Afraid of Encounters

Afraid of Communities - Indonesian Tabletop RPG scene and The Quest for Generic "Authentic" Slop

Afraid of Communities is a series where I talk about the Indonesian Tabletop RPG scene. Future topics related to the local scene will be under this title.

This blogpost is a rant

I have mentioned in my previous blogpost on the Indonesian Tabletop RPG scene that one of most popular Indonesian actual plays, use Generative AI for its production. Last week, I went on a rant on Bluesky about this and posted a screenshot of someone's Instagram story that showed a clip from the actual play. The clip showed a Gen AI video of an NPC being roleplayed by the Dungeon Master. It looks ugly. It looks terrible. It looks uncanny. It looks like a Generic "Authentic" Slop, and I hate it.

Why do I call it Generic "Authentic" Slop? Because these people try to emulate/replicate/generate an "authentic" vision of how D&D fantasy is, that has been promoted by Wizards of the Coast's Dungeons & Dragons in the past decade or so. And I'm specifically referring to the presentation, the production value, the art direction.

To be fair, WotC has done really well on promoting such style. Hence why their D&D is the most popular Tabletop RPG right now. Actual plays like Critical Role, Dimension 20, and others are also some of the driving force. Other games like Pathfinder 2e, Daggerheart, Draw Steel, Nimble, and other similar games also have similar style.

Not that there's anything wrong with the style. It has a mass appeal, and that appeal is familiarity.

The issue is how certain people are approaching this. In order to conform to the popular image of what D&D is, they try to emulate it. How? Generative AI.

Going back to that Indonesian actual play, it certainly got a reaction out of me. Look, I'm not a fan of actual plays. But isn't the attraction to watch the GM and players' expressions when they roleplay the characters? Why put an ugly Gen AI video for that when they're roleplaying? I hope it's not because their acting isn't good enough that it warrants gen AI slops.

So why do they do it? It just so happens that I know one of the cast/crew of that actual plays, who disagrees with the actual play's gen AI usage. My conclusion from the discussion that we have is that the answers come down to:

I can say that they haven't achieved those three things. Even with Gen AI, they don't release their actual plays weekly.

Some of the cast of these big actual plays are influencers. They are key opinion leaders. Their actual plays are watched by hundreds of thousands, even millions of viewers, bringing in new people into the hobby. What they do, what they promote, these people will see and may even follow. Including the use of Gen AI.

This extends to paid games in the local scene. A lot of newcomers are being introduced into the hobby, and the quickest/easiest way for them to get games are by paying someone to run a game for them. Most of the time, these gamemasters promote their services. They either run games in boardgame stores, cafes, or restaurants. Some also run games online.

The Gen AI usage by these paid GMs covers promotional material (game ads/posters), character images (for the sheet and character token/standee, battlemaps, GM screens, adventure design, session prep, rules reference, even to something as simple as rolling dice. Imagine the shock when I saw someone asking Meta AI to roll some dice.

So why do they do this?

With these paid GMs running games for new players, and these actual plays using Gen AI, I'm afraid that newcomers and outsiders start to see Gen AI as a norm. It will be a snowball effect. The Quest for Generic "Authentic" Slop.

I fear that this creates a wrong standard in this hobby's local scene. Newer players are having the wrong expectations from Gamemasters and the games that are run. I heard a of a paid GM who got bad reviews because he didn't use a GM screen and he drew his own battlemap on a wet erase mat.

Is this the new reality for this hobby's local scene? Is the Gen AI Destiny of the Indonesian Tabletop RPG scene, as some of these people go on the Quest for The Quest for Generic "Authentic" Slop?

If so, I want no part in it.

Those in my local community, LFG, know my stance towards Gen AI. For context, I was laid off from a video game writing/narrative design job back in late 2022. Not long after that, they replaced my role with Gen AI prompter. I lost my job because I was replaced by Gen AI. It's clear where I stand on this issue.

Here's a message to the Indonesian scene: Kalau kalian mendapatkan keuntungan dari pemakaian Generative AI, coba tanyakan ke diri kalian bagaimana para GMs serta players actual plays yang kalian agungkan (seperti Matt Mercer dan Brandon Lee Mulligan) akan bereaksi kalau tahu kalian memakai Generative AI. Untuk kalian yang masih memakai Generative AI di sesi/campaign pribadi kalian, gue percaya semua orang punya potensi kreatif dan berkarya.

I am not going to preach about the dangers of using Generative AI.

What I will say is that in the early days of this hobby, people played at the table, sometimes down in their basement, sitting together, using their own imaginations and creativity. There are those who still play that way. I'm sure you can use your own imagination and creativity to play Tabletop RPG.

To close this rant, I want to summarize what Zedeck Siew said regarding the Gen AI matter from a discussion that we had together: Let's say Louis Vuitton bags are like Tabletop RPGs. In Tabletop RPGs, we need to synchronize the imaginations of every player at the table, so there can be a shared imagination to play together. That's why there are player aids (grid maps, miniatures, character art, handouts, etc). Likewise, there is a real need for people in the world for a purse that will hold all their stuff, and look fashionable at the same time.

In TTRPGs, official (or official-looking) player aids can get prioritized over homemade ones, which aligns with fans affirming their fandom with consumerism. In fashion, the priority is desire, aspiration, and luxury couture.

The vast majority of people think D&D's generic heroic fantasy aesthetic is cool, for much the same reasons why vast majority of people want LV bags: they are popular.

In Tabletop RPGs, when people cannot get an official WotC battlemap or licensed Forgotten Realms miniatures or official character art for whatever reason (too expensive, no art for a specific monster/character/map), some use gen AI to create it in the style of official WOTC art. In fashion, when you cannot get a genuine LV bag for whatever reason (too expensive, limited edition, etc.), you might get a fake LV bag.

The Gen AI art is always a consolation prize, a less-desireable imitation of the Official WOTC ® Dungeons & Dragons ™ creation. The imitation LV bag is always a consolation prize, a stop-gap towards the dream of owning a genuine LV bag.

Gen AI art will never threaten the market dominance of D&D (or Warhammer, or Critical Role, or whatever) in TTRPGs. Just as the "fake" LV bag has never threatened the market dominance of Louis Vuitton.

In fact they entrench the place of such brands, because their existence locks us into only dreaming about D&D or LV.

But they threaten our ability to imagine alternatives.

In fashion: what other cool fashion designers are there, for handbags? Can a well-made, traditionally designed handbag (say) be couture? What about using pockets, instead?

In TTRPGs: don't player-made notes and maps work just as well? Don't they look cool or beautiful? What about not using handouts, and finding other solutions? Designing mechanics or play cultures that don't use grid maps to sync player imaginations?

Resources

This part is not a rant. I am putting links to resources, most of them are for public domain art, others are Discord links to Indonesian communities where you can look for talented creative human illustrators.

Indonesian Discord Links to Find Human Artists:

Public Domain Art Links:

Fuck Gen AI