Little Tip: You also can wait after the staining with a strong coffee and then burn off the unwanted edges. You can leave the edges burnt and even stain it further a bit and it give it a fine look - or just leave it sharply burnt. Put it in the Oven to dry, then spray fineley a whiff of water again over it before "massage". Use thick Paper for better results. Oh, and experiment with "waxxing" the Paper for effects as well. Keep in mind, that goes from "a drop of Way on it for Style-reasons" to using Parrafine or another Oily stuff (use common sense) to make it more durable and hydrophobe, which is not a bad thing among Trolls with Soda and Chips.
Thanks for the video. Btw, I am assuming that by 350 in the oven you meant 350 Fahrenheit? I think, at 350 Celsius the paper would probably catch on fire. The unit should be noted next time to prevent unnecessary accidents.
Tip for you DM, from a journaller. I use brown shoe polish along the margins of previously tea stained (minimum 80 gsm, but I usually use 120 gsm) paper when I make maps. The ink I use is also oil based when I draw on it. I also run the shoe polish on the bottoms of drinking glasses to make ring impressions on the paper. Finally if I have time, pour drops of coffee from a height of the paper and air drying it mimics vintage water marks.
I think the biggest pro tip here was "throw some dice". I've many times felt the overwhelming weight of my lack of creativity as I've stared at a blank page wondering where to start. The idea to just throw dice and let them decide much in the way that they "tell a story" when we play is an excellent idea! This is the core of D&D and I love it!
You don't even need to use soy sauce, the effect comes not from the stain in the liquid, but rather the sugar in the sauce burning off. I dissolve a teaspoon of sugar in hot water, paint that on and then pop it under the grill until it just starts to brown. Lovely results!
I remember for a school project back in middle school I wanted to make a thing on really old looking paper. My mom just took the paper, squirted lemon juice on it, and put it in the oven. It actually looked great and this reminded me of that project. This makes me want to experiment with other kinds of staining.
A note on incomplete maps: if you've ever played the old Thief games, you'll remember that although the levels are sprawling and complex, the maps you get aforehand are simply a few scrawled lines outlining only the most basic information (if you get a map at all). So, to keep things fresh, supply your players with an inaccurate, incomplete map and only reveal the actual dungeon layout bit by bit when they reach something they weren't expecting!
@@maxs-lz4pn Exactly. A beautifully rendered map would fail the verisimilitude test for me under most circumstances (an exception being when it's supposed to be something that a king commissioned from an artist).
You can also do your maps in sections. Maybe they had to run away for a while and couldn't map but then they started mapping again. It has happened to me. Gotta run. Can't map. So some maps that my thieves had looked a little wonky.
I think using shorthand legend art instead of drawing things realistically gives a more realistic impression. And don’t give the info on which is which, so that they know something is there, but not what.
Two amazing results I've had with ChatGPT: 1. Knew what I wanted for elements in the session starting in 30 minutes, but didn't have a "strong start". ChatGPT got me a pretty great start, a minor NPC to help deliver some info, and more descriptive language than I tend to come up with on my own. 2. My players were entering the lair of a grey villain they knew almost nothing about. Part of what I wanted them to see on their way in was rooms with old, failed experiments the "villain" had abandoned. All with the same goal. I asked ChatGPT for snippets from the notes players could find, left in some of the rooms/labs. Then asked GPT to come up with additional research avenues the "villain" may've tried and abandoned, in addition to more note snippets. Took a little back-and-forth and editing, but my goodness, the results were _so_ much better than I would have done on my own. The players were really into them, too. They were torn between the danger of the place, and wanting to visit all the rooms to check them out.
Good video, and remember if your maps suck don't worry about it and just keep improving your art overtime. One mapping method I like to use, is to simulate how people used to draw old timey maps and note things like "here be dragons!" or "wolves lie here." So like a world map as an example, and you draw towns with plenty of space in between and you add landmarks and 1-2 things that you might find in that area, like drawing a grove of trees and maybe putting a picture of a wolf and a silly bandit. This way you can foreshadow to the players what kinds of encounters you could find there based on maybe stories they've heard "off screen."
Fantastic video! Dungeonscrawl is awesome. I whipped a map up really fast using your method but for some mysterious reason the whole table wanted to order Chinese after getting the map.
Literally right after watching this, I wrote out a note from the wizard NPC that my group is trying to save in this dungeon. Went with fish sauce which was slightly stinky lol, but they came out nicely colored! Thanks for the tip Bob! This was super fun and easy!
For a dungeon I recently designed, I had chatgpt generate three riddles and a prophesy. I told it the answers to the riddles and how many words to use. It generated nice little rhyming riddles that were correct and close to the word count. For the prophecy, I told it what the prophesy was about. The result was suitably vague and obscure. It did add an upbeat twist to what was supposed to be prophesy of doom. Overall not bad.
@@lb8384 It was something like "give me a riddle in 25 words or less the answer to which is a cow." The AI chose to arrange its answer as a four line rhyming stanza. When my players encountered these riddles (which happened since my original post about it), they got two of the right off the bat and had a little trouble with the third, but did get it. To me, that makes them perfect D&D puzzles.
Tea bags!!! I used to do this in primary school. Boil the water, dip the tea bag a few times then brush it over the paper. Far better effect 👍🏻 once your happy with coat you can then split the bag and sprinkle the wet leaves over the paper. Once it's all dried brush them off and you get these really cool darker spots. Don't forget to burn a few edges or corners with a lighter too!!
Believe it or not i just tried this last week! I made coffee in my French press, drank it lol, then used the grounds to make a second batch (whereas normally I would toss it), and used that 'bad' coffee for the stain. I use equipment cards for inventory management. I took a stack of index cards, cut them in half, and soaked them in a bowl of coffee for 8 hours. Stacked them on a plate with paper towels between each later and let them dry a day, then wiped the excess particles of with a rag to massage out the paper. Love the result!
I am actually a huge fan of tea staining. I love the different colours you can get (just haven't figured out how to acchieve red, since fruit teas turn blue) and I love that the stains don't come out so dark. I also really enjoy the process, but I have to admit I am patience personified, so I get that that's probably not everyones cup of tea.
@@BobWorldBuilder I was going to tag on more about how I miss physical props while playing online, but then I noticed that that pun was to good to not end the comment on.
@@Josh_Green44 I tried deying paper with hibiscus and got a pale, warm grey colour. Not what I was looking for, but it's a lovely, new colour, so it's still a win.
I had Chat GPT write four letters back and forth between two NPCs. I was then able to touch them up, throw away two of them, and had the players find the other two in separate locations. It really felt like they found some mid-discussion letters and they had questions on what might have been said to elicit the response written. Not giving them the answers allowed them to make up better ones, and I didn't have to ret-con anything to do it. It's also super helpful in populating dungeons. I've asked for random encounter tables for caves, forests, and city scenarios and usually those are good too. Just be sure to mention the average player level and number of players. That has a huge impact!
