Questions

Frequently asked questions

What World of Thaedoria is, what it costs, and how it plays — answered plainly. For more, see How to Play, the Player's Guide, and the World Codex.

What is World of Thaedoria?

World of Thaedoria is a single-player, browser-based fantasy text RPG. You play by writing what your character does in plain language, and an AI Storyteller narrates the world’s response in prose. It is guided by an AI but governed by a real rules engine, so it plays like a living novel you steer rather than a chatbot that agrees with you.

Is World of Thaedoria free to play?

Yes. You can start for free with a daily helping of “storytime” — enough to create a hero, meet the town, and begin your first adventure each day. A Premium plan unlocks roughly ten times the daily storytime plus longer, richer narration and priority responses. You can cancel Premium anytime.

What is the AI Storyteller, and can it cheat?

The AI Storyteller gives Thaedoria its voice — describing rooms, faces, and the weather turning — and understands what you type. But it is only the narrator. A separate engine decides every wound and consequence impartially, so the Storyteller can never bend a result in your favour or invent a success that didn’t happen. It can unnerve you or move you; it never decides what actually happens.

Do I need to know tabletop RPGs or Dungeons & Dragons to play?

No. There are no menus to learn and no rules to memorise. You simply describe what your character does — “ask the innkeeper about the noises past the south door”, “raise my shield and hold the line” — and the world responds. If you can write a sentence, you can play.

What do I need to install?

Nothing. World of Thaedoria runs in a web browser. Sign up, create a character, and start playing — there is no download, no client, and no app store.

Is it single-player, and does my progress save?

It is single-player. Your story is saved as you play: close the tab, come back later, press Continue, and your hero is exactly where you left them. You carry one persistent adventure per hero.

What can my character actually do?

You build a classless hero from their life story, then explore an open fantasy world of inns, dark roads, and old cities. You fight tactical, turn-based battles where your weapon and position matter; hold real conversations and persuade, intimidate, or investigate; wield four schools of elemental magic; and act in towns that react to what you do — guards, civilians, and bounties included.

How does combat work?

Combat is turn-based and tactical. A fight can start the moment you make it one, turn order follows speed and circumstance, and your weapon, armour, and position all matter. You can engage, hold the line, break off, or flee, using techniques from precise strikes to shield bashes. The engine resolves the maths; you make the decisions.

How is it different from other AI text adventures like AI Dungeon?

The difference you notice first is that consequence depends on who saw you. Kill a man with nobody to see it and no bounty follows, because no one alive knows; let a witness escape and the watch arrives when that person reaches them. Each town keeps its own law about who answers and how fast. The second is that the story stays a story — the world tracks wounds and standing carefully, but never breaks character to show you a tally. Worth being straight about: a real engine deciding outcomes underneath is common across serious AI RPGs now, so that part is how the game works rather than what sets it apart.

What is “daily storytime”?

Storytime is simply how much adventuring you can do in a day, and it refreshes every day. A quick look around costs little; a pitched fight or a long, detailed scene costs more. Free gives you a taste each day; Premium gives you about ten times as much. You pay for storytime, not for tokens.

What devices does it work on?

Any modern web browser — desktop, laptop, tablet, or phone. Because it is text-first and browser-based, there are no hardware requirements beyond a browser and a connection.

Where do I start?

Sign up on the home page to create your character and begin. If you'd like to read first, see How to Play for the basics, the Player's Guide for how each system works, and the World Codex for the realm you'll be exploring.

Can I use my own AI instead of yours?

Yes. Platform subscribers can connect their own API key from Google Gemini, OpenAI, or Anthropic. You can also run completely locally with Ollama — no cloud required. Your included credits stay as a fallback. See the Bring Your Own AI guide for setup instructions.

Is there a way to play unlimited turns?

With the Platform tier, connect your own AI provider and play without turn limits. If you already pay for ChatGPT Plus or Gemini, you're essentially getting unlimited Thaedoria for the cost of the platform fee.

What is the connector app?

A small desktop app that routes your turns through your local Ollama server. Download it from Settings then AI, paste your connection token, and your adventures run entirely on your own hardware. See the Bring Your Own AI guide for full instructions.