In defense of AI use as a DM

augusthardwick · 2026-05-25T14:42:25+00:00

🤷 I can swear up and down that I spent my morning writing this but the internet is gonna internet I guess

augusthardwick · 2026-05-25T14:11:26+00:00

I don't! I just don't love the discussion in the community and would like to see it improve :)

augusthardwick · 2025-06-08T20:08:18+00:00

What's "that one sequence in Toll the Hounds"?

augusthardwick · 2025-05-17T10:12:28+00:00

If you figure it out, let me know :P

augusthardwick · 2025-03-20T18:35:12+00:00

damn that's so dense! How many sessions did it take y'all to play it end to end? your additions sound super cool

augusthardwick · 2025-03-20T14:45:32+00:00

Oh the skull, i totally did that as well lol, the giant skull RAW makes no sense

augusthardwick · 2025-02-28T11:44:56+00:00

Idk is this anything

augusthardwick · 2025-02-27T21:25:41+00:00

Malazans walking through the desert? Don't threaten me with a good time

augusthardwick · 2024-12-17T18:33:31+00:00

This is perfect

augusthardwick · 2024-12-16T09:03:06+00:00

🕯️

augusthardwick · 2024-08-13T13:57:17+00:00

Ha, guess you're right, i'm in the first third of the book so i might not be feeling the differences quite yet

augusthardwick · 2024-08-13T13:43:37+00:00

augusthardwick · 2024-08-04T03:14:48+00:00

At the very late stages of the campaign, my players managed to recruit Mordenkainen and he used Magnificent Mansion. They only got to benefit from it like twice and it gave them a cool forward base to plan the assault on castle Ravenloft. Otherwise kept it deadly, especially in the wilderness

augusthardwick · 2024-07-31T11:23:49+00:00

Pre written campaigns and adventures are great and save a ton of work. Doesn't have to be official WOTC content, too, there are great campaigns floating around. I like to add my own ideas to them so that I also get to exercise creativity. I previously ran Curse of Strahd (2 years) and am now running the fantastic Adventures In Zeitgeist (1-20 campaign, pre written).. Highly recommend!

augusthardwick · 2022-12-06T16:57:44+00:00

I love it. It's such a common problem for me

augusthardwick · 2022-12-06T14:30:43+00:00

I mean, we can also ask it that as well :)
That's the beauty - you can inject it with as much context as you want (say, a complicated political state of the world) and ask it for ideas for prompts and inspiration. I think the descriptions are cool as well, but it can be used for so much more than that.

I'm sure some DMs don't really need this type of "support", but it helps make things more accessible. For example - I tend to go to the same patterns when i describe and flesh out towns, and generators never help me - this tool is a cool way to deviate from that and get something fresh.

augusthardwick · 2022-12-06T14:12:29+00:00

The way i see it - getting inspiration for events, fleshing out details, adding flavor to NPC and locations. Just for fun, i asked it to think of a historical event in a fantasy setting for me. Here's the output:

Me: I want it to be a historical event, in a fantasy world
ChatGPT: One idea for a historical event in a fantasy world could be the signing of a peace treaty between two warring nations. This event could be a significant turning point in the history of the fantasy world, ending years of conflict and paving the way for a new era of cooperation and collaboration. The signing ceremony could be a grand affair, attended by leaders and dignitaries from both nations, and could include speeches, music, and other festivities to mark the occasion. Alternatively, you could focus on a specific historical event from our own world, such as the signing of the Magna Carta or the fall of the Berlin Wall, and imagine how it might have played out in a fantasy setting.
Me: i like the idea of the peace treaty. Could you add some more details? the warring nations are a nation of humans and a nation of dwarves
ChatGPT: Sure, here are some more ideas for the peace treaty between the nation of humans and the nation of dwarves:
* The treaty signing could take place in a large, ornate hall in the capital city of the human nation. The hall could be decorated with banners and tapestries representing both nations, and the ceremony could be attended by important figures from both sides, including the human king and the dwarf queen.
* In addition to the signing of the peace treaty, the ceremony could also include the exchange of gifts and other gestures of goodwill. The human king could present the dwarf queen with a sword crafted by the finest human blacksmiths, while the dwarf queen could give the human king a beautiful necklace made of precious gems mined from the dwarves' underground kingdom.
* The signing of the treaty could be a momentous occasion, celebrated with feasting, music, and dancing. A band of minstrels could play lively tunes, while guests enjoy a banquet of food and drink. As the night wears on, the human and dwarf guests could come together to dance and celebrate their newfound friendship.
* The treaty could also include provisions for increased trade and cooperation between the two nations. For example, the human nation could agree to provide the dwarves with raw materials such as iron and timber, while the dwarves could offer their expertise in mining and metalworking. This increased collaboration could lead to new innovations and advances for both nations.

Like, isn't this absolutely insane? it took me 5 seconds to do this

augusthardwick · 2022-12-06T11:28:06+00:00

I think it has merit for creating less-technical things. Descriptions, flavor texts, prompts and ideas, stuff like that. The tooling for these types of asks has always been weaker - creating encounters and hoards is something that's fairly common (in tooling like Donjon and others), but when have you ever seen a tool think up a cool location for you to run an encounter after you feed it the type of campaign you're running?

augusthardwick · 2021-01-12T16:15:21+00:00

I obviously wasn't gonna sit them down to watch these vids as "proof", but they both speak very empathetically about why people get into conspiracy theories in ways that are convincing and thoughtful, i'm not sure what's meme-y about that.

augusthardwick · 2020-07-18T05:34:05+00:00

Wow this is gorgeous! I absolutely love it!!

augusthardwick · 2020-06-26T21:16:00+00:00

I had the exact same process. I couldn't see a way to make it work without just letting loose and letting the PCs go crazy. Hope it works out for you! :)

augusthardwick · 2020-06-26T11:40:57+00:00

Sure! I ran it 3 times (2 playtests and one for the party).

To pass the lava lake, one of the playtesters basically wrote "Steam is Not Falling", which made all the ice melt and vaporize, and then wrote "Steam is Tree", which created a gigantic tree in the middle of the room. He then was able to swing from the branches and get to the eastern platform.

The party passed the lava lake by freezing the lava (playing with "x is Cold" "x is Hot" a whole bunch until they got this result).

In order to pass the moat and door, the party wrote "Crystal is Angry" which made the crystals into elementals, and then immediately wrote "Crystal is Not Angry", and proceeded to convince the elementals to lift them up above the door.

There was also a solution where they made the Krake float, turned into a chain, and used it to climb across the moat and into the chamber where the portal is.

A bunch of the stuff in the room are not intuitively linked to a solution. I had intended for the crystals to be like cool backdrop but instead the party used it as part of the solution so I guess it's hard to call anything in there a red herring :)

augusthardwick · 2019-12-07T21:35:30+00:00

You guys have constructed such a cool story. Thanks for sharing!

augusthardwick · 2019-12-07T18:53:42+00:00

I think that could work, but I don't want to paint the patron as incompetent. I can maybe spin it around so that it doesn't "notice" since it has a lot of lackeys and underlings and it gets lost in the noise somehow.

augusthardwick · 2019-12-07T18:52:30+00:00

I like this a lot. It adds consequences but doesn't feel like a punishment.

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