Saturday Q&A (dec 16)

It's a quiet week again, but not too quiet.  I hope it's that folks are having a merry time among themselves.

OhioHedgehog writes,

Time travel makes my head hurt … but I've enjoyed your discourse.  I undertook your thought experiment for about fifteen seconds.  Was overwhelmed by the options which you've done an admirable job disentangling and pursuing to various lengths.

But my party's break is over and I'm sliding away from theory and back to practice.  So this week's question:  I know you've tinkered using ChatGPT to design some sage study content, as have I.  Are you using the same basic prompt at the outset?  If so, might you share some suggestions as to what's yielded good results and what hasn't?

I tried using it to set up skill challenges for passage through a dangerous stretch of forest.  Was less than pleased with the result even after three permutations.  I've had better success designing a specific quest.  Not using these "in-game" but rather as proof of concept.  Have better results presenting a playable spur of the moment NPC.

Prompt:  All of my TTRPG Non-player characters (NPC) have four characteristics. Occupation (job), Goal (what they want today/this week/this month/this year), and stake (how invested are they in their occupation, goal and attitude?) When I ask you to create a new NPC, I will prompt you with an occupation, you will then provide the four remaining characteristics, tending toward a medieval setting.  For display purposes restate the occupation, then each of the goals with the appropriate stake.  Also let's include a "Monster of the Week" style Bystander type and a short description of what the NPC is doing NOW

Keep it open on the desktop and get a playable NPC that I can roll into the world.

Answer: I tailor my questions for the individual sage study that I want sage abilities for.  Chatgpt better understands 5th edition than AD&D, and has 3rd edition thoroughly in its guts, so I usually ask the system to produce "feats" for me -- but I'll add a caveat like, "do not include any feats based on die rolls, magical applications or that are designed for the characters to use in a dungeon or versus an adventure."  Chat is hopelessly immersed in the d20 system and, if allowed, will propose endless feats that outline what die is to be rolled when, with what modifiers.

I find "NPC characteristics" quite useless when I'm running.  I have four basic reasons for an NPC:  an obstacle the players have to get around; some form of service that can be offered the party; a means to transfer game exposition; or as an ally with their own agenda, whom the players can join with.  The "characteristics" for each can no more be rolled randomly than I could, say, randomly roll four characteristics for Hester Prynne in Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter.  Hester needs to have the characteristics that fit my purpose for her, in the game, at this moment, and not something random.  She needs to be a threat to the party, and therefore motivated to be that, or she needs to have a desire to provide things that the party needs, or she needs to know something the party doesn't, or she needs to befriend the party as a friend, speaking in a manner that encourages the party to trust her.  Thus I don't think in "characteristics" at all -- a terrible bit of non-thinking by Gygax the non-reader and non-writer, who saddled DMs with a belief that "characters" are made of "characteristics."  What nonsense.  Characters are made of purpose, for purpose, and are driven by purpose; once the DM knows what that purpose needs to be, there's no need to roll anything.

A fifth reason might be that NPCs make nice window dressing.  But I don't need them to have characteristics for that.

_____

Thank you.

If readers would like to reply to the above, or wish to ask a question or submit observations like those above, please submit  to my email, alexiss1@telus.net.  If you could, please give the region where you're located (state, province, department, county, whatever) as it humanises your comment.

Feel free to address material on the authentic wiki, my books or any subject related to dungeons & dragons.  I encourage you to initiate subject material of your own, and to address your comment to others writing in this space.