I was running a call of Cthulhu session and wanted a cheesy info-mercial style ad to introduce the BBEG who was using kitty litter to disperse an eldritch substance. I asked Chat GPT to "write me a pun-filled tv ad that focuses on selling kitty litter" and it got my 99% there. Very helpful for something that I wasn't good at
@@BobWorldBuilder it's honestly a great "writer's block" buster. "tell me why goblins are raiding a farm even though they have plenty of access to food and water" "Write me a campaign hook for D&D 5e that includes an artist turned warrior and their parents are still alive" "who are some fantasy-like characters that people may meet in a bar". Plus you can always refine like, "give me five more" or "make it less silly". If you were to do a video on it, I'd love to see you create a campaign in a setting that you aren't excited about. The title would be something like "can AI convince me to play in a sci-fi campaign?" and you'd use AI to write a campaign structure, design some NPCs, monsters, items, etc. and see if you would actually enjoy running the story. Using a computer to tell a story about computers
Another neat thing I've used: cotton paper. It looks and feels fantastic and really fantasy-like from the get go, especially if you get a color similar to this aged one. I have no experience with aging it because it looked fine as it was for my purposes, but I'm sure you can make it look even better. I haven't tried putting it into my printer because that seemed weird, but allegedly you kan do that according to the product description. I've written letters by hand on it and it looked great, as well as putting some secret stuff in uv color on it.
Does the map smell savory after using soy sauce? 😄 Also a tip for would-be map makers: If you're using an *inkjet printer* adding the coloring after printing will blur and smear the ink (I know from experience, but you might be able to pull it off by slowly and carefully tapping the coloring onto the paper instead of brushing). When I was making maps and coloring them with tea (didn't take that long for me to get a darker color by brewing some really concentrated black tea) I baked the paper, and after it was dry I placed it under a stack of books for a day. After that it was flat enough to fit into the printer and to print on top of the already colored paper. If you have a laser printer you can easily do what Bob did in the video 🙂
Bob...You have such a chill and calming voice, and you seem very enthusiastic. Betting your table top has a excellent vibe and your players really have some great interactions.
I have a few handouts on standby - four journal entries, ripped/carefully cut apart from one piece of paper. Used a short thread and needle to rip pieces of it away as if it was ripped from book bindings. Then I tore some more pieces off, burnt it a little, used one of those electric lighters that have the plasma arc to make some VERY interesting wear details straight through the paper, and then threw it on a tray, soaked it in barely-brewed tea, and I got a nice off-white parchment effect.
ChatGPT is amazing for "I need a dozen village residents" or "I need 5 spooky places" or "I need a fighter subclass for halfling commandos." Rewriting what it gives you is actually fun enough that the problem becomes forcing yourself to stop asking it to make things.
If you're making digital maps for a game, I can't recommend inkarnate enough. You can make gorgeous maps without too much effort, and their community is super helpful if you want to improve your maps.
I love hand outs!! It never fails to add excitement all around the table to hand physical items out! Maps, money, and magic items are the top favorites at my table 😆
Have you tried lemon juice? 5 to 10 minutes at the oven's lowest temperature works (heck I used to do it by holding the paper over the top of a turned on toaster)
I've been using ChatGPT heavily for descriptions, both location and characters. It has a good understanding of what is in 5e and can spit out a few paragraphs based on a few words. I always end up finessing the description a bit, but it makes some of the more mundane description parts easy. Controversial, but maybe time for a video on AI in the TTRPG space?
There's definitely room for it in the space, but understandably still controversial to use for some types of work. If I start using it regularly for something, I'll probably do a dedicated video on it.
Great video Bob. Definitely going to give this a try. I've been doing the tea staining but i like the darker look. One tip is that you can use a big eraser on the printed parts of the map to fade or rub-through areas you want more obscured or extra brittle.
Powdered coffee is also a really great ingredient. It's cheap, you can change how much of it you put in water to change how dark the map will be and you can make it pool to make the result more or less even. Ground coffee is also a good lead. At the end, you can add a finishing touch to the prop by painting watered down white glue on it. A few thin coats allow your map to shine like leather and the ink really pops out. After you let it dry and massage it a bit, the prop even gain a cloth like softness to the way it moves when you handle it.
Player handouts really do enhance the game. Even without aging the paper with stains. I had a quest board with a mix of handwritten or printed quest hooks. My players loved gathering the papers to see what quests they could go on.
I've been watching cartography videos for D&D for a while and finally begun crafting my first continental map for a fantasy book I'm writing! Thanks for helping! For the dungeons on my map I always ask myself "what caused it?" Since It is not D and D but my own brain child, there can be three ways a dungeon grows in power. The first and most prominent is wild and untamed with the second being wild and tamed. These are the most prominent and are closer to labyrinths, magical mines, beast infested woods and monster dens. The final one is by spirit or sentient being homecoming dungeon master. Powerful enough monsters can instead become this type if they are sufficiently strong before pairing with a labyrinth heart.
I recently used chat GPT for D&D for the first time. My players looked for a bunch of books/essays in a library, some of them found some things, and I had Chat GPT make me drafts that I could edit with appropriate names, etc. One of the things I had it write me is a kind of recruitment letter for a cult of Lolth and it did a surprisingly good job, with lots of spooky spider references. I also gave it a draft of a couple paragraphs I wrote it and asked it to make it sound like a hoity toity narcissist wrote it, again to pretty good effect. Definitely saved me at least a couple hours writing stuff for that one session.
I wrote my first campaign ever using a lot of help from ChatGPT. some example uses -suggest some characters the party could meet while in town, with names, occupations and possible side quests -the party just accomplished X, how would Y react to finding out about it? -the part is now at this stage of the adventure, but i need to hook them into lookin in the mines, what would be possible trails leading there? very useful
I found fancy, rough looking paper at a craft shop and used that. I hand drew it, but you could tear it down to size for a printer for convenience and rough edges. Makes it look more historical than old, I think.
Good idea on aging the maps. I cut up paper grocery bags in 8.5 x 11 sheets and print on those. It gives it kind of a leathery feel after you crinkle it up.
I recently did this for a special one-shot adventure I ran for my group. I made a map of the region in which the adventure was taking place. I used strong coffee as my staining liquid, and added to the staining by smudging with a bit of actual dirt. I finished it by coating the map with diluted matte Mod Podge; that had several beneficial effects. It sealed in the staining and smudging effects, it strengthened the paper so it was less prone to tearing, and it gave the paper a vellum-like feel and flexibility. It turned out really nice.
