Study of further development of the system Imaginarium for role-play creation in Dungeons & Dragons BSc thesis
Title: Study of further development of the system Imaginarium for role-play creation in Dungeons & Dragons
Title in Swedish: Studie av en vidareutveckling av systemet Imaginarium för rollspelsskapande i Dungeons & Dragons
Author: Filip Lundgren
Institution: Stocholm University (SU), Department of Computer and Systems Sciences (DSV), Sweden
Date and language: Spring term 2022, Swedish
Type: Thesis at BSc level degree project 15 HP (sv: Självständigt arbete på grundnivå [kandidatexamen])
Key words: Dungeons & Dragons, Imaginarium, procedural generation, Non-Player Characters, NPC
Advisor: Mirjam Palosaari Eladhari
Abstract
Tabletop role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) are created to let users play through different scenarios where their actions determine what will happen. There are several premade scenarios that can be used, but it is also possible for users to create their own. This is time consuming and the creator (dungeon master, DM) needs to handle several narrative elements, which not all users are comfortable with. Therefore, this study will develop further functionality to the system Imaginarium, a program that handles generations of ontologies, to help users create scenarios. The research question is “What further functionality could be developed to the existing system Imaginarium to support creation of role-playing scenarios for Dungeons & Dragons users without experience in programming?”. To answer this question Design Process was used to interview three experienced players of D&D with the purpose of defining what new functionality would be useful. The analysis identified three themes: Story, NPC and Omgivning. With this information as support an artefact was created. Afterwards the participants were observed while they were using the artefact, to understand how they interacted with the artefact and whether the functionality attained its purpose. The study show that the participants did not see a need for using digital tools to generate scenarios at first, but after trying the artefact all participants found it useful to varying degrees. Participants with least experience as a DM and least programming knowledge considered themselves to have the most use of the artefact, while participants with more programming knowledge and experience found the artefact less useful. Participants without programming knowledge wanted following development of Imaginarium:
• Finished, detail rich stories for immediate use
• More possible variants for NPCs, for example more outfits and more races
• More visual functions like maps for areas.
• Visual interaktions with the system, for example buttons.