Creating 'The Caravan of Whispers': A GM’s AI-Driven Journey (Part 2 – Building)

In the first part of our series, The Caravan of Whispers Part 1: Dreaming, we explored the creative process of dreaming up a campaign. Drawing inspiration from the historical Silk Road to crafting the mysterious Taklamakan Desert as a setting, we laid the foundation for a rich, immersive world. The dreaming phase focused on big ideas, tones, and themes—an imaginative sandbox where possibilities were endless.

Over the next few weeks, I will walk through my process of creating a real, fully fleshed out, playable campaign. One that you will be able to download and play for free.

This blog moves us to the building phase where we will spend the majority of our time fleshing out the details to create a playable campaign.

Tools Used During This Step

• The Game Master Platform: This is the platform that builds the campaign. It takes concepts and turns them into a playable campaign.

• ChatGPT and ChatGPT Projects: I am still using ChatGPT projects to refine ideas and flesh out different campaign story arcs.

• Or, NotebookLM: Store and connect notes around the campaign. This is a great second option and one that I would use if I did not have ChatGPT.

• Midjourney: If Dalle3 is not getting me the right images, I will shift to Midjourney to get what I am looking for.

This blog will focus on the campaign details page, acts, organizations and encounter outline. The main goal is to establish the important NPCs, the key organizations and to land on the tensions.

4 Steps to Create a Campaign

1. Dreaming: this is where the ideas flow and inspiration comes from many sources. The goal is to create a campaign planning template (PDF).

2. Building: (Current Step) This is the act of taking a structured idea and turning it into a playable campaign. We start with the campaign planning template and then work on fleshing out the details using AI to help us create a playable campaign. You can find the campaign creation details here.

3. Running: This is the process of getting to and running your first session and beyond. I shoot for 4-7 encounters and a few random encounters for the first session. Or, if I am playing with a new crew, I will run a session 0.

4. Publishing: Finally, we will make this campaign live for anyone to play it through the Game Master Platform Marketplace.

   
   

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Part 2: "The Caravan of Whispers" Building Phase with AI

Now, it’s time to turn those dreams into reality. In this step, Building, we’ll leverage tools like The Game Master Platform to develop a fully playable campaign. This involves fleshing out encounters, NPCs, assets, foes, and even the player characters themselves. At the heart of this process is the Campaign Planning Template, a tool designed to train the AI by outlining the campaign’s core elements.

The Campaign Planning Template is the key to aligning AI-driven creativity with your vision. By defining the world’s setting, central conflicts, and thematic pillars, you provide the AI with the structure it needs to generate cohesive, on-brand ideas. Whether it's expanding on the lore of a desert faction or suggesting unique encounters for Act One, the template helps transform your rough concepts into actionable elements.

In this blog, we’ll document how to effectively use The Game Master Platform and the Campaign Planning Template, to create a robust encounter framework, and build the essential components of a campaign. Let’s dive into the exciting step of building "The Caravan of Whispers" and see how AI can bring your world to life.

Training the AI in The Game Master Platform (TGMP)

In TGMP campaign edit page there are 6 mains sections.

1. Campaign Details: this tells the platform the meta data about the campaign. It provides the GM and the AI with an understanding of the details, the type of campaign, starting level etc.

2. Overview: This is where I put the content from the campaign planning template. It tells the AI all about the campaign.

3. Acts: This is the chapters of your story. This is also where you group the encounters into the act for future GMs to understand the flow of the campaign. Think of this as chapters in a story. This is important as it will help you track what encounter happened when.

4. Maps: This is the primary area for a regional map helping the GM understand where the campaign takes place.

5. Video: This is a location to link a video overview of the campaign. The purpose is to tell others what your campaign is about and if you are making a public campaign, give other GMs an overview of how to run the campaign.

6. DM Notes: This is where I will provide the inside details of the campaign. The flow of the campaign and the who done it notes.

Blog Transforming D&D Campaigns with AI: Why Story-First Matters >>

Campaign Planning Template

Consider the campaign template as a guide to your campaign. The goal is to make it as information rich and as concise as possible, the purpose is to tell the AI all about your campaign. I try to keep it around 1000 words.

View Campaign Template

1. Campaign Details & Overview

• Campaign Title: Name your campaign to reflect its themes or central story arc.

• World and Setting: Describe the world where the campaign takes place. Include the tone, theme, major regions, and notable features.

2. Story Structure

Story Arc

• Primary Conflict: What is the central conflict or problem driving the campaign?(Example: A cursed heirloom must be restored to save a dying village.)

• Secondary Arcs: What additional storylines or subplots exist? These can involve key NPCs, player backstories, or side quests.

Pixar's Story Spine

• Use this structure to outline your campaign's progression:

  • Once upon a time, there was...

  • Every day...

  • Until one day...

  • Because of that...

  • Until finally...

  • Outcomes

    • Success

    • Push

    • Failure

3. The Assemblage of Heroes

• Key Characters: Who are the players' characters? What motivates them?

• (Example: Ronan Stormheart, a paladin seeking redemption for his family's sins.)

• Backstories: These are very brief backstories. Tie each character's backstory to the campaign. Select or create archetypes like “The Restless Dreamer” or “Bound by a Promise.”

