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! ;)

April 13, 2023 · 1 min · 35 words · DigitalHobbit

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....

March 26, 2023 · 2 min · 405 words · DigitalHobbit

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....

March 17, 2023 · 14 min · 2822 words · DigitalHobbit

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:...

February 13, 2023 · 17 min · 3529 words · DigitalHobbit

Cortex Prime - Prep and Debrief

I recently ran my first Cortex Prime session. In the video above, I go over how I created my setting, prepared for the session, and debrief on how it went. What attracted me to Cortex Prime? In its 2017 Kickstarter, Cortex Prime described itself as a “Multi-Genre Modular Roleplaying Game”. It’s a new system, based on the rule set from prior Cortex games, such as Marvel Heroic, Leverage, Supernatural, Smallville, Firefly, and others....

January 31, 2023 · 15 min · 3081 words · DigitalHobbit