Eaten By A Grue: Infocom, Text Adventures, and Interactive Fiction

How long does it take to load a saved game of Adventureland on the TRS-80? A little over a year, apparently. Kay and Carrington are back and ready to tackle tricky text adventures once again. It's a Christmas disaster! I mean, a Christmas miracle! Maybe a bit of both. Hosts: Kay Savetz and Carrington Vanston Theme tune: "It Is Pitch Dark" by MC Frontalot Find links, notes, and more episodes of Eaten By A Grue at MonsterFeet.com Next episode: Fish!

Kay has created a 50,000 word choose your own adventure novel for NaNoGenMo, and Carrington has nothing in his home to sit on. One of the hosts has their life much more together than the other, but who's to say which one. Okay, it's Kay. Hosts: Kay Savetz and Carrington Vanston Theme tune: "It Is Pitch Dark" by MC Frontalot Find links, notes, and more episodes of Eaten By A Grue at MonsterFeet.com Next episode: Adventureland

Procrastination is the name of the game when Kay and Carrington play Violet. Okay, technically Violet is the name of the game when Kay and Carrington play Violet, but you know what I mean. Note to self: write a better summary for this podcast episode. I'm sure I'll get around to it before we record. Hosts: Kay Savetz and Carrington Vanston Theme tune: "It Is Pitch Dark" by MC Frontalot Find links, notes, and more episodes of Eaten By A Grue at MonsterFeet.com Next episode: Fifi's Big Adventure

The Grue Gang tackles one of modern IF's most intricate and interesting games, in which letters can be added or deleted from words at any time and anything can be rearranged. Grue can become gruel, games can become gams, and podcasters can become really cool dudes (okay, that one is hypothetical). Hosts: Kay Savetz and Carrington Vanston Theme tune: "It Is Pitch Dark" by MC Frontalot Find links, notes, and more episodes of Eaten By A Grue at MonsterFeet.com Next episode: Violet

It's time to dim the lights and break out the legally binding waivers, as Kay and Carrington get busy with an interactive fiction dating sim. They'll also get down to some music inspired by Infocom games. Remember when they used to just play Zork? This podcast just keeps getting weirder. Hosts: Kay Savetz and Carrington Vanston Theme tune: "It Is Pitch Dark" by MC Frontalot Find links, notes, and more episodes of Eaten By A Grue at MonsterFeet.com Next episode: Counterfeit Monkey

The Grue Crew discuss Carrington's own new text adventure game which he foisted upon an unsuspecting Kay. This is a deep dive into the creation of both the game and Feelies. Can the podcast, and more the point Carrington's ego, survive such a review? As the game itself says, what's the worst that can happen? Only one way to find out. Hosts: Kay Savetz and Carrington Vanston Theme tune: "It Is Pitch Dark" by MC Frontalot Find links, notes, and more episodes of Eaten By A Grue at MonsterFeet.com Next episode: Creatures Such As We

What do you get when you mix difficult puzzles with intricate storytelling? A pair of defeated gamers, that's what. Kay and Carrington throw in the towel and admit they were bested by Andrew Plotkin's Hadean Lands. Then they replay Emily Short's recently remastered Bee, and tackle Jason Shiga's twisted tale of tentacles and truth. Bonus: Kay may or may not have sent Carrington some malware. Hosts: Kay Savetz and Carrington Vanston Theme tune: "It Is Pitch Dark" by MC Frontalot Find links, notes, and more episodes of Eaten By A Grue at MonsterFeet.com Next episode: Dorm: Adventure at the 8-Bit Assembly

The guys from Grue tackle another pair of modern Interactive Fiction games, or at least try to. First up is Everybody Dies, by Jim Munroe, in which ... well, everybody dies. Until they don't. And maybe there are ghosts. Next is Bee, by Emily Short, about going to a spelling bee. Except the only version of the game available doesn't include the spelling bee. Infocom games were never this complicated. Hosts: Kay Savetz and Carrington Vanston Theme tune: "It Is Pitch Dark" by MC Frontalot Find links, notes, and more episodes of Eaten By A Grue at MonsterFeet.com Next episode: Hadean Lands, by Andrew Plotkin

Kay and Carrington get a double dose of IF when they play and discuss Twine games for the first time. First up is Their Angelical Understanding, by Porpentine, which comes with both music and warnings. Next is 16 Ways to Kill a Vampire at McDonalds, by Abigail Corfman, a game about french fries and undeath. Hosts: Kay Savetz and Carrington Vanston Theme tune: "It Is Pitch Dark" by MC Frontalot Find links, notes, and more episodes of Eaten By A Grue at MonsterFeet.com Next episode: Everybody Dies, by Jim Munroe

It's time for pointin' and clicking' and piratin', oh my, as Kay and Carrington play one of LucasFilm's famously funny forays into adventure gaming. Will they become terrors of the high seas, or be stuffed into Davy Jones' locker? All we know for sure is, there will be grog. Hosts: Kay Savetz and Carrington Vanston Theme tune: "It Is Pitch Dark" by MC Frontalot Find links, notes, and more episodes of Eaten By A Grue at MonsterFeet.com Next episode: Their Angelical Understanding, by Porpentine

