Category: pontificating
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AI as DM
art by The Mycoleum Continuing my experiments with AI, I have been trying to get a computer to act as Dungeon Master, running a roleplaying game in response to my prompts. The results have been interesting, but for all the wrong reasons. In this post I will use the following conventions: My messages to…
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Kickstarter delivery charges
Art by The Mycoleum This is a controversial take, so bear with me; games publishers: please include up-front delivery costs with your Kickstarter campaigns. That’s the way Kickstarters always used to work, but in recent years most campaigns have switched to third-party services like Backerkit. When using Backerkit, delivery costs are not factored in…
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AI-generated soundtracks
Amidst all of the talk about the use of AI/Machine Learning to generate content for RPGs, I’ve only ever heard two forms of media discussed: words, and pictures. Of course, these are the things that RPG books and supplements are made up of, and so it seems obvious to talk about them. But they are…
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AI writing partnerships
The topic of using AI/Machine Learning in TTRPGs just won’t go away. Most recently, I see that Monsters and Manuals has declared for the Luddite side. I can certainly appreciate this position from an ethical standpoint, and from an aesthetic standpoint I can see why a person would think that computer-created content lacks soul (and…
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“Scientific proof” and “self-help”
The sun rose today, but will it rise tomorrow? I mentioned in my last post that Peakrill Press is branching out into a variety of non-gaming related content. I will also be blogging more about random stuff. If you’re here just for RPGs, that’s cool: there’ll still be plenty, and you can skip the rest.…
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Just Do The Work
Well of Bolonchen by Frederick Catherwood [This post was originally intended for my personal blog, but I figured that folks here may find it useful] I am well acquainted with the whoosh of deadlines, and I’ve just been overtaken by yet another; weeks, months, stopped in my tracks by Seasonal Affective Disorder and Bipolar Disorder (or…
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Naming Things
The Ship of Yoharneth-Lahai by Sidney Sime After a lecture at Cornell in which Lord Dunsany had mentioned his longtime collaborator, the artist Sidney Sime, somebody said what a perfect name Sime was for him. “I don’t know,” said Dunsany; “I think Rhibelungzanedroom would suit him better.” I have recently been reading Lord Dunsany and…
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Gespenwald, Cairn, and the NSR
Firstly, I have a new thing out. It’s called Gespenwald, comes in the form of a PDF (printable as a double-sided A4 trifold), and can be downloaded here. I will have printed copies available in a couple of months. It kicks off with a children’s rhyme: On Narren Night, my love and meWe met beside the…
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Generating random content for RPGs using Artificial Intelligence
Sea-biscuit cutting and rolling machine The topic of Artificial Intelligence in TTRPGs (actually Machine Learning – but I’ll call it AI for simplicity’s sake) is something I’ve seen discussed a lot recently. noisms asked on his blog whether AI would change the hobby. On the NSR Discord server we’ve had AI-generated failed careers for Electric Bastionland posted…
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Interview with Write Radio
Write Radio I was interviewed recently for Write Radio on Sheffield Live. I talked to host Jane Armstrong about writing for roleplaying games, and how it differs from the sort of short story writing I’d been doing before. We also talk about the differences between TTRPGs now vs. those I grew up with in the…