Champions of Krynn

Strategic Simulations

Industry	Video game publishing
Headquarters	United States
Products	Champions of Krynn

Champions of Krynn is a role-playing video game released in 1990, marking the first installment in the three-part Dragonlance Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Gold Box series, published by Strategic Simulations. The MS-DOS edition features EGA graphics, supports the Adlib sound card, and can be controlled via mouse or joystick.

Plot

The narrative initiates near Throtl, the capital city of the Hobgoblins, following a prologue set at the Inn of the Last Home located in Solace. The adventuring group confronts Baaz Draconians who are assaulting local settlers. A formidable Aurak Draconian named Myrtani manages to steal an ancient tome and escapes capture. After reporting these events to Sir Karl, it becomes clear that malevolent forces still pose a threat, motivating the party to track down Myrtani and his cohorts.

Gameplay

Players begin by creating characters and assembling a team to explore environments and engage in combat using an isometric battlefield perspective. Unlike subsequent titles in the series, this game does not allow character imports but permits transferring characters into its sequel, Death Knights of Krynn.

Game differences

Sharing similar gameplay mechanics and 16-color graphical fidelity with other Forgotten Realms Gold Box titles such as Secret of the Silver Blades, Champions of Krynn introduced menu navigation via arrow keys alongside existing hotkey functionality and incorporated a LEVEL difficulty setting.

The game broadens player choices by including races like Kender, Qualinesti and Silvanesti Elves, as well as Hill and Mountain Dwarves. The potency of magic users varies depending on lunar phases—mages aligned with good receive enhancements during Solinari’s cycle. Clerics may choose from various deities, each providing distinct advantages. Instead of the classic Paladin class, players can select the Knight of Solamnia, who wears plate armor, wields a shield and longsword, but must relinquish some gold upon entering cities due to their vow of poverty.

Draconians serve as frequent adversaries across all five varieties, featuring death animations faithful to those depicted in the Dragonlance novels. In the PC version, weapons found within defeated Baaz Draconians can be retrieved after battle for reuse.

Reception

SSI reported sales totaling 116,693 copies for Champions of Krynn.

In the April 1990 issue (#156) of Dragon, reviewers Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser commended the title as "an immediate purchase," awarding it a flawless 5 out of 5 score for enhancing realism within fantasy role-playing games.

Jamie Thomson’s June 1990 review in Games International praised the straightforward character creation and combat mechanics, describing the experience as "reasonably entertaining," though he observed it leaned more towards a scripted adventure with less narrative depth. He assigned gameplay a rating of 6 out of 10 and graphics an 8 out of 10.

In 1990, Scorpia from Computer Gaming World acknowledged enjoyable non-combat elements but criticized aspects such as the absence of experience gain for unconscious characters, concluding that while "overall pretty good," the game possessed some significant shortcomings. By 1993, she referred to it as "standard fare," appreciating cameo appearances from the source novels but found the concluding battle more tiresome than thrilling.

GameSpy noted that although there were few faults in Champions of Krynn, its visual presentation was becoming outdated.

IGN placed Champions of Krynn at number 10 on their 2014 ranking titled "The Top 11 Dungeons & Dragons Games of All Time."

Further reading

• Jeux & Stratégie nouvelle formule #6

External links

• Visuals of the Commodore 64 edition of Champions of Krynn including box art and manual at C64Sets.com
• Evaluation featured in Compute!
• Critique from Info
• Assessment published in Info