Death Knights of Krynn

Strategic Simulations

Industry	Video game development and publishing
Founded	1979
Headquarters	United States
Products	Death Knights of Krynn, Champions of Krynn, The Dark Queen of Krynn

Death Knights of Krynn represents the second entry in the trilogy of Dragonlance Advanced Dungeons & Dragons "Gold Box" role-playing video game titles, both developed and released by Strategic Simulations in 1991. This installment continues the storyline initiated by Champions of Krynn and sets the stage for its sequel, The Dark Queen of Krynn.

Plot

Taking place a year following Myrtani's downfall, the adventuring party is based at Gargath Outpost, which soon faces an assault by undead legions. Sir Karl, once an ally, has been reanimated as a death knight under the command of the sinister Lord Soth, who is raising fallen warriors to form his undead battalions. Lord Soth's objective is to seize control over the hero Sturm Brightblade’s body, endangering the realm with his formidable undead forces.

The party’s primary quest involves launching an attack on Dargaard Keep to confront and defeat Lord Soth. Along their path, players explore several settlements and encounter diverse creatures, including the persistent adversary known as the Dread Wolf. Additionally, players have the option to recruit Sir Durfey from Clerist's Tower, who can provide assistance for much of the adventure.

Players may also engage in optional side missions that offer extra experience points and valuable treasures.

Gameplay

In Death Knights of Krynn, players craft characters from various races such as humans, dwarves, elves, half-elves, and kender. Available classes include fighter, ranger, knight, mage, cleric, and thief. Characters created in Champions of Krynn can be imported; however, magical equipment does not carry over.

Notable gameplay features include:

• Gameplay mechanics and visuals closely resemble those of its predecessor.
• The DOS and C64 versions utilize 16-color graphics; meanwhile, the Amiga edition supports upgraded 32-color visuals.
• The paladin class returns as a playable option alongside the knight.
• Menu navigation accommodates both arrow keys and designated hotkeys.
• Characters eligible for training are marked with purple-colored names.
• Introduction of a new fireball animation sprite.

Two distinct MS-DOS versions were released:

Operating System	Version	Language
MS-DOS	V1.00	Turbo Pascal 5.5 (exepacked)
MS-DOS	V1.10	Turbo Pascal 6.0 (exepacked)

Game credits

• Conceptualized by: SSI Special Projects Team
• Development leads: Ken Humphries, Dave Shelley
• Programming: Russ Brown
• Encounter coding: Rhonda Gilbert, Carolyn Bickford, Cyrus Harris, Terrea Thompson, Ken Eklund, Gary Shockley, Alan Marenco
• Graphic design: Maurine Starkey, Mike Provenza, Laura Bowen, Cyrus Lum, Fred Butts, Daniel Colon Jr.
• Playtesting: John Kirk, Jeff Shotwell, Mike Gilmartin, Glen Cureton, Phil Alne, Erik Flom
• Music composed by: "The Fat Man", Dave Govett

Reception

Death Knights of Krynn achieved sales totaling 61,958 units. Compared to its predecessor, it featured more pronounced integration with the Dragonlance universe and was positively received upon launch. In issue #173 (1991) of Dragon, it was awarded a perfect 5-star rating. Conversely, Scorpia of Computer Gaming World critiqued it in 1993 for its absence of puzzles and limited role-playing complexity, labeling it as formulaic and "primarily just another hack-and-slash."

GameSpy observed that while its Dragonlance affiliation enhanced its initial reception, it no longer distinguishes itself within its genre. In 2015, Ian Williams from Paste placed it tenth on his list of "The 10 Greatest Dungeons and Dragons Videogames."

External links

• Evaluation featured in Compute!