Why is it so hard to find an ai free campaign?

Hi! I've been looking for campaigns all over the place, but I've yet to find one where either maps, npc's, story or actual character art isn't ai. I really can't stand this, d&d is supposed to be a creative game full of wonder, yet people can't be asked to actually use their own creativity or commission actual real artists for their art needs. Personally, I would draw character and npc art for free for anyone in the campaign or the dm. Maps are another thing, there are so many free maps out there made by actual people. And most importantly, if you need ai to write your story or character backstory, you shouldn't be playing d&d. I'm so sick of people pretending and saying that ai has a place in creative spaces, because it doesn't. Art and stories have been made and told for centuries without any ai, but now it seems people can't be creative or are just lazy and have ai write and create for them (ai doesn't create, it steals and badly puts stolen photos together). I'm sick and tired of this, you are ruining the game and creativity, please stop using ai.

I agree but as mentioned by another we cannot control what players use for their art. Nonetheless I feel this. I've been looking for an artist to do the art on my homebrew.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/6814487-herbertologiiktantar

I had one who did a great draft then disappeared completely. I have one person now but I am not hot on their work. They are going to shed it and come back. Other than them I have only received AI generated crap and lots of it. I think I've had like 40 submissions of those 40 there are three different AI art generators used. I can tell because they give me the same five or six examples with maybe one new one in there each time.

Before I got a real job so I could maintain a Visa when I am abroad I played music and owned a PR label for composing jingles. I had a few contracts but Aria came out and it was $800 annually to produce as many 30 sec tunes you wanted. I was $800 + royalty. I lost those contracts as did others in the industry. I still played professionally like a decade after. I just had to pivot my business to doing more live music and less composing. It wasn't until I lost my musician visa while on tour I decided to get into something that is skilled and on every shortage list in the world. I thought it would enable me but it became a trap. Now I have a retirement and decent benefits but I don't play as much. It isn't so much the lack of work or time. I was a session guy just play the tune or hand me the sheet and I'll slide in. I just have other problems now.

Quote from PPSS2022 >>

I'm sure that WoTC doesn't usually use AI.

There was that controversy that blew up with some of the Bigby's Glory of the Giants art where one of the artists for it was found to have used AI in the work. But that did result in an official set of policies for artists to not use AI. Plus, given the overall disdain towards AI from their target audience, it's in WotC's best financial interests to ensure the continued non-use AI.

Quote from 0l1v3r_ >>

Hi! I've been looking for campaigns all over the place, but I've yet to find one where either maps, npc's, story or actual character art isn't ai. I really can't stand this, d&d is supposed to be a creative game full of wonder, yet people can't be asked to actually use their own creativity or commission actual real artists for their art needs. Personally, I would draw character and npc art for free for anyone in the campaign or the dm. Maps are another thing, there are so many free maps out there made by actual people. And most importantly, if you need ai to write your story or character backstory, you shouldn't be playing d&d. I'm so sick of people pretending and saying that ai has a place in creative spaces, because it doesn't. Art and stories have been made and told for centuries without any ai, but now it seems people can't be creative or are just lazy and have ai write and create for them (ai doesn't create, it steals and badly puts stolen photos together). I'm sick and tired of this, you are ruining the game and creativity, please stop using ai.

Where is it you're finding these? Are you searching for campaign sources and going "Oh, there's AI." Or are you talking about play groups? 

In the former, especially if it's paid, I do agree it's poor form to use AI in a product.

Though for things like character/npc art I get why people do it. If you're already not going to be paying someone to draw, then using a generator can make sense. I've got a friend that will use a generator for character art since it gives a decent idea of what he wanted in the first place. And with none of us in the group being particularly artistic it's not like he could say, "Hey, Joe, could you draw this for me?"

Another case I've run across is with myself where I was looking for pre-existing images and there's AI in the mix. Ended up realizing the art I used for the token of a big bad was AI long after introducing him. Or when searching for an image to use for a token of an NPC it was a specific enough idea that the only ones close enough were AI-genned. (Although a player in the group who's an artist did later make custom art himself.)

