Lands of Far and Near - scenery background with Midjourney and NovelAI

 

On making land - a brief introduction - Midjourney focused

We think if we create a world we imagine it all from our own minds but we really construct it from what we know with the goal of what we want.  Just as the AI uses lessons learned from countless pictures so too does the human mind construct its reality and fantasy from what it has learned and experienced.  Therefore even the wildest of fantasy has some construct in reality.

If you want this to create a new world - the designer of the TTRPG be it a Dungeon Master making a new campaign or a designer making a product to sell - then you must describe it.  Not detail to detail but the feel first then the breakdowns.  This series of tutorials is to help you and is just beginning!

Let's start with Midjourney: 

You can try it out a bit for free - then pay a little or subscribe.  IMO most TTRPG designers will gladly pay the $30 a month and use it to the MAX for a few months... I should have a "Kickback if you hit this link" but they don't really...  Like Affinity software I promote this without reward because it simply is so good a service.

Basic Requirements:

1 - a computer capable of browsing the net and downloading images - you can do this with a reasonably good cell-phone.  I have a Nokia, it works great. (android OS) However I use my desktop for typing, 3D rendering, tons of other tasks.  I recommend very strongly you get some backup options, such as portable HDDs and have at least one offline normally when you aren't using it and away from the computer.  Therefore in case of fire, theft or virus your backup is safe.

2 - Discord App - it is how you petition the AI and communicate with it and others.

3 - $ - I advise just signing up for the $30 a month if you get some prompts done on the free and like it.

Operation from Desktop - almost identical to Android OS on phone but keyboard types better than thumbs - though a cheap portable bluetooth keyboard for your phone is good for travel. (enter your passwords by HAND, then connect the keyboard, bluetooth can be recorded and casually decrypted)  Out of respect for privacy I will blank out other's works.

Midjourney is what most TTRPG designers will want for richly painted backgrounds and detailed realistic designs. That high $ professional feel that until very recently even the mainstream could only afford for the cover is readily available with Midjourney.

The big strength is incredible landscapes, cityscapes, buildings, forests...  It is hard to get any thing specific but the spirit of things comes across so quickly.

The basis for a command can be broken down into several steps - these are very flexible though sometimes the syntax is noted and errors occur.  The picture is more likely to break down with too many words.  The exceptions to both are quite incredible

A command will go by

A - /imagine prompt:

B - initial text

C - declarations

D - system triggers

An example here:

Produces:

Clicking on the image reveals all 4 in an expanded view:

And we can download this to our computer by opening in a browser.  In this case at a low rez 640 / 512 pixels due to the AR command - more on that later.  Enough for tiny ID icons, game thumbnails but we want more than that - and that comes next.

The final results are in .png format but if you try to capture the stages of AI progression it will be WEBP format...?  Most browsers don't save or work with it but copy the image to the clipboard you can work it with Affinity Photo - yes I recommend buying and using it - one price you'll not be asked to buy another in years and get tons of good free updates.  FAR less than "The Shop" but you won't be made to feel like a crash-test dummy or the guy who's the "Sub" in some leather play...  Not paid by them, I endorse them as a long time customer who likes what they offer at a very low price but with good quality.

  

From here you can select which if any you want to enhance or to make variations of:

Note the numbers I added above:

Let's say I want to make a bigger version of #3 but I want also more tries at #4.  I will click each.  You'll need to wait for the results if you are in the "/relax" mode to save $ but you can have up to 4 actions at a time if in the "/fast" mode.

No matter what speed you are in you should click one button, wait a second or two for it to change to blue (or whatever browser theme you have) and then click the other and make sure it changes color.

It takes their systems longer to upscale than make more variation thumbnails so it gave the Variations on image #4 before it gave the upscaled #3

Variations #4

Variations I will warn can be QUITE addictive.  Some have made life forms and studied evolution out of many thousands of variants of AI image evolution...  However to a TTRPG maker imagine the many images for forests, castles....  The only downside is these are all in low rez and will need upscaling.

Upscale #3

The image will have much more detail and will change a little bit but still be of the same theme.  This is different from an upscaler that simply stretches and perhaps flattens some curves - I will get to 3rd party upscaling later.  This re-paints it from the seed to make a bigger and much better detailed version!  The resolution is 1280 / 1024 pixels at the first upscale - again my --ar 4:3 command

This image is upscaled and let's focus on the control panel now.

This is where it gets nice:

You have options to upscale, re-seed, re-make the image.

Also you can share it and rate it.

The last part - the smileys - please DO rate it.  Be honest.  Some times you'll rate it good because you love it, other times you HATE it.  Others can see your image and rate it also.  We aren't just using an AI here, we are teaching it!  This thing gets better and better each few weeks due to our constant use and input.

The best way to learn is to watch some videos and experiment.  For Midjourney I suggest the /relax mode.  One action at a time and need to be in /fast mode to upscale to larger upscale (after first 4 choices) but no limit on images with subscription.   To the DMs and TTRPG designers I suggest a list of lands, cities, towns, castles, dungeons you want to make for your game.

Generally its simpler language and medium and scale that will help the most, then more complex language and the tons of specifics to perfect if necessary.  However since the target is "Art for my RPG project" I bet most DMs and designers are drooling right now.  "If only I could get that without paying $$$ and waiting months and having the artist try to get me to sign a pledge to be some kind of political extremist...."

So - here are a few prompts and examples.  Feel free to try these, your results may vary.  That is one of the best things, it will vary even with the same text!  Save the exact image and seed+text in your files to revisit for similar works.

Note exploring AIArt you will get a HUGE collection of images...  Get that HDD from Costco to back it up - offline - once a week upload a "My Epic RPG World" file with notes on date, etc.  Then keep it unplugged and away from the computer.  Thus if your computer gets stolen, wrecked by a virus, just DIES for no reason the many, many hours you spent are not wasted.  Serious, I used to do tech work and all the people considering spending thousands for HDD repair or to pay blackmailers (don't, go to a tech) locking a computer they could have prevented it with a backup.  And "Online backup" tends to die/become unusable with the computer or virus...

Mountains  -->  terrifying mountains, oil painting --ar 5:3

Forests - fantasy forest with mountains and sunlight, acrylic painting --ar 7:3

ruins --> detailed ink drawing, ancient ruined city --ar 4:3

dungeon corridors --> Detailed ink drawing, dark corridor descending deep into the earth --ar 4:3

caves -->  Cave that is mostly stone wall on the left, acrylic painting --ar 5:3

Fantasy city --> Colored illustration, map of fantasy city --ar 4:3

This last one was a 'happy accident' as yes you can work out fantasy maps that are both odd and wonderful - but I got the "Souls" packing where it's clearly some magnificent city of terrors and wonders but twists in on itself so it is a nightmare to map and might as well be "Zones" with mini-maps...?

This batch only scratches the surface on what you can do with midjourney.

https://www.midjourney.com/

So - again consider browsing, signing up - I think I should ask for a link that gives me kickbacks for people doing so but they don't have one so please consider tipping me for my niche (TTRPG themed AI art help) as I should save you a lot of time and server time.  By far Midjourney is the most reliable and output for value AI that most TTRPG Indie Genre people will like so them being there is our own reward.

 Expect a lot more articles with focuses like forests, dungeons, landscapes and more advanced ways to get their AI to both do stuff you want and stuff better than you could do that inspires you...  Again my Ko-Fi link to consider giving me a tip now and again.

Thank you!

Maxx Feral