Champions of Krynn

Champions of Krynn moved SSI’s well-known “Gold Box” engine from the Forgotten Realms to the Dragonlance world. The result is one of the best games in the series, and one of the most atmospheric.

Gameplay

You create a party of up to six characters using the AD&D rules, adapted for Dragonlance:

• Knights of Solamnia start as Knights of the Crown and can later rise through the orders.
• Kender are fearless and have a talent for taunting enemies into rash attacks.
• Wizards join the White, Red or Black Robes, and their power depends on the phases of Krynn’s three moons.
• Clerics choose a specific god, and each god grants different abilities.

Exploration takes place in first-person, while combat switches to a tactical, turn-based overhead grid. Fights against draconians are memorable because they die in different ways depending on their type. Some turn to stone and trap your weapon, others explode or dissolve into acid, so you have to think about who to melee and who to shoot.

The campaign moves along well, mixing exploration, combat and short story sections. Much of the story text is in numbered “journal entries” printed in the manual, which you’re told to read at key moments.

Verdict

Champions of Krynn is a high point of the Gold Box era. Its rules and presentation feel old today, but the combat, setting and sense of adventure still hold up.