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Introducing the AI Powered Dungeon Generator!

January 18, 2024 by Kenji Leave a Comment

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!

Introducing the AI-Powered Lore & Timeline Event Generator for Game Masters

August 31, 2023 by Kenji Leave a Comment

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:

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
Receive & Review: Upon clicking ‘generate’, you’re presented with three potential events tailored to your specifications.
Timeline View: Once satisfied, you can add these events to a visually engaging timeline. This timeline can be navigated horizontally, resembling a film strip.
Summaries: For a quick overview, you can also generate summaries of all the events present in your timeline.
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!

Introducing the RPG Bookshelf Generator for Game Masters

July 16, 2023 by Kenji Leave a Comment

Who knows what books and secrets your players may find!

I’ve been busy working on some AI-powered Game Master tools, some of which will eventually become exclusive to our patrons. The first of these tools is the Bookshelf Generator, a concept that was proposed by one of my users on our AI Game Master Tools discord server. This user mentioned that a particular PC in their group always had a penchant for investigating bookshelves, with the aim to perhaps find some hidden lore. This GM often found it challenging to have in depth material prepared for every bookshelf, however and suggested a tool that could generate a list of book titles as well as a description of the contents within. This seemed pretty straightforward to make, so I went ahead and created it.

This tool enables you to not only input a setting—be it a generic RPG setting like Dungeons and Dragons, specific realms within those worlds like Forgotten Realms, Waterdeep, or Baldur’s Gate, or other game worlds like Night City from Cyberpunk 2077, the Ninth World from Numenera, or Rokugan from Legend of the Five Rings—but also specify the exact location of the bookshelf. Whether it’s in the study of an eccentric wizard or the waiting room of a ripperdoc clinic.

Finally, the Bookshelf Generator presents an optional field where you can input unique genres that may not be typically found in that location. Perhaps it’s a collection of cookbooks in a wizard’s tower or romance novels in a town master’s office.

The tool then generates an appropriate list of book titles. From there, you can choose to generate more specific details about the title, including the author name, author Background, physical description of the book, a summary of the book and a book excerpt. Finally, each book has a potential hidden secret that players may uncover if they pass the appropriate check. I’ve aimed for this tool to be system-agnostic, with checks ranging from easy to very hard and corresponding to generic skills you can align with the system you’re using.

The Bookshelf Generator will be freely accessible until the end of August. Afterward, it will become exclusive to patrons at the $3 tier.

I welcome any questions or feedback about this new tool—I’m excited to hear what you think. Happy bookshelf exploring!

Introducing the 5e Monster Statblock Generator, Powered By ChatGPT

June 12, 2023 by Kenji Leave a Comment

After many months of hard work, I’m thrilled to announce the launch of a ChatGPT API-powered statblock generator. This app uses the chat GPT API to create monster statblocks for D&D 5th edition. Tackling this project was a unique challenge. While ChatGPT can craft a reasonably convincing stat block, the balance often falls short. To address this, I scoured the SRD for a wide range of monsters, stripping them down to their basic mechanics. This process allowed ChatGPT to utilize the underlying CR mechanics while adding the necessary flavor.

Recognizing the diversity in stat blocks, I’ve included options for stronger defense, balanced monsters, and those with heightened offense. This caters to the varied CR dynamics, whether defensively or offensively inclined.

The final touch? Once a creature is generated, you can export the stat block to Homebrewery Markdown, Foundry VTT, or the Improved Initiative app. This ensures compatibility with several popular platforms.

I’m committed to keeping this tool free for as long as possible. For those who’d like to support this venture and offset my API costs, joining my Patreon is always appreciated. Thanks a ton!

“Nash Vegas” | My 1 month review of Nashville

October 3, 2022 by Kenji Leave a Comment

Serpy the Wombat takes in the view of the Parthenon at Centennial Park in Nashville | Who is Serpy?

This is the seventh and last in a series of seven articles about my 9 month trip through the Southern US.

Thoughts about Nashville after a month of living there.

“New” Nashville

Of all the cities I have visited on my trip through the South, I’m convinced that no city has changed as much in recent years as Nashville.

As a visitor to the city, I had done some casual internet research and the phrase “New Nashville” kept popping up. And while I had chalked this newness up to its booming population and gentrification–something that’s happening in all the cities I visited, I don’t think I realized how these forces had truly transformed Nashville. Even after having lived in Seattle the last 12 years and witnessing firsthand the transformation of that city into a yuppie playground, I still wouldn’t call it “New Seattle”. Seattle is still Seattle, in spite of the changes. Nashville, as far as I can tell, is no longer Nashville.

