Hello to all,
I have been mastering games for over 30 years. For me, immersion is fundamental. That's why, over the years, I've found several ways to reinforce my narrative: I've created atmospheric playlists, not just of music, but of sounds. I found visuals, etc.
But preparing a session takes a lot of time.
Being a computer engineer with a specialization in AI, I want to start a project where I can automate all this. But before I start coding like crazy (I also have a family to take care of ), I would like to get some advice from experienced game makers :
If you had a tool that made your daily life as a game master easier, what features would you need?
I'm talking about realistic features, not ones where you replace the game master with an AI
Thanks a lot for your help...
I long ago decided that any useful tool for me would be written by me. I've been GM for 40 years now, and also a professional software developer. The last thing I want in my tool is things to support immersion, playlists of any kind, visuals, etc. ;D In fact, all the really useful tools (except a couple of mapping tools) were ones that I did write for myself.
If you want to write a tool, write one that works for you, making it as flexible as you can while still being a tool you want to use. That is, don't try to be all things to all people, because all that will do is make customization of the tool hard and/or add a lot of extra clicks for simple things.
There may be useful suggestions from others that share your goals. Figure out the core of what you want for yourself, then ask who would use that, and what related features they would want.
Hi Steven,
Thank you for your feedback.
You are very lucky to be able to create your own tools and to have the experience in game mastering. This is really rare and precious.
Unfortunately, not everyone is so lucky and I think that with today's technology there is a possibility to make the task of the game master easier.
You're right, you shouldn't try to please everyone. Then, you risk pleasing no one. ;D
For my part, I had these needs in terms of immersion and that's why I ask for the community's opinion.
I would like to know if I am an isolated case or if this is a larger scale problem.
Since I game in person and I limit how much electronics can be at the table (I use them to help DMing a little) there really isnt a tool that I need.
Use print books (never .pdfs) and character sheets. So I am not your target audience.
My tables are Luddite temples, but how about a digital assistant that has read all your books and can answer obscure questions that would otherwise interrupt the flow of the game.
"Hey Siri*, what gods do the Untouchable Dwarves of the Wretched Pits worship?"
*Name it Groggy or something.
You don't have to mention that you know AI. It has nothing to do with it. People can learn Excel and "Automate" lots of stuff. I don't know why now everything is "AI" which is not most of the time.
For me personally I create my own tools and works for what I create them.
I'm not sure what are you asking. When you have the "necessity" to automate a repetitive task, you know what is the task, and you just develop the tool.
Speaking specifically to RPGs, well, basically you can develop your own tool to create the characters, and keep track of thing. At some point I move my development forward and made a game prototype that works more like a tool than a game.
Yet I prefer to have a good method and organization to use pen, paper, and dice.
A robotic hand to massage my temple/facepalm when a player stretches my patience. Maybe an automated loud SIGH when my brow furrows.
Multi-genre rapid design software tied to a quick-print 3d printer to produce custom minis without having to be an expert in 3d modeling.
Beyond that, I've got nothing.
Just to give an example, if I were to write my own tool for what I do now, it would all be about GM prep and organization, nothing that I would use at the table.
I've evaluated various tools that are supposed to do that. Most of them are glorified Wikis, which doesn't really map the way I think about things. Relationship maps aren't much better, or at least the implementations I've seen. I think what I'd probably end up writing would be a more dynamic relationship map expressed as a Wiki, without so many levels of drill-down that you couldn't see anything useful on it.
As an example that doesn't work, consider the Worldographer program. I use it for maps, and it is great for that. It's also got a feature where you can add notes to a map item, presumably to pull them up during play. I never use it. It's clunky to enter the text, annoying to see it, and easy to screw it up. I'm sure the guy that write that tool uses it all the time, but I give the map items a code and then put my notes in a Word doc where I can print them and reference them along with the printed map--well away from the software during play.
Quote from: Cathal on April 27, 2023, 11:24:09 AM
You don't have to mention that you know AI. It has nothing to do with it. People can learn Excel and "Automate" lots of stuff. I don't know why now everything is "AI" which is not most of the time.
