Temple of Apshai (1979) is one of the earliest computer role-playing games, launching the Dunjonquest series and helping define the genre. Blending turn-based and real-time mechanics, it casts players as lone adventurers exploring multi-level dungeons filled with traps, monsters, and treasure. The game combines tactical movement, fatigue management, and stat-driven combat, with actions performed through typed commands. A hybrid of pen-and-paper RPGs and graphical dungeon crawls, it features over 200 rooms, 30 monster types, and a separate Innkeeper module for character creation and equipment shopping. Unique for its time, the manual includes vivid room descriptions to enhance immersion. Originally released for the TRS-80 and PET, Temple of Apshai was later ported to systems like the Apple II, C64, Atari 8-bit, and VIC-20. Its blend of strategy, exploration, and narrative set a high bar for future RPGs and remains a landmark in early computer game design.

This is a series that we’d love to bring back in a variety of forms, ranging from the initial release, to combining a few releases (not unlike the Temple of Apshai Trilogy) to the entire saga. The manuals were extraordinarily detailed — this initial release had a 54-page manual. Between the entire 11-title series, there are hundreds of pages of backstory, all of which can provide a fantastic foundation for a graphic novel series, or a massive explorable world with all of the content merged into a single unifying experience.  Let us know your thoughts and ideas on the licensing page.