As an example, suppose that the referee decides to build a story around the Glittering Caves with their unknown treasures and dangers. The referee must then decide when the story takes place, draw maps of the caves, and build the entire setting for the story. Finally, the referee must invent a beginning for a tale that sets forth some problem for the expeditionary force that will soon make its way into the imaginary realm. Perhaps there are tales of a great storehouse of gold to find or a dragon to be slain. Here, the referee decides that a large party of dwarves has been lost in a previously unexplored region of the Glittering Caves for whom the new expedition must search, discovering treasure and fighting against danger along the way.
— Eric S. Roberts, Mirkwood Tales
Back when I started the All the Adventures project in 2011, I embarked on what I understood at the time to be the first adventure game, Will Crowther’s version of Adventure. Will Crowther had abandoned his unfinished game in 1976 — eventually launching the form known as text adventures — while working at the computing firm Bolt, Beranek, and Newman. Don Woods took up the source the next year making the “canonical” 350 point version of the game which spread across the world. Source for the original (pre-Woods) game was only made public by Dennis Jerz in 2007.
Members of BBN in 1961 when the company went public: Leo Beranek, Jordan Baruch, Dick Bolt, Samuel Labate, and Robert Newman. This is 8 years before the initial demonstration of the ARPANET (leading to the Internet) and more than a decade before Will Crowther started working there. Source.
Before Jerz’s article, it wasn’t known what the original looked like: fantasy or not? How much was a “game” vs. “simulation”? The discovery included puzzles, magic, a maze, and a hint system, resolving this speculation. Still, most writing (including my own) focused more on the simulation-aspect than the magic-aspect of the game, but there was an enormous amount of material about Crowther’s caving experiences and not much about any other possible influences. Off and on Dungeons and Dragons had been mentioned, but even I didn’t make much with the connection, because Crowther didn’t talk about it in interviews and the evidence was light. However:
When a collection of BBNers learned about Dungeons and Dragons, the dungeon master created a game that was particularly detailed, went on for a year, and concluded with a 100-page “final report;” Will Crowther, a participant in Mirkwood Tales, soon after created the first computer adventure game.
That’s quoted from A Culture of Innovation: Insider Accounts of Computing and Life at BBN. Another participant in the campaign (not necessarily the same group) was Dave Lebling, future co-author of Zork and founder of Infocom. The nature of Mirkwood Tales remained murky, and given the lack of the “report” (which is more like a rules description), nobody had opportunity to pull that thread.
You can find the Mirkwood Tales report here. It has not been generally available prior to today (December 5, 2024). (Thanks to Kate Willaert, historian, and Eric Roberts, who ran the campaign and wrote the report. Note that file that Willaert received has had corrections and reformatting, meaning it is no longer 100 pages, but that might have been a round-number estimate anyway.)
I’m going to re-do the entire Adventure story, then replay the game, comparing the virtual cave with the actual cave (as done by Dennis Jerz) and comparing elements of the game with the Dungeons and Dragons campaign that Crowther and Lebling played in (which has never been done before).
…
In the middle of 1975, Will Crowther got a divorce.
He was married to Patricia Crowther, who had met Will while working on a Physics degree at MIT in the 50s, and they had two children. Even without the connection Patricia would have been famous for her caving prowess, as she was part of the 1972 expedition that discovered a link between the Flint Ridge Cave System and Mammoth Cave, in Kentucky, proving they were the same cave and hence the longest in the world.
From the Mammoth Cave National Park Facebook page, posted in 2022.
As a result, Will started making his new game, combining his caving interests with fantasy:
Suddenly, I got involved in a divorce, and that left me a bit pulled apart in various ways. In particular I was missing my kids.
Also the caving had stopped, because that had become awkward, so I decided I would fool around and write a program that was a re-creation in fantasy of my caving, and also would be a game for the kids, and perhaps some aspects of the Dungeons and Dragons that I had been playing.
