Video game researcher, Ethan Johnson. Researcher for Arcade Dreams, writer of upcoming arcade history book. Creator of Play History YouTube series.
This level of understanding about early RPGs wasn’t even possible a few years ago.
Here’s to all the dedicated enthusiasts who have helped create a semi-complete picture of the foundations of this influential genre.
There’s more to find out there - we just have to reach for it!
The same goes for Don Daglow’s Dungeon for the PDP-10.
We really only have his word for when it existed and it probably never reached enough people to have been noticed by external forces.
Maybe it was first, maybe it wasn’t. Interesting to read about.
https://geekomatick.com/2015/04/02/lhistoire-du-rpg-don-daglow-dungeon-1975/
Unfortunately, supporting evidence is thin on the ground for precise dates - beyond one (extremely helpful) fanzine snippet.
As far as I know, there was precious little reporting from D&D zines on computer games - though one fanzine did report on the removal of PLATO games.
To recap:
Dungeon begins development in 1975.
The Dungeon (pedit5) is created ahead of Dungeon and is playable by August 1975.
pedit5 is deleted after early October 1975 - Orthanc, dnd, and m199h come online in late 1975 or 1976.
Moria inspired by Dungeon and Orthanc, probably playable in 1976.
The door graphic and signs particularly look like they are meant for a first-person perspective - much like Moria.
The main warrior character in the bottom left and the room overview in the bottom right look quite a bit like The Dungeon.
Dungeon may have been the wellspring of all PLATO RPGs.
The only thing Daleske ever said about the game was that it was, “Predecessor to Moria.”
In 2021, CRPGAddict commentor “half” extracted the completed images from the game’s files. While this doesn’t prove much, it gives very strong evidence that this game begot both Moria and The Dungeon.
Daleske worked on a number of other PLATO games, but the most enigmatic by far is the one he co-authored with Fritz: Dungeon.
With a version date on the very well done title screen, this game has fascinated people for years - but it’s never been playable on cyber1.
At Iowa State University, the Moria authors programmed alongside two other of the most important PLATO authors: Gary Fritz and John Daleske.
Daleske most prominently created the pioneering online classic Empire - I did a video covering it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKeoiT9Z7yc
The authors of Moria were particularly inspired by Orthanc, one of The Dungeon derivatives.
Originally the game was 2D like Orthanc, but eventually took on its important 3D perspective.
While it’s logical they may have come to this on their own, there may have been another influence.
Moria is perhaps the most important of the PLATO RPGs.
It was one of the first MMOs, allowing people to group in parties to take down monsters.
It showed the dungeon in first-person 3D, taking the innovation of PLATO flight games into the turn-based world.
Its offspring inspired Wizardry.
He called this game “DND” but it cannot be The Game of Dungeons that exists on PLATO now. Those creators were inspired by The Dungeon and recent document finds definitively date that game to 1976.
What was this game then? Well, it may have inspired another PLATO RPG
So is that it? Is The Dungeon the first CRPG?
Not so fast.
pedit5 designer Rusty Rutherford has stated that he decided to make a D&D game after one was already being worked on for the system that was not completed.
Many PLATO authors - upset with its removal - created derivatives on The Dungeon to carry on and evolve its spirit.
The creators of the games Orthanc and The Game of Dungeons (dnd) both admit this as their impetus, meaning both of them emerged sometime after late 1975.
The Dungeon was infamously purged at some point after its release, due to occupying an unauthorized lesson space.
The game was rebuilt at some point, but lacking the features that were described in that newsletter snippet, and possibly incorporating features from later games based on pedit5.
Practically our only dated source from outside PLATO on its CRPGs comes from a fanzine snippet reprinted in the first edition of Playing at the World, dated August 23, 1975.
This game is almost certainly a description of The Dungeon (pedit5). However, not in the form it exists today on cyber1.
One large issue in creating a chronology of these programs is that there is very little evidence that exists outside of PLATO for when these games emerged.
https://thehistoryofhowweplay.wordpress.com/2020/10/29/the-problems-with-plato/
What little we do have, combined with oral history, can help us create a chronology.
So let’s tackle what’s been called the first, m199h.
Recently, CRPGAddict was sent documents by PLATO user Don Gillies confirming that this game was derivative of The Dungeon (pedit5) so it must post-date it.
https://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2023/10/m199h-new-findings-both-solve-and.html
The rumors of its early dating were simply wrong.
Some of the candidates for the first CRPG and their traditional dates:
-m199h (PLATO), 1974
-The Dungeon aka pedit5 (PLATO), 1975
-Dungeon (PDP-10), 1975
-Dungeon (PLATO), 1975
-Orthanc (PLATO), 1975
-Moria (PLATO), 1975
-dnd aka The Game of Dungeons (PLATO), 1975
@[email protected] You couldn’t allocate stats most of the time, so it wasn’t user driven customization.
As far as I understand, most stats did affect gameplay, if some in more minor ways than others. I defer to playthroughs by others on that - I have yet to sink my teeth into these games more than briefly testing.