So I wanted to start off by explaining how this journey started. And you'll have to bear with me because it's quite a long winded one, but it explains so much about me and the way this is going to go. So how I got into D&D was through Baldur's Gate three, which people, a lot of people know and love. and how did I get to that? Well, that actually came from Stardew Valley, which is quite a different game. It's more kind of, yeah, there's combat and stuff, but not to Baldur's Gate level. and to really kind of know why I got into Stardew. You have to go back to childhood and growing up, and I grew up with PlayStations, since the early days, PlayStation two, was the first one we had at home, and I was playing games like Destroy All Humans. And there was this one with, like, these Crimea alien things and also the classics like Simpsons Road Rage, um, brilliant games. and then I grew up as I got a bit older, playing the Assassin's Creed games, which I love, love, love and still love and play as a comfort kind of thing. The top three franchise, by the way. for me, when it comes to PlayStation games, I've got to be Assassin's Creed. The early ones are better, but I quite like some of the different playstyle in Odyssey. you then have the horizon games, which I hope that another one will come out soon because I love the first and the second of those. And then Far Cry. I came into Far Cry quite late. I haven't played the original, uh, one, I would say one and two. I think I've played three, four, five. I want to say maybe I've played six. Is there a six? I'm getting off track. The point is, I like action adventure type games, but they've got to have a plot that I can kind of sink my teeth into, and I think that's why I like those three. I can't think of the word, the three, those three kind of genres. No Chronicles. No, that's not the right word. Assassin's Creed, Horizon, Far Cry, that's why I like them, because they've got a bit of something I can kind of get into. But. So then how did I get from that to Stardew Valley? Now, that kind of came from a time in my life where I needed a bit of kind of extra comfort on the go. so I came to some mobile gaming. so on my phone I got Stardew Valley. Loved it. Found out you could also get it on your PlayStation. So I also got it on my PlayStation. Then at Christmas, I kind of gave into my kind of instincts and um, yeah, gave in basically and got a switch so that I can do like Mario Kart and things with friends. So I then found out you can get Stardew on your switch. So now I have Stardew on three different, um, devices, and I've completed the main campaign main story on all three, but we won't go into that. So then how did I transition to Baldur's Gate? Bear with me. We are getting there from that. I did have a go at other games like Zelda. Zelda breath of the wild. I haven't played any of those types of games before, having grown up with PlayStation, not Xbox or anything like that, but those kind of games weren't quite scratching the itch that I wanted them to scratch. So I googled if you like Stardew Valley, what games should you try? That got me onto some blogs which suggested Baldur's Gate, so I thought actually, the more I read about it sci fi, fantasy, action, bit of definite plot impacting the game. I love those kind of things where your choices do have an actual impact on the way things play out. So I thought, great, I've got a laptop that's pretty decent. Let's download it on there. I've already got a steam account and everything, so let's do this. it's a really good laptop. Quite expensive one. I bought it, but I bought it, I think probably five or six years ago now. Uh, so it couldn't cope with this game. I had to delete quite a few things to even get it downloaded. And then I was like, well, what's the point of all that? Because it was overheating. The lag was ridiculous. And at this point I realized that my laptop's battery life is is non-existent. It has to be plugged in constantly. Now, I knew this was on the outs. Anyway, um, but I've been using it for my online master's university work because, by the way, I'm a full time teacher as my job, but I'm also doing a part time online master's because why wouldn't you? I'm getting off topic again. You'll get used to this. So I gave in again to my baser instincts and drives, and I bought a gaming computer, a PC. I've been thinking about buying a PC for a while now because I thought I don't actually need the portability of a laptop. I need things that has a strong processing because I also have like Adobe Creative Cloud, cloud, cloud, cloud. Wow. I have all of that because I like doing video editing and things like that, which I use in my job and wider life. so yeah, at this point you're realizing I'm quite impulsive. I kind of hyper obsess and focus about things, and that will be for like a week, two weeks, a month, a couple of months. Then I will forget about that thing and that passion that I've bought all the things for, only to come back to it like a month later, two months, even a couple of years later. That's been with knitting, sewing, painting, drawing, gardening, writing. On that note, sorry to those, archive of our own A-03 