A summary of my attempts to train ChatGPT to run a game of DnD for me:
(a link to the chat in the end)
We played two very brief adventures. In the first one I just asked ChatGPT to run a game for me, which was pretty amazing already. Especially the way ChatGPT describes things is pretty neat. But it was very very narrative and didn't follow any actual rules or mechanics.
Next we played another adventure with the same character. This time I tried to train ChatGPT to follow actual DnD rules, which it did. I had to specify a couple of times, but eventually it worked pretty well.
For some reason it wouldn't initially display the roll result, but after checking a couple of times what the roll was, it felt consistent with what happened, so I believe it does randomize the result nonetheless.
The games were very simple and quite narrative, but very much fun and surprisingly high quality. I'm quite confident that after a few more runs and investing a bit more time in character creation, it would do a splendid job.
And even just now, for someone who enjoys narrative games to begin with, this was a really fun experiment.
Notes for those who don't know ChatGPT:
It remembers your past conversations. So you could have a conversation about the setting and setup of the game and later ask it to run a game based on that setup. This would be necessary if you wanted a proper campaign.
ChatGPT knows RPG systems surprisingly well. I've tested asking for monster stat blocks in DnD 5e and Savage Worlds, based on just a description of the monster, and it did a pretty good job. Especially because of this learning ability. You can ask for small tweaks and teach it, so it will perform even better next time.
Is ChatGPT free to use? If not, how much does it cost?
There is a free format, with a character limit that is fairly generous.
the paid version (plus) is 20 bucks a month.
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Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities .-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-. An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more. Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
Is ChatGPT free to use? If not, how much does it cost?
There is a free format, with a character limit that is fairly generous.
the paid version (plus) is 20 bucks a month.
Oh wow. I haven't even realized that there is a character limit. I've used it quite a bit lately and haven't reached any limits. :P
I put it through some major testing, lol.
one of my prompts was like 500 words
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Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities .-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-. An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more. Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
My friend and I did some testing with a free version of Chatgpt for Discord. It does reach a character limit when it comes to recalling the past conversation but does seem to retain some of it's learned behavior. The limitations so far seem to be when it comes to continuity for a long campaign. We started outlining rules for DM behavior but it began reaching the free version's capacity. It seems pretty feasible with enough memory and training. Maybe build the campaign and characters then teach Chatgpt to pull information from it? Chatgpt was able to execute Avrae commands. (but it would read the avrae output text and started repeating redundant information) Idk if this helps but it was an idea.
My friend and I did some testing with a free version of Chatgpt for Discord. It does reach a character limit when it comes to recalling the past conversation but does seem to retain some of it's learned behavior. The limitations so far seem to be when it comes to continuity for a long campaign. We started outlining rules for DM behavior but it began reaching the free version's capacity. It seems pretty feasible with enough memory and training. Maybe build the campaign and characters then teach Chatgpt to pull information from it? Chatgpt was able to execute Avrae commands. (but it would read the avrae output text and started repeating redundant information) Idk if this helps but it was an idea.
Welcome to the forums. I'm not sure if you saw the DnD + AI-related thread that was locked yesterday. You may want to check the tone of that thread.
I had to re-read the original post to parse something out. The "we played" part threw me for a bit until I realized SerLoxy was playing alone using the chatbot. Some folks in the other thread that Allurian219 referred to made some cogent points about how we're burning the world to run these glorified chatbots that aren't even good at the things they're being hyped up for; I can't add much to their points. But with this spate of attempts to use AI as surrogate DMs I do wonder if people are missing the point of what D&D is. The sword & sorcery trappings are all important, don't get me wrong, but the core is that this game is a multiplayer collaborative storytelling experience. It's meant to be played with other people. AI can't do what a real DM does because it's not people. It's not smart like people. All it can do is cut-and-paste together things it steals from real people. It's exactly what the writers of Star Trek: The Next Generation predicted in "Elementary, Dear Data" back in 1988: Geordi and Data tried to have the holodeck make a Sherlock Holmes mystery for them to solve, but it wasn't satisfying because all the holodeck could do was mash together pieces from several different Holmes mysteries.
Star Trek: The Next Generation predicted in "Elementary, Dear Data" back in 1988: Geordi and Data tried to have the holodeck make a Sherlock Holmes mystery for them to solve, but it wasn't satisfying because all the holodeck could do was mash together pieces from several different Holmes mysteries.
I recall the big issue being that Data, an AI himself, already knew all of the Holmes books so he picked up on things too quickly, leaving Geordi frustrated.
But with this spate of attempts to use AI as surrogate DMs I do wonder if people are missing the point of what D&D is. The sword & sorcery trappings are all important, don't get me wrong, but the core is that this game is a multiplayer collaborative storytelling experience. It's meant to be played with other people.
