Play The Thirty-Nine Steps — an interactive story where YOU are the hero

after the classic by John Buchan, 1915

A dead spy on your floor, a notebook of secrets, and all of Britain hunting you for the murder. Play Richard Hannay on the run across the moors, one step ahead of the police and the ring, racing to crack the code before the fleet sails.

A moment from one playthrough

The moorland road is empty except for the biplane sweeping low, quartering the heather for you, and the shepherd ahead who's already glanced at your face twice. The notebook's cipher is half-solved in your pocket. Break for the stone bridge and the cover of the burn, or bluff the shepherd into hiding you?

Play The Thirty-Nine Steps now →

Start free — 10 diamonds when you confirm your email. No subscription; narrated aloud; plays in 26 languages.

The Somni Tales reader: an open book with two pages of a story, an ink illustration, and a “write what you do” bar below.

Live The Thirty-Nine Steps, don't just read it

In this interactive telling of The Thirty-Nine Steps, you don't read about the hero — you are the hero. The Storyteller keeps John Buchan's world true to the original — its characters, its places, its mood, all held as canon — then narrates every scene aloud and draws the moment you're in as an ink illustration. You type or speak what you do next, and the world answers: it remembers the promises you made, the things you took, and the people you crossed. Follow John Buchan's plot faithfully, or step off it and watch a brand-new version of The Thirty-Nine Steps unfold — one that still reaches a real ending.

How it works

The Storyteller holds the world of the book as canon — its characters, places and mood — and opens with you as the hero.
Type or speak anything: the world reacts, remembers, and stays true to the original's spirit.
Every playthrough is a brand-new story. Follow the plot — or break it and see what happens.

Common questions about playing The Thirty-Nine Steps

Is The Thirty-Nine Steps free to play on Somni Tales?

You get 10 diamonds free when you confirm your email — enough to open The Thirty-Nine Steps and step into the first scenes. After that, diamonds cost from $5 with no subscription, and unused diamonds are refundable within 14 days.

Do I have to follow John Buchan's original plot?

No. The Storyteller holds The Thirty-Nine Steps as canon so its world, characters and mood stay true — but your choices write a brand-new telling. Follow the classic beats, or break from them and see where the story goes.

Can I play The Thirty-Nine Steps aloud and in my own language?

Yes — every scene is narrated aloud word by word, and The Thirty-Nine Steps plays in 26 languages. Change the language, voice and reading speed any time from the reader's Settings.