Multiplayer

Ryokan's multiplayer feature lets you create interactive stories together with friends. Everyone contributes to the same room, influences the story, and experiences AI responses in real time.

Only the host needs to have Ryokan installed. Everyone else can join directly through their browser.

Creating a Multiplayer Room

To start a shared story, open the Multiplayer section in Ryokan.

1. Select an existing character or scenario.
2. Enter the name you want other participants to see.
3. Click Create room.
4. Wait for the connection to be established.

Multiplayer includes characters and scenarios designed specifically for group stories. You can also create your own and make them available for Multiplayer under Available in in the character editor.

The host chooses the character and provides the configured AI connection for the shared story.

Inviting Friends

After creating a room, you'll receive an invitation link.

Open the Invite link menu inside the room and select Copy. You can then share the link with your friends.

Participants only need:

• A modern web browser.
• The complete invitation link.
• A display name of their choice.

They don't need to install Ryokan, create an account, or provide their own API key.

Important: The complete invitation link also includes the key needed to decrypt the conversation. A room code alone is not sufficient.

Writing Together

All participants can contribute messages to the shared story.

Each message displays its author's name. New messages are synchronized between connected participants.

Ryokan also shows when another participant is typing.

When the AI responds, its generated text is streamed live to everyone in the room. All participants therefore follow the same story.

Controlling AI Responses

Unlike a regular singleplayer conversation, sending a message in multiplayer does not automatically trigger an AI response.

Instead, the Reply button requests a new response from the AI.

By default, the host decides when the AI should respond.

The host can enable Everyone may trigger replies from the room menu, allowing other participants to request AI responses as well.

Generation still runs through the host's configured AI connection.

While an AI response is being generated, additional input is temporarily locked. The host can cancel an ongoing generation.

Continuing Saved Sessions

Ryokan saves multiplayer conversations locally.

You can reopen an earlier multiplayer conversation from your chat history to review what happened.

Selecting Continue session creates a new multiplayer room using the saved conversation history. You can then invite your friends again and continue the story from where you left off.

A new room and invitation link are created. The previous room itself is not restored.

Privacy and Encryption

Ryokan uses end-to-end encryption for multiplayer conversation content.

Messages and AI responses are encrypted on the clients before being transmitted through the relay server.

The relay server forwards encrypted data between participants but does not possess the key required to decrypt the story.

AI generation takes place through the host. If the host uses a cloud AI provider, the required content is sent to that provider as part of the normal AI request.

Note: Multiplayer is currently in beta. An active connection to the host is required for a shared session. If the host permanently leaves the room, the active session ends.