Dungeons & Dragons: Krynn Series

My first Gold Box games were Death Knights of Krynn and Dark Queen of Krynn. Never beat DKK, but did finally finish DQK, and I really, really want to go back and play through them again, even as I'm now in the middle of my first run of Pillars of Eternity. Admittedly, using Dragonlances on Dragons never gets old, but fighting Aurak Draconians in crowded hallways gets old. Fast. If you've played, you know what I mean. If you haven't, you need to see for yourself. And remember: Each Draconian screws you a different way when they die.

I first played this trilogy back when I purchased them on 3.5 floppies. Still have them all in a box somewhere! Champions of Krynn starts you off with 6 rather squishy level 1 characters. It is highly suggested to wander around the outskirts of town before starting the first quest so that you can gain a couple levels and buy some better equipment. That ring mail and short sword can only do so much for you! Biggest complaint about Champions is that you have to reselect your mages spells each time you rest to relearn them. This is fixed for Death Knights and Dark Queen. In Death Knights you can start off with some mid-level characters, or import your save from Krynn. Death Knights to me is the coolest of the 3. Having read many of the Dragonlance novels, I was very familiar with Lord Soth, and still found him a little terrifying. The soundtrack is dark and a little creepy, and the entire city of undead was a nice touch. The Dark Queen is the crown jewel of the Gold Box engine. It has upgraded character models, better graphics all around, and much better sound effects. Again you can choose to make a new party or import your Death Knights save. Make sure to read level maximums for different races- You don't want to get cutoff in this one. All in all, a great series, and those familiar with the Dragonlance Novels will enjoy several cameos from their favorite Heroes of the Lance.

I remember when I first played the Krynn series back in 1992 when I bought my very first computer and I was 22 years old. I always loved fantasy and played D&D when I was a kid. This game was D&D come to life. Dragon Warrior for NES was my first RPG and I was addicted to RPG games after that but computer games just brought a whole new level in gameplay and graphics. This is my favorite series of all the SSI games as it does not have the super restrictive race limitations of other gold box games and the magic system added a whole new element. I have recently played Champions of Krynn and Death Knights of Krynn and I am currently playing Dark Queen of Krynn. Champions is a 5 plus great story and perfect challenge rating. Death Knights still a 5 with a weaker story but better combat. Dark Queen I sort of loathe. The mages are ridiculous as they always have full defensive spells active, and if you do not get lucky and have your own defensive spells active you will be toast and even if you have your defensive spells and you do not get initiative you will be toast. Haste is essential for battles with mages in them. If you do not use the clue book so you know what encounters you will run into you will be loading your saved games a lot. I have to give it a 1. As I am 56 now and very hard for me to play fast paced games which I was not the best at even when younger I am much more limited on the games I can enjoy. Having these older turn base games are a blessing and are games I will be able to play my entire life. So glad GOG exists. Now if they could ever get the Gold Box Buck Rogers games.

The *blank* of Krynn games were my introduction to Dungeons and Dragons in general at the tender age of 6, and I regret none of it. The gameplay is exactly as I remember it, though I've managed to avoid my childhood pitfall of elven mage dying in Throtl every damn time and dragging his corpse around as a loot mule to the end of Champions. In any case, these games sparked an enduring love of Dragonlance, which led me to the books, which led to the greater world of fantasy novels, as well as a love of D&D in general which led to closely watching the crpgs and appreciating tabletop, though I never had anyone to play it with. As soon as I saw this on sale here, along with so many other Gold Box games I had to snap them up. It was worth every Steel Piece.

This game takes me waaaaayy back! one of my favorite RPGs of the time. I'll openly admit, that pic of the queen in the bikini totally sold it to me when i was 13-14. This was looong before the internet made such images redundant and desensitized us to them....cause back then the struggle was real kids! It was this image of the queen and the late night scrambled TV channels... yes...we did what we had to do. Don't judge me. Pity my generation.