For this assignment I made a podcast going about Dungeons and Dragons and other tabletop role-playing games and how more and more people are using digital mediums to play them.

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Transcript

“Hello and welcome back to Big Bad Evil Podcast, I as always am your host Aiden D’Antuono and today for our first episode we’ve got a great discussion on how the internet influences how we play Dungeons and Dragons and other tabletop roleplaying games. So let’s get started and roll for initiative.

So when we think of a game of D&D, Pathfinder, Call of Cthulhu or any other Tabletop Roleplaying Games, I think the image most people think of is a group of friends gathered around a table, dice in hand, with little or not so little painted miniatures battling it out. It’s the stereotypical idea of a TTRPG session but how accurate is this stereotype in the present day?

Well it might not be as accurate as you think, according to a study undertaken by Wizards of the Coast, the current publisher of Dungeons and Dragons, 60 percent of its players play both in-person and online. And that figure doesn’t even include the percentage of groups that only play online.

But there is more, Roll20 a popular a web based virtual tabletop that can be used to run TTRPGs reported in 2022 that they had more than 10 million users. That is a lot of people. To put that into some perspective Roll20 has more users than the entire state of Virginia. Even if a sizeable percentage of that number are made up of inactive accounts or alt accounts it is still a shocking number.

This goes to show that the old view of how TTRPGs are played isn’t so true anymore. Sure it still happens but increasingly people have been turning to online mediums for their games. And I think this will have a massive impact on the culture of TTRPG community as a whole. Increased usage of digital technology will inevitably result in shifts in the culture and I’m interested to see where it heads.

So you’ve heard what I think but what about you? How do you think the internet has affected tabletop gaming? Do you have any personal experience in this topic? Or maybe you disagree entirely? Let us know in the comments below.

Well that’s all we have for today. Make sure to join us next time for a longer podcast on character creation and how to work with your GM and other players to make an interesting and compelling character that fits in the world, the campaign, and the party. Until then this has been Big Bad Evil Podcast.”

In this project I created a video to explain avenues of digital creativity within Dungeons and Dragons. In particular the video goes over how designing maps for encounters within the game is an opportunity for digital creativity.

Over the course of this semester I have greatly expanded my knowledge of digital studies and the digital world. While not completely unaware of some of the topics discussed in the course, my understanding of them is far greater now than at the beginning of this course.

But of all the things I learned over this semester I think the most surprising to me was how easy it is to make digital content. None of the three types of digital content we created in this class were complicated to make. In my case, most of the time and effort was spent coming up with ideas for the projects rather than actually producing them.

While I was theoretically aware that recording audio and video was at its simplest turning on an audio recorder or turning on a camera it never clicked for me that doing so really was that simple. While I’m still far from creating really professional quality digital content it turned out that getting to amateur level was as simple as starting a program.

While I could ramble on about the history and effects of digital technology that I’ve learned in class I don’t think that’s going my main takeaway. I already knew most of the history from computer science classes, though I hardly remembered it and I already had a general idea about the positive and negative consequences of this increasingly digital world.

What I will takeaway from this class, however, is that creating content for the digital world is easy, simple, and anyone with a computer or smartphone can do it.

In this short video I discuss the digital creative opportunities present in Dungeons and Dragons. I specifically focus on the aspect of designing maps for encounters in the game. In doing so I demonstrate one of the many ways digital technology assists in the creative pursuit of playing Dungeons and Dragons and other tabletop role playing games. This video is the explanation video and the full session that I originally planned will be posted later after I am able to host the session.

I decided to use Microsoft Copilot to help make a brief story. The idea was to write a single sentence and have the AI finish it. I also set out to not make the AI rewrite any of its responses so whatever it wrote I had to keep. This is what I got.

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A long time ago there lived an elderly king and his two sons.

The king, wise and kind, often gathered his sons to share stories of their ancestors, hoping to instill in them the values of courage and compassion.

But alas the virtues he wished to pass onto them were scorned in favor of greed and ambition.

The two brothers, blinded by their desires for power and wealth, plotted to outmaneuver each other, each believing that the throne was their birthright.

One day, word reached the king that a rival kingdom had declared war seeking to conquer his kingdom.

The king, alarmed by the news, summoned his sons and urged them to set aside their differences, for the fate of their kingdom now rested in their hands.

