Editing Role-playing video game (section)

===Personal computers===
{{see also|History of Western role-playing video games|History of Eastern role-playing video games#Japanese computer RPGs|l2=Japanese computer RPGs}}

One of the earliest role-playing video games on a [[microcomputer]] was ''Dungeon n Dragons'', written by [[Peter Trefonas]] and published by [[CLOAD]] (1980). This early game, published for a [[TRS-80]] Model 1, is just 16K long and includes a limited word parser command line, character generation, a store to purchase equipment, combat, traps to solve, and a dungeon to explore.<ref name="Trefonas, Peter">{{cite web|last=Trefonas |first=Peter |title=Dungeons and Dragons |publisher=[[CLOAD]] |date=May 1980 |url=http://www.gametronik.com/site/rubriques/tandy/FAQs/CLOAD%20Magazine%201980-05%20(1980)(CLOAD%20Magazine%20Inc).pdf |access-date=October 30, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711072144/http://www.gametronik.com/site/rubriques/tandy/FAQs/CLOAD%20Magazine%201980-05%20%281980%29%28CLOAD%20Magazine%20Inc%29.pdf |archive-date=July 11, 2011 |url-status=usurped }}</ref> Other contemporaneous CRPGs (Computer Role Playing Games) were ''[[Temple of Apshai]]'', ''[[Odyssey: The Compleat Apventure]]'' and ''[[Akalabeth: World of Doom]]'', the precursor to ''[[Ultima (series)|Ultima]]''. Some early microcomputer RPGs (such as ''[[Telengard]]'' (1982) or ''[[Sword of Fargoal]]'') were based on their mainframe counterparts, while others (such as ''Ultima'' or ''[[Wizardry (video game series)|Wizardry]]'', the most successful of the early CRPGs) were loose adaptations of ''D&D''.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}} They also include both [[First-person (video games)|first-person]] displays and overhead views, sometimes in the same game (''Akalabeth'', for example, uses both perspectives). Most of the key features of RPGs were developed in this early period, prior to the release of ''[[Ultima III: Exodus]]'', one of the prime influences on both computer and console RPG development. For example, ''Wizardry'' features menu-driven combat, ''[[Tunnels of Doom]]'' features tactical combat on a special "combat screen", and ''[[Dungeons of Daggorath]]'' features real-time combat which takes place on the main dungeon map.<ref>{{Harvnb|Barton|2007a|Ref=barton_3623}}</ref>

Starting in 1984 with ''[[Questron (video game)|Questron]]'' and ''[[50 Mission Crush]]'', [[Strategic Simulations, Inc.|SSI]] produced many series of CRPGs. Their 1985 game ''[[Phantasie (video game)|Phantasie]]'' is notable for introducing [[automap]]ping and in-game scrolls providing hints and background information. They also released ''[[Pool of Radiance]]'' in 1988, the first of several "[[Gold Box]]" CRPGs based on the ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules''. These games feature a first-person display for movement, combined with an overhead tactical display for combat. One common feature of RPGs from this era, which Matt Barton calls the "[[Golden Age]]" of computer RPGs, is the use of numbered "paragraphs" printed in the manual or adjunct booklets, containing the game's lengthier texts; the player can be directed to read a certain paragraph, instead of being shown the text on screen. The ultimate exemplar of this approach is [[Sir-Tech]]'s ''[[Star Saga]]'' trilogy (of which only two games were released); the first game contains 888 "textlets" (usually much longer than a single paragraph) spread across 13 booklets, while the second contains 50,000 paragraphs spread across 14 booklets. Most of the games from this era are turn-based, although ''[[Dungeon Master (video game)|Dungeon Master]]'' and its imitators have real-time combat. Other classic titles from this era include ''[[The Bard's Tale (1985 video game)|The Bard's Tale]]'' (1985), ''[[Wasteland (video game)|Wasteland]]'' (1988), the start of the ''[[Might and Magic]]'' (1986–2014) series and the continuing ''Ultima'' (1981–1999) series.<ref name="bart2007b">{{Harvnb|Barton|2007b|Ref=barton_1706}}</ref>

Later, in the middle to late 1990s, isometric, sprite-based RPGs became commonplace, with video game publishers [[Interplay Entertainment]] and [[Blizzard North]] playing a lead role with such titles as the ''[[Baldur's Gate (series)|Baldur's Gate]]'', ''[[Icewind Dale (series)|Icewind Dale]]'' and the action-RPG ''[[Diablo (series)|Diablo]]'' series, as well as the dialogue-heavy ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'' and cult classics ''[[Fallout (video game)|Fallout]]'' and ''[[Fallout 2]]''. This era also saw a move toward 3D game engines with such games as ''[[Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven]]'' and ''[[The Elder Scrolls: Arena]]''. [[TSR (company)|TSR]], dissatisfied with SSI's later products, such as ''[[Dark Sun: Wake of the Ravager]]'' and ''[[Menzoberranzan (video game)|Menzoberranzan]]'', transferred the ''AD&D'' license to several different developers, and eventually gave it to [[BioWare]], who used it in ''[[Baldur's Gate (video game)|Baldur's Gate]]'' (1998) and several later games. By the 2000s, 3D engines had become dominant.<ref name="bart2007c">{{Harvnb|Barton|2007c|Ref=barton_1571}}</ref>