Moria

DOSGames.com Review:  Rating: 4
Moria is an early turn-based textmode roguelike game that help define the genre. It plays similarly to Rogue (appropriately, since the author was influenced heavily by Rogue) and other early games. One of its primary innovations is that the player begins the game in a town which they can explore and equip themselves before delving into the dungeons. Supposedly David Brevik, original creator of the Diablo series, was strongly inspired by Moria. (Did you know the first Diablo game was initially planned to be turn-based, like a traditional roguelike?) Anyways, back to Moria, it sounds inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien's works, but other than references to the dungeons of Moria and defeating the Balrog, there are no other explicit references. It's definitely a deep roguelike in its own right, it also provided the basis for future games, most notably Angband.