I've been using Google Bard for quick little intros of a place or NPC in my DnD campaign. It's good for the little throwaway stuff that I probably wouldn't bother with if I didn't have the AI chatbot.
thank you so much for this, I recently started a pirate themed campaign and as such I'm 100% certain that I will have to hand out a treasuremap at some point and my players will be thrilled when they are told about some ancient treasuremap and it won't be just an a4 piece of paper fresh of the printer!
Bob, you beautiful man. You have had such a positive impact on my campaign and DM ability. Appreciate your content bud, but this one is especially right up my alley.
Quick follow-up. I'm a commission painter and have a load of homemade acrylic brown wash to age miniatures, dungeon parts, etc. (using proprietary stuff like "Agrax Earthshade" from Games Workshop would be way too expensive). I'm going to give that a shot for the paper aging and follow up here in case that benefits anyone. That said though, soy sauce is genius considering how available and cheap it is. Awesome idea--I had the same poor results with tea.
I just chat GPT to generate custom monster stats for encounters. Still have to do some tweaking here and there, but it saved me a lot of time in getting all of the abilities written down cohesively, especially when I add player classes and subclasses to already establish stat blocks
@@BobWorldBuilder It can be a bit hit or miss in that regard, but it's usually solid enough to work with as a baseline. You can give it a CR, a monster type, a concept, etc. and tell it "make this into a 5e monster stat block." For instance, I told it to make a CR 10 fiend designed specifically to annoy the players and be extremely frustrating. It created a fiend with reasonable stats that could freely move as a reaction without taking opportunity attacks and was able to impose disadvantage on attacks at will. It also told me that it doesn't condone trying to annoy people deliberately, which was funny.
I did a stack of stained pages using almost the same technique. Instead of tea or soy sauce, I used coffee. If you soak the paper in super strong coffee, the pages turn out evenly colored, which is fine for some things, but I wanted splotches of stain. I got that effect by stacking pages in the soak and sprinkling some instant coffee granules between each page. I cooked some of them in the oven at about 200 degrees for 10 minutes and left some out in the sun (I live in AZ) and both turned out amazing.
The soy sauce tip is such a perfect last minute solution! No extra sauce pans, boiling water or messy teabags and coffee grounds. Just put some soy sauce on a sponge and in the oven and my last min spell scroll was ready in sub five minutes!
Using dice rolls to determine rooms. That is amazing. Like a random generator table for the shape of the rooms. Also, yeah, "Cook that map!" does sound like the tagline for a game show ^_^
In return for the awesome info, here's an idea I had to bring out a player's choice in picking the cartographer tool proficiency: 1. Have a dungeon layout map seperately rendered on a printer/A4 sheet of paper. If your player would like to try their hand at the artwork, trace the main elements of the rendering in pencil as if the character made a "quick sketch" that they will refine later. 2. Cut the dungeon layout map by room/area as you would have revealed it using Fog of War. If you want to keep this jigsaw organized at this point, you can stick it down to another sheet with a repositionable glue stick (which will also be useful to keep the flow at the table). 3. Now during game night the party can use room/area specific battle maps to interract with, but each time the cartographer enters a new area, hand them the corresponding piece to stick onto a blank "parchment". This way the dungeon recall is delegated more towards the cartographer who, in turn, is more incentivized to explore the whole area for a completed map.
Nice, I gotta try this out. I've tried tea and coffe before, but like you say: it took for ever! A tip is you can add some spieces (like paprika or that yellow stuff I don't know the english name for) to add interesting splotches in different colors. But be warned; if you do too good a job the players wont want to touch the nasty map =D
This worked excellently! My players loved the look of my map when I did this. The only thing they didn’t like was how much it smelled of soy sauce. Maybe I used too much, or maybe I didn’t give it enough time to air out. Also make sure you don’t leave it in the oven too long. I didn’t but it came close. Got pretty brittle in spots. Only needed a couple minutes. Also the massaging really does help loosen the paper fibers. Overall, this was awesome and I’ll be using this method again! Thank you!!!
To answer your question re ChatGPT. I have used it and it’s fantastic at spitting out words for props. Given most props are more fluff than substance you just need words on a page to make it feel right and only a couple of lines of helpful information for the players. So it’s super easy to get a first draft from the Chat and tweak it to make more sense and ensure your actual plot points are presented correctly. What I adore most is if I have some text already, asking the Chat to remake the paragraph but either increasing or decreasing the word count to match the space I had available on the page.
Who knew Soy Sause, could dye paper so well. Tried this on a few of my maps and that step of baking them really takes it to another level. Thanks for sharing.
3 cheers for Aldi! 😂 Thanks for these tips, they're giving me so many ideas for both adding to, and simplifying, my current campaign! I don't think of using letters, maps, and other tangible clues/props nearly enough. Have a blessed day! 🙏🏻
I also recommend something I found from the free basic rules for old school essentials. You don't make a map for the players and instead one player is "the mapper" who is a player but also draws the maps based off the GM's description. My little brother really likes drawing so I let him be the mapper when trying cairn since it's slightly based off OSE and it made it much more fun.
On Chat GPT, I've given it prompts like "describe a haunted dungeon" or "describe a lord's banquet hall" and told it to use lots of sensory details. I sometimes generate a couple of answers, and then pull out any details I like. I could come up with it on my own, but it can help get me started or save time to work on more interesting things.
I can recommend DungeonScrawl highly. It's very versatile, though you will want to creatively repurpose several of the tools to create other things, as otherwise the things you can draw with it is quite limited. But since each tool is customisable, that's doable.
Even faster aging: instant coffee and then in the microwave. I do recommend not to dry at once though but remove from the microwave, and move the paper so the contact point with the plate is not the same, gives better effect... And you get a summer nice coffee smell on your paper afterwards ;)
Regarding ChatGPT, I have written some messages on my own for my players and then had ChatGPT rewrite it to change the tone. Such as to make a message more mysterious or to add a loving undertone as if from a spouse. It takes a few attempts and updated directions. Then comparing that output to my original I make decisions on what to hand write and give to my players. Another thing I do is say, “rewrite this in 75 words or less” or similar directions to make my writing more concise.
Oh man - Finally, the week has come when we've been planning to play for over a month. I'm definitely going to use this technique. I created a "one-shot" where my players will need to gather clues on how to weaken a vampire, and now, after watching your video, I have ideas on how to make this game night truly memorable. I've been following your work for months, Bob. Just wanted to leave a note here that you have a fan from a small rural town in Brazil. I'll let you know later how my players will react when they see the surprise!
Chat GPT = perfect writing group companion/co-worker. Bounce off ideas. Make it write for you (It's the Computer from Enterprise and you are Geordie LaForge). Great video!!!