So what about Nashville has changed so much that we’re calling it “New”? I wanted to get a frame of reference and so I watched Robert Altman’s film Nashville (1975) and it seemed like a smaller, more intimate city. It was a place where you might see big country stars at a local dive bar and seemed to have a lot of that grit that Memphis still has today. Today Nashville seems much more polished and cosmopolitan than it was in the past. And that “down home country” vibe that I saw in that old movie seems like a caricature of itself now–a manufactured marketing ploy.

Image of some surreal street art — Some rather

So it isn’t surprising that “Nash Vegas” as it’s sometimes called, has grown into a Disneyfied theme park version of the city it once was, even to the extent that it’s apparently become the bachelorette party capital of the US. Mainstays like the Ryman Auditorium and the Grand Ol’ Opry are still there, and you can go and seem some truly ancient country musicians playing the same music they had since the 50’s. These tidbits of Old Nashville, seem ossified, however. They’re not really a part of the city any more. It reminds me of a giant and grossly opulent golden temple built around the rotted teeth of some saint.

The small area downtown that constitutes “Nash Vegas” aside, Nashville just seems like another yuppie town that has a serious problem with gentrification. I mean, when you push enough of the original residents out of your city so that those who where born and raised there are called “unicorns” you know that the soul of the city has left and has been replaced by something entirely new.

Humid Soup full of Cars

Bridge with the word "Moist" in large ornate letters Graffitied on the side

When I visited Nashville I had some back and spine issues (daily pilates classes fixed that, thankfully) so I didn’t get out as much as I had compared to the other cities I had visited. On top of that, I had already decided to choose San Antonio as the place where I was going to live even before arriving in Nashville, so I didn’t feel as motivated to explore this city as thoroughly as I had others.

Also, Nashville in June was a thick and humid soup, and even a walk to my car drained me of all vitality. Nashville isn’t a very walkable city and you need to drive to go just about anywhere. Even when I went for a run I had to drive 10 minutes just to find a good running path from where I was.
So while I hadn’t explored Nashville extensively, I feel like I saw enough to get a good feel for the place. Overall, it seemed like a city that had grown so fast it forgot who it was.

I give Nashville, TN 2.5 stars.

Gallery

Gallery of additional pics I took in Nashville. Click to large

House with very large cactus obscuring the front of ti — Strange boat-like structure near Shelby Park

Nashville home with unique lawn decor — Strange boat-like structure near Shelby Park

Previous Stop: Memphis

Grit and grind | My 1 month review of Memphis

October 3, 2022 by Kenji Leave a Comment

Serpy the Wombat checks out the Great Bass Pro shop pyramid in Memphis | Who is Serpy?

This is the sixth in a series of seven articles about my 9 month trip through the Southern US.

Thoughts about Memphis, TN after living there for a month:

Wide Build

Those familiar with computer strategy games will generally talk about two ways to build: wide or tall. And as a city, Memphis has gone wide.

When it comes to cities, wide builds are more spread out. There might be a city center but it’s generally pretty small and sometimes ill defined. Wide builds will have a lot of suburbs, and as a result of this, having a car is generally a necessity to get anywhere. This is probably one of the reasons why (in addition to the poverty) that housing in Memphis is very cheap. Any particular house in Memphis will go for nearly 500K cheaper to a comparable home in Seattle.

On the other hand, tall builds will generally be more compact, have efficient public transportation, and have centrally located apartments around which there are a variety of cafes, restaurants, and bars in walking distance. It’s a bit more busy and a bit more noisy, but there’s usually always something interesting going on within a 10 minute walk from where you live.
As you might have guessed, I much prefer the tall build when it comes to cities, and everything in Memphis is far too spread out for me. Yes, there are some pockets of interesting culture and nightlife, but they’re tiny and often barely fill an intersection.

Even the famous Beale Street with the soft glow of the vintage neon lights advertising honkytonks and BBQ joints only extends for a few blocks and because it’s hard to find a place to live anywhere near it, my guess is that most of the people you see there are those who are ubering in or who happen to be staying at a nearby hotel.

The Weather

Memphis is smotheringly humid, with the occasional thunderstorm thrown in. No thanks.

