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Dragon Software Games
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Software titles and games that center around dragons as main characters.
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Neverwinter Nights isn't simply another computer game. It's a Dungeons & Dragons computer game, as well as all the tools you'll need to create your own Dungeons & Dragons adventures. Neverwinter Nights is an achievement. It accomplishes what computer role-playing games set out to do when Wizardry debuted in the late '70s: re-create the social, hands-on experience of tabletop gaming. Neverwinter Nights uses the Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition rules in (nearly) all their complex glory. It's the first game to attempt to fully support D&D 3E's customizable features, and more significantly, it's the first game designed to re-create the experience of playing tabletop D&D. You can play BioWare's extensive campaign alone or online with your friends, or you can use the included Aurora toolset to build your own adventure module and run it for your buddies with all the control you'd have if you were running a tabletop game. The powerful Dungeon Master client lets you put words in nonplayer characters' mouths, control monsters, alter the game world, and customize your adventure on the fly. If playing is your thing, you can join other people's games and play through encounters with other gamers around the world. Everything works as it should and the game is beautiful to behold. BioWare has used a limited 3-D engine to allow you to spin your viewpoint around your character and zoom in on the action. During combat, Mages unleash spectacular spells, Priests raise their symbols to drive undead hordes back, and Rogues tinker with locked chests, while Fighters dodge, parry, and strike ferociously at any attacking beasts. The sound is topnotch, with BioWare's typically high-quality voice acting and music from composer Jeremy Soule. But all isn't perfect. The game makes a great effort of implementing the full D&D 3rd Edition rules, but doesn't quite succeed. In NWN, Paladins lose their Detect Evil and Mount abilities. Druids can shape change into animals, but can't change back to human form at will. Darkvision has no noticeable in-game effect. Troublesome issues for hard-core D&D fans, but it's understandable that some changes would have to be made in order to shoehorn a freeform tabletop RPG into a computer program. Other issues are not so easy to understand: the camera controls are simple and will not allow the user to lower to decrease the camera angle--you'll never get anything approaching a character's-eye view of the world. Moving to a new section within a building or going from an indoor to an outdoor area takes you out of the game and presents you with a (mercifully short) "Loading" screen. There is an artificial limitation on how many henchmen you can hire in the single-player game: you're limited to one hireling, and Baldur's Gate fans will miss the squabbling party from earlier games. More significant are the problems that arise from trying to re-create a social experience like D&D in a computer game. Multiplayer games with strangers are confusing and not as fun as they sound and, like the tabletop game, they're really only as fun as the players and especially the DM you're playing with. Multiplayer NWN is only worthwhile if you have a dedicated group and a DM that knows what he or she is doing. The last drawback is the documentation. The manual is large and detailed but it omits key help in module creation; you have to buy a separate strategy guide if you want that information. But though slightly flawed, NWN has indisputably won the holy grail of RPG gaming: getting the Dungeons & Dragons experience into a personal computer. The included campaign is fascinating and the tools are powerful enough to ensure a steady stream of module content from devoted fans. Make no mistake, Neverwinter Nights is an achievement and will likely change the way CRPGs are played from now on. It's a game no RPG fan, no D&D fan, should miss. --Bob Andrews Pros: - Almost perfect implementation of D&D 3E rules
- Deep single-player game
- Intriguing multiplayer game
- Powerful module creation tools
Cons: - Not quite perfect implementation of D&D 3E rules
- "Loading" screens
- Inflexible 3-D camera
- Only one henchman
- Multiplayer is dependant on quality players and DM
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Baldur's Gate is a near-perfect adaptation of the classic tabletop, role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. Six separate races and eight core character classes, from which the player can create a completely original character, are available. The game world is well painted, and players are free to explore this wonderfully textured game environment in any way they see fit, all against the backdrop of a thoughtfully conceived and versatile plot. You begin the game as a young orphan living with your stepfather within the safe confines of a scholarly community. It is a happy and idyllic life until your stepfather is killed and it becomes clear that you are intended to be next. You, as the young protagonist, then set out to discover just what kind of a mess you're in. During the adventure, you recruit a number of personable allies, battle foes, delve into dungeons, trek across wilderness, solve puzzles, and complete a plethora of epic quests that are seamlessly sown into the fabric of the overall plot. The story line unfolds in response to your choices to reveal your character's true identity as well as the nature and motive of your enemies. If the Lord himself were to ask me what games he should have in his home game collection, the first two words out of my mouth would be Baldur's Gate. This 1998 Role-Playing Game of the Year is a masterpiece and the standard by which all such games will be judged for the foreseeable future. Groundbreaking 32-bit graphics, 3-D sound, multiplayer options, and a friendly real-time game engine are blended with a depth of plot in a way that redefines the genre. --Joshua B. Coombs Pros: - Versatile and responsive plot
- Entertaining character interaction
- Huge game world
- Friendly game engine
Cons: - Nonplayer characters exhibit little free will
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The renowned journal of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons gaming for the last 25 years is now available as a completely searchable CD-ROM. You can search for words, phrases, even juxtaposed words in any article printed in issues 1 through 250. You can even filter your search by year, issue numbers, title, or body text. The archive comes with a host of viewing options that are optimized for viewing text or art panels. Though the user interface is not compatible with the Macintosh OS, Mac gamers can read any of the articles with Adobe Acrobat.
