Alternate Reality
A modern directory of harder to find Alternate-Reality websites — curated across immersive storytelling projects, web fiction, fandom communities, worldbuilding resources, discovery hubs, and interactive experiences.
ARG & Discovery Hubs
alternate reality games • unfiction • discovery • community trailheads
ARGNet — Now Playing
A long-running hub for tracking current alternate reality games, launches, and notable immersive projects.
argn.com
ARGNet — Master Archive
Deep archive access for older ARGs, historical coverage, and obscure projects that no longer surface well in search.
argn.com/master_archive
Unfiction — Resource Map
A foundational unfiction-era trailhead for ARG terms, interviews, history, and classic entry points.
unfiction.com
Night Mind Index
A catalog focused on new and undiscovered unfiction, ARGs, webseries, and interactive online story projects.
nightmind.info
Game Detectives
A major ARG investigation community known for solving hidden narrative campaigns and collaborative mystery trails.
gamedetectives.net
Game Detectives Wiki
Wiki-backed records of investigations, timelines, discovered puzzles, and community ARG documentation.
wiki.gamedetectives.net
r/ARG
A broad Reddit community for discovering, discussing, and sharing alternate reality games and related projects.
reddit.com/r/ARG
r/gamedetectives
A Reddit extension of the Game Detectives problem-solving scene focused on mysteries, clues, and hidden campaigns.
reddit.com/r/gamedetectives
Puzzle Hunts & Immersive Puzzle Culture
puzzle hunts • live events • collaborative solving • immersive clues
Puzzle Wiki — Community Resources
A useful central page of puzzle-hunt communities, references, and starting points for hunt culture.
puzzles.wiki
Puzzle Wiki — Solving Resources
Reference material for learning hunt logic, common puzzle forms, and solving techniques.
puzzles.wiki/wiki/Puzzle_Solving_Resources
Puzzle Wiki — Writing Resources
Guides and resources for building your own hunt puzzles, clue structures, and solving pathways.
puzzles.wiki/wiki/Puzzle_Writing_Resources
Puzzle Hunt Calendar
A lightweight but valuable calendar for upcoming online and real-world puzzle hunts.
puzzlehuntcalendar.com
Puzzled Pint
A sociable recurring puzzle-solving event with archives, resources, and city-based participation.
puzzledpint.org
MIT Mystery Hunt
The flagship academic puzzle hunt tradition and a strong discovery point for serious immersive puzzle design.
mitmh2026.com
Huntinality
An online puzzle-hunt site with story framing, archives, and competitive collaborative solving.
huntinality.com
r/mysteryhunt
A useful Reddit signal source for hunt announcements, archives, and community chatter.
reddit.com/r/mysteryhunt
Worldbuilding Platforms & Lore Databases
lore organization • setting design • campaign bibles • structured canon
World Anvil
A major platform for building and presenting worlds, timelines, maps, articles, and setting databases.
worldanvil.com
Kanka
A clean browser-based organizer for campaigns, settings, characters, maps, calendars, and lore relationships.
kanka.io
Notebook.ai
A structured notebook system for creating places, people, items, cultures, and interconnected universe data.
notebook.ai
LegendKeeper
A polished worldbuilding workspace with article linking, interactive maps, notebooks, and collaboration.
legendkeeper.com
Fantasia Archive
A free offline worldbuilding application for writers who want local control over lore and setting notes.
fantasiaarchive.com
Campfire Writing
A modular writing and worldbuilding platform that supports story structure, lore, and publishing workflows.
campfirewriting.com
Lore Forge
A writing and worldbuilding tool aimed at keeping characters, plotlines, and setting data coherent.
loreforge.com
ChronoGrapher
A lesser-known worldbuilding web tool with wiki, interactive maps, and historical timeline features.
chronographer.net
Fortelling
A modern workspace combining plotting, writing, linking, and worldbuilding in one interface.
fortelling.app
Obsidian Portal
A long-running campaign wiki platform for managing session history, characters, and world lore.
obsidianportal.com
Scabard
An under-the-radar campaign and worldbuilding resource with linked pages and setting support.
scabard.com
Realm Works
A long-standing campaign management tool with database-style organization and reveal controls for players.
