Even though they said they wouldn't, a new acquisition makes it pretty obvious that Wizards is definitely going to be adding AI to their Dungeons & Dragons VTT. And maybe: AI Dungeonmasters?
#dnd       #ttrpg   #osr  #onednd #vtt

I did experiment with GPT-assisted module creation earlier this year. The whole process is documented here: [1], [2], [3].

In brief, you can train ChatGPT to generate a diagram of random room connections (with a considerable effort) and stock these rooms using random tables (empty, treasure, trap, monsters, etc.). The most useful thing GPT did in my little experiment, is creatively expanded on brief room descriptions I gave it, creating some elaborate traps, and processing blocks of similar rooms, quickly rolling for each room's contents. Not automated generation by any stretch, but an assistant tool useful in some instances for sure. The final result is here, converted to a couple of different systems, including Lion & Dragon.

I've also tried using ChatGPT as a DM, and it ran a short impromptu solo module for me quite easily and knew basics 5e rules, which shouldn't be surprising. Can it handle anything more complex, I'm not entirely sure. But a custom purpose-trained model can surely improve the experience.

Quote from: Vladar on August 01, 2023, 06:31:06 AM
I did experiment with GPT-assisted module creation earlier this year. The whole process is documented here: [1], [2], [3].

In brief, you can train ChatGPT to generate a diagram of random room connections (with a considerable effort) and stock these rooms using random tables (empty, treasure, trap, monsters, etc.). The most useful thing GPT did in my little experiment, is creatively expanded on brief room descriptions I gave it, creating some elaborate traps, and processing blocks of similar rooms, quickly rolling for each room's contents. Not automated generation by any stretch, but an assistant tool useful in some instances for sure. The final result is here, converted to a couple of different systems, including Lion & Dragon.

  Isn't that just a faster and more elaborate version of the random generation tables everyone loves so much?

Quote from: Armchair Gamer on August 01, 2023, 08:18:47 AM
  Isn't that just a faster and more elaborate version of the random generation tables everyone loves so much?

You can classify it as such. The main benefit is, that with proper prompt, GPT can introduce unexpected and interesting elements not present in the table you trained it on.

Quote from: Vladar on August 01, 2023, 08:23:04 AM

Quote from: Armchair Gamer on August 01, 2023, 08:18:47 AM
  Isn't that just a faster and more elaborate version of the random generation tables everyone loves so much?

You can classify it as such. The main benefit is, that with proper prompt, GPT can introduce unexpected and interesting elements not present in the table you trained it on.

Oh yay, we can now have GPT generating homebrew that may or may not be balanced.

The goal is to turn D&D into a microtransaction hellscape. I will have no part in this.

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on August 01, 2023, 09:24:54 AM
The goal is to turn D&D into a microtransaction hellscape. I will have no part in this.

Yeah me either.  I want to keep as much technology out of my game as possible.

I run one of my games online so the online game table is a VTT and of course we use discord for chat/video but that is as much as I will allow.   

If I am running a game in person, I want books and physical character sheets.

Well of course they are.

And this is why *now* is the time for us to reclaim our hobby. WotC will be vacating the title and bringing all the D&D casuals/brand-nuthuggers with them into a virtual deadend (you think other gaming companies aren't going to use AI? They're *already doing it* - WotC cannot compete in that space).

Time to flood the zone with good games, and lots of GM outreach, so that when WotC comes crawling back, we'll have gained much of the ground they left. But the D&D brand will never die, but we shouldn't give up this opportunity.

Could you perhaps cite your sources for this?

Where are these articles you mention?


Thanks!

Lou Prosperi

Quote from: RPGPundit on August 01, 2023, 12:27:29 AM
Even though they said they wouldn't, a new acquisition makes it pretty obvious that Wizards is definitely going to be adding AI to their Dungeons & Dragons VTT. And maybe: AI Dungeonmasters?

As there is yet no A.I. and probably won't be for over 100 years, at LEAST; trying to make a computer DM will be a huge fail.

Quote from: LouProsperi on August 01, 2023, 03:50:17 PM
Could you perhaps cite your sources for this?

Where are these articles you mention?


Thanks!

