Well, as you might or might not know I play AD&D2e every Saturday on Roll20, now, as you all KNOW, sometimes life gets in the way and a game session is cancelled for whatever IRL reason.

So I was wondering if anybody here has tried using a chatbot as the GM to play oneshots or maybe even a campaign?

If so, what was your experience? What was the intial prompt you used to get the bot to asume the role of GM? Was it worth it? Did it allow for immersion?

Yes. There's a thread on here talking about this very subject and how it was both good and bad. 

good: Lot's of new ideas  and things you might have thought of. Very organized, easy to use, deep in topics to cover.
Bad: The AI is an Idiot Savant at times and you get out what you put into the prompts.

Quote from: THE_Leopold on June 28, 2023, 03:45:01 PM
Yes. There's a thread on here talking about this very subject and how it was both good and bad. 

good: Lot's of new ideas  and things you might have thought of. Very organized, easy to use, deep in topics to cover.
Bad: The AI is an Idiot Savant at times and you get out what you put into the prompts.

I was on that thread, I don't remember anyone discussing using the bot to run a game.

ChatGPT cannot serve as a dedicated Gamemaster.

Found an article from Belloflostsouls.net that lays it out: https://www.belloflostsouls.net/2023/05/we-played-dd-with-a-chat-gpt-dungeon-master-can-ai-really-run-your-campaign.html

Yeah, it's really all about setting expectations.  You can run into the same issues with solo play where you ask a dice based oracle off the wall questions.  But, if you have some experience with solo play and you guide and remind the chat bot so it stays on focus, you can get very good results (I lost a whole afternoon to one a while back when I was testing the tech.) 

So I would say that AI is not a silver bullet for the player who expects the GM to do all the organization and heavy lifting.  It can be a gold mine for the solo player that is used to the nuances of oracles and solo game play.

[Note to self, I need to goof around with Alpaca Electron for local game play without needing an online connection.]

Why would you want to use chatGPT as a GM? Is there some problem with human GMs? Why not have a chatGPT player?

In my experience with non-GM stuff, chatGPT breaks down quite quickly. It loses its sense of whatever reality you've asked it to create. It does not care about consistency. It would be like having a very creative 8 year old as a GM.

Quote from: rytrasmi on June 29, 2023, 11:05:15 AM
Why would you want to use chatGPT as a GM?

Work schedule, lack of a gaming group, social anxiety, you want to play a game that your regular group is not interested in... there are plenty of reasons.

Quote from: zircher on June 29, 2023, 11:15:26 AM

Quote from: rytrasmi on June 29, 2023, 11:05:15 AM
Why would you want to use chatGPT as a GM?

Work schedule, lack of a gaming group, social anxiety, you want to play a game that your regular group is not interested in... there are plenty of reasons.

Yeah, well tough. Find time, make the effort to meet people. This hobby isn't for the socially anxious.

It's strange that people think the person with the highest demand on their time, effort, and creativity, aka the GM, can be easily replaced by an AI. Show me an AI that can be a player, and I might agree than an AI GM is a possibility.

Even if an AI player/GM is possible, the result would no longer be a TTRPG.

Quote from: rytrasmi on June 29, 2023, 11:05:15 AM
Why would you want to use chatGPT as a GM? Is there some problem with human GMs? Why not have a chatGPT player?

In my experience with non-GM stuff, chatGPT breaks down quite quickly. It loses its sense of whatever reality you've asked it to create. It does not care about consistency. It would be like having a very creative 8 year old as a GM.

Oh, I don't know, for the same reasons anyone would want Solo Play? + To test if it's possible?

Quote from: rytrasmi on June 29, 2023, 11:39:12 AM

Quote from: zircher on June 29, 2023, 11:15:26 AM

Quote from: rytrasmi on June 29, 2023, 11:05:15 AM
Why would you want to use chatGPT as a GM?

Work schedule, lack of a gaming group, social anxiety, you want to play a game that your regular group is not interested in... there are plenty of reasons.

Yeah, well tough. Find time, make the effort to meet people. This hobby isn't for the socially anxious.

It's strange that people think the person with the highest demand on their time, effort, and creativity, aka the GM, can be easily replaced by an AI. Show me an AI that can be a player, and I might agree than an AI GM is a possibility.

Even if an AI player/GM is possible, the result would no longer be a TTRPG.

Yeah, fuck THOSE guys!

Did you bother to read the OP? It's Game Day, something happens and the session is cancelled... Can you have some fun using ChatGPT?

So you're asserting that Solo Play isn't TTRPGs?

Quote from: GeekyBugle on June 29, 2023, 12:00:29 PM

Quote from: rytrasmi on June 29, 2023, 11:39:12 AM

Quote from: zircher on June 29, 2023, 11:15:26 AM

Quote from: rytrasmi on June 29, 2023, 11:05:15 AM
Why would you want to use chatGPT as a GM?

Work schedule, lack of a gaming group, social anxiety, you want to play a game that your regular group is not interested in... there are plenty of reasons.

