AI and gaming: The fall and rise of amateurism

My submission for the RPG blog carnaval. This month's topic is Good morning, Dave: AI and gaming. 

 

There is a nice little comparison between two organisational structures made in the infamous first chapter of A thousand plateaus by Guattari and Deleuze. They use a lot of examples to illustrate this difference, the most famous one being that between tree-like and rhizome-like organisations. However, for the purposes of my argument I prefer the image of the difference between the fixed point and the line. 

Fixed points are goals, it is result oriented, and it is the way around which a big part of our life is structured. One needs to get specific grades to get a specific degree to get a specific job, make a specific amount of money, get a house, a spouse, etc. And the idea is that, once you have all of this, achieved these goal, got the desired result, that you are successful and thus should be happy. 

I suffer from this mode of thinking a lot. Though money isn't high on my priority list, I value my actions based almost completely on the result I achieved. The performance was fun because the singer managed to hit the note they didn't during rehearsal, the tournament was fun because I fought competently, a game was fun because the players told me they liked it and I didn't notice any skrewups I made while running it. 

Lines in comparison are, mathematically, unending. Lines are not so much the journey - as this still implies a starting point and goal, two fixed points we just happen to be at some point in between - but a directional movement we can follow. Experimentation is a nice concrete example of a line organisation, as there is change without some predefined goal this change is directed towards. 

I wish I could think more in this line-like way, which ironically is a very point-like way to frame that desire. Children are great at lines. They can start drawing, not something in particular, just drawing. Or playing. Or singing. But from a young age only my achievements were celebrated, only my failures punished, there was only ever attention for points, good or bad. Insecurity made me at an realy age begin to cling to the point and abandon the line. 

And I don't think I am alone.  

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One of the coolest things about DIY rpgs is that the production quality of a lot of these projects are higher than the market leaders once they finally get released. There is better lay-out, writing and art in something like Electric Bastionland than the 5e 2014 Players Handbook. Which feels really unique to the hobby. Though I often don't love big budget movies or video games, their bigger budgets are often reflected in the production quality of the product. Good looking CGI and graphics and what not. 

These great works of the hobby, often made by just a few people, righfully get a lot of praise and attention. They are milestone achievements, points to strive towards for anyone aspiring to make and share somerhing themselves. 

Blogs have since I started undergone a similar development. The great posts are nominated for awards, published in nicely layed out booklets, or even get hardcovers dedicated to the best work of a single author. More goals to work towards. 

As a point thinker it felt like the bar for quality content in DIY rpgs was higher than it was for homebrew 5e stuff, and the longer I have hung around here the more that bar seems to have been raised. Or at least that is how it feels to me. 

And I don't think I am alone.  

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Imagine, if you will, someone who thinks they have a good idea. They think others might think it is a good idea as well, so they want to share this result that they are proud of. But looking at the field in which they would like to share this idea they see things that look way better than anything they are able to make or commission. 

There might be some frustration here. This person might lament their lack of skill at designing or art, or their lack of capital both material and social. It might even feel unfair. Those with artistic skill have a leg up in the same way those with money and connections do. If only the playing field could be evened. 

I've seen this person. They exist. And they aren't alone. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This, I feel, is the context in which to place generative AI in rpgs. So often have I seen this technology be praised as the democratisation of creativity. Skill is no longer necessary, ideas will reign supreme. 

It seems to me that these people think they are creative, after all it is still their ideas the program is working from. Arguing about whether or not this counts as creativity or if the product is art is about as useful as discussions about when something counts as cooking and what is or isn't a sandwich. 

To me the main problem isn't with the tool itself, nor with the products created with it (though there are other reasons to critique the way most llms currently function as well as the impact mass produced slop has on our daily lives). The main problem I am interested in is the context, the obsession with points and the increasing unachievability of them that drives some to use tools such as these. 

If I had to give this problem a snappy name I would call it 'the fall of amateurism'. Amateuristic work is something that seems to be no longer tolerated. Even in more casual groups I see more and more that instead of a shitty picture of a character, people use something generated that looks 'better' than they can make themselves. 

But interestingly, in using generative tools like this while chasing these points, amateurism is also rising. Though work is less visibly amateuristic and, assuming these generative tools continue to improve, amateuristic work might become indistinguishable from genuine craft, outsourcing these skills makes one even less proficient in them. We can get an image or a piece of text that looks nicer than what we could have made without the use of generative AI, but we have no idea how it came about. The result is complete alienation from the product we 'made' this way. 