4. Important NPCs

• Key NPCs: Who are the critical non-player characters, and what motivates them?(Example: Greta Thornwillow, a weary village elder guiding the heroes.)

• Antagonists: Who are the main antagonists, and what are their goals?

• (Example: Lord Alaric, a noble seeking to exploit the heirloom’s power.)

5. Problems

• Global Problem: What is the overarching problem affecting the world or setting?(Example: A powerful artifact has been shattered, spreading a curse across the land.)

• Local Problems: What smaller, act-specific problems exist?

• (Example: The first shard of the heirloom lies in a forest guarded by hostile spirits.)

6. Catalyst for the Quest

• Triggering Event: What event starts the adventure?

• (Examples: A bandit attack, a vision from a restless spirit, or a plea from the village elder.)

7. Campaign Acts (Example)

Act 1: Introduction

• Level Range: (e.g., Levels 1–3)

• Sessions: (e.g., Sessions 1–3)

• Focus: Introduce the world, NPCs, and primary problem. Tie player backstories into the story arc.

• Key Encounters: (Example: Encounter with bandits holding a shard of the heirloom.)

Act 2: Escalation

• Level Range: (e.g., Levels 4–6)

• Sessions: (e.g., Sessions 4–6)

• Focus: Deepen the stakes with secondary arcs and challenges. Introduce moral dilemmas or conflicting goals.

• Key Encounters: (Example: Confronting the corrupt noble seeking to keep the curse active.)

Act 3: Resolution

• Level Range: (e.g., Levels 7–9)

• Sessions: (e.g., Sessions 7–9)

• Focus: Conclude the story arc, resolving global and local problems.

• Key Encounters:(Example: Final battle against the spirit of the shattered artifact.)

8. Resolutions

• Possible Outcomes: What are the potential results of the campaign?

• Example:

  • Success: The heirloom is restored, and the curse is lifted.

  • Failure: The village succumbs to darkness.

  • Push: Neither side succeeds.

9. Rewards

• Physical Rewards:(Example: The reforged heirloom.)

• Character Rewards:(Example: Ronan’s Redemption Shield, tied to his backstory.)

• Narrative Rewards:(Example: The players gain the trust of the village and its allies.)

Organizations

One of my favorite books is The Game Master’s Handbook of Proactive Roleplaying by Jonah and Tristan Fishel, which redefines how GMs should approach player goals, and faction goals in their campaigns. The book emphasizes that factions are more than background elements—they are living forces with their own goals and conflicts that shape the players’ paths, whether as allies, rivals, or obstacles. This proactive approach adds depth and unpredictability to the game, making the world feel more dynamic and player driven.

"Make sure your factions have goals that relate to the same people, places, and events as your PC's goals." — Jonah and Tristan Fishel, The Game Master’s Handbook of Proactive Roleplaying

Using Organizations

I think through who the main organizations are and what do they want. By doing this it forces me to think like them and helps me flesh out the tensions that are happening in the world.

Why create organizations?

• Gain strong understanding of who they are, what they stand for and how they fit into your campaign.

• Trains the AI on who they are and what they are all about.

• Allows the AI to help you build tensions between different organizations and the players.

• Allows the AI to tie the organizations to your story and gives you an opportunity to deepen the narrative.

For each organization, using AI, I think through these questions.

Encounter Framework

I now move on to creating an encounter list. Here I do not worry too much about the nuts and bolts of each encounter; I am really thinking about them from a story perspective.

Here is the starting of my encounter list. I think about encounters if a few different ways. Each encounter exists for one of the following reasons, to move the story forward, to build atmosphere, and/or engage a PC backstory.

I also think about encounters from a GM or player focused. GM focused is me talking and presenting the encounter. PC focused encounter is where I set the scene and then let the players tell me what they are doing. You need a balance of both. A series of GM focused encounters in a row ends up feeling like you are doing all the talking and telling a story. To many player focused encounters in a row, tends to miss the story element and has a tendency to become more of a hack and slash campaign.

List of encounters with my thoughts on their main focus.

Next, I go through each encounter, and I put in my thoughts and ideas from the AI on what might happen in each encounter. This helps me connect the dots across the encounters and think through how the players might engage with this encounter.

Quickly add in my notes for what I think should happen in the encounter. I do this for each encounter.

For The Caravan of Whispers, I started with building out the small town of Shuanghe based on this image. I wanted to think through the different types of buildings and get an understanding and inspiration from the maps.

Oasis town of Shuanghe - noticed how I pulled the styles from the previous blog, Ethereal Watercolor

Here is the town being built in Inkarnate. This map will be made available to the players in their PC items area. I decided on building out 4 separate encounter areas within the town. The other parts of the town I will have separate saved prompts already planned in the AI assistant.

Each arrow points to a landmark on the map that I want to make sure that I take into account.

Conclusion

Taking the time to create a campaign document is essential for both organizing your ideas as a GM and training your AI assistant to understand your campaign’s world. Defining key organizations helps clarify their goals, values, and the tensions they create with both each other and the players—elements that are crucial to driving your story arc forward.

Additionally, outlining possible encounters allows you to start visualizing how the story will unfold during gameplay, ensuring that each challenge ties back to the campaign’s core themes.

In the next blog, I’ll dive deeper into developing player backstories and designing engaging encounters within TGMP.