Dungeon crawl
Encyclopedia
A dungeon crawl is a type of scenario in fantasy
role-playing game
s in which heroes navigate a labyrinth
ine environment, battling various monsters, and looting any treasure they may find. Because of its simplicity, a dungeon crawl can be easier for a gamemaster
to run than more complex adventures, and the "hack and slash
" style of play is appreciated by players who focus on action and combat. The term can be used in a pejorative sense, since dungeon crawls often lack meaningful plot or logical consistency. For example, the parody game Munchkin
is about "the essence of the dungeon experience… Kill the monsters, steal the treasure, stab your buddy."
The first computer-based dungeon crawl was pedit5
, developed in 1974 by Rusty Rutherford on the PLATO interactive education system based in Urbana, Illinois. Although this game was quickly deleted from the system, several more like it appeared, including dnd
and Moria
.
Some distinguish "dungeon crawlers" from rogue-likes
and RPGs with stories and character-interaction, while others use the term to describe any game which features ample amounts of dungeon exploration (including Zork
, Zelda
and tabletop RPGs
). More recently the term has come to mean 1st person
RPGs, particularly ones which are aligned to a grid system and can be mapped on graph paper.
were influenced by J. R. R. Tolkien
's The Hobbit
, the Lankhmar
short stories by Fritz Leiber
, Poul Anderson
's Three Hearts and Three Lions
and by the "Cugel" stories from the Dying Earth books by Jack Vance
.
According to Gary Gygax
(in an interview with Dungeon
#112), the first dungeon crawl was part of a wargame in which the invading force entered the enemy's castle through a former escape tunnel dug from the fortress's dungeon. The group had so much fun with this scenario that it was repeated over and over with increasingly complex dungeons until the wargame aspect of the game was dropped in favor of exploring the dungeon.
For pen and paper role-playing game
s, visual aids such as maps, models, or miniature figures are often used to represent the landscape of a dungeon crawl.
genre is a common and typical example, with endless randomly generated dungeon terrain and randomly placed monsters and treasures scattered throughout.
The 80s may be seen as the "golden era" of this form of game. Games like Wizardry
, The Bard's Tale, Cosmic Soldier
, Might and Magic
, Megami Tensei
, Phantasy Star, Dungeon Master, and Madou Monogatari
set the standards, while the primitive graphics were actually conducive to this style, due to the need for repetitive tiles or similar-looking graphics to create effective mazes. Some dungeon crawlers from this era also employed action role-playing game
combat, such as Dragon Slayer and The Tower of Druaga.
Variations on the dungeon crawl trope can be found in other genre
s. Recent years have seen a modest resurgence in their popularity, particularly in Japan, largely due to the success of the Etrian Odyssey
series by Atlus
. Other handheld titles in recent years include Beyond the Labyrinth, Deep Labyrinth
, The Dark Spire
, Orcs & Elves
, and Class of Heroes
, while on the PC Legend of Grimrock is currently in development. Other series related to the traditional dungeon crawl are The Elder Scrolls
and King's Field
.
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
s in which heroes navigate a labyrinth
Labyrinth
In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth was an elaborate structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos...
ine environment, battling various monsters, and looting any treasure they may find. Because of its simplicity, a dungeon crawl can be easier for a gamemaster
Gamemaster
A gamemaster is a person who acts as an organizer, officiant for questions regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer game...
to run than more complex adventures, and the "hack and slash
Hack and slash
Hack and slash or hack and slay, abbreviated H&S or HnS, refers to a type of gameplay that emphasizes combat. "Hack and slash" was originally used to describe an aspect of pen-and-paper role-playing games , carrying over from there to MUDs, MMORPGs, and video games in general...
" style of play is appreciated by players who focus on action and combat. The term can be used in a pejorative sense, since dungeon crawls often lack meaningful plot or logical consistency. For example, the parody game Munchkin
Munchkin (card game)
Munchkin is a card game by Steve Jackson Games, written by Steve Jackson and illustrated by John Kovalic, that has a humorous take on role-playing games, based on the concept of munchkins ....
is about "the essence of the dungeon experience… Kill the monsters, steal the treasure, stab your buddy."
The first computer-based dungeon crawl was pedit5
Pedit5
pedit5 was perhaps the first dungeon crawl video game , written in 1975 by Rusty Rutherford for the PLATO system...
