Nerd Pride Radio

I've been experimenting with the AI text generator (s) - there are different ones and for all I know someone will build one specific to this issue of fictional story generation or even RPG specific generation. However, I think it would be really cool to attempt an RPG in which the chat GPT functions as the GM in terms of determining what happens.

The basic idea would be to input certain parameters for the setup you'd like, and then ask to generate an initial scenario. From here you would just keep a running record of everything that had happened and use that to select sentences to feed back in, as new events unfold. Sometimes it would be a very short and specific thing about melee combat, like tell me what happens when this character attempts to swing a broadsword and narrowly makes a successful roll? Tell me what happens when this character tries to charismatically control the NPC we have encountered? Things like this. Going forward piece by piece, the players would see where the AI leads them in the storyline. Sometimes the players would just be interacting with each other, as usual, and other times they might write down what their character says and see what kind of response they get from the AI. Players would have to agree to settle certain questions themselves - like does a certain spell count here?

Let me share with you this example of what it provided to me:
Prompt: "Given what you know about Pathfinder, dungeons & dragons, and other role-playing games, please generate a plot scenario that would kick off a role-playing game that involves magic, intrigue, and evil ogres guarding a dangerous secret.

Answer, which I personally consider both awesome and hilarious insofar as it keeps worrying about things falling into the wrong hands:

The players find themselves in the bustling city of Aranthus, a hub of magic and trade where ancient secrets are hidden in plain sight. While exploring the city, they discover a cryptic message written in a language unknown to them, hinting at a dangerous secret guarded by evil ogres in the nearby mountains.

As they investigate, they discover that a mysterious group of sorcerers is also searching for the secret, and they are willing to stop at nothing to acquire it. The players must navigate a web of intrigue and deceit, as they try to decipher the message, locate the ogres' lair, and uncover the secret before it falls into the wrong hands.

However, the ogres are not easily defeated, and the players must battle their way through treacherous terrain and fend off the ogres' deadly attacks to reach their goal. As they draw closer to the secret, they realize that it is a powerful artifact that could change the course of history if it falls into the wrong hands.

The sorcerers catch up to the players just as they uncover the secret, and a tense confrontation ensues. The players must use all their wit and magic to defeat the sorcerers and protect the artifact from falling into the wrong hands.

In the aftermath of the battle, the players must decide what to do with the artifact, knowing that it has the power to bring great good or great evil into the world. Their decision will shape the future of Aranthus and the fate of all those who live within its borders.

Does anyone want to try this? In a fairly casual way? I mention it because I'm actually trying to research the chat GPT for work and it would be interesting and useful to me to spend a little time learning how to operate it.

What sort of setting/story would you want to play?

How would we play? Do we each have individual characters or do we share control of the party? And I don't mind contributing, but I don't want to actually have to put entries into the AI and come back with responses. Will someone be responsible for coordinating the input/output with the AI?

It's probably easiest if one person adopts the role of "GM" or maybe one should say, "GM wrangler"? AI Wrangler? So that person is going to summarize a sequence of actions, or a dialogue, etc or different steps in a combat, and enter them in the AI to get a response. I think of it like rolling the dice at different points but instead of a number you're going to get text! You would still be rolling the dice for other reasons... Everybody needs dice. Everybody wants dice. But instead of the GM telling you the story according to a preset script, or improvising what happens, the AI would be responsible for continuing the story or giving you an improvisational description.

I imagine all the players would have to agree on judgment calls that are normally made by a GM when some rule or issue is in question.

The choice of scenario would just be whatever a group wanted... Like if everybody likes a gritty dungeon crawl then you could begin in a dungeon and see where it goes? You could probably describe a map to the AI and then ask it what comes next down the hall? Or it could be a situation where within a generic plot like the one described above, you'd have to feed it a starting point like, suppose there is an attack from ogres on the outskirts of town and then they flee. Describe what happens in this incident and what clues might be left behind... Then the players would have to figure out what they're going to do and you would feed a summary of those action plans in again...

I don't know how well it would work or whether it would veer way off course, but so far I'm pretty amazed at how accurate and insightful the answers from the AI text generator are. I've only found it reaching limits when it gets into very specific things that are not readily available online. In that sense it's kind of like Wikipedia... The output is going to be as good as the input and in some cases that's going to be terrific because smart editors are putting in the best info we have. In other cases you've got pretty average to dumb editors putting in average to trash info. But so far I think the AI does a better job of learning and sorting out things. It's hard for me to know what's going on but I feel like it has learned from things I've told it? I need to do a lot more experimenting with things I have a unique expertise in.

I might ask some friends on Facebook if they'd want to try it too. I had my best success doing an online type of campaign by text with friends from college, because they were highly motivated to do this specific storyline and everybody kind of knew what to expect from each other. A long time ago I tried to do one here and a few of you gamely tried to join in... But there were problems. Bad decisions were made about including a miscreant player who isn't allowed to play anymore, including in any RPG games run within the home. And we just weren't making any progress advancing the plot because I was tired and busy and tired of dealing with the miscreant. So since then I did it with different combinations of people and it worked better. I can't say it's ever worked out well with my kids but... I don't know.. It's difficult to play with a group when the people have radically different levels of experience and different motivations for playing. When one person knows a lot about RPGs and cares only about having an enormous diamond sword that reflects rainbow light, and other people have no experience with RPGs and want to kill everything they come across, It just doesn't work out well, you know?
When I think about groups of people that have had successful campaigns together, I would say about half of it is having an excellent GM and the other half is having players who give and take and cooperate and make it work. Everybody's got to be on the same page or it falls apart. I feel blessed to have been part of several really awesome RPG groups over the years. Thinking about this, I feel like a good group of players could make interaction with the chat GPT really awesome for this purpose, I can also see a lot of ways it would fall apart without having the hand of the GM guiding more clearly.