Originally Added: March 5, 2026
Last Updated: March 5, 2026
1975 - pedit5
Dungeons and Dragons is a pretty popular game. It has been pretty much since release. It turns out that one of the groups it was pretty popular with was nerdy college students with access to computers, who were also building some of the first computer games for fun. D&D-inspired games started getting made in large numbers in 1975, and they haven’t stopped to this day. I played and beat the first of these (and the first dungeon-crawler video game), pedit5 (also known as The Dungeon).
This was another one that was interesting to actually play. pedit5 was developed for the PLATO computer network. It can’t just be run on my home computer this time, unfortunately, so instead I went over to cyber1, which hosts a publicly-accessible PLATO mainframe, and downloaded Pterm so I could hop in. I registered for an account, but I ended up finishing the game before my account even got approved by using their demo accounts. I’ll probably look around a bit more on my own time once my account is up and working, though.
Playing the game is pretty simple once you’re connected. It controls with arrow keys and a few easy-to-remember keyboard shortcuts for actions (your most commonly used is going to be B, for breaking down doors). The function keys navigate the menu, display your stats, or bring up the help page. We’re not yet into the realm of having to keep a cheat sheet next to your computer with twenty different keyboard shortcuts printed on it.
The help page is a more full-fledged manual than I expected. In addition to the controls and basics, it also includes pretty detailed explanations of the game mechanics, including a full monster list. The mystery is in the exploring the dungeon, not in figuring out how the game works. There’s also a list of planned future improvements, none of which made it into the game. Multi-level dungeons, a more robust save system, and improved combat would all be present in its successor, Orthanc.
The cleric spell list from the help page. My favorite bit is that Dispel Myth works by refusing to believe in magical creatures while you cast the spell. This and all other images on this page are my own screenshots.
The game’s mechanics are pretty simple, too. Explore the dungeon, which is divided into rooms and corridors, and try to get 20,000 experience. Rooms can contain treasure and monsters, while corridors are usually empty. You can be ambushed by a monster in corridors, with a random chance to be ambushed after spending a certain amount of time in the dungeon. Treasure and monsters both give you experience, but you’ll probably be getting most from treasure, namely valuable gems and jewelry. Coins and monsters will have values in the tens or hundreds, but jewelry can be worth up to six thousand experience. Big finds are going to drive most of your character growth. If you die, your character is gone. Get out of the dungeon before that happens to restore your hit points and spell slots, or just save to take a break.
Combat is tough. Fighting is a sucker’s game. Fights are resolved instantly, without giving you the chance to cut and run or try something else if things are going bad. You win or you die. Your stats are randomly rolled and the only thing that increases with experience is hit points, so don’t rely on the numbers if you don’t have to. The way to go is to cast a spell that’ll win you the fight before it even starts. Sleep will instantly kill any living creature level 4 or lower, out of a maximum level of 6. For higher-level ones, Charm and Hold Person have a chance to win against humans and goblin-types instantly, but aren’t a sure thing, with Hold Person being a higher-level spell with a higher chance to do it. Mythical creatures can be dispelled by a high-level spell, except for dragons (who are too sure of themselves). Undead take double damage from Magic Missile, but this is unreliable, especially against higher-level enemies. Animals have no particular weakness (though as living creatures they can be put to sleep), but tend to be weaker than the other enemy types anyways.
The upshot of all these details is that a well-prepared character can deal with many enemies, but not all of them. Your spell uses are highly limited, too. At the start of the game you get one level one magic-user spell. As you gain experience you unlock more slots, cleric spells, and higher level spell slots, until at max level you have four first-level magic slots, two second-level magic slots, two first-level cleric slots, and two second-level cleric slots. At the start, one fight will have you running for the exit. Later on, it’ll be a couple, keeping the remainder of your spells in your back pocket in case you run into something nasty on the way out. Your ability to fight isn’t going to increase much over the course of the game, either. You’ll get more HP and might find a magic sword if you’re lucky, but neither will make you a powerhouse in melee combat, and your other stats are staying exactly where they are. You’re going to be leaving the dungeon to recover spells a lot, and even then an encounter with a dragon or a high-level undead could just kill you, no matter how strong you are.
So, once I’d got a handle on the basics, my loop was to enter the dungeon, try to reach rooms I hadn’t been in before, and bug out if I ran low on spell slots or had a big enough treasure haul to gain levels on leaving. I used Gridmonger to map the dungeon as I went, carefully recording each room and corridor. Treasure is generated on character creation and distributed throughout the rooms, while monsters appear as you move through the dungeon. Since treasure is the biggest source of XP and grinding monster encounters is pretty much nonviable, this meant going a little further into the dungeon each time, taking a little bit bigger of a risk. As I went, I’d map any new areas. Still, even forced to keep pushing deeper, I didn’t even get close to a complete map of the dungeon by the time I won. I hit 20,000 way before I explored it all.
My (very incomplete) map of the dungeon, made with Gridmonger.
This wasn’t a foolproof plan. Given the level of RNG involved, there is no foolproof plan. I lost a lot of characters along the way, more than I cared to count. Let me recount most of them for you:
Crunk: Crunk stumbled around the dungeon until running into a MAN. Crunk attempted to cast magic missile at the man, which did not kill him. Crunk was killed instantly in combat.
