Alex, the mind behind GM Assistant, generously took the time to chat with Jared regarding his AI software designed to help GMs in their TTRPG campaigns.
Jared: First off tell us a little about yourself (You can introduce your team, as a whole here, as well)?
Alex: I’m Alex, a long-time software engineer with a passion for D&D and technology. Currently, I run a virtual D&D 5e campaign with 6 friends and develop GM Assistant. After leaving my full-time software engineering role in August 2023, I took some time to reset, attended the Recurse Center in NYC, and dove deep into AI technology, which eventually led to creating GM Assistant.”
J: When and how did you get started in tabletop games?
A: This may not be the most OG answer, but I saw Matt Mercer on Stephen Colbert in 2019 and immediately started binge watching Critical Role. When I get into something, I go hard, so I then bought the D&D 5e PHB, DMG, and Monster Manual.
Then I watched every youtube video I could find on how to DM and got a group of video game buddies together and started DMing weekly on a virtual table-top.
J: What made you want to make content specifically for tabletop games?
A: For me, TTRPGs have the perfect balance of social interaction, creative expression, and problem solving. They say not to make your hobby your job, so I just made my job “hobby-adjacent”.
J: Next tell us about the beginning of GM Assistant?
A: It came from a personal pain point. As a game master who hates grunt work and tedious tasks, I found myself constantly struggling with remembering campaign details or taking session notes. I wanted to focus on the creative and interactive aspects of running the game rather than the administrative overhead. When I went deep into AI technology during my time at Recurse Center, I saw an opportunity to solve this common problem for GMs.
J: Where did the name “GM Assistant“ come from?
A: Naming things is difficult so I just went with the most straightforward choice. We chose “GM” instead of “DM” because we strive to work well with any TTRPG system, not just Dungeons and Dragons. We actually have a lot of users doing other popular systems like Pathfinder, Cyberpunk RED, and Call of Cthulhu. A few folks even run mixed system campaigns.
J: What can people expect coming into the website/social media/App etc.?
A: Users can expect a tool that transforms audio recordings of their gaming sessions into organized, accurate notes. The service is designed to be straightforward and focused on solving real problems for GMs. We use AI, but we strive to use it responsibly. No AI generated art features.
J: What do you see as the future of GM Assistant? Goals?
A: I want enough users to continue working full-time on the app. Our focus will always be to assist dungeons masters with the problems they face that aren’t helped by existing tools. We absolutely don’t want to reinvent the wheel by becoming another VTT or Campaign Management tool.
J: What do you have coming up in projects?
A: We have a public roadmap available at gmassistant.app/roadmap. While our current focus is on perfecting our core Audio → Notes feature, we have many exciting ideas in development.
Support for many major world languages is coming before 2024 is over. We have some really cool ideas for things like NPC speech recall, TTRPG campaign chat (ask your campaign questions like “what was the librarians name again?”), and some mind-bending stuff we don’t want to spill the beans on just yet.
J: Is there anything else you would like to add?
A: I’d encourage anyone interested in GM Assistant to join our Discord community at discord.gg/sRaryWKkFG. We’re building this tool with and for the TTRPG community, and we value user feedback and interaction. Whether you’re a seasoned GM struggling with note-taking or just looking to streamline your session prep, we’d love to hear from you and help make your GMing experience better.
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