With his sons at his side, the great king lead his armies into battle against the foe.

As the sun rose over the battlefield, the king’s heart swelled with pride and fear, knowing that the strength of his kingdom depended not just on their swords, but on the unity of his sons.

As the armies clashed it was clear that they would triumph but before the enemy could be routed the king was struck down.

As the king fell to the ground, a hush swept over the battlefield, and both armies paused, stunned by the loss of their leader. In that moment of silence, the two brothers exchanged a glance, realizing that their rivalry had to be set aside if they were to honor their father’s legacy and protect their kingdom.

The two brothers rallied the army and drove back the invading host but as the dust cleared the question remained would the younger stand back and let his brother take the crown he coveted?

As the dust settled, the younger brother felt a storm of emotions brewing within him—pride for their victory, but also a fierce longing for the crown that had always seemed just out of reach. Torn between loyalty to his brother and his own ambitions, he knew that the next choice he made could change the course of their kingdom forever.

Rallying those forces loyal to him the younger brother turned on his kin intent on claiming the crown.

With a fierce determination, the younger brother raised his sword high, rallying his loyalists with promises of glory and power, igniting a fire of ambition in their hearts. As the clash of steel echoed around them, he couldn’t shake the feeling that betrayal would come at a heavy cost, not just to his brother, but to the very kingdom they had fought to protect.

As the battle raged on, the two brothers met on the battlefield each intent on ending the other.

As the two brothers faced each other, the weight of their shared history hung heavily in the air, each strike fueled by years of rivalry and unspoken grievances. With swords drawn, they began to clash, their movements a deadly dance, each blow echoing the pain of their fractured bond and the kingdom they both loved.

Throwing caution to the wind, both brothers aimed for the killing blow, and both blows would strike true.

In that fateful moment, time seemed to freeze as both brothers fell to the ground, their swords clattering beside them, each realizing the tragic cost of their ambition. As darkness enveloped them, a flicker of understanding crossed their faces, a silent acknowledgment that their rivalry had led them to this devastating end, leaving their kingdom without a leader and their legacy forever marred.

With the loss of the king and the princes, the kingdom fell to chaos as just like the brothers before them rival claimants made their bids for the throne.

As the kingdom descended into chaos, factions emerged, each led by ambitious nobles eager to seize power, igniting a fierce struggle that threatened to tear the realm apart. Amidst the turmoil, whispers of a hidden heir—one who had been raised in secrecy—began to circulate, sparking hope that perhaps a true leader could restore peace and unity to the fractured land.

But the hopes of the kingdom were dashed as the kingdom’s neighbors seized the opportunity caused by the chaos and split the kingdom’s lands between themselves. The kingdom was lost and with it the very crown that caused its fall. The end.

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So I noticed a few things while working on this story. The first as you no doubt noticed is that after the first couple of prompts the AI starts writing multiple sentences despite being told to write “another sentence” singular. The sentences I got from the AI were also pretty cliche though I will admit I wasn’t trying to write a story that wasn’t cliche.

It also difficult to get the AI to write a conclusion because it doesn’t know when to stop. I ended the story with my final prompt but I’m sure that if I didn’t the story would just keep going.

The final point of interest is that I tried to get Copilot to generate images of the story after I concluded it. However, the Copilot refused because “your prompt includes wording that may be in violation of the Designer code of conduct.”

At first this made sense to me as the story is a bit violent and the code of conduct probably has restrictions against depictions of violence. But then why was I able to generate the story in the first place. Shouldn’t the code of conduct have applied there. In addition to that, I tried to get Copilot to generate images from some of the non-violent segments of the story but even then it didn’t generate an image which I find strange.

In conclusion, it was an interesting time writing a story with an AI but I can’t help but wonder why I am able to write a story with an AI that is within the rules but can’t make an image of that same story.

In this video I explain what I learned about creating digital video content.

So as to better reflect a typical day in my life I’ve decided to journal my typical Monday as it better reflects a typical weekday. As a result I’m having the novel experience of adding more and more to this blog as my day progresses. So it will be interesting to see how my perspective changes from when I first started typing to when I finish and publish this blog.

My Mondays start like most other days of the week, with my dog waking me up begging for breakfast several minutes before it is actually time for his breakfast. As I go through my morning routine I don’t really interact much with digital technology. In fact my first interaction is when I step out the door as I lock up I end up walking past a Ring Doorbell that is connected with my mother’s phone.