I just tried that out literally 10 mins ago and it worked GREAT!!! The paper feels allmost like papyrus which is exactly the result I was hoping for. The only issue was that I drew my map instead of printing so while staining it with soy sauce it washed away a bit and became somewhat blurry and greenish but that's totally ok since it's supposed to be old and through some stuff, bad weather and not stored properly. Plus the map smells great!!! XD
I used ChatGPT to write personal letters to my players from NPCs to congratulate them on joining whatever group they’re a part of now. (Thieves guild, adventures guild, Druid circle etc.) Then I just adjusted the wording or added information and made it rewrite the letter. Then I changed the fonts and copy pasted onto different parchment backgrounds, so each looked like it was written by different people. I also used it to spit out like 20 ideas for possible quests pertaining to the town their in, just for a few ideas for me to use.
I just gave this a shot and I can say that the effect is amazing! I’m definitely going to be doing this multiple times and I can’t wait to see what my players will think of it! One thing I also kinda recommend is to lightly go around the edges with a lighter to give the edge some more depth (and also to cover any patchy tearing). Overall, awesome vid, definitely earned a sub here.
I use chat gtp for a lot of my dm duties. It's really handy to work with as a writing partner. You give it ideas, it makes an outline, you then can feed that outline back to it and have it create an actual core dnd 5e module. Also very handy for character creation. You use the same process to figure out who the pc or npc is and after it's done chat gtp can draw it.
When preparing a location I try to think about three things: People, Places, Things. People for the named foes, guides who knows about the history of the location, or famous people from history that everyone knows about and, wouldn't you know it, this is their lost tomb. Places for the notes and important location features you can find in your dungeon or adventure location. Blood filled pool? Flaming Altar to Mishgar? Boulder trap that's already been triggered? All that stuff. Things for fun smaller features, named treasures, or important links to the location history. Write down three of each, think up a great name and some history that makes it all make sense, and you've got a skeleton for a fun location.
I remember going through a dungeon ( from the old Dragon Magazine ) that a friend ran. Our party decided the best way in was to sneak onto the roof of the place and go in through the highest window we could reach. Ironically, this took us directly to the apex treasure room, which just happened to include a complete map of the place... ...which my halfling thief quietly stashed away and used to surreptitiously guide the party literally everywhere else in the dungeon, solely out of the sake of curiosity. We didn't need to - we'd already started in literally the winner's circle coming in the way we did, but he wasn't about to let on about that. That would be boring. The reaction of the rest of the party when they found out was just too precious. Worth all the dice I was pelted with.
I use Dungeon Scrawl to make the dungeon/cavern, then save it and import it into Power Point. Using Power Point I add text, text boxes, and pointing arrows, etc. to describe what's in each room.
I use ChatGPT extensively. I'll have all of the elements of an encounter or description written out as parameters and tell ChatGPT to turn the outline into a narrative or descriptive piece. I often have to coach it a few times to get what I want. And, I have to take the output and edit it myself a little most of the time. But, overall, it saves me a lot of time. I also use it to generate NPC names and rough backstories for NPCs that are not the main NPCs but adjacent (it helps to have those ready to go JIC). I also use it to help me come up with names for places, magic items, etc. With the right coaching, I have gotten it to give me great options that fit the style of all my other names for places, people, and things.
Awesome content! Love the how to. Gave me some cool ideas! 😊 I've been using a chat gpt client for a few months now. I usually have it confirm the context (a dnd game /setting). Then one Im sure it knows what I'm talking about I feed it the information I want and I the context I'd like it in. You can even ask questions and ask it to elaborate more on certain things.
Ive used Toolbaz to first draft some things for my RPG sessions. It works with mixed results. My favorite mishap was asking for a quest hook in a town, and toolbaz spat out a recursive loop of visiting houses, asking peasants for quests, and the peasants not having any quests.
"Wait, so EXACTLY how much soy sauce do I use??" Recipe here! ▶th-cam.com/video/1C89mIB11B0/w-d-xo.html
💥 Borough Bound: www.patreon.com/boroughbound
Do you have a link for the map making artist you mentioned?
Little Tip: You also can wait after the staining with a strong coffee and then burn off the unwanted edges. You can leave the edges burnt and even stain it further a bit and it give it a fine look - or just leave it sharply burnt.
Put it in the Oven to dry, then spray fineley a whiff of water again over it before "massage".
Use thick Paper for better results.
Oh, and experiment with "waxxing" the Paper for effects as well.
Keep in mind, that goes from "a drop of Way on it for Style-reasons" to using Parrafine or another Oily stuff (use common sense) to make it more durable and hydrophobe, which is not a bad thing among Trolls with Soda and Chips.
Thanks for the video. Btw, I am assuming that by 350 in the oven you meant 350 Fahrenheit? I think, at 350 Celsius the paper would probably catch on fire. The unit should be noted next time to prevent unnecessary accidents.
@@jleewatts4318 No, there isn't. Probably because it's free to use, so no kickback for a referral.
Tip for you DM, from a journaller. I use brown shoe polish along the margins of previously tea stained (minimum 80 gsm, but I usually use 120 gsm) paper when I make maps. The ink I use is also oil based when I draw on it. I also run the shoe polish on the bottoms of drinking glasses to make ring impressions on the paper. Finally if I have time, pour drops of coffee from a height of the paper and air drying it mimics vintage water marks.
I think the biggest pro tip here was "throw some dice".
I've many times felt the overwhelming weight of my lack of creativity as I've stared at a blank page wondering where to start.
The idea to just throw dice and let them decide much in the way that they "tell a story" when we play is an excellent idea!
This is the core of D&D and I love it!
You don't even need to use soy sauce, the effect comes not from the stain in the liquid, but rather the sugar in the sauce burning off. I dissolve a teaspoon of sugar in hot water, paint that on and then pop it under the grill until it just starts to brown. Lovely results!
is it ever sticky or has a smell, or anything that comes off on the hands?
@@jerkq
Stick with tea staining, it's the original and best method for a reason
Caramelize the paper eh? Probably tastes better to the barbarians
@@HLGJammer I mean, I've never eaten it, but it sure smells delicious!
I remember for a school project back in middle school I wanted to make a thing on really old looking paper. My mom just took the paper, squirted lemon juice on it, and put it in the oven. It actually looked great and this reminded me of that project. This makes me want to experiment with other kinds of staining.
A note on incomplete maps: if you've ever played the old Thief games, you'll remember that although the levels are sprawling and complex, the maps you get aforehand are simply a few scrawled lines outlining only the most basic information (if you get a map at all). So, to keep things fresh, supply your players with an inaccurate, incomplete map and only reveal the actual dungeon layout bit by bit when they reach something they weren't expecting!
