Groups: The Phido Phreaks

A relatively minor textfile-writing group, but still very good friends of the Works BBS, The Phido Phreaks came out of a Fido BBS in Michigan called "Thieves' World", run by one Thomas Covenant.

Thomas Covenant discovered textfiles.com and provided me with his collection of Phido Phreak files, including lots I didn't have and not providing me some I did. He wrote most of the descriptions you see below, as well as this note:

All works by The Silver Ghost unless otherwise indicated. Comments by the carbon based life form formerly known as Thomas Covenant, now going by damaged justice ([email protected]).

I have refrained from attempting to describe TSG's works of fiction, as no words of mine could do them justice.


Filename
Size
Description of the Textfile
1stcamp.tsg 2847
Typical First Campaign. We *wish* this was non fiction. Think "Eric Encounters the Dread Gazebo".
a-plea.tsg 2012
A Plea to Musicians. As they say, true perfection of design is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to take away. SG presents an eloquent case for simplicity.
bakintim.pph 12852
Back in Time, by The Silver Ghost
bakintim.tsg 12813
Back In Time. Fiction.
cabgnite.ph2 4305
Night of the Cabbage Patch Kids by Thomas Covenant. The only reason I wrote this was a case of "sequel fever" after reading Daemon's Smurf Kill. The astute and discriminating reader will quickly ascertain that it took me much longer to find a unique and readable voice than it did TSG.
chldmagc.tsg 2085
A Childrens' Guide to Magic. Douglas Adams has nothing on TSG when it comes to cynicism.
classhot.tsg 4432
What's Hot and What's Classic. With Warelok and I pumping out "What's Hot 'n What's Not", TSG decided to gently take us to task by reminding us that popularity is not an indicator of elegance. I have seldom received a more resounding and welcome chiding.
couldhpn.tsg 7309
It Could Happen To You. TSG plays divorce counselor, in a style that reminds me of Dave Barry.
cristdnd.tsg 6905
Christianity: Concerns for the AD&D player. This is even funnier if you've read the original that it parodies.
feelgood.pph 6691
Feeling Good, by Thomas Covenant
fuckwrld.ph2 9281
How to Fuck Up the World by Thomas Covenant. Published in an April Fool's issue of Phrack, this is one of my fondest memories, but is nowhere near as funny unless you're familiar with the works of the Metal Communications group.
futureae.tsg 4634
The Future Evolution of ASCII Express. AE was one of the most popular pieces of Apple software ever. Here, SG extrapolates from then-current trends to speculate on upcoming features and developments. Nostradamus he ain't, but I trust him more than John Dvorak...
heavy.tsg 5177
...heavy... here there be monsters
hot-not1.ph2 8692
What's Hot 'n What's Not part One.
hot-not3.ph2 7226
What's Hot 'n What's Not part Three.
hot-not4.ph2 8021
What's Hot 'm What's Not part Four (Part Two is missing in action), by the Warelok. These are either an indicator of our cultural brainwashing or a concise time capsule for data archaeologists. Or something.
intrcept.tsg 28476
The Interceptor. Fiction.
k-rad.pph 12437
The K-Rad, by The Silver Ghost
k-rad.tsg 12400
The K-Rad. Fiction.
maiden.pph 17102
Maiden Taiwan, by The Silver Ghost
maiden.tsg 17179
Maiden Taiwan. Fiction.
mtg616.ph2 2588
The Rise and Fall of the 616 Users Meeting by Lunatic Surfer. Relatively objective, if short, account of the first major get-together for Thieve's World users and assorted others.
official.pph 6401
What Is Phido Phreaks?
onewish.tsg 11740
One Wish. here there be monsters
outtakes.tsg 10966
Outtakes. A few half-baked ideas that never got finished.
parodies.tsg 5522
Parodies. Short and snappy; the only reason TSG didn't parody me was because my pitifully low output prevented any analysis of my style. (Lucky for me I didn't develop one until much later...)
pphistry.hum 4162
The History of the Phido Phreaks, by Double Helix
progtech.tsg 4637
Programming Techniques (that you won't find in textbooks). TSG may have recanted some of these statements since he wrote this, but it still rings pretty true. When real life hits where the rubber meets the road, something's gotta give.
rap.tsg 4558
The Penultimate Rap, or, The Next Step Is Free Verse. White boys (and geeks) *can* rap, if they put their minds to it.
smurfkil.ph2 22077
Smurf Kill by the Daemon. We had to have someone around who made me look sane by comparison.
ultimate.tsg 3721
The Ultimate Computer Program. More accurately, "The Ultimate Computer Programming Language". He makes it look so easy!
witchunt.pph 6150
My name is Erika, and I am a witch

There are 32 files for a total of 275,398 bytes.