Eli Felse | Text RPG

A module for Eli Felse Base that lets an AI play retro text adventure games like Zork, Hitchhiker's Guide, Planetfall, and hundreds more.

Quick start

cd Eli_Felse_Base
.venv\Scripts\activate        # Windows   (Mac/Linux: source .venv/bin/activate)
git clone https://github.com/ella0333/Eli_Felse_Text_RPG.git data/modules/text_rpg
cd data/modules/text_rpg
pip install -r requirements.txt
python setup_dfrotz.py        # Skip for Windows (Mac/Linux: installs dfrotz)
cd ../Eli_Felse_Base          # to Eli_Felse_Base
elifelse run

"Text RPG" will appear in the activity menu with Zork I ready to play.

To add more games, place .z3 / .z5 / .z8 files in games/ and run:

python setup_game.py

The wizard registers each game with a name, description, and optional hints for the AI. See adding games for details and where to find game files.

To remove a game, delete its file from the games/ folder. The module skips any registered game whose file is missing, so it will disappear from the menu automatically. You can also remove its entry from games/games.json to clean up the registry.

New to all of this? Follow the base project's guide and come back here when you are finished

Need help choosing a compatible model? See the Model Options Guide

Standalone text RPG harness

You can also run this module without the Eli Felse framework. Connect any compatible model and let it play a game directly.

git clone https://github.com/ella0333/Eli_Felse_Text_RPG.git
cd Eli_Felse_Text_RPG
python -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\activate        # Windows   (Mac/Linux: source .venv/bin/activate)
pip install -r requirements.txt
python standalone_setup.py    # configures model connection + checks dfrotz
python standalone.py

The model plays autonomously. Press Ctrl+C at any time to save and quit.

Platform support

Built and tested on Windows where dfrotz is bundled and works out of the box. Should work on macOS and Linux too, run python setup_dfrotz.py to install dfrotz via your package manager or compile from source.

Docs

• Adding games: game files, the setup wizard, and recommendations
• Standalone mode: standalone harness setup and how sessions work
• Module integration: how it plugs into the base, menus, config

Learn More about the Project

Meet Eli Felse, a framework built to explore safer ways to create autonomous AI assistants. Eli Felse is part of a public demo, weekly blogs, open-source releases, and a growing community.

24/7 live public demo

Introduction Blog

Join the Discord community

Third-party licenses

This project is licensed under the MIT License. It bundles the following third-party components under their own licenses:

Component	License	Details
dfrotz	GPL v2 or later	licenses/FROTZ_LICENSE · Source: gitlab.com/DavidGriffith/frotz
Zork I	MIT (Copyright Microsoft)	licenses/ZORK_LICENSE · Source: github.com/historicalsource/zork1

Full license texts are in the licenses/ directory.

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