Duskhearth

Asynchronous roleplaying

A campaign that doesn't wait for Saturday night.

Fifth-edition-compatible campaigns, played asynchronously: write your move when you can, and the Narrator moves the story forward.

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Three players write their move on different days: Monday at 07:42, Wednesday at 23:10, Friday at 13:05. Lyra rolls Persuasion and gets 17 against DC 15: success. The Narrator writes the scene: the innkeeper has seen the symbol on the map twice before. Then the app's four features and the Duskhearth logo.

How it works

No sessions to schedule in advance: every player writes when it suits them, and the Narrator holds the rest together.

  1. Write your move

    When you have a moment, describe what your character does. A few lines are enough.

  2. The Narrator tells the scene

    An artificial intelligence interprets your action and moves the story forward in written narration.

  3. The party moves together

    The other players answer when they can: the campaign advances at everyone's pace, not just one person's.

An example of what it writes

Pick one of the moves below: the Narrator turns it into a scene like this one.

Your move

The Narrator

The wood gives way with a groan and the smell of peat rolls out to meet you. Inside, six or seven patrons stop talking all at once, as if someone had given an order. Behind the bar a woman with her sleeves rolled up sets down the tankard she was drying and looks at you, in no hurry.

You show her the drawing and she doesn't take it. She looks at it a moment longer than she needs to, then goes back to wiping the bar. “I've seen that mark twice,” she says. “The first time on a cart held at the customs post. The second on a man who never came back down the valley.”

You move along the wall, where the smoke is thickest, and find the service door ajar onto the yard. Outside it's still light, and two horses are tied up that weren't there when you came in. One of them lifts its head toward you.

Sample texts. In a real campaign the Narrator takes into account your character and everything that has already happened.

Made for the time you actually have

The rules you already know, adapted to a life where the gaming table isn't always available.

A Narrator that remembers

It keeps track of the events, characters and places you have already met, and brings them back when the story calls for it.

Fifth-edition rules

The mechanics follow the SRD 5.1 and 5.2.1, simplified where needed to play from your phone.

The app does the maths

Rolls, modifiers, hit points and armour class update on the sheet by themselves.

Everything stays written

Every turn, every roll and every item ends up in the campaign chronicle, to reread whenever you like.

Duskhearth is still being built

It is developed by one person, with the support of an artificial intelligence, and is in private invite-only beta. The Narrator is sometimes imprecise or contradicts itself. Testers' reports decide what gets fixed first.

Want to join the beta?

Write to us and we'll tell you how to join the test group. The app is in English and Italian, and you can sign up from age 18.

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