, developed in 1974 by Rusty Rutherford on the PLATO interactive education system based in Urbana, Illinois. Although this game was quickly deleted from the system, several more like it appeared, including dnd
Dnd (computer game)
dnd is a computer role-playing game. The name dnd is derived from the abbreviation "DND" from the original role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, which was first released in 1975....
and Moria
Moria (PLATO)
Moria is a dungeon crawl style computer role-playing game first developed for the PLATO system around 1975, with copyright dates listed as 1978 and 1984...
.
Some distinguish "dungeon crawlers" from rogue-likes
Roguelike
The roguelike is a sub-genre of role-playing video games, characterized by randomization for replayability, permanent death, and turn-based movement. Most roguelikes feature ASCII graphics, with newer ones increasingly offering tile-based graphics. Games are typically dungeon crawls, with many...
and RPGs with stories and character-interaction, while others use the term to describe any game which features ample amounts of dungeon exploration (including Zork
Zork
Zork was one of the first interactive fiction computer games and an early descendant of Colossal Cave Adventure. The first version of Zork was written in 1977–1979 on a DEC PDP-10 computer by Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling, and implemented in the MDL programming language...
, Zelda
The Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda, originally released as in Japan, is a video game developed and published by Nintendo, and designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. Set in the fantasy land of Hyrule, the plot centers on a boy named Link, the playable protagonist, who aims to collect the eight fragments...
and tabletop RPGs
Role-playing game (pen and paper)
A tabletop role-playing game, pen-and-paper role-playing game, or Table-talk role-playing game is a form of role-playing game in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech...
). More recently the term has come to mean 1st person
First person (video games)
In video games, first person refers to a graphical perspective rendered from the viewpoint of the player character. In many cases, this may be the viewpoint from the cockpit of a vehicle. Many different genres have made use of first-person perspectives, ranging from adventure games to flight...
RPGs, particularly ones which are aligned to a grid system and can be mapped on graph paper.
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeon crawls in the role-playing game Dungeons & DragonsDungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
were influenced by J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
's The Hobbit
The Hobbit
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, better known by its abbreviated title The Hobbit, is a fantasy novel and children's book by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published on 21 September 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald...
, the Lankhmar
Lankhmar
Lankhmar is a fictional city in the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories by Fritz Leiber. It is situated on the world of Nehwon, just west of the Great Salt Marsh and east of the River Hlal, and serves as the home of Leiber's two anti-heroes....
short stories by Fritz Leiber
Fritz Leiber
Fritz Reuter Leiber, Jr. was an American writer of fantasy, horror and science fiction. He was also a poet, actor in theatre and films, playwright, expert chess player and a champion fencer. Possibly his greatest chess accomplishment was winning clear first in the 1958 Santa Monica Open.. With...
, Poul Anderson
Poul Anderson
Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories...
's Three Hearts and Three Lions
Three Hearts and Three Lions
Three Hearts and Three Lions is a 1961 fantasy novel by Poul Anderson. It is also a 1953 novella by Poul Anderson which appeared in Fantasy & Science Fiction.-Plot:...
and by the "Cugel" stories from the Dying Earth books by Jack Vance
Jack Vance
John Holbrook Vance is an American mystery, fantasy and science fiction author. Most of his work has been published under the name Jack Vance. Vance has published 11 mysteries as John Holbrook Vance and 3 as Ellery Queen...
.
According to Gary Gygax
Gary Gygax
Ernest Gary Gygax was an American writer and game designer best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons with Dave Arneson. Gygax is generally acknowledged as the father of role-playing games....
(in an interview with Dungeon
Dungeon (magazine)
Dungeon Adventures, or simply Dungeon, was a magazine targeting consumers of role-playing games, particularly Dungeons & Dragons. It was first published by TSR, Inc. in 1986 as a bimonthly periodical. It went monthly in May 2003 and ceased print publication altogether in September 2007 with Issue 150...
#112), the first dungeon crawl was part of a wargame in which the invading force entered the enemy's castle through a former escape tunnel dug from the fortress's dungeon. The group had so much fun with this scenario that it was repeated over and over with increasingly complex dungeons until the wargame aspect of the game was dropped in favor of exploring the dungeon.
For pen and paper role-playing game
Paper and pencil game
Paper-and-pencil games are games that can be played solely with paper and pencil .In some board games, including some abstract strategy games like Gomoku, a piece once played will not be moved on the board or removed from the board...
s, visual aids such as maps, models, or miniature figures are often used to represent the landscape of a dungeon crawl.
