I'm all for people who enjoy this type of play (automated RP has been around for ... other ... purposes for a few years now), but it's absolutely not for me. Of all activities to automate, blowing...
I'm all for people who enjoy this type of play (automated RP has been around for ... other ... purposes for a few years now), but it's absolutely not for me. Of all activities to automate, blowing off steam with friends is not one of them. And from a DM's perspective, if I wanted to expend zero energy to play a game, I'd buy a module and call it a day.
It's this sort of thing -- as well as those ads about having AIs generate poetry, and whatnot, for your SO -- which make me wonder what people ever thought of art to begin with. I suppose the predilection towards ginormous gazongas in the visual arts should've tipped me off, but maybe it was always about getting a thrill from some titillating content.
Oh well. I guess, the part I'm most disappointed by is that we're calling these TTRPGs, since it'll pollute my search results (and likely draw people away from that fanbase). It'll hopefully develop its own term given time.
There’s two concepts here: an AI game in the style of a TTRPG, and AI assistance for DMs to make assets. For the first, it’s just a different experience, no? Would you call people who play...
There’s two concepts here: an AI game in the style of a TTRPG, and AI assistance for DMs to make assets.
For the first, it’s just a different experience, no? Would you call people who play baldur’s gate 3 “automating friendship”?
For the second, being a DM is a really hard job. By the far the hardest out of the players. DMs are the hardest people to find for LFG groups, and DM burnout is the #2 reason campaigns die (only being beaten by flaking players).
In most cases, there are specific parts or elements of world building that really energize any particular DM, and then there parts that just need to exist to exist. It’s already pretty common for DMs to shamelessly steal and copy assets, if it could even be called that, from google images.
I understand where you're coming from. I had a strong feeling that at least one person would comment something similar. So I do agree that it's unfortunate that a game/tool like this is probably...
I understand where you're coming from. I had a strong feeling that at least one person would comment something similar.
So I do agree that it's unfortunate that a game/tool like this is probably taking away from someone somewhere seeking a real life experience and being social.
But it is just a different game/tool really. Yes it would be great if they didn't polute the same space. I've seen "Ai story teller" go around but I've never liked the term.
For me, it gives me a completely different experience I can't get with real people.
I've built a Snowpiercer setting/world with enough seeded material to get me going and then given the AI instructions on how to keep the game world feeling alive while I do a turn on my phone occasionally on public transport or something.
The kind of tweaking and tuning to get the game design how I've always wanted it (I've had a very specific idea for this game) and also making it a sandbox is extremely niche. With friends this game would be very different, and I've opted intentionally not to even bother designing it or running it IRL.
Sorry 😅 just reiterating, but I personally have no problem with this stuff existing (other than the discoverability issues noted)! I'm glad they exist; things not being to my taste does not mean I...
I understand where you're coming from. I had a strong feeling that at least one person would comment something similar.
Sorry 😅 just reiterating, but I personally have no problem with this stuff existing (other than the discoverability issues noted)! I'm glad they exist; things not being to my taste does not mean I think they should be denied from others.
(edit) I can also totally understand 'em from an accessibility perspective, if someone who e.g. doesn't feel comfortable/can't engage in traditional experiences anymore wants to capture some part of the experience. But again, to analogize, I don't seek out paralympic sports for myself but equally I don't think the option for them should be taken away from others, or anything.
[...] this is probably taking away from someone somewhere seeking a real life experience and being social.
Oh, nah, I don't think that at all. That's just what I personally take away from tabletop games. Like, other people use them for therapy, and others still for improv practice. There are even solo TTRPG systems, which could be seen as a predecessor to this sort of thing.
The kind of tweaking and tuning to get the game design how I've always wanted it (I've had a very specific idea for this game) and also making it a sandbox is extremely niche. With friends this game would be very different, and I've opted intentionally not to even bother designing it or running it IRL.
