I didn't realize Robert had passed until today. I was one of the many that never knew him but grew up playing Dungeons of Moria when I was a kid. Who knew that a little game made out of ASCII characters would lead such an impact on so many.

May his memory forever be a blessing.

Robert, Gary and I continued playing Rollmaster every chance we got.  I moved to Ohio and we used online chat to continue our games. Robert and Debbie had two daughters and I had two daughters. Unfortunately, I had less time to play as I was spending more time with my family. By 2010, I was too busy to keep up with Robert and Gary. And I lost touch with them.

Robert was an inspiration to me in many ways. He was like an older brother to me. He loved his family and was extremely proud of them. I don’t know what to say, except that Robert was one of the best. A true friend and colleague. It seems like yesterday we were drinking wine, playing Rollmaster, laughing and enjoying fellowship with our friends. I miss him.

 Debbie if you need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask. My prayers are with you and your daughters.

In March of 1983, Robert and I were walking from the Nuclear Engineering Lab to the Physical Sciences building discussing the limited amount of play time we had with Rogue. Robert suggested we write our own game. I agreed and we began working on Moria that day. Robert’s dungeon generator was written in Basic and my character generator was written in Pascal. Robert wanted to learn Pascal, so Pascal became the chosen language. Robert began working on movement, monsters, and combat. I built the death routines, save/restore, encryption, and other supporting subroutines. Eight months later, version 1 of Moria was complete and we began working on version 2. 

Robert married Debbie in May 1983 and I  married a couple of months later in July. Robert became an avid Spelunker. He and I traveled to Western Oklahoma and crawled through a massive gypsum cave near Sayre. Later we explored Wild Woman cave in the Arbuckle Mountains. Robert loved exploring the caves and he would squeeze into some of the smallest crevasses to see if they opened up into other tunnels or chambers. By the middle of 1984, my wife insisted I spend less time playing and more time focusing on graduating from college. I stepped away from the game, graduated in 1985 just days after my first daughter was born and I began a new job at Boeing Military Airplane Company. Robert continued developing the game and rewrote most of the subroutines. Gary McAdoo picked up where I left off as a co-developer. Robert released the source code to the DEC User Society. James Wilson at Berkeley converted the code to C, making it more portable and the game went viral.

(part 2 due to the 2,000 character limit)

The loss of Robert is a shock to anyone who knew him. He was brilliant, full of life and admirable. I met Robert when we were students at the University of Oklahoma in the Fall of 1980.  Robert was studying Geology and I was majoring Computer Science. We both worked for Academic User Services (AUS) at the University. Robert was a Student Assistant and I was a Remote Terminal Operator. I  joined his Dungeons & Dragons group and we become great friends. Robert read a lot of fantasy books and had an incredible ability to embellish stories. He would tie the emotions of his DnD players into his game. Coupled with his imagination; he created the best role-playing games where we envisioned the world he created. In early 1982, Robert discovered Rollmaster (published by Iron Crown Enterprises), which was based on Tolkien’s universe. Rollmaster was much more complex than DnD, so I developed a Character Generator using components from DnD, Rollmaster and Chivalry & Sorcery systems. At the same time, Robert created a Dungeon Generator to create random dungeons for exploring. 

In the Fall of 1982, a group of our fellow students (shutout to Pete Staubuch, Jeff Bowles, and Raymond Schleck).  They supported the computer for the Engineering College and obtained a copy of Rogue, but they could not run it on their computer. Fortunately, the DEC 11/780 Robert and I supported  was offline from 10:30pm until 7:30am. Pete, Jeff and Raymond loaded Unix on the 11/780 and installed Rogue. So on Saturday nights, they would load the disk pack, boot up Unix and a very small group of us would to play Rogue.

(part 1 due to the 2,000 character limit)

Never knew the man in person, but Moria was a big part of my childhood. Great game with many hours spent having fun. Sad to hear the news.
Condolences to the family.

I never knew him in person, but in '83 Koeneke created a roguelike videogame called The Dungeons of Moria. I discovered this game earlier this year, and it has given me so much joy and fun. It has inspired how I play my games of Dungeons & Dragons. Koeneke has touched the hearts of thousands of people even without having to meet them, and I am deeply saddened to hear of his passing. My condolences and my prayers go out to his family.

I owe my interest in computers and games, and even my career, in large part to this man I never had the fortune to meet. Although he will be missed, he leaves a special and uncommonly powerful legacy. My most sincere condolences to Robert's family and friends.

Sad news for this long time player of his rogue-like game, Moria.  Condolences to the family.

Thank you for your legacy; we will preserve it

My childhood hero, for having the vision to turn Rogue into Moria, one of the best games of all time. Rest In Peace Robert.

Daddy K! Absolutely, without a doubt, the best second dad I’ve ever had. Always teaching us new things about some science experiment or a cool animal. Never hesitating to help me or my family when we needed it.   Love you, always. 

Robert came up to Seattle to support me at my wedding after I moved here from Tulsa. My wife and I ran a 12K and got married at the finish, so Robert had to wait at the finish line for us for 2 hours with the ring in less than great weather.  We all had a great time talking about Robert's own adventures in the NW.

He loved hunting for those arrowheads.  The family farm in Kansas was on a former reservation.  Good hunting there as well as the prime area at the lake.  While crossing a barbed wire fence he heard a hissing sound, thought  “snake” till he realized a can of soda had been punctured.  Always the adventurer.

I always remember him and my papa putting on a show with fireworks at the lake , with all the family ! He will be missed! 

Some of my favorite memories with uncle Robert involved the lake.  I remember one year he and a group of friends brought what seemed like and endless supply of fireworks and I remember Grandma complaining for years afterward!  I always tried to find arrowheads everytime I went down so I could attempt to get the collection he was able to find.

Robert introduced me to caving when we were in college in the mid 80’s. The Carlsbad trip we took in 2018 was our last one together. Robert had great stories of when he went there to help clean up and restore parts of the cave when he was younger, I think before we had even met. He said it was so exciting that he barely slept since the volunteers got to explore areas that the public never got to see. 

We used to take family vacations to Colorado often. Once when I was a little girl and once a few years later, he purchased a rainbow colored lab produced quartz crystal from a local rock shop and planted them when I wasn't looking while we were out adventuring so that I "found" them out in nature. When I was really little, I found it next to where our jeep was parked in the mountains. He told me they appeared wherever a rainbow had been. And I believed that for quite some time. My rainbow rock was very precious to me. I even remember taking it to show and tell at school. The second time my sister and I had found them in a little creek.

It wasn't until I was a full grown ADULT that I realized they didn't actually occur in nature.

He always liked to keep the magic alive for my sister and I. I will be forever grateful. 

I loved Robert like a brother, he was my cousin - when I moved to Oklahoma City he came to pick me up at his mothers house and he had a cassette player in the car. I had never seen one before - I had always had 8 track, he said this was the way it was going to be from now on - no more 8 track. Robert took me to Arby's - he Loved Arby's Roast Beef Sandwiches.  

OBITUARY

Robert Alan Koeneke

November 20, 1957 – July 15, 2022

Bluebonnet Hills Funeral Home & Memorial Park

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