Story-based roguelikes?

I'm looking for something to kill time with on my daily commutes to and from
work. Until I save enough cash to buy a good e-book reader, though, I'm
thinking I could use my spiffy smartphone for games (the boss is paying, in
case you're wondering). And not the umpteenth port of Tetris, either.

I love RPGs with lots of story and (illusion of) choice (think Planescape:
Torment, though that's on the extreme end). I also like roguelikes, but
these tend to be as light on story as possible. Granted, I haven't exactly
played the gamut (Nethack and a few variants), but almost none go beyond
"There's the bad guy, here's a wooden sword, go kill him!" It's very good
dungeon crawling (and the combat is worked out very well as a consequence)
but the dungeon crawling is the focus, to the point where killing the player
permanently and forcing them to start over doesn't actually hurt the game at
all (and, arguably, makes it better, since the focus shifts to training for
the game where you'll finally make it).

So, I was wondering if there are games which are roguelike in interface but
RPGlike in gameplay -- having interactions that go beyond killing, buying,
selling and yes/no questions. The obvious response would be "if you want an
RPG, you know where to get it", but my point is that the simultaneously
simplistic and sophisticated interfaces of terminal-based roguelikes
especially makes them ideal for porting to limited devices, like most phones
(especially ones with full QWERTY keyboards, like mine). My question could
also be phrased as "are there RPGs which are terminal-based", I guess.

Is there anything along those lines? I'm guessing that there probably isn't,
given the niche that roguelikes are and the massive writing effort a good
RPG takes (not to mention the lack of replayability compared to a straight
roguelike), but it can't hurt to ask, right?

--
I didn't even get around to discussing porting issues, but that's a whole
'nother game.

On Jan 6, 5:41 pm, Jeroen Mostert <jmost....DeleteThis@xs4all.nl> wrote:
> I'm looking for something to kill time with on my daily commutes to and from
SNIP
> Is there anything along those lines? I'm guessing that there probably isn't,
> given the niche that roguelikes are and the massive writing effort a good
> RPG takes (not to mention the lack of replayability compared to a straight
> roguelike), but it can't hurt to ask, right?

Legerdemain without a doubt. Check http://roguetemple.com and
http://roguelikefiction.com

>
> --
> I didn't even get around to discussing porting issues, but that's a whole
> 'nother game.

--
Slash
http://slashie.net