That sounds cool, incidentally! Kinda like a sim game (e.g. The Sims, city simulators, etc.), if I'm interpreting it properly? Again -- not to my tastes -- but it's definitely an interesting concept, and I can understand the appeal.
Honestly... Yeah I agree with you. The most fun part of DMing is coming up with the world and characters. Its like... 50% of the fun for me. Adjudicating rules, keeping track of resources and all...
Honestly... Yeah I agree with you. The most fun part of DMing is coming up with the world and characters. Its like... 50% of the fun for me. Adjudicating rules, keeping track of resources and all that stuff is not fun.
I'm not even anti AI. I've often thought about having some sort of system that listens to the session and then updates an internal wiki of characters and plot evolution, because I hate that sort of housekeeping stuff, and very often I just totally forget about a character I made up on the spot.
But if you're taking the creative parts out, what's even the point?
Yeah that's kinda what I'm trying to understand. It seems like OP (please correct me if I'm putting words in your mouth, btw!) wants to run very specific games, but doesn't figure people in their...
But if you're taking the creative parts out, what's even the point?
Yeah that's kinda what I'm trying to understand. It seems like OP (please correct me if I'm putting words in your mouth, btw!) wants to run very specific games, but doesn't figure people in their area would be interested in them.
More broadly, I'd always assumed that people just want a lightly personalized RP adventure, so they can live out their dream of being super cool in a fantasy setting (like Legolas or something). But, like, my favourite characters throughout the ages have been some of my most deranged or pathetic ones, and my favourite moments have often been due to mechanical failures.
So it's beyond me, and I'm still wrapping my head around it. I guess an analogy is that I equally don't understand people who obsessively hunt for every achievement in a video game: it doesn't seem fun to meet all those arbitrary criteria, but people really get into it, so there must be something there I'm missing?
I'll admit I'm struggling to vocalize exactly what it is I'm doing differently here than what I run and play in real life. Maybe a better way to describe it is that I've been looking for something...
I'll admit I'm struggling to vocalize exactly what it is I'm doing differently here than what I run and play in real life.
Maybe a better way to describe it is that I've been looking for something that is essentially a video game that doesn't exist. I could make the video game, but a. I don't particularly care or want to share it, it'd be made for me by me and b. Unless I had some randomizer or brought in someone with some writing talent, as the creator I'd know all the material, I couldn't possibly be seeing the content for the first time. More likely I'd be so sick of it that'd it'd not be fun any more.
A tool like this lets me write out my game rules, I can seed the setting/world with enough content to start. Then give the agent tools and instructions to generate from there.
Sure it's not perfect. But time/effort invested for value/fun out is high compared to other methods I've tried in the past.
I can COMPLETELY understand if you didn't have something that you wanted to create, this would not seem appealing. If I went to the play screen and saw "generic fantasy adventure" I'd be like "uh no thanks".
Ah! Yeah that's probably it. There's a bunch of stuff I can think of wanting to run (and then not having energy to write it, thus defaulting to modules 😅), but it's always within the context of...
I can COMPLETELY understand if you didn't have something that you wanted to create, this would not seem appealing. If I went to the play screen and saw "generic fantasy adventure" I'd be like "uh no thanks".
Ah! Yeah that's probably it. There's a bunch of stuff I can think of wanting to run (and then not having energy to write it, thus defaulting to modules 😅), but it's always within the context of making something my group would enjoy playing. Thank you for thinking this through; I would've missed that 🙂
For me, the achievements are just something to do if you want to keep playing the same game. I enjoyed playing Ozymandius for a long time, and eventually played every country on every map. Most of...
For me, the achievements are just something to do if you want to keep playing the same game. I enjoyed playing Ozymandius for a long time, and eventually played every country on every map. Most of the achievements weren’t creative at all, just “win as <country> at <difficulty level>.”
At some point you’ve seen what the game has to offer and it’s time to find something else to do, but maybe you don’t want to yet?
Ah yeah, that's fair. I suppose I wear out of video games a few dozen hours in, so the really really difficult stuff -- eg finish this level without taking damage, do it with no equipment, etc. --...
