The History of the RPG: Pool of Radiance (1988)

Last Installment: Dungeon Master

By the late 1980s, the computer RPG was well-established. In particular, the "sword and sorcery" genre. But there was one interesting omission. Despite the fact that they pretty much made sword-swinging tabletop games a cultural mainstay, Dungeons and Dragons had yet to release an RPG for the computer-based gamer. All that changed, however, in 1988 with the release of Pool of Radiance* .

What made Pool of Radiance stand out wasn't the ability to choose your race and class. It wasn't the scenario (cleanse a city of evil!). What made it stand out what that it faithfully translated the experience of playing Dungeons and Dragons to the computer. Which, if you were a fan without like-minded people around where you lived, was a pretty big deal.** So you had the same ruleset, the same monsters, the same geographical locations. It's so commonplace now, but at the time...to see the names on the screen was pretty incredible.

The combat system was excellent as well, a top-down projection that became a standard for these games. Commands issued in combat were executed at once by each character, instead of waiting for everyone to go at once. Like in the tabletop game, classes had specific attacks (thieves back-stabbing, for example) and you could rest to heal afterwards. And if this sounds a lot like how combat works in Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter Nights...you're right. The basic template for how the Dungeons and Dragons games would work was laid down here.

They also continued the "bring your character to the next game" trend that was developing throughout this time and has found its full flower in the Mass Effect series. There were four games in all in what they called the "Gold Box" series that you could import your character into.

Pool of Radiance did have one interesting little quirk I have not seen used too much in newer RPGs. You could listen to gossip at the tavern and pick up quests. That is still used today in all kinds of RPGs (Skyrim made great use of that). What Pool of Radiance did was throw in red herrings that you could follow up on and just get you into a really sticky situation. Which is way more realistic; you can't trust every piece of tavern gossip you hear.***

Pool of Radiance is simply a solid gaming experience. There are people that still play this game through emulators. If Pool of Radiance had not delivered the goods, bringing Dungeons and Dragons to the computer would have been a lot harder.

Influence

Laid the groundwork for all Dungeons and Dragons - related CRPGs. Refined tactical combat to include real-time/pause hybrid. Made the "gossip for a quest" standard.

Descendants

All the Dungeons and Dragons games that came after it. Other RPGs that assign quests through overheard gossip or chatter.

Next on the list: Wasteland

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* I know... there was a Dungeons and Dragons cartridge for the Intellivision back in 1982. But that was never really a big deal, it wasn't on a computer and it wasn't that good. So we aren't counting it.

** Yes, this would be me.

*** I really like this idea and I wish modern games would use this. It would add another level of realism.

The History of the RPG: Dungeon Master (1987)

Last Installment: Starflight

In the mid to late 80s, there were three big computer RPG platforms. You had the Apple series, the Commodore 64 and the first IBM PCs coming out. Left in the lurch was Atari. They had brought gaming to the living room with their ground-breaking Atari 2600. But they were getting left behind in the computer gaming arena. So in 1985, they released the Atari ST. It was an adequate computer, but nothing was especially flashy or notable. But then in 1987 FTL Games released Dungeon Master for the ST.

And it was a hit. It achieved an unheard of rate of over 50% market penetration for Atari ST owners. The reason was simple: it was a ground-breaking game.

When you look at the game, you can not only understand why it was so popular, but see how it lives on in today's games. First, Dungeon Master was real-time and not turn-based.* It did new things with sound and lighting, creating a more immersive experience. You could click on things in the first-person 3D window. You gained experience through using your skills, not by hitting arbitrary levels.** And then there was the rag-doll.

What I Learned About Myself from Playing Deus Ex: Human Revolution

So last year Steam was offering a 75% discount on Deus Ex: Human Revolution. It seemed like a no-brainer to download it and see what the fuss had been all about. Then I kind of forgot about it for a while...but then played it through over a few months.

As I got about halfway through, I realized something quite profound in the way I was playing the game: I was actively trying to not kill people.

Now, you have to understand that this is a fundamental shift in how I approach these games. In the original Deus Ex back in 2000, I was trying to kill things as soon as possible. I am pretty sure I killed someone before the title screens had finished running. Running around in a FPS/RPG hybrid flinging frag grenades and rewiring turrets to gun down your enemies was quite enjoyable.

But now, here, I was sneaking through vents to avoid patrols. Using stun guns to take out guards. Flinging CS gas grenades to knock out mobs of people who wanted to kill me. Gas grenades! I accidentally killed a guard in a stealth takedown and I felt bad about it.

