Players and fans are the foundation of Mythic Visions, and we’re thrilled to have the opportunity to highlight the incredible creations that ours share with the community. Today’s interviewee, Aeze has created an AI powered Discord bot to answer questions about Mortal Reins and its rules.
JaycenCRose —
Hi Aeze! Nice to be talking to you. I have a few questions put together, but may be asking other follow-up questions based on your responses.
Aeze —
Hi, nice to be talking with you as well!
JaycenCRose —
How were you introduced to Mortal Reins? Aeze — So I've known Mike, the creator of Mortal Reins, for many years. We've worked together at a hobby level on several projects over the years, mostly video games. A few years ago, we started playing RPGs together on a weekly basis. Initially we were playing systems like Fate, but at some point along the line Mike stealthily slipped in Mortal Reins and that has been a favorite since. JaycenCRose — He did mention that you had been one of the play testers, with several sessions worth of experience on both sides of the GM screen. What are your thoughts on the game in comparison to some of the other systems you've played? Aeze — Yup, I've had the opportunity to be both a player and a GM in Mortal Reigns. Compared to other systems I've played, I'd say Mortal Reigns offers a unique blend of engaging mechanics and storytelling elements. Its ruleset is easy to pick up, but still provides enough depth for players to get creative or even get deep into min-maxing. As a GM, I've found that Mortal Reins offers a great deal of flexibility in handling various situations. While there are plenty of rules in place, they're designed to support emergent gameplay mechanics rather than dictate exactly how every scenario must unfold. This allows both the players and the GM to think creatively and adapt to unexpected developments during the game in a way that feels fair to everyone. I'm also a huge fan of the spell system. I've spent many hours tinkering with and creating my own spells, which adds a whole new level of personalization and creativity to the game. In contrast, I've found that other game systems with preset static spells can sometimes feel a bit stale, as they don't offer the same opportunity for customization and creative expression for magic users directly within the ruleset. JaycenCRose — Would you be willing to share one or two of your favorite spell creations? Aeze — Sure, there is one that my alchemist made a while back. He can imbue arrows with an effect that once it hits its target, it splits into two separate cyclones that can then be controlled independently by the user for several turns as long as they spend an action channeling. It's a fairly destructive spell, and its flexible nature makes it useful for the dynamic and fast-paced combat that one regularly experiences in Mortal Reins. JaycenCRose — Okay, that sounds absurdly cool. So what made you decide to create the Mortal Reins Q&A bot?
Aeze — The idea to create the bot simply came from a combination of my enjoyment in making things and a desire to help out newer players. When I first started playing Mortal Reins, I had the advantage of playing directly with Mike, the creator, which meant I could ask him any questions I had about the game rules on the fly. I naturally found that more convenient than going through the rule book. I realize that not everyone has that same opportunity, and I wanted to offer something that could provide some support in a similar way. While the bot isn't exactly like having Mike around, I still believe it adds value by answering questions and clarifying game mechanics for players in a convenient form, or who might not have direct access to the rule book. It's just a small way I can contribute to the Mortal Reins community and help others enjoy the game as much as I do. JaycenCRose — That's really considerate of you. I can think of a few times in my own campaigns where a resource like that would have been useful. Have you made any other discord bots in the past? Aeze — I've made a few over the years, but it's definitely not my specialty. Luckily, there are some libraries out there which make creating Discord bots a breeze. JaycenCRose — Libraries? That's really cool! Was there anything that you did particularly struggle with while you were learning? Aeze — Sorry, yeah – software libraries. Basically, I'm able to leverage other people's code to focus on the problem I'm trying to solve instead of digging around Discord's internals. In terms of struggling, nothing major. The bot leverages GPT, and I had to tweak the prompt a decent amount in order to get the desired results from it. There was a time when the bot would spit out paragraphs and paragraphs for even the simplest of answers. I'll probably continue to tweak it as I receive feedback. JaycenCRose — GPT as in ChatGPT by OpenAI? Aeze — Yup! JaycenCRose — So what was the most enjoyable part of this project for you? Aeze — Hmm, I'm not sure. Watching people test and try to break it was funny. JaycenCRose — That sounds hilarious. Did anyone succeed? Aeze — Mike consistently succeeds. I've had to beg him to stop. JaycenCRose — Yeah, that sounds about right. You mentioned that you'll probably continue to tweak the bot as you receive feedback. Do you have any other plans for it in the future? Aeze — Yeah! So right now there is the /question feature, which lets you ask questions about the rule book and get answers. There's also the /generate feature, which attempts to create generative content based off the rules and themes of the book. I want to improve the /generate feature to give better results. Also in testing I noticed many people specifically wanting to generate NPCs with Mortal Reins stats. It currently does a terrible job at that, so I thought maybe I'd add an /npc command to specifically generate a randomized character sheet based off a description. JaycenCRose —
That would be awesome! I struggle with NPCs when I run games myself, so I can't wait to see that feature in action.
That's all the questions I had for you. Is there anything else you'd like to share? Perhaps other projects you've done or any pages you'd like to shout out?
Aeze —
In terms of other projects, it's probably worth noting I also made a Mortal Reins spell calculator, the current version is located here
It also includes similar tools for NPCs and equipment. You can actually attach the spells and equipment to NPCs and see most of their combat stats that way. That's about it on my end though. It was a pleasure! JaycenCRose — Thanks so much for your time!
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