Yeah, well tough. Find time, make the effort to meet people. This hobby isn't for the socially anxious.

It's strange that people think the person with the highest demand on their time, effort, and creativity, aka the GM, can be easily replaced by an AI. Show me an AI that can be a player, and I might agree than an AI GM is a possibility.

Even if an AI player/GM is possible, the result would no longer be a TTRPG.

Yeah, fuck THOSE guys!

Did you bother to read the OP? It's Game Day, something happens and the session is cancelled... Can you have some fun using ChatGPT?

So you're asserting that Solo Play isn't TTRPGs?

Hey, if someone has social anxiety so bad that they can't play with humans, then yeah, they should consider another hobby. But that's a red herring anyway because nobody is talking about replacing all humans but one with AI.

If game day gets canceled, play a one shot with the people who didn't cancel. There are many low prep systems that have tables for generating short adventures. There are also tons of resources for quick one shots, like Trilemma Adventures, etc.

Solo play is an edge case. I would say "no" it's not a TTRPG. Others would say "yes." It's not worth arguing about because it's niche. AI on the other hand is worth arguing about because it's overhyped and everywhere and most people vastly over estimate its capabilities.

OP: Has anyone tried a chatbot to run a one off session if a game gets cancelled? What are your experiences?

rytrasmi: OMG, how dare you suggest that AI could possibly replace a GM for even one session? Fuck people that have social anxiety or anyone who would even consider playing something without a group once! Also semantics (is a GM-less game even a TTRPG?) and red herrings I introduced myself but want to argue with people anyhow! 

Quote from: GeekyBugle on June 29, 2023, 12:00:29 PM

Quote from: rytrasmi on June 29, 2023, 11:39:12 AM

Quote from: zircher on June 29, 2023, 11:15:26 AM

Quote from: rytrasmi on June 29, 2023, 11:05:15 AM
Why would you want to use chatGPT as a GM?

Work schedule, lack of a gaming group, social anxiety, you want to play a game that your regular group is not interested in... there are plenty of reasons.

Yeah, well tough. Find time, make the effort to meet people. This hobby isn't for the socially anxious.

It's strange that people think the person with the highest demand on their time, effort, and creativity, aka the GM, can be easily replaced by an AI. Show me an AI that can be a player, and I might agree than an AI GM is a possibility.

Even if an AI player/GM is possible, the result would no longer be a TTRPG.

Yeah, fuck THOSE guys!

Did you bother to read the OP? It's Game Day, something happens and the session is cancelled... Can you have some fun using ChatGPT?

So you're asserting that Solo Play isn't TTRPGs?

It can certainly pass the time ...

Quote from: VisionStorm on June 29, 2023, 12:32:32 PM
OP: Has anyone tried a chatbot to run a one off session if a game gets cancelled? What are your experiences?

rytrasmi: OMG, how dare you suggest that AI could possibly replace a GM for even one session? Fuck people that have social anxiety or anyone who would even consider playing something without a group once! Also semantics (is a GM-less game even a TTRPG?) and red herrings I introduced myself but want to argue with people anyhow! 

Yeah yeah. So you understand my opinion. What's your opinion?

I've played that dungeon AI thing that was making the rounds a few years ago. I also asked chatGPT to DM for me. It breaks down quite quickly. chatGPT sent me into a generic cavern, didn't given me basic information such as doors or passages, and simply asked how I wanted to explore the place. It needed continuous prompting to generate the basic info that a human GM will offer. It also agreed with whatever I said. It put a generic dwarf in my party. I asked why the dwarf had no arms, which I had just made up, and it ran with that idea and gave a pretty good explanation. I told it I head down the east passageway in the cavern, which it never told me about, and it agreed that yes there is an eastward passage and told me all about it. It never challenged anything I said and just kept building off whatever I told it. Suddenly I have a bow because I said so. So, no it can't GM a TTRPG. It can run a pretty good story game, however.

Edit: Try it yourself! I just gave it another shot because of this thread. It is free after all. Invest the time only to have it suddenly say "I'm sorry I can't generate that story for you." It puts words in your character's mouth, tells you how your character feels, takes actions for your character, and generally disregards how these games are supposed to be played.

Quote from: rytrasmi on June 29, 2023, 12:44:59 PM
've played that dungeon AI thing that was making the rounds a few years ago. I also asked chatGPT to DM for me. It breaks down quite quickly. chatGPT sent me into a generic cavern, didn't given me basic information such as doors or passages, and simply asked how I wanted to explore the place. It needed continuous prompting to generate the basic info that a human GM will offer. It also agreed with whatever I said. It put a generic dwarf in my party. I asked why the dwarf had no arms, which I had just made up, and it ran with that idea and gave a pretty good explanation. I told it I head down the east passageway in the cavern, which it never told me about, and it agreed that yes there is an eastward passage and told me all about it. It never challenged anything I said and just kept building off whatever I told it. Suddenly I have a bow because I said so. So, no it can't GM a TTRPG. It can run a pretty good story game, however.

Was it that hard to answer this? NOBODY would have taken issue with your answer.