Game 574: The Oracle's Cave (1981) and Information about MUD Day

 

The game had no title screen, so here's the cassette cover.

         

The Oracle's Cave

United Kingdom

Doric Computer Services (developer and publisher)

Released in 1981 for the ZX-81; remade in 1983 for the ZX Spectrum, 1984 for the Commodore 64 

Date Started: 19 April 2026

Date Ended: 19 April 2026

Total Hours: 2

Difficulty: Very Easy-Easy (1.5/5)

Final Rating: (to come later)

Ranking at time of posting: (to come later)   

     

This is one of those early games that isn't technically an RPG under my definitions, but at the same time, I'm not sure what I'd call it. My general policy is that if the game ends while I'm still trying to figure it out, it's not worth worrying about. That's what happened here.

 

The setup:  "You are an adventurer trapped at the entrance to the Oracle's Cave complex." To win, you have to gain at least 40 units of treasure, defeat your chosen monster, recover the treasure that he guards, and finally, defeat the Oracle himself. The four potential monsters are a giant, a spider, a dragon, and a knight. Every new game (which randomizes the dungeon layout) includes all of these enemies, and they're all guarding their respective treasures, so the only thing that changes is which one the player must kill.

    

The four quest options.

        

The player (represented by a "0") starts in a top-row room in a dungeon that fits on a single screen and has a maximum of 8 x 4 rooms. The player starts with 12 energy, which depletes as he moves and engages in combat. He starts with a combat skill of 18, which goes up and down with energy but can be increased with weapons and other means. Finally, the player starts with 0 wounds. If he reaches 6 wounds, he dies.

   

Each round starts with either (M)ovement, (U)sing an item, or (R)est to restore either energy or wounds. Movement can be (U)p, (D)own, (L)eft, (R)ight, or (S)ecret door. The latter option only works in some rooms, but it's the only way to reach rooms that are disconnected from the rest of the map.

     

I've met most of my goals, but if I want to defeat the oracle (southeast corner), I'll need to find a secret door to that area of the map.

      

If the character moved, and the movement brought him to a room with an enemy, he fights one or more rounds of combat. Energy and strength determine damage done to the foe and the damage the player takes. It's possible to run out of energy in the middle of battle and to have no recourse but to flee. If the player wins, he gains the treasure and items the enemy was guarding.

   

If the character doesn't meet an enemy or doesn't move, then his initial selection is followed by a random event, which might include:

   

• Finding a magic item.
• Finding a weapon. 
• A friendly wizard comes along and boosts strength.
• The player gets an offer to automatically move to one of the boss rooms.
• A passing dwarf offers a sip of a potion that restores energy or wounds.
• An annoying gnome chases the character and causes him to lose energy. 

     

Magic items to be found include ointment (heals wounds), balms (heals wounds), potions (restores energy), ropes (create paths for movement when they're otherwise blocked), food (restores energy), and magic invisibility rings (automatically win the next battle). You can only carry three at once. Of these items, the rings are the most useful. They work even on the boss enemies and the oracle, so there's little reason not to hang out in a safe room, repeatedly resting, until you have a couple of them.

     

Having defeated the spectre, I pick up a sword, my first weapon. The "RFM" means that I have a rope, food, and magic ring—or maybe that The Oracle's Cave is upset about my Star Trail entries.

      

Weapons are daggers, axes, and swords, which increase combat skill by 1, 2, and 3, respectively. You can carry two weapons, so the maximum bonus (6) is from holding two swords. 

 

That's about it. It only takes the defeat of a few regular enemies to amass at least 40 treasure points. You then head to the room of your chosen foe, defeat him, and gain the treasure he guards. Finally, you head for the oracle's room (marked with an asterisk), defeat him, and exit to win the game. The only "winning screen" you get is a message that "Player 0" has escaped.

     

I defeat the oracle with a magic ring.

      

A few other notes:

   

• The game supports two players who alternate rounds and compete to win. In a single player-game, the second player (the "9") just sits there, doing nothing. 

