Finarvyn

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Member Back to Top Post by Finarvyn on



krusader74 said:

Oldschool computer games



"The computer in gaming ha[d] been around awhile" when Krebs penned this article for Dragon in 1979. Will Crowther programmed



Inspired by "Adventure," Glenn R. Wichman wrote "The computer in gaming ha[d] been around awhile" when Krebs penned this article forin 1979. Will Crowther programmed Colossal Cave Adventure for his daughters after playing D&D in 1975. This early computer game would later became the highly successful interactive fiction game, Zork, along with numerous sequels. "Adventure" was originally written in 700 lines of FORTRAN. (The code is archived here .)Inspired by "Adventure," Glenn R. Wichman wrote Rogue in 1980 . This was also a dungeon crawl, but it differed from "Adventure" in two main ways. (1) The dungeon was randomly generated on-the-fly, not fixed. (2) A map of the dungeon was written to the screen in ASCII characters---it wasn't an interactive fiction game.



I played a lot of "Rogue" in the mid-1980's on old Apple-II computers in college. To this day my sister and I refer to quaffing potions that taste like mango juice (which was the potion of restore strength). Rogue had a lot of really cool ideas -- somewhere around 26 monsters (each was a letter of the alphabet) and over a dozen different potions, and lots of magical items, and so on. A lot more visual, since you could see those maps on screen and watch little letters (monsters) follow you around until you killed them. Also, one potion made you blind and if you got attacked by a monster you would have to try attacking in random directions until you hit something back. I think I still have a copy of "Rogue" on my computer, but you have to get into c:\ mode in order to play it. Fantastic post, and one that brings up some neat memories!Wow. This brought back some memories. I remember playing "Adventure" in 1978 or so on a computer that was built by a friend of my father's. Very linear, overall, but still a blast. I remember that you had to say XZZY or something like that in order to enter the gate to the dungeon, and if you encountered a maze of twisty passages that all look alike you'd best turn around right away or you might be lost for hours. Much fun, but toally text based.I played a lot of "Rogue" in the mid-1980's on old Apple-II computers in college. To this day my sister and I refer to quaffing potions that taste like mango juice (which was the potion of restore strength). Rogue had a lot of really cool ideas -- somewhere around 26 monsters (each was a letter of the alphabet) and over a dozen different potions, and lots of magical items, and so on. A lot more visual, since you could see those maps on screen and watch little letters (monsters) follow you around until you killed them. Also, one potion made you blind and if you got attacked by a monster you would have to try attacking in random directions until you hit something back. I think I still have a copy of "Rogue" on my computer, but you have to get into c:\ mode in order to play it.

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Member Back to Top Post by krusader74 on Finarvyn said:



I played a lot of "Rogue" in the mid-1980's on old Apple-II computers in college. To this day my sister and I refer to quaffing potions that taste like mango juice (which was the potion of restore strength). Rogue had a lot of really cool ideas -- somewhere around 26 monsters (each was a letter of the alphabet) and over a dozen different potions, and lots of magical items, and so on. A lot more visual, since you could see those maps on screen and watch little letters (monsters) follow you around until you killed them. Also, one potion made you blind and if you got attacked by a monster you would have to try attacking in random directions until you hit something back. I think I still have a copy of "Rogue" on my computer, but you have to get into c:\ mode in order to play it. Wow. This brought back some memories. I remember playing "Adventure" in 1978 or so on a computer that was built by a friend of my father's. Very linear, overall, but still a blast. I remember that you had to say XZZY or something like that in order to enter the gate to the dungeon, and if you encountered a maze of twisty passages that all look alike you'd best turn around right away or you might be lost for hours. Much fun, but toally text based.I played a lot of "Rogue" in the mid-1980's on old Apple-II computers in college. To this day my sister and I refer to quaffing potions that taste like mango juice (which was the potion of restore strength). Rogue had a lot of really cool ideas -- somewhere around 26 monsters (each was a letter of the alphabet) and over a dozen different potions, and lots of magical items, and so on. A lot more visual, since you could see those maps on screen and watch little letters (monsters) follow you around until you killed them. Also, one potion made you blind and if you got attacked by a monster you would have to try attacking in random directions until you hit something back. I think I still have a copy of "Rogue" on my computer, but you have to get into c:\ mode in order to play it.



