Hey there!
I'm Rob, aka That Developer Dad, and this is The DM's Familiar.
I'm a software architect and developer by trade, and a Dungeon Master / Storyteller by passion. I've been playing D&D for ^almost^ 40 years, and I'm always looking for ways to make my games better.
Earlier this year, I found myself with a BUNCH of time on my hands, and figured I could either sit around and scratch my butt, or I could finally start using the things I've used at work all these years to make some of my hobbies more fun.
I've found that the more I can automate, the more I can focus on the story and the players. That's why I created The DM's Familiar.
How this started
I'd been running a campaign for a little over a year or so, and my players are really into role-playing within the world I'd created.
Like, REALLY into RP. They'd try to strike up conversations with EVERYONE they met, and me, being the planner type, just didn't have time to plan out and get details wrapped around every person their characters might meet.
Like I said, earlier this year I found myself with a lot of time on my hands, and wanted to share my Software Design & Development process, and needed an "example project".
The Streams got Crossed, and I settled on a Random Townsfolk Generator. The purely random part worked nicely, and I'd wanted to dig into using Generative AI a little more than I'd had a chance to, so I threw that into the mix.
I showed that off at one of my game sessions, and a few of my players said, "Hey, I'd pay to use that." and so did some of the other DM's at my FLGS as well.
A few months later, and here we are!
So What's Next?
I've got quite a few ideas, but I want to get this first thing off the ground and running before I dive into creating any NEW features.
There's also quite a few things I left out of the NPC Generator that I want to get added in before I let myself get distracted by any other shiny ideas.
The first new things on the list will be to:
- Add the ability to edit the NPCs that get generated.
- Create some sort of "export" feature so you can download an NPC as either an image or pdf
- Add more details to the generated NPCs. Things like game statistics (in case your party is a bunch of miscreants), skills, and so on.
After that, well... I've learned it's not a good idea to talk about what I WANT to do until it's almost ready...
So for now, I'll say, "stay tuned!"
Thanks for stopping by!
-Rob