For me personally I create my own tools and works for what I create them.
I'm not sure what are you asking. When you have the "necessity" to automate a repetitive task, you know what is the task, and you just develop the tool.
Speaking specifically to RPGs, well, basically you can develop your own tool to create the characters, and keep track of thing. At some point I move my development forward and made a game prototype that works more like a tool than a game.
Yet I prefer to have a good method and organization to use pen, paper, and dice.
Hello Cathal,
Thank you for your feedback.
I'm sorry if my words offended you. Being new to the community, I thought it was more polite to introduce myself and explain my background to set the context. I had no intention of being haughty.
I agree with you that this AI craze can be annoying. The world seems to have discovered AI with ChatGPT :)
As for me, it's simply my academic background and I wanted to use my (admittedly somewhat rusty) skills to get back into the swing of things with a project in a field I've been passionate about for over 30 years.
Thanks again for your valuable advice.
Quote from: Grognard GM on April 27, 2023, 12:38:22 PM
A robotic hand to massage my temple/facepalm when a player stretches my patience. Maybe an automated loud SIGH when my brow furrows.
I totally second this.
Quote from: Steven Mitchell on April 27, 2023, 01:58:23 PM
Just to give an example, if I were to write my own tool for what I do now, it would all be about GM prep and organization, nothing that I would use at the table.
I've evaluated various tools that are supposed to do that. Most of them are glorified Wikis, which doesn't really map the way I think about things. Relationship maps aren't much better, or at least the implementations I've seen. I think what I'd probably end up writing would be a more dynamic relationship map expressed as a Wiki, without so many levels of drill-down that you couldn't see anything useful on it.
As an example that doesn't work, consider the Worldographer program. I use it for maps, and it is great for that. It's also got a feature where you can add notes to a map item, presumably to pull them up during play. I never use it. It's clunky to enter the text, annoying to see it, and easy to screw it up. I'm sure the guy that write that tool uses it all the time, but I give the map items a code and then put my notes in a Word doc where I can print them and reference them along with the printed map--well away from the software during play.
For a long time I designed my cards myself with Photoshop. But I must admit that it was soooo time consuming. Then I switched to Wonderdraft years ago. Now I use Inkarnate, which is not perfect, but it does the trick when it comes to cards. You can create world maps as well as smaller maps that can be used for battles for example.
Quote from: Grognard GM on April 27, 2023, 12:38:22 PM
A robotic hand to massage my temple/facepalm when a player stretches my patience. Maybe an automated loud SIGH when my brow furrows.
;D ;D ;D
Quote from: Taramin on April 27, 2023, 02:17:30 PM
Hello Cathal,
Thank you for your feedback.
I'm sorry if my words offended you. Being new to the community, I thought it was more polite to introduce myself and explain my background to set the context. I had no intention of being haughty.
I agree with you that this AI craze can be annoying. The world seems to have discovered AI with ChatGPT :)
As for me, it's simply my academic background and I wanted to use my (admittedly somewhat rusty) skills to get back into the swing of things with a project in a field I've been passionate about for over 30 years.
Thanks again for your valuable advice.
Not at all, I'm not offended, and I'm sorry if my reply have bad "tone", English is my second language :D. haha yes man is crazy annoying, that's correct when people think in AI is chatgpt.
From my point of view, because is not a board game, neither a computer game. I try to stick with "theater of the mind" with visual aids, I use PDFs with my own notes and believe or not my tool is Emacs, where I have my own notes, mind maps, a searchable text of the rules, tables, etc.
Quote from: Taramin on April 27, 2023, 07:53:50 AM
Hello to all,
I have been mastering games for over 30 years. For me, immersion is fundamental. That's why, over the years, I've found several ways to reinforce my narrative: I've created atmospheric playlists, not just of music, but of sounds. I found visuals, etc.
But preparing a session takes a lot of time.
Being a computer engineer with a specialization in AI, I want to start a project where I can automate all this. But before I start coding like crazy (I also have a family to take care of ), I would like to get some advice from experienced game makers :
If you had a tool that made your daily life as a game master easier, what features would you need?
