#text-based rpg

[voidwarlock-studios]

My interpretations of a few of @within-your-eyes-if 's characters! I gave Leese some eye bags because of all the inner turmoil he has to deal with. Lyth's design was heavily influenced by Heaven Official's Blessing. I kept imagining both him and Xiang as if they were in that universe.

I'm excited to see how the story progresses!!

[enchi-elm]

Right, gonna drop this into the ether just before bed and maybe someone'll see it who can solve this for me.

I swear--I have this in firm memory--that floating around the internet somewhere is a beautifully scripted text-based RPG called some variant of Guinevere where you play as Guinevere. (a few years ago, I dunno, 2019? Earlier?)

It is only text. It is the most lo-fi production ever, it is text on a slightly off-white background, and it was utterly transporting. There were paths that turned you into a powerful sorceress. You could be into Arthur or not, into anyone or not, you could go a magic route or a political power route or a "I just want to love someone and have fun" route, it was exquisitely done. 10/10 storytelling. It starts off the day you get married and follows your early life at Camelot.

And I bookmarked it because I got through two chapters of it and it was still under construction or something and I have lost the bookmark and both DuckDuckGo and the tumblr search engine are determined to keep me in the dark and to make matters worse, somehow there's now a Choices story about Guinevere and the only thing that's even remotely relevant that comes up as results are related to that app. But it wasn't an app! It was a browser-based text-based RPG and it was beautiful and I can't find it.

[linuxgamenews]

Embark on a Journey with Questboard: The Next-Level Text-Based RPG

Questboard is a text-based RPG game is a choose your own adventure on Linux, Mac, and Windows PC. Developer Binary Cabin’s creativity brings the title to life in the most exciting ways. Due to make its way onto Steam in 2025. Heads up, adventurers! Indie studio Binary Cabin is rolling out something special, and it's hitting right in the nostalgic feels. Meet Questboard — a fresh take on old-school, text-based RPG titles but with all the modern touches we like. It's a full-on dive back into the world of story-driven exploration on Linux. The kind that pulls you in and keeps you hooked. Inspired by those cozy, classic PC adventures, Questboard puts you in a world where every decision counts, every dice roll matters. Since every choice leads to new surprises. And the best part? A free demo drops this December, so we can all get a taste before its full launch on Steam in March 2025!

Questboard - Official Announcement Trailer

Picture this: a game that combines classic RPG mechanics with that 'choose-your-own-adventure' feel, but dialed up with the power of today’s tech. In Questboard, you’ll journey through a beautifully crafted world filled with mysterious characters, unexpected quests, and plenty of choices that shape your path. Whether you're chatting up a shady merchant, taking a chance on a risky quest, or rolling the dice in the face of a challenge, every decision is yours to make. It's your story, your adventure, and it unfolds exactly how you want.

Best Features

So what can we expect from this journey? Here’s a quick rundown:

Retro Gameplay with a Modern Twist: If you’re a fan of classic RPG mechanics, gameplay will feel like home. But it’s more than just a throwback—it’s modernized with smoother decision-making that keeps things fresh.

Your Choices Shape the Adventure: This is like a ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ title on a whole new level. Every choice you make sends you down a different path, which means endless possibilities for how your story unfolds.

Tactical Dice Rolling: We’re not talking about luck here; we’re talking about strategy. Rolling the dice in Questboard isn’t just random—it’s a strategic move. Each roll can change the course of your journey, so you’ve gotta play it smart.

Free Demo in December: Can’t wait to check it out? The demo’s going live in December! Jump in and see if you’ve got what it takes to master the Questboard.

Questboard text-based RPG is now available to wishlist on Steam. So if you’re into retro RPG vibes and like a choose your own adventure game where your decisions matter, this one’s for you. Get ready to embark on an adventure full of twists, turns, and everything we like about story-driven games — only this time, it’s your story to tell. So rally your party, sharpen those dice-rolling skills, and get ready to conquer. The adventure of a lifetime awaits on Linux, Mac, and Windows PC.