My idea was that it would be a computer game that would not be intimidating to non-computer people, and that was one of the reasons why I made it so that the player directs the game with natural language input, instead of more standardized commands. My kids thought it was a lot of fun.
The timeline, as clarified by Jerz, has Crowther’s sister (Betty Bloom) taking a sabbatical during the development of the game, which we know to be the 1975-1976 academic year; she play-tested the game regularly, and it was her that ended up being the reason for the first magic word:
I was bored having to go through all the steps every time, and I said, “I want to go directly into the game.” [Dramatic pause.] “Ecks-why-zee-zee-why!”
This is referring to XYZZY, a magic word early in the cave, which is usable from the start to warp directly there. It’s a little odd in that it only bypasses what is barely a puzzle (finding keys to unlock the way in) but it makes sense as a vestigial “developer code”. Magic word as a system mechanic get utilized multiple times later by Woods.
The evidence shows the game being developed up from ’75 before progress stops in early ’76, whereupon it was released to Crowther’s system at BBN and seen by the public more generally. (My dating system for mainframe games gives the original Adventure a date of 1976, where it first started being distributed beyond the author’s inner circle.) Enough copies spread that one landed at Stanford, where Don Woods in 1977 saw it and decided he wanted to expand it. It wasn’t clear how to get into contact with Crowther (who was no longer at BBN by that point) so he sent a message to every single domain on the Internet with crowther@ at the front, getting a hit at Xerox.
This was in March 1977; we have a very exact month for this because files retrieved from Woods’s account include time stamps. The source code is here and a compiled version for Windows is here and will be the version I’m playing.
The plot, in this version, is looking for TREASURE AND GOLD. (In original D&D, finding treasure meant getting experience points. This is part of why the player is able to square off against the thief in Zork only after grabbing some treasure.) The “I WILL BE YOUR EYES AND HANDS” perspective imagines that the avatar in the universe and the computer narrator are one and the same. This is exactly analogus to how the “referee” of Mirkwood is described:
As the expedition wanders through the passages beyond the great Door, the referee acts as the party’s eyes and ears and describes each new scene.
The starting building has no analogue in Mirkwood…
YOU ARE STANDING AT THE END OF A ROAD BEFORE A SMALL BRICK BUILDING. AROUND YOU IS A FOREST. A SMALL STREAM FLOWS OUT OF THE BUILDING AND DOWN A GULLY.
…but it does in the real cave, with one brick building that is now rubble, and also the historic Bransford Spring Pumphouse built in the 1930s.
Via Wikipedia.
Crowther’s building has keys, lamp, food, and a bottle of water that would be standard in all versions.
YOU ARE INSIDE A BUILDING, A WELL HOUSE FOR A LARGE SPRING.
THERE ARE SOME KEYS ON THE GROUND HERE.
THERE IS A SHINY BRASS LAMP NEARBY.
THERE IS FOOD HERE.
THERE IS A BOTTLE OF WATER HERE.
The outdoors are otherwise very small, and this is reflected by the Mirkwood notes:
Most of the action of the Mirkwood Tales occurs in underground caverns or inside large buildings rather than in open terrain. There are two principal reasons for restricting the setting in this way. First, the geography of a subterranean fortress or dungeon is much easier to define than that of an open area above ground. Rooms and passages may be described in relatively simple terms, and it is much easier to work with right angles and measurable distances than with general topographic descriptions. Furthermore, by restricting the world to a smaller area, it is possible to make the passage of time more meaningful. When large distances are involved, the time required to move from one region to another must be taken into account.
In order to achieve the effect of feeling like a forest where the player can move in any direction, Crowther includes “loops” which became quite standard, but also included “random” exits; sometimes a particular exit would do something different, making the act of mapping feel a little uncertain. This legacy caused some clone-games based on Adventure to have random exits (like The Phantom’s Revenge) and it has generally been awful every time. The reason it works here is that the design clearly is nudging the player away from the outdoors to the underground.
