Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 12: Gold Box - Champions of Krynn (MS-DOS) - Part 1

Developer:

SSI

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Release Date:

1990

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Systems:

DOS, Amiga, C64, Apple II, PC-98

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing Champions of Krynn, a 'Dragonlance Fantasy Role-Playing Epic Vol. 1' (Version 1.2). It's the beginning of a brand new Dungeons & Dragons trilogy!

I've already played a few games in the Dragonlance campaign setting, like Heroes of the Lance and Dragons of Flame, but even though they were based on tabletop modules I wouldn't exactly call them RPGs. Champions of Krynn is actually a proper Gold Box RPG however, just like Pools of Radiance... except I'm probably going to have to deal with those annoying dragon men that shoot magic at you and explode when they die again.

This also the beginning of a new decade: the 1990s! I'm on year 9 of my quest to play the first 10 years of Dungeons & Dragons games, and the end is in sight. Though in truth I'm only halfway through them, as SSI were releasing a ton of these games at this point. We got three AD&D titles this year:

• Champions of Krynn - What I'm playing right now.
• DragonStrike - A dragon combat flight sim.
• Secret of the Silver Blades - Chapter three of the Pool of Radiance Gold Box tetralogy.

Plus there was Buck Rogers XXVc: Countdown to Doomsday. It's got nothing to do with D&D, but it's adapted from another tabletop game by D&D creators TSR and it runs on the Gold Box engine, so they basically just swapped the dragons for spaceships.

Okay, I'll be playing the game for a couple of hours, taking screenshots and writing words, so there'll be SPOILERS below.

WarCraft II: Battle.net Edition (PC)

Developer:

Blizzard Entertainment

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Release Date:

Battle.net Edition 1999 Original 1995

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Systems:

Win, MS-DOS, Mac OS, Saturn, PSX

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm having a go of WarCraft II: Tides of Darkness, originally released in late 1995. In fact, if I'd used my head I could've had this written up for its 30th anniversary a couple of months ago. Though I'm specifically playing the Battle.net Edition from 1999, which includes the Beyond the Dark Portal expansion pack from 1996, so really I'm both years early and right on time.

There was also Warcraft II: Remastered, released in late 2024, which has updated graphics and UI improvements... but I don't own that one. I almost didn't own this version either as Blizzard delisted it from GOG when Remastered released. Fortunately I bought it in the nick of time.

The Battle.net update added a few upgrades of its own, as it runs on Windows instead of DOS and has a whole list of tweaks to improve gameplay. Then GOG stuck a DirectDraw wrapper on it to make it play nice on modern systems, which I appreciate. Though I'm also interested in the older systems it was released on, as I had no idea until now that it got a PlayStation and a Saturn port.

I should've guessed though, as its arch-rival Command & Conquer got console ports as well, and the two games came out just months apart. Though there was no polygon-based N64 port for this one so people had to wait until WarCraft III in 2002 to see their little orcs chopping down trees in 3D.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 11: Silver Box - War of the Lance (MS-DOS)

Developer:

SSI

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Release Date:

1989

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Systems:

Apple II, DOS, C64

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm checking out the PC port of SSI's fantasy wargame War of the Lance!

I know what the title screen looks like, but I promise you that this is an official Dungeons & Dragons game that you can buy in the Silver Box Classics collection on Steam. It's even by Strategic Simulations Inc., the folks who had already developed Pool of Radiance and Curse of the Azure Bonds by this point. But there is a perfectly good explanation for why it looks so basic: this is just what wargames looked like at the time, especially when they were made for the Apple II.

Wargames have never really been my thing, but from what I can tell, SSI had been in the business longer than anyone and had earned a reputation for knowing what they were doing. Their first game, Computer Bismarck, had been developed for the Apple II (and TRS-80) way back in 1980, which is about the same time that genre-defining RPGs like Ultima and Wizardry were released for the machine.

But by 1989 the Commodore 64 and IBM PC compatible had taken over as the dominant US computers, and I think this is the last time SSI made the Apple II their lead platform. They were really going back to their roots here. Plus Dungeons & Dragons was originally inspired by tabletop wargames, so they were going back to its roots too. 

You can tell they were going old school with this one as they skipped the 16/32-bit Amiga entirely. Other than PC, Amiga was the only system to get all the regular Gold Box RPGs, but it only got three out of four Silver Box games. Though by the look of the game, the machine could probably emulate it.

Super Adventures in Delisted Games Part 4: Race Driver: GRID, Anthem, Poker Night

It's Super Adventures' 15th anniversary today and to celebrate I'm taking a break from Dungeons & Dragons! None of this week's games are an RPG, they don't have dark elves, or clerics, or magic missile spells. One of them had actual missiles I think, but it's not really the same.

