Missing and Mysteries

I thought I would centralize, in this entry, all of the games that we either can’t find or that I’ve found unplayable or unwinnable in some mysterious way. This should make it easier for readers who stumble across the blog to offer hints. I’ll remove titles (or otherwise flag them) when we find solutions and add titles as I verify their “missing” and “NP” status.

I appreciate any leads, but please do not take it upon yourself to reach out to the original developers unless you somehow know them personally. Chances are, I’ve already tried to contact the most promising leads, and I don’t want the authors (or people with their names) to get repeated contacts. If you feel you have a promising lead I may have overlooked, please verify with me first.

Bugs ‘N Drugs (1977, PLATO). An early game of the DND lineage. The lesson name was BND. It isn’t part of the lessons catalogued on Cyber1.

Castle of Tharoggad (1988, Tandy Color Computer 3). Nothing seems to happen upon reaching top floor and killing monsters. See this entry. 

Dungeon (1975, PLATO). A game of this title exists, and it’s possible to load the title screen, but there doesn’t seem to be any way to start the game. (Note: this is not The Dungeon, or pedit5, which I have already played and reviewed. This one is by John D. Daleske et. al.)

Dungeon (1975, PDP-10). This game by Don Daglow no longer seems to exist. See this Wikipedia article.

Dungeons of Avalon (1991, Amiga). Culminates in seemingly unwinnable final battle. If you cheat your characters to high enough values to win the final battle, nothing happens. See posts here and here.

Empire III: Armageddon (1983, Apple II). No one seems to have turned up a disk image.

GayBlade (1992, DOS). Famous lost RPG with LGBTQ themes. Some of my commenters were pursuing some leads, but that was weeks ago, and nothing seems to have turned up. Reviews, box art, and various commentary prove that the game existed, but no one seems to have a copy. See here for more.

m199h (1975, PLATO). Perhaps the first CRPG ever written, deleted by PLATO admins.

OrbQuest (1981, CP/M). Rare CP/M game derived directly from PLATO Game of Dungeons. No known publicly-available disk images exist. (Note: if you’re going to try to help search for this one, please do not bother the individual with the initials B.L. who posted on his site that he acquired the game about a decade ago. Multiple people have already written him and he clearly either can’t or won’t supply the images; there’s no point in continuing to harass him.)

OrbQuest: The Search for Seven Wards (1986, Macintosh). I’ve been unable to find a place to download this first Mac-only RPG.

Star Crystal: Episode 1 – Mertactor: The Volentine Gambit (1985, Apple II). It seems that this game was never officially released.

TaskMaker (1989, Macintosh). I’ve been unable to find a copy of the original version, just the color remake from 1991.

Twin Morg Valley (Unknown, Commodore 64). See the bottom of this entry. We still don’t know when this was released or what its “deal” is.