Silverbrook: a Text-Based RPG

Silverbrook is a text-based RPG built around the question: what if a classic tabletop adventure had good writing, a real combat system, and no graphics whatsoever?

The town of Silverbrook is in trouble. Goblins to the east. Undead to the north. A necromancer doing something unspeakable in the old dungeon. And somewhere beyond the mountain pass, something ancient is waking up — something that was sealed away for a reason.

You are an adventurer. The pay is terrible and the health insurance is nonexistent. Fortune and glory await the bold. Or at least the lucky.

A real RPG. Just no pictures.

Silverbrook uses a full D&D 5e-compatible ruleset — attack rolls, saving throws, spell slots, critical hits, conditions, and action economy. Every number means something. Every build plays differently. Combat is not a coin flip; it is a coin flip you can prepare for.

Three acts. One town. A gradually worsening situation.

The story unfolds across three phases, each expanding the world, raising the stakes, and introducing new threats. What starts as a goblin bounty board problem ends somewhere significantly worse.

Seven classes. Six races. One very small save slot.

Choose your background, roll your stats, and figure out what kind of adventurer you want to be before the world starts trying to kill you. Fighters survive by being hard to kill. Wizards survive by killing things first. Rogues survive by being somewhere else. All of these are valid strategies.

Hire companions. Try not to get them killed.

Four veteran adventurers are available for hire at the Rusted Flagon. They cast spells, flank enemies, burn things down with Fireball, and occasionally say something useful. They will leave between adventures. This is their right.

The music changes when things get worse.

Twelve original tracks composed in pure Python — tavern folk tunes in Phase 1, minor-key dread in Phase 2, and something appropriately dramatic when the dragon is involved.

Three difficulty modes.

• Easy — The world is dangerous but fair.

• Normal — Most enemies are tougher. Encounters that were manageable become threatening.

• Hard — Everything wants you dead and is extremely good at it.

Goblins are the same on all difficulties. They are goblins. This is a known limitation of both the system and goblins as a species.

Features

• Full D&D 5e-compatible combat: attack rolls, crits, saves, conditions, spell slots

• 7 classes with unique abilities: Fighter, Rogue, Wizard, Cleric, Ranger, Paladin, Bard

• 3-phase story spanning 40+ handcrafted rooms

• Hireable companion party with full AI spell and ability usage

• Original synthesized soundtrack, phase-aware and zone-aware

• Easy / Normal / Hard difficulty with meaningful enemy scaling

• Single save slot — consequences are real

• Based on content from the SRD 5.1, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0

No graphics. No hand-holding. Moderate goblins.