The worse you are at art, the more realistic your maps will be. Tough, well traveled adventurers probably aren't the best at art either
@@maxs-lz4pn Exactly. A beautifully rendered map would fail the verisimilitude test for me under most circumstances (an exception being when it's supposed to be something that a king commissioned from an artist).
You can also do your maps in sections. Maybe they had to run away for a while and couldn't map but then they started mapping again. It has happened to me. Gotta run. Can't map. So some maps that my thieves had looked a little wonky.
I think using shorthand legend art instead of drawing things realistically gives a more realistic impression. And don’t give the info on which is which, so that they know something is there, but not what.
@@maxs-lz4pn Well: if my job relied on me drawing maps I'd put a bit of effort in learning how to draw them as best as I could. 🤔
INSTANT coffee grounds + hot water in a tub. You can "yellow" it more w/ turmeric.
Ahhh "instant" does sound like it would work fast haha, we don't keep it in the house, but that would be great.
Wait! I have to take a bath now?!? 😮
My players won't stop sniffing the paper
LOL 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Two amazing results I've had with ChatGPT:
1. Knew what I wanted for elements in the session starting in 30 minutes, but didn't have a "strong start". ChatGPT got me a pretty great start, a minor NPC to help deliver some info, and more descriptive language than I tend to come up with on my own.
2. My players were entering the lair of a grey villain they knew almost nothing about. Part of what I wanted them to see on their way in was rooms with old, failed experiments the "villain" had abandoned. All with the same goal. I asked ChatGPT for snippets from the notes players could find, left in some of the rooms/labs. Then asked GPT to come up with additional research avenues the "villain" may've tried and abandoned, in addition to more note snippets. Took a little back-and-forth and editing, but my goodness, the results were _so_ much better than I would have done on my own. The players were really into them, too. They were torn between the danger of the place, and wanting to visit all the rooms to check them out.
I have 0 art ability (or interest) but Bob's brief summary make me think I could almost make a small world map.
But whole vid was great stuff.
You totally can!! And I do really recommend checking out @JPCoovert videos for other guides on mapmaking
Good video, and remember if your maps suck don't worry about it and just keep improving your art overtime. One mapping method I like to use, is to simulate how people used to draw old timey maps and note things like "here be dragons!" or "wolves lie here." So like a world map as an example, and you draw towns with plenty of space in between and you add landmarks and 1-2 things that you might find in that area, like drawing a grove of trees and maybe putting a picture of a wolf and a silly bandit. This way you can foreshadow to the players what kinds of encounters you could find there based on maybe stories they've heard "off screen."
Fantastic video! Dungeonscrawl is awesome. I whipped a map up really fast using your method but for some mysterious reason the whole table wanted to order Chinese after getting the map.
Haha what a strange side effect :P
Literally right after watching this, I wrote out a note from the wizard NPC that my group is trying to save in this dungeon. Went with fish sauce which was slightly stinky lol, but they came out nicely colored! Thanks for the tip Bob! This was super fun and easy!
okay, the smell is really rough! DON'T USE FISH SAUCE!!!
For a dungeon I recently designed, I had chatgpt generate three riddles and a prophesy. I told it the answers to the riddles and how many words to use. It generated nice little rhyming riddles that were correct and close to the word count. For the prophecy, I told it what the prophesy was about. The result was suitably vague and obscure. It did add an upbeat twist to what was supposed to be prophesy of doom. Overall not bad.
It's funny that it added a twist haha, and yeah I imagine that method of giving it the solutions first is the best way to go. Nice!
@@BobWorldBuilderit seems to do that. It’s almost as if it likes to add its own flair or something. Very strange.
what exactly did you type in?
@@lb8384 It was something like "give me a riddle in 25 words or less the answer to which is a cow." The AI chose to arrange its answer as a four line rhyming stanza.
When my players encountered these riddles (which happened since my original post about it), they got two of the right off the bat and had a little trouble with the third, but did get it. To me, that makes them perfect D&D puzzles.
Tea bags!!! I used to do this in primary school. Boil the water, dip the tea bag a few times then brush it over the paper. Far better effect 👍🏻 once your happy with coat you can then split the bag and sprinkle the wet leaves over the paper. Once it's all dried brush them off and you get these really cool darker spots. Don't forget to burn a few edges or corners with a lighter too!!
Woo! Thanks Bob! Love the encouragement. Everyone can draw maps!!!!
Believe it or not i just tried this last week! I made coffee in my French press, drank it lol, then used the grounds to make a second batch (whereas normally I would toss it), and used that 'bad' coffee for the stain.
I use equipment cards for inventory management. I took a stack of index cards, cut them in half, and soaked them in a bowl of coffee for 8 hours. Stacked them on a plate with paper towels between each later and let them dry a day, then wiped the excess particles of with a rag to massage out the paper.
Love the result!
I am actually a huge fan of tea staining. I love the different colours you can get (just haven't figured out how to acchieve red, since fruit teas turn blue) and I love that the stains don't come out so dark. I also really enjoy the process, but I have to admit I am patience personified, so I get that that's probably not everyones cup of tea.
Hibiscus can make a decent red, but beet skins (or beets in general) are the best.
Nice pun at the end haha, but yeah I was looking for a pretty dark color and this was quick and easy!
@@Josh_Green44 Thanks for the tip. I am definitely going to try that. I might actually have some hibiscus lying around.
@@BobWorldBuilder I was going to tag on more about how I miss physical props while playing online, but then I noticed that that pun was to good to not end the comment on.
@@Josh_Green44 I tried deying paper with hibiscus and got a pale, warm grey colour. Not what I was looking for, but it's a lovely, new colour, so it's still a win.
I had Chat GPT write four letters back and forth between two NPCs. I was then able to touch them up, throw away two of them, and had the players find the other two in separate locations. It really felt like they found some mid-discussion letters and they had questions on what might have been said to elicit the response written. Not giving them the answers allowed them to make up better ones, and I didn't have to ret-con anything to do it. It's also super helpful in populating dungeons. I've asked for random encounter tables for caves, forests, and city scenarios and usually those are good too. Just be sure to mention the average player level and number of players. That has a huge impact!
I was running a call of Cthulhu session and wanted a cheesy info-mercial style ad to introduce the BBEG who was using kitty litter to disperse an eldritch substance. I asked Chat GPT to "write me a pun-filled tv ad that focuses on selling kitty litter" and it got my 99% there. Very helpful for something that I wasn't good at
Hahah that sounds like a perfect use for it xD
@@BobWorldBuilder it's honestly a great "writer's block" buster. "tell me why goblins are raiding a farm even though they have plenty of access to food and water" "Write me a campaign hook for D&D 5e that includes an artist turned warrior and their parents are still alive" "who are some fantasy-like characters that people may meet in a bar". Plus you can always refine like, "give me five more" or "make it less silly".