Thanks! I added screenshots of "Adventure" and "Rogue" to the OP. If you have access to Ubuntu or a similar OS, you can install these games in a terminal like so:





sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install bsdgames bsdgames-nonfree



Then you can play "Adventure" or "Rogue" just by entering their names in all lower-case. Thanks! I added screenshots of "Adventure" and "Rogue" to the OP. If you have access to Ubuntu or a similar OS, you can install these games in a terminal like so:Then you can play "Adventure" or "Rogue" just by entering their names in all lower-case.

Otto Harkaman

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Member Back to Top Post by Otto Harkaman on



I don't know why I didn't notice it till now. Thanks for the links, crazy I just recently started to look at BASIC books to mess around with the various DOS and Apple II emulators I have on my Android and PC. Did you know about this book?







Computer role-playing games (CRPGs) are a special genre of computer games that bring the tabletop role-playing experience of games such as Dungeons & Dragons to the computer screen. This genre includes classics such as Ultima and The Bard’s Tale as well as more modern games such as World of Warcraft and Guild Wars. Written in an engaging style for both the computer game enthusiast and the more casual computer game player, this book explores the history of the genre by telling the stories of the developers, games, and gamers who created it. Excellent post!I don't know why I didn't notice it till now. Thanks for the links, crazy I just recently started to look at BASIC books to mess around with the various DOS and Apple II emulators I have on my Android and PC. Did you know about this book?

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Member Back to Top Post by rsdean on The first computer in my circleof gaming friends was a TRS-80 Model 1. We didn't, so far as I recall, do anything rpg related with it, but we did write a program with the combat tables for Knights and Magick, a miniatures game with some dice rolling that became inconvenient if a game got too big. My high school had access to a time-sharing computer as early as 1976, so I learned BASIC and FORTRAN programming before anybody I knew had a home computer.



My own first computer was a Commodore-64, in 1983. I learned FORTH so that I could squeeze utility to do High Guard fleet combat die rolling (and spit out the results) for Traveller, so that I could work out a section of the Fifth Frontier War for a game. Instead of using the endless question and answer form of the typical BASIC program, FORTH allowed you to get everything into a command line, where you could do things like tell it to roll 200 attacks against one defense number, 70 against another, and 300 against a third, add all the hits together, roll damage and then display the total result. Something like "200 5 roll 70 7 roll 300 6 roll + + damage print" ...

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Member Back to Top Post by robertsconley on Having lived through this, the short answers about D&D computers is this.



By the late 70s there was a fork in the road. One path lead to the use of the computer as a roleplaying utility. Mainly in Character Generator and automating random tables. While D&D utilities were big because of the sheer size of the fan base, it was a small part of the hobby back then. However among the fans of Runequest and Traveller, computer utilities were a bigger deal as their respective mechanics lend themselves well to automated utilities.



The other bath attempted were people attempt to recreate the RPG Campaign on the computer. This path ultimately lead to the CRPG and the computer gaming industry as we know it now. Nearly every major form of computer games owes a debt to the folks trying to figure out how to replicate the entirety of D&D and other RPGs using a computer. Aside from the popularity of RPGs, I think this was because RPG mechanics provided a ready source of algorithms that programmers could use to code up these games.



RPG Utilities are very minor player in all this until the advent of the internet and social networking. Now it has a much more significant role than previous years. This is because the heart of any RPG campaign is the social interaction between members of the group. The referee running the game, everybody bantering among each other and so forth and so on. Once people figured out how to have conversations and social interaction on the internet, RPGs soon followed along.



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Member Back to Top Post by Deleted on "It sometimes seems today's grognards still don't like to mix computers and D&D. And I'm not sure why."



Firstly, playing a D&D type game on a computer is, at best, a poor substitute for a real referee. I have heard many people say that "if I want a dungeon crawl I'll just play (some computer game)." All I can say is that you must have had some really, really crappy referees. The best computer game I've ever done is nowhere near as much fun as even an average referee.



