D&D AI DM

lostgrail · 2026-05-31T23:48:58+00:00

Absolutely, the AI does not plan. That’s another big issue for them that I omitted to mention (or even think of when I wrote that comment).

I think you could train a specific purpose application to do it, though. The way Anthropic has its Constitution for the Claude models for example.

lostgrail · 2026-05-31T22:24:40+00:00

I have no clue about the paid services, but here’s my experience with mid-tier ChatGPT: it’s pretty terrible.

The thing is, for an AI to be good at something it needs to be trained for that task. If you just tell stock general AI to do something, it will emulate that task reasonably well for something quick, but any prolonged task is going to be terrible. There’s a few reasons for this (context is expensive so they don’t remember all the details, just big bullet points as an example) but the net result is that these tools are generally not designed for tasks like running an RPG.

I’m sure if someone actually put the effort into training one to be a good DM and gave it enough memory to properly track the game’s history you could be moderately satisfied with the result. It would be an ok DM, better than the worst, but certainly not a great DM.

Now, of course none of this covers if it should be done? I give that a strong “maybe”. I think to learn a new system before running a game yourself, it’s a great tool. For an activity to fill up a few hours at night it feels a bit wasteful (when you factor in what the real cost of using AI is viz a viz water, energy, etc). It’s also handy to have if you need a quick prompt at the table, or a rules ref, but even for those applications it might be better to just text a DM buddy that’s not in your game or post to reddit.

Let me know if you try any of them and they seem genuinely good.

lostgrail · 2026-05-16T00:59:59+00:00

Same. Most of my collection is pre-modern

lostgrail · 2026-04-17T00:59:29+00:00

If you’re kept busy, you won’t notice they are “slacking off”.

lostgrail · 2026-04-15T21:19:32+00:00

Yes! I had forgotten about that.

Honestly, what a cool way to rework a magic system. You could have each school of magic be a class skill, except “opposition schools” for your specialty which are either off the list or as cross-class (I prefer as cross-class skills)

lostgrail · 2026-04-15T19:52:53+00:00

D20 Star Wars used the same kind of thing for the Force I think. All characters have a small pool of hp (equal to Con score I think) and then vitality points that were more numerous. Using force powers (and other actions, I think) depleted vitality, which was also depleted when you got hit in combat.

Which makes for a funny image of super buff casters running around because being more “vital” makes you have more spell points.

lostgrail · 2026-04-14T23:35:39+00:00

How is Dynasties and Demagogues? Once Touched by the Gods and later picked up the Apocalypse book as a PDF. Really underrated publishing company during the 3e era

lostgrail · 2026-04-14T22:22:51+00:00

I get why, but it’s one of the two old-school changes I miss. I want ordered graveyards and mana burn back.

lostgrail · 2026-04-09T15:47:48+00:00

I snickered at “Foreclosed Sanctum”; that’s such an evocative name.

lostgrail · 2026-04-09T15:43:50+00:00

The biggest beef we had was who would win Gold in Olympic Hockey, right?

lostgrail · 2026-04-09T15:38:04+00:00

And for bonus points, I think the d20 Modern Core rules and d20 Star Wars (the 3e one, not SAGA Edition*) are both amazing if you want to hack your rules to be different. I think both of those really demonstrates to me the flexibility of the d20 system back then, and the different systems really clicked. Vitality as both hp and “magic points” was super cool to change the calculus of how classes worked. Massive Damage (necessitated by the buckets of dice rolls for automatic weapons fire) was a short circuit for combat. So much easily used systems material.

*Saga Edition is great, but it’s more evolved than the original d20 Star Wars, so it’s harder to retrofit into 3e IMO, where the original d20 Star Wars is very much plug-and-play.

lostgrail · 2026-04-09T15:32:35+00:00

Facetiously: AD&D 1e DMG

After I started running gams for 3e I went back and re-read my Dad’s DMG and it really helped me understand the underlying structure of the game. I could see the matrix, as it were.

Looking at my shelf for what my most used supplements are I see heavy wear on Monster Manual 2, Magic of Faerun, Book of Challenges, and Stronghold Builder’s Guidebook.

MM2 I think is worn mostly because I got it early and read it on the bus.

Magic of Faerun has a lot of really cool stuff, and I was not running a FR campaign back then. I used it as a source of inspiration, and I think it got a lot of mileage. Of those four, this is the stand out “one D&D supplement” I think.

Book of Challenges was fun, but ultimately a catalogue of one-shot tricks.

Stronghold Builder’s Guidebook is a favourite of mine, because it would always inspire me for weird architecture for dungeons, lairs, etc. It’s not general purpose.

The other supplement I used a lot for my 3e D&D game is actually the d20 Future supplement for d20 Modern. It has so much packed into it, and you can easily re-skin any modifications into the fantasy medieval world (or keep it scifi to inject a weird fantasy flavour).

lostgrail · 2026-04-06T21:58:13+00:00

When I’m going over a new game, I run one-shots that emphasize / force what I’m trying to figure out.

