History of RPGs [1970s]

RPGs have been around for a long time, but how were they created? What is their origin? This series is going to look at how the Role Playing Game genre was formed. We're going to look at the people and games that influenced the genre, starting in the 1970s.
When we think of the staple RPGs that helped defined the genre, and bought this style of game to mainstream audiences, we think of titles like Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy 7. Then there are the two oldest, biggest, RPG series in existence, Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, which had a MASSIVE influence on the future of the genre, and are still going strong today. But what about before this? Perhaps you’re even old enough to remember the CRPGsUltima and Wizardry, which are often considered the grand daddies of the RPG genre.
This series is going to examine the history of RPGs, from the early 70s, all the way to today. We’re going look at the games, the people, and all of the inspirations behind the Role Playing Game genre, and we’re going to start all the way back in 1972.
Some of the titles we're going to look at include Dungeon, Pedit5, Orthanc, Akalabeth, Beneath Apple Manor and Colossal Cave Adventure, many of which were inspired by dungeon and dragons and The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien, and released on the Plato computer system.
History of RPGs 1980s - • History of RPGs [1980s]
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#history #rpgs #1970s
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Footage from following channels (Some didn't appear in the video)
Wizardry footage - Nick Burnham
Dungeons and Dragons - Great Big Story
Color TV Game 15 - bad@chaos
Colossal Cave Advanture Play-through - Glade Swope
How to Play DD part 1 - A Sample Game Session - WASD20
How to send an Email - ThamesTv
Japanese classic '80s'90s arcade in Akihabara - Miranda DuVal
Moria game footage - BitSeizure
Pedit5 game footage - Spillhistorie.no
Solo Dungeon Adventures by Gary Gygax - Geek Gamers
The Worlds First Wizard - David Megarry’s Duingeon!
Ultima 3 Footage - the Lost Sectors
Zork the king of Text Adventures in the Terminal - Bryan Lunduke

[@HellFireRPGs]

Click here to watch the History of RPGs 1980s - kzbin.info/www/bejne/eJDciGycetljgMU

[@thecandyman9308]

wow....fascinated by this early vision of games to games. thanks for posting!

[@HellFireRPGs]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@dodoguy]

Still waiting for part 2 ;3

[@hemangchauhan2864]

I'm so SO glad you took up this mammoth task of covering history of RPGs. 70s were elusive to me and so there was a lot of new to learn here. Looking forward to 80s, particularly Wizardry. I've read a LOT about Wizardry few years back and I'm amazed at how massive its influence was on the genre.

[@HellFireRPGs]

Thanks mate. I wasnt born back then so its good to go back and see how everything came about

[@TheRezro]

​@@HellFireRPGs As self proceeded expert I think it would be good place to add my five cents. 1) Alongside origin in wargames of hardcore Hack and Slash. RPG's also take lot of inspirations from murder mystery games, where group of players play characters solving criminal cases, dating back to XIX century. In this genre tactic suplement like D&D is actually considered as optional, with some forms like LARP or narrative gaming sometimes straight not using it at all. It is why RPG should be defined as games about narrative choices, not the RPG systems themselves. 2) Most early cRPG's were based on homebrew, overly simplified systems, because Wizards of the Coasts sued game developers, even when games were made on workstations. Because of that they overly focus on systems and not the narration. Because of that RPG fans usually define those early games as Dungeon Crawl. 3) Controversial opinion: jRPG's aren't actually cRPG's. I love jRPG's, but simple fact is that they were developed from early Dungeon Crawl, what already has limited focus on the character choices (so role-play) and in most cases (there are exceptions) remove narrative choice entirely. Term "jRPG" was originally sarcastic as using country of origin as definition make no sense. As such I think those games should be defined more as Tactic-Adventure, though "jRPG" still can be used as custom name. Sadly many people still have problem with acknowledging that RPG's already have definitions and bring nonsensical terms like "Western RPG's", "Console RPG's", etc. What for the most part are meaningless. For example, exemplary wRPG is Dark Souls (made by Japanese) or exemplary console RPG is The Elder Stroll, even if it is actually one of last survivors of Dungeon Crawls from PC's. Speaking of which example of Action RPG (which is actual cRPG subgenre) is game like Witcher, witch Zelda being classified that only as custom as it was first Action-Adventure game, so replacement term was used before coining proper definition.

[@koalteufel7947]

Wow! Great job! I found this very informative and interesting!

[@wallacelovecraft8942]

Great job on the vid!

[@Jmoaks419]

Your channel should be much bigger. Keep it up man, you make great work!

[@HellFireRPGs]

Thanks mate!

[@djstona5284]

loved terras theme at the intro also loved your bof ktf

[@HellFireRPGs]

Thanks!

[@klaasbras1024]

Love these history of RPG's series. Hope you can give even more info than the German guy Darkhan who I've been following a while now.

[@astaynax7531]

I have to say, you through me for a loop when Sara's theme from breath of fire started playing in the background. That's what I have set for my wife's ringtone lol.

[@HellFireRPGs]

Hahah, I should do the same thing

[@sonic-bb]

part 2? :c

[@perhaps5739]

first rpg, first rpg ever, first rpg ever made, the first rpg game ever made

[@theflyingninja1]

Whats the music at the start?

[@ethersturm]

Final Fantasy 6 Overture (Credits theme)

[@streamofthesky]

​@@ethersturm Thanks. The next two songs are Frozen Flame from Chrono Cross (I think?) and then Reminiscence from Suikoden II. Not sure what the last song is. Great video, looking forward to the one on the '80's!

[@djstona5284]

terras theme ff6

[@djstona5284]

its terras theme bro

[@HellFireRPGs]

Yeah Terras theme from final fantasy 6, scars of time from chrono cross, reminiscence from Suikoden 2 and Sara from the original breath of fire.

[@marcomereu3194]

music at 5:28 pls, I need it for a DnD session

[@HellFireRPGs]

At that point it's Chrono Cross - Time's Scar. But the one that starts at 5:45 is Suikoden 2 - Reminiscence. Which one were you after?

[@marcomereu3194]

@@HellFireRPGs both are good, thank you so much, and btw amazing video

[@HellFireRPGs]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed

[@DaoistYeashikAli]

Comment for the Algorithm

[@evoeden]

So many dead rpg giants... Still waiting true Ultima and M&M

[@HellFireRPGs]

Something tells me that you'll be waiting a long time.....

[@TheRezro]

Might and Magic X: Legacy has only six years. Creators of Ultima were one of victims of EA and after disastrous Ultima IX and Online its revival is extremely unlikely. Creators of Wizardry bankrupt long time ago and The Elder Scrolls still successfully pretend that isn't dated genre.

[@Motavian]

A lot of these images and clips are not attributed at all. Pretty unethical.