To me, AI DMs are kind of a "quick kill time thing maybe" possibility, since like you mentioned comraderie is a big part of things. Plus the random tangents that can come up mid-play. AI DMs would likely be best used in that time-kill scenario or with another person if you want two people working together outsmarting an AI's BBEG.
But with this spate of attempts to use AI as surrogate DMs I do wonder if people are missing the point of what D&D is.
I said as much in the aforementioned locked thread. It just doesn't appeal to me because I enjoy doing all the things that the AI would do for me. But I do understand that a lot of people are in a situation where they have several people who want to play and no one who wants to (or feels they can) DM.
A summary of my attempts to train ChatGPT to run a game of DnD for me:
(a link to the chat in the end)
We played two very brief adventures. In the first one I just asked ChatGPT to run a game for me, which was pretty amazing already. Especially the way ChatGPT describes things is pretty neat. But it was very very narrative and didn't follow any actual rules or mechanics.
Next we played another adventure with the same character. This time I tried to train ChatGPT to follow actual DnD rules, which it did. I had to specify a couple of times, but eventually it worked pretty well.
For some reason it wouldn't initially display the roll result, but after checking a couple of times what the roll was, it felt consistent with what happened, so I believe it does randomize the result nonetheless.
The games were very simple and quite narrative, but very much fun and surprisingly high quality. I'm quite confident that after a few more runs and investing a bit more time in character creation, it would do a splendid job.
And even just now, for someone who enjoys narrative games to begin with, this was a really fun experiment.
Notes for those who don't know ChatGPT:
It remembers your past conversations. So you could have a conversation about the setting and setup of the game and later ask it to run a game based on that setup. This would be necessary if you wanted a proper campaign.
ChatGPT knows RPG systems surprisingly well. I've tested asking for monster stat blocks in DnD 5e and Savage Worlds, based on just a description of the monster, and it did a pretty good job. Especially because of this learning ability. You can ask for small tweaks and teach it, so it will perform even better next time.
Link to chat:
https://chat.openai.com/share/2c7fc932-e6a3-42c8-abd1-0e102363eea2
Finland GMT/UTC +2
There is a free format, with a character limit that is fairly generous.
the paid version (plus) is 20 bucks a month.
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities
.-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-.
An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
This 3.5 version is free to use, at least for now.
Finland GMT/UTC +2
Oh wow. I haven't even realized that there is a character limit. I've used it quite a bit lately and haven't reached any limits. :P
Finland GMT/UTC +2
I put it through some major testing, lol.
one of my prompts was like 500 words
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities
.-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-.
An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
My friend and I did some testing with a free version of Chatgpt for Discord. It does reach a character limit when it comes to recalling the past conversation but does seem to retain some of it's learned behavior. The limitations so far seem to be when it comes to continuity for a long campaign. We started outlining rules for DM behavior but it began reaching the free version's capacity. It seems pretty feasible with enough memory and training. Maybe build the campaign and characters then teach Chatgpt to pull information from it? Chatgpt was able to execute Avrae commands. (but it would read the avrae output text and started repeating redundant information) Idk if this helps but it was an idea.
Don't consider a system that at its core, steals content from others to train on, free.
Welcome to the forums. I'm not sure if you saw the DnD + AI-related thread that was locked yesterday. You may want to check the tone of that thread.
I had to re-read the original post to parse something out. The "we played" part threw me for a bit until I realized SerLoxy was playing alone using the chatbot. Some folks in the other thread that Allurian219 referred to made some cogent points about how we're burning the world to run these glorified chatbots that aren't even good at the things they're being hyped up for; I can't add much to their points. But with this spate of attempts to use AI as surrogate DMs I do wonder if people are missing the point of what D&D is. The sword & sorcery trappings are all important, don't get me wrong, but the core is that this game is a multiplayer collaborative storytelling experience. It's meant to be played with other people. AI can't do what a real DM does because it's not people. It's not smart like people. All it can do is cut-and-paste together things it steals from real people. It's exactly what the writers of Star Trek: The Next Generation predicted in "Elementary, Dear Data" back in 1988: Geordi and Data tried to have the holodeck make a Sherlock Holmes mystery for them to solve, but it wasn't satisfying because all the holodeck could do was mash together pieces from several different Holmes mysteries.
I recall the big issue being that Data, an AI himself, already knew all of the Holmes books so he picked up on things too quickly, leaving Geordi frustrated.
To me, AI DMs are kind of a "quick kill time thing maybe" possibility, since like you mentioned comraderie is a big part of things. Plus the random tangents that can come up mid-play. AI DMs would likely be best used in that time-kill scenario or with another person if you want two people working together outsmarting an AI's BBEG.
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I said as much in the aforementioned locked thread. It just doesn't appeal to me because I enjoy doing all the things that the AI would do for me. But I do understand that a lot of people are in a situation where they have several people who want to play and no one who wants to (or feels they can) DM.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm