Getting Started

Prerequisites

Node.js 20+ — check with node --version
Anthropic API key — get one at console.anthropic.com

Install

Install globally for the claude-rpg command:

npm install -g claude-rpg

Or run directly without installing:

npx @mcptoolshop/claude-rpg play --world fantasy

Set your API key

Claude RPG reads your key from the ANTHROPIC_API_KEY environment variable. It’s never stored, logged, or transmitted beyond the Anthropic API.

# Linux/macOS
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...

# Windows (PowerShell)
$env:ANTHROPIC_API_KEY = "sk-ant-..."

# Windows (cmd)
set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...

Play your first game

Launch play mode and choose a world interactively:

claude-rpg play

You’ll be presented with a menu of starter worlds and then guided through character creation (name, archetype, background, traits, disciplines, and stat allocation). Once creation is complete, the game begins with a narrated opening scene. Type anything — explore, talk to NPCs, pick up items, fight, negotiate, sneak. Claude interprets your freeform text and the engine resolves what happens.

For faster campaign pacing, add the --fast flag:

claude-rpg play --fast

Available starter worlds

The interactive world selector offers twelve worlds, grouped by difficulty:

World	Genre	`--world` alias
Chapel Threshold	Mountain monastery under siege (fantasy)	`fantasy`
Neon Lockbox	Corporate arcology where data is currency (cyberpunk)	`cyberpunk`
Iron Colosseum	Blood, sand, and freedom bought bout by bout (gladiator)	`gladiator`
Crimson Court	Candlelit vampire politics (vampire)	`vampire`
Gaslight Detective	Victorian conspiracy reaching the crown (detective)	`detective`
Black Flag Requiem	Dying pirate republic (pirate)	`pirate`
Ashfall Dead	Post-outbreak survival colony (zombie)	`zombie`
Dust Devil’s Bargain	Supernatural frontier town (weird-west)	`weird-west`
Jade Veil	A masterless blade in a crumbling shogunate (ronin)	`ronin`
Signal Loss	Deep space colony that lost Earth contact (colony)	`colony`
Salt Road Ledger	Merchant campaign where every debt is a knife (mercantile)	`merchant`
Hue and Cry	A thief-taker in a city with no police force (pursuit)	`bounty-hunter`

Already know where you’re headed? Skip the menu:

claude-rpg play --world gladiator

An unknown world name exits with the valid list — nothing interactive starts.

Generate a custom world

Don’t want a starter world? Generate one from any text prompt:

claude-rpg new "A flooded gothic trade city ruled by three merchant houses"

World generation uses Claude Opus for quality. The engine builds factions, NPCs, districts, items, and relationships from your prompt.

Save and load

Games auto-save. To resume a previous session:

claude-rpg load

Save files live in ~/.claude-rpg/saves/.