FAQ
Questions, answered
AI rules, art, ownership, and what to expect at the table.
AI rules & guardrails
Does the AI come up with the adventure?
No. Humans write every idea. The event AI only writes up and expands what your team directs. It never suggests plot, encounters, names, or mechanics. If you ask it for ideas, it declines and hands the question back to you.
How is that enforced?
Five layers:
- Event-only AI client on the organizer's Unwhelm API key, with a per-session spend cap. It connects only to the AMBA and Wanderer's Guide servers, with no web, image, or other tools.
- Locked system prompt: write up and expand only the team's ideas. It refuses off-task chat and “build the whole adventure” requests.
- Pre-check: a small model screens each request for directing versus asking the AI to invent before it reaches AMBA.
- Server limits: the event's AMBA instance turns off bulk-generation tools and caps output per call.
- Prompt logging: every prompt is logged, as a deterrent, for prompt-count scoring, and as proof of who wrote what.
Is any of the art AI-generated?
No. There's no AI art. Maps and art come from partner vendors or the public domain.
Will people know AI is involved?
Yes. It's disclosed at sign-up and posted in the booth. The AI types; the team authors.
Do I need my own AI account?
No. The event supplies the AI client on the organizer's API key.
Your module
Do we keep what we build?
Yes. Every team gets a personal-use copy of its module (AMBA plus the Foundry export). Partner art is licensed for personal and home-game use, not for sale or distribution.
Can we get a nicer copy?
An optional add-on of about $10 gets a polished print or PDF keepsake with a cover, team names, the event mark, and the contest stamp.
Can we sell it?
Possibly later. A sellable version that uses only public-domain or CC art, for DMsGuild or Pathfinder Infinite, is an option under consideration. Planned
Who plays our module?
Another group at the event. The organizer assigns modules to play groups so every finished module gets played. Authors can also buy play tickets for other teams' modules.
The round
Which game systems?
Pathfinder 2e and D&D 5e in year one. Nothing else yet.
How long is a round?
60–90 minutes, depending on the format. A module is at least a one-shot and at most a two-shot, and two-shot teams come back the next day.
Can we be a team of two?
Yes. Three is standard, and two players can split the narrator, editor, and character builder roles between them.
Do we need to know Foundry or AMBA?
No. The map is already a finished Foundry scene, the export is one step through the AMBA–Foundry bridge, and the guidelines sheet and prompt card walk you through the rest. Knowing Pathfinder or D&D helps.
Can I bring my own map?
No. Maps have to be pre-walled and lit to fit in the round, and the event is built around partner maps. You draw three map cards and pick one, or play hard mode with an open pick from the partner library.
What do players need at the play table?
Just a phone. Handouts arrive in the AMBA player view, and Wanderer's Guide is the character sheet. Pre-gens are already loaded.
Organizers
Does Unwhelm have to run it?
No. It's a kit. Organizers run it on cloud servers by default, or self-host on Linux/Docker. The AMBA source is available on request.
How many rooms?
Two build rooms is the standard pitch, with a ceiling of about five pending a concurrency test. Planned
Bring One-Shot Forge to your table.
Convention organizers, game stores, clubs, and partners: we'd love to show you a live round.