DigitalHobbit’s RPG Blog
RPG Reflections from the Hobbit Hole
Retro-Clones, Religion, Maps/Minis vs. TotM | Triple Takes
In this video, I share several potentially contentious opinions on maps and minis vs. Theater of the Mind, retro-clones, and religion in RPGs. In previous posts and videos, I shared my opinions on turn order and lore and licensed settings. In this new video, and the post below, I briefly share my opinions on three additional topics. I realize that some might consider these controversial. So to put a disclaimer on this upfront: These are all personal opinions and preferences, and I respect anyone that disagrees with these....
Replacing both GM and Players with ChatGPT [April Fool's]
Warning: Humor!!! :) In my little April Fool’s video below, I successfully replace both the GM and player roles with ChatGPT, thereby eliminating all the challenges that can make tabletop RPGs so tedious. Enjoy! ;)
Can ChatGPT Write a Complete DCC Adventure?
Following up on my previous video on How to leverage AI for RPGs, I wanted to see if the recently released GPT-4 version of ChatGPT can write a full Dungeon Crawl Classics (DCC) adventure - complete with boxed text, interesting NPCs, unique monsters with stat blocks, puzzles, rumor table, etc. You can see the result of my experiment in the video below: Conclusion Overall, I thought that ChatGPT did impressively well at writing a full DCC adventure, using a format consistent with published modules....
The Paradox of Lore (and why I don't like licensed RPG settings)
In the video above, I talk about what I call “The Paradox of Lore”, as well as my thoughts on licensed settings. Many games and settings come with a lot of lore. This can take different forms: The lore can be included in the core rulebook. It can be dispensed via dedicated source books. It can be included in campaigns. Or, when the game is based on a movie, tv show, or book property, the lore can be implicit, via the source material....
2d6 Ways to Handle Turn Order
Inspired by a recent conversation about initiative and turn order, I felt compelled to record the video above to compare how different systems handle this. Synopsis below. This post is not meant to be an exhaustive list, and I’m sure I’m missing some approaches. I’ll also present a potentially controversial “hot take” at the end of the video. Most, but not all, of the turn order approaches can be split into the following dimensions:...