Co-writing with ChatGPT

[robertsconley]

Originally Posted by whswhs

My feeling is that using an AI to generate content isn't much different from using a dice rolling system to generate content. For example, you might create a dungeon and roll dice to see if there are creatures in a room, what they are, if they have treasure, what the treasure is, and if the treasure is protected by traps; or you might roll dice to create an imaginary solar system, or to make up an alien race; or you might create superheroes with random rolls. I've experimented with all of those.

My experience with ChapGPT is that it is random tables on steroids.

For example, I have a series of random city encounter tables. These are single tables of 20 to 30 entries each assigned a probability within the table.

Then I have Midkemia Press Cities, which use four to six levels of nested tables to generate it results. Producing a lot more variety than the aforementioned single city encounter tables.

Finally with Chat GPT, I input a basic description of a fantasy city. I can easily get way more varied and nuanced results than I could with Midkemia's tables. With the added bonus I can follow up on anything interesting with requests for more randomly generated details.

Now it is not creative as in humans are. But it is training data is extensive enough to remember thousands of details about life in general and the fantasy genre. So with the right prompts, it far outperforms the current state of the art for RPG random tables.

Moreso, it is capable of being customized via conversational prompts.

The reason for this is that RPG random tables are a method of expressing patterns found in a setting. A shorthand for stating stuff like if you are standing in a certain part of a city at a certain time of the day these are the odds of finding folks doing X, Y, and Z.

ChatGPT excels at finding patterns.

[Embassy of Time]

Originally Posted by robertsconley

My experience with ChapGPT is that it is random tables on steroids.

This, 100%.

Which makes me wonder, could ChatGPT make a set of random tables for something? How would it be asked to do so?

[ericthered]

Ok, I've figured out what chatGPT is best at.

Take that alien race, that planet, that fantasy diety, that whatever you haven't been able to come up with a name for because you're bad at names, and ask chatGPT to come up with 10 names for it.

about 9.5 of these names are crap, but now you're out of your head, and you can see the seeds of good naming ideas, or occasionally you'll just see a good name.

[robertsconley]

Originally Posted by Embassy of Time

This, 100%.

Which makes me wonder, could ChatGPT make a set of random tables for something? How would it be asked to do so?

Yes but you would have to teach it how to generate one.

Using the Classic Traveller RPG rules generate a UWP.
=============================
Sure! To generate a Universal World Profile (UWP) using the Classic Traveller RPG rules, we'll need to determine the following information for a particular world:

Starport: This indicates the quality of the starport facilities and ranges from X (no facilities) to A (excellent facilities).
Rob's Note: followed by a detailed mostly correct explanation of what the UWP codes mean.

=============================
Please roll a UWP for a specific world
=============================
Sure! I'll use the Classic Traveller RPG rules to randomly generate a UWP for a specific world:

2D6 Roll 1 (Starport): 10 (A-class starport)
2D6 Roll 2 (Size): 10 (10,000 km diameter)
2D6 Roll 3 (Atmosphere): 5 (5, standard oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere, contaminated)
2D6 Roll 4 (Hydrographics): 4 (4, 25% surface water)
2D6 Roll 5 (Population): 7 (7, tens of millions of inhabitants)
2D6 Roll 6 (Government): 5 (5, scattered settlements)
2D6 Roll 7 (Law Level): 4 (4, moderate law enforcement)
2D6 Roll 8 (Tech Level): 8 (8, early industrial technology)

The UWP for this world is: A104754-8
=============================
OK you made a mistake please used 2d6-2 to roll the world size. And you do not have to apologize for your mistakes.
=============================
My apologies, thank you for correcting me! Here's a revised UWP using the 2d6-2 roll for size:

2D6 Roll 1 (Starport): 10 (A-class starport)
2D6-2 Roll 2 (Size): 8 (8,000 km diameter)
2D6 Roll 3 (Atmosphere): 5 (5, standard oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere, contaminated)
2D6 Roll 4 (Hydrographics): 4 (4, 25% surface water)
2D6 Roll 5 (Population): 7 (7, tens of millions of inhabitants)
2D6 Roll 6 (Government): 5 (5, scattered settlements)
2D6 Roll 7 (Law Level): 4 (4, moderate law enforcement)
2D6 Roll 8 (Tech Level): 8 (8, early industrial technology)

The UWP for this world is: A084754-8

If I continued this I could have taught it the correct rules and modifiers. What happening here is that I am teaching it the patterns it needs to look for and utilize.

The same way for random tables. You need to see what it knows about making random tables. Then correct it. And finally, after all that you can give it a prompt to create one.

[robertsconley]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Take that alien race, that planet, that fantasy diety, that whatever you haven't been able to come up with a name for because you're bad at names, and ask chatGPT to come up with 10 names for it.

Maybe they succeeded at cloning Ken Hite? ;-)

[Embassy of Time]

Originally Posted by robertsconley

If I continued this I could have taught it the correct rules and modifiers. What happening here is that I am teaching it the patterns it needs to look for and utilize.

Am I understanding you right that you would use existing random tables to give it the idea and then at some point tell it to mae a random table for something? Rather than just asking it to make a random tble from scratch?

I think I am going to experiment with asking it to make random tables when I have a few moments to tinker...!

