Troy Press

I learned how to program using TRS-80 Level I BASIC, a 4K implementation adapted from Palo Alto Tiny BASIC. I later used other Tiny BASIC implementations on the PC-1, Astrocade, and Apple II, not realizing how their origin stories converged. (The Apple II’s 4K implementation, Integer BASIC, was written by Woz, who knew many of the Tiny BASIC implementers from the Homebrew Computer Club.) I’ve been expanding the Tiny BASIC Wikipedia article this summer to reflect its rich history. Here’s what I contributed to the article. Tiny BASIC is a family […]

The BASIC Programming cartridge for the Atari Video Computer System has the distinction of being the worst commercial BASIC interpreter of all time. The limited available RAM meant that programs could be at most 11 lines long and no more than 64 bytes total. Anyone who bought this cartridge, expecting to be able to type in the BASIC programs from 101 BASIC Computer Games or the computer magazines of the day, would have been profoundly disappointed. I do love the above illustration from the manual, which gives BASIC programming the […]

Our family friends the Hansels were the first to get a videogame system, the Atari VCS. I remember playing Combat, Breakout, and later Space Invaders. My dad was jealous, but he ended up getting us the Bally Astrocade. This turned out to be a great system, and its BASIC was far better than the Atari’s (the Atari BASIC Programming cartridge limited programs to 64 characters!). The Wikipedia article on the Astrocade didn’t have many details about its BASIC, so I added a section on the language. To that point, I’d […]

So I discovered Dungeon World originally through Sly Flourish’s blog, and he is open about adapting techniques from other systems in his 5e games. He recently blogged about zones in combat, lifted from Fate Condensed: Zone-based Combat in D&D. Prior to the COVID-19 lockdown, I had a lot of miniatures and terrain maps that would come out for battle.  In switching to online play for 5e, I found maps (and icons for opponents) to become a huge time sink. Because battles can look phenomenal in Roll 20, there’s an expectation that […]

I synthesized nine Wikipedia articles into a new article dedicated to BASIC interpreters: A BASIC interpreter enables users to enter and run BASIC programs and was, for the first part of the microcomputer era, the default application that computers would launch. Users were expected to use the BASIC interpreter to enter in programs (often from printed listings) or to load programs from storage (often cassette tapes). Why do I think a new article is warranted, rather than just referring to the BASIC and Interpreter articles? As I write in the article: BASIC interpreters are of […]

Here were some resources I used to prep my first Dungeon World one-shot, which I ran last Sunday night: These resources all proved very helpful. Now, because we only had a 3-hour window, I encouraged people to pick a class (first come, first serve) by text message in the week up to the game, and to create their character in Roll 20. I then created a copy of the “Dragonslaying on a Timetable” Google Doc and hacked out questions for classes that weren’t going to be in my game, and […]

Melee, Missiles & Magic is my homage to the first edition of Tunnels & Trolls and is a streamlined 3d6 TTRPG suitable for solitaire adventures, GM-ed games, or for writing gamebooks. It contains a list of spells and a table of monsters. I played a lot of Tunnels & Trolls solo adventures (its key differentiator) when I was a teenager, and so I was thrilled last year when I found the first edition reprint of the 1975 typescript was now available. (First printed at the ASU copy shop! Go Sun Devils!) Anyway, […]

In my recent survey, I funneled respondents into one of four areas, based on the role-playing games (RPGs) they played: Dungeon World – These respondents got detailed questions about a revised edition of DW. Other PbtA (Powered by the Apocalypse) games – They were asked two open-ended questions about their likes and dislikes (the subject of this post). Other TTRPGs (drawn from the Top 10 list at Obsidian Portal) – Likes and dislikes about RPGs in general. No TTRPGs – They were skipped to the demographic questions. Key attractions of […]

After running close to 100 5e sessions, I’m ready to move on. It was fun and got me back into the hobby in a major way. But I have grown increasingly frustrated with 5e, and its attempt to carefully simulate everything fantastic. I find battles to be tedious and boring. The 5e Player Handbook is over 210,000 words, and I have players who’ve read it all and want to integrate from the other books and various Unearthed Arcana. At this point I own the PHB, MM, DMG, as well as […]

Last updated 2020-08-02 I’m publishing a thing a week to my blog. Each is either an old project that I am publishing here for the first time or an unfinished project that I am finally returning to and completing. OSR Spell Preferences Survey – Which spells are most useful for each level cleric and magic-user? (20-06-07.) Castle Conquests – A one-page print-and-play where you race your opponent to surround and plunder castles. (20-06-13.) The Pearls and the Peril – A 9-card push-your-luck game played best with oyster crackers before dinner! […]

The goal of this survey is to provide feedback to the OSR and RPG community on what Level 1-3 spells are considered most useful. The results can then be used to create shorter spell lists and player aids – or to inspire custom spell lists for other designs. Spell descriptions take the form of “Name [120′, 2] Effect” showing “[range in feet, duration in turns]” before the magical effect. Spell descriptions © Zenopus Archives, http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com. Used by permission. The survey was fielded from November 10, 2019, through June 1, 2020. […]

Last week I wrote about micro-RPGs. This week we take a look at one of my own such systems, for the gamebook Hero’s Arc: Under the Blood-Red Mountain, winner of Best Dungeon Crawl in the 2018 Solitaire Print-and-Play Contest. You are the hero of this story, making decisions that will shape your fortunes. Unlike a conventional book, you don’t read this sequentially – most numbered sections will provide you with a choice to make: depending on your choice, you will continue reading a different section. Creating Your Character To begin, […]