What the Hell was going on here? It's not that I have a problem with killing in video games. Half of Skyrim is a bloody mess thanks to my character, they're never getting the stains out of my suit of armor in Amalur and I've laid waste to entire fictional terrorist groups and Middle Eastern nations in whatever latest version of Call of Honor on the Battlefield just came out. And it wasn't like I killed no one; I finished off the next to last boss by dumping a clip from a grenade launcher into his chest.

But more often than not, I was going out of my way to keep people alive.

I'm wondering how much of this has to do with my age. I turned 40 last year. I have seen and experienced a lot. Some of it very good, some of it very, very bad. And outside of gaming I find that I am often quite irritated with how we all treat each other. That in this short time we all have, too many of us seem content to spend it by making other people miserable.

The History of the RPG: Starflight (1986)

Last Installment: Might and Magic Book One

By 1986, the computer RPG was thriving. With games like Might and Magic and Ultima, it was a genre that wasn't going anywhere. But there was something lacking in the RPG department; a different setting.

The RPGs were all fantasy-based. They were full of swords and orcs and wizards and magic. And that was all well and good. But this was also the time of Star Wars having a hold over an entire generation of young children. And of Star Trek making headway as well*. Where was the science-fiction RPG??

The answer to that came in 1986 in the form of Electronic Arts' Starflight**. And what an answer it was.

You are the captain of a starship from a planet called Arth. You start as a ore hauler, but can upgrade your ship to become a warship. You can hire crewmen from five different species to man six different posts. Based on their skill, they can give you upgrades at those posts. And based on who they are, it may be unwise to visit certain areas.

There are two levels to the game. On one you explore space, trading materials and finding suitable planets for colonization. On a larger level, you are trying to discover why stars in the galaxy are going supernova. It's a open-sandbox environment, although you do have to move onto the larger quest at some point. And the major storyline is a good one. You find out why stars are going supernova...and it may not be for the reasons you thought.

The graphics were on par for the time, and in color. The movement was pretty easy.

Travel through space is seeded with random encounters with other species. You can approach them peacefully or raise shields and go in guns blazing. That can sometimes be a major mistake, as you are not the largest ship in the galaxy by any means. And there were creative twists to combat, such as ablative armor and regenerating shields, that you see today.

When you find a planet, you can send a rover down to collect minerals for sale later. And if that sounds familiar to the first installment of a very popular sci-fi RPG trilogy ending this year...there is a reason for that.

The History of the RPG: Might and Magic Book One (1986)

Last Installment: Tales of the Unknown: The Bard's Tale

Up to this point, the two big computer RPG fantasy franchises were Wizardry and Ultima. As great as The Bard's Tale was, it never quite reached the heights of those two stalwarts.*

But in 1986, New World Computing released Might and Magic Book One. And there was another major player in the field. Largely the work of Jon Van Caneghem**, Might and Magic became a fast fan favorite.

The trappings were old-school fantasy. You had six characters in your party and there were six classes. You assigned each character an alignment, gender and race. But here is where it got interesting. These choices actually mattered, in how you character fared or even where they could go.*** This was a new step in the evolution of the RPG.

It was also non-linear. Not to the level that we have today in Skyrim. But you could go around and do other things without concentrating on the main plot, which was another step forward. Add that to the depth of the world and it is easy to see why it was so popular.

There was one other aspect to Might and Magic that set it apart: it had a sci-fi undercurrent. The bad guy in the game (Sheltem), is an escaped alien from a spaceship that crashed. It was an interesting twist to the genre.

The actual mechanics were similar to the RPGs of the mid-80s. First-person view, color 3D graphics and text-based/turn-based combat. So it wasn't inventive in that area. But considering the other things Might and Magic brought to the table, they can be forgiven for that.

Influence

Introducing a nascent "open-world sandbox" idea to the RPG. Making alignment, gender and race affect the progression of a game.

Descendants

Any RPG that allows you to do what you what and to take your time in completing the main plot.

Next on the list: Starflight

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* That said, I always like it more than Might and Magic. I never really took to this franchise the way I did with The Bard's Tale. I have no explanation why.

** Van Caneghem went on to develop the Heroes of Might and Magic series and is currently heading up the Command and Conquer franchise for EA. Not too shabby.

** Hell, there was one city (Portsmith) where if you were a guy, you could be injured depending on where you walked in the city. Who thinks to do something like that? It was brilliant.

