Which setup fits your table
Every way of playing uses the same table, the same 5e rules engines, the same character builder and the same live voice. What changes is where the world lives and where the AI comes from. Pick the row that matches your group; you can move between them later.
The three setups
1. Host on your device
The desktop and Android apps carry a complete server inside them. Open the app, name your adventurer, and a world exists on that device with no account anywhere else. To play with friends, press Share online: the app opens a private tunnel and hands you a room code. Friends type the code into their own app, or scan the QR invite, and join from anywhere. For friends in the same room, the desktop app can Share on this Wi-Fi instead, with no internet needed. When the host closes the app, the world goes offline; nothing is lost and it comes back next time.
AI is optional here. A human can run the table, or you can paste an OpenAI key once and every campaign on the device gets the AI Dungeon Master and pictures. On a desktop with a capable GPU you can also install a local model, or hand narration to an agent you already have (Claude Code, Codex, opencode or Grok Build).
2. Join someone else's world
Install the app and sit down at a table a friend hosts or a server somebody runs. You need nothing but the room code or the invite link, and on an app-hosted world you do not even choose a password: a name and the code is the whole of joining. The Android app is built for this.
3. Run the server for a group
One machine on your network or a rented box runs the server itself, with Docker or Node. Accounts, campaigns, uploads and generated art live there. This is the setup with the most moving parts and the most options: a local model for a fully on-device AI Dungeon Master, ComfyUI for scene art and battle maps, Kokoro or another speech server for narration, push-to-talk transcription, voice chat over the built-in media server, Discord sign-in, world packs, backups from an admin panel, and agent programs as the storyteller. A guided setup walks the first administrator through the storyteller, pictures, voice and sign-ups, testing each one.
What each setup gives you
| Capability | Host on your device | Join a world | Run the server |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multiplayer table, voice, dice, maps | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| App-enforced 5e rules | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Human Dungeon Master | Yes | If the host allows | Yes |
| AI Dungeon Master | OpenAI key, local model (desktop), agent (desktop) | Whatever the host set up | Any backend |
| Scene art and battle maps | Painted maps always; AI art with a key or ComfyUI (desktop) | Whatever the host set up | ComfyUI, OpenAI, FLUX worker |
| Accounts | Host names an adventurer; guests join by name and code | Name only on an app world; username and password on a server | Username and password, optional Discord |
| Nothing leaves your network | Only with a human DM or a local model; the share tunnel carries game data | Depends on the host | Yes with local backends |
| Hardware needed | A phone or any computer; a GPU only for a local model | A phone or any computer | A machine that stays on; a GPU for a local model |
| Setup time | Minutes | Under a minute | Ten minutes with Docker |
Which one should I pick?
- You are new to AI Dungeon Masters and want the cheapest start. Host on your desktop and let Claude Code or Codex narrate on a Claude Pro or ChatGPT Plus plan, with no API bills and no GPU. See the suggested setup.
- You have a phone and friends with phones. Host on your device. One person hosts, the rest join by code. Add an OpenAI key if you want the AI to narrate.
- You have a gaming PC and a group that meets weekly. Host on your desktop with a local model, or run the server on the same machine if you want it reachable without the app open.
- Somebody in the group already self-hosts things. Run the server. Everyone else installs the app and adds the server by address or QR code.
- You just got a code. Install the app and join. Read Join a friend's table.
Not a one-way door. A world hosted on a device is a normal server underneath. A campaign can start with a human DM and switch the AI on later, and the Story AI choice on a device can be changed at any time from the home screen.
Where the pieces live
It helps to know the names. The server holds the world: accounts, campaigns, sheets, the chronicle, uploads. The app (desktop or Android) draws the screens and talks to a server, which can be the one bundled inside it, a friend's, or a machine somebody administers. A browser can open a server directly too, which is how the guest of an app-hosted world joins without installing anything. The AI Dungeon Master is a text model the server calls; where that model runs is the choice each setup makes differently.