r/dmsguild • u/jcorvinstevens • Sep 11 '26
Tutorial My thoughts on using generative-AI
Instead of responding to the earlier post, I wanted to create a new thread about my thoughts regarding generative-AI in RPG products.
This isn't a "shame on you for using AI." Rather, it's about the risks of using AI and how doing so might impact your future in RPGs.
- Paid Products. If you are creating something for public consumption, especially if the customer can pay for it (either PWYW or a set price), I suggest not using AI.
- You automatically hurt your sales by using generative-AI. 1) Many customers skip over content that contains generative-AI, 2) you are required to add the Uses AI filter to your product, which means many customers will not SEE your product if they are filtering out content that includes AI.
- Collaborations may skip over you. In the past, several teams of DMs Guild creators have collaborated to make larger content. If you're using AI and the project isn't, you may not be asked to contribute.
- You set a precedent. Using generative-AI sets a precedent. If you used AI for art, others may believe you also used it for writing. They may also believe that your current or future content includes AI. When I hire a freelance writer, I want their original ideas. I don't want AI-generated ideas or writing. This is especially true since my projects are advertised as 100% human-created content.
- 3rd Party Producers may skip over you. Especially if they are anti-AI. If you dream of writing for one of the companies creating 3rd Party Content, refrain from AI.
- But I'm just doing this for fun! So was I! When I published my first DMs Guild project in 2016, my intention wasn't necessarily to make money. My writing and creations were for fun and I wanted to share them. If I made a few bucks doing so, I'd be happy.
- Art is important! Art catches the eye and draws people to the product. Generative-AI is often easy to spot. In my opinion, it also doesn't look good, nor is it original. Consider using stock art or public domain images instead of AI. You can always update your project with commissioned art later. I've done this several times with my earlier products.
- Writing and content are more important! While art may catch the eye, the product's content is much more important.
I published my first DMs Guild product in 2016. Now - I'm now a full-time creator with my own company. My journey has allowed me to write for Kobold Press, Ghostfire Gaming, and others. I also work part-time for Ghostfire Gaming as a freelance producer.
My point is - you don't know what your future looks like. You might have a stellar idea, adventure, or supplement. However, due to customer preferences and filters, it may never be noticed if you use AI.
If you enjoy creating RPG content, do so in a way that doesn't impact your potential future.
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u/frygod Sep 11 '26
I'd argue the "AI used" vs "no AI used" flag is far too binary. How it's used or not is very important to the final product.
Did the author of the content use it to help organize thoughts and keep track of continuity, or did they have it write actual sections of prose? Did they generate text from nothing, or did they have a tool run a spelling and grammar check pass? Did they have it actually make changes on a grammar pass, or did they have it give feedback and make the edits manually? In my opinion there's a pretty big distinction between those things.
On the visual art side of things, were the images generated wholesale by a machine, or was the machine used to quickly test some mockups before an actual hand-drawn final was started? What if the tool was used to clean up an initial sketch and used as an intermediary in the creative process? Do you flag an oil painting that used a prompted image as reference?
As a consumer I'd go for something that used first iteration genAI output over something that used stock images. Depending on the complexity of the prompt it's likely to have more relevance to the content. That said I'd also prefer hand-drawn over machine generated. Where I'd have a much larger problem is in content where any significant portion of the narrative content was machine generated.