Dungeon Master [Model SHVC-V2]

Dungeon Master © 1991 Victor Musical Industries, Incorporated.

Dungeon Master is a real time 3-D dungeon crawler originally released for home computers. The immensely popular game tells the story of an apprentice wizard named Theron. His master, Grey Lord, has turned evil in his quest of power, and his demon side, the Dark Lord (or Chaos), now haunts the depths of his treacherous dungeon. Moreover, Theron was separated from his body during a transportation spell accident. In this ghastly form, he must now resurrect up to four deceased heroes from the Hall of Champions, and lead them through the dreadful lair to find the Firestaff, only weapon capable of defeating the Dark Lord. Dungeon Master is viewed through Theron's eyes, and most of the actions are in real time and based on point-and-click interactions. If an item is on the floor, the player can just click on it, pick it up and drop it in one of the character's inventory. Each champion has different sets of skills and abilities described as 'classes' (Warrior, Ninja, Magician and Priest) - Dungeon Master doesn't feature traditional experience points, and training is at the core of the gameplay. Fighting and magic both require practice, and the more an ability is used, the more it improves. The magic system is also one of the features that differs from other games of the time - spells are cast by using runes, and these powerful magic symbols need to be combined into words to trigger the desired incantation, such as fireballs, magic potions or armful gas clouds. Finally, fighting is completely integrated and done, like the rest of the game, in real time. Monsters wander around the dungeon as the player moves about, and only attack the team when in range (or in sight). Enemies can attack from any direction, and the party can run away, as long as the player has planned an escape route.