The most nightmarish version of random exits I’ve encountered is Dr. Livingston, where I needed to test every exit 10 times just in case there was a random trigger that caused the exit to do something else.
Exits marked with a color go to the “Forest”. Going north from the Forest will sometimes lead to a second, distinct Forest.
YOU ARE IN A 20 FOOT DEPRESSION FLOORED WITH BARE DIRT. SET INTO THE DIRT IS A STRONG STEEL GRATE MOUNTED IN CONCRETE. A DRY STREAMBED LEADS INTO THE DEPRESSION.
THE GRATE IS LOCKED
The Mirkwood campaign book describes a campaign session which kicks off with a cave with a long-forgotten door having old dwarven lettering.
Behold the Door to the Vault of Khazin, Lord of the Caves. Seek not to force this Door, for it is sealed with the power of the sun and the moon.
The riddle indicates a full moon followed by a sun must pass through the sky before the door opens. The Crowther grate rather just succumbs to the keys from the building, feeling a bit more like the simulation, but the results come across the same:
The Door stands open. Beyond the Door, there is a narrow dark passage that leads straight back into the earth.
Crowther’s tries to be a touch more realistic…
YOU ARE IN A SMALL CHAMBER BENEATH A 3X3 STEEL GRATE TO THE SURFACE. A LOW CRAWL OVER COBBLES LEADS INWARD TO THE WEST.
THE GRATE IS OPEN.
west
YOU ARE CRAWLING OVER COBBLES IN A LOW PASSAGE. THERE IS A DIM LIGHT AT THE EAST END OF THE PASSAGE.
THERE IS A SMALL WICKER CAGE DISCARDED NEARBY.
…and Jerz is able to start matching one-to-one pictures from the real cave with Crowther’s map.
The cage is followed by a “debris room” described akin to a real cave, but with Betty Bloom’s testing magic word, and the iconic three foot black rod with a rusty rod.
YOU ARE IN A DEBRIS ROOM, FILLED WITH STUFF WASHED IN FROM THE SURFACE. A LOW WIDE PASSAGE WITH COBBLES BECOMES PLUGGED WITH MUD AND DEBRIS HERE, BUT AN AWKWARD CANYON LEADS UPWARD AND WEST.
A NOTE ON THE WALL SAYS ‘MAGIC WORD XYZZY’.
IT IS NOW PITCH BLACK. IF YOU PROCEED YOU WILL LIKELY FALL INTO A PIT.
A THREE FOOT BLACK ROD WITH A RUSTY STAR ON AN END LIES NEARBY
The black rod represents the serious magic item that Crowther added, and it curiously enough, has two effects:
a.) a bird that comes shortly after cannot be caught while holding the rod
b.) a gap can only be filled with the rod, forming a crystal bridge
Original D&D does not have an generalized identify spell. Items are meant to be identified by experiment. Zenopus Archives mentions an example from the third OD&D book involving testing on some boots and identifying them as elven. Mirkwood also discusses the identification of magic, and again, the emphasis is on experimentation:
In addition to spells, magic appears in the Mirkwood Tales in the form of magical artifacts and equipment. More often than not, the magical effect of some object will not be clear from simple examination of the object, and it may require experimentation or searching for further clues to its nature.
This means the experience of fiddling with the rod — and finding two effects, both positive and negative — are similar to OD&D campaigns. In fact, it is rare in adventures (up to at least 1982) to have this type of dual-effect paradigm, and is more likely to be happened upon by someone creating a “campaign object”.
THE BIRD WAS UNAFRAID WHEN YOU ENTERED, BUT AS YOU APPROACH IT BECOMES DISTURBED AND YOU CANNOT CATCH IT.
Some more cave-matching rooms happen, and then the Hall of the Mountain King.
YOU ARE IN THE HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN KING, WITH PASSAGES OFF IN ALL DIRECTIONS.
