King of Dragon Pass

[Catullus64]

I just discovered the weirdest old video game, and have been playing it a lot for a week. King of Dragon Pass is a 1999... hmm, honestly it kinda defies typical gaming genres. It has one foot in Strategy, one foot in RPG, one foot in choose-your-own-adventure Visual Novels.

This three-footed game puts you in the shoes of the leaders of a clan in a fantasy world (the same fantasy world as RuneQuest of all things). You decide on your clan's mythology and history through a series of choices at the game start, which shape how your clan expects you to behave; things like 'do we keep slaves or not', 'what god do we revere above all others' and 'how do we feel about dragons.'

Once your clan's history has been decided, you manage your clan through the years. Each year, your clan has a certain store of Magic, which you can spend at the year's beginning to improve your performance in war, agriculture, herding, health, trade, diplomacy, etc. The year has five seasons, and you can take two actions each season. Such actions might be:

• Performing rituals or constructing shrines to the various gods for special blessings.
• Sending embassies to your neighbors.
• Sending out trade caravans.
• Sending out explorers to search the land for treasures and unique encounters.
• Changing the leadership of your clan.
• Deciding how many of your farmers to convert into full-time warriors ('weaponthanes').
• Making war on your neighbors, either through low-intensity cattle raids or full-on battles.
• Conducting Heroquests, ritual reenactments of important myths of the god that strengthen your clan if completed successfully. Some of these are also necessary to win the game.

And a bunch of other stuff. In between actions, the game will present you with text-based dilemmas to solve. Ultimately, your goal is to convince a number of neighboring clans to form a tribe with you, and then to protect and strengthen your clan until you can become the eponymous King of Dragon pass.

The game is super inscrutable, but in a way that is much less frustrating than a lot of inscrutable old video games. Many interactions and mechanics are never spelled out for you by tutorials, and it's very possible to make decisions early on that end up screwing you over in unpredictable ways. That said, you don't just have to trial-and-error your way through the game (although the game straight up says that you'll probably lose your first game). Your clan's government is a Ring of seven NPC advisors, all with skills and attributes that make them well-suited to dealing with certain dilemmas and actions. They also offer advice, and this is perhaps the first game I've ever played where the counsel of NPC advisors actually feels vital. If you pay attention to the story and lore, especially the myths of the gods and the history you set out for your clan, you'll find a lot of clues on how to succeed.

The setting and story are very well written; some of the writers were clearly familiar with a lot of ancient European sagas and literary traditions, because the clan-based society of the game feels very real despite the presence of dinosaurs and wizards and sentient duck-people. The visual style is charming and the music is catchy as hell. It's certainly a niche experience, but a rewarding one if you meet it halfway and get in the right spirit of the game.

Anybody else heard of/played this little hidden gem before?

[Imbalance]

Never heard of it before, but it looks like it's up my alley. I might have to get it for iPad.

[ShadowShinobi]

I picked up the game several years ago. I've played it off and on, ever since. Due to the number of random events, it has a good replay value. I'd definitely recommend it, if you're into text-based games.

I've watched, and read, a number of let's plays, and the biggest mistake most people make, is treating it like a war game. KoDP is not a war game. War is part of the game, but it doesn't center around it. The idea is to bring the clans together as a tribe, and eventually a kingdom. You can't do that if you piss everyone off, and they declare a feud. However, you also don't want to be overly peaceful. Besides not wanting the other clans to view you as being weak, going too long without a full raid will weaken your war magic, potentially leaving you vulnerable. I typically raid once every third year. The rest of the time, I just do cattle raids, to increase the size of my herds, which they consider their true wealth.

I've not yet played the sequel, Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind, but I'm definitely looking forward to it.

[Catullus64]

I picked up the game several years ago. I've played it off and on, ever since. Due to the number of random events, it has a good replay value. I'd definitely recommend it, if you're into text-based games.

I've watched, and read, a number of let's plays, and the biggest mistake most people make, is treating it like a war game. KoDP is not a war game. War is part of the game, but it doesn't center around it. The idea is to bring the clans together as a tribe, and eventually a kingdom. You can't do that if you piss everyone off, and they declare a feud. However, you also don't want to be overly peaceful. Besides not wanting the other clans to view you as being weak, going too long without a full raid will weaken your war magic, potentially leaving you vulnerable. I typically raid once every third year. The rest of the time, I just do cattle raids, to increase the size of my herds, which they consider their true wealth.

I've not yet played the sequel, Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind, but I'm definitely looking forward to it.

A sequel? I had no idea there was one. Will definitely get ahold of that!

Heh, excessive bellicosity was absolutely my downfall my first playthrough. Second time around, I overcorrected, and without the morale and resource benefits of enough successful raids I managed to get stuck in a vicious cycle of disputes and starvation that led to rebellion. Third time I managed to get to the tribe-formation stage, but the inscrutable and random nature of the plot-critical heroquests undid me, and I ran out of time. I didn't win a playthrough until my sixth try, but every attempt was memorable!

[Blackhawk748]

I went to go look and it is on Steam, for all of just over 2 American Dollars right now even, so I grabbed it. Cuz this sort of thing sounds perfect.

[Cespenar]

It has perhaps one of my favorite choice systems in gaming -- the biased suggestions you get from your council. It both helps you ingame and reinforces the atmosphere of being a real leader -- knowing when to heed your fellas and when not to.

Also, yeah, the sequel is out for a good time now but I couldn't quite get to it yet.

[J-H]

I have it, but haven't played it in a while. I always failed all of the dream quests, and it was too hard to tell what was the "good" choice.

[Catullus64]

It has perhaps one of my favorite choice systems in gaming -- the biased suggestions you get from your council. It both helps you ingame and reinforces the atmosphere of being a real leader -- knowing when to heed your fellas and when not to.

Also, yeah, the sequel is out for a good time now but I couldn't quite get to it yet.

The game fiction isn't quite clear about this, but I'm pretty sure that you, the player character, are those guys, or at least the embodiment of their consensus. The one in the first slot gets referred to as the 'chieftain', and I got the impression they were the King once you form a tribe.

[Imbalance]

Never heard of it before, but it looks like it's up my alley. I might have to get it for iPad.

So, there went my holiday break. It was a pleasant Christmas, an'at, but did I get anything important done? No. Did I earn my ten year ring? Yes I did.