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The AD&D Forgotten Realms Interactive Atlas invites role players to explore never-before-seen realms--sprawling cities, treacherous overland routes, perilous dungeons--as well as any of the maps they've traversed in previous Forgotten Realms adventures. Players can zoom in for local details or examine the maps of entire continents with this completely interactive CD-ROM. The world is at your fingertips.
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The Might and Magic role-playing series is almost as old as home computing itself. The Heroes Chronicles is a series of four story-driven strategy games set in the Might and Magic world and follows immortal hero Tarnum on separate adventures. In Clash of the Dragons, Mutare, the dragon queen, has been using her black, red, rust, crystal, and azure dragons to terrorize the woodland Rampart towns and send their 11 armies into retreat. You'll play Tarnum, who rides to the rescue of the frightened elves and helps turn the tables on the evil Mutare.
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You control the actions of Dirk the Daring, a valiant knight on a quest to rescue a fair princess from the clutches of an evil dragon. Fight your way through the castle of the wizard who has enchanted it with treacherous monsters and obstacles.
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The Forgotten Realms campaign setting for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons has inspired more computer games than any other. You can get 13 of them in one package with the Forgotten Realms Archives: Silver Edition. Like most collections of this size it has its share of hits and misses, but if you don't require cutting-edge graphics and modern interfaces to have fun, you'll find many hours of enjoyment in this vault of role-playing game history. All the famous Gold Box games are included, from Pool of Radiance, the game that started it all, to the high-level adventure Pools of Darkness. It takes some doing to get them running properly, but the rewards are worth it for old-school role-playing fans that never had the chance to complete these great games. The ground-breaking Eye of the Beholder series--three terrific games--is also included. "Newer" games include the acclaimed Underdark adventure Menzoberranzan and Blood & Magic, a poor real-time strategy game that is by far the most disappointing title in this package. Even hardcore players likely won't get much satisfaction from the boring Dungeon Hack or Hillsfar, which has too much combat and too little depth. Don't expect too much from the graphics in these games. Some are more than 10 years old, and they can be cranky on newer, faster machines running Windows 95 or 98. If you have the patience to get them running, however, this collection is one rewarding time machine. --T. Byrl Baker Pros: - Plenty of classic role-playing games
- All titles are set in the popular Forgotten Realms
Cons: - The uninitiated will balk at the poor graphics and outdated interfaces
- Can be difficult to get these older games running properly on a modern system
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For centuries the dragons of Pern and their riders have protected their world from the alien Thread. Mightiest among the dragons are the gold dragons and their riders, the Weyrwomen, who are the leaders of the free people of Weyr. And now your Weyrwoman is dead, and her gold dragon is dying. Unless you can find a new Weyrwoman to take up her mantle, your Weyr, and perhaps all of Pern, is doomed. Based in the sci-fi/fantasy world of Pern, the setting of Anne McCaffrey's The Dragonriders of Pern novel, you take the role of D'kor, a novice dragonrider known as a Weyrling. Your fate is tied into a complex adventure in which the Red Star is not the only threat to life on Pern. With more than 200 characters with which to interact, a complex and thrilling story, and some fiendish puzzles, D'kor must venture across the rich world of Pern in the hope of saving it from its greatest enemy. Dragon Riders: Chronicles of Pern is a 3-D role-playing game with an epic story that spans four chapters and contains dozens of subplots. At the heart of the game is a story that constantly progresses as you explore the world and interact with the vast array of characters that inhabit it. Set at the seventh pass of the Red Star, there is a whole new cast of characters exclusive to this title. Experience dozens of environments through the cinematic camera system as you guide your dragonrider through more than 120 detailed locations on three continents. Interact with numerous non-player characters while you build up your player by improving skills and your social status.
