Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord

Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord is a foundational dungeon-crawling role-playing game. Its narrative centers on a conflict between the Mad Overlord Trebor and the archmage Werdna, whose misuse of a stolen magical amulet creates a vast, ten-level dungeon. Trebor repurposes this labyrinth as a test for adventurers, who are tasked with navigating its depths and ultimately recovering the amulet.

Gameplay involves managing a party of up to six characters, created by selecting from five races and three alignments. Players begin by choosing from four basic character classes, which can later advance into more specialized elite classes upon meeting certain level prerequisites. After equipping the party, exploration proceeds through a three-dimensional, maze-like dungeon where combat with monsters is turn-based.

The game is considered challenging, requiring strategic party composition and management. It is recognized alongside other early titles in the genre for establishing core mechanics of party-based, first-person dungeon exploration.