We are the Champions (of Krynn)

Contents:

The Intro

The Game

The Replay

The Verdict

The Intro

Title: Champions of Krynn

Release year: 1990

Developed by: Strategic Simulations, Inc.

Genre: Roleplaying game (RPG), Turn-based strategy (TBS)

Platform replayed on: PC

Well, here it is: Champions of Krynn, the first game featured here on Present Perfect Gaming. 

Why would I choose this game to be the first game featured, you might ask?

Ultimately, choosing this game wasn’t a difficult decision for me. Reflecting on why Champions of Krynn is such a meaningful game for me, I quickly came to three realisations:

1. This was the first game I spent significant time with. It was complex, couldn’t be completed in one sitting, and required a significant amount of reading (both on screen and in printed material).
2. This game showed me (even if I didn’t realise it at the time) how video gaming could be used as a story-telling medium. It also included character creation.
3. This game also endeared me to the world in which it takes place. I would go on to read many of the novels published in the Dragonlance universe.

To sum it up, playing Champions of Krynn wasn’t just a memorable experience way back when; it was the beginning of a journey that continues today.

Okay, I think that’s enough of that for now—I’ll expand on these points later on. But first things first, let’s get to the game!

The Game

Champions of Krynn is a fantasy roleplaying game, where the player takes on the roles of characters, and leads them through an epic adventure. It is predominantly played in one of two modes: first-person mode for exploration, and an isometric mode for grid-based tactical combat.

The game is the first game in a trilogy (followed by Death Knights of Krynn and The Dark Queen of Krynn). It is also part of a larger series of video games, affectionately known as the “Gold Box” series; you can probably guess why:

These “Gold Box” games were all video game adaptations of the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop roleplaying game, and were produced by Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) from 1988 to 1992. The trilogy is set in the Dragonlance universe, which is a shared universe created by Laura and Tracy Hickman in the early 1980s. This led to the beginning of a long-running novel line, with the release of Dragons of Autumn Twilight in 1984, written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.

This novel was itself part of a trilogy (Chronicles trilogy, as you can see above), with Champions of Krynn taking place in its immediate aftermath. It ties in with the novels, so anyone familiar with the storyline will recognise the references to past events. It also features interactions with some of the main protagonists from the novels.

All in all, it was a pretty impressive multimedia approach!

At the time, I didn’t know the context in which Champions of Krynn took place. All I had was this game. I can’t pinpoint it exactly, but I would have been around 10-12 years old when I first played this in the early 90s. It wouldn’t be for another ten or so years in the early 2000s when I would read the Chronicles trilogy of novels.

The Replay

As I loaded this up again, it’s the intro music that brings me right back. Now, music in video games has never been as meaningful to me as I know it is to other gamers. To me, it’s more a part of a whole experience, which never really stands out in isolation. But this little intro theme, well, it’s been stuck in my mind ever since the early 90s when I first heard it. Here is what greets you when you load up Champions of Krynn:

Now, I know the intro theme is nothing special at all in the grand scheme of video game music. For me though, it evokes childhood memories of PC gaming bliss: sitting there, waiting for the LOADING…PLEASE WAIT message to pass, and anticipating the experience awaiting me.

Interestingly, this game features a non-playable demo. You are presented with a choice following the intro credits, to either play or watch the demo. The demo also autoplays if you don’t make a selection. This is very common in modern video games (either displaying demo gameplay or a video) but I was very surprised to see it feature here in a game this old. Here’s the demo:

Once you choose to play the game, you are greeted with the screen below. As you can see, the first option is to CREATE NEW CHARACTER.

You’re presented with a variety of races and classes to choose from, and tasked with building a party of six characters who will complement each other during the adventure. Easier said than done back then! As I discussed in my previous blog post, Old beginnings (this is the game the mystery image comes from), this is where the manual and other game documentation came in. There is no way I would have figured out how to get this game started back when I first played it without referencing the manual and the sixty page Adventurer’s Journal. There was no in-game tutorial, like we see these days: you had to read!

Now, what struck me as I created my party of characters, was the amount of customisation that was available. Let’s take character appearances as one example. As you can see from the image below, you can change each character’s appearance in a number of ways: hairstyle, weapon, size, and colours. For 1990, I think this is impressive!

So, just like I had for the first time almost thirty years ago, I put together a party of characters and set off into Champions of Krynn.