Ah yeah, that's fair. I suppose I wear out of video games a few dozen hours in, so the really really difficult stuff -- eg finish this level without taking damage, do it with no equipment, etc. -- can be fun to watch but not something I'd actually do.
Could totally get that achievements which encourage you to play more of the game (at a reasonable difficulty level) would be fun for many, though.
More power to you or anyone that plays games like this, but for me, I just can't get past the art. Not that it's not obvious the art is AI-generated, but taking a few minutes to look at almost any...
More power to you or anyone that plays games like this, but for me, I just can't get past the art. Not that it's not obvious the art is AI-generated, but taking a few minutes to look at almost any of the pictures on here and you notice all the usual AI tells: mindless architecture, posters with nonsensical imagery, badges clipping through clothing. I have plenty of friends who draw their own art for TTRPG games we play. There is a joy to looking at the art they create, thinking about the time and effort they put into it, zooming in on all the fun little details. The art on this site gives me none of that (admittedly more of a gripe with AI art in general than with this game in particular).
No, you have a valid point. I admire it's ability to fill in blanks and achieve broad strokes on the fly. It's able to generate a new NPC or location based of theme and context with some pretty...
No, you have a valid point.
I admire it's ability to fill in blanks and achieve broad strokes on the fly.
It's able to generate a new NPC or location based of theme and context with some pretty good results. But the art is so obviously AI and it's impossible to achieve any level of accuracy in detail.
I suspect the answer to this would be to replace the AI art with regular, human created art for characters, places and things you care about and see frequently.
What it does do, is it gives the play window a good general theme, especially for the art that's in thumb nails and hard to see in detail.
I found this while stumbling around looking for an older TTRPG story telling engine and I am extremely impressed. I normally wouldn't post something like this, but my first impression is very...
I found this while stumbling around looking for an older TTRPG story telling engine and I am extremely impressed.
I normally wouldn't post something like this, but my first impression is very good.
It's also got completely free credits on its Deepseek model for a couple of weeks to try it out. It's capable at most simple tasks.
What makes this stand out from previous tools is a few things:
Tools are provided for developers and agents to create a system and a world for the game to play in. There's a huge amount of flexibility here as you can define your own data structures and lay them out how you want
The play window is simple, but customisable. You can create images, maps, style the UI and UX to make your game feel right
There's support for step by step flows into the game to set it up
Everything is markdown, json and images. It's extremely simple and really easy to edit
Give it a go if you don't hate AI!
I'm having a great time making a snowpiercer world.
One of the things I'd be interested to see is how an LLM system manages compartmentalization. The lack of this feature make AI adoption a security and privacy nightmare in industry. And it's a...
One of the things I'd be interested to see is how an LLM system manages compartmentalization. The lack of this feature make AI adoption a security and privacy nightmare in industry. And it's a real challenge here because open ended role play requires maintaining multiple frames of reference. There's a world state. There's individual players. Multiple NPCs in scene. There are NPCs out of scene and thier degree of visibility. LLMs manage what's explicitly in the scene and in "frame" to the players.
Its not like there's hard and fast rules to this. I know good GMs who can instinctively weave their NPCs through sprawling stories on the fly. Other people map out exactly how NPCs behave when not in contact with Players. But an important factor for everyone is that there is often an information gap between the players and NPC. Its easy with a friendly character where you can bridge that gap with a simple "we catch them up on the situation". But adversarial relationships will be weird because it's hard for an LLM to keep a secret from itself.
Beyond that, I'm curious what's the implications of so much copyright material that's already on this platform. There's always been leeway for fan games/modules with rules inspired by major properties. But here it feels weird paying a non-rights holders to effectively bulk produce licenced content. WotC are probably particularly interested seeing so many AI tools built entirely on 5e rules and gamebooks. I would really hate for these type of products to kill fan projects and games when companies overcorrect to protect their IP.
