Play D&D online with friends, and nobody has to run it
Send your friends one link, and each of you plays your own character in the same D&D 5e campaign. The AI Game Master runs the world for all of you, so nobody gives up their character to sit behind the screen.
The group is not the problem
Most groups of friends who want to play have the players already. What they lack is one of two things: a person who wants to prepare and run every session, or one evening a week that suits all of them. Often it is both, and the campaign ends before the first boss.
Rolegend removes the first problem and makes the second one optional. ROWAN, our narrator, takes the Game Master's seat, so the friend who always ends up running the game gets to play. And the table does not need everyone online at once, so a group spread across three time zones still plays.
How a table starts
One player is the host. The host starts a campaign, then makes an invite link and sends it in a group chat. A friend opens the link, signs in and takes a seat. A table seats up to 6 players, the host included, and friends on the free plan can join.
Each friend then gets a character of their own. They can make one from scratch, or take one of the party members the host already made. Nobody shares a character, and nobody plays a character another player chose for them.
The host plays every party member that no friend plays. So a party of four can start with two friends, and the third and fourth friend can take the spare characters when they join next week. If you only want to watch, you can do that too: a spectator follows the story and sees every turn, but posts nothing.
Live, or one post at a time
When all of you are online together, the game is live. The table updates every few seconds, so a post from one friend shows on every screen soon after it lands, and the reply follows it.
When you are not online together, the same table is a play-by-post game. You post your action at lunch, a friend answers it from a train that evening, and the story moves on while each of you gets on with your day. You do not pick a mode. It is the same campaign either way, and it changes with who is online.
Outside a fight, anyone can post, one post at a time. While ROWAN answers one player, the others wait a moment, so two posts never collide and contradict each other.
Fights go in turn order
A fight changes the shape of play. Initiative puts every creature in an order, and on each turn the player whose character acts has the floor. The other players see whose turn it is, by name, and wait for it.
If the table waits for you and you are not online, an email tells you. It names your character and the campaign, and one link takes you to your turn. So nobody has to watch the group chat and ask who is up.
The fight goes on the Virtual Tabletop, with a token for every hero and every enemy. On your turn you move your own token, and Keystone Engine enforces how far you can go, cover, what blocks a line of sight, flanking, weapon ranges and who gets an opportunity attack as you pass. Every friend plays on the same map, so an argument about who stood where is over before it starts.
Your die is your die
At a real table each player rolls their own dice, and that matters more online, where nobody can see anyone else's desk. Here, Keystone Engine handles every roll, and a roll for your character waits for you to make it. A friend cannot roll it for you, and the narrator cannot change the result.
That fairness is the reason the dice and the story are two separate systems. Keystone Engine is a game engine, built apart from the AI, and it holds the numbers: hit points, conditions, spell slots, inventory and every modifier on every sheet. ROWAN gets the result after the roll and tells the story of it. With one player that separation keeps you honest. With a full table, it also means no friend gets a kinder Game Master than the others.
When somebody drops out
Every long campaign loses a player at some point. A friend gets a new job, or a baby, or a new game. The table handles that without a fuss:
- A friend can leave the table at any time, and their character goes back to the host, who plays it from then on.
- The host can free a seat, with the same result.
- The host can hand the host role to a seated friend, and a note at the table tells everyone who the new host is.
- A spectator can stop watching, and the host can remove one.
Nothing about the campaign is lost when a player leaves. The character, their gear and what they did stay in the story.
What the group needs to know first
Nobody needs to know the rules well. Each of you writes what your character does in plain English, and the game asks for any roll that the action needs.
If you want the same campaign without the group, it plays alone too: the guide to solo D&D is about that version of the game. And if your group already knows forum play and wants to know how it works here, read play-by-post D&D with an AI Game Master.
So send the link. The friend who always runs the game finally gets a character, and the friend who can only play on Sunday mornings is still in the party.
Questions
Can the AI Game Master cheat on a dice roll?
Not on the number. ROWAN never touches the dice. Keystone hands you the die, adds up your bonuses off your sheet, and records the result before a single word of the reply is written.
ROWAN chooses how a result reads, gently or hard, as the story needs. It cannot turn a 4 into a 19, and it cannot decide after the fact that the lock was easier than it said.
What happens if I do not play for a few weeks?
Nothing at all. There is no streak to break, no daily allowance and no session that expires. You end a session when you decide to, and ending one writes a recap ROWAN carries into the next. Come back in March and your hit points, your gold and your open quests are exactly where you left them.
Can I play Rolegend with friends?
Both. On the paid plan a host sends an invite link, and up to 6 players sit at one table, the host included. Friends on the free plan can join. Each player plays their own character and pays for their own turns. Friends who are online together play live, and the table is also async play-by-post, so each player can drop in whenever they want. In a fight each player acts on their character's turn, and an email says when the table waits for you.
Alone, one person does not mean one character. On the paid plan a run holds a party of up to 6: you play the ones you want to play and ROWAN runs the rest as companions. Keystone rolls their initiative, and each companion acts on its own turn. The free plan is a single character.
How long does a session take?
As long or as short as you want, because nobody is waiting on you. You take a turn, the world answers, and the game sits there until you come back. Fifteen minutes on a bus is a real session.
A session is a chapter you close when you feel like it, not a clock running down. There is no scheduling, no voice call and nobody held up while you think.
Why play on Rolegend
- When your character acts, the game hands you the die to roll, and Keystone Engine adds the modifiers from your sheet.
- On the battle map, Keystone Engine enforces movement, difficult terrain, cover, line of sight, opportunity attacks, flanking and weapon ranges, and every player at the table moves on the same map.
Start
Take a ready-made character and write one line, alone or with friends.
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