The Grue Crew delves into a world of noisy elephants and silent Rs, as they discuss Graham Nelson's game The Meteor, The Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet. Just when they think they're out, Zork pulls them back in. Hosts: Kay Savetz and Carrington Vanston Theme tune: "It Is Pitch Dark" by MC Frontalot Find links, notes, and more episodes of Eaten By A Grue at MonsterFeet.com Next episode: The Secret of Monkey Island

Kay and Carrington leave behind the world of Infocom and venture into the future! (By which we mean the 1990s.) In this episode they tackle the two winners of the First Annual IF Competition: A Change in the Weather by Andrew Plotkin, and Uncle Zebulon's Will by Magnus Olsson. Hosts: Kay Savetz and Carrington Vanston Theme tune: "It Is Pitch Dark" by MC Frontalot Find links, notes, and more episodes of Eaten By A Grue at MonsterFeet.com Next episode: The Meteor, the Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet

It's another game with a colon in the title, as Kay and Carrington tackle the ninth game in the increasingly inaccurately named Zork Trilogy. This one wraps up the entire Zork series, and (maybe) (kinda) explains everything. It all started long ago west of a white house, but how will it end? And what comes next? Eaten By A Grue: Zork Zero: The Revenge of Megaboz Hosts: Kay Savetz and Carrington Vanston Theme tune: "It Is Pitch Dark" by MC Frontalot Find links, notes, and more episodes of Eaten By A Grue at MonsterFeet.com Next episode: A Change In The Weather

Kay and Carrington take a midnight train going anywhere into a land of magic, but too few resources to play it any way they want it (that's the way they need it). Will the Grue Crew and this game go their separate ways, or will they embrace this capital-J Journey with open arms? Journey: The Quest Begins Hosts: Kay Savetz and Carrington Vanston Theme tune: "It Is Pitch Dark" by MC Frontalot Find links, notes, and more episodes of Eaten By A Grue at MonsterFeet.com Next episode: Zork Zero: The Revenge of Megaboz

Kay and Carrington set sail on the virtual high seas to give a talk at this year's JoCo Cruise, an annual oceangoing event for technophiles, tabletop gamers, and creative-minded people. In other words, a bunch of nerds. It's the perfect venue to discuss all things Infocom. Hosts: Kay Savetz and Carrington Vanston Theme tune: "It Is Pitch Dark" by MC Frontalot Find links, notes, and more episodes of Eaten By A Grue at https://monsterfeet.com https://monsterfeet.com Next episode: Journey

Can Kay and Carrington defeat the usurper king and restore peace to a fabled land? And more importantly, can they do it while turning into badgers and turtles and eels, oh my. Some claim there is more to being a knight than just eating ham and jam and Spam a lot. Surely you joust. Hosts: Kay Savetz and Carrington Vanston Theme tune: "It Is Pitch Dark" by MC Frontalot Find links, notes, and more episodes of Eaten By A Grue at MonsterFeet.com Next episode: Journey

You'll need swords, seamanship, political guile, but most of all inline hints to tackle Infocom's ill-conceived first foray into graphical adventures. Kay and Carrington find their patience tested in a game where, ironically, the most frequently used command is 'wait'. Hosts: Kay Savetz and Carrington Vanston Theme tune: "It Is Pitch Dark" by MC Frontalot Find links, notes, and more episodes of Eaten By A Grue at MonsterFeet.com Next episode: Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur

Kay and Carrington take a victory lap after finishing all of the Infocom text-only adventures. Turn on verbose mode and light the brass lantern, it's time to take a look back at what they liked best, and least, from these classic games. Hosts: Kay Savetz and Carrington Vanston Theme tune: "It Is Pitch Dark" by MC Frontalot Find links, notes, and more episodes of Eaten By A Grue at MonsterFeet.com Next episode: James Clavell's Shogun

A bone chilling blizzard at the window, a reanimated hand on your shoulder, and worst of all a term paper deadline. All the ingredients for a deliciously dreadful day at Boston's creepiest college, where Kay and Carrington delve deep into the tunnels and tombs of The Lurking Horror. Hosts: Kay Savetz and Carrington Vanston Theme tune: "It Is Pitch Dark" by MC Frontalot Find links, notes, and more episodes of Eaten By A Grue at MonsterFeet.com Next episode: Retrospective

In Wishbringer, a search for a lost cat leads Kay and Carrington into a dark fantasy land where their greatest concern isn't the witches, the eldritch tendrils, or even the grue. It's delivering the mail. Be careful what you wish for. Hosts: Kay Savetz and Carrington Vanston Theme tune: "It Is Pitch Dark" by MC Frontalot Find links, notes, and more episodes of Eaten By A Grue at MonsterFeet.com Next episode: The Lurking Horror