Guides
Guides for players and storytellers
How text RPGs and gamebooks work, how the dice decide, and how to write an interactive story people want to play twice.
- For storytellers 2 min read
A story as a gift: making a personal quest for a friend
A personal quest, full of the people and places someone knows, is a gift they can play. Here is how to write one in an evening and send it on the day.
Read - For storytellers 3 min read
How to create your own text adventure (without writing code)
You can make a playable text adventure from a story told in plain words. Here is what to put in your story so it becomes a good quest, and what the forge on Lantern Saga does with it.
Read - For players 2 min read
Gamebooks, text adventures and interactive fiction: what's the difference?
Gamebooks, parser text adventures, choice-based interactive fiction and text RPGs all tell stories you play. Here is what sets each apart, and what modern text RPGs keep from each.
Read - For players 2 min read
How dice checks work in a text RPG (2d6 + stat, explained)
Each risky choice rolls two six-sided dice plus a stat against a target of 7, 9 or 11. Here is how success, partial success and failure work, and how perks, items and difficulty change the odds.
Read - For players 2 min read
Solo RPG quests you can play in your browser tonight
A solo RPG lets you play a role-playing adventure alone, without a game master. Text RPG quests in the browser are the quickest way in. Here is what to expect and how to choose a hero.
Read - For storytellers 2 min read
Turn your tabletop campaign into a replayable quest
Your group's best campaign can become a text RPG quest your players can replay and choose differently. Here is how to boil a campaign down to a story the forge can write.
Read - For players 3 min read
What is a text RPG? A short guide to playing stories in your browser
A text RPG is a role-playing game told in words: you read a scene, choose what to do, and dice and stats decide how risky choices turn out. Here is how they work and where to start.
Read - For storytellers 2 min read
Writing interactive fiction: ten rules for choices players remember
The craft rules behind interactive stories that feel alive, from failing forward to choices that come back, with examples you can use in your own quest.
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