ZEITGEIST Using Midjourney image AI to imagine Zeitgeist

[meertn]

I have run across Midjourney recently, an AI system to generate images, and have been creating some images for my Zeitgeist campaign. I haven't yet shown my players, but I hope this will definitely increase their immersion. Some examples:
Dansica and BlanderWareye

The view from Cauldron hill

They're not perfect by any means, but for me they really capture the spirit of the game.

 

[Meigeall]

Is this done through the discord, or does it require standalone software?

 

[meertn]

It's done via discord. You can get a free trial for about 25 images.

 

[Anselm]

These are awesome. I'd love to see if you get more

 

[meertn]

Thanks! Here are some more:

The family wharf.

Reed MacBannin's mansion near Cauldron hill

Dr von Recklinghausen

Heward Sechim

If you have any requests, I could try and create them as well.

 

[hirou]

Really nice. Could you provide the prompts you've used for generation of these images? I've tried Artflow for some portraits, but MidJourney seems to be more functional.

 

[Anselm]

Wanna do Assistant Chief Inspector Stover Delft? He's my players' favorite

 

[meertn]

Really nice. Could you provide the prompts you've used for generation of these images? I've tried Artflow for some portraits, but MidJourney seems to be more functional.

Sure. For the portraits I used the character image from the book. Those prompts were:
Von Recklinghausen: steampunk man moustache vest moody lighting realistic digital art 8k
Heward Sechim: portrait dark skinned alchemist holding test tube steampunk vest moody lighting realistic digital art --iw 1 --ar 3:2 (--iw determines the weight of the input image, --ar is the aspect ratio)
Danisca (1st post): confident female gnome pharmacist steampunk dnd portrait realistic digital art moody lighting
Wharf: small dock in a bayou, small cutter ship docked, steampunk, night, moody lighting, realistic digital art

Apparently, Stover Delft is difficult to get right. I'm still not totally convinced, but this is what I got.

(prompt: image file + photo steampunk moody lighting realistic digital art 8k --iw 2)
I am rather happy with Gale:

(promt: image file + photo of a lady blue dress portrait black hair steampunk moody lighting realistic digital art 8k)

 

[efreund]

These are amazing, and you are skilled at prompting MidJourney!

Do you think you could try your hand at:

• Lya Jierre
• Tinker Oddcog (not in steamsuit)
• Rock Rackus
• Benedict Pemberton
• Harkover Lee

I'd love to what those folks could come out as!

 

[meertn]

Well, I gave them a go. The newest version of Midjourney works a lot better with input images, so that helped a lot.
Lya:
She was the most difficult, probably because tieflings don't feature as much in the source material Midjourney uses . So I have included three tries, each of which has its pros and cons:

I really like how she is portrayed here, but it's much more a drawing than a photo, like the previous ones.

I think this one is a bit on the harsh side, more of how I see her in later chapters.

Not as clearly a tiefling, and maybe a bit too pretty. But I do see the King getting married to her, not as overtly evil.
Tinker

I really like how this images has a bit of 'hearing voices' insanity in it
Rock Rackus:

Harkover Lee:

Maybe a bit on the young side, but when I include something like 60 year, or even 50 year, they turn out like 80 years old or so :S

 

[meertn]

And Benedict Pemberton. Even when upscaled, it's a bit pixely unfortunately.

 

[Rukaiko]

Those are amazing!
I'm using stable diffusion and a model trained with midjourney, but I can't figure out how to get something as good as those. Harkover Lee is my favourite!
Did you use only the zeitgeist portrait as reference? Could you share the prompts if you still have those?

 

[meertn]

I used the zeitgeist portrait and "male photograph dslr 50 mm" as a prompt for Harkover. Interestingly, it interpreted most of the portraits as female, so that's why the male is in there. And I read adding specific photographic terms helped. Finally, this is using the new version 4 of MJ. The rest are similar, I also adding portrait to some.

 

[efreund]

I've been playing around with MidJourney myself. Here are my attempts at the various "bosses" that the PCs have to work for:

Assistant Chief Inspector Stover Delft

Mark Sheppard, clean-shaven, receding hair, headache, stressed out, dressed as a senior detective, Victorian, in an old English office --v 4



Chief Inspector Margaret Saxby

Judi Dench as a senior detective, blonde pixie cut, ruffled white collar, navy blue suit, condescending glare, Victorian, inside an old English office


Principal Minister Harkover Lee

Ricardo Montalban as a draconic bloodline sorcerer, dapper, thin lips, short hair, dark eyes, fancy burgundy and gold cowl, inside medieval castle --v 4



King Aodhan

Clarke Peters as a King, nearly bald, close-cropped thinning [salt and pepper] beard, small gold band across forehead, wise, placcid expression, green shirt, forest green cloak, steampunk, faerie, in a medeval castle, digital art --v 4


I tried to catch the vibe and attitude of each NPC, and have that come across in their facial expression (and background). In my opinion, to a certain extent, that communicates more useful-to-playing-in-an-RPG information than a simple physical appearance. Obviously, some of my own interpretation went into those descriptors, which I shared below each pict.

The first word in each of my prompts were guided by this thread: ZEITGEIST - List of Pop Culture References in Zeitgeist

If anyone knows a good actor to put in for Lord Inspector Nigel Price-Hill, I can complete the chain-of-command. Then again, I totally made up Saxby's, and am willing to redo her with a different seed if anyone's got a better suggestion.

(Also, I have not been able to figure out how to make MidJourney do non-human skin-tinting . As far as I can tell, Gov Roland Stanfield is going to be impossible.)

I think I'll work on the leadership of the Ob next.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Apparently, Stover Delft is difficult to get right. I'm still not totally convinced, but this is what I got.

View attachment 259047
(prompt: image file + photo steampunk moody lighting realistic digital art 8k --iw 2)

Midjourney has definitely consumed the work of Christopher Shy.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

How would these prompts look if you told Midjourney to do it in the style of Erol Otus, Tony DiTerlizzi, Wayne Reynolds or Dave Trampier?

 

[efreund]

How would these prompts look if you told Midjourney to do it in the style of Erol Otus, Tony DiTerlizzi, Wayne Reynolds or Dave Trampier?

Which of those artists do you think most captures the ZG 'vibe'?

For example, Erol Otus, while a legend from the early gaming era (and a delightful fit for DCC, who embraces his style), is almost comical, and a terrible fit for Zeitgeist's cerebral and philosophical tone.

And WAR is a bit comic-book-y and action-packed. Great for the 3e and PF era he's associated with, but is he really Zeitgeist-y?

I feel I almost want a noir artist to style these picts agaisnt.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Which of those artists do you think most captures the ZG 'vibe'?

For example, Erol Otus, while a legend from the early gaming era (and a delightful fit for DCC, who embraces his style), is almost comical, and a terrible fit for Zeitgeist's cerebral and philosophical tone.

And WAR is a bit comic-book-y and action-packed. Great for the 3e and PF era he's associated with, but is he really Zeitgeist-y?

I would say that Trampier's careful line art and cross-hatching would fit. I can also see an argument for DiTerlizzi. (I mean, I can always see an argument for more DiTerlizzi.)

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I feel I almost want a noir artist to style these picts agaisnt.

Christopher Shy, who was the chosen artist for a lot of late World of Darkness 1.0 stuff, is already showing up in your portraits. I would ask Midjourney to specifically give you something in his particular style, which is modern but spooky.

 

[RangerWickett]

Saxby's look was based on former Miss America and actress Elizabeth Gracen in Highlander: The Raven.

And Viscount Nigel Price-Hill was, I believe, Edward James Olmos.