Bernard Stiegler call this loss of knowledge and skill through alienation of the product we make 'proleterasiation'. So lets say, with some tongue in cheek, that it is peasant amateurism that has fallen, but proletarian amateurism has risen through the increased use of generative AI. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now I think this broader contextual issue with the use of AI is a shame. Alienation is miserable and performing labour while alienated from the product of that labour is unfulfilling. In our working lives we might necessarily have to expose ourselves to such conditions merely to survive, but it feels like such a waste to willingly endure that feeling during what should be a leisure activity. 

Though I have never used generative AI for rpg stuff (or much at all in general) I am very much a point thinker who fetishizes the greats. So I hope I will be able to stop chasing and celebrating points as much and instead try to enjoy the hobby as amateuristic craft: unabashedly shitty experiments, following a line to see where it goes. 

 

Posts my mind assocites with this topic:

This post from Dwiz about the OSR as DIY rpgs.

This post from Retired Adventurer, specifically the bit concerning the effect of expectations about what a game should be. 

Magic Shops and Their Alternatives: d6 distilled spirits

My submission for the RPG blog carnaval. This month's topic is Magic Shops and Their Alternatives.

 

 I like the idea of potions being distilled spirits in the broad sense of the word. So drinking them will get you drunk, and causes you to get 'possessed' by the spirit in question. Effects last as long as the buzz does. Here's d6 I though off:

1. Breeze Vodka:

Clear liquid, very low viscosity, smells of ozone, goes down smooth. 

Allows you to fly at the speed of a pleasant breeze. While possessed your body easily loses its shape, as if its made of smoke. Losing your shape completely causes you to loose your identity, effectively killing you. 

2. Blitz Mule:

Cloudy, dark grey liquid, very viscous, smells of summer rain, tastes sour

Allows you to quickly move towards a point you can see. On arival you'll cause a loud bang. Be wary of any grounded metal rods, as their presence causes you to arrive near them instead of your intended destination. 

3. Whisper Wiskey:

Purple liquid, water-like viscosity, smell sends shivers down spine, grassy taste

Allows you to project your voice, making it seem like it comes from any source of your choosing. While possessed you cannot say anything louder than a whisper. 

4. Blaze Palinka:

Amber liquid, wine-like viscosity, smokey, burns as it goes down

Turns your breath into fire once it exits your mouth. Watch your eyebrows. 

5. Absinth Fog:

Milky liquid, creamy viscosity, smells like wet dog, tastes salty

Causes your skin to emit enough fog to completely obscure you from normal vision. Initially quickly, then enough to maintain obscurity. The fog affects you the same as it does any surrounding you. 

6. Masticha Treeherd:

Mossy green liquid, mud-like viscosity, smells like moss, tastes like fallen leaves

Allows you to communicate with plantlife. Plants are surprisingly observant, but take their sweet time when communicating. 

Drunkenness

A swig of spirit will last you a dungeon turn and only gives you a slight buzz. Downing an entire spirit makes it last Ud6 (see Splitting the Overloaded Encounter Die) but causes you to function as if you're tired while it lasts (see Qualitative Harm and Encumbrance).

Mixing spirits 

Whether mixed before drinking, or in the stomach, mixing spirits is usually a bad idea.
All consumed spirits try to possess you, roll d6 for each spirit drank, the highest rolled spirit takes effect, Matching dice cause the spirits to mix, both with each other and with your own spirit. When the effects of the matching spirits subside you become catatonic. An exorcism is required to regain control over your body.

Downtime activity: Recovering from a wound

I like slow recovery, but I don't like HP as anything other than the way they are used in ITO and systems inspired by it. Slow recovery forces moments of downtime, which opens up the possibility for players to invest in the myriad of activities that don't fit in the regular game-play loop of adventure games. See Ben L.'s blogposts on downtime or his little booklet Downtime in Zyan to get an idea of what I mean. 

So why not make recovery a downtime activity in its own right?

Recovering a wound:

Wounds roughly come in three varieties (see this post for more detail): 

• Scrapes and bruises
• Serious wounds
• Lethal injuries

When players don't have access to magical healing, they can spend downtime to recover from these.