Basically for people who are not artistic and were never going to pay for art in the first place, it's a way of getting something good enough at an acceptable price.

I am not passing judgment in either direction in this post, merely trying to answer your questions. I have my own anti-AI sentiments, but this forum doesn’t need yet another anti-AI thread that spirals into getting locked as it goes off topic.  Not am I going to discuss things like power and water usage, pollution, and other aspects of morality.  The question here is why folks use AI, and those are not relevant to this question (they are relevant to the opposite question “why shouldn’t folks use AI?”).

It is not hard to see why someone running a campaign would want to use AI.  The obvious and easy answer is that they are lazy and AI takes a lot of the work off their shoulders.  But that, of course, is not the full picture.

I am going to split this response into three categories, since I think the answers are slightly different for each. 

First, NPC and Character images.  D&D is a game of imagination, and character images exist to ensure everyone is imagining the same basic figure when they picture a character.  For those who lack artistic talent, AI is the only tool that allows them to take the image in their head and directly shape that image in a way others can now see.  Even for those with artistic talent, AI might simply be better - if your artistic talent is in manga-style art, but you want something more photorealistic, you simply do not have the skills required to generate the image you want to share directly.

”But just hire an artist” is the regular response.  Ignoring the obvious element of price, there is a reason I said “direct” above.  When you commission art, you do not get to fully control your final product.  Sure, you can choose an artist who matches the style you want, approve the line drawings, etc.  But, at the end of the day, the final product is not your vision actualized, but your vision, told to an artist, and them actualizing their vision of what they think your vision might be.

Not hard to see why someone would want to use AI character art in this context. It gives them control over sharing their own imagination with others, which is an important aspect of the game.

Second, Maps.  As someone who owns a whole lot of digital maps (not to mention physical map books), I know full well finding the exact right map for a dungeon is a problem. Either things do not exactly match what I want them to do, have elements that do not fit the vibe, or there are simply too many options to dig through which can be time consuming.  And drawing your own map has similar problems with character art, in that you’re limited by your own skill not to mention time. 

Using AI allows you to get exactly what you want for your encounters and level design, so you can swiftly and easily adjust the map to what you want, without having to find something close and adjust your design accordingly.  This is less about getting everyone’s imagination on the same page as with character images, and more about getting the encounter and gameplay to function exactly as the DM intended. 

Structure maps are also a particular weakness of GenAI models and very well always may be.  Floorplans are complex, with a number of intricacies beyond “kitchen goes next to dining room.”  All of the more esoteric elements of a floor plan, like positioning of bedrooms based on dozens of human factors, are beyond what AI can do.

Which gets us to our second reason folks use AI to generate maps - they do not see the limitations of the tool.  Where character images are very easy for AI to create, many people, particularly if they lack a study of architecture, might simply not know that their final product is nonsensical because the underlying tools simply are not able to provide what the DM actually wants.

Lastly, let us touch on story.  For this one, I think laziness is probably the best answer.  The simple reality is that D&D is a story-based game and if you want to tell your own story, you have to actually tell it not ask GenAI to help tell it for you.  

But I said I did not want to use laziness as the only answer - that itself would be lazy - so let us dive into that some.  There is an appeal to premade products - obviously official and third-party adventures exist and sell very well.  GenAI seems like an extension of that - “it is just a premade adventure, but one where it was tailor made just for what me and my group want.  Pretty easy to see the appeal for that as a middle ground - the ease of running a premade adventure with the customization of being something unique to your group

Which is where ignorance enters the picture again.  GenAI cannot tell a real story. It is not designed to work that way.  It can spit out cliches, but it is incapable of planning in advance.  Each part is generated on top of its own memory, so it is always looking backwards and not planning forwards.  X happens because Y already happened and the average of what it is trained on predicts that X narratively should come after Y.  No bad guy plotting X, no surprises with X. X simply is what it thinks should be there.

Moreover, AI is trained and reinforced by its inputs.  If the person generating the content keeps mentioning the rakish rogue NPC, the AI will keep spitting that NPC out, even if it does not make sense for him to be in a scene.  AI also struggles with memory - just as it hyper-fixates on reinforced details, it forgets small, subtle details.