The History of the RPG: Tales of the Unknown: The Bard's Tale (1985)

Last Installment: Telengard

Up to now, the computer RPGs I have listed I played, at first, on the computers of friends. For all too brief moments of time. But then I got my Commodore 64. And the very first RPG I bought for it was Tales of the Unknown: The Bard's Tale.*

And it was awesome.**

It was a major step up from Ultima and Telengard. Animated character portraits. 3D color graphics. Party-based combat with multiple classes available.*** And then there was the Bard.

The Bard was unlike any other character in a computer RPG up to that time. Hell, it was even relatively rare in the table-based Dungeons and Dragons versions of that time.**** He was a singer, obviously. And he was critical to your ability to complete the game. As in "You cannot solve this puzzle without a Bard" critical. The Bard also gave your party various benefits with songs he sang, like increased armor. Something that was totally revolutionary to the computer RPG at the time.

The game also had a sense of humor, which has thankfully remained in computer RPGs going forward.

And it was a total time suck. I remember staying up really late, trying to grind out just one more level of the sewers beneath Skara Brae, praying I didn't hit a Darkness square or get trapped in a spinner. And woe to you if you find the room of the 99 Berserkers without a magic user with the right spell.*****

While the plot wasn't what one would call "complicated" (hey, an evil wizard to destroy!), The Bard's Tale represented a huge step forward in playability and style. And the Bard was a completely new idea that added a whole new dimension to computer RPG playing.

The Bard's Tale would go on to spawn two sequels and something of a reboot in 2004's The Bard's Tale. I have to say, I wouldn't mind seeing the original trilogy get a reboot in the style of Baldur's Gate II. It was really fun and I think it would be a big hit if done in a modern style.

Influence

The Bard's spells, which improved party stats, could be considered the first "buff". That concept is now fully expressed in games like World of Warcraft. The Bard class, although somewhat present in tabletop D&D games, was a unique class that broke the "wizard/fighter/thief" box.

Descendants

RPGs with a sense of humor. Which, thankfully, is a long list. But The Bard's Tale wasn't so much a progenitor as it was the next step in the development of the fantasy RPG.

Next on the list: Might and Magic, Book One

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* That is the real name of the game. But they printed the "Tales of the Unknown" part way too small at the top of the box. Everyone took to calling it The Bard's Tale and the name stuck. Which goes to show that font size was, and still is, important.

** It really was. I still think of this as one of my Top 10 games of all time. That is likely a view tinged with a healthy dose of nostalgia. But I think The Bard's Tale still holds up quality-wise as a superior game.

*** Hunters are still my favorite class of all time.

**** Yeah, I am a total gaming nerd. What of it? And yes, I know that you could become a bard if you jumped through enough statistical hoops. But you didn't have to do that here. And who wants to waste their time dual-classing twice? Eff that with a chainsaw.

***** "You see 99 Berserkers, 99 Berserkers, 99 Berserkers, and 99 Berserkers. Will your stalwart band choose to (F)ight or (R)un?" Without the right spell, (R) was the only choice to make.

The History of the RPG: Telengard (1982)

Last Installment: Ultima

If Wizardry and Ultima were the two progenitors of the computer RPG, it was Telengard that solidified it as an enduring genre on the PC. For even though it didn't have first-person views, or a world map, or even an end, it was so much fun that you'd play it for hours.

Telengard was simplicity itself. A D&D style game, you randomly generate stats for your character, but that's it. No race, no class*. There are inns where you can store your booty, rest and game save, but are accessible only on level one. Each piece of gold you find and store translates into experience points when you rest. You venture in to the dungeon to slay monsters and collect rewards using your sword and your spells. Sounds simple, right?

Not so fast. First, there is the size of Telengard The dungeon is 2,000,000 rooms in size and fifty levels deep, a number that would be impressive even today. Daniel Lawrence (the creator) achieved this by having Telengard generate the rooms through an algorithm that maximized the 8KB of memory he had available. So the dungeon was, for all intent and purposes, endless. Second, the game was real-time. There was no pause feature**. The only way you could stop it was to reach an inn and save your game. Third, the randomness of Telengard was legendary. You could enter into lower levels before your character was ready by falling in a pit. You could drink from a fountain and lose a level of experience. You never knew what was coming around the corner.

And then there was the big one: there was no "winning" the game. At all. And that was done on purpose. Telengard wasn't about the end but the means. It was a pure gaming platform. It was about gaining experience and killing monsters. The only "winning" to be done was through goals you and your friends set for yourselves. Who could live the longest or go the deepest. Who could gain the most experience or have the highest "+" magic item. Telengard was addictive in a way that Wizardry and Ultima were not. Because in Telengard, there was no limit and no end.