If you were to do a video on it, I'd love to see you create a campaign in a setting that you aren't excited about. The title would be something like "can AI convince me to play in a sci-fi campaign?" and you'd use AI to write a campaign structure, design some NPCs, monsters, items, etc. and see if you would actually enjoy running the story. Using a computer to tell a story about computers
I like you Bob. You have a likable face and you sound very kind.
Another neat thing I've used: cotton paper. It looks and feels fantastic and really fantasy-like from the get go, especially if you get a color similar to this aged one. I have no experience with aging it because it looked fine as it was for my purposes, but I'm sure you can make it look even better. I haven't tried putting it into my printer because that seemed weird, but allegedly you kan do that according to the product description. I've written letters by hand on it and it looked great, as well as putting some secret stuff in uv color on it.
Love this “how to”! Thank you as always for the fun and useful content Bob. 😸
Glad you liked it! This was fun to make!
That's actually a really awesome idea.
THank you!
Nice work! Btw, let me know if you need any props 3D printed. I’ve got ya covered, brother.
Much appreciated! :)
Does the map smell savory after using soy sauce? 😄 Also a tip for would-be map makers: If you're using an *inkjet printer* adding the coloring after printing will blur and smear the ink (I know from experience, but you might be able to pull it off by slowly and carefully tapping the coloring onto the paper instead of brushing). When I was making maps and coloring them with tea (didn't take that long for me to get a darker color by brewing some really concentrated black tea) I baked the paper, and after it was dry I placed it under a stack of books for a day. After that it was flat enough to fit into the printer and to print on top of the already colored paper. If you have a laser printer you can easily do what Bob did in the video 🙂
Oh wow, thanks for the heads-up!
@@maxs-lz4pn No problem! Let me know how it goes if you make a map 🙂
Bob...You have such a chill and calming voice, and you seem very enthusiastic. Betting your table top has a excellent vibe and your players really have some great interactions.
I have a few handouts on standby - four journal entries, ripped/carefully cut apart from one piece of paper. Used a short thread and needle to rip pieces of it away as if it was ripped from book bindings. Then I tore some more pieces off, burnt it a little, used one of those electric lighters that have the plasma arc to make some VERY interesting wear details straight through the paper, and then threw it on a tray, soaked it in barely-brewed tea, and I got a nice off-white parchment effect.
I've followed JP's tutorial in order to make a world map. It worked great!
ChatGPT is amazing for "I need a dozen village residents" or "I need 5 spooky places" or "I need a fighter subclass for halfling commandos." Rewriting what it gives you is actually fun enough that the problem becomes forcing yourself to stop asking it to make things.
Bob: world builder, brewer (as in dnd home*brewer*), rpg parody musician, dice artificer and now cartographer. Is there anything he can't do?
It's like D&D: you can *try to do anything! :D
He can't lick his own elbows... yet.
he can't keep his breath for an hour, i guess?
If you're making digital maps for a game, I can't recommend inkarnate enough. You can make gorgeous maps without too much effort, and their community is super helpful if you want to improve your maps.
Good to know! I tried it wayyyy back, but never stuck with it.
@@BobWorldBuilder It's gotten a lot better in the last 2 years specifically. If you give it another shot, I'd love to see it.
I love hand outs!! It never fails to add excitement all around the table to hand physical items out! Maps, money, and magic items are the top favorites at my table 😆
…although there’s something to be said for the occasional in character letter from someone in their backstory they’ve forgotten about 😁
Have you tried lemon juice? 5 to 10 minutes at the oven's lowest temperature works (heck I used to do it by holding the paper over the top of a turned on toaster)
I haven't tried that ...yet!
Great video! I never would have thought about the soy sauce. (unless there was Dim Sum to go with it). Thanks as always for your positive channel.
Thanks very much! :)
I've been using ChatGPT heavily for descriptions, both location and characters. It has a good understanding of what is in 5e and can spit out a few paragraphs based on a few words. I always end up finessing the description a bit, but it makes some of the more mundane description parts easy. Controversial, but maybe time for a video on AI in the TTRPG space?
There's definitely room for it in the space, but understandably still controversial to use for some types of work. If I start using it regularly for something, I'll probably do a dedicated video on it.
I love using chatgpt for dnd. Such a great help, an amazing timsaver and way to get ideas that I can develop myself. Love it.
chat gps has been my biggest helper for creating my current campaign! :D
Love the soy sauce idea. I hardly use props anymore and this was a big encouragement to get back to it. Thanks.
Thanks! Yeah same, but this is super easy so I'm going to try to do it more often ")
Great video Bob. Definitely going to give this a try. I've been doing the tea staining but i like the darker look. One tip is that you can use a big eraser on the printed parts of the map to fade or rub-through areas you want more obscured or extra brittle.
Powdered coffee is also a really great ingredient.
It's cheap, you can change how much of it you put in water to change how dark the map will be and you can make it pool to make the result more or less even. Ground coffee is also a good lead.
At the end, you can add a finishing touch to the prop by painting watered down white glue on it. A few thin coats allow your map to shine like leather and the ink really pops out. After you let it dry and massage it a bit, the prop even gain a cloth like softness to the way it moves when you handle it.
Player handouts really do enhance the game. Even without aging the paper with stains.
I had a quest board with a mix of handwritten or printed quest hooks. My players loved gathering the papers to see what quests they could go on.
I've been watching cartography videos for D&D for a while and finally begun crafting my first continental map for a fantasy book I'm writing! Thanks for helping! For the dungeons on my map I always ask myself "what caused it?" Since It is not D and D but my own brain child, there can be three ways a dungeon grows in power. The first and most prominent is wild and untamed with the second being wild and tamed. These are the most prominent and are closer to labyrinths, magical mines, beast infested woods and monster dens. The final one is by spirit or sentient being homecoming dungeon master. Powerful enough monsters can instead become this type if they are sufficiently strong before pairing with a labyrinth heart.
I recently used chat GPT for D&D for the first time. My players looked for a bunch of books/essays in a library, some of them found some things, and I had Chat GPT make me drafts that I could edit with appropriate names, etc. One of the things I had it write me is a kind of recruitment letter for a cult of Lolth and it did a surprisingly good job, with lots of spooky spider references. I also gave it a draft of a couple paragraphs I wrote it and asked it to make it sound like a hoity toity narcissist wrote it, again to pretty good effect. Definitely saved me at least a couple hours writing stuff for that one session.
Excellent!
I wrote my first campaign ever using a lot of help from ChatGPT. some example uses
-suggest some characters the party could meet while in town, with names, occupations and possible side quests
-the party just accomplished X, how would Y react to finding out about it?
