Dungeons & Dragons was written by Peter Trefonas and the game appeared in CLOAD Magazine in 1980. This was a normal practice in the late 70s and early 80s which inspired a generation of programmers.
Dungeons & Dragons is a cross between a text adventure and a role-playing game. This was a very popular variant of computer role playing games as we’ve seen with Eamon, Black Sage and Doom Cavern.
The game begins with the character creation process. You choose your name and then the name of your God you worship. The game then randomly rolls your strength, dexterity, armor class and starting gold. You do not have an option to reroll your character. You then have the option to purchase one or two weapons (choosing two weapons is of paramount importance which I’ll get to later) and then the rest of your gold is converted to torches and elven healing cakes.
Whereas Black Sage and Doom Cavern did not have many combats, Dungeons & Dragons has a high number of combat opportunities. The encounters in Dungeons & Dragons are very difficult. I died many a gruesome deaths and had to begin again several times. There are a few random encounters involving goblins or hobgoblins but most of the encounters are fixed. You will encounter a troll, a vampire, a gargoyle, a demon and even a dragon. The combat itself took me by surprise and resulted in a quick, early death. Once combat begins your opponent attacks you repeatedly until you interrupt that attack by hitting the “A” key for ATTACK on your keyboard. Initially I was wondering; “When will it be my turn to attack?” before realizing that I needed to interrupt my opponents attack with my own. The higher your dexterity the quicker and more frequently you can interrupt an opponent’s attack with one of your own. You have to choose which weapon you’re attacking with as well. It was a very unique combat system, and like Crown of Arthain, seems par for the course in 1980.
Your weapon can break during combat and then you have to resort to a backup weapon. If you do not have a backup weapon you can fight with your fists but they are not as effective as a sword. Your fist can also break. Once your weapon breaks it is almost the equivalent of a “softlock” and you’ll likely have to start all over again. Once I discovered this I made it a habit of purchasing two swords but even after that precaution I even experienced games where I broke both swords AND my fist.
There are not many special items to find in the game nor is there much in the way of puzzles. In the games that I played I found an amulet which increased my strength, a potion which increased my speed, a ring which lowered my armor class and a lamp which is needed to defeat the dragon.
The dragon is the culminating encounter and the only one in which you can use special commands. It took several more deaths and starting over again before I realized that you can rub the lamp. When you rub the lamp you release a genie who then banishes the dragon. If you rub the lamp a second time outside of the dragon’s lair a whispered message tells you to hit SHIFT-B (which produces a lower case b) in the dragon’s lair. I did so and found a secret niche containing a diamond. You then can head back up to the entrance to the dungeon and you get a winning message and score.
It took me roughly three hours to beat this game. I always enjoy the text/RPG hybrids and this one was no exception. The experience was different than that of Black Sage and Doom Cavern but with one notable difference. The writing and descriptions in both Black Sage and Doom Cavern were far superior to the writing in Dungeons & Dragons. There are 26 total locations to discover in Dungeons & Dragons and their descriptions are very brief. This could easily be compared to one of the many Eamon scenarios as well. I find it difficult to speak disparagingly about a game that was offered in a magazine and I even found it a welcome diversion. If you discovered this game in 1980 and played it, to be fair, you’d have likely thought it an RPG gem. When comparing this game to the other CRPG fare in 1980, however, it will find itself closer to the bottom of the list. This may be the first game to attempt to use Dungeons & Dragons in its title for a home computer system as well.