This week on Super Adventures, it's been 19 months since Delisted Games Part 3, so it seemed like a good time to get back to whining about games being removed from online stores due to licensing issues. And not just racing games this time! (To be honest, I'm just using this as an excuse to write about some games I probably couldn't get a full length article out of.)

I've found some fun covers here. The first game has Games for Windows on the top, the second has 'DOWNLOAD ONLY' written on it and a bunch of tiny text warning you that a persistent internet connection is required, and the third didn't even get an empty box with a download code in it. As far as I know.

But things aren't as bad as they seem! GRID doesn't have the actual Game for Windows Live DRM on it, that logo only means that the game runs in Windows. Meanwhile, Anthem and Poker Night... actually things really are bad for those two. They're really really bad.

Anyway, the first game is Race Driver: GRID, sponsored by eBay.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 10: Silver Box - Dragons of Flame (MS-DOS)

Developer:

U.S. Gold

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Release Date:

1989

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Systems:

DOS, Amiga, Atari ST, C64, ZX Spectrum, CPC, FM Towns, PC-98, NES

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm checking out the next Dungeons & Dragons game on my list: Dragons of Flame. Though you don't need me to tell you that, you can see it yourself on that beautiful title screen up there.

Dragons of Flame was the second of the 'Silver Box' Dragonlance games... or maybe the third. I did the research for this, I tried to pin it down, but it was released so close to War of the Lance I really don't know which comes next. At least I can be sure that it's the second chapter of the story that began in Heroes of the Lance, and that it's by the same developer, U.S. Gold.

I also know that the game was ported to many of the same systems, though not quite all of them. Fans with 8-bit machines like the MSX, Master System, PC-88 and Sharp X1 would've had to upgrade to see what happened next. Either that or bought the novel, Dragons of Autumn Twilight. It did get a ZX Spectrum port though! In fact this was the second and final D&D game released on the computer, and on the Amstrad CPC as well. I'm experiencing the end of an era here.

Okay, I'm going to put the game on and see how far I get. It's probably short, but it's probably also really difficult, so don't get your hopes up.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 9: Gold Box - Curse of the Azure Bonds (MS-DOS) - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I feel like I should write a little more about Curse of the Azure Bonds. It's a big complicated RPG, so one article wasn't really doing it justice. You could argue that two isn't enough either and I should really finish it, but... I don't want to.

Like Pool of Radiance, the game was released on a ton of systems: IBM PC, Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga, the venerable Apple II, Apple Macintosh, NEC PC-98. Not the NES this time though; the Gold Box RPGs never returned to the console. And D&D was done with the Sharp X1 and PC-88 entirely by this point.

On the plus side, the Atari ST got a port this time! Their first and only Gold Box game. It's a shame that ST owners were left out after this, as it was one of the higher spec machines of the '80s and its weakness with scrolling backgrounds wasn't a problem for these turn based RPGs.

Alright, if you want to return to part one then CLICK HERE. If you want to see a list of all the Dungeons & Dragons games I've covered CLICK HERE. And if you want some Curse of the Azure Bonds spoilers then you're already in the right place.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 8: Gold Box - Curse of the Azure Bonds (MS-DOS) - Part 1

Developer:

SSI

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Release Date:

1989

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Systems:

DOS, C64, Apple II, Amiga, Mac, Atari ST, PC-98

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This week, it's my first Super Adventures game of 2026: Curse of the Azure Bonds! 

The game came out in 1989, which means I've still got three more years of Dungeons & Dragons games left to get through before I've finished the first decade. That doesn't sound so bad, but this is the point where they begin to get abundant.

Strategic Simulations Inc. had the licence at this point and their tactic to increase game sales was to give people more games to buy. They released an average of six D&D games a year, half of them proper Gold Box RPGs.

To make things more straightforward, or more confusing, the Gold Box games alternated between three different series. Well, three plus the Neverwinter Nights MMO. And the Buck Rogers games I suppose, but they're something else.

Anyway, this is A FORGOTTEN REALMS Fantasy Role-Playing Epic, Vol. II, which makes it the second volume of the Pool of Radiance saga. It's also a sequel to the novel Azure Bonds so there are two sagas intersecting here. Though you'd be forgiven for thinking it was an adaptation as it has basically the same name and the same cover. I know most/all the early D&D games used recycled art for their boxes, but they were taking the piss a bit with this one.

I'm going to play the game for a few hours, probably spoil a bunch of early twists for you, and show off screenshots. I won't be playing enough of the game to form a proper informed opinion (ie. all of it), but I'll try to hang in there long enough to get what it's doing.