Following our analysis of DriveThruRPG’s ‘Human vs AI’ sales trends, we turned our attention to the DMsGuild.
On DriveThruRPG, the data told a clear story: as sales increased, AI content vanished and ‘Human-Created’ tags took over. We expected a similar triumph for transparency on the DMsGuild.
Instead, we found a grey fog.
While AI content still fails to climb the ladder (dropping from 15% at the bottom to 0% at the top), the successful creators of the DMsGuild have largely opted out of the conversation entirely.
Copper best-sellers
| Creation Method | Count | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Contains AI-Generated Content | 17 | 15.89% |
| Creation Method Not Chosen By Publisher | 53 | 49.53% |
| Human-Created Without AI | 37 | 34.58% |
Silver best-sellers
| Creation Method | Count | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Contains AI-Generated Content | 8 | 11.76% |
| Creation Method Not Chosen By Publisher | 46 | 67.65% |
| Human-Created Without AI | 14 | 20.59% |
Electrum best-sellers
| Creation Method | Count | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Contains AI-Generated Content | 1 | 8.33% |
| Creation Method Not Chosen By Publisher | 10 | 83.33% |
| Human-Created Without AI | 1 | 8.33% |
Gold best-sellers
| Creation Method | Count | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Creation Method Not Chosen By Publisher | 12 | 100.00% |
The most striking data point is the Gold tier. 100% of the best-selling titles released in 2025 failed to disclose their creation method.
This includes the wildly popular Dragon Delves map packs by Heroic Maps and the Curse of Strahd guides by MandyMod. While these are almost certainly human-created works (Heroic Maps is renowned for hand-drawn quality), the publishers have left the metadata set to the default: ‘Not Chosen’.
As we move down the ladder, transparency improves slightly, but ‘Not Chosen’ remains the dominant category at every single tier (83% at Electrum, 67% at Silver).
Despite the lack of tagging from top creators, the ‘Inverse Quality Curve’ for AI remains visible.
- Copper: 15.89% AI content.
- Silver: 11.76% AI content.
- Electrum: 8.33% AI content.
- Gold: 0% AI content.
Just like on DriveThruRPG, AI is a tool for volume, not hits. It helps creators get products onto the virtual shelf (Copper), but it does not help those products find a mass audience.
The DMsGuild has a transparency problem. On DriveThruRPG, indie creators view the ‘Human-Created’ tag as a badge of honour – a selling point to drive Platinum sales. On DMsGuild, the biggest sellers seemingly view the metadata as optional paperwork. Until the platform’s heavy hitters start tagging their work, the true state of AI on the DMsGuild will remain hidden in the grey.