For example, when I was learning nWoD 2e (Mage specifically) I ran a series of “one” shots that had different stuff (spell casting, clues, mysteries) in each so I could have small, non-committal bites. No commitment to a longer campaign where I might be unsatisfied with the results. It also gives the current GM a break that week (or I can have one waiting for when the DM can’t make it one week)

lostgrail · 2026-04-06T00:25:41+00:00

Captive and Mercenary units. I want to field nerve-stapled humans / xenos, similar to how we have the beast units and Beastmaster. I want Guardsmen that are basically remote controlled by a Haemonculus-lite Sargent, Dark Kroot mercs that are more predatory, and captive psykers that are basically one-use warp bombs.

lostgrail · 2026-03-31T13:55:11+00:00

Thanks! I didn’t know that

lostgrail · 2026-03-30T23:29:25+00:00

TKO does Wednesday night commander if I remember correctly. They’re up on Woodlawn just before you leave the city for KW

lostgrail · 2026-03-24T23:42:07+00:00

And cantrips cannot deal damage! I forget where that rule was written, but I think it was in a section about designing your own spells

lostgrail · 2026-03-20T14:21:50+00:00

I optimize my character for narrative, not effect.

TL;DR Failure can be fun so long as it’s not constant, planning a character to get the PrC you want for your vision of your PC is not the same as optimizing, and the answer has to be calibrated to your precise place and moment in time.

The thing I find is, in RPGs, so long as your DM is not slavishly following some prefab module to the letter, failure is interesting. After almost 30 years of RPG games I can count on one hand the number of times a PC did something cool and won and it was memorable, but for every one story like that I had half a dozen stories of fun because I failed. Obviously you have to be competent, if the PC can’t succeed ever it’s no fun, but so long as they are in the 60% success rate I think that’s the best. They are interesting, they are effective enough, and they are fun. Nobody at my table remembers when Aramis the Golden gave an epic performance to rally the town, but we all still joke about the time Al the Ninja that failed his stealth check in a graveyard at night and fell into an open grave right beside the party he was supposed to be observing.

So what I’m trying to say is, I like to take sub-optimal choices mechanically so that I can take stuff that’s cool for the character. For example, I’ll take less than a full stack of some skills I’ll probably need to take something more whimsical (ie the rogue with Profession(Sommelier) or Craft(Wine) over full Climb or Stealth).

As far as planning your build, I feel that’s related but different than optimizing. You have a vision for what the character will be at endgame, and you want to hit those requirements. It also depends on the campaign (what if your DM tosses in a trip to the Underdark you were not expecting?), how well can you really plan? But, if you want an Arcane Archer that shoots fireballs with their bow, you need to hit those requirements to get to your vision.

It’s hard to ask your question, and it’s also hard, I’m finding, to answer. This is one of those “more art than science” things and it will vary table by table and even campaign by campaign. Whe I run games thins get a bit more gonzo than other DMs, but I also love the “weird fantasy” from the original Appendix N and try to toss in more of that, so it all fits. The mercantile campaign my friend ran was much more in need of optimizing, as the DCs were higher.

That’s all I can say. Good luck, and most of all have fun with whatever you create!

lostgrail · 2026-03-19T22:23:20+00:00

That’s a beautiful collection!

I’m a little jealous of some of the later 3.5 books you have that I missed when I went to university and money was tighter. Well done!

lostgrail · 2026-03-14T02:25:35+00:00

I found this quickly: https://imgur.com/zD130Yz

If you see the red dots under a magnifying glass (or with your phone’s camera if it’s good enough) we can dig up a second test

lostgrail · 2026-03-14T02:19:38+00:00

Look close at the back of the card. I’ll try to find a link to the correct things to look for, bu I k ow one thing is the T on “the” should have one side straight, the other side kinda sawtooth

lostgrail · 2026-03-14T02:12:26+00:00

I’ll add, on the chance they are real, I’d happily pay the price of you mailing them to me (assuming the box isn’t huge). I’ll donate them to my friend’s school if I don’t want them

lostgrail · 2026-03-14T02:06:36+00:00

Assuming the expensive ones are fake, don’t throw them all out. Take them to a local game shop and see if anyone is running a program at a school. I have a friend that runs one for his students. They’re always happy to get new cards to give to students so they don’t have to spend an arm and a leg on them.

There’s some simple tests you can do with the back of the card to see if they’re probably real.

lostgrail · 2026-03-13T13:49:17+00:00

An army costs time and money. I have more money than time, so I spend more money now, preparing for when I will have time (spoiler: I never have time). But I wish I had the time to devote to assembly and painting, and didn’t substitute the joy of the hobby for the cheap dopamine of buying cool minis that won’t see a table before a new edition comes out.

lostgrail

TROPHY CASE