Choose your own adventure games you can play right now
Every scene ends with three choices, and you can always type your own. Pick a world below and the story starts in a few seconds.
How it plays
You read a short scene, usually a paragraph or two. At the end you get three options, like “Follow the lamplighter's tracks”, “Ask the innkeeper about the missing oil” or “Wait until morning”. Press one, or press 1, 2 or 3 on your keyboard, and the narrator writes what happens next.
Unlike a printed gamebook, the paths are not written in advance. The story is written as you go, so it can follow you anywhere: if none of the three options fits, type your own and the story goes there instead. The game keeps track of your health and what you're carrying, so a rope you picked up an hour ago can still save you later.
Pick a story
- The Lantern Road. Low-magic fantasy. The lanterns that keep the night creatures off the trade road are going out.
- Drift Station Calder. Science fiction. A cargo ship docks at a frontier mining station with no crew and its hold sealed from inside.
- Fog Over Wrenmouth. 1920s mystery. The lighthouse keeper vanished the night before a storm, and everyone has a different story.
- The House on Gallows Lane. Eerie, not gory. One empty house keeps its lights on every night, and tonight the door is open.
- Your own world. Describe a setting and a starting situation in a sentence or two, and the narrator builds from there.
Tips for a better story
Give your character a want
“A disgraced knight who wants her title back” gives the narrator far more to work with than “a knight”. You can fill this in under Who they are before you start.
Mix choices and your own actions
The three options keep things moving. Typing your own action is where the surprises happen. Try both: talk to people, search rooms, lie, bargain, run away.
Start from a generated character
Not sure who to play? Roll one with the random character generator or the D&D character generator, then press Play this as an adventure to start with that character.
Why choose your own adventure still works
Branching stories have been around since the gamebooks of the 1970s and 80s. The format lasts because it asks one thing of you at a time: decide. You don't need to know any rules or controls. Quillroll keeps that simplicity and removes the limit on where the story can go. If you want to know more about the history, read what text adventure games are.
Questions
Are these choose your own adventure games free?
Yes. You get 10 turns a day without an account and 20 a day after signing in with Google. Pro ($7.99/month) is for long sessions.
How is this different from a choose your own adventure book?
A book has a fixed number of pages and endings. Here the narrator writes each scene as you play, so the branches never run out and you can type an action the author never thought of.
Do I have to pick one of the three choices?
No. The choices are there when you want them. You can always type your own action instead, like "hide the letter under the floorboard".
Can I lose?
Yes. You have 10 health, and bad choices cost some of it. If it runs out, that story ends and you can start a new one.
Is it OK for teenagers?
Stories stay PG-13: danger, mystery and the occasional fight, but no sexual content and no graphic gore. Quillroll is for players 13 and older.
Do I need to download anything?
No. It runs in any browser on a phone, tablet or computer. Your adventures are saved so you can come back later.