House of Munch Bonus Fact

I have a version of Telengard on my computer today. Plays just like the original. It's still addictive fun at its finest.

Influence

Refined the "dungeon crawl" of Wizardry into it's purest form. Massive dungeons. The unfortunate concept of "real-time" gaming combined with no pausing.

Descendants: Diablo, obviously. It's a straight line. All the way to using teleport spells to return to the top.***

Next on the list: The Bard's Tale

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* Well, you were a combo of wizard and warrior. But you didn't get to choose it. That is simply how it was.

** This is something that Diablo III ran with because of an internet connection being required for even a single-player game. Oh, you can hit "escape" in a single-player game and it "pauses"...until it boots you for being away too long.****

*** They may claim it was Moria that influenced them. But you can't look at that and not see Telengard in its genetics.

**** Which is fucking stupid. I mean, c'mon. What idiot at Blizzard thought that was a good idea? Yeah yeah yeah...they don't want people gaming and cheating PvP. I get that. So allow people to create single-player only characters. Problem solved.

The History of the RPG: Ultima (1981)

Last Installment: Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord

Around the same time Wizardry was teleporting gamers into walls and telling them to keep going left, another classic in the RPG genre was starving players to death and launching them into space. The game was Ultima, and much like it's counterpart, it would revolutionize the RPG and gaming in general*.

Ultima was bigger and deeper than Wizardry. This wasn't 10 levels of mayhem to defeat a wizard. This was wandering the countryside and entering cities...to defeat a wizard. But while the final goal was similar, how you got there was completely different.

Like I said, Ultima was the first RPG to give us a real "game world": the kingdom of Sosaria. The evil wizard Mondain causes mass chaos in Sosaria and cannot be defeated because of his gem of Immortality. As the hero, you have to travel to different cities and dungeons to gather gems that will enable you to power a time machine so you can go back in time and kill Mondain before he creates his gem.

Yes, I said "time machine". You also have to actually go into space. In order to finish the game you have to become a space ace and kill 20 enemy ships. Compared to permadeath, that's a tolerable added hurdle to cross.

Ultima also laid down the template for the future of RPGs in other ways. An open world map you could travel. Town and cities to visit with quests to accomplish. Dungeons in the wild. All these things we take for granted now (which find their ultimate expression in Skyrim) began with Ultima. The world map was top down, third person. You shifted to first person when in a dungeon. And those dungeons? Randomly generated, so the "pad and paper" mapping of Wizardry was pointless from game to game. And you didn't have to visit every dungeon, which was the first expression of the "open world" concept.

Character generation was similar to Wizardry, in that you had a limited number of race choices and class choices. Unlike Wizardry your initial stat points weren't a random total. You were given a set amounts and you could parcel them out however you wanted. One other thing...one of the races was a "Bobbit". Yes, it sounds like Hobbit for a reason**.

And as I said before, you could starve to death. Each move on the world map consumed a unit of food. If you ran out, you starved. This began a very annoying RPG trend that has only fully vanished in recent years***. And the Ultima series had some variation on this theme throughout most of its lifetime. I never liked this. Why not have a "balance your checkbook" requirement as well? I play RPGs for fun, not to monitor my nutritional requirements.

Once you got all the gems you needed and rescued the princess to get the time machine (and proved you could use it by becoming a space ace), you went back in time, killed Mondain and won. Sounds simple, but it wasn't.

Influence

World maps. Open world. Quests. Randomly-generated dungeons. Saving princesses. Time travel. All that began with Ultima. And all of them can still be found in RPGs today.

Descendants: Baldur's Gate. Dragon's Age. Skyrim. Any game that uses a world map and has quests. Which is pretty much every RPG worth talking about. Ultima may be second on my list, but it has had more influence in the RPG genre than any other game. Period.

Next on the list: Telengard

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* To be fair, Richard Garriott (the creator) had an earlier effort called Akalabeth, that he made as a teenager. It got the attention of California Pacific Computer Company, who bought the rights and paid him $5 for each copy sold. Garriott made $150K off of Akalabeth. Ultima uses a lot of code from Akalabeth, so it deserves at least a mention here.

** I can't believe Tolkein's estate never sued Garriott or Origin for copyright infringement. Bobbits (Hobbits), Akalabeth (Akallabêth) and others...I am guessing they were either flattered or unaware.

*** Even the original Fallout had a water requirement. It's taking the "reality" aspect of RPGs a step too far. Like making your computer generated character look "too human". It is more of a distraction than an enhancement.