• For some reason, the program doesn't work if you try to RUN it. Instead, you have to type GOTO 1 after it loads. I'd love for a ZX-81 expert to explain this difference.

• Any errant keypress sends you unapologetically to the system prompt. 

• You can't back out of a selection. If you choose (M)ove and then decide you don't want to move, tough. The game won't accept any input except a movement direction.

• A couple of times, the game inexplicably froze on me.

   

It earns an 8 on the GIMLET with a string of 1s in everything except "Game World" and "NPCs" (0s).

       

The only winning message you receive.

     

The game was created by a Chris Dorrell of Leicester-based Doric Computer Services, later Dorcas Software. His only other game is The Runes of Zendos (1984), a Valhalla-style adventure game.

    

A couple of years later, Dorrell remade The Oracle's Cave for the ZX Spectrum. The interface is the same, but the screen has been redesigned to minimize the map and to show a side view of the adventurer wandering through caves. The battles have some cute animations with the character running up and engaging the enemy in what TV Tropes calls a "Big Ball of Violence."

      

The title screen of the remake.

       

The boss monsters have been re-designated as mummy, centaur, fiery dragon, and black knight. Other than that, the game is as much (or as little) an RPG as its predecessor. It's possible The Oracle's Cave influenced the later Volcanic Dungeon (1982), which also kept track of inventory as a string of letters.

    

Facing the Black Knight in the remake.

      

And with that, I have again finished 1981. Until someone discovers even more. 

     

****

 

Mark your calendars: 16 May 2026 is MUD Day!

On Saturday, 16 May 2026 from 18:00-22:00 UTC (14:00-18:00 EDT in the U.S.), maybe longer depending on how things go, I will be playing the original Multi-User Dungeon (1978), as hosted on British Legends. (I will subsequently post an entry about it.) You will find me in the game as "Chester" or maybe some obvious variant. Please, no one be a jackass and confuse things by creating similar names or pretending to be me.

      

The modern iteration of a 50-year-old game.

         

MUD was created by  two students at the University of Essex on a DEC PDP-10, inspired by Zork (1977). Starting in 1983, players from around the world could access the game remotely. It was licensed by CompuServe in 1987 and renamed British Legends. It lasted until 1999. In 2000, Viktor Toth registered the domain british-legends.com and rewrote the game from its pre-CompuServe source code.

      

While MUD is not the first CRPG or even the first multiplayer CRPG, it is notable for going a slightly different direction than the multiplayer games that preceded it, predominantly the PLATO-based dungeon crawlers like Moria (1975) and Oubliette (1978). It mixed CRPG-style attributes and experience with the interface of a text adventure and spawned a subgenre of games that players enjoy to this day.

     

Here's all you have to do to join the game from a Windows computer:

   

1. Type Windows-R, then "CMD," then  ENTER.

2. At the prompt, type:

TELNET british-legends.com 27750

 

3. Enter a user name.

 

The game will then ask you for an email address. Once you type it in, it will send you a password. Then just repeat Steps 1-3, enter the password, and Jack's a doughnut, you're in the game!

           

Logging in to MUD.

         

Of course, you'll want to read some information about how to play the game first. The site has a "How to Play" page, a more elaborate "More Advice" page, and a "FAQ."

 

I've been in touch with Viktor Toth, the owner of the site, and he doesn't anticipate any problems. He warns that if there are more than 36 players, the server will create a second instance of the game, so you may end up in a world in which I'm not participating. 

       

A long and ultimately tragic battle with a zombie.

        

Since MUD is a multiplayer game, let's make this a multi-author entry! Record your notes and thoughts about your experience with the game, take screenshots, and either send everything to me within 48 hours of our playing session, or post your experiences to the comments after my entry is published.

   

And let's try to recreate the original experience. Take notes, make maps, avoid spoilers. Provide hints (but not outright spoilers) to other players. Hang out in the tearoom in chat. Yell! And of course kill each other (and me) to harvest our treasure and points.

   

Let me know if you have any questions; otherwise, I look forward to seeing you there!