SoloAI - The Nightside - Episode 0

 Hi, folks!

To get into the Solo RPGs trend, I decided to create this blog where I will be posting my Campaign Diaries from my solo games. For my campaigns, I will be using, besides the common Solo RPG tools (Mythic, UNE, rpg systems, etc), a new thing - Artificial Intelligences. How will I do this? Very simple.

What is Novelai?

NovelAI is a monthly subscription service for AI-assisted authorship, storytelling, virtual companionship, or simply a GPT powered sandbox for your imagination.

Our Artificial Intelligence algorithms create human-like writing based on your own, enabling anyone, regardless of ability, to produce quality literature. We offer unprecedented levels of freedom with our Natural Language Processing playground by using our own AI models, trained on real literature. The AI seamlessly adapts to your input, maintaining your perspective and style.

 Using NovelAi, and with the help of this guide, I will be using the most advanced text technologies to take my campaigns in other directions. In addition, for illustrations I will also be using Text2Image AIs, among them Centipede Diffusion, and perhaps, if I am chosen on the waitlist, the brand new Dall-e 2.

The Setting

The Nightside - Generated using DALL-E 2 by @guskamp

The setting we will use is called "The Nightside". To utilize our Artificial Intelligence to its fullest potential, the setting was also created by it from a series of tags. 

Its description is as follows.

The Nightside is a place where anything can happen. It's a world of the night, filled with strange creatures and supernatural beings. There are no laws here - only chaos. The Nightside exists outside of normal reality, and it has its own rules. This makes it difficult to navigate for those who don't know their way around. The Nightside looks like an endless gothic metropolis, mostly inhabited only by monsters, with a few sprouts here and there of human civilization, using the gothic buildings as dwellings. Most people in the Nightside have some sort of power or ability that allows them to survive there. Some are gifted with extraordinary powers, others have developed special skills over the years.

 So, in other words, the setting is an infinite gothic city filled with monsters, heroes, and problems.

To have a more pleasurable experience, I decided not to fill in too many details about the setting. Nor will I fill this episode with detailed descriptions of the world in which the campaign takes place.

I will only point out that this world is inhabited, besides humans, by several different intelligent races, some hostile, some not. Human societies, on the other hand, are run by "familias", which function as a mix between community and mafia, depending on the familia in question.

 They are led by a matriarchal ruling class called the Matriarchs, who rule through a system of blood-ties. The matriarchs are responsible for ensuring that the human population remains strong and healthy, while also maintaining order and discipline among their subjects. To do this they must maintain a balance between the needs of the individual and the needs of the community. - NovelAI

 The Character

Generated using Centipede Diffusion

Our protagonist is Bermann "The Red". For this campaign, I wanted to create a "Paragon" character. Anyone who has played Mutants & Masterminds knows what I am talking about. It's basically a character with powers that far exceed human ability and a boyscout mentality. A lawful good paladin, basically. My goal is to make this character a spark of hope in the dark world that forms The Nightside.

The world of Nightside reminded me a bit of the Fate setting of Grim World, and there, the closest thing to a "Paragon" class are the Inquisitors - basically, hardcore paladins. So I wanted to make my character, in an unexpected way, look visually like a Spanish Inquisitor.

The next step would be to create the lore for him. I decided to use a combination of AI and the Backstory generator from Mythic Variations, and got this result.

The story of Bermann begins with The Order of Inquisitors of St. Kevseph. Bermann's village was destroyed by monsters of the night, and a battalion of the order, commanded by Sir Baldrod, were the ones who drove the beasts out of the village and protected the survivors. Bermann, after his encounter with the order, grew up with a great admiration for it and its service to the people, and seeking to become a symbol of hope in the dark world of Nightside, he entered the order as an aide to Sir Baldrod himself. 

Sir Baldrod became a father figure to Bermann, teaching him all he needed to know in the arts of divine magic. However, he grew slower with age, and during one of his battles against a pack of werewolves while trying to protect a child, he was overpowered by the monsters, and being thrown from the top of a wall, he died. 

Bermann, having witnessed this powerlessness, realized how much he should improve his skills and took Baldrod as his example, who died while trying to protect innocents. Determined, Bermann promissed to himself that he would fight so that no innocent would have to suffer any longer while he was alive.

 Sir Baldrod's successor was Brother Joseph, one of the oldest in the order. Although Joseph was seemingly calmer and more collected compared to Baldrod, he was equally as cunning, paranoid and hungry for power. Over time, he came to see Bermann as a threat to his leadership of the order, and began to plot a way to get rid of Bermann without having to kill him or confront him directly.

 Thus, unbeknownst to Bermann, Joseph hatched a conspiracy scheme that blamed Bermann for Sir Baldrod's death, and made the council of the order view him as a traitor and enemy of the order. Bermann was caught by surprise and tried to defend himself, having some of Baldrod's former friends on his side, but he was unsuccessful against Brother Joseph's plots.

 Thus Bermann lost his status as an inquisitor and was expelled from the order. However, this did not cause him to abandon his dream. He still had the training of the order, and would seek to follow its teachings in protecting the innocent. Even if the order was corrupt, he was not, and by the gods, he never would be.

  The Plot

I decided that I would like to make a campaign divided into several arcs, each one with a different plot, which can be slowly related to Bormann's main plot, which is, besides saving the innocents and the whole story of heroism, his confrontation with his former fellow inquisitors.

To create the plot, I decided to use the Instant Game book and generated an Instant Plot, setting up my first "mission" based on this.

Jeremiah is an orphan living in the slums of one of the big cities from the Nightside. He works as a street performer, juggling knives while dancing on top of a moving cart. His goal is to become a hero like his idol, the legendary swordsman Cain. He has a little sister named Sarah, who was taken by the Crimsom Guard. He called for my help to find his little sister.

This Crimsom Guard is one of the most ruthless yet influential familias that dwell right in the heart of the Nightside, having its headquarters in a tower known as the Divine Tower. They have been known to capture poorer people to sell on the black market as slaves or even do organ trafficking. So my mission during this first arc will be, in the first instance, to rescue Sarah, Jeremiah's sister, and soon after that, to completely destroy Crimsom Guard by breaking into their Divine Tower.

  The System

The system I will be using is a homebrew system based on Fate but mixing mechanics from Open Versatile Anime, Anima Prime, Atomic Robo and 3D&T. It was created based on a setting I made with some friends, called Ashes of Eden, but ignoring some rules it works well for virtually any "power fantasy" or anime shonen style setting. Something to make clear is that the system is quite broken, but this is on purpose, as it is made to create exaggerated and dramatic situations with ease.

This solo campaign will help me test the system, see its weaknesses and work out the rules so that I can someday show it to the public.

And with all that said, I close episode 0. Soon, I will start posting my campaigns here, so stay tuned and don't miss out. I hope you enjoy!