Parker Brothers produced the board game Shadowlord! in 1983, during the wave of popularity of Dungeons & Dragons and role-playing games in general. While Shadowlord! is not a role-playing game, it does require an extensive rule set and extensive communication among opponents, while they secretly employ strategies to conquer. An unseen opponent, the shadowlord, may also win the game, in which case every player loses. The game seems like quite a departure for Parker Brothers at this time. It was designed by Brad Stock, who also designed a Dune board game based on the 1984 David Lynch film.