Now, I have to come back to the game manual at this point. In my opinion, this game has a steep learning curve. Thinking back to when I first played this, it’s hard to believe I figured out what I was supposed to be doing and how I was supposed to do it. Now, it’s second nature; I’m familiar with the system and the game interface. I know though, that back then, I would have spent significant time with the manual. The menu system is expansive, and it’s all documented in the manual. Invaluable! Remember, there was no quick Google search to bring up the answer to that burning in-game question. It was reading the game documentation (and a lot of trial and error!). Somehow I got it sorted, as here I am now telling the tale almost thirty years later.

As mentioned earlier, Champions of Krynn takes place in the aftermath of the Chronicles trilogy of novels. The basic premise is simple: to clear the land of the remnants of evil following The War of the Lance (which took place in the trilogy of novels). Spoiler alert: things don’t quite go to plan, and your characters find themselves embroiled in a sinister plot *gasp*! Slightly tongue-in-cheek, but the plotline is fairly standard high-fantasy fare.

Reflecting on it now as I’m playing through it, I can say that once you get going, there is a lot here that is fairly standard in roleplaying games:

• Exploration
• Side quests
• Combat (and lots of it)
• Boss battles
• Character advancement
• Inventory management
• Lore

Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised, given that this is a roleplaying game. However, I think it’s impressive considering the time it came out. It was pushing the boundaries from both technical and gameplay perspectives. It was ticking all those bullet points above of what makes a standard roleplaying game to this day, and I think that was impressive.

For reference, the most recent roleplaying game I had played prior to this playthrough was Divinity: Original Sin (Enhanced Edition, 2015).

I played through this earlier in the year, and enjoyed the experience. Not to get into an in-depth discussion of what defines a computer roleplaying game, but guess what that experience consisted of? That’s right: exploration, combat, boss battles, inventory management…You get the idea. I’m not trying to make any statement here, only to again say that what this game (and the other “Gold Box” games) achieved at the time was impressive.

For the remainder of this replay section, I’ll touch on each of the bullet points above.

Exploration is for the most part done from a first person perspective, shown in one of the images above and in the demo video. This happens when you are in a location, usually an outpost or a city. Travelling between locations takes you out to the overland map, shown below.

The plot is fairly linear. Despite being able to travel anywhere on the overland map right from the beginning, there is a fixed pathway to travel. Heading to locations ahead of time in the story will mean there is nothing to do there. You have to follow the script! And to me, that’s not always a bad thing. Hey, a rollercoaster can be an exhilarating experience, and that’s only going one way…If it’s engaging, I don’t mind being on rails!

The plot is advanced very clearly, so you’re never unsure of where to head off to next. As such, exploration consists of going from one set of encounters to the next. With a lot of combat in between. However, there are a couple of points in the story where you have the option of undertaking a side quest. Without giving too much away, one involves having a certain character type in your party (a character type of some importance to Dragonlance in general) leading a quest only they can complete; the other can provide your party with a valuable ally later on in the story. A little bit of political intrigue and the opportunity for some diplomacy: nice!

Despite the overarching plot being fairly linear, going from A to B to C, at a micro level inside each location, there is actually some freedom. You do need to explore, and there are clues to pick up on and decisions to be made. For example, there are multiple times you will be approached by characters wanting to join your party temporarily. But not everyone can be trusted!

Another example is where a little piece of information overheard in a tavern can allow you to bluff during an upcoming social encounter and gain the upper hand. There are also opportunities to discover treasure and secret rooms based on what clues you pick up on while exploring. Almost always, you are referred to the Adventurer’s Journal whenever you interact with another character or discover a piece of information or map. This Adventurer’s Journal takes the place of the quest logs and journals that are now found in-game in more modern roleplaying games. It’s really not that different, and it even includes little check boxes next to each entry so that you can tick them off as you go (you can see this in the image of the Adventurer’s Journal above).

So, I’ve mentioned this game is combat heavy a couple of times now. There’s no getting around it: you often end up having to reach for the weapons and ready the spells.

This game is about combat management, and by that I mean ensuring your party is always ready for the next battle. After each battle, chances are that your party is depleted in terms of health and magic. You need to recover, and that’s not always easy with evil lurking around every corner. Or in other words: random encounters! There’s nothing worse than being attacked again while your party is huddled around the campfire.

Combat is also a system to be manipulated. Perhaps manipulated is too strong a word, but you do need to know how to stack the deck in your favour. But hey, I guess it’s the same now as it was then. Going back to my experience with Divinity: Original Sin, I was surprised how challenging I found the combat early on in that game. But then I worked out how to prepare better and how to control the battlefield. Once it “clicked”, I was good. Champions of Krynn is no different. Without spoiling it, you need to master the magic!