But lots of folks do not know this about how GenAI functions.  They see a final product that makes some degree of narrative sense, and miss all the flaws that make it particularly terrible for a product like D&D, which is protean and has multiple authors feeding into the actual game.

———

Again, to make sure there is no confusion, I am not promoting AI in my above post.  But OP asked a question and the above is trying to provide an answer, not a sermon.

I agree with a lot of what you have said here, but I do feel some of it is overly gatekeeping.

One- I don't think people should be using AI for character art. However saying "just use your own creativity or commission real art..." that's a bit far. Many people cannot draw to save their life (me included), and art commissions cost money that, in this economy, a lot of people just don't have. I don't think people should use AI, but we can also suggest that people just look online for already-made character art that they feel fits their character well, without saying "Have some creativity and make the art yourself, or pay someone else to do it!" There are other options available that aren't AI and don't require people have skills they don't or money they don't.

Then you said "And most importantly, if you need ai to write your story or character backstory, you shouldn't be playing d&d." Just, no. Some younger folks are growing up in an age with AI is being pushed on them to use for a lot of things, and they see it as just another tool. I personally don't think using AI for creating a backstory is very fun, BUT if someone chooses to use it for their backstory that doesn't mean they shouldn't be playing D&D. If they are showing up to games, keeping up with the plot, engaging with people at the table, and having fun, then "you used AI for your backstory" should not be a reason that they shouldn't be playing. Don't gatekeep people from engaging with friends and strangers in an amazing shared hobby just because they used a tool you disagree with for some of their character's backstory.

I'm talking about D&D groups and some unofficial campaigns.

Also, for your point about people who are not artistic using ai as a replacement for real art for character and npc art is just an excuse. There are free websites like heroforge or even picrew that to my knowledge use human made art and you can adjust the character on those websites to your liking. Sure, it takes a bit of time to make characters on picrew or heroforge than it would take to have ai generate it, but with ai generating it you are missing out on even a little bit of real art and the art making process. 

Also, just my opinion, but I would perfer a "badly made" human made piece of art over any ai generated thing any day of the week. You don't have to be an artist to create. And how will anyone ever learn to make art if they could just ask an ai to steal for them? You can't learn a skill just by doing nothing.

The thing about AI is that it's generally 'good enough' when dealing with non-core elements.

I'm not totally sure if you're just venting or if you're asking for a solution, but assuming the latter - it might be worthwhile to narrow your search for a game down via a platform like StartPlaying, and then either contact those GMs directly, read through their bios, or read player reviews so that you can identify any that repudiate all AI use in the hobby to the degree you're looking for. That should assist you with finding like-minded playgroups.

I've been especially puzzled by the insistence of some people regarding AI art for their characters.  I've been playing D&D for close to 30 years and at no point was having character art ever considered necessary.

Quote from 0l1v3r_>>

Also, for your point about people who are not artistic using ai as a replacement for real art for character and npc art is just an excuse. There are free websites like heroforge or even picrew that to my knowledge use human made art and you can adjust the character on those websites to your liking. 

Yes, that was my point. The two options shouldn't only be stated as "make your own art or pay someone else", you can also suggest places where they can find available art or things like Heroforge. I wasn't saying they should use AI if they are not creative. I specifically said that saying "Just make your own art or pay money for art" is limiting to people without artistic skill and/or money. Giving additional (non-AI) options was the whole point.

Also, just my opinion, but I would perfer a "badly made" human made piece of art over any ai generated thing any day of the week. You don't have to be an artist to create. And how will anyone ever learn to make art if they could just ask an ai to steal for them? You can't learn a skill just by doing nothing.

I mean, because I wouldn't even enjoy a (self-made) badly-made drawing of my own OC. I have zero art skill, and it just isn't something I care to develop at all. For people who want to learn how to draw/paint/etc like that, then great! Absolutely, start with bad OC art and improve. That's just something I don't want to do at all, so I use the D&D Beyond portraits, or Heroforge, or just search Google Images for something approximating what I think my character might look like. Again, my main point was that we should be suggesting to and accepting of people using character art they found online or made with Heroforge or similar things, instead of just telling them to "learn art or pay someone."

