The Fatum guide
Everything you need to write a solo adventure and let people play it: what the engine can do, and how to use the editor.
Why write here, and on what terms: Write an interactive adventure book online
How to read this guide
The guide opens with a three-page path, about an hour of reading: what the engine can do, the editor screen by screen, then your first published adventure, step by step. The seven other chapters are references: you consult them as needed while writing.
The path
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Step 1
What the engine can do
No game system is included. What you declare, the two rules that govern everything, and what the engine will never do.
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Step 2
First steps in the workshop
Create an adventure, recognise the screen's four regions, and know when your work is saved.
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Step 3
Your first adventure
The whole path, from blank page to published version, on a tiny adventure you can write in an hour.
The references
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Scenes and choices
The graph, the inspector and the manuscript: three ways of looking at the same adventure, and the only one that sets a destination.
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The libraries: values, items, shops, tests and combats
Eighteen lists that all work the same way, then the detail of items, shops, tests and combats.
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Character and progression
Classes, traits, abilities, statuses, levels, achievements, end counters and damage types: what describes the character and what changes over the run.
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Writing a rule
Fill-in-the-blank sentences, AND and OR groups, costs, effects and dice tests. No code, anywhere.
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Text and languages
The text editor, conditional passages, and how an adventure exists in several languages without being duplicated.
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Checking and publishing
The validation report, the trial run that explains why a choice is hidden, the adventure's settings and the publication of an immutable version.
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Import an adventure
The files Fatum reads (Twine, Moiki, Quest, numbered manuscript), the preview before importing, what is carried over and what is left to do afterwards.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to know how to code?
No. The editor is designed so that the question never comes up. A rule is written as a sentence to complete: "the character has at least [1] [Brass key]". There is no field where you type code.
Which game system is included?
None, and that is the first chapter's subject. You declare your own statistics, items and dice formulas. An adventure rolling 2d6 under a Luck score works exactly as well as one rolling d20 against a target number.
Can several people write together?
No. A draft has only one author: there is no simultaneous editing, no locking and no merging. This is deliberate, and the engine chapter presents the other choices of the same kind.
Does the editor work on a phone?
The workshop is meant for a desktop screen. It puts three surfaces side by side, and below 1024 pixels they stop fitting: the page says so and still renders, but that is not where you write. Playing an adventure, on the other hand, works anywhere.
What happens to a published adventure when I edit it?
Nothing, until you publish again. A published version is immutable: publishing writes a new one and retires the previous, and a run in progress stays on the version it started. You are always editing a draft.
Can an adventure be written in several languages?
Yes. You write one language at a time, and the mechanics (rules, numbers, structure) stay shared across all of them. An incomplete language is simply left out at publication, with its reason stated; it never blocks.
Does a reader need an account?
No. A reader opens the address of your adventure and plays; their run is recorded at each choice. Without an account, a run in progress expires after 30 days without action. With an account, it stays available until the reader finishes or restarts it.
Does anyone review my adventure before it goes live?
No. When you publish, the version goes live at once, with no review by the site team: only the Publication mode checks can stop it. The team can then withdraw an adventure.
Can I import text from Word or Twine, or export an adventure?
Importing, yes: a Twine, Moiki or Quest file, or a gamebook manuscript with numbered sections (Word, text or Markdown), becomes a new adventure. Its passages become scenes and its links become choices (see the "Import an adventure" chapter). You can also paste text into the editor: it is cleaned and reduced to what the editor can represent, without the words ever being lost. Exporting, no: the editor does not export to PDF.
Who owns my text, and what do I know about my readers?
The text remains yours: you keep all your rights, and the site holds only a non-exclusive license to display it (terms, article 4.1). In the adventure's overview, the run and rating figures are totals, with no date or reader identity.