Havoc of the Tainted Throne
The ChatGPT roleplaying board game from youtuber Valefisk!
ChatGPT, an AI made to fulfill the user’s instructions, has been making waves across the world recently. It can write anything from essays for students to code for computer programmers. ChatGPT seems to be popping up in all kinds of career news, but board games are relatively new for this AI.
Attempts have been made to design board games using ChatGPT before, sure. But Valefisk, a decently popular youtuber, is among the first to polish what ChatGPT spits out into an actual board game – albeit only digitally available through Steam’s Tabletop Simulator workshop. In his video about the game, Valefisk says “…[the game] is entirely designed by ChatGPT. The name, the rules, the characters, the cards you draw – all of it.” Unfortunately, ChatGPT isn’t capable of producing visuals for a game like this; a few digital designers and friends of Valefisk had to work together to make art for the cards and characters.
The game itself isn’t entirely mindless, either. The focus is on Player-vs-Player combat, but each fight boils down to a democratic vote. The players must argue whether their character would win in a fight against their opponent, and whoever earns the most votes wins the fight. Players can also find items, ranging anywhere from stat upgrades to an amulet that lets you sleep (but only if you’re tired). Obviously, some of these items are made more powerful than others, but this just encourages creativity with every fight!
Luckily, the game mechanics are very simple. There are only four stats: health, attack power, magic power, and speed. This keeps the game open for newcomers to the RPG scene without needing any complicated instructions. Havoc of the Tainted Throne seems similar to the popular party game Superfight and the board game Munchkins in both gameplay and ease of access.
Were this game to ever receive physical publication, I would eagerly be in line to pick it up for my next party. If you would like to see the game in action and learn a bit more about how it was created, check out Valefisk’s video on the game!