Scrapes and bruises

• Don't require dedicated rest (so you can perform a different downtime activity while you recover from these) 
• Don't require supervision of someone skilled in healing
• Take 1 downtime turn to recover 

Serious wounds

• Require dedicated rest
• Cause lasting inconveniance if not supervised by someone skilled in healing. 
• Take 1 succesful downtime recovery action to heal. 

Lethal injuries

• Require dedicated rest
• Always cause lasting inconveniance
• Are deadly if not supervised by someone skilled in healing
• Take 1 succesful downtime recovery action to stabilize.
• Take 1 succesful downtime recovery action when stable to heal. 

Recovery action

For each serious wound and lethal injury roll 2d6 

Modify based on circumstances: -1 if a major factor negatively impacts recovery up to a maximum of -3 (think supply shortages, no access to clean water, etc.), +1 if a major factor aids it up to a maximum of +3 (like a hospital, pressence expert in your ailment, etc.). 

Consult table:

6-: No significant progress

7-9: Standard recovery

10+: Recovery + if wound was suffered in the dungeon gain an adaptation: alter character in some way to reflect the mark the Underworld has made on them (think immunity to regular flames as they bow to the one who mastered them, a venomous bite gained after surviving the toxic of a giant spider, etc.)

Lasting consequences

These are not the same as adaptations, but serious wounds that didn't get the care required (think broken bones that didn't heal right, eyes lost due to infection), or lethal injuries the PC survived (like the loss of a limb, the shattering of a spine). 

Their impact on gameplay should make sense. The shitty leg means you are the slowest among the group when running away, the missing eye means you don't have depth perception and a massive blindspot, missing limbs speak for themselves.

RPG blog carnival retrospective: Promises, oaths and vows

With the begining of a new month a new topic for the RPG Blog Carnival begins as well. It was my pleasure to host last month's carnival, and as host I am still due one post to properly end that topic: The retrospective.

Marineris honeymoon: Mechs

On the blog Carrion Gods aconspiracyofravens describes a neo-fudalist world where biomechs replace knights and coporations join the oldfashioned bloodline nobility and organised pious powers. Goes into detail about campaign ideas, rules for mechs of various sizes, multiple example mech builds with step by step overviews, a whole bunch of additional delta templates, and a pilot GLOG class.

The Boast ability of this pilot class is what ties all of this goodness to the carnival: 

"You can get a point of fame by making a boast, each must be more impressive and audacious. On a failed boast, you replace all your fame with infamy. You can use fame to reroll a social check or critical failure. Infamy does the opposite (dm controls). You may only have one pending boast."

The inherent escalation and raising of stakes that come with this ability are design genius and tempt even me, someone who doesn't really like meta-currencies, to gives something like this a try.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Knight of oaths class

Nrdman over on the r/glog reddit page gives us another great GLOG class: the Knight of Oaths. Each template revolves around taking an oath as well as the consequences for breaking one and instructions on how to redeem yourself. I especially like Honored // Disgraced as it might function as a reputation mechanic on its own:

Honored: You are well regarded amongst the noble houses. You have a contact in every court of man, who will greet you as an honored guest. Guards, soldiers, and the like will assume you have the best of intentions if they can see your face. Flip to disgraced if you are arrested for a crime.

Disgraced: The high courts have spurned you, but there is a court below, the underworld crime lords. Over the next week, you gain contact with every crime organization. They will greet you as one of their contacts, and an exchange is expected. Guards, soldiers, and the like will assume you have the worst of intentions if they can see your face. Flip to honored if you are subject to the due punishment of all your known and outstanding crimes.

An outstanding rendition of the classic Knight if you ask me.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Who hears your oath?

The titular question is exactly the sort of thing I was thinking of when coming up with last month's topic. Xoasseed on Seed of Worlds not only answers most a lot of the questions I ask in the initial prompt, but ties it all together in an understanding of divinity which matches very well with how dieties act in many stories: They may or may not listen as they are in fact very busy. 

Oaths of this kind are easily integrated into local custom, a great way to have your players interact with sacred shrines, divine days and pious pilgrimages. 

The 14 minor gods that the post ends with are a great illustration of what oaths could result both while kept and when broken. 'The hum of harmony' being my favourite of the bunch, as it seems like a great way to tie oaths to hirelings and other NPCs.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To swear upon the mushrooms

Bjork's Blog gives us another post detailing the customs of oath taking: Oaths are taken before 'Saint's Cap' mushrooms, which grow in places that comemmorate a great deed done by individuals who have become enshrined in stories. 

