Skip to content
Worlds

Adventure RPG with an AI game master

A treasure map on a rival's back, a library nobody has robbed, a moon nobody has charted. Pitch the job; the game master supplies the complications.

How adventure plays in Orpheus

Adventure runs on a goal and everything between you and it. Name the prize, whether it's a vault, a wreck or the far side of a jungle, and the game master puts locks, rivals and weather in the way.

Plans are welcome, and so is their collapse. When an action could go either way, the game master calls for a dice roll, and the result shapes what happens next. A failed roll rarely ends a heist. It changes it: the guard is awake now, and you are improvising.

You'll want a crew. Companions join you along the way and have opinions about your plan. Treat them well and they stand with you. Push them too far and they make their own choices, sometimes at the worst possible moment.

Rivals remember. The captain you cheated and the fence you overpaid both come back around, and sellers price things by how they feel about you. Some people can be taken aside for a private word, which is how most good double-crosses start.

When it comes to a fight, it uses initiative, real rolls and death saves. Follow it in the story, or flip to a tactical board and move your pieces yourself. Scenes mark things you can look at, use or take, and the right rope at the right moment beats a sword.

How a scene opens

An example first beat from “The library heist”, written the way the game master writes. In the game, nothing is scripted: this is just how a scene like it might start.

A monastery on a cliff above terraced gardens

The abbot pours the tea himself. Below the window, the terraces drop away to the sea, and somewhere under your feet is the last library in the world.

“We have been robbed four times in nine hundred years,” he says. “Each thief taught us something. We would like to learn the fifth lesson before someone unpleasant teaches it to us.” He slides a purse across the table. “You have until the new moon. Brother Tam will show you nothing.”

Brother Tam, by the door, does not smile. He does glance, very briefly, at the bell tower.

Your choices

  • Ask what the fourth thief got wrong
  • Count the purse before agreeing to anything
  • Ask Brother Tam for a tour of the bell tower

Or type what you do in your own words.

Pitches to start from

  • The deck of a sailing ship at sea, the wheel and rigging ahead

    No crew, one map

    “A pirate captain with one ship, no crew, and a treasure map tattooed on a rival's back.”

    SwashbucklerYou play: The captain

  • A monastery on a cliff above terraced gardens

    The library heist

    “Monks who guard the last library in the world hire a thief to test their locks.”

    Heist fantasyYou play: The thief

  • A glowing alien jungle of giant mushrooms under two moons

    Something filming back

    “A nature documentary crew on a jungle moon, and something out there is filming them back.”

    Sci-fi survivalYou play: The camera operator

  • An empty throne at the end of a vaulted hall hung with banners

    The finale, continued

    “That fantasy show that ended on a cliffhanger? Pick it up the morning after the finale.”

    Fan fictionYou play: Your favorite side character

Make it yours

Decide the scale. One night and one vault, or a voyage that takes a whole campaign. Tell the game master how dangerous it should be and what stays out, and whether your character is the brains, the muscle or the one who talks. Start from a pitch below or a sentence of your own.

More worlds: Fantasy · Sci-fi · Horror · Mystery · Comedy · Cozy · Fan fiction. New to this? Read what an AI game master does.

Name the job

Pitch the prize and who's after it, and the game master sets the first scene. Free to start, no card needed.

Play free

Plays in your browser, on a computer or a phone