-the part is now at this stage of the adventure, but i need to hook them into lookin in the mines, what would be possible trails leading there?
very useful
Very interesting! That's a good idea, using it to help craete links from one part of a quest to another
I found fancy, rough looking paper at a craft shop and used that. I hand drew it, but you could tear it down to size for a printer for convenience and rough edges. Makes it look more historical than old, I think.
I'm so excited to try this!
Good idea on aging the maps. I cut up paper grocery bags in 8.5 x 11 sheets and print on those. It gives it kind of a leathery feel after you crinkle it up.
I recently did this for a special one-shot adventure I ran for my group. I made a map of the region in which the adventure was taking place. I used strong coffee as my staining liquid, and added to the staining by smudging with a bit of actual dirt. I finished it by coating the map with diluted matte Mod Podge; that had several beneficial effects. It sealed in the staining and smudging effects, it strengthened the paper so it was less prone to tearing, and it gave the paper a vellum-like feel and flexibility. It turned out really nice.
dungeon scrawl is awesome, i tend ot hand draw my dungeons at first then re-do them in DS
I've been using Google Bard for quick little intros of a place or NPC in my DnD campaign. It's good for the little throwaway stuff that I probably wouldn't bother with if I didn't have the AI chatbot.
Nice! Yeah I agree that so far I'd only be using it for stuff that I would otherwise ignore to save time
thank you so much for this, I recently started a pirate themed campaign and as such I'm 100% certain that I will have to hand out a treasuremap at some point and my players will be thrilled when they are told about some ancient treasuremap and it won't be just an a4 piece of paper fresh of the printer!
Bob, you beautiful man. You have had such a positive impact on my campaign and DM ability. Appreciate your content bud, but this one is especially right up my alley.
Quick follow-up. I'm a commission painter and have a load of homemade acrylic brown wash to age miniatures, dungeon parts, etc. (using proprietary stuff like "Agrax Earthshade" from Games Workshop would be way too expensive). I'm going to give that a shot for the paper aging and follow up here in case that benefits anyone.
That said though, soy sauce is genius considering how available and cheap it is. Awesome idea--I had the same poor results with tea.
Brilliant! And now I want Chinese food...
Thanks prof!
You are the Bob Ross of RPGS. :)
I just chat GPT to generate custom monster stats for encounters. Still have to do some tweaking here and there, but it saved me a lot of time in getting all of the abilities written down cohesively, especially when I add player classes and subclasses to already establish stat blocks
Intersting, does it actually organize things like actions vs reactions appropriately?
@@BobWorldBuilder It can be a bit hit or miss in that regard, but it's usually solid enough to work with as a baseline. You can give it a CR, a monster type, a concept, etc. and tell it "make this into a 5e monster stat block." For instance, I told it to make a CR 10 fiend designed specifically to annoy the players and be extremely frustrating. It created a fiend with reasonable stats that could freely move as a reaction without taking opportunity attacks and was able to impose disadvantage on attacks at will. It also told me that it doesn't condone trying to annoy people deliberately, which was funny.
I did a stack of stained pages using almost the same technique. Instead of tea or soy sauce, I used coffee. If you soak the paper in super strong coffee, the pages turn out evenly colored, which is fine for some things, but I wanted splotches of stain. I got that effect by stacking pages in the soak and sprinkling some instant coffee granules between each page. I cooked some of them in the oven at about 200 degrees for 10 minutes and left some out in the sun (I live in AZ) and both turned out amazing.
This sounds awesome. I'll definitely give this a try !
This is a super fun tut, Bob! You're a natural on camera :)
The soy sauce tip is such a perfect last minute solution! No extra sauce pans, boiling water or messy teabags and coffee grounds. Just put some soy sauce on a sponge and in the oven and my last min spell scroll was ready in sub five minutes!
Using dice rolls to determine rooms. That is amazing. Like a random generator table for the shape of the rooms.
Also, yeah, "Cook that map!" does sound like the tagline for a game show ^_^
Props for making an entertaining and informative video!
In return for the awesome info, here's an idea I had to bring out a player's choice in picking the cartographer tool proficiency:
1. Have a dungeon layout map seperately rendered on a printer/A4 sheet of paper. If your player would like to try their hand at the artwork, trace the main elements of the rendering in pencil as if the character made a "quick sketch" that they will refine later.
2. Cut the dungeon layout map by room/area as you would have revealed it using Fog of War. If you want to keep this jigsaw organized at this point, you can stick it down to another sheet with a repositionable glue stick (which will also be useful to keep the flow at the table).
3. Now during game night the party can use room/area specific battle maps to interract with, but each time the cartographer enters a new area, hand them the corresponding piece to stick onto a blank "parchment". This way the dungeon recall is delegated more towards the cartographer who, in turn, is more incentivized to explore the whole area for a completed map.
Nice, I gotta try this out. I've tried tea and coffe before, but like you say: it took for ever! A tip is you can add some spieces (like paprika or that yellow stuff I don't know the english name for) to add interesting splotches in different colors. But be warned; if you do too good a job the players wont want to touch the nasty map =D
Probably talking about turmeric!
Haha yeah it seems like there are a lot of options for other colors :)
This worked excellently! My players loved the look of my map when I did this. The only thing they didn’t like was how much it smelled of soy sauce. Maybe I used too much, or maybe I didn’t give it enough time to air out. Also make sure you don’t leave it in the oven too long. I didn’t but it came close. Got pretty brittle in spots. Only needed a couple minutes.
Also the massaging really does help loosen the paper fibers. Overall, this was awesome and I’ll be using this method again! Thank you!!!
Thanks for the shout-out!
To answer your question re ChatGPT.
I have used it and it’s fantastic at spitting out words for props. Given most props are more fluff than substance you just need words on a page to make it feel right and only a couple of lines of helpful information for the players. So it’s super easy to get a first draft from the Chat and tweak it to make more sense and ensure your actual plot points are presented correctly.
What I adore most is if I have some text already, asking the Chat to remake the paragraph but either increasing or decreasing the word count to match the space I had available on the page.
I love your little art styles for making those landmarks and these tips. I will use the dice method for my large islands map. Thank you
Who knew Soy Sause, could dye paper so well. Tried this on a few of my maps and that step of baking them really takes it to another level. Thanks for sharing.
So I did this with my kids today. They loved it and it came out so cool. Thanks for making this DIY dude
Love your content, Bob. I, too, am really into map drawing and physical handouts.
3 cheers for Aldi! 😂 Thanks for these tips, they're giving me so many ideas for both adding to, and simplifying, my current campaign! I don't think of using letters, maps, and other tangible clues/props nearly enough.
Have a blessed day! 🙏🏻
Lemon Juice brushed on paper and put in the oven on a low temp (like 350) for a few minutes does an amazing job of aging the paper, canvas, or cloth.
very cool video, definitely inspires me to get back to world making again! thank you, Bob!