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Return to the Pool of Radiance that spawned the golden age of computer role-playing games. Pool of Radiance 2 carries on the story of the first PC Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game: the Pool has resurfaced, and it renders everything it touches undead. The player must create a party of six adventurers and explore the haunted elven ruins of Myth Drannor in order to stop the Pool's evil influence. Pool of Radiance 2 is the first game to use the Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition rules. Playable character classes are Fighter, Barbarian, Paladin, Ranger, Cleric, Sorcerer, Monk, and Rogue, while the races include Half-Orc, Human, Halfling, Dwarf, Elf, and Half-Elf. Characters advance from 1st to 16th levels, allowing spellcasters access to 8th-level spells. As you explore the ancient ruins of Myth Drannor, the Dungeon Master will communicate all important events and findings. Combat is based on turns, just as in the tabletop game. With a great single-player campaign as well as multiplayer support, Pool of Radiance 2 is ready to carry on the legacy of the famous Gold Box games and lead D&D RPGs into the era of 3rd Edition rules.
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Create player and nonplayer characters and update them using the rules in the Player's Handbook or Skills & Powers. Many rules can be overridden to support the many special cases that occur in real-life AD&D games. MapMaker II has been redesigned from the ground up. View overland, city, and dungeon maps, then print them in full color, flat color for ink and bubble jets, grayscale for laser printers, and black and white for dot-matrix printers. Maps can range in size from one piece of paper to a massive five-foot-by-five-foot poster. Character sheets have been redesigned to be more paper efficient. Customize character sheets to specific user requirements. Create custom races, kits, psionic powers, spells, weapons, armor, equipment, magical items, monster, and more. The interface to the program has been redesigned, taking user feedback from the first Core Rules CD-ROM into account. Directly access specific screens in character update. Extensive online help is available at the touch of a button. Simply right-click on almost any item, spell, ability, or race to bring up details.
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In the confusion following the collapse of the Eastern Han Dynasty in second-century China, rival warlords take control of their respective territories and set up their own kingdoms, splitting China into three parts. As one of these three warlords, you must build your own regime, develop new technologies, and create a mighty army in an attempt to control the Three Kingdoms and reunify China. Fate of the Dragon is a real-time strategy game based on the 14th-century historical Chinese novel entitled Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Known as one of the most famous and turbulent periods in Chinese history, the story has been passed down the generations throughout Asia through books, plays, puppetry, and storytellers. Now, Eidos Interactive brings the story of the Three Kingdoms to a worldwide audience with the release of Fate of the Dragon on the PC.
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Icewind Dale intentionally avoids a sophisticated role-playing-game plot in favor of classic Advanced Dungeons & Dragons dungeoneering. The game is set in the frigid corner of the Forgotten Realms made famous by author R.A. Salvatore's novels. Many fantasy fans will be familiar with the popular setting, but this time you get to create the heroes, and the adventures are your own. Veterans of Baldur's Gate and Planescape: Torment will find BioWare's Infinity game engine instantly recognizable and usable. AD&D fans will be pleased with the interpretation of AD&D 2nd Edition rules. With a few exceptions (no kits, no Drow player characters, no two-weapon fighting), you can assume that if it's in the rule books it's in Icewind Dale. Players can create six characters from standard AD&D 2nd Edition races and classes as they set off to find an ancient evil buried in the Spine of the World. Combat occurs in real time (no turns), but the action can be paused at any time in order to issue new orders, prepare spells, or respond to a new threat. The designers keep combat fast by allowing players to assign an artificial-intelligence combat script to individual characters. Your party can encounter a minor monster, fire arrows as it approaches, attack it with fighters when it gets close, and then get healed by the cleric when the fighting is done--all without your intervention. Baldur's Gate and Planescape: Torment kept players hooked with an engrossing story line and, in the case of Planescape, excellent writing. Specifically designed as a more action-oriented "hack and slash" RPG, Icewind Dale relies on combat and character advancement as its own reward. While it lacks the random dungeons and incredible magic items of Diablo, the high experience point cap and the ability to create all six of your party members make Icewind Dale a worthy addition to any AD&D fan's game library. --Michael Fehlauer Pros: - Ability to create your entire party
- Slick computer game conversion of AD&D 2nd Edition rules
- Faithful re-creation of the Icewind Dale region as detailed by TSR and R.A. Salvatore
- High experience point cap lets players wield tremendous power--and face equally powerful foes
Cons: - Interface takes up too much of screen
- Little replay value
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