These histories feed into the simulated present in subtle but meaningful ways, much as Tolkien’s unpublished legendarium added context and consistency to The Lord of the Rings.

At the most foundational level, everything in the world is named: dwarves, elves, fortresses, fell beasts, books, artifacts, lands, and even the world itself are all given custom names, often in fictional languages complete with English translations.

Rogue would inspire dozens of successors, including Hack, an extended clone with innovations including a “bones” file, a record of each prior hero who’d died in its world: these could be brought back as uniquely personal undead villains on future runs.

I broke out the URL Forwarder app which uses the ubiquitous share functionality of most phone platforms and adds a thin layer of program-ability.

every good legend has a protagonist and an antagonist. There’s a Greek word for this eternal conflict: agon.