Blightfall funding IS NOT the point of this post, but it would feel weird not to mention how exciting, proud, and thankful I am to be in this position. If you’ve backed the game or shared it, my sincerest appreciation goes out to you.

I’ll write more about the crowdfund at a later day. Okay, now the post.

I Tried to Prevent This. Honestly.

Hey. Yeah, you. Let me ask you a question. Say you create a RPG and you come up with a short, distinct title you really like. Let’s just pick a name at random … ummmm … Blightfall. Sure. You’d probably google the name and see what comes up, right? Make sure there isn’t already an RPG or huge media property that’s also called Blightfall, correct?

That’s exactly what I did. And you know what was already called Blightfall nine months ago when I searched?

Yeah, so I wasn’t really worried. There was no chance someone would mistake my RPG for a minecraft mod or vice versa. And so I went about my life, having a grand old time, designing my game and dealing with the horrors of existence in 2025/2026.

Fast forward to a couple weeks prior to launching on BackerKit, a platform I chose for a few reasons, one of which was the ban on AI on the platform. Because AI is for fucking losers.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Oh, that random laugh there? That’s the laugh of a person dealing with temporary (or permanent) insanity. Because I searched the name Blightfall again. And what did I find?

The Evil-er Blightfall

So, a few things to note here. I will not be linking you to this project. It does not need more eyes, it does not need the help of an algorithm. If it were a D&D 5E adventure just by itself, it would be unfortunate (and of course it’s a D&D adventure, of course), but whatever.

But this is the most AI-slop bullshit I have ever seen. And look at the funding. Look at it. We literally both have the same number of backers, but people are willing to pay out the wazoo for this garbage.

What specifically is genAI about this project? Well, Kickstarter asks you to admit to the parts that are AI, and the creator does admit the art is AI. But look at this gem of a statement:

Okay, let’s dig in to this plate of mold, shall we? They say they use both an artist and AI art. We’re going to come back to that statement a little later, because damn is it going to pay off.

But let’s take a look at sentence two. “We do not reference artists but use an art style.” This is not how genAI works, that you can input an art style and then magically it’s not theft from artists. Just because you don’t ask it to generate in a specific person’s style doesn’t mean it isn’t the amalgamated throw up of actually talented artists who put in work and were taken from without their consent.

The sentence kills me because it preys on the uneducated. It tricks the uninformed into thinking that this is okay, that this is how AI can work, that they are doing it the ‘right’ way.

So fuck this one guy in particular, fuck any confusion that might occur with someone hearing about my game and seeing this slop pile, fuck everything forever.

But … is it just art that’s the problem?

The Writing is … Suspect

You see, this campaign offers A LOT. It offers the core 160 page adventure. It offers an additional Bestiary with 100 entries. It offers 70 minutes of music, read-aloud portions of every encounter, and “bespoke sound effects”. It even offers a prequel novel???

Wow, this person must have worked really hard to create/bankroll all this. I’m sure they must have a large funding goal to afford the production!

Okay, but maybe they put a lot of hours into this to make all that happen! This must be a year of dedicated work! RIGHT?!?!?!

Yup, 25 projects since August 2023. All very similar to Bad Blightfall. All 5E campaign books with tons of features, filled to the brim with AI art. (Remember their in-house artist? I’m sure their hands have fallen off now from the amount of work they’ve had to do to keep up. They definitely exist.)

Not just AI art, but AI writing. There’s no way one person can generate this much content.

But there’s nothing I can do about this. I don’t really care that one of their 25 campaigns is called Blightfall. I do care that they are duping people and are profiting from this garbage. But Kickstarter’s policies allow this. Don’t host your projects on Kickstarter is my advice. A person I spoke with on discord (not naming because it’s a paid server and I don’t want to blow up their spot without their permission):

“… I think it’s going to be a bit like the twitter/bsky tipping point where one day we wake up and realise “oh… everyone left over on KS seems to be doing slop now””

The Plot Thickens

I moved on. I had better things to worry about like my own crowdfund over on BackerKit, the platform that does not allow AI.

But then I saw this:

You bet your ass I clicked that post. And what did I find?

Hot damn. The juice flows and it will not stop flowing. I’m going to share a bunch of Scott’s posts now, because he’s done the work.

This is what happens when you allow genAI onto your platform; you allow grifters.

And so, our tale is told.

…

OR IS IT?

Surely, those were the three Blightfalls you were talking about: Good Blightfall, Bad Blightfall, and Minecraft Blightfall.

Oh, you sweet baby. No.

I did not count Minecraft Blightfall as one of the Blightfalls. There is another contender to the throne, recently announced, and this one isn’t AI. No, this one is going to beat me up and take my SEO lunch money.

I love you, but I have to go under my bed and die now.

Goodbye.