A HUGE GREEN FIERCE SNAKE BARS THE WAY!
drop bird
THE LITTLE BIRD ATTACKS THE GREEN SNAKE, AND IN AN ASTOUNDING FLURRY DRIVES THE SNAKE AWAY.
The Mirkwood campaign mentions “orcs and trolls”; with the snake Crowther is likely thinking more on the simulation end, as the Park at least does have venomous snakes (copperheads and rattlesnakes). That’s not the only enemy, as dwarves do appear and throw an axe at first, followed by knives.
THERE IS A THREATENING LITTLE DWARF IN THE ROOM WITH YOU!
In Crowther/Woods, you can pick up the axe and throw it, but that doesn’t work here, as Crowther was seemlingly worried about parser ambiguity in a way almost nobody working with a two-word parser was concerned with afterwards.
I HAVE TROUBLE WITH THE WORD ‘THROW’ BECAUSE YOU CAN THROW A THING OR THROW AT A THING. PLEASE USE DROP OR ATTACK INSTEAD.
Oddly, while you can ATTACK as suggested, the word ATTACK does not take a noun. You have to type ATTACK on its own, without DWARF following.
attack
YOU ATTACK A LITTLE DWARF, BUT HE DODGES OUT OF THE WAY.
The mechanic is clearly fully fleshed out, but Woods obviously did a little fixing here. The other oddity with the Crowther version of the game is that the axe doesn’t need to be held.
THERE ARE 2 THREATENING LITTLE DWARVES IN THE ROOM WITH YOU.
2 OF THEM THROW KNIVES AT YOU!
HE GETS YOU!
Switching back to Mirkwood, the dwarves in the Mirkwood campaign are dead…
The body is clearly that of a dwarf, but you do not recognize it immediately. All of the mail and weapons have been taken from the body, and the middle finger on the right hand has been cut off. Narvi remembers that Darzi wore a ring of gold and sapphire on his middle finger, and believes that this is Darzi’s body, mutilated by a band of orcs.
…but it is not hard to imagine them being alive and hostile. Maybe we’re the orc?
North of the Hall of the Mountain King are bars of silver, and farther north still is a room marked Y2. The Y2 is an actual survey station name in the actual cave. Enough turns in the room will have a hollow voice saying the word “PLUGH”, which this is activated so the player has another method of warping back to the building.
YOU ARE IN A LOW N/S PASSAGE AT A HOLE IN THE FLOOR. THE HOLE GOES DOWN TO AN E/W PASSAGE.
THERE ARE BARS OF SILVER HERE!
get bars
OKn
YOU’RE AT Y2A HOLLOW VOICE SAYS ‘PLUGH’
plugh
YOU ARE INSIDE A BUILDING, A WELL HOUSE FOR A LARGE SPRING.
“Jewelry” and “many coins” are off to the south and west of the Hall of the Mountain King and are just lying there (exactly like they are in the Woods version). “Diamonds” are also just lying about to be scooped up.
YOU ARE AT THE EAST END OF A VERY LONG HALL APPARENTLY WITHOUT SIDE CHAMBERS. TO THE EAST A LOW WIDE CRAWL SLANTS UP. TO THE NORTH A ROUND TWO FOOT HOLE SLANTS DOWN.
e
YOU ARE AT THE WEST END OF HALL OF MISTS. A LOW WIDE CRAWL CONTINUES WEST AND ANOTHER GOES NORTH. TO THE SOUTH IS A LITTLE PASSAGE 6 FEET OFF THE FLOOR.e
YOU ARE ON THE WEST SIDE OF THE FISSURE IN THE HALL OF MISTS.THERE ARE DIAMONDS HERE!
The only other treasure-puzzle is the “sparkling nugget of gold” which is too large to get up steps, and needs to be teleported via the aforementioned “plugh” method.
THIS IS A LOW ROOM WITH A CRUDE NOTE ON THE WALL.
IT SAYS ‘YOU WON’T GET IT UP THE STEPS’.THERE IS A LARGE SPARKLING NUGGET OF GOLD HERE!