The History of the RPG: Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord (1981)

Recently, I got to thinking about RPGs and how they have developed over the past 30+ years.

I have been there from the start, banging on Ultima on my friend's Apple II or staying up past midnight playing Bard's Tale on my Commodore. The line from those first efforts to the insanely deep RPGs we have today is a varied and long one. But you can see themes, ideas and influences from those early 1980s trailblazers in games today. And some of our favorites from today wouldn't even exist without some of the early efforts.

For me, my first exposure to the RPG was at the tender age of 9. One of my friends had an Apple II* and couldn't stop telling me about this new game his parents had bought for him. The name? Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord**. If you consider Wizardry, Ultima and Temple of Apshai as the Holy Trinity that began RPGs, I would personally put Wizardry*** in the lead role.

It was, for it's time, revolutionary. The first D&D style computer RPG to use color graphics. The first RPG to use party-based combat. For all of us kids who were getting into D&D on paper, to see those ideas "come to life" on a computer was a world-redefining event. We could actually be a good Dwarven Fighter or an evil Elf Thief. Wizardry was also the first "dungeon crawl".

It was genius in its simplicity. You create a party of up to six characters, arm them and then try to make it through 10 levels. The screen was mostly text, like this:

The view was first-person when moving through the dungeon. You find more valuable and powerful weapons and armor. If you make it to level 10, you try to defeat the wizard Werdna and get the amulet. If you do, you win.

And there was the catch: Wizardry was a stone-cold bitch when it came to trying to win the game. First off, mapping functions didn't exist in 1981. So if you were a good D&D gamer, you broke out your graph paper and drew the map as you went along. Because sometimes you would hit a square with a teleport spell and be sent into a random part of the level. Or maybe a wall.**** And if your character teleports into a wall, they are gone. Forever. Die in combat? You are done. If you run out of spells on level 3? You have to go back to the top to repower. And if you use the most powerful spell in the game (Mahaman) - which is only available once you hit Level 13 - you lose a level! You think grinding for copper in WoW is tedious? Try wandering a level for hours on end to kill enough monsters to get that level back. Oh yeah, and your characters age. So too many trips back to the top to visit the Inn and your Lord or Ninja will drop dead from old age.

Demon Souls is hard? Please. Kid, you don't know the meaning of hard.

And the kicker? The cherry on top? If you wanted any chance of successfully playing the next two games in the series, you had to beat this game so you could import your party*****. So when I have to reload a few times to actually kill a Frost Dragon in Skyrim? That's nothing, friend. Losing a party on the fifth level of Wizardry? That's pain.

But still...I love this game. Love it.

And remember: CONTRA-DEXTRA AVENUE

Influence

Any game that uses party-based combat owes a debt of thanks to Wizardry. Any game that is a "dungeon crawl" or a "hack-and-slash" has its genesis in Wizardry. Sadistic games that barely let you save or kill you seemingly at will? Blame Wizardry, which still does it better than anyone else. Or worse, depending on your point of view. first-person color graphics? Right here.

Descendants: Diablo. In a lot of ways, you can draw a straight line between the two games. Dungeon crawl straight down, returning to the top on occasion, teleporting to transition between levels. The only major differences would be the single- vs party-combat styles and the first-person vs third-person combat styles.******

Next on the list: Ultima

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* The Apple II line was amazingly long-lived. The first one came out in 1977 and the final version - the IIe - stopped production in 1993. The IIe was a wonder unto itself: a 10+ year run and only minor changes were ever made to the design.

** I am just calling it Wizardry for the rest of the piece. But we all know I am talking about the first one, right? Good.

*** This is obviously a matter of subjective choice and which you actually played first. Timeline-wise, Temple of Apshai was first. But does anyone ever say "I was really inspired to make this because of all the hours I spent playing Temple of Apshai as a kid"? No.

**** You have no idea how annoying this was. Bill Simmons at Grantland will talk about the Madden football series from time to time and mentions the "No F***ing Way game", where the computer simply decides you are going to lose and has Tyler Palko complete a 90-yard bomb with no time on the clock. Teleporting into a wall was the equivalent back in 1981.

***** Initially it was worse that this. At first, you couldn't even play the next game in the series unless you imported a party from Wizardry. Luckily, some genius at Sir-Tech realized this might impact sales slightly and the correction was made. Now, you could generate a new party for Wizardry II but they would likely die in the high-level beginning dungeon. In the land of Wizardry this is known as progress.

****** Yeah yeah yeah. I know..."what about Rogue?? It's coming. Most people didn't get to try it until 1984.