Clunk: Clunk ran into an orc, and, wiser than Crunk, decided to put the orc to sleep and kill it rather than fucking around with magic missiles. Then on his way out, he ran into a giant ant and died in combat.
Clam: Clam had my first actual successful delve! He made it home! A few times, in fact. Sadly, he would encounter a dragon and get absolutely demolished.
Eliwood: Eliwood started off strong by finding a gem worth 4000 gold & experience, which was more XP than all the combats everyone else won put together by nearly an order of magnitude. Sadly, he would get killed by a medusa a few delves later because Eliwood is a bit of a shit unit.
Hector: I had high hopes for Hector, because he’s pretty good in Fire Emblem. Unfortunately, he mostly had standard and unremarkable combat encounters before eventually running out of luck and getting killed.
Lyn: Another strong start, lucking into killing a high-level man and then finding a jewel worth 3k guarded by an orc. Sadly, Lyn would die immediately on the next delve.
Cave: Cave had a completely unremarkable career and died.
Roy: Roy also had an unremarkable career and died.
Marth: I started reusing names here until I got a run worth actually writing about (or I got sick of using a name and went for the next guy). Marth made a lot of progress, mapping out a bunch of areas and finding secret doors, but never had any big treasure windfalls and eventually got killed.
Alm: Alm had a few big treasure finds at the start, but eventually I got overconfident, running out of spell slots far from the exit and getting killed trying to escape the dungeon.
Celica: Celica found a magic sword pretty fast, the only magic sword I found during my entire playtime. It both has better stats in a fight and is worth a decent amount of gold. Unfortunately, she ran into a level 5 wraith and got slaughtered. High level undead are just plain scary.
Celica finding a magic sword, a piece of treasure that is both worth XP and increases your combat ability. It would be cooler if physical combat was even remotely viable.
Sigurd: Sigurd just had a dogshit time. Killed repeatedly, embarrassingly early. My boy just got straight up barbecued. Name retired with no remarkable accomplishments because it was clearly terrible luck.
Seliph: Had a strong start, killing a medusa and grabbing 6k worth of jewelry. Also had an interesting encounter with a wight, which died when casting Pray in preparation for a melee (I was out of magic casts). Killing undead isn’t a documented property of the spell, so I have no idea what was going on there. Another big treasure piece put Seliph over the 10k mark, halfway to victory. There’d be further success, pushing deeper into the dungeon than ever before and grabbing more big treasure finds. He hit 12k, then 16k, then 19k. I was so close to the finish line. All I had to do was find a little more treasure or squeak out enough combat victories to pull through without running into a dragon or a vampire and getting flattened.
Seliph in the dungeon with 19000 experience. I've also just realized this is my only screenshot of standard gameplay. It's not exactly visually impressive, but it gets the job done.
Play this music now for proper effect. The rest of Seliph’s delves were nerve-wracking. I’d come so far, and I was not about to lose it all to being incautious. But unlucky? Unlucky could always get me. An encounter with a level 5 man almost went south when Hold Person failed, but Seliph won the melee nonetheless. Later, Seliph was forced into back-to-back combats with a wight and a wyvern, both scary enemies in their own right. Combat takes time, so if you pass the threshold for a monster encounter roll mid-combat, you can have to fight two enemies in a row. The wight got blasted with magic, while the wyvern was dispelled. Less than 100 XP from victory, Seliph was going in for one last trip. Victory or death. Running into a high-level evil man in the corridors and killing him was enough to put Seliph over the 20k threshold. A mad dash for the exit was all that stood between me and a win.
I did it. I made it out of the dungeon, won, and put my (well, Seliph’s) name into the Hall of Fame, to be displayed until 10 more people win. If you log into Cyber1 soon enough after this is published, you might still be able to see proof of my victory there. With nothing but my wits, a map-drawing program, and an infinite supply of disposable adventurers, I had conquered the dungeon.
The victory screen. A hard-won reward. The figures surrounding our hero are the ones used to represent the different types of monster.
I liked pedit5, overall. It’s not a flawless game by any means, but I didn’t find any of its flaws fatal. The game is extremely RNG-heavy, which may or may not sit well with you. Winning is never certain. You could just run into a high level enemy and get killed no matter how well prepared you are. But runs come and go so fast and a successful run is short enough that you’re never losing more than fifteen minutes of progress at most. There’s another thing that I have to mention, a minor issue that still managed to annoy the hell out of me. Entering a door requires breaking it down, which has a chance to fail. The only consequence for failing is that time passes. This wastes way more time than you’d think it would when most of your time is going to be spent roaming the dungeon. It’s annoying.
My position in the hall of fame, which shows the last 10 people who won. Note that it also shows what portion of your EXP came from combat; everyone's is pretty low.
Despite my grousing, I liked the game. Exploring the dungeon is fun and tense, and I like the kind of dungeon-crawler where you’re mapping the place out yourself as you go. There’s a genuine rush when you find a big piece of treasure or survive a combat you had no right to win. Losing a character who’s made some progress hurts, too, and just the right amount. You don’t lose so much time that you just want to give up, but you lose enough that you feel it. There’s a good chance I come back to it, and if I don’t get to Orthanc here I’ll definitely play it on my own time.