First and foremost, when dealing with AI, there must be a certain caution for what you use it for. While most games are homebrew and are not on the scale of large streaming platforms, you should still try and use local artists when available and it won’t destroy your wallet. But going back to our small-scale adventures, AI can be very useful for casual users who are not ready to spend the extra coin.
Midjourney is an AI generation platform, and AI on this platform is easy for tech-savvy users and even those with little to no experience. This is why it can be so appealing and useful to DMs of any scale to use this platform.
We are going to go on a step-by-step Midjourney to show how easy it can be for one of your campaigns.
Step One: Generating a Prompt
When working with AI tools like Midjourney, I have come to find that being vague starting out always works great, and from there you can come up with more ways to improve on the prompt to make the machine learning understand what you are trying to get out of it.
First in the text box in the discord, type in “/Imagine”, and then enter your prompt!
Step Two: Image Results
The information you give the machine is critical for what results will turn out. A simple prompt like “King in the castle” will provide a lion in every single one of those photos.
Step Three: Fine Tuning Prompt
From here, we know what we don’t want. I will usually try and find the details I want and add them to the prompt, like adding key physical descriptions or poses. The more detail I give Midjourney, the more out of the image I will get, which can usually lead to some unique-looking NPCs.
While many other specifics can go into getting every detail of a prompt down, I find it fun to sometimes just let the machine make what it wants to show, and then work with what the machine gave you. This will help create details/lore of a story that you might have never thought of otherwise.
Step Four: Final Image Results
You may have noticed the grey buttons below most of the generated images in the photos above. These are other tools built into Midjourney that can help provide the best image you’re specifically looking for.
U1-U4 are “Upscaling“, while V1-V4 are “Variations“. Clicking on the button in correspondence with what image you want to modify (images are listed 1-4, reading right to left).
From here you are done! Now you repeat these steps until you get a fantasy-filled AI image. Now that you have an image, creating lore and backstory for this portrait is a must do, and will hopefully lead you to many other creations.
Using AI to Worldbuild and Write Lore
While Midjourney is filled to the brim with ways to create images, when I need some extra help with worldbuilding, ChatGPT is a great crutch to lean on when writing. Just as before, a simple prompt can be typed in its textbox entry and it will then begin to come up with a unique response according to what you wrote in it!
We have the image that we want to use, now the fun of creating a life and background for what you created. When asking ChatGPT something, a helpful hint I have learned is how to structure the wording for AI machines like this. In simple terms, I will write out the fill-in-the-blank sentence that I use to get the best results.
“I want you to act as __ (give it a role)__. I will give you a prompt to work off of. You will use that prompt to help create a ____ (what you want out of the project)___.”
Using this as a basis for how you ask ChatGPT questions really helps understand how it is meant to be used. From that prompt, I can now move forward and fill in the “blanks”. Again I am assigning a role and then basically what I want out of the project, the best results are of course when the role and the project are related to each other in some sense. For example,
“I want you to act as a veteran Dungeons and Dragons Dungeon Master. of 20 years. I will give you a prompt to work off of. You will use that prompt to help create a background/lore/stat block for a human king in red robes.”
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ChatGPT Results (?)
“Ah, a human king in red robes? That’s quite an intriguing character! Let’s flesh out some lore for this majestic ruler.
Background/Lore: In the kingdom of Verlania, nestled among the rolling hills and ancient forests, there ruled a line of sovereigns known for their wisdom and mastery of arcane arts. King Alaric the Resplendent was no exception. Ascending to the throne after his father’s untimely demise, Alaric was a prodigy in the arcane, honing his skills at the Royal Academy of Arcane Studies from a tender age.
Draped in opulent red robes, symbolic of both his command over fire magic and his authority as the ruler, King Alaric was a visionary monarch. His reign brought a golden age to Verlania, fostering prosperity and unity among its people. However, beneath his benevolent facade lay a shrouded past—a past marked by a forbidden pact made in desperation.
Years before his ascent to the throne, Alaric sought forbidden knowledge to save his kingdom from an ancient curse. In his quest for power, he struck a pact with a shadowy entity, binding his fate to the entity’s enigmatic designs. This pact granted him unparalleled arcane might, but at an unfathomable cost—his very soul became entwined with the shadows that lurked beyond the veil of reality.
As years passed, Alaric’s power grew, but so did the weight of his burden. The king, though revered and admired by his subjects, bore the secret of his entanglement with the otherworldly force in silence, haunted by the constant struggle to maintain his humanity against the encroaching darkness.
Statblock:
King Alaric the Resplendent Human Sorcerer
Abilities:
- Arcane Mastery: Proficient in a variety of elemental magics, specializing in fire spells.
- Shadow Pact: Access to unique abilities granted by the dark pact, allowing manipulation of shadows and otherworldly powers.
- Charismatic Leader: Natural charm and charisma, adept at diplomacy and inspiring loyalty.
Weaknesses:
- Vulnerability to the Darkness: Overuse of his dark powers weakens his connection to the mortal realm, endangering his humanity.
- Secret Burden: The weight of the forbidden pact threatens to consume him, and the revelation of his secret could shatter the unity he worked so hard to achieve.
As the king navigates the intricate web of politics, magic, and his inner turmoil, the fate of Verlania hangs in the balance. The burning question remains: Will King Alaric succumb to the shadows that beckon him, or will he find a way to break free from the dark pact while safeguarding his kingdom’s future?”
My Opinion (Bonus Action)
At the end of the day with AI, I honestly like some of it, and some of it I don’t like. Yes, this is amazing technology and I am glad to be around it and get inspired by it. With that, all I can do is feel inspired though, not all of it will look exactly like I want it to. When all you have in a DND game are images of what you think is your world, that you have spent countless hours working on, sometimes those AI-generated ones don’t really help capture the theme.
Just looking at some of the information it spat out, I can instantly tell it was not exactly what I wanted but I can admit it does help give it a solid base. That is why working with artists is the way to go. When working with real-life people, you are not only creating connections but you are helping build a community.
Resources:
Ronny. (2016, December 24). D&D 5E – The Attack Action. Dungeon Master Assistance. https://olddungeonmaster.com/2016/12/13/dd-5e-the-attack-action/
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