A strange little side quest
Daffy's Studio Adventure may feel immediate, but the ideas around role-playing games have been evolving for a very long time. By 1987, fantasy role-playing had become a major computer-game direction, with Zelda, licensed Dungeons & Dragons games and other story-led adventures expanding the form. A second detail makes the picture even better: The Oregon Trail began in 1971 when three student teachers created a computer simulation to help Minnesota schoolchildren learn American history. That history is one reason familiar mechanics can still feel new when they are recombined well.
