It can be daunting to create a campaign setting with a rich history. Fortunately, AI can do it for you.
This in itself isn't surprising. Dwarf Fortress, inspired by D&D, has been around long enough to be a major influence on Minecraft, which just closed the recursive loop by incorporating D&D into Minecraft.
Dwarf Fortress is a simulation game that simulates a fantasy world, complete with history, politics, and conflicts. The game generates a detailed history of the world, including the rise and fall of civilizations, wars, and natural disasters. Using this history as a basis, DMs can create a rich campaign world. Here's how.
The legends viewer has multiple sections, including Arts & Crafts, Infrastructure, Geography, Warfare, Other, Historical Figures, and Civs & Entites. If you run the program for the equivalent of a thousand years, you could spend hours browsing all the outcomes.
There are several quirks that come with using the game as history. As mentioned above, it uses a random naming convention that doesn't always translate well to fantasy campaigns. Using some of these names results in phrases like "Snackelbows."
Not all species are represented, so there aren't gnomes for example. Moreover, the high fertility rate of goblins means they inevitably take over. By the end of my thousand year history, goblins accounted for 21.17% of the population, followed by cave swallows (20.63%), bats (20.49%), cave spiders (13.09%), and weirdly, elves (4.64%). In case you're wondering, dwarves have it tough in Dwarf Fortress; it's hard to tell but they may have been eliminated completely by the end of the history, or at least small enough to be grouped under Other (8.47%).
But what you get from Dwarf Fortress is enormous. The fate of every character is mapped out, including creatures and monsters of a variety of types, who they encounter, breed, and die. They generate books and songs, all of them named, along with deities they venerate. There's so much to pick and choose from that you can easily discard what doesn't make sense and take what you like.
Although it's not commonly thought of as a form of AI, Dwarf Fortress is one of the few game simulations that's so accessible you can use it to engage a variety of ways, from writing fiction to fleshing out of your campaign world.
Leave it to the Dwarves
A critical component of any D&D campaign is the history of the world, which can set the stage for epic quests and adventures. While creating a campaign history can be a daunting task, the game Dwarf Fortress can be used to generate a detailed history that can be exported and used in a D&D campaign.This in itself isn't surprising. Dwarf Fortress, inspired by D&D, has been around long enough to be a major influence on Minecraft, which just closed the recursive loop by incorporating D&D into Minecraft.
Dwarf Fortress is a simulation game that simulates a fantasy world, complete with history, politics, and conflicts. The game generates a detailed history of the world, including the rise and fall of civilizations, wars, and natural disasters. Using this history as a basis, DMs can create a rich campaign world. Here's how.
Step 1: Download Dwarf Fortress
Dwarf Fortress is a free game that can be downloaded from the Bay 12 Games website. It's available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. If you want your own world and not a randomly generated one created by the game, you'll also need PerfectWorldDF. There are several ways to customize the world to more accurately represent your campaign world, including weather patterns and geographical features.Step 2: Generate a World
Once you have downloaded Dwarf Fortress, launch the game and select the "Create New World" option. The game will generate a new world, complete with history, geography, and civilizations. You can also determine how many years you'd like to run the simulator. I ran it for the maximum, a thousand years.Step 3: Export the World's History
To export the world's history, select the "Legends" option from the main menu. This will display a detailed history of the world, including information on civilizations, wars, and historical figures. To export the history, select the "Export Legends" option, and save the file to your computer. If you choose, you can generate up to 1,000 years of history, although it will use up considerable CPU resources to do so.Step 4: Convert the Exported File
The exported file is in a format that is not easily readable or usable in a D&D campaign. Therefore, you will need to convert it to a more usable format. One option is to use a tool like Legends Viewer, which can convert the exported file into a more readable format, including HTML or text.The legends viewer has multiple sections, including Arts & Crafts, Infrastructure, Geography, Warfare, Other, Historical Figures, and Civs & Entites. If you run the program for the equivalent of a thousand years, you could spend hours browsing all the outcomes.
- Geography describes different biomes like the Azure Dune, which includes three monasteries, a tomb, and a camp throughout its long history.There are entire landmasses, mountains, and rivers named throughout the world's history.
- Warfare shows the victors and losers of conflicts, including the names of every character who died or was wounded. They're broken out into battles, conquerings, and raids.
- Civs and Entities details civilizations by species, including new forms of goverment and religion. Historical Figures includes major named characters, which can range from necromancers (a common type in Dwarf Fortress) to Deities, Dragons, and Natural Forces.
- Arts & Crafts covers everything else. Written content includes everything from choreography to essays, manuals to musical compositions, poems to short stories. Every items has an author and a name. Because Dwarf Fortress randomly generates results, including names, you can get some very interesting results. Eastunited the Violet Tongues (known in dwarvish as "Zuselbongnguk Goxasnam") is a legendary iron low boot that was created in Hellwalked by an unknown creature in the year 104 and was last seen offered by the human Sana Feastpoints to the human necromancer Iddim Empiresflashes in the year 341. And don't even get me started on Jackalcrazy, a legendary pair of pants (technically, tigerfish bone greaves).
Step 5: Use the History in Your Campaign
Once you have converted the exported file, you can use it to create a detailed history for your D&D campaign. The history can be used to create factions, cities, and events that can form the basis of quests and adventures. Additionally, the history can flesh out your own campaign world's gaps.There are several quirks that come with using the game as history. As mentioned above, it uses a random naming convention that doesn't always translate well to fantasy campaigns. Using some of these names results in phrases like "Snackelbows."
Not all species are represented, so there aren't gnomes for example. Moreover, the high fertility rate of goblins means they inevitably take over. By the end of my thousand year history, goblins accounted for 21.17% of the population, followed by cave swallows (20.63%), bats (20.49%), cave spiders (13.09%), and weirdly, elves (4.64%). In case you're wondering, dwarves have it tough in Dwarf Fortress; it's hard to tell but they may have been eliminated completely by the end of the history, or at least small enough to be grouped under Other (8.47%).
But what you get from Dwarf Fortress is enormous. The fate of every character is mapped out, including creatures and monsters of a variety of types, who they encounter, breed, and die. They generate books and songs, all of them named, along with deities they venerate. There's so much to pick and choose from that you can easily discard what doesn't make sense and take what you like.
Although it's not commonly thought of as a form of AI, Dwarf Fortress is one of the few game simulations that's so accessible you can use it to engage a variety of ways, from writing fiction to fleshing out of your campaign world.