Lou Prosperi

He won't but here is one article (WotC has said that they will not but if you trust them that's on you) by Gizmodo:

https://gizmodo.com/hasbro-xplored-dungeons-dragons-ai-mechanics-1850690515

I'm not particularly worried about the whole AI thing. I am skeptical of any company, game designers or otherwise, who try to force participation in a walled garden.

It seems to me that these corpos are moving towards mobile-based mtx games using their brand name recognition. Replacing the original group-oriented experience with single player mobile crpgs with virtual DMs via algorithms and endless worthless content you must pay for. The end goal is to abandon ttrpgs entirely.

Which I honestly don't mind. The ttrpg marketplace has been strangled by a handful of monopolies for decades and it's high time they left and allowed the indies to finally flourish.

Hopefully, the move to mobile will backfire and bankrupt these companies for good. I don't want to see them come crawling back and then return right back to their previous position of power.

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on August 02, 2023, 12:10:25 PM
It seems to me that these corpos are moving towards mobile-based mtx games using their brand name recognition. Replacing the original group-oriented experience with single player mobile crpgs with virtual DMs via algorithms and endless worthless content you must pay for. The end goal is to abandon ttrpgs entirely.
...

If possible, yes.

Wotzi is all in on D&D as a BRAND.

DnD Shorts sources from the OGL fiasco are being proven correct.

"D&D" as a table-top game will be a niche collectors game with "special edition" rulebooks.

Because even as big as it has gotten, D&D as a TTRPG does not give the kind of rate of return that a modern corp like Hasbro demands of its IP.

Getting customers into the walled garden digital space has the potential to be far more lucrative than the TTRPG version of D&D could ever hoped to be.

They will happily shed chunks of their player base if the rest can be induced to move onto the digital content treadmill.

(They just don't want to shed them right now because they need to expose/flip as much of the current player base as they can to give themselves a big shot in the arm to help them achieve a critical mass network effect on the OneVTT...)


BEHOLD, THE FUTURE:

Quote from: POLYGON LAYS OUT THE FUTURE OF DnDone on August 02, 2023, 12:10:25 PM
https://www.polygon.com/23318302/teburu-digital-board-game-console-preview-gencon-2022
...
The jewel in the crown is a new partnership with Paradox Interactive. Soon Teburu will begin creating original games based on the European publisher's World of Darkness properties. Starting with Vampire: The Masquerade, their hope is that the line will expand to both Werewolf: The Apocalypse and Hunter: The Reckoning. The team at Teburu wants the trilogy of games to be connected in some way, with the events of one game flowing naturally into the next.
...
"It will be a game of city management," founder and CEO Garofalo said, "where you are Anarchs willing to rule Milan over the Camarilla. Then we do a Werewolf title, and a Hunter title, but they will be somehow interlaced with each other in a cross-chronicle [way]."
...
Rather than turn-based tactical adventures, as in The Bad Karmas, these World of Darkness games will be narratively focused. Think a cooperative role-playing campaign in a box, like Gloomhaven, but with a computer performing the role of the Dungeon Master.
...
"Imagine something like Mansions of Madness Second Edition, where you go into a place and you take a card," Garofalo said, name-dropping one of the leading app-assisted board games on the market right now. "Instead of taking a card, we have a whole narrative design — like in a video game — that is based on who you are, what is the moment, what's happening in that moment in the timeline, and so on. The system proposes for you the right narrative event, and it makes you choose between various possible choices. They can be narrative, or investigative, or related to the other characters [in the game with you at that point in time]. So it's not a role-playing game; it's a board game experience — but very narrative."

"...it's not a role-playing game; it's a board game experience — but very narrative."

LOL, this poor bastard is ignorant of the long history of railroad RPG modules, and Adventure Path campaigns.

Wotzi is licking the drool from their lips at the possibilities of this with their D&D VTT...

Teburu was clearly acquired as a proof-of-concept for "AI GM's". Tested and proved in a "Board Game" environment so as not to upset the "RPG" proles...

Maybe it's not ready for prime time right now, but they clearly have a working model... 3-4 years down the line?

I see "Interactive Adventure Modules" for the Wotzi OneVTT, solo and group, being marketed within five years.

The problem with any CRPG system -- and I include AI-driven campaigns in this -- is that CRPGs simply cannot account for the insane troll logic a group of players may deploy.

And at that point, the system will break.