Consolation Prize

Continuing a series of articles looking at games which have left a memorable impression in my life, in this post I’ll be looking at the seminal classic RPG game Dungeon Master from FTL Games. First released to critical acclaim for the Atari ST (1987) and subsequently ported to a host of other platforms, but of most importance to me was the Amiga version (1988).

The Holy Grail

I first remember seeing this game running on an Atari ST roundabout the year of its release. Back in those days I lived and breathed fantasy worlds; whether it was playing Dungeons & Dragons, watching fantasy movies, or burying my head in a novel I was always on the lookout for new and interesting worlds which would feed my imagination.

Dungeon Master epitomised my perfect fantasy dungeon. It looked stunning and oozed an evocative atmosphere just as if it had been lifted directly from the minds of Dungeons & Dragons creators Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. Here before me was an impressively realistic digital 3D dungeon using a first person perspective and all played in real-time, unlike most other RPG games at that juncture which were typically more turn-based affairs.

Unfortunately the Atari ST in question belonged to a friend’s older brother and access to the game was severely restricted to the occasional glance, or a few tense moments whenever the opportunity arose to sneak into said brother’s room. It would be another few years before I finally got the chance to play through the game completely when I eventually cobbled together enough money to purchase a Commodore Amiga 500. At last the quest was on!

Heroes Required

At the beginning of the manual there’s an excellent introductory story that relates how the world has been torn asunder, leaving it in chaos. It is up-to you, Theron, the apprentice of the great wizard The Grey Lord, to venture into the dungeon and recover the Firestaff with which The Grey Lord can return order to the world once more. However, there’s a bit of glitch, you have no physical presence and must rely upon four heroes to be your eyes and ears, guiding them to there destiny.

Starting off outside the dungeon the player upon opening the gates enters the Hall of Champions, an eerie place hung with twenty four portraits of the fallen heroes that have all failed in the quest to retrieve the Firestaff. Their essence now captured in these magical mirrors, it is up-to the player to either resurrect or regenerate them selecting the characters that will be ready for the task ahead.

There be Monsters

Characters all belonged to one or more character classes, whether it was fighter, priest, wizard, or ninja. But instead of having a “level” to signify an individuals skill they were instead awarded a grade such as “apprentice”, or “craftsman”, and remarkably a characters skill would increase in direct relation to how often it was used, a nice touch which nowadays we generally take for granted. How you played the game was really your choice. You could decide to create a party with two tough leading fighters backed up with a priest for healing and a wizard for offensive firepower, or alternatively a party comprising only of wizards, or maybe just the one all-rounder if you really wanted to test your skills.

The denizens of this magical place were all varied and, for the time, excellently animated with there own distinct sound effects that could send shivers down your spine. The deeper you delved into the dungeon the more deadly the inhabitants became and sometimes a hasty retreat to a safe area (preferably to a room with a door that could be shut) was the best tactical option to allow your party time to sleep and recuperate. It all seemed so realistic that it could easily induce panic whenever hordes of monsters appeared out of the gloom cornering your party, or even worse awoke them from their slumber. At times there were some desperate fights for survival.

Deviously Fiendish

The dark creatures of the dungeon were however not the only thing your hardy adventurers had to be wary of. Deadly traps littered the hallways waiting to catch out the unwary, mind boggling puzzles stood in your way and to compound your troubles adventurers could easily die of hunger or thirst if they weren’t regularly fed and watered.

There were just so many great touches in Dungeon Master which helped fully immerse the player in this believable place: Light faded as torches and light spells burned up, spells were cast using a series or runes representing the power and the elements and required the player to learn sequences of glyphs, heroes could be severely wounded hindering progress until magically healed, and the game used a very detailed, but easy to use, mouse driven character inventory screen.

Dungeon Master was a game in which you could lose yourself in for hours, the kind you suddenly realise you’ve been playing for a straight eight hours but it only felt like minutes. It was genre defining and led the way for a few years spawning a number of flattering clones but unfortunately the sequels, Chaos Strikes Back and Dungeon Master II: The Legend of Skull Keep, could never quite generate the same kind of impact and success the original created.

Dungeon Master to this day still retains a small and devoted following that produce clones and create original content. I’ve been enjoying playing through some of the early levels again using one of the engines found at the
Dungeon Master Encyclopedia, evoking some fond memories. Thankfully it still feels pretty great to play today even if the dungeon environment looks a bit too similar for modern tastes and can quickly become disorientating. The game will however always hold a special place in my heart.

I envy you for being able to get into something like this, especially when you were younger - even now I don’t have the patience to learn all the intricacies and everything for games like this x_x

To be fair many of those old first person dungeon crawlers did have seriously un-user friendly interfaces (by today’s standards, at least), but it’s still pretty sad on my part.

I think when I was younger I used to find it easier to get into dungeon crawlers and games of that ilk. Nowadays I just don’t seem to have the patience and mainly just want a “quick fix”.

However, games have come on a long way and tend to do more hand-holding these days. Whenever I dig into the past I’m always amazed to find out they’re far more difficult than what I remember them being. I think I’m just too soft nowadays.