I'm a big fan of the Bob Worldbuilder renaissance swordsman facial hair
Since I first saw it in the late 80s, I always loved that Keith Parkinson “North Watch” art that is on the poster on the wall.
awesome video! thank you!!
Glad you enjoyed it! :)
I also recommend something I found from the free basic rules for old school essentials. You don't make a map for the players and instead one player is "the mapper" who is a player but also draws the maps based off the GM's description. My little brother really likes drawing so I let him be the mapper when trying cairn since it's slightly based off OSE and it made it much more fun.
I am legitimately trying this! You make it look so simple!
On Chat GPT, I've given it prompts like "describe a haunted dungeon" or "describe a lord's banquet hall" and told it to use lots of sensory details. I sometimes generate a couple of answers, and then pull out any details I like. I could come up with it on my own, but it can help get me started or save time to work on more interesting things.
I can recommend DungeonScrawl highly. It's very versatile, though you will want to creatively repurpose several of the tools to create other things, as otherwise the things you can draw with it is quite limited. But since each tool is customisable, that's doable.
Even faster aging: instant coffee and then in the microwave. I do recommend not to dry at once though but remove from the microwave, and move the paper so the contact point with the plate is not the same, gives better effect...
And you get a summer nice coffee smell on your paper afterwards ;)
Regarding ChatGPT, I have written some messages on my own for my players and then had ChatGPT rewrite it to change the tone.
Such as to make a message more mysterious or to add a loving undertone as if from a spouse.
It takes a few attempts and updated directions.
Then comparing that output to my original I make decisions on what to hand write and give to my players.
Another thing I do is say, “rewrite this in 75 words or less” or similar directions to make my writing more concise.
Man this is cool. Shame my first in-person d&d group collapsed after one day. Oh well, can't have em all.
Oh man - Finally, the week has come when we've been planning to play for over a month. I'm definitely going to use this technique. I created a "one-shot" where my players will need to gather clues on how to weaken a vampire, and now, after watching your video, I have ideas on how to make this game night truly memorable.
I've been following your work for months, Bob. Just wanted to leave a note here that you have a fan from a small rural town in Brazil.
I'll let you know later how my players will react when they see the surprise!
How did it go
Chat GPT = perfect writing group companion/co-worker. Bounce off ideas. Make it write for you (It's the Computer from Enterprise and you are Geordie LaForge). Great video!!!
I just tried that out literally 10 mins ago and it worked GREAT!!!
The paper feels allmost like papyrus which is exactly the result I was hoping for. The only issue was that I drew my map instead of printing so while staining it with soy sauce it washed away a bit and became somewhat blurry and greenish but that's totally ok since it's supposed to be old and through some stuff, bad weather and not stored properly.
Plus the map smells great!!! XD
I used ChatGPT to write personal letters to my players from NPCs to congratulate them on joining whatever group they’re a part of now. (Thieves guild, adventures guild, Druid circle etc.)
Then I just adjusted the wording or added information and made it rewrite the letter.
Then I changed the fonts and copy pasted onto different parchment backgrounds, so each looked like it was written by different people.
I also used it to spit out like 20 ideas for possible quests pertaining to the town their in, just for a few ideas for me to use.
Dyson Logos' map collection is an absolute treasure trove. Toss a coin to your cartographer!
04:59
I really like how happy the forest is! :)
Ah! The cutest little forest! Look at that smiling canopy!
I just gave this a shot and I can say that the effect is amazing! I’m definitely going to be doing this multiple times and I can’t wait to see what my players will think of it! One thing I also kinda recommend is to lightly go around the edges with a lighter to give the edge some more depth (and also to cover any patchy tearing). Overall, awesome vid, definitely earned a sub here.
I use chat gtp for a lot of my dm duties. It's really handy to work with as a writing partner. You give it ideas, it makes an outline, you then can feed that outline back to it and have it create an actual core dnd 5e module.
Also very handy for character creation. You use the same process to figure out who the pc or npc is and after it's done chat gtp can draw it.
When preparing a location I try to think about three things: People, Places, Things.
People for the named foes, guides who knows about the history of the location, or famous people from history that everyone knows about and, wouldn't you know it, this is their lost tomb.
Places for the notes and important location features you can find in your dungeon or adventure location. Blood filled pool? Flaming Altar to Mishgar? Boulder trap that's already been triggered? All that stuff.
Things for fun smaller features, named treasures, or important links to the location history.
Write down three of each, think up a great name and some history that makes it all make sense, and you've got a skeleton for a fun location.
I remember going through a dungeon ( from the old Dragon Magazine ) that a friend ran. Our party decided the best way in was to sneak onto the roof of the place and go in through the highest window we could reach. Ironically, this took us directly to the apex treasure room, which just happened to include a complete map of the place...
...which my halfling thief quietly stashed away and used to surreptitiously guide the party literally everywhere else in the dungeon, solely out of the sake of curiosity. We didn't need to - we'd already started in literally the winner's circle coming in the way we did, but he wasn't about to let on about that. That would be boring.
The reaction of the rest of the party when they found out was just too precious. Worth all the dice I was pelted with.
First?? And map making collab in the future? I'd like to kick it up a notch to make it like the goodies pirate map ❤
Woo! Go for it!
for some variation in the color you can sprinkle a little instant coffe powder while than paper is wet, it'll add some stains.
I use Dungeon Scrawl to make the dungeon/cavern, then save it and import it into Power Point. Using Power Point I add text, text boxes, and pointing arrows, etc. to describe what's in each room.
I use ChatGPT extensively. I'll have all of the elements of an encounter or description written out as parameters and tell ChatGPT to turn the outline into a narrative or descriptive piece. I often have to coach it a few times to get what I want. And, I have to take the output and edit it myself a little most of the time. But, overall, it saves me a lot of time. I also use it to generate NPC names and rough backstories for NPCs that are not the main NPCs but adjacent (it helps to have those ready to go JIC). I also use it to help me come up with names for places, magic items, etc. With the right coaching, I have gotten it to give me great options that fit the style of all my other names for places, people, and things.
Awesome content! Love the how to. Gave me some cool ideas! 😊
I've been using a chat gpt client for a few months now. I usually have it confirm the context (a dnd game /setting). Then one Im sure it knows what I'm talking about I feed it the information I want and I the context I'd like it in. You can even ask questions and ask it to elaborate more on certain things.
That draw around the dice trick is insane
Everybody loves props. One of them ones I like is a bunch of old keys on a big old keyring. Yard sales are your friend.
Ive used Toolbaz to first draft some things for my RPG sessions. It works with mixed results. My favorite mishap was asking for a quest hook in a town, and toolbaz spat out a recursive loop of visiting houses, asking peasants for quests, and the peasants not having any quests.