Roughly eight years ago, I wrote about the opposite of this. While I still find that idea compelling, let’s look at this from the other side. Back then the message was not to set everything in stone, but if you have an interesting character concept, just research it. There is someone in history who’s life applies to what you are doing.
I try not to watch YouTube Shorts, because it’s easy to just swipe to the next one and thus spend much more time then you were planning to. However, I had a few minutes of waiting, so I did just that. (It’s fine to watch them if you know your scrolling is going to be interrupted.)
First, it’s fine not to use them. I mean, I’ve done pretty well for decades without one, so how much is it going to help if I start using them now? Not much. Images would be helpful, because I can’t really draw, but I’ve always been very disappointed with the results from image generators. Video generators are worse.
The prompts used to make this video were:
So, below I’m going to be talking about where they can actually be helpful.
This had been saved in my drafts for five years with just the title. However, I still do remember the original motivator for this piece.
Can AIs be helpful for GMs? Yes, but not for very many things.
I’ve been playing the old Arkham PC games recently. I like those games, but they have made Batman less interesting as a character to me. He is just too morose. Playing with Catwoman in Arkham City is much more fun. But this is about the bad guys.
There’s a MtG-related Discord server, which happens to also have a channel for tabletop RPGs. It isn’t very active, but someone noted that Blades in the Dark was available in a bundle of some sort, so that sparked a little bit of discussion, as I claimed that because of how the game approaches the role of players, it’s actually easier to run than D&D, because there is not a lot of planning needed. Someone disagreed, so, as Ryan Hollinger would say, let’s talk about it. (Have I already used this somewhere? Not sure.)
Ever notice how players don’t trust anyone and just kill everyone over anything and with any excuse? Well, it might be your fault.
Now, I would like to note that this might not be only you. If players have learned from through previous games and GMs that violence is often the answer, perhaps the only answer (I’ve played under GMs, who have actually forced combat encounters, when players were actively trying to find other solutions), these players will have learned certain modes of operation, and unlearning them might be difficult. Continue reading
For many people it may come as a surprise that Star Wars is listed as “action, adventure, fantasy” on IMDb. That’s actually correct. It just doesn’t have the characteristics of sci-fi.
There’s a Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds album by that name, but that was named after a genre of music. That album is largely inspired by this kind of music, in fact.
Basically, we are talking about traditional ballads dealing with crime, but it goes deeper than that.