If you, like me, want to play more Tabletop Role-Playing Games (TTRPGs) then there is a perfect AI tool, especially if you plan to take the role of Dungeon Master.
I recently went to see Alien Romulus and loved it, so much so that I wanted to get back into the universe in any way I could. One of the best experiences with the universe I've found is the Alien TTRPG. I found the game to be immersive and my last campaign was a roller coaster of immersion and enjoyment, even when a Xenomorph rugby tackled me out of the dropship my party was escaping in.
However, planning and playing a TTRPG can be stressful, and running one as the DM is even more so. There is so much that goes into crafting an adventure that it can be a real-time synch that turns a lot of people off. However, that is where LoreKeeper comes in, and for the time I’ve been playing with it, I’ve found it to be a real game-changer even while it is still in beta.
What is LoreKeeper?
The first question to answer is what LoreKeeper actually is, thankfully I had the chance to speak with two of the developers, Ali and David, about LoreKeeper and what it can do for aspiring Dungeon Masters. When asked to describe it David had this to say, “Lorekeeper is a system that allows you to upload your own rules, your gods, your monsters, your homebrew, whatever it might be, your own little world and then you can essentially make an AI, a private AI out of it that you can interrogate basically.”
LoreKeeper serves as the perfect tool for any DM, it can craft adventures and characters with ease and even responds to player character questions. LoreKeeper takes away a lot of the stress of being a DM regardless of what game they are playing. It can even help to craft your own homebrew and streamline the entire process.
However, the AI is focused on helping the DM, rather than replacing them, which was important for the developers. David stated “We believe that the game is the game,” then said, “It’s about being together with people and talking and making silly voices and not trying to take away from that, but being an aide because a lot of the weight of it goes on dungeon master.” Lorekeeper is designed to make the DM’s life easier and helps to avoid hours of prep, making it much easier to start a game.
However, the real question for any budding or experienced DM will be how well the actual experience of using LoreKeeper is, and if it can really do all that is promised. I had the chance to try out the current Beta thanks to LoreKeeper, which included several prebuilt game systems. One among them was the Alien RPG, which is what I will be focusing on.
How LoreKeeper helps you craft a campaign
I decided to go with Alien because I love the series, and the recent movie has piqued my interest. As such, I wanted to see if I could use the AI to craft a deep journey that I could adapt and change around what my players did. As such I asked it to write an adventure where Weyland Yutani sealed a hab-block after placing several Xenomorph eggs inside. This block would be filled with characters from different backgrounds, including the player characters. This simple description was the basis for “The Hive Within," which was the AI-generated title.
Firstly, LoreKeeper could not be easier to use when it's all set up. All you need to do is ask a question or request a scenario. You can be as detailed as you want to be regarding what you want in the story and location, and Lorekeeper will craft a detailed adventure. In this instance, it created three acts, some example characters and even sample encounters. This is a great base for a DM to start a game with and gives a good framework for the players to work around. However, LoreKeeper can go even further.
Let’s say I want to add in a new villain or event, all I need to do is ask the AI to include it in the current plot. LoreKeeper will then rewrite the initial scenario with the new parameters while keeping the base story. It means that the DM can easily add changes on the fly without having to suddenly rewrite everything and leave players waiting for weeks. If you have played a TTRPG then you will have experienced this, I know I have.
In my last Dungeons & Dragons campaign I made the mistake of blowing up a warehouse. On its own, this wouldn't be an issue, but this warehouse also included vital plot points and was a crucial Centrepoint for the entire campaign. Now, to be fair to my DM, the chance of my fireball blowing up this warehouse was something like 1 out of a hundred but this action completely derailed the campaign. It meant that the poor dungeon master had to essentially rewrite the entire campaign which takes a lot of time. However, with LoreKeeper this takes mere moments as all the DM will need to do is tell the AI to adapt the plot to account for this.
LoreKeeper can do more than just write a campaign, it can write dialogue as well. So, for instance, I added a Weyland Yutani scientist to “The Hive Within” and mentioned his obsession with the Xenomorphs. I could even ask the AI to write a speech for him with a few notes from myself about the character's personality, the speech that Lorekeeper created is as follows,
“Ah, there you are, my little lab rats. Welcome to the grand experiment. I am Dr. Victor Lang, your overseer and the architect of this beautiful chaos. You see, my dear Xenomorphs, these humans are here to serve a higher purpose. They are the vessels for your perfection, the stepping stones in the grand design of evolution. "Humans, consider yourselves honored. You get to host the ultimate lifeform. Painful? Yes. Necessary? Absolutely. Your suffering is but a small price for the birth of perfection. So, scurry along, try to survive if you can. Every move you make, every scream you utter, I will be watching. Learning. Enjoy your fleeting moments. Welcome to your destiny and the future of life itself."
As you can see, this is a great baseline for the DM to work with and add their own spin to, especially if they want to stretch their voice-acting skills. There is no doubt that writing dialogue is one of the trickier skills, so including it is a big win for any DM.
Is LoreKeeper the tool for you
Overall, I found LoreKeeper to be great, it certainly made my life easier although I will say that having to pay for credits could be a bit of a turn-off for some. However, if you play a lot of tabletop games then this is certainly a great tool to save time and add some new twists. Also, I should mention that LoreKeeper will still require you to buy the accompanying books for the main game systems, so you will have to own those to get the best use out of LoreKeeper. It can also be a bit complicated to get started, but thankfully there is a helpful Discord where users and the developers are happy to offer a helping hand.
I also love how many game systems you can set up in LoreKeeper, for instance, I got to craft a campaign in Imerpium Maledictum, a game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, where the entire party was Orks pretending to be human. The addition of being able to add homebrews is another fantastic one, and opens LoreKeeper up to people who might not play games, but perhaps want to write novels or scripts and need a place to bounce ideas.
While there is no free plan you can purchase credits for between $5, $10 or $15 and use what you need. Alternatively, you can pay a monthly subscription which is set as tiers, and could cost either $10, $20 or $50 and offers credits and unlimited uploads for your worlds, with the amount you can upload being limited by which tier you select. While it is a bit pricey you could split the cost with your whole gaming group and it's still cheaper than renting a space to play every month.
So, if you’re looking to speed up and improve your DMing, craft some interesting adventures or plot out a world for that Fantasy novel you’ve been working on then LoreKeeper is a great place to start.
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