How does I TUI?

All right, I'm learning Python so I can make this roguelike I've been meaning to start on. But every goddamned guide to Python I've read has talked only about GUIs, when I would much rather just go with a text interface.

Are there any decent books or guides in general on doing this kind of thing?

PDCurses. You could take a glance at the source code to Hive Awakening since it's in Python, iirc. It's probably messy though. There are lots of guides to getting started making Roguelikes. Just Google around.

Visit rec.games.roguelike.development too.