Re copy right, it's crossed my mind for sure. There's the issue you've mentioned of the AI generating copy right material from it's model and also users uploading copy right material unknowingly...
Re copy right, it's crossed my mind for sure. There's the issue you've mentioned of the AI generating copy right material from it's model and also users uploading copy right material unknowingly or otherwise. It's a mess.
Re the first point on context and the agent's ability to keep memory. LLM's do kind of suck for this kind of story telling on general, but Craft has opted to let the user choose how to manage the context. When you build the world and system, you choose if files are only searchable by the agent or are always in its context. It also has skills you can trigger based off both events and text input. So you have a reasonably high degree of control over what the agent does to manage it's context and the "flow" of the game.
Looks more like the AI is the game master. This is a game engine layer built on top of Claude/Codex agents that creates an open-ended TTRPG-like experience for a single player, I think. So, no...
Looks more like the AI is the game master. This is a game engine layer built on top of Claude/Codex agents that creates an open-ended TTRPG-like experience for a single player, I think. So, no actual tabletop (or other humans) required.
It's both really! It's an all in one platform, it's pretty slick. I've tried others before and there's always a rubbing point somewhere. Usually they have some overly complicated harness/agent...
It's both really! It's an all in one platform, it's pretty slick.
I've tried others before and there's always a rubbing point somewhere. Usually they have some overly complicated harness/agent that you can't modify and unless you play what they advertise, you end up with a sub par experience.
On mobile the experience was better than any other attempt at this that I've tried, but it was still a bit too slow and clunky. I also really struggled without having the books open nearby which I...
On mobile the experience was better than any other attempt at this that I've tried, but it was still a bit too slow and clunky. I also really struggled without having the books open nearby which I guess is a sign of how long it's been since I've played DnD regularly. Still, as a forever dm turned no life no friends no campaigns parent, this is tantalizing. I'll give it another shot
I'm all for people who enjoy this type of play (automated RP has been around for ... other ... purposes for a few years now), but it's absolutely not for me. Of all activities to automate, blowing off steam with friends is not one of them. And from a DM's perspective, if I wanted to expend zero energy to play a game, I'd buy a module and call it a day.
It's this sort of thing -- as well as those ads about having AIs generate poetry, and whatnot, for your SO -- which make me wonder what people ever thought of art to begin with. I suppose the predilection towards ginormous gazongas in the visual arts should've tipped me off, but maybe it was always about getting a thrill from some titillating content.
Oh well. I guess, the part I'm most disappointed by is that we're calling these TTRPGs, since it'll pollute my search results (and likely draw people away from that fanbase). It'll hopefully develop its own term given time.
There’s two concepts here: an AI game in the style of a TTRPG, and AI assistance for DMs to make assets.
For the first, it’s just a different experience, no? Would you call people who play baldur’s gate 3 “automating friendship”?
For the second, being a DM is a really hard job. By the far the hardest out of the players. DMs are the hardest people to find for LFG groups, and DM burnout is the #2 reason campaigns die (only being beaten by flaking players).
In most cases, there are specific parts or elements of world building that really energize any particular DM, and then there parts that just need to exist to exist. It’s already pretty common for DMs to shamelessly steal and copy assets, if it could even be called that, from google images.
I understand where you're coming from. I had a strong feeling that at least one person would comment something similar.
So I do agree that it's unfortunate that a game/tool like this is probably taking away from someone somewhere seeking a real life experience and being social.
But it is just a different game/tool really. Yes it would be great if they didn't polute the same space. I've seen "Ai story teller" go around but I've never liked the term.
For me, it gives me a completely different experience I can't get with real people.
I've built a Snowpiercer setting/world with enough seeded material to get me going and then given the AI instructions on how to keep the game world feeling alive while I do a turn on my phone occasionally on public transport or something.
The kind of tweaking and tuning to get the game design how I've always wanted it (I've had a very specific idea for this game) and also making it a sandbox is extremely niche. With friends this game would be very different, and I've opted intentionally not to even bother designing it or running it IRL.