My interaction comes shortly afterwards as I connect my phone to my car’s speakers so as to listen to songs on Spotify during my commute to UMW. My day passes relatively typically minus finding out one of my classes was canceled which I find out by using my phone to access Canvas.

I then make my commute home once more connecting my phone to my car, and passing by the Ring doorbell on my way in. This is actually the last time I interact with the IoT today. This brings my total number to four though I may have missed a few.

Coming into this assignment I didn’t expect much interaction with the IoT to such an extent that even with what few interactions I had in this journal exceeded the number I expected.

The IoT is everywhere but in many ways I’ve taken conscious action to avoid much of it. I don’t have nor want a smart watch, my mother has a smart body weight scale but I choose not to use it, in fact I tend to avoid most smart objects. Sure I have a smartphone and use digital technology but in the interests of keeping my privacy I don’t use devices which I don’t think need to be “smart”.

Even then the convenience of the IoT still means I choose to interact with it on a daily basis. But at the same time I also interact with the IoT whether I want to or not. I have no control over the Ring doorbell, but I pass by it every time I leave the house.

The IoT is pervasive in every element of society and whether one chooses to or not you are part of it.

In this audio clip, I go over three things I learned about making audio projects. Be aware it might be a bit quiet.

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Transcript

Here are a few key tips I’ve learned from getting started with my audio project. The first is to try to record with as little background noise as possible. The second, to have a good quality microphone when recording so that your voice sounds nice and clear. And the last one is to try to not have a sour throat while you’re recording because not only is it painful when doing it you also sound absolutely terrible.

I want to take you back to the year 2019, back when I was still in high school, before lockdown, and before ChatGPT. On this inauspicious year as an English project I had to create a multi-genre project on a topic of my choosing. For my topic I decided to talk about the ethics of lethal autonomous weapon systems or in simpler terms the ethics of AI with guns.

In short the project discussed the ethical implications of using lethal autonomous weapon systems, from the ramifications of allowing a computer to decide to kill a human being, to the legal quagmire over who is ultimately responsible for the actions the system would take.

Looking back on it this was my first foray into the realm of ethics and artificial intelligence however shallow it may have been (I was in 11th grade, it wasn’t that big of a project). And while AI has taken a far different form in the public consciousness these questions are still important. Sure right now the most advanced AI we are aware of are glorified chat bots and image generators but the field is ever advancing. We not only have to raise concerns about ethics and the AI of today but also the AI of tomorrow.

One of the points I tried to raise in that project was that while the technology may not yet exist, that it was important to make legislation now so as to deal with any ethical dilemmas before they happened. Well unfortunately for AI in the realm of ChatGPT and Dall-E that time has passed. But that does not mean that we shouldn’t try to do something now. There is a saying, which I’m probably going to butcher, that goes along the lines of, “The best time to take action was yesterday, the second best time is today” and while it sure would’ve been great to have already addressed these problems, now is the second best time.

As it currently stands I’m probably going to have a good number of images on my website; I do plan on making it in the style of Wikipedia so a lot of the pages should end up with pictures. However, as I don’t know which articles I’m going to make it would be a bit difficult to determine which images I would need to find for them.

But there are definitely a few images I do know I’ll need. Luckily I do already have images I intend to use, though they could use a bit of touching up. These would be the number of maps that I’ve made over the years for my current Dungeons and Dragon campaign. In fact I want to use a slice of one as the header as I just like the idea of a header that gives a partial glimpse of a bigger image.

I will however need to make a few images myself, probably the favicon and logo for the site. Currently I’m thinking of a simple icosahedron (20-sided polyhedron) which is the exact shape of 20-sided dice which is the most common dice used in Dungeons and Dragons. I might add color to it I’m sure most dice tend to be white after all. The logo will probably be similar but I’ll probably make it a bit more complicated got to make it unique after all. I don’t think the theme I’m currently using actually has a spot for the logo but as I’m thinking about changing themes it may prove useful.

Regardless here is an image of my home screen with a few of those images edited in. I’m not too sure on the header image, but that’s the map I have available at the moment so it will do. I’ve also enlarged the favicon so it’s a bit more visible and please ignore the error message (that’s why I plan on changing themes).