| DND | |
| Genre: | Role-playing video game |
| Released: | 1977 |
| Platforms: | PDP-10 |
| Developer: | Daniel M. Lawrence |
DND is a role-playing video game developed by Purdue University student Daniel Lawrence in 1977 for the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) PDP-10 mainframe computer. The name DND is derived from the abbreviation "D&D" from the original tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. It was later ported to several other computer systems and languages. After Lawrence re-used code from the game in the 1982 role-playing game Telengard, DEC ordered DND be removed from their computers to avoid litigation by Telengards publisher. DND was one of the earliest role-playing video games, as part of a set of games developed in the 1970s based on the 1974 Dungeons & Dragons.
DND was written in BASIC for the TOPS-10 time-share operating system by Daniel Lawrence, a student at Purdue University, for the Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-10 mainframe computer and released around 1977.[1] [2] [3] It was one of several freeware games based on Dungeons & Dragons in the 1970s.[3] Later the game found its way to DEC and was there rewritten in 1983 to Pascal.[4] [5]
DND was one of the earliest role-playing video games, which began to appear around 1975, and like DND were largely based on Dungeons & Dragons (1974).[3] Lawrence re-used some of the code for the game for the 1982 role-playing game Telengard.[6] This led to DEC ordering DND to be removed from all DEC computers in September 1983 to avoid litigation from Telengards publisher, Avalon Hill.[3] Due to the BASIC source code availability, the game was later ported and adapted to newer systems and programming languages.[1] One such port was to MS-DOS in 1984 by R.O. Software, which sold the game under a US$25 shareware license without first seeking permission from Avalon Hill or Lawrence.[3]