Secondly, in terms of "utilities" for creating characters, generating treasure, etc, I have reached the point where if character generation is so bloody complicated that a computer is actually useful, the game is more complicated than I want to play. Using a computer to roll 3d6 in order 6 times is using a computer for the sake of using a computer, not because it actually relieves anybody of any work. And as far as treasure generation et al, with 42 years of experience my own "gut instinct" is quicker, easier, and more reliable than any mechanical spitting out of numbers.



Further, I don't want to go through the time and effort to create such a program, I'm sure as HELL not going to pay money for one, and the utility is so low it's not even worth the time to download one free.



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Member Back to Top Post by ritt on @gronanofsimmerya said:

I have heard many people say that "if I want a dungeon crawl I'll just play (some computer game)." All I can say is that you must have had some really, really crappy referees.

I have heard many people say that "if I want a dungeon crawl I'll just play (some computer game)." All I can say is that you must have had some really, really crappy referees.



I've had a couple of people use that line with me and it baffles me, insults me, and sorta breaks my heart. It's kinda like a chef hearing "Why should I go to your fancy steakhouse when I've got half a two-liter of flat Diet Faygo and this little pot of paste". I've had a couple of people use that line with me and it baffles me, insults me, and sorta breaks my heart. It's kinda like a chef hearing "Why should I go to your fancy steakhouse when I've got half a two-liter of flat Diet Faygo and this little pot of paste".

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Member Back to Top Post by derv on



My family didn't purchase a personal computer until much later than many of my friends. I was always enthralled by their Apples, Commodores, or IBM's. I was thrilled when we finally got a TRS-80 (Tandy) from Radio Shack. At the time, it was a big purchase in our household.



I can't say that I remember much about that computer or the games and software I fooled with. I do remember it did not have a hard drive. Everything was run from floppy's. Of course I did not have a modem either. So, no internet.



Sorry Mom, unfortunately I didn't become a programmer or an astronaut like the salesman told you I'm not sure that I can express the nostalgia that this thread evokes for me. For the current generation all these things appear antiquated and of low quality. But, for anyone coming of age during this time, we were on the geek frontier. For me and some of my friends, D&D and computers were breakthroughs made for one another. We dreamed of ways of incorporating the two. It was different and new to us. Apple computers were being pushed in the classrooms. We learned BASIC programming...very basic. Having a personal computer was a status symbol. Being competent with a computer was a mark of keen aptitude. Everyone knew computers were going to open up new opportunities in the future.My family didn't purchase a personal computer until much later than many of my friends. I was always enthralled by their Apples, Commodores, or IBM's. I was thrilled when we finally got a TRS-80 (Tandy) from Radio Shack. At the time, it was a big purchase in our household.I can't say that I remember much about that computer or the games and software I fooled with. I do remember it did not have a hard drive. Everything was run from floppy's. Of course I did not have a modem either. So, no internet.Sorry Mom, unfortunately I didn't become a programmer or an astronaut like the salesman told you

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Member Back to Top Post by capvideo on rsdean said: The first computer in my circleof gaming friends was a TRS-80 Model 1. We didn't, so far as I recall, do anything rpg related with it...



My first computer was a Model I as well. I wrote a complete AD&D character generator on it, including equipment and first-level spells, that beginning players could use to create a character very quickly to play in a game we might be about to play.



I still kick myself for not keeping that program when I finally sold the computer after a house fire. The Model I still worked after the fire, but it looked like sludge, and by the time we were allowed into the house, many of the 5.25-inch disks had mold on them—despite that, many of them did still work. The wonders of low data density. But it was 1987, and I decided to sell the Model I to someone who needed it for parts, and switched to a modern operating system: OS-9! My first computer was a Model I as well. I wrote a complete AD&D character generator on it, including equipment and first-level spells, that beginning players could use to create a character very quickly to play in a game we might be about to play.I still kick myself for not keeping that program when I finally sold the computer after a house fire. The Model I still worked after the fire, but it looked like sludge, and by the time we were allowed into the house, many of the 5.25-inch disks had mold on them—despite that, many of them did still work. The wonders of low data density. But it was 1987, and I decided to sell the Model I to someone who needed it for parts, and switched to aoperating system: OS-9!