I am really impressed by the marriage of materialism (go to a place where something grows and bring it a gift) and idealism (become a narrative in order to become divine; let people commune with everything). Personally I haven't seen it done like this before, but would love to see more examples of it.

The example shrine to 'Serenata of the Clean Waters' is evocative and really sells me on the premise.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Why isn't every bride a paladin?

Another great question with a bunch of interesting answers is provided by Christian Hendriks on Advantage on Arcana. They break down a bunch of requirements for a satisfying answer and then goes on to provide three potential answers. 

This approach is one I am very fond of and will probably try to adopt more in the future. It makes the nature of the problem very clear and allows readers to quickly spot where they might agree and disagree, not only with the answer but with the formulation of the problem itself. 

For example, I am not as keen on the stipulation that 'A person who makes an oath can become a paladin unwittingly', though I understand the accompanied explanation. This makes evaluating the answers given in the post really easy, as I can see their merit regardless of whether or not I like the explanation myself (though I genuinely do really like the third one). Great stuff!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oaths of dragons and gods

The Sea of Stars gives us a truth bound Empress, always doing what she says, and the interesting ramifications it has her subjects. I like the offhand remark that the killing of the kin of whomever challenges her rule only became a vow to stop dramatic suicides. 

We also get two oaths which survived from before the Empress' reign: oaths upon the Sun and upon the Moon. They are a great way of telling us about lore particular to this world through information that is almost all gameable. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The promises of Joy of Dice

The carnival sparked Joy of Dice from Imagine me this! to write down a setting that revolves entirely around "social bonds, entanglement, and transformation". Four posts brimming with enthusiasm and creativity are explicitly part of the carnival. They are a lot, but I mean that in the best possible way.

A jubilous anouncement post, Join the Carnival, in freefall! , and three inhabitants of that world, the Human, the Fae, and the Demon.

I absolutely love how they have taken the often bland idea of humans being adaptive and turned it up to at least thirteen. From the play-aid: 

You are the mutable race.
You do not cast magic. You build it.
You change the world—and let the world change you.  

Human magic consists of performing rituals, symbolically crafting things, and making vows, which leave their mark in the form of chimerisms. Beautiful. 

This version of Fae is also wonderful. Especially fae courtesy intrigues me: "A forfeit is owed when someone near a fae strays from social or emotional norms." Forfeits can be given when one willingly does this or invoked against their will. This is peak fae-hood, fairy tale logic to the extreme, it is Rumpelstiltskin and Maleficent. Again, gorgeous.

And, as expected at this point, the Demon is pure bliss. A wound in the world given shape as it is understood is by far the coolest version of a demon I have seen. And the bargaining is especially good:

Demons trade not for the gold in the coin, but in metaphysical substance.
They reshape what is offered—turn desire to fire, memory to weapon, soul to contract.
And they need more demons.

I cannot do any of this justice in short summation. If this sounds interesting enough to go read these posts I have done my job, if not then you should still read them as I have done them disservice. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Edit 2: Fuck me, I missed one send directly to me... Sorry Vdonnut

Vows as Social Standing and Social Structure

This post in Vdonnut's Valley details what the function of vows is in a faux medieval context, outlining the classic estates, what vows of nobility to a liege and to their subjects might entail, what vows from subjects to the authorities and/ir the community consist of, and how oathbreakers fit in this equation. 

The way 'magic' is done in this setting is close to what I dream of for my own setting: You swear an oath to a diety/demon/spirit and for as long as they believe you to uphold it you get magical benefits. Break it in their eyes and, if they notice, they will act accordingly. 

Those little caveats are such a brilliant little addition, as they allow for so many interesting situations at the table. From player characters trying to break an oath behind the back of a mystical entity to trying to get such an entity to believe that an enemy of the player characters has broken theirs. So good.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What a wonderful carnival this was. It took some time to write this up as I had postponed digging into some of the longer posts until now, but I am glad I did. 

I am sincere when I say that all of the above is better than I had imagined or could have made myself. Despite this, I will end by pointing out my own contributions to this month's topic:

In Oaths and other divine favours I suggest a system to use for interacting with the divine, including swearing oaths upon them. 

In Replacing charisma: Standing I suggest a system to use for stracking the party's standing with recurring NPCs and the impact breaking promises has on that standing. 

