XPost: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg, rec.games.roguelike.misc   
   From: kyonshi@wilderland.ovh   
      
   Source:   
   https://gmkeros.wordpress.com/2024/01/19/write-your-own-fantasy-   
   ames-for-your-microcomputer/   
      
   (yes, it's my own blog)   
      
      
   I was searching through some old files on one of my storage disks when I   
   came across this book again: Write Your Own Fantasy Games For Your   
   Microcomputer by Les Howarth and Cheryl Evans, with a program credited   
   to Chris Oxlade, and illustrations by various people including Chris   
   Riddell.   
      
   It was part of the series of Usborne Gamewriters’ Guides back in the   
   80s, which consisted of multiple books like this, Write Your own   
   Adventure Programsm, Computer Spy Games, etc.   
      
   If you aren’t aware about this kind of book, the actual main part of it   
   was the program listing in the later half of the book. This kind of book   
   was supposed to teach you programming by… literally having you type in a   
   program command by command. Which was a way to get software out to other   
   people when storage media for it were too expensive to include. These   
   listings were in computer magazines all the time, I even saw a few for   
   character generators and similar stuff in normal TTRPG magazines.   
      
   But it also gives you an explanation what those particular bits are   
   supposed to do, and how to deal with the bugs you are certain to   
   encounter when copying the listing into your own machine.   
      
   But before that it had to teach you what they mean with Fantasy Game   
   (roleplaying games), what Dungeon and Dragons (TM) is, and how such a   
   game is played, before then venturing into how they intend to translate   
   this into a game where you are both Dungeon Master and player.   
      
   In the end this creates a sort of rogue-like.   
      
   But I find some of the implications of the text fascinating. For one it   
   was so early in the development of CRPGs that they don’t talk about this   
   being a game or role-playing game (in fact that term is never used), you   
   are creating a fantasy game like DnD instead, and you are using the   
   computer to run it. I know it’s just a small difference, but this   
   doesn’t come from a position of consuming the game, you are CREATING it   
   instead. It starts from the assumption that you are using this as a   
   framework to do your own adventuring environment that is basically an   
   extension of a tabletop game into computer space. A later chapter goes   
   into explaining how to extend this program with your own creations. In   
   other words, you are not supposed to be a programmer with this, you are   
   a Dungeon Master who just happens to use the computer as a medium. Which   
   I find a fascinating approach.   
      
   I also found this bit interesting:   
      
   You should name the document of your game rules and conditions your Book   
   of Lore as this is the common name fantasy gamers use to describe this.   
      
   Book of Lore.   
      
   Now I can’t say I never encountered the name before, but I find the idea   
   that this is a specific term that fantasy roleplayers use to describe…   
   well, what exactly? A campaign Bible I guess. Maybe I should indeed call   
   mine Books of Lore from now on.   
      
   Yes I know that lore has come to mean something else by now, but this   
   was written in 1981, maybe this was actually a term a specific subset of   
   gamers used.   
      
   By the way, according to the back of the book this book cost £2.25 (in   
   2026 money: £9.75) when it was published, but according to the inside   
   cover you could also have them send the program on cassette and save   
   yourself the typing… for £5.99 (2024: £22.11)   
      
   Which would make the whole book pointless I guess. But computer stuff   
   was expensive back then.   
      
   If you are interested in this, the book has been out of print for   
   decades now, but Usborne made this and others available for free on   
   their website a few years ago.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)