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Artificial Intelligence is getting better and more accessible. There are already many new applications for AI in the media and technology industry. However, Artificial Intelligence has become so versatile that it can also be used for Pen and Paper. Here we have compiled some of these possibilities for you. However, we would like to point out in advance that working with AI also always involves dangers and can never fully replace the work of human artists. Nevertheless, it has now become a valuable tool for pen-and-paper gaming sessions.
AI-Art for Pen and Paper
The first application for AI is producing art. There are now very good artificial AIs that can create artwork for you based on entered prompts. Midjourney and DALL-E come to mind first. Both programs can be tried for free. However, due to high demand, you have to expect long waiting times.
AI-Art can help you bring your campaign to visual life. You can create images of characters, monsters, locations, and scenes with a mouse click. Simply enter what kind of image you would like to create and the AI will produce it for you. This is helpful both for Dungeon Masters who want to show their players what things look like in the game, and for players who want to immortalize their character, their party, or certain situations from the campaign. While previously you always had to dig deep into your wallet for commissioned artwork to have images produced for your hobby, AI has made it much easier and cheaper. Nevertheless, there are things that an AI usually can’t draw well, hands for example. But in my opinion, it’s worth playing around with AI-Art. This also applies to music, by the way: there are already programs that generate background music for your sessions.
Inspiration for Pen and Paper through Artificial Intelligence
Besides AI-Art, the market also offers strong possibilities to get inspired by AI for pen-and-paper. ChatGPT is suitable for this. ChatGPT can give you answers to many prompts. Such as: “Give me five mystical places in a fantasy world”; “Write me a plot for a role-playing campaign” or “What monster must the players fight in my pen-and-paper game?”
I’m not arguing here for having entire campaigns written by ChatGPT. And especially with a niche topic like pen and paper, current AIs still lack the necessary amount of data to produce full-fledged answers. But I think that AI can provide useful inspiration when you can’t think of anything or when you have to create a session from scratch under pressure. Additionally, sometimes really funny things can come out, so you might want to try out a surreal AI campaign. The AI can design plots, characters, monsters, magical items, or dungeons for you. The limit is your own willingness to try things out.
Solo Pen-and-Paper with AI
I believe that in the near future, especially for solo players, opportunities will arise to create an exciting new gaming experience with artificial intelligence. Similar to a video game or a choose-your-own-adventure, the AI will take over part of the game. Either as a Dungeon Master or as a player, so even players who don’t have people or time for a role-playing session can play pen-and-paper. And instead of sifting through tables and rules like in many existing solo RPGs, the computer will do that for you.
Dangers of AI in Pen-and-Paper
The action classic Terminator warned us: The battle between man and machine has begun. The people I’ve spoken with are split between those who praise AI to the skies and those who are skeptical of Artificial Intelligence. I believe both sides have a right to exist. AI offers great applications. Also in pen-and-paper role-playing. And many of these applications have yet to be discovered. The potential is definitely huge!
However, AI also harbors dangers. Artists are already complaining that with the help of AI, prices for art are being lowered so much that it’s simply no longer profitable for many artists. This is also the case for artists who draw pictures for role-playing books and D&D characters, write texts for homebrew, or make music for role-playing. How sad would it be if thousands of creatives and TTRPG fans were pushed out of the market by computer programs. The loss of creativity and different skills and styles would be enormous.
Additionally, AI threatens our own creativity. Human creativity is hard and therefore so special when we create something of our own. If we let Artificial Intelligence take this part away from us, then we could train ourselves out of our own creative abilities. And if every role-playing session is based on the same data and programs, we run the risk of pen-and-paper becoming monotonous and uninspired. So try out AI, use it where sensible, but don’t base 100% on it.
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