They are perhaps some of the least directly relevant posts of this carnival, but they are what came to mind when trying to engage with the topic so they will have to do.  

Thank you any and all who took the time to read any of this. Hopefully I will see you again on any of the future carnivals.

 Edit 1: Post launch expansion:

 Beguine/Beghard class for OSE and Shadowdark

A final post has been made on Leicester's Rambles by Vance A, detailing a class based on the beguines/beghards, people taking religious vows and often forming communities to live mostly independent. 

I only revently learned about the existence of beguines on a trip I made to the city of Breda (NL), but hadn't yet considered basing a class on them. 

The post goes into some of the details of what beguines/beghards were and makes good on the titular promise with a class for both OSE and Shadowdark. Great stuff! 

Replacing charisma: Standing

The title is a tad provocative. Charisma is often used for stuff I find it perfectly serviceable for, but currently also often used for something I'd rather do differently: how do people you frequently interact with regard you? 

This is after the charms, the first impressions, but not quite the notiriety or reputation that precedes a party as they move about. Both of these are about first impressions, standing is about how that first impression evolves.

Simply put: Standing is a social score used as a modifier when asking for favours of a particular NPC or when a secondary reaction roll to the actions of a group might be rolled. Each notable NPC that the party frequently interacts with but aren't especially close to, has a standing score to represent how they view the party. 

Why the party? Because people care about who you hang out with. If you associate with people committing horrible atrocities it will reflect poorly on you as well, whereas people might ocerlook the fact that you are an elf if you are hanging around with beloved heroes. 

Also bookkeeping. Imagine if each NPC of this kind had a score for each party member. It would be insane. 

This is how it works:

If an NPC interacts with the party on a regular basis, but isn't closely tied to the party, they jave a standing score representing how they regard the party. So these are recurring shopowners, leaders of dungeon factions you frequently deal with, the rival adventuring party, etc. 

Not hirelings, betrotheds or friends, nor strangers, unknown dungeon denizens, or wandering wizards you meet for the first time while on the road. 

Initial standing is determined by the reaction roll and the biases and prejudices of an NPC. Kids from the orphan gang don't like adults, the local smith has a thing for dwarfs, the dungeon merchant doesn't like people who wear hats, etc.

Hostile reaction means you start with standing -3, possibly hostile -1, neutral 0, possibly friendly 1, friendly 3. Subtract or add 2 per relevant bias and/or prejudice as appropriate. Don't double dip though, most people don't really care if you are hanging out with only the one grave robber or if there's two of them in the group. 

If you or any party member does something that offends or pleases the NPC standing changes by 1 accordingly. A good way to lose standing with everyone is breaking promises.

That's right, this was secretly a post for this month's blog carnival all along. Standing is my answer to the question: what happens when PCs break promises?

You use standing as a modifier when you need to roll to see if an NPC can be convinced. I like using reaction rolls for that, but use whatever floats your boat. 

In games where players have a town they use as a home base, I like it if the town responds to whatever the PCs have been up to instead of waiting passively for the PCs to come to them. For that Star's Prison game I keep prepping amd eternally procrastinating getting to a table, I want to use the following for this:

Downtime Reaction:

Between delves players have downtime in a way closely resembling the downtime rules from Downtime in Zyan. But, before they take their downtime actions the GM rolls a downtime reaction as follows:

Randomly determine which NPC's standing you will use. Roll 2d6 and modify with the standing score:

2 or less: Nasty rumor: unless adressed is negatively influences all standing and could escalate to actions against the party. Think on the level of 'They're eating the dogs'. 

3-5: Dampening scepticism: Whether you are trying to boast about an achievement, garner sympathy for a bad experience, or simply try to sell the spoils of your last delve, this NPC can't help but put it into question. Was it really that great/bad/valuable?

6-8: Showing interest: The NPC is interested in the party's latest delve. They claim it isn't for any specific reason, but if players want to pursue it and the GM can think of something that makes sense, it might lead to something. 

9-11: Fabourable impression: The NPC is well disposed to the party and offers them a minor convenience. Something on the level of lending a tool, sharing a meal or selling something on credit. 

12 or more: Invested: For whatever reason, they care. The NPC'll do you a solid, like speak on your behalf, sell at a discount, or walk back something negative they've done prior. 

I'm probably reinventing the wheel with standing, as well as with downtime reactions, so if anyone knows any other ways this has been handled I'd love to hear about it.