[robertsconley]

Originally Posted by Embassy of Time

Am I understanding you right that you would use existing random tables to give it the idea and then at some point tell it to mae a random table for something? Rather than just asking it to make a random tble from scratch?

Basically, but be prepared for some out of left field thinking as to the correct series of prompt to get Chat GPT to understand how to create random tables.

Also be prepared to teach it a little about a genre or setting to get random tables that are something else other than bog standard genre tropes. Luckily it knows about several RPGs and various settings.

Although keep in mind Chat GPT is not a reference. It is more like somebody who played Traveller, GURPS a couple of years ago, remembers the general gist but not the specifics. Which is why in my example I had to remind ChatGPT how to roll world size correctly.

Originally Posted by Embassy of Time

I think I am going to experiment with asking it to make random tables when I have a few moments to tinker...!

It has been worthwhile for my work with hex crawl formatted settings. Usually, I use a dozen books filled with random tables as idea generators for when I have to come up with the umpteenth entry for Hex #2924. When with new material doing this for a decade it gets a bit repetitive thus I run into writer's block and slow down.

With Chat GPT that all changed. The wealth of what it has been trained on in conjunction with its understanding of natural language queries means a dozen ideas are never far away.

But there was a learning curve on how to best structure my prompts to get useful results. I am lucky in that because I am working on hexcrawl formatted setting like Blackmarsh. I can easily provide it with enough background information to not only give good general results but also results tailored to what I am working on.

It is also a great first pass editor for grammar and spelling.

I use this prompt for that.

Please edit the following for grammar and spelling. Do not rewrite.

The biggest issue is how much Chat GPT remembers of what I tell it. I had let chat session go on so long that it somehow forgot what I taught it in the earlier parts of the conversation. So one thing I am working on is a condensed version of the standard setup prompts I use.

As a general note, I don't copy and paste the results. I use it pretty exactly like you would use UWP and other Classic Traveller procedurally generated content. As a starting point to inspire me to come up with a more nuanced entry. For that use it is invaluable.

[Embassy of Time]

Originally Posted by robertsconley

I can easily provide it with enough background information.

Do you put that information in the prompt? Doesn't that make it long enough to make it forget the beginning?

[Embassy of Time]

I just did a quick test. It gave surprisingly detailed, and good, answers. It did juuust hit the word limit, though, and I have no idea how many more can be created before repetition sets in hard...

Sure, here's a table of twenty random encounters in a post-apocalyptic fallout bunker city:

Encounter	Description
1	A group of scavengers trying to break into a nearby storage room for supplies. They may be willing to trade for something they need.
2	A pack of mutated rats that have infested one of the lower levels of the bunker. They may attack on sight.
3	A mysterious figure in a gas mask who offers to sell the player rare and valuable items. It's unclear where they obtained these goods.
4	A malfunctioning security bot that has gone rogue and is attacking anyone in sight. The player may need to hack or disable it to get past.
5	A group of survivors who have barricaded themselves in a common area. They are low on food and water and may ask the player for assistance.
6	A group of raiders who are attempting to take control of the bunker. The player may need to fight or negotiate with them to protect the other residents.
7	A scientist who has been conducting experiments on the mutated creatures in the bunker. They may offer the player access to their research in exchange for help gathering specimens.
8	A group of children who have been left alone in a daycare area. They are scared and hungry and may ask the player for help finding their parents or a way out of the bunker.
9	A group of feral ghouls who have taken over a section of the bunker. They are hostile and will attack the player on sight.
10	A survivor who has been bitten by a radioactive creature and is slowly turning into a mutant. They may ask the player to end their suffering before they fully transform.
11	A malfunctioning elevator that is stuck between floors. The player may need to find a way to repair it or find an alternative route.
12	A group of merchants who have set up a trading post in one of the common areas. They may have useful items for sale or be willing to trade for something the player has.
13	A hidden cache of weapons and ammunition that has been left behind by a previous group of survivors. The player may need to solve a puzzle or overcome a trap to access it.
14	A survivor who has been trapped in a storage room for days and is running out of air. The player may need to find a way to open the door and rescue them.
15	A group of survivors who have formed a cult-like religion around a mysterious artifact they found in the bunker. They may ask the player to join their ranks or be sacrificed to their deity.
16	A malfunctioning air filtration system that is causing the air quality in the bunker to rapidly deteriorate. The player may need to find a way to repair it or find a replacement part.
17	A survivor who has become trapped in the ventilation system and is unable to escape. The player may need to navigate a maze of ducts to rescue them.
18	A group of friendly robots that have been reprogrammed to serve as caretakers for the bunker's residents. They may have useful information or be able to help with certain tasks.
19	A survivor who has gone insane from the isolation and radiation exposure. They may attack the player or be in need of psychiatric help.
20	A hidden bunker within the bunker, previously unknown to most of the residents. It may contain valuable resources or secrets about

[robertsconley]

Originally Posted by Embassy of Time

Do you put that information in the prompt? Doesn't that make it long enough to make it forget the beginning?

I haven't gotten any answer to that question other than that each prompt can't be longer than 4,000 tokens. I believe I posted more than that but in separate prompts but it remember. But....

I switched away and reloaded the conversation so that it may be that when you return, it only processes the last 4k tokens.