Music City

Statue of Johnny Cash standing in front of the Church where he made his first performance

Judging by the impressive list of musicians that Memphis has produced from Elvis to Johnny Cash to BB King to Aretha Franklin, it’s certainly earned the name “Music City”.

And they won’t let you forget it. From the many local spots that take great pride in saying “Elvis ate a burger here once”, to the statue of Johnny Cash in front of the church where he first performed, to the rather humble sized Full Gospel Tabernacle Church run by pastor Al Green (yes that Al Green), walking through this city is like mainlining nostalgia for music nerds. Oh yeah, and my Airbnb had a 3 foot decal of the King to watch over me in my sleep.

In addition to this are the innumerable music venues that have a live band playing most nights if you like that sort of thing. Given that the city is so spread out though you’ll likely need to be driving or find an uber to get there. As someone who has a casual interest in going to these sorts of places, I probably wouldn’t end up going to many.

Grit and Grind

A local bartender told me that the city’s unofficial motto is “grit and grind” which I later found out originated from the days when the Memphis Grizzlies basketball team didn’t have any star players, but they did the best with what they had–perhaps more than anyone could reasonably expect.

The motto feels like a good fit for Memphis–at least when it comes to all the grit. The grit is in the busted up roads, crumbling infrastructure, and decaying apartment buildings. It’s in the impoverished and segregated neighborhoods. It’s in the orange-brown asphalt streets lined with strip malls. And it’s in the boarded-up buildings in the silent and deserted neighborhoods outside of downtown.

A lot of memphis is brown asphalt, stripmalls and chain restaurants

To “grind” is to make small gains and to tenaciously hold on to those gains. It’s about playing hard defense, and not to risk anything on flashy moves. It’s acknowledging that life in Memphis is hard, but that we’re making the most of it here.

To “grind” also means to work hard. And since Tenessee is in a right to work state, you kind of have to. Due to the cheap labor that Memphis offers, the town has attracted a lot of companies in the shipping and logistics industries. FedEx makes it home here, and even built a stadium where those grit and grind grizzlies play.

And yet, in spite of all of this industry–which one would expect would lead to greater prosperity among its people, Memphis is still one of the poorest cities in the country, with 29% of the population below the poverty line.

And you can see it in the neighborhoods. They aren’t “grinding”, but they are being “ground down”. Ground down by years of just barely making ends meet. Even in the less impoverished parts of town I couldn’t help shake the vibe of the resignation that results from years of frustration.

Condemned buildings in Memphis were a common sight

In 1968, 1300 black men working in the Memphis sanitation department went on strike after 2 of them were crushed by faulty machinery. This event crystalized the fact that the city barely enforced safety standards for its sanitation workers and it was the last straw to be added to a list of other indignities like having to live on welfare in spite of being forced to take on late night shifts without overtime.

On April 3rd of that year, Martin Luther King went to Memphis to deliver his “I’ve been to the Mountaintop” speech in support of the workers.

The next morning, Martin Luther King was assassinated at the Lorraine motel.

The demonstrations that came in the wake of this shocking event eventually forced the city to come to the table and sign an agreement with the sanitation workers. And yet, workers in Memphis still struggle to have their voice heard.

Political and Racial Tensions

“Black Lives Matter” crosswalk near Overton Square in Memphis

Memphis is now a majority black city but for most of its history it wasn’t, and politics in this town are divided strictly on racial lines. If that isn’t a source of tension, I don’t know what is.
I can only imagine the resentment that the local Trump supporters, whose grandparents once owned this town and were openly racist must feel now that the city has changed so much demographically and politically.

A bumper sticker that reads “another bright blue dot in a really red state”

As a half-Asian, I’m rarely conscious about my ethnic background, but in Memphis I felt acutely conscious of it. Never in any of the major southern cities that I had visited did I feel that I was being watched, but here in Memphis I did. It was in sidelong glances at the grocery store so fleeting that it was hard not to them chalk up to my imagination, but I felt a real discomfort here, especially in the predominately white areas.

The Black people I met, however, were quite welcoming and friendly even though I was a visitor. It was great to feel included there, especially because there were other places where I didn’t. This is a place where you truly “wear your race on a sleeve” as Memphis native and sociologist Zandria Robinson says. I couldn’t agree more.

I don’t really want to live in place where I have to do that though.

I give Memphis, TN 1.5 stars.