Not sure; Aurora refuses to install whenever I've tried...
Falling Frontier does look interesting.
Falling Frontier does look interesting.
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Jumping back into this conversation, if I may....
Well, in my book that makes you an expert. I do not have professional graphics experience although I have worked on teams with graphic experts and asked for their help on projects. I have picked up some photo-editing skills in my time but rarely put those to work professionally. So I approach this as an amateur who likes images and also as someone who cobbled together my own learning of Photoshop. (Wish I had taken a class in that but I no longer have access to that program.)
Thanks for the recommendation. I looked at Mid-Journey after what you wrote. No free version and doesn't seem right for me at the moment. May come back to it later. If I find a program that can lock in character images, that will be the one that keeps me. Also, nothing is as versatile as Playground AI was and I wonder why?
Yes, I think that is really the purpose of this thread. Some of us have shared some workflows. For those who are beginners, just getting some ideas about what can work is useful. Most folks have to understand that yes, you can create images by just using words, but often they need some polishing beyond that. Even the words need sharpening sometimes.
Right? It has an interesting The Expanse look to it. And it's supposed to have planets customisations. No land battles though.
AI's definitely awaken the "artist spirit" in a lot of friends. I love how it's lowered the barriers to entry for them.
I think MJ is supposed to let you use character reference? but I never really got it to work. Civitai has a lot of character models to use. you can also train your own, but that seems a little more complicated. and very tiresome if you're doing a lot of characters. it's at the top of my wishlist; character consistency.
Yeah, it's still the wild west, and workflows seem to be very fluid still. Right now I have a working setup, but it's ever-changing with AI. Always some site that shuts down, or begin enshittification, or new tech that changes the landscape.
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Hi all! I was invited here by Chac1—thanks again. I’ve been really enjoying the image generation conversations, and it’s awesome to see people using AI tools to support their storytelling worlds.
My biggest challenge has been visual consistency across cultures, characters, and long-term development. ChatGPT has helped a ton for writing and brainstorming, but I still need to guide image generation closely to keep things feeling like the same world.
My project is called Hollow Crown, a FATE-based TTRPG set in the year 2666, long after modern civilization has collapsed. The remnants of the U.S. have splintered into medieval-style kingdoms, folk religions, and warlords clinging to industrial ruins like saints to relics. Think Crusader Kings meets Twilight 2000, with Appalachian mystics, Revelationist preachers, and Deltaic rebels.
Here are a few examples we’ve generated, using a visual style guide to keep each culture consistent across prompts:
Count Lamar Cain of Memphis
Warlord of the Deltaic Rebellion. Known as The Lion, Lamar's forces draw strength from the Mississippi's edge, defiant and culturally proud.
Coat of Arms – House Cain
The chained fiddle: a symbol of rebellion, art, and resistance.
King Ellis Crockoone of Tenna
Crowned in Nash but unrecognized by the Holy Columbia Commonwealth. A Revelationist monarch trying to hold together a broken kingdom.
Lorekeeper’s Study – Riverlander Court
Medical, prophetic, and philosophical texts crowd the desks of Revelationist scholars.
Industrial Revival: A Shipyard Reclaimed
Post-collapse Detroit industry reborn through sheer will and labor. The Great Lakes are now a source of arms, armor, and ships for whoever claims it.
Detroit Market Day
Trade thrives in pockets of stability. Fine metalwork and mass-produced quality items from Michigan artisans are traded far and wide beyond Detroit.
Underground Faith: Secret Marks of the Veil
Used by secret Catholics of the Northeast to communicate.
Industrialist Cathedral in Detroit
Rebuilt from old-world ruins, this cathedral blends forgotten skyscrapers and Gothic piety.
Knights of the Bridge
The Circuit Riders of Michigan keep the vital trade roads open and safe for commerce. Shown here are warriors of the Saginaw Circuit Riders beside their famous bridge, note the distinct Michigander helms.
If you’re working on anything similar—especially multi-faction worlds or anything pseudo-historical—I’d love to see what your workflow looks like. Always down to swap prompts, notes, or lore-building strategies.
Happy worldbuilding!
My biggest challenge has been visual consistency across cultures, characters, and long-term development. ChatGPT has helped a ton for writing and brainstorming, but I still need to guide image generation closely to keep things feeling like the same world.
My project is called Hollow Crown, a FATE-based TTRPG set in the year 2666, long after modern civilization has collapsed. The remnants of the U.S. have splintered into medieval-style kingdoms, folk religions, and warlords clinging to industrial ruins like saints to relics. Think Crusader Kings meets Twilight 2000, with Appalachian mystics, Revelationist preachers, and Deltaic rebels.
Image Showcase: “No Lords but the Living”
Here are a few examples we’ve generated, using a visual style guide to keep each culture consistent across prompts:
Count Lamar Cain of Memphis
Warlord of the Deltaic Rebellion. Known as The Lion, Lamar's forces draw strength from the Mississippi's edge, defiant and culturally proud.
Coat of Arms – House Cain
The chained fiddle: a symbol of rebellion, art, and resistance.
King Ellis Crockoone of Tenna
Crowned in Nash but unrecognized by the Holy Columbia Commonwealth. A Revelationist monarch trying to hold together a broken kingdom.
Lorekeeper’s Study – Riverlander Court
Medical, prophetic, and philosophical texts crowd the desks of Revelationist scholars.
Industrial Revival: A Shipyard Reclaimed
Post-collapse Detroit industry reborn through sheer will and labor. The Great Lakes are now a source of arms, armor, and ships for whoever claims it.
Detroit Market Day
Trade thrives in pockets of stability. Fine metalwork and mass-produced quality items from Michigan artisans are traded far and wide beyond Detroit.
Underground Faith: Secret Marks of the Veil
Used by secret Catholics of the Northeast to communicate.
Industrialist Cathedral in Detroit
Rebuilt from old-world ruins, this cathedral blends forgotten skyscrapers and Gothic piety.
Knights of the Bridge
The Circuit Riders of Michigan keep the vital trade roads open and safe for commerce. Shown here are warriors of the Saginaw Circuit Riders beside their famous bridge, note the distinct Michigander helms.
Image Generation Tips from Our Workflow
- Theme-locked sessions: I never bounce between cultures in a single gen run—one image chat per faction or style.
- Prompt seeding with lore: I open each image session by pasting in a short blurb or cultural traits from our docs. The AI does way better when it knows what it’s drawing.
- Style guides per group: We use reference docs that define colors, symbols, facial hair norms, armor, material use, etc. Keeps things coherent.
- Everything gets a caption: Even if the image’s use isn’t immediate, it goes into an archive with name, context, and origin.
- Diegetic vs. metadiegetic art: Some images are “in-universe woodcuts” or banners. Others are clean textbook-style reconstructions. Both serve different functions.
If you’re working on anything similar—especially multi-faction worlds or anything pseudo-historical—I’d love to see what your workflow looks like. Always down to swap prompts, notes, or lore-building strategies.
Happy worldbuilding!
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This is really cool. I've been trying to think of a medieval worldbuilding concept. but it's always just GoT or LoTR so i never start. This has a pretty cool ground concept and execution.
Oh, has anyone tried the new ChatGPT4o Image generator that is sweeping the web? it is by far the best right now, blew my mind.
Thank you! That's what I'm using for the images here: Hollow Crown: No Lords but the Living
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