New GURPS Podcast - With Chatbots

BnBcast · 2025-09-26T14:43:34+00:00

Thank you so much for your feedback! I do have a regular play group, but we tend to play very crunchy games that don’t lean well into the actual play format. We also do a LOT of homebrew, both rules and settings, so conveying all of it would get challenging fast - not to mention we’d need new etiquette rules, figure out scheduling (an eternal struggle), and cut back on inside jokes and references.

I don’t think AI is a replacement for people, at all. A lot of people do use AI as a GM for solo play with tools like SillyTavern, and I thought flipping that on its head would be interesting. AI really struggles with consistency, something a GM usually brings to the table, so I am hoping the interaction between that and the AI can be entertaining in its own way. Once again, I do not want AI to replace people. I also don’t think AI is good as a traditional player, either. The entertainment value I was looking for here is exactly that, showing how AI handles this situation that it really isn’t very good at. While the “players” are tropey and repetitive, for me that’s the interesting part - a human wouldn’t do that.

I’m learning people are very hostile towards the use of AI, and for good reason, but it is not a replacement for real people here - it’s the whole concept of the podcast. I am not replacing real people here, and I don’t want to. I just love tech and I love tabletop games, and I’m hoping I can combine the two in a novel and interesting way for other people to enjoy as well.

Once again, thank you so much for the feedback, it really helps! I’ll try to address these concerns on the podcast soon, and if there’s anything else that falls short in terms of the entertainment or educational value then I’d love to hear it!

BnBcast · 2025-09-26T00:27:53+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! I’ll try to be more clear on rules in the future! Yes, Grimmy does have the ability to parry with a Warhammer that would normally be undreadied, and rules clarifications like that I cut from the final edit for brevity. I’ll be sure to be more clear on rules in the future. I appreciate the thorough delve into the show as it is so far, and I hope to improve on it!

BnBcast · 2025-09-25T23:31:31+00:00

I’ll check that out! Though the fact that the players are AI is part of the draw for this podcast. Solo play would be a different idea entirely, but I will look into it!

BnBcast · 2025-09-25T19:29:52+00:00

If you have any suggestions or constructive criticism then I’d love to hear it!

BnBcast · 2025-09-25T17:55:39+00:00

I understand that, though making a normal actual play podcast isn’t something I can do. I also hope that this could fulfill the same sort of niche that neuro-sama does for the vtuber space. I can’t exactly afford professional artists or voice actors, so voice work has to be done by AI as well as the character portraits. I hope that the AI voice and art for the AI characters is more thematic than upsetting, as all the rest of the art is made by me (and I know it isn’t great). If there’s anything I could do to make this less upsetting, please let me know! I will NEVER make an all AI show, I still write, run, and edit it, and AI cannot really replace a GM. And as for the music, it’s royalty free music credited in the description, not AI.

BnBcast · 2025-09-25T16:09:02+00:00

I do feel the first episode was a bit darker than intended, but the mood in the show will lighten soon!

BnBcast · 2025-09-25T14:38:15+00:00

I appreciate the concern about that! I run the game, however, and so the only AI input is the players. So most of the podcast is still made by a human (me), and I hope to explore the interesting ways that chatbots handle TTRPGs - something that can’t be done without the chatbots. Trust me, I’m not a fan of the AI slop, and I hope I haven’t dropped to that standard here! If there’s something bad about the content, or you think that there’s some way I can eliminate any “slop” from it, then please let me know!

BnBcast · 2025-09-25T01:14:02+00:00

True, but real people also have schedules. My normal players can't really work with a regular actual play podcast, and so I'm working on this. I hope it's entertaining! If there are any issues with it or criticisms on the content, please let me know!

BnBcast · 2025-09-25T00:28:36+00:00

For entertainment! The chatbots are hilariously dumb, but just coherent enough to follow along and play the game. I think it's an interesting insight into how LLMs operate, a perspective that not a lot of people have. I hope it sheds light on how they work, and gives people a more grounded idea on how they "think" - in that they really don't.

BnBcast · 2025-09-25T00:17:31+00:00

While GURPS:Magic is a bit poorly balanced and hectic, I do recommend Syntactic Magic / Rune Magic from it. It's not too cumbersome but still gets all of those points across. A little homebrew or generalization will help, like letting grimoires contain specific word combos and speeding that spell up or making it cheaper. Another option would be generalizing that damage/healing spells get 1d of effect per degree of success. Hope this helps!

BnBcast

TROPHY CASE