Quote from 0l1v3r_ >>

Also, for your point about people who are not artistic using ai as a replacement for real art for character and npc art is just an excuse. There are free websites like heroforge or even picrew that to my knowledge use human made art and you can adjust the character on those websites to your liking. Sure, it takes a bit of time to make characters on picrew or heroforge than it would take to have ai generate it, but with ai generating it you are missing out on even a little bit of real art and the art making process.

Those sites aren't catch-alls. For example if you have an Illithid BBEG then HeroForge can't help you there. Plus there's things they can't do. For example Heroforge, because it's geared towards making minifigs, cannot give you a narrow and slender wand to hold because that wouldn't be structurally sound in a minifig even if it would work in an AI-genned image.

And for badly made art, there's limits. Like my artistic non-talent is such that if I had to draw a character it would either be a stick figure or something atrociously horrendous. To the degree that it would moreso detract than add.

Quote from 6thLyranGuard >>

I've been especially puzzled by the insistence of some people regarding AI art for their characters.  I've been playing D&D for close to 30 years and at no point was having character art ever considered necessary.

I don't have anywhere near the experience you do. But even for me whose experience has been more online-focused art isn't really necessary. It's useful to have a simple pic for a battlemap token. But even then defaults help out there. 

Quote from 0l1v3r_ >>

Also, for your point about people who are not artistic using ai as a replacement for real art for character and npc art is just an excuse. There are free websites like heroforge or even picrew that to my knowledge use human made art and you can adjust the character on those websites to your liking.

Every player token on a VTT I've ever had has come from Heroforge

Quote from VitusW >>

Those sites aren't catch-alls. For example if you have an Illithid BBEG then HeroForge can't help you there. 

You can absolutely make an illithid on HeroForge. It's just not one of the prefab species

Quote from 0l1v3r_ >>

Hi! I've been looking for campaigns all over the place, but I've yet to find one where either maps, npc's, story or actual character art isn't ai. I really can't stand this, d&d is supposed to be a creative game full of wonder, yet people can't be asked to actually use their own creativity or commission actual real artists for their art needs. Personally, I would draw character and npc art for free for anyone in the campaign or the dm. Maps are another thing, there are so many free maps out there made by actual people. And most importantly, if you need ai to write your story or character backstory, you shouldn't be playing d&d. I'm so sick of people pretending and saying that ai has a place in creative spaces, because it doesn't. Art and stories have been made and told for centuries without any ai, but now it seems people can't be creative or are just lazy and have ai write and create for them (ai doesn't create, it steals and badly puts stolen photos together). I'm sick and tired of this, you are ruining the game and creativity, please stop using ai.

Rather than complaining that people are not using enough of their own time/creativity to entertain you in the way you want to be entertained you can be the solution to your perceived problem. No doubt you know creating/running a campaign is a lot of work for the DM. Why not put that work in yourself to run an AI-free game. Then you're setting the example you want others to live up to.

Quote from 0l1v3r_ >>

Hi! I've been looking for campaigns all over the place, but I've yet to find one where either maps, npc's, story or actual character art isn't ai. I really can't stand this, d&d is supposed to be a creative game full of wonder, yet people can't be asked to actually use their own creativity or commission actual real artists for their art needs. Personally, I would draw character and npc art for free for anyone in the campaign or the dm. Maps are another thing, there are so many free maps out there made by actual people. And most importantly, if you need ai to write your story or character backstory, you shouldn't be playing d&d. I'm so sick of people pretending and saying that ai has a place in creative spaces, because it doesn't. Art and stories have been made and told for centuries without any ai, but now it seems people can't be creative or are just lazy and have ai write and create for them (ai doesn't create, it steals and badly puts stolen photos together). I'm sick and tired of this, you are ruining the game and creativity, please stop using ai.

 Yes, correct.