I'm talking about realistic features, not ones where you replace the game master with an AI
Thanks a lot for your help...
If you can create a program that actually
understands the gaming medium in which I am working instead of just identifying and following a pattern, I'd be interested.
Otherwise, you are just another one of the ChatGPT advocates trying to push incomplete software on social media like an unwanted Jehovah's Witness knocking on my front door.
Quote from: jeff37923 on April 27, 2023, 03:03:24 PMOtherwise, you are just another one of the ChatGPT advocates trying to push incomplete software on social media like an unwanted Jehovah's Witness knocking on my front door.
Man, those guys are SO annoying!
...
Would you have a moment to talk about our Lord and Savior, Neo?
I'll throw out an idea for something I would find useful, an automated, on the fly crossreference and lookup tool. We all know how great internal links on most PDFs aren't, so looking up rules, tables, etc at the table is a time consuming pain in the butt. It's better with paper products, but still can take more time than I want.
So here's what it would do. If for example you have 5E on pdf, you tell the tool to analyze the PH, DMG, MM, and the adventure you're using. Then at the table you have a page of the adventure on your device. There's a room with a basilisk, a locked chest with several magic items, some rough terrain, and so on. When you tap the room description, links and summaries pop up for whatever is relevant to the room, e.g. the basilisk description from the MM, locks skill, movement rules, petrification saves, magic item descriptions, whatever. Add functions to drill down for additional information and to take you to the actual reference, and I think you've got something that would save me time at the table.
AI based "speech to text to prompt" mapmaker would be sweet and something I would love to see in RPGs. I am a low tech guy myself.. but here is a game I sit at as a player that used TableTop Simulator and a TV Screen for the DM to load up stuff... like if we are fighting a cool monster he might load it up on the screen.. sometimes he has maps and stuff setup that way.
Anyway, he has to spend time building these TTS scenes for our group... but with AI image generation... what if he as a DM could just describe the room, as he describes it to us, but holding down a record buttons. This is converted into text, and then that is used as a prompt to build an image.
Quote from: Like you say somethingThe dimly-lit corridor leads to a small room with two exits. In the center of the room is a skeleton in rusted armor, a rusty sword nearby. The room is lit by torches, with an eerie green glow emanating from one of the exits.
or w/e and the image app thing like midjourney or something builds that "room" onto the map.
I saw this app opn steam recently...
Dungeon Alchemisthttps://store.steampowered.com/app/1588530/Dungeon_Alchemist/
and when I saw your thread I thought, if AI could build resources for players on the fly from GM descriptions... that would be pretty awesome.
Quote from: Or something like thisThe Chicago Tribune Newspaper's front page contained an article about the gangland murder of Rocky "SawTooth". The notorious gangster and bootlegger, who was gunned down outside The Cliché Club. Several bystanders were injured, including Dr Sbaitso, the head of the antiquities department at the Chicago Museum, who was shot multipule times by Tommy Gun fire.
and have the AI write an actual article, make the paper front page... GM can just print it and hand it to the players as a story aid. The GM can even use the made up article as a story prompt to expand some of the game points.... or w/e.. just a super fast example.
Anyway.. my point is that imo, RPGs work best with a pencil and paper and some dice... but I do like player hand outs and sometimes maps are needed as well, particularly if you play combat heavy games like DnD. If an AI could create this kind of "3rd party content" I think that could be something people might want.
Quote from: Taramin on April 27, 2023, 07:53:50 AM
Hello to all,
I have been mastering games for over 30 years. For me, immersion is fundamental. That's why, over the years, I've found several ways to reinforce my narrative: I've created atmospheric playlists, not just of music, but of sounds. I found visuals, etc.
But preparing a session takes a lot of time.
Being a computer engineer with a specialization in AI, I want to start a project where I can automate all this. But before I start coding like crazy (I also have a family to take care of ), I would like to get some advice from experienced game makers :
If you had a tool that made your daily life as a game master easier, what features would you need?
I'm talking about realistic features, not ones where you replace the game master with an AI
Thanks a lot for your help...
A faster horse.
