Co-writing with ChatGPT

[RyanW]

Anyone ever use ChatGPT (or another chatbot) as a writing aid for RPGs?

I ran it over some ideas for my (long back-burnered) steampunk setting, and it's pretty good at throwing noodles at the wall, even if I have to be the one to check for adhesion.

[ericthered]

No. I've been throwing other things at ChatGPT and have not been impressed at all... but maybe its better at textual creativity than some of the more factual tasks I've given it.

[whswhs]

I've asked it for quite other things. It seems about as competent as an average college freshman at doing research and explaining what it comes up with. I can do better than that myself. The only creative task I tried on it was coming up with a superhero team to illustrate a superhero RPG it had sketched; it gave what looked like a decent military squad with superpowers.

[TGLS]

I've toyed around with AIDungeon and Dreamily before all this buzz about ChatGPT came about. AIDungeon was a bit crap, tossing in lots of sex scenes over and over for no reason, but there was one really cool moment in the middle.

I gave Dreamily a bit more time (on account of it starting from the beginning of a story and continuing) and it seemed to have some success getting the tone/format I was going for. Though it does have some issues killing off characters I want alive and treating dead ones as living. Works OK if you're good with dream logic.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by TGLS

I gave Dreamily a bit more time (on account of it starting from the beginning of a story and continuing) and it seemed to have some success getting the tone/format I was going for. Though it does have some issues killing off characters I want alive and treating dead ones as living. Works OK if you're good with dream logic.

I'm currently running a campaign set in a shared realm of dreams. It turns out that I can do dream logic myself . . .

[Embassy of Time]

I posted another thread to get inspiration for a campaign, and someone made a list of funny characters to include. So I tried having ChatGPT make some lists from basic prompts. It's really generic, until pushed, and even then it lacks a lot of creativity. I just now gave it another prompt, and had to alter and push it to not get bland random-table stuff. But it did give me a few bangers. I'll give you some of the hits:

Write a list of ten really weird things that I might find on the shelves at the secret Illuminati shopping mall.

An invisible man in a box
An enchanted typewriter that writes what you think.
An indestructible rubber duck
A psychic carnivorous plant
An undecaying sandwich
A reverse-gravity pencil
A telekinetic banana
A telepathic rock
A probability-altering pencil sharpener
An interdimensional tea kettle.

Mind you, there was a lot of stuff removed to get this (I made seven full lists), and much of it was just word mashing, like "A quantum jellybean" or "A ghostly hamster wheel". I still prefer much of the stuff from Seventh Sanctum, tbh.
I asked it to explain the tea kettle. This was what it gave me:

The interdimensional tea kettle is a strange and unusual item that exists in the secret Illuminati shopping mall. This tea kettle is capable of brewing tea from not only our own dimension, but from other parallel universes as well. When a person uses the tea kettle, they can select which dimension they would like their tea to come from. Each dimension has its own unique blend of tea, with flavors and aromas that are beyond anything that can be found in our world.

The tea kettle is made from a material that is not native to our dimension and its exterior is covered in strange symbols and markings that are said to hold great power. The handle of the kettle is made from a shimmering metal that is cool to the touch, yet always warm to the hand. When the tea kettle is placed on a heat source, the symbols on its surface begin to glow with a soft, ethereal light.

When the tea is ready, the kettle emits a soft, musical note that can be heard throughout the room. As the tea is poured, it glows with a brilliant light that illuminates the area around it. The aroma of the tea fills the room, bringing a sense of calm and peace to those who are near.

The tea brewed by the interdimensional tea kettle is said to have miraculous powers. Those who drink it are said to be able to see beyond the veil of reality, to glimpse the secrets of the universe, and to experience a sense of clarity and enlightenment. Drinking the tea is an experience like no other, and those who have had the privilege of tasting it say that it is a life-changing event.

In conclusion, the interdimensional tea kettle is a mysterious and powerful artifact that exists in the secret Illuminati shopping mall. Its ability to brew tea from other dimensions makes it a true treasure, and a must-have for any tea connoisseur or lover of the unusual.

Not bad, but not something that I would put in Warehous 23 Part II. It's good for ideas, but it still has a way to go to outdo actual authors....