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Hey everybody, it’s been a while since I’ve made an update post, and I have a lot to share this time around. Because, while the stat block generator and the item generator had inline editing, I realized that in order for these tools to truly be of use to dungeon masters, they need to be more than generators — they need to be places where a DM can collaborate with the AI, modify outputs, and maintain a single source of truth for their creations: the settings they develop in the setting generator, the NPCs they build in the NPC generator, and the dungeons they construct in the dungeon generator.

So, after having battled some complexity on the back end, I managed to make something reasonably simple where people can click, edit, and essentially change any piece of information the tool produces. If a line of wording is off, or something needs just a bit of personal input or improvement, that can now be done directly in the interface. These changes have been implemented for the Setting Generator, the NPC Generator and the Dungeon Generator.

That shifts these tools from something that’s an interesting novelty — something that helps game masters brainstorm ideas — into something they can actually return to and reference for their campaigns. And that is really the goal moving forward.

I want to make sure each tool is as useful as possible. And while you’re free to maintain your own notes and your own campaign documents, I’m aiming to create a tool suite that’s useful and comprehensive enough that you can simply return to the site and reference what you’ve already created.

As a more personal update, these apps have shifted from being a side project to becoming my main focus. My contract ended in December, and after thinking about the current job market, the potential of these tools, and the amount of runway I have in savings, I’ve been doubling down on building this out. I’m still open to collaborations or job conversations — especially anything involving gaming or where gaming intersects with AI — but for now this project is my center of gravity.

Also, while this might be of less interest to long-time users, I’ve been more actively promoting the business, and part of that has meant creating a proper landing page — something clean, presentable, and easy to share, whether on Reddit, Facebook, or wherever people talk about their campaigns. The goal was to offer a better overview of everything in one place, a page people can send to friends without having to explain how all the pieces fit together.

As some of you might have noticed, I’ve made a few updates to the most popular app on this site, the D&D 5e stat block generator. These changes include bug fixes, new monster templates for CR14+, and the ability to save statblocks and organize them in folders.

To-Hit Bonus Bugfix

The first changes I’ve made are under the hood, addressing some bugs and technical issues with stat block generation. These include an issue where lower CR creatures didn’t have a to-hit bonus in the stat block. That should be fixed now, but if anybody notices anything different, please let me know.

New Monster Templates for CR14+

The other thing I’ve worked on is creating new monster templates. For the first version of the app, I generified monsters from the SRD to reflect the CR and interesting mechanics of those monsters. A user would choose a CR, and the app would randomly select one of those templates. These templates preserved such things as armor class and damage per round while removing anything specific to a single monster. The app then makes a call to ChatGPT, which adds flavor to the stat block while preserving the template stats.

As I moved up in CR, there were fewer monsters to generify. I used the Dungeon Master’s Guide recommendations for creating a creature, and they turned out very overpowered. Nearly all of my monsters from CR 14 and up were not balanced. I decided that most game masters wouldn’t be creating creatures stronger than CR 14, so I left the task of new template creation for another day. However, as more and more people started using the apps and I started getting paid subscribers, I knew I had to fix this issue. After spending about two weeks creating new stat block templates, I feel reasonably satisfied that the CR 14+ monsters are more balanced.

In addition to creating more balanced monsters I also created more defensive and offensive variants for higher CR creatures. Now “defensive” creatures should have more hit points/higher AC with lower damage per round while “offensive” creatures have lower defensive attributes but higher damage per round.

New Feature! Saving Statblocks

After updating stat block creation, I focused on the ability to save stat blocks. Now, every stat block you create is automatically saved to a folder. If you haven’t created any folders, it will save to an uncategorized folder, and from there you can move it to a folder of your choice. You can name a folder and then move the stat block to that folder.

I’ve also updated the NPC generator, the encounter generator, and the dungeon generator. While these apps could create stat blocks, the only way to save them was by copying the content and exporting it to an external app like Homebrewery, FoundryVTT, or the Improved Initiative app. Now that the stat block generator app saves every generated stat block and also allows for organizing these stat blocks in folders, it only made sense to be able to save stat blocks generated from these other apps so that they can all be viewed in one place on the stat block generation app.

I’m really excited about these improvements and hope they enhance your GMing experience. If you have any feedback or ideas for new apps, please let me know. You can join our community’s Discord here, and people generally contact me through that.

Here it is! https://cros.land/rpg-setting-generator-and-world-building-tool/

One of the main frustrations I’ve had as a game master was running a game in the Feywild, where I had to create every town from scratch. For example, the Elven Enclave in the lands of Summer required me to think of who ran the place, the NPCs the players would meet, the types of conflicts that would arise, and so on. It was rather taxing, and I remember doing that for my entire campaign in the Feywild.