subscribers. I really should update my fanfictions. I've got quite a few more followers than I was expecting to have, And I think it's been a big four or five years since I've updated my Merlin Doctor Who crossover fanfiction. I will get on to that. Hopefully. Maybe. I wouldn't hold your breath. Anyway, I'm completely getting off topic there. So I finally I buy the game. laptop couldn't cope. Bought the PC. Next day delivery from Currys. Thank you very much. Got it all plugged in and set up. Love love love. the game. Um, really got into it. And I thought, you know, this is actually. Yeah. This is D&D, isn't it? This is based on Dungeons and Dragons, and I know from lots of things like, the more mainstream things like, Big Bang Theory, Stranger Things, but also a TV show that I love and is one of my comfort. Rewatches is iZombie, which I've been getting into rewatching again over the summer holidays. Um, and that's kind of a recurring arc and funny bit that they played D&D. and actually, you know, I've always liked the idea of it. My family always thought it was, like, really nerdy and geeky and like for sad people, but I've never had that opinion of it. And so I thought, you know what, let's look this up because, the more I think about it, the more I think it's something that I would enjoy. And it reminded me that I do a lot of YouTube shorts watching, especially in the evenings when I should be, like, detoxing from my screen time and going to sleep. Instead, I will be browsing YouTube shorts, as I'm sure many of us are doing. and I realize there's actually, like quite a lot of, D&D content that was being recommended to me. And the more I watched, obviously, the more it recommended. So I was watching YouTube shorts from like, Zach's speaks giant, Zach the Bold, and even like Critical Role. And I was like, oh I know, this actress from somewhere. And then there was this lady that does loads of voice acting, and she's also in Blind Spot, which is a TV show I really love, and she's part of Critical Role. I'm getting off topic again, but the point is, it seemed like the universe was telling me to give this a go. And I thought, well, okay, but I'm not a very sociable person. I don't really, hang out with people a lot. I'm more in my home, just chilling on my own, which I love. So is there a way to do this solo? Google solo DnD? Is it possible? Yes it is. And one way it's suggested that a few blogs were saying they tried was using chat GTP. Now I already have an account with GTP. I love it for my job. Now, as I said earlier, I'm a teacher. Now, before you get all like at me, I don't use it for lesson plans or reports or anything like that. But if I'm doing like a guided reading lesson, let's say I'm reading the first chapter of Alice in Wonderland and we're picking it apart, preparing for SATs. And I need to generate some questions that are inference and retrieval, questions that are SATs linked questions. If I have to read that chapter, pull it apart. Find those questions. Write those questions. Lay it all out. Get it set ready for the lesson. That's probably taking me half an hour to an hour to an hour depending on how much in depth I'm going. Or I go on chat GTP and say chapter one of Alice in Wonderland. I would like some SATs level. Style inference and retrieval questions based on that chapter. Go. And within a minute I've got what I need, which I can then edit and refine. So a job that would have taken me probably an hour takes me ten minutes. I love it. So yeah, I dare you to fight me on that. But chat GTP, I already have an account. I can use it for D and D perfect. I admit I did give in and buy the more expensive version for DND because it gives me more in-depth answers. So next thing I know, I bought the dice and the little kind of holder thingy that you clip together so that you can roll your dice safely without them going everywhere. Um, and I've done my first solo campaign, uh, on DND, creating a character using D&D beyond. Great website and off I went. Meanwhile also playing Baldur's Gate, which I haven't finished playing yet. Still enjoying. I think I'm at the end of, arc two act two, whatever they call it. Um, I've done a few campaigns with my first character, Fyevarra, who was a half elf druid, and I've recently created a new character, which I'm quite excited about, and I've got a bit more to know about how to use ChatGPT to get this play style I want, but also the mechanics of things and rolling and stats and spells through playing Baldur's Gate and also through kind of trial and error with my first campaign. So really, really long story short, this podcast is going to be about this new character for D&D, and you're going to be joining me on this journey. I'm going to have the chat GTP going, I'm going to have my dice rolling, and we're just going to go with it and talk through my decisions. I'm going to voice have a go at voicing the characters because I love that drama part of it did drama, A-level, love that kind of acting and roleplay type style. So if anyone's interested, if I haven't scared you away with my rambling, that is what this is going to be. So sit back, relax and enjoy or leave. It's a free country.