Sorry 😅 just reiterating, but I personally have no problem with this stuff existing (other than the discoverability issues noted)! I'm glad they exist; things not being to my taste does not mean I think they should be denied from others.
(edit) I can also totally understand 'em from an accessibility perspective, if someone who e.g. doesn't feel comfortable/can't engage in traditional experiences anymore wants to capture some part of the experience. But again, to analogize, I don't seek out paralympic sports for myself but equally I don't think the option for them should be taken away from others, or anything.
Oh, nah, I don't think that at all. That's just what I personally take away from tabletop games. Like, other people use them for therapy, and others still for improv practice. There are even solo TTRPG systems, which could be seen as a predecessor to this sort of thing.
That sounds cool, incidentally! Kinda like a sim game (e.g. The Sims, city simulators, etc.), if I'm interpreting it properly? Again -- not to my tastes -- but it's definitely an interesting concept, and I can understand the appeal.
Honestly... Yeah I agree with you. The most fun part of DMing is coming up with the world and characters. Its like... 50% of the fun for me. Adjudicating rules, keeping track of resources and all that stuff is not fun.
I'm not even anti AI. I've often thought about having some sort of system that listens to the session and then updates an internal wiki of characters and plot evolution, because I hate that sort of housekeeping stuff, and very often I just totally forget about a character I made up on the spot.
But if you're taking the creative parts out, what's even the point?
Yeah that's kinda what I'm trying to understand. It seems like OP (please correct me if I'm putting words in your mouth, btw!) wants to run very specific games, but doesn't figure people in their area would be interested in them.
More broadly, I'd always assumed that people just want a lightly personalized RP adventure, so they can live out their dream of being super cool in a fantasy setting (like Legolas or something). But, like, my favourite characters throughout the ages have been some of my most deranged or pathetic ones, and my favourite moments have often been due to mechanical failures.
So it's beyond me, and I'm still wrapping my head around it. I guess an analogy is that I equally don't understand people who obsessively hunt for every achievement in a video game: it doesn't seem fun to meet all those arbitrary criteria, but people really get into it, so there must be something there I'm missing?
I'll admit I'm struggling to vocalize exactly what it is I'm doing differently here than what I run and play in real life.
Maybe a better way to describe it is that I've been looking for something that is essentially a video game that doesn't exist. I could make the video game, but a. I don't particularly care or want to share it, it'd be made for me by me and b. Unless I had some randomizer or brought in someone with some writing talent, as the creator I'd know all the material, I couldn't possibly be seeing the content for the first time. More likely I'd be so sick of it that'd it'd not be fun any more.
A tool like this lets me write out my game rules, I can seed the setting/world with enough content to start. Then give the agent tools and instructions to generate from there.
Sure it's not perfect. But time/effort invested for value/fun out is high compared to other methods I've tried in the past.
I can COMPLETELY understand if you didn't have something that you wanted to create, this would not seem appealing. If I went to the play screen and saw "generic fantasy adventure" I'd be like "uh no thanks".
Ah! Yeah that's probably it. There's a bunch of stuff I can think of wanting to run (and then not having energy to write it, thus defaulting to modules 😅), but it's always within the context of making something my group would enjoy playing. Thank you for thinking this through; I would've missed that 🙂
For me, the achievements are just something to do if you want to keep playing the same game. I enjoyed playing Ozymandius for a long time, and eventually played every country on every map. Most of the achievements weren’t creative at all, just “win as <country> at <difficulty level>.”
At some point you’ve seen what the game has to offer and it’s time to find something else to do, but maybe you don’t want to yet?
Ah yeah, that's fair. I suppose I wear out of video games a few dozen hours in, so the really really difficult stuff -- eg finish this level without taking damage, do it with no equipment, etc. -- can be fun to watch but not something I'd actually do.
Could totally get that achievements which encourage you to play more of the game (at a reasonable difficulty level) would be fun for many, though.