This experience led me to think about creating a world-building tool to complement my growing list of game master tools. This tool would take the lore you’ve already developed and generate a general overview of the city, town, village, space station, planet, or whatever you need. You could then create sub-locations within that location, each with a list of factions and NPCs, which could become quest givers.

I wanted to create a dashboard that would allow a game master to quickly generate and organize this information, making it easier to build sessions without overburdening yourself every time. While you can bring your own creativity to the table, having an outline generated for you is really helpful.

This tool also allows you to copy all the content generated as plain text, hierarchical HTML (with descending h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 tags), or homebrewery markdown. I’m told that the HTML format can be used in Foundry VTT, although I’m not a user, so I’d appreciate confirmation on that. For homebrewery markdown, page breaks can’t be automated, so you’ll need to insert those manually.

I hope you find this tool useful. Any feedback you provide would be wonderful. I still have some ideas for improving this tool, but I’ll probably move on to enhancing the 5e stat block generator tool, which many people are using. I have a lot of ideas to make those stat blocks better and more robust.

Until next time, thank you very much.

The Poisonous Conservatory is a room teeming with vibrant and deadly plant life. The air is thick with the scent of intoxicating pollen, making it hard to focus. Vines hang from the ceiling like menacing serpents, their leaves dripping with a poisonous sap. Strange, otherworldly blossoms bloom in twisted shapes and ominous colors. In the center of the room, a pool of bubbling green liquid surrounded by a ring of thorny plants crackles with a malevolent energy. All around, you see skeletal remains of unfortunate creatures that became trapped in this deadly greenhouse.

After a several-month hiatus (life stuff, you know how it is), I’m super excited to unveil the newest addition to my AI-powered Game Master tools: the Dungeon Generator!

The dungeon room description provided above was all conjured up by this new tool. As always with my new tools it’ll be free for a month and then after that it’ll become exclusive to $5 patrons on my Patreon.

So, what’s this Dungeon Generator all about? First, it crafts an overall summary of your dungeon. This isn’t just a bland description; it includes the current state of affairs, its history, and reasons why adventurers might want to drop by. It also unveils secrets, environmental features, and the lowdown on factions and NPCs in the dungeon.

After generating the summary, you can generate a list of potential dungeon rooms. Each room gets its own detailed write-up, complete with a roster of monsters or NPCs. And here’s the cool part: you can generate detailed stat blocks for each of these characters, merging the functionality of the 5e stat block generator right into the dungeon tool.

Need to grab content quickly? Easy. You can copy individual stat blocks for use in Homebrewery, Foundry VTT, or the Improved Initiative app. Or, go big and copy the entire dungeon summary and room list, including stat blocks, in Homebrewery Markdown. This way, you’re all set to roll out a complete dungeon – well, minus the map (we’re not quite there yet) – but definitely a dungeon rich in narrative and detail.

Stay tuned for more and happy gaming!

After a bit of a summer hiatus, I’ve been delving back into building more AI-powered Game Master tools, such as the NPC generator, the 5th edition stat block generator, and the location generator. These tools are all free and barring any unforeseen jump in API costs I intend to keep them free. However, with the increase in patrons, I felt it would be great to create more patron exclusive tools. First came the bookshelf generator, which can create a list of book titles in any location on the fly. Now, I’ve launched the Lore and Timeline Event Generator. Although it’s meant for patrons, I’ve made it accessible to non-patrons until the end of September. Afterwards it’ll be accessible to $3 patrons.

Features:

1. Specify and Generate: Simply input a person, place, or thing, and choose a year. The tool will prompt you with a variety of event types such as:
   • Good events
   • Bad events
   • Destructive events
   • Mysterious events
2. Receive & Review: Upon clicking ‘generate’, you’re presented with three potential events tailored to your specifications.
3. Timeline View: Once satisfied, you can add these events to a visually engaging timeline. This timeline can be navigated horizontally, resembling a film strip.
4. Summaries: For a quick overview, you can also generate summaries of all the events present in your timeline.
5. Export Options: Whether you’re a fan of homebrewery or you have a personal GM notes system, the tool supports you. Export your timeline and summaries in markdown format for homebrewery compatibility or as plain text for use in any GM notes platform.

The Lore or Timeline Event Generator was created as a solution for the hours of preparation that go into creating immersive lore. Whether you’re looking to craft the intricate history of a homebrewed city, trace the origins of a magical item, or delve deep into the life of an individual character, this tool is designed to streamline your process. Enjoy!