Video games
Due to their potential for simplicity and the limited expectations most players have for plot and logical consistency in dungeon crawls, they are fairly popular in computer role-playing games. The roguelikeRoguelike
The roguelike is a sub-genre of role-playing video games, characterized by randomization for replayability, permanent death, and turn-based movement. Most roguelikes feature ASCII graphics, with newer ones increasingly offering tile-based graphics. Games are typically dungeon crawls, with many...
genre is a common and typical example, with endless randomly generated dungeon terrain and randomly placed monsters and treasures scattered throughout.
The 80s may be seen as the "golden era" of this form of game. Games like Wizardry
Wizardry
Wizardry is a series of computer role-playing games, developed by Sir-Tech, which were highly influential in the development of modern console and computer role playing games. The original Wizardry was a significant influence to early console RPGs, such as Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy. ...
, The Bard's Tale, Cosmic Soldier
Cosmic Soldier (MSX)
is a role-playing video game for the MSX and NEC PC-8801, and is the first game in the Cosmic Soldier series. It was released in 1985 by Kogado Studio...
, Might and Magic
Might and Magic
Might and Magic is a series of role-playing video games from New World Computing, which in 1996 became a subsidiary of The 3DO Company...
, Megami Tensei
Megami Tensei
, commonly abbreviated as , is a Japanese console role-playing game metaseries which was originally based on the novel series Digital Devil Story by Aya Nishitani and has gone to become one of the major franchises of the genre in its native country...
, Phantasy Star, Dungeon Master, and Madou Monogatari
Madou Monogatari
Madou Monogatari is a series of first-person dungeon crawler RPGs by Compile. The first game was released in 1989 for MSX and NEC PC-9801. The characters of this series would later be used in the puzzle game Puyo Puyo.-Gameplay:Gameplay is traditional RPG with some unique twists...
set the standards, while the primitive graphics were actually conducive to this style, due to the need for repetitive tiles or similar-looking graphics to create effective mazes. Some dungeon crawlers from this era also employed action role-playing game
Action role-playing game
Action role-playing games form a loosely defined sub-genre of role-playing video games that incorporate elements of action or action-adventure games, emphasizing real-time action where the player has direct control over characters, instead of turn-based or menu-based combat...
combat, such as Dragon Slayer and The Tower of Druaga.
Variations on the dungeon crawl trope can be found in other genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
s. Recent years have seen a modest resurgence in their popularity, particularly in Japan, largely due to the success of the Etrian Odyssey
Etrian Odyssey
Media Create/Famitsū reported that Etrian Odyssey had sold 119,584 copies in Japan as of July 1, 2007. Atlus' own July 2007 investors report listed US sales of the title at around 30,000 units, roughly 2 months after release....
series by Atlus
Atlus
is a Japanese computer and video game developer, publisher, and distributor based in Tokyo, Japan, best known for developing the console role-playing game franchise Megami Tensei. The first Megami Tensei was a Nintendo Entertainment System video game published by Namco based on a trilogy of...
. Other handheld titles in recent years include Beyond the Labyrinth, Deep Labyrinth
Deep Labyrinth
is a 3D role-playing video game for mobile phones and the Nintendo DS. Key contributors for this game include writer Masato Kato and composer Yasunori Mitsuda.-Plot:...
, The Dark Spire
The Dark Spire
The Dark Spire is a role-playing game developed by Success for the Nintendo DS. It was released on April 14, 2009 in North America which was published by Atlus and May 22, 2008 in Japan.-Gameplay:...
, Orcs & Elves
Orcs & Elves
Orcs & Elves is a fantasy role-playing adventure video game for the mobile phone and Nintendo DS. It was developed by John Carmack and Fountainhead Entertainment, produced by id Software, published by EA Mobile and licensed by Nintendo for the DS version. It was first released on the mobile phone...
, and Class of Heroes
Class of Heroes
is a role-playing dungeon crawler for the PlayStation Portable developed by Acquire and published by Atlus. The game was released on June 9th, 2009 by Atlus. In the game, players progress by navigating dungeons as hordes of enemies appear and attack in turn-based combat...
, while on the PC Legend of Grimrock is currently in development. Other series related to the traditional dungeon crawl are The Elder Scrolls
The Elder Scrolls
The Elder Scrolls is a role-playing video game series developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks.-History:...
and King's Field
King's Field (series)
King's Field is a console role-playing game series developed by From Software and localized into English by ASCII Entertainment . It is known for its brooding atmosphere and cryptic, labyrinthine dungeons...
.