In tabletop RPG, AI is a touchy subject, and we get why. A lot of what is out there gets churned out automatically and sold as if someone made it. So instead of leaving you to guess, we would rather tell you plainly how 20Forge is built.
The house rule is short: the idea is always human. AI is a tool, never the author. In a forge, the tool shapes nothing on its own. The hand on the hammer decides.
What is made by hand, by people
Everything creative comes from people. Art, illustration, visual identity, the way each tool talks to you: none of it comes out of a generator. It is drawn, written, and decided by someone who cares how it turns out. If there is a line on the screen, a person chose that line.
This is not a small detail for us. It is the whole point. What makes 20Forge itself is the choices a person made, one by one.
Where AI helps
To be straight about it: behind that "we" is a single dev, with an occasional hand from a few people now and then. That is exactly why AI helps so much: it is an extra pair of hands. In the code and on the site, it speeds up the repetitive work and points out what broke. In the writing, it works as an editor, correcting and pushing back.
But the idea, the tone, and the way things are said come from a person. AI never decides what 20Forge has to say; it helps say it better. This very text included: the thinking and the words are a human's. AI just went over it hunting for a comma out of place.
Why we bother telling you this
RPG runs on imagination, yours and everyone else's at the table. A community built on creativity has every right to be wary when a machine steps into the story. We are wary too.
So the line is clear. Technology serves the table; it never takes its place. We would rather be upfront about it now, while the project is small, than apologize for it later.
What is coming: Arcane Intelligence
One day we will have Arcane Intelligence, an assistant to help the Game Master with the parts that drain time and pull focus from the table: organizing notes, digging up that one rule buried in the book, prepping the next session. But the principle does not change.
It will not write your campaign, invent your characters, or tell your story for you. The story is yours. Our job is to hand you better tools to tell it.