Specific rules exist for player Adepts to invest objects to create magic items (such as rings, amulets, weapons, etc.)

Vocations such as Ranger, Thief, Assassin, Merchant, Courtesan, Navigator, Healer, Military Scientist, Mechanician, Beastmaster, Troubador may be acquired by expending the necessary experience points.

Characters are not limited to any particular set of skills, and a Halfling Assassin who speaks perfect Elvish is technically possible.

Weapons training typically requires the aid of a person of greater skill than the player, and hiring a weapon-master can be expensive as well.

It is also possible that a character may actually be the expert in his/her local area, and thus might have to travel some distance to receive instruction from a person of greater ability.

Unlike other systems, where the miniatures are merely placeholders, DQ requires that characters know their facing, as attacks from the flanks and rear are more effective than frontal assaults.

Combat takes place in 5-second "pulses" and characters may only move short distances while actively engaged in a meleè.

Ranged Combat typically involves bows, slings, and thrown knives, while Melee is swords, spears, maces and most other weapons.

In addition, the Dungeon Master may award characters bonus experience points for valiant, clever or outstanding performance during gameplay.

With the sudden popularity of Dungeons & Dragons in the mid-1970s, SPI decided to enter the role-playing game market with a product called Dragonslayer, but changed the title to avoid a conflict with Walt Disney Pictures' 1981 movie of the same name.

DragonQuest the role-playing game, published in 1980, was a boxed set of three softcover books designed by Eric Goldberg, David James Ritchie and Edward J.

The following year, TSR published a 3rd edition of DragonQuest that revamped the magic system, with game design by Gerard Christopher King, interior artwork by Timothy Truman and cover art by Joe Chiodo.

In 1986, Japanese companies Chunsoft and Enix had released an unrelated videogame in Japan called Dragon Quest.

When the videogame was released in North America in 1989, Chunsoft changed the name to Dragon Warrior to avoid trademark issues.

"Despite its faults, it still presents a pleasing contrast to the sloppiness of [The Fantasy Trip], the illogic of [Dungeons & Dragons], the incoherence of [Chivalry & Sorcery].

It borrows good ideas liberally from the older systems, and offers noteworthy innovations of its own... At [the price], DragonQuest is a terrific buy.

He concluded, "[DragonQuest] does have some problems, but I have found it to be an exciting game which has succeeded in setting limits and structuring activity while also encouraging creativity.

[10] In the Summer 1984 issue of the French games magazine Casus Belli, Jean-Pierre Demange reviewed the TSR edition, and admired the many improvements that had been made to the original SPI product, commenting that it "aimed to correct the undeniable defects of the first edition, in order to arrive at a game whose flexibility of use should be the asset without degrading the realism dear to many."

Demange concluded with a strong recommendation, saying, "DQ has many qualities and the flexibility of its rules framework allows everyone to correct the flaws and shortcomings inherent in all human creation.