• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Cloudy Mountain was one of the first RPGs to be officially licensed for a gaming platform. It debuted on the Intellivision by Mattel Electronics. Cloudy Mountain featured three adventurers (each one representing a “game life”) questing for the two pieces of the Crown of Kings. It took me years to get my hands on Cloudy Mountain. Nearly two decades after it was released, I was able to play the game to completion.

In 1983, Don Daglow, the creator of DNGEON, helped produce Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Treasures of Tarmin. Treasures of Tarmin featured a first-person, three-dimensional view. It was also one of the earliest examples of monster difficulty coded by color (Archer 2004:86).

Return of Heracles was released in 1983 by Quality Software, written by Stuart Smith. Set in Greek myth, Return of Heracles was unique because it allowed the player to take on multiple roles, up to nineteen in total, ranging from Autolycus the thief to Pegasus the winged horse, from Odysseus to his faithful dog Argus. Return of Heracles was one of the first role-playing games to feature non-humanoid creatures as playable characters. All the characters had their own special ability relevant to their role in Greek myth; Asclepius could heal, animal characters could not attack or be attacked by members of their own species, and some heroes came with their own retainers. The heroes then had twelve tasks to complete, similar to the Twelve Labors of Heracles. Each successfully completed quest bestowed an item or advantage, from the Nemean Lion’s hide to the Golden Fleece (Barton 2008:83).

Each character was defined by three characteristics: strength, dexterity, and speed. There were three combat skills: defense, sword, and dagger. Equipment could range from cheap to fine, a first for role-playing games and even for Dungeons & Dragons, which didn’t feature equipment degradation until later editions. The combat system allowed characters to wrestle as well as fight with swords, and equipment had the risk of breaking in combat. Armor reduced damage as well as dexterity, similar to Dungeons & Dragons. There was even poison, which did additional damage after each hit. The game also featured encumbrance, such that characters burdened by equipment moved slowly.

Return of Heracles was also noteworthy for the many fates that could befall characters. It was possible for characters to be turned into nonplayer characters due to a bad choice, like visiting Circe and being turned into a wild animal. The computer then took over for these characters, controlling their movement in the game.

Because my house was within walking distance to the nearby elementary school, all the local kids stopped by on the way to school. We had eight different kids playing Return of Heracles, each playing a different character as we wandered through the game.

The Golden Age of CRPGs commenced around 1985 with the arrival of high-quality role-playing games published in a very short period of time (Barton 2008:92).

Questron was released in 1984 by Strategic Simulations, Inc. Using mostly a top-down view, Questron featured mini-games that allowed the character to increase his attributes or to gamble gold pieces in blackjack and roulette. As play progressed, new equipment and weapons were invented, giving the character new items to invest in. Questron also featured monster immunities, requiring characters to switch tactics to defeat their foes.

As is probably evidenced in other chapters, I’m fond of playing bards. I eventually stumbled upon The Bard’s Tale, released in 1985 created by Interplay Productions (Glenday 2008:156) and written by Michael Cranford. Six characters may choose among bard, conjurer, hunter, magician, monk, paladin, rogue, and warrior classes. As in Wizardry, two advanced classes could be joined by conjurers and magicians with the appropriate set of requirements, sorcerer and wizard respectively. Even more revolutionary was the possibility of importing characters from Wizardry and Ultima III.