As you explore the land and uncover the plot, there are climactic boss battles along the way. I don’t think it’s much of a spoiler to say that in the end, all roads lead to the big bad for the final showdown. The tension does escalate in the final third or so of the game, and it’s a wild ride (quite literally at times) to the climactic end game sequence of encounters.

To close off this replay section, I’ll take a quick look at character development. Along the way, your characters will gain experience from advancing the story and combat. Once an individual character has enough experience, they can level up. While the levelling system doesn’t provide you with a lot of options (characters choosing new magic spells being the only real choice), I still found it satisfying to advance my characters and get those little boosts.

I’m not quite sure what it is about levelling in roleplaying games. I always know that as my characters are getting better, the challenges they face are getting more difficult. This is certainly true in this game. I also mentioned the importance of mastering the magic, and this is important when levelling up: there is a right and a wrong way to do it. But again, nothing new here. Many times have I questioned my choices when levelling up in roleplaying games, fearing I’d made a sub-optimal choice that I would struggle to recover from (I’m looking at you Final Fantasy series). You can definitely make Champions of Krynn a lot harder for yourself if you don’t get your party makeup and magic levelling right.

Inventory management in this game doesn’t feel too much different from more modern games: there’s a tonne of loot to pick up, and it can quickly become overwhelming. By the mid-game, you’re absolutely laden with Steel (the in-game currency). Thankfully there’s a vault service you can use to deposit it all. And you have to, as there’s not a lot you can actually spend your hard-earned Steel on. On the positive, as your characters progress, so too do the weapons and armour they can wield.

To finish with the lore, as mentioned earlier, anyone familiar with the novels (or the tabletop roleplaying game) will recognise the setting and context Champions of Krynn takes place in. It just adds an extra layer of immersion that I enjoy now that I know the characters you meet along the way. Going through the game without this context, I wouldn’t say that you end up learning a whole lot about the world of Dragonlance by the end. It’s the plot that drives this game along. But it obviously had its charm, as look at where it’s brought me almost thirty years later: writing this blog. It also did enough to draw me in so that I would later seek out the Dragonlance novels.

The Verdict

Wait. You’re still here? If you made it all the way through, well done! 

Now that my time revisiting Champions of Krynn is done, what did I make of it all? As my first game blogging experience, I enjoyed every second of it! As a gaming experience, it had its moments. On the positive, I think it (and the “Gold Box” series in general) achieved a lot at the time it came out. My highlights:

• Customisable characters
• Lengthy plot, with sidequests
• Freedom to explore
• Cinematic and climactic end game

I think it ticked the same boxes I’m looking for and seeing in modern roleplaying games. Reflecting on this, I’m not surprised that it impressed me all those years ago.

Now, in between exploring and uncovering the plot, there is a lot of combat (I might have mentioned this a few times). To be totally honest, it got tedious pretty quickly. I’ve explained that the combat system has to be understood in order to be successful; once you do, it’s a very repetitive experience managing your resources (namely magic) between battles. It’s also not immediately intuitive unless you spend time with the game manual and Adventurer’s Journal. The game documentation is useful, and certainly was back when I first played it. There’s no way I would have gone far without it.

If you are looking for a retro roleplaying gaming experience, and have a bit of patience with the learning curve, I can certainly recommend checking Champions of Krynn out. If you’re a fan of the Dragonlance novels, I think there’s enough in here to make you smile. As mentioned, it’s part of a trilogy of games, and by the third instalment, the graphics and interface have had some upgrades. You can even bring your characters into the sequels for one truly epic adventure.

To come full circle, back in the beginning of this blog, I mentioned the three realisations I came to about Champions of Krynn. This game is a winner because of what it represents for me as a gamer. I enjoy games with stories, and games I can invest a significant amount of time with (for reference, I logged over 88 hours with Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition earlier this year). I see this game as my entry point into other memorable experiences with roleplaying games. For example, games from the Final Fantasy, Baldur’s Gate, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age series—I’ve spent a lot of time in these games over the past almost thirty years. Champions of Krynn helped show me what I was looking for in a game.

Finally, this game introduced me to the world in which it takes place, and I would go on to read many Dragonlance novels. I’m now excited to introduce my son to these novels when he gets a bit older. And hey, maybe one day he might read this and give Champions of Krynn a try, to see what I was going on about here. We’ll see. As I said in The Intro, this game was the beginning of a journey…

Thanks for reading.

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