[etuusdominaattori]

"Text-based roleplaying is a nice, relaxing hobby! No pressure!"

...cool theory, however, in the real world...

...to make my newest character, Atlas, I:

researched Eastern Orthodoxy (Atlas grew up Eastern Orthodox but is questioning Divine Providence in a very un-Orthodox way)

researched Eastern Orthodox baby naming rituals, came up with a naming ritual for a witch family, and then combined the two

emailed an Eastern Orthodox priest to ask about saints that might work for a trans man and be known in Finland (he named Saint Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg) (because Atlas carries a small religious icon with him at all times)

spent countless hours researching Karelian language (to name one sculpture that Atlas made five years ago)

researched where those evacuated from Ruskeala (in Ladoga Karelia) after Moscow Armistice (in 1944) were sent in Finland and how the process of being evacuated worked (to write one paragraph about the grandparents of Atlas)

went to my town's orthodox parish's käspaikka/rushnyk exhibition (because Atlas uses double running stitch in his jewelry art, and his aesthetic is a modernized version of käspaikka/rushnyk)

borrowed four books from the library: three about käspaikka/rushnyk, one about double running stitch (again, Atlas uses double running stitch in his jewelry art)

spent countless hours researching flax (Atlas has a tiny flax field on his yard, and he weaves it into a fabric himself)

spent countless hours researching the elättikäärme tradition of Finland (a wild snake that agrees to live in a house to bring luck, because Atlas has an elättikäärme)

I also made up new stuff about how elättikäärme might live and behave

researched the taste of raw human heart (because Atlas gained a skill after eating his uncle's heart)

wrote a business plan for his jewelry business (because of course)

researched pesäpallo (Finnish baseball) results of 2018 to be able to refer correctly to a game

And please don't ever allow me to talk about all the research I've done for Einar. He was born in the 13th century in Northern Norway, married a Saami woman, became a vampire, left his wife and son, moved all around Europe... and now we're in 2023. That's a shit-ton of research.

I can't allow myself to make mistakes in things that can be made factually correct with a bit of research.

Especially if the mistakes could end up reinforcing harmful stereotypes.

[marblesstorystudio]

❀ Revamp Coming in January! ❀ Itch ❀ Official Spotify Playlist

❀ Will you embrace your destiny or choose to avert your gaze?

Betrayed by your mothers and sent away to become a prophet, loneliness became an old friend, and an intense longing for connection stirs deep within you.

Hoping to escape the monotony of your life—training to become a Living Prophet and delivering parcels all over the Southern Territories isn’t as fun as it sounds—you seek solace in the nightflowers that grow in Caligo. 

It’s not like you have a choice, anyway, considering your dwindling medication and the irritating withdrawal symptoms (you've blown up one too many dormitories). Maybe you shouldn’t have put this off for so long, but the thought of being in your parents’ old home … well, let’s just say you aren’t ready to revisit their memory.

❀ Welcome to Caligo. Our Sovereign is pleased with your interest.

Caligo exists in the Dark Realm, home to the Sovereign and her Crimson Court. Famous for its nightflowers, Caligo is the place to go if you want medicine, poisons, glamours, or even cures.

Twin moons cast an ethereal glow upon you, illuminating the blue haze that swirls through the land. 

Unclimbable mountains overlook lush, fertile land that covers Insomnium, Umbra, Tenebrae, and the Crimson Court in nightflowers.

Though wet, chilly, and sunless, the beauty of this ancient place still prevails.

❀ choose your name; select your gender & pronoun ❀ customize your character's face & body; choose an outfit ❀ select 1 of 4 unique belief systems ❀ romance 1 of 2 male love interests or focus on creating deep bonds of friendship ❀ guide your character's decisions & determine their fate

[starbase777]

When you have the desire to write four paragraphs of deep lore about your OC's history including a fine combination of angst and character progression but have no energy to do it

[larkingame]

a sneak peak at the new larkin...

[barracuda-shark-games]

Interactive Fiction Poll

Example for Option 1:

First Page has a series of answers for what gender(s) your character experiences attraction to, if any. Second page allows you to specify whether that attraction is only romantic, only sexual, or both. Et cetera.

