A strange little side quest
Put The Dark Age next to the history of role-playing games and a few unexpected connections appear. 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. The same trail leads to another fact: Pac-Man went on sale in 1980, and its creator Toru Iwatani famously linked the character's shape to a pizza with a slice missing. That history is one reason familiar mechanics can still feel new when they are recombined well.
