Dunjonquest (series)

Dunjonquest (series) is a brand of single-player, single-character fantasy computer role-playing games from Epyx, Inc. The Temple of Apshai and related expansions later repackaged as a "Trilogy" are the best known of the series. The games were heavy on strategy and pen & paper RPG-style rules and statistics. While sometimes inaccurately referred to as "roguelikes", the Dunjonquest game layout such as in the Apshai Trilogy were not random, and placed significant importance on the uniqueness of each room the player entered through printed room descriptions.

Games

 * Dunjonquest: The Datestones of Ryn
 * Dunjonquest: Morloc's Tower
 * Dunjonquest: Temple of Apshai
 * Dunjonquest: Upper Reaches of Apshai (add-on/expansion to Temple of Apshai)
 * Dunjonquest: Curse of Ra (add-on/expansion to Temple of Apshai)
 * Temple of Apshai Trilogy (re-release with improved graphics and sound)

Room Descriptions
Dunjonquest was notable for introducing the hybrid concept of having room descriptions presented in rather thick user's guides, requiring the player to read from a book to enhance the gameplay experience. Upon entering a room in Temple of Apshai, the player would note the room number on a frame/window of the UI, then check the corresponding room number listed in the "Chambers of the Dunjon". The descriptions would present the details of the atmosphere and objects in the rooms including dust on the floor, particular smells in the air, and would provide hints to the player of what they might expect to find in the room they had just entered. This method of presenting the situation to a player was very much like the descriptions provided by a Dungeon Master to players of the [Dungeons and Dragons]] pen & paper traditional role-playing game.

Initially the printed room descriptions might have been used in part as a means of overcoming simple black on white graphics and limited memory for displaying text on screen, especially on some of the more limited computer systems of the day that the games were initially coded for. The tradition of room descriptions in games continues today, however, with CRPG games such as the Avernum series that make ample use of room descriptions, though they are now free to display these in the games and no longer require a separate printed format to ship with the game.

Ambient Sound
Temple of Apshai for the Commodore 64 used ambient music that employed the Commodore's SID Chip to create an eerie, oscillating sound that might have been the first ambient computer role playing game music.

Box and Manual Art
Art by Karen Gerving gave the Dunjonquest titles a unique and unified look with what appear to be woodblock prints filled in with a spectrum of colors.