Quote from: Cathal on April 27, 2023, 11:24:09 AM
You don't have to mention that you know AI. It has nothing to do with it. People can learn Excel and "Automate" lots of stuff. I don't know why now everything is "AI" which is not most of the time.
Artificial Intelligence is so fake.
Anyway, I think that anyone can teach himself to first create a "3d6" dice roller in Excel. From there, expand to make a character creator (3d6 down the line, at least). Fiddling with the program will unlock new levels of knowledge and skill, about how to do more complicated tasks.
Quote from: Cathal on April 27, 2023, 11:24:09 AM
You don't have to mention that you know AI. It has nothing to do with it. People can learn Excel and "Automate" lots of stuff. I don't know why now everything is "AI" which is not most of the time.
Actually, "using AI" is relevant It's not actually intelligence and it's not magic; it's just a set of programming techniques. But those programming techniques allow you to do thing that you can't without them. If he had just asked about a DMing tool I probably would have made a very different suggestion. The one I made requires AI to work well.
Personally, I'd like a tabletop that can do some common sense things, like "hold a button down to show melee ranges and line of sight", something that makes targeting spells and effects easy, and of course, something that allows for multiple vehicle combat to make sense. What I'm describing are features that are hard to find in a VTT, and every VTT requires a lot of dorkwork.
But I think OP is more looking for general ideas that would be achievable- as, after all, the latest machine learning chatbots really do make possible things that were harder before. I don't have a great answer for that- for the most part, a lot of OSR products provide a creative product, along with instructions for how to break it apart for use in small bits- or even just come with tables to roll on and be creative with. These are all great things for a chatbot type application to work with (and in many cases, public facing ones can do it to some extent), but the problems start when you need continuity. Even the best ideas in fiction strain and sometimes even break under the weight of becoming fully fleshed out, and there's nothing tracking that. Calendar and timing programs are helpful, but their use is questioned, etc.
Then there's the other side- the argument that immersion risks the map becoming the territory. A description of a room encourages players to seek out individual features, describe things. A map of a room invokes interaction with the map, and while the table can still describe all the stuff as before... do they? Does the background music set people in a mood of lively adventure? Of course! But does it really describe the world you're making? Possibly not. Put a picture or a model of a character in front of everyone, and suddenly no one uses their imagination to picture that person any more. You no longer have "red eyes, smoky hair, and blue skin", you are now a cartoon someone drew (or one that some thing drew). It's difficult to defend this raw vital style without just sounding like a curmudgeon, techno-hater, or just a contrarian, but every new thing I add or experience makes me really give thought to this position as well.
But even with all that, tools to help the game run are still going to be helpful and great.
Anyway, sorry I don't have many ideas.
I want a tool that makes players show up
Quote from: Banjo Destructo on May 01, 2023, 12:28:19 PM
I want a tool that makes players show up
Yes! If someone makes a tool that does this it will make MILLIONS!
Quote from: Mishihari on April 27, 2023, 07:17:30 PM
I'll throw out an idea for something I would find useful, an automated, on the fly crossreference and lookup tool. We all know how great internal links on most PDFs aren't, so looking up rules, tables, etc at the table is a time consuming pain in the butt. It's better with paper products, but still can take more time than I want.
So here's what it would do. If for example you have 5E on pdf, you tell the tool to analyze the PH, DMG, MM, and the adventure you're using. Then at the table you have a page of the adventure on your device. There's a room with a basilisk, a locked chest with several magic items, some rough terrain, and so on. When you tap the room description, links and summaries pop up for whatever is relevant to the room, e.g. the basilisk description from the MM, locks skill, movement rules, petrification saves, magic item descriptions, whatever. Add functions to drill down for additional information and to take you to the actual reference, and I think you've got something that would save me time at the table.
This would be great when I was playing 5e.
Only caveat is that you can just google "5e SRD basilisk" etc. and get most of that.
OTOH a dungeon with pop up menus for when you open a closet or study a statue, for example, would be amazing. Bonus points for adding up the exploration turns as you go, tracking torches, automatically rolling for random encounters, etc.
Come to think of it, having some kind of "alarm clock" that included this would be an awesome tool.