wolflair.com/realmworks
Worldbuilding Magazine
A community-built magazine focused on articles, discussion, and craft around building fictional worlds.
worldbuildingmagazine.com
Obsidian
A powerful linked-notes system that many writers use to build private lore wikis and canon vaults.
obsidian.md
Notion Wikis
A flexible wiki/document database system adaptable to canon bibles, series notes, and production tracking.
notion.so
Writing, Planning & Story Organization
novel planning • drafting • scene management • writing systems
Plottr
A visual plotting and series-bible tool useful for managing timelines, beats, and character arcs.
plottr.com
Novlr
A writer-focused drafting platform with clean organization and cloud-based project management.
novlr.org
Scrivener
A well-known long-form writing environment for manuscripts, research, notes, and structural drafting.
literatureandlatte.com
Quoll Writer
A free open-source writing app with chapters, outlining, and project organization support.
quollwriter.com
yWriter
A long-running scene/chapter writing organizer designed by an author for practical drafting workflows.
spacejock.com
bibisco
A dedicated novel-writing tool for planning, development, and manuscript organization.
bibisco.com
Worldbuilding Magazine — Articles
An archive of practical and reflective articles on the craft of building coherent fictional worlds.
worldbuildingmagazine.com/articles-non-fiction
r/worldbuilding — Organizational Tools
A dense community-maintained list of writing, wiki, mapping, and organization tools for worldbuilders.
reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/wiki/organizational_tools
Maps, Timelines & Visualization Tools
maps • chronology • diagrams • mind maps • family trees
Aeon Timeline
A strong timeline platform for managing chronology, events, dependencies, and narrative order.
aeontimeline.com
TimelineJS
A lightweight open-source timeline tool for presenting story or world history on the web.
timeline.knightlab.com
Family Echo
A useful genealogy-style tool for dynasties, bloodlines, and fictional family trees.
familyecho.com
draw.io
A fast diagramming option for workflows, faction structures, process maps, and setting logic.
drawio.com
Xmind
A polished mind-mapping tool for brainstorming cultures, factions, systems, and branching ideas.
xmind.com
Freeplane
A free open-source mind-mapping tool for complex idea networks and structured setting planning.
freeplane.org
Inkarnate
A major map-making platform for world, region, and city maps used by writers and game creators.
inkarnate.com
Wonderdraft
A dedicated map creation tool that remains popular with independent worldbuilders and campaign designers.
wonderdraft.net
Azgaar's Fantasy Map Generator
A free procedural map generator with deep editable systems for geography, polities, and cultures.
azgaar.github.io
Cartographers' Guild
A longstanding community forum for mapmakers, tutorials, showcases, and cartographic discussion.
cartographersguild.com
Worldographer
Map software geared toward worlds, kingdoms, cities, villages, and hex-oriented planning.
worldographer.com
donjon
An old but still useful generator library for names, dungeons, treasure, encounters, and campaign scaffolding.
donjon.bin.sh
Interactive Fiction Engines & Narrative Tools
branching stories • parser fiction • interactive narratives • web-native storytelling
Twine
The most widely known gateway tool for branching, nonlinear web-based interactive stories.
twinery.org
ink
Inkle’s scripting language for branching narrative, dialogue systems, and interactive text-heavy experiences.
inklestudios.com/ink
Inform 7
A natural-language programming system for parser-based interactive fiction and rich text adventures.
ganelson.github.io/inform-website
Inform 6
The classic central resource for older Inform-based interactive fiction systems and reference materials.
inform-fiction.org
ADRIFT
A GUI-driven interactive fiction tool aimed at creators who want less coding overhead.
adrift.co
TADS
A longstanding authoring system for building high-quality parser-based interactive fiction.
tads.org
Quest
A browser-friendly system for building and publishing text adventures and gamebooks.
textadventures.co.uk/quest
TextAdventures
A community site for creating, playing, hosting, and discovering browser-playable interactive fiction.
textadventures.co.uk
ChoiceScript
A simple scripting system for creating choice-driven interactive novels and hosted narrative games.
choiceofgames.com
Ren'Py
A major engine for visual novels and story-driven interactive works using text, images, and sound.