[worldofmetahumans]

An underrated hero, but still an amazing one! Share your opinion on Black Canary today on https://worldofmetahumans.com/ !!

[thescrump]

I really wanna do a sort of.. text based rpg, or choose your own adventure book, where the desicions of the main character are entirely controlled by whatever people on tumblr say.

what do you think?

[videogamepolls]

Requested by anon

[signalhill-if]

Psst. I'm planning to run a game of Apocalypse World in the Signal Hill universe on Fridays. It's a narrative-heavy TTRPG, and the one that directly inspired Signal Hill. And obviously it'll have, y'know, all of the stuff from the actual game in it. It will be over Discord voice chat, and either in the afternoon or later EST.

You can check out the playbooks and basic rules here. I'll be homebrewing some changes to fit with the universe, and I may also do some homebrew modifications to the playbooks if people have killer ideas. The overarching political story will be the same as the plot of Signal Hill, but instead of playing the lone survivor hunting for answers, you can play... basically anyone you want. Go wild, if I get a lot of submissions I will probably pick based on who gives me the coolest character concept haha.

I've got a basic form up that you can submit to if you're interested, and if I get enough interest and can arrange something, I'll get in contact.

If you've got any questions, feel free to send me an ask or DM!

(Also I feel like I gotta clarify because this is prominently a game with romance and sexuality, I will not be doing any NPC romances because you are fans of my game and I would find that morally questionable 😎 So please do not sign up because you want to date Doc. You can hang out with him though)

[dungeonofthedragon]

TTRPGs suitable for: Play by Post!

My first ten or so years of role-playing were purely play-by-post: warrior cats and dragons adventuring on online forums and message boards (shout out to Darkflame the dragon and Coldstone the kitty.) There was one very memorable Fallen London role-play over email too!

I suppose the modern equivalent would be a game in DMs, or maybe a discord text channel. In any case, for various reasons, many people prefer to play games in written form! However, some game systems are difficult to utilise in this format.

Here are some games that make for wonderful text-based adventures. All are GMless and/or diceless, so there's no awkward halt while you wait for a GM's roll.

Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine is a diceless game I've been waiting to get my greedy little hands on for some time. It focuses on fantastical slice-of-life stories. This reddit thread has great advice for running it as a play-by-post game!

There are plenty of available adventures for this system too! Adventures such as To Rob Death's Dominion, A Pawn's Gambit and the creator's own Halloween Special.

For the Grail is a GMless and diceless game of Arthurian knights on a grand quest. While it was designed for physical play, I've been playing it online with a group of friends and it's a lot of fun!

Law Bringers is a diceless game designed for space fantasy adventures such as Star Wars, but which works well for pseudo-medieval fantasy as well. It's also completely free!

Lordsworn is a GMless rpg of tragic, broken warriors struggling to survive after the destruction of their god in a cataclysmic war. It uses 4-sided dice. When a player rolls these dice, they keep their results secret from the other players, making it perfect for this style of play. Each player controls three Lordsworn, providing a good variety of dynamics to explore during their travels.

Magica is a one-page rpg about magical girls. It is GMless but players use six-sided dice to resolve events. Also, each magical girl is secretly in love with one of the others. Messy fun indeed!

Feel free to reblog with examples of your own!

[goofballproximitysurveyor]

I kind of want to make a poll about your parents also being nerds bc i think it’s funny a lot of my friends either have at least one parent with more or less the same interests or they have extremely “normie” parents meanwhile I do have incredibly nerdy parents but they both have honestly pretty different interests from me we never have much to talk about in terms of that.

[multiversetravelingjournalist]

I want to create a game of my own. The thing is, I am mostly ignorant of coding, not that confident in my own artistic abilities and would not want to commission an artist. So, while I find Visual Novels appealing, the type of game that would be most me-friendly would be a text-based RPG. Would anyone still be interested in those types of games, though?

[the-punforgiven]

Wait shit I have rpgmaker, I could literally just go start making a video game right now if I wanted to