A text-based RPG with a game master that never runs out of story
Type what your character does and the game master answers. Health, gear and your choices carry over from turn to turn. Pick a world and start playing.
What makes it an RPG
Your character has health from 0 to 10 and an inventory that changes as you play. Get hurt in a fight and it drops; find a healer and it comes back. Pick up a key, a map or a strange coin and it stays with you, and the game master remembers it when it matters. Hit zero and the adventure ends.
There are no menus or stat screens to learn. You play by writing, the way you would talk to a game master at a table: “I check the cart for tracks”, “I offer the guard my last silver coin”, “I climb onto the roof and wait”. If you'd rather not type, each turn also offers three choices.
Worlds to play
- Fantasy: The Lantern Road, a low-magic trade road where the protective lanterns are going dark.
- Science fiction: Drift Station Calder, a frontier mining station with a silent cargo ship docked outside.
- Mystery: Fog Over Wrenmouth, a 1920s seaside town where the lighthouse keeper has vanished.
- Spooky: The House on Gallows Lane, eerie rather than gory.
- Your own: describe any setting and starting situation and the game master builds it.
How the game master keeps track
Long text RPG sessions often fall apart because the story forgets what happened earlier. Quillroll keeps a running summary of your adventure alongside the most recent turns, so names, promises and injuries from early on still count later. Adventures are saved automatically under My adventures.
Bring your own character
Want a proper character sheet first? The D&D character generator rolls ready-to-play 5e characters with ability scores, hit points, skills and gear. The NPC generator and quest generator are handy if you run your own table too.
Text RPGs then and now
Text RPGs go back to the 1970s: Colossal Cave Adventure, Zork, and the multiplayer MUDs that came after them. Those games understood a fixed list of commands. An AI game master understands ordinary sentences and can improvise, which makes the genre a lot easier to pick up. Read more in what are text-based adventure games.
Questions
Is this text-based RPG free to play?
Yes. 10 turns a day without an account, 20 after signing in with Google. Pro ($7.99/month) gives 3,000 turns every 30 days.
Does it use Dungeons & Dragons rules?
Not exactly. There are no dice rolls to manage. The game master tracks health (0 to 10) and your inventory, and decides outcomes from what you do. It feels like a light tabletop session.
Can I play my own character?
Yes. Give a name and a short description before you start, or roll one with the D&D character generator and press Play this as an adventure.
Is it multiplayer?
No, it's single player: one player and one AI game master.
Does it work on mobile?
Yes. It runs in any phone or desktop browser, and your adventures are saved so you can switch devices after signing in.
What content is allowed?
PG-13 adventure: combat, danger, mystery and dark themes handled without graphic gore or sexual content.