Crowther clearly intended to expand farther. To the north and down from the Hall of the Mountain King is an area leading to some “messy” rooms which go in random directions, but also one direction that crashes the game…
…and most importantly, an “under construction” sign. This is clearly meant as literal as Crowther was in the middle of “constructing the cave”.
YOU ARE AT A COMPLEX JUNCTION. A LOW HANDS AND KNEES PASSAGE FROM THE NORTH JOINS A HIGHER CRAWL FROM THE EAST TO MAKE A WALKING PASSAGE GOING WEST THERE IS ALSO A LARGE ROOM ABOVE. THE AIR IS DAMP HERE. A SIGN IN MIDAIR HERE SAYS ‘CAVE UNDER CONSTRUCTION BEYOND THIS POINT. PROCEED AT OWN RISK.’
There are exits described that don’t actually exist.
YOU ARE IN SECRET CANYON AT A JUNCTION OF THREE CANYONS, BEARING NORTH, SOUTH, AND SE. THE NORTH ONE IS AS TALL AS THE OTHER TWO COMBINED.
n
THERE IS NO WAY TO GO THAT DIRECTION.
The “crash” on the map incidentally sends the player back to the building at the start, and then immediately quits the game.
The last aspect of note — which has no treasures and is also clearly meant as a stub — is a maze, the “all alike” maze. It has different design than the Woods version, as it is far more regular and there’s no pirate nor pirate treasure.
Mirkwood Tales likely cannot be blamed at all for the maze; the word “maze” does not even appear anywhere in the text.
Crowther’s Adventure has a similar perspective on resurrection as Mirkwood Tales: if you die (via dwarf knife or by trying to walking around in dwarkness) the game simply ends with a PAUSE, unlike the Woods version of the game which offers resurrection for a price. Since Mirkwood is quite directly based on Tolkien, and the player isn’t Gandalf, if they’re dead, they’re dead.
In all games designed along the lines of Dungeons and Dragons, there is a strong temptation to make death somewhat less fatal by allowing resurrection or reincarnation. In Tolkien’s world, the ordinary character has no power over death, and only Gandalf is able to return to the world of the living. As such, resurrection does not play a part in the Mirkwood Tales, and death truly represents the final moment of a character’s existence.
However, the system itself does offer the possibility of resuming the game. Typing “go” will resume a paused program. The overall impression is a “cheater” version of resurrection like the one found later in Orb.
YOU FELL INTO A PIT AND BROKE EVERY BONE IN YOUR BODY!
PAUSE GAME IS OVER statement executed
To resume execution, type go. Other input will terminate the job.go
Execution resumes after PAUSE.
light lamp
YOUR LAMP IS NOW ON.
It isn’t like Crowther was trying to “adapt Dungeons and Dragons” entirely — this is not an RPG, and nearly every room has an analogue in the real cave — but there’s still clearly some flavor of Crowther’s world found in the campaign he participated in, with the treatment of magic, direct reference to the computer as the “eyes” of the player, and heavy emphasis on dwarves (if a bit more aggressive in this game).
The key to Dungeons and Dragons is that the spirit behind the dragon is not a player in the game. The players all stand together as they come to grips with the forces of the universe. The dragon is part of that universe, and like all things within that universe, good and bad, the dragon is controlled by the designer of the world who acts not as a player, but as a referee in a game of imagination and adventure. The referee sets forth the beginning of each legend, gives out all the new information as the epic unfolds, controls the characters in the story that the players encounter, and manages the workings of the world. And yet, the referee is not the actor in the story. The referee sets the scene, but the players independently determine the course that events will take.
There’s some new material we have when Woods picks up the story, so what I’m going to do next is write about the Software Toolworks version of Adventure (the only one that paid Crowther and Woods) and continue the history at the same time.
Map to the Mirkwood sample adventure given in the document.
(Also, go read Kate Willaert, and the Gaming Alexandria discord, without whom this post would not be possible.)
Renga in Blue 