Barton Matt - Dungeons and desktops: the history of computer role-playing games

Dungeons and Desktops

CRC Press

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Barton, Matt, author. | Stacks, Shane, author.

Title: Dungeons and desktops: the history of computer role-playing games / Matt Barton and Shane Stacks.

Description: [2nd edition]. | Boca Raton: Taylor & Francis, [2018] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018054591| ISBN 9781138574649 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781138574670 (hardback: alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Fantasy gamesHistory. | Computer gamesHistory.

Classification: LCC GV1469.6 .B37 2018 | DDC 794.809dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018054591

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Special thanks to Brian Fargo, Richard Garriott, Tim Lang, David Wesely, CRPG Addict, Lazy Game Reviews, Robbie Sambat, Griffith Archduke, Nathaniel Tolbert, Adam Dayton, Mike and Sam Witwer, and David Swofford.

From Shane

I would be doing a disservice to my personal history with CRPGs if I didn't dedicate my efforts on this book to my friend and game developer Johnny Wood, who first introduced me to Pool of Radiance in high school (not to mention Red Dwarf, Doctor Who, and Blake's 7!).

Also, most likely to their surprise, a nod to my friends at the RPG Codex. The faint of heart fear to tread their forums (and rightly so), but they collectively have a true love of CRPGs and have done their part to keep the genre alive. And, yes, Codex, I enjoyed Sword Coast Legends for what it was. Revel in my decline.

Finally, many heartfelt thanks and a lusty kill that rat! to the King Rat himself, Matt Barton, for allowing me to journey with him on this quest to make a great (and important) book even better.

From Matt

I'd like to dedicate this book to my dearly departed grandfather, or Papa, Edward E. Barton (19322018). Papa served in the United States Army in the Korean War receiving the Army of Occupation Medal, Combat Infantry Badge, Purple Heart Medal and Korean Service Medal with Four Bronze Service Stars. He was also my grandpa. He never let me give him a free copy of any of my booksno, he insisted on going to his local bookstore and demanding they order him a copy of my latest bestseller. Well, were I to sell a million and a million more, the ones I sold to you paid the highest royalties.

We co-authors would both like to extend a shoutout to the staff at Milky Way Ink, Inc. You are all passionate for your projects, and may your respective efforts prove successful.

FIGURE i.1 Chris Avellone is one of the world's greatest CRPG designers, best known for his critically acclaimed work on Planescape: Torment and Fallout: New Vegas.

I've been an RPG fan ever since I was nine years old. I remember the exact moment, in fact. I was tossing a baseball around in my backyard with Michael, one of my friends from the neighborhood, and he brought up a game called Dungeons & Dragons.

I had never heard of D&D, so he explained it to meit was like living out an adventure in Lord of the Rings, similar to playing a game of make-believe, but there were rules to it, and randomness determined by rolling dice to determine outcomes. The way he explained the rules is what grabbed me mostthe adventure wasn't a static construct, it wasn't a fantasy story of the kind I'd read and lovedit was something that went beyond that, where you could be the protagonist, but rather than being an unstoppable hero, you would experience challenges and setbacks, even fail at them. That was amazing, and even more important to me at the time, it felt fair.

Getting a group (gathering a party) to actually play the game, however, was a pain in the ass.

D&D was a game meant to be played with others, and if you don't have a car (I wasn't able to drive when I started playing), and you don't live close to your friends, it turns out getting together and finding a group is a challenge. Even when I finally got a driver's license, another problem presented itselfeven if you had a group, you had to find someone to be the Dungeon Master, who was the one who ran the adventure, made the rule calls, controlled the monsters in the dungeon, and gave quests to the players around the table. They were the ones who did most of the work. And it was a LOT of work.

Still, because I'd rather be a Dungeon Master than not play at all, I often took on the roleand over time, found myself enjoying it quite a bit, even though I was rarely able to play as a player, which had sort of been the point of the whole thing.

So, in the wake of those challenges, I stumbled across Bard's Tale II playing on a friend's Commodore 64, and I suddenly realized this was a version of D&D I could play on my own when I couldn't get a gaming group togetherit was a digital Dungeon Master, and I could go on an adventure the game developers had scripted by myself. That revelation started me playing an avalanche of games Bard's Tale I, II, and III; Pool of Radiance and all the Gold Box games; the Ultimas; Might and Magic; Eternal Dagger; Wasteland; and more. Whenever I wasn't doing homework or running a game of my own, it was time to boot up the CRPGs and start playing. My mom put up with it, because she's cool like that (it helped that I kept up my grades).