Looking for an AI Dungeon alternative? How Fablia is different

Two different kinds of AI story game

AI Dungeon is made by Latitude and first came out in 2019 (Wikipedia). Its own site calls it “a free AI text adventure game”: you can start a fantasy quest, survive a post-apocalyptic world, build a custom scenario or jump into community-made adventures (aidungeon.com). It runs in a browser, on desktop and on Android and iOS, supports single-player and multiplayer, and is free to play with an optional premium subscription (Wikipedia).

Fablia is narrower on purpose. It is a solo fantasy RPG where an AI Dungeon Master runs a game in the style of fifth-edition tabletop rules: your hero has a people and a class, risky moves are settled with a d20 against a Difficulty Class, and the story tracks your quests, loot, hit points and levels. It is on Android today, with iPhone and iPad coming soon.

So the question is less “which is better” and more “what do you want tonight”: an open-ended story in any genre, or a fantasy campaign with dice and a character sheet.

At a glance

When AI Dungeon is the better fit

• You want to play with friends in the same story: Fablia is single-player.
• You want genres beyond fantasy, such as a post-apocalyptic survival story.
• You want to play in a browser or on an iPhone today.
• You like community-made adventures and sharing your own scenarios.

When Fablia is the better fit

• You want rules. Risky moves ask the dice: the DM calls for a check, the DC is set before you throw, and a real 3D d20 lands with your bonuses added one by one. A natural 20 always succeeds; a natural 1 always fails.
• You want a character, not just a narrator. Eight peoples or a custom race, twelve classes with hit dice, saving throws and spellcasting from fifth-edition rules, and gear to equip.
• You want progress. A quest log, a Codex of the people and places you meet, loot from common to legendary, and a point to spend on an ability every level.
• You want a world you can see. Stories come with their own world map, and Visualize turns any moment into a painted scene (both part of PRO).
• You want to listen. The Dungeon Master can read any scene aloud, with a narrator voice for each adventure (part of PRO).
• You want to play in your language. Fablia speaks eleven, and the Dungeon Master tells the story in yours.

What a Fablia session looks like

You pick a story from the shelf, name your hero and choose how the Dungeon Master plays: Story Mode keeps choices true to the world and gives actions real consequences, Creative Mode lets you take the story in almost any direction. Then you type. The DM answers, plays everyone you meet and, when you try something risky, asks for a roll. If you fall in battle, a death save decides whether you rise with 1 HP.

Everything you do lands in the Chronicle, and several adventures can run side by side in separate save slots. Three Dungeon Master tiers, Standard, High and Ultra, can be switched any time in Settings.

Coming from AI Dungeon: where to start

• Like building your own scenarios? Custom Game (part of PRO) is the closest match: write the world's laws, seed the people who matter and tell the Dungeon Master exactly how to run it. Stuck? Write the Lore asks you questions, and Inspire suggests answers.
• Like free-form play? Choose Creative Mode.
• Want consequences that stick? Choose Story Mode.
• Want to try it first? Start a ready-made story; it is free to download and play.

Questions