More power to you or anyone that plays games like this, but for me, I just can't get past the art. Not that it's not obvious the art is AI-generated, but taking a few minutes to look at almost any of the pictures on here and you notice all the usual AI tells: mindless architecture, posters with nonsensical imagery, badges clipping through clothing. I have plenty of friends who draw their own art for TTRPG games we play. There is a joy to looking at the art they create, thinking about the time and effort they put into it, zooming in on all the fun little details. The art on this site gives me none of that (admittedly more of a gripe with AI art in general than with this game in particular).
No, you have a valid point.
I admire it's ability to fill in blanks and achieve broad strokes on the fly.
It's able to generate a new NPC or location based of theme and context with some pretty good results. But the art is so obviously AI and it's impossible to achieve any level of accuracy in detail.
I suspect the answer to this would be to replace the AI art with regular, human created art for characters, places and things you care about and see frequently.
What it does do, is it gives the play window a good general theme, especially for the art that's in thumb nails and hard to see in detail.
I found this while stumbling around looking for an older TTRPG story telling engine and I am extremely impressed.
I normally wouldn't post something like this, but my first impression is very good.
It's also got completely free credits on its Deepseek model for a couple of weeks to try it out. It's capable at most simple tasks.
What makes this stand out from previous tools is a few things:
Give it a go if you don't hate AI!
I'm having a great time making a snowpiercer world.
One of the things I'd be interested to see is how an LLM system manages compartmentalization. The lack of this feature make AI adoption a security and privacy nightmare in industry. And it's a real challenge here because open ended role play requires maintaining multiple frames of reference. There's a world state. There's individual players. Multiple NPCs in scene. There are NPCs out of scene and thier degree of visibility. LLMs manage what's explicitly in the scene and in "frame" to the players.
Its not like there's hard and fast rules to this. I know good GMs who can instinctively weave their NPCs through sprawling stories on the fly. Other people map out exactly how NPCs behave when not in contact with Players. But an important factor for everyone is that there is often an information gap between the players and NPC. Its easy with a friendly character where you can bridge that gap with a simple "we catch them up on the situation". But adversarial relationships will be weird because it's hard for an LLM to keep a secret from itself.
Beyond that, I'm curious what's the implications of so much copyright material that's already on this platform. There's always been leeway for fan games/modules with rules inspired by major properties. But here it feels weird paying a non-rights holders to effectively bulk produce licenced content. WotC are probably particularly interested seeing so many AI tools built entirely on 5e rules and gamebooks. I would really hate for these type of products to kill fan projects and games when companies overcorrect to protect their IP.
Re copy right, it's crossed my mind for sure. There's the issue you've mentioned of the AI generating copy right material from it's model and also users uploading copy right material unknowingly or otherwise. It's a mess.
Re the first point on context and the agent's ability to keep memory. LLM's do kind of suck for this kind of story telling on general, but Craft has opted to let the user choose how to manage the context. When you build the world and system, you choose if files are only searchable by the agent or are always in its context. It also has skills you can trigger based off both events and text input. So you have a reasonably high degree of control over what the agent does to manage it's context and the "flow" of the game.
Some context: TTRPG means “table-top role playing game.” This seems to be about generating documents for the game master to use when running a game?
Looks more like the AI is the game master. This is a game engine layer built on top of Claude/Codex agents that creates an open-ended TTRPG-like experience for a single player, I think. So, no actual tabletop (or other humans) required.
It's both really! It's an all in one platform, it's pretty slick.
I've tried others before and there's always a rubbing point somewhere. Usually they have some overly complicated harness/agent that you can't modify and unless you play what they advertise, you end up with a sub par experience.
On mobile the experience was better than any other attempt at this that I've tried, but it was still a bit too slow and clunky. I also really struggled without having the books open nearby which I guess is a sign of how long it's been since I've played DnD regularly. Still, as a forever dm turned no life no friends no campaigns parent, this is tantalizing. I'll give it another shot