setting, medditeranean-like with 5 kingdoms) and then further refined those kingdoms and the setting. I remember once a setting with an island kingdom of sirens which was pretty cool. I didn't save anything and I'm not sure if my conversations are still there but I was fairly impressed at the time with how quickly I could use chatGPT to create a setting.

 

[cranberry]

With so few responses, it's clear that AI is the third rail of Enworld thread topics.

 

[trappedslider]

P.S. I hope that even without a [+] this thread doesn't, like all the other threads in this forum, turn into repetitive savaging of everything about AI, including the people who use it.

that is my hope and why i had originally put the + in the title.

My group have used it to create images of our characters and background where the DM can show us an image of a gnome and their store, things like that. I think my DM mentioned that he had chatGPT do up some short speech's or writings for his setting.

I've played around with it to create settings, more for an experiment than for play, and it came up with some unique creatures on the random encounter tables. It can be quite good for this sort of thing, I've gone from very general (create a campaign setting, medditeranean-like with 5 kingdoms) and then further refined those kingdoms and the setting. I remember once a setting with an island kingdom of sirens which was pretty cool. I didn't save anything and I'm not sure if my conversations are still there but I was fairly impressed at the time with how quickly I could use chatGPT to create a setting.

here's the thread still in the TTRPG where i documented my setting and what I did with Chatgpt at the time

Thread 'I used ChatGP for my setting and it was awesome'

Jun 13, 2023

so, I decided to give Chatgp a shot at rounding out my bare bones of a setting. And got the following fluff:

The city of Crystalshore, situated at the mouth of the River Crystal, is a major shipping harbor and a crucial overland trading route for the kingdom it resides in. Due to its strategic location and thriving trade, Crystalshore has become one of the wealthiest cities in the kingdom. Currently, it boasts a population of 50,000 residents.

Among the notable establishments in the city is "Demon's Run," a prominent tavern known for its lively atmosphere and patrons. The governance of...

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