renpy.org
Yarn Spinner
A narrative toolset for writing, testing, and integrating dialogue-heavy interactive stories and games.
yarnspinner.dev
Arcweave
A collaborative design platform for branching narratives, dialogue structures, and interactive experiences.
arcweave.com
Moiki
A useful no-code tool for building short interactive stories with media, counters, and branching logic.
moiki.fr
Bitsy
A tiny browser-based engine for making small game worlds, exploratory stories, and interactive vignettes.
bitsy.org
Adventuron
A browser-based text adventure and gamebook creation system with retro-friendly publishing options.
adventuron.io
Squiffy
A free tool for writing multiple-choice interactive stories without needing much code.
squiffystory.com
Decker
A multimedia platform for interactive documents, hypertext pieces, and experimental story formats.
beyondloom.com/decker
Interactive Fiction Communities, Archives & Competitions
if community • archives • reviews • databases • annual showcases
IFDB
A central catalog and recommendation engine for interactive fiction, text adventures, and reviews.
ifdb.org
IF Archive
A preservation-oriented archive for games, tools, documentation, and historical interactive fiction materials.
ifarchive.org
IFComp
The major annual celebration and showcase for independent text-driven interactive fiction.
ifcomp.org
Interactive Fiction Community Forum
A central forum for authoring help, releases, theory, competitions, and community discussion.
intfiction.org
Emily Short — IF Resources
A respected gateway resource for understanding how interactive fiction works and where to begin.
emshort.blog
Brass Lantern
A classic beginner-oriented resource set for learning the basics of interactive fiction.
brasslantern.org
Zarf's Interactive Fiction
Andrew Plotkin’s long-valued IF reference material and introductory guidance for newcomers.
eblong.com
Awesome Interactive Fiction
A deep curated index of tools, archives, blogs, standards, communities, and learning resources for IF.
github.com
r/interactivefiction
A Reddit hub for all types of interactive fiction, from parser games to choice-based experiments.
reddit.com/r/interactivefiction
Web Fiction, Serialization & Publishing Hubs
serial prose • web novels • reader feedback • digital publishing
Royal Road
A major home for web novels, serial fiction, and reader-driven growth for independent authors.
royalroad.com
Scribble Hub
A large web-fiction platform with heavy genre depth and active original-story publishing.
scribblehub.com
Tapas
A long-running platform for serialized prose and comics with strong independent creator visibility.
tapas.io
Inkitt
A platform where writers publish directly and audience response shapes visibility and growth.
inkitt.com
Ream
A creator-first fiction publishing platform built around serialization and recurring reader support.
reamstories.com
WebNovel
A large serialized-fiction ecosystem mixing originals, translated work, and platform-native communities.
webnovel.com
Fictionate.Me
A lesser-known story platform for discovering fiction and building readership through ongoing releases.
fictionate.me
MoonQuill
An original story hosting and monetization-oriented platform created for writers and web fiction.
moonquillnovels.com
FictionPress
A longstanding archive/community for original stories and poetry that still sits outside many newer discovery loops.
fictionpress.com
Wattpad
A huge social storytelling platform still relevant as a discovery and audience-building channel for serial fiction.
wattpad.com
Hybrid, Experimental & Hard-to-Find Narrative Resources
experimental storytelling • community indexes • niche creative systems
Playfic
A browser-based creation and hosting environment historically useful for learning and sharing Inform projects.
playfic.com
DashingDon
A well-known hosting and testing space for ChoiceScript works-in-progress and indie interactive novels.
dashingdon.com
CoGDemos
A niche demo space for branching interactive fiction built with ChoiceScript.
cogdemos.ink
IF Reviews
An extensive review resource for interactive fiction works, useful for discovery beyond current hype cycles.
ifreviews.org
IFWiki
A broad wiki reference for IF tools, authors, games, competitions, and technical background.
ifwiki.org
Planet-IF
A blog-roll style resource for keeping up with interactive-fiction writing, commentary, and niche discovery.
planet-if.com
ifMUD
A long-running gathering place for parts of the interactive-fiction community and its older conversation culture.
ifmud.port4000.com
Choice of Games
A major home for commercial interactive novels and a strong signal source for choice-based fiction culture.
choiceofgames.com
