Dragonriders of Pern
DOS - 1987
Description of Dragonriders of Pern
The Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey ranks among the most unique and imaginative fantasy novels ever created, so it is not surprising that a strategy game based on its world would be of the most unique games.
First released for the Atari and Commodore 64, the game sold reasonably well, although it remains debatable whether Everlasting would have been more successful had they made an RPG out of the license rather than an action / strategy hybrid that it is.
Set on the planet Pern, the game centers around the periodic fall of a deadly rain of silver thread, presaged by the appearance of the Red Star. Pern's human population inhabits holds and Weyrs, strongholds in which commerce, industry, and dragon-raising take place. As the representative of an important Weyr, your twofold task is to win the confidence of the other holds and Weyrs through negotiation, and to defend the planet from the falling silver thread by riding dragons whose fiery breath burns it.
You can choose a game with or without thread fighting, and select the game's speed and length. There are two stages of play: negotiating and thread fighting. In the negotiating stage, your task is to, well, negotiate with many different characters, each with a distinct personality. Negotiation is difficult because you can't foretell exactly how a Pernesian will react to your approaches; you might negotiate well, and still be denied the political alliance you seek.
In the thread-fighting sequence, you battle silver threads from the back of your dragon. You fly in 3D in the first level, and 3D in levels 2 and 3. Learning to maneuver the dragon isn't easy, as you can only rotate a quarter of a turn at a time. However, once you get the hang of steering, flying your dragon is a breeze.
Overall, Dragonriders of Pern is a challenging game. You can assume different types of behavior when negotiating with Pernesians, so it's never the same game twice. Highly recommended!
Review By HOTUD
Captures and Snapshots
Comments and reviews
Benjamin 2024-02-20 1 point
To play type pern or pern.bat into the command line.
Your dragonrider name has to have an apostrophe to be valid.
your dragons name has to be an actual name of a dragon in the perniverse.
Significant Pernese Dragons:
Ramoth
Mnementh
Canth
Ruth
Orlith
Faranth
Path
Zaranth
Golanth
Icefang 2023-04-22 -3 points
Do you plan to come out with versions for IOS And Android?
If so when? If not why?
Clouder 2019-10-15 3 points
Getting through the name part was bad enough, having to figure out you couldn't use a solid name was hell.
Then you have to use a dragon from the series for your dragon name.
And time... well time doesn't tell you anything and whatever you input says 'redo from start' instead of actually letting you continue.
Look, I'm sure it's a great game, If you can get the thing working. But if you need an exacting guide just to get into the game, it probably wasn't a very good game back then, much less now. And especially so when an exacting guide isn't included with the upload.
Thank you for saving the code and program, but seriously...
Soloun 2017-09-04 -1 point
Amazing to see this but just need to say this, Dragon Riders of Pern is actually complete Science Fiction no Fantasy at all, I have all the books etc. and Anne McCaffrey is the one that pointed that out. Not trying to be the Nazi Spelling Police or anything, just saying, thanks for having this here amazing amount of memories.
Naomi 2016-02-05 2 points
Corrected the apostrophe issue. In the game press ctrl+f1. When the key-mapping screen opens, select the apostrophe key on the screen. Then select the "Add" button and hit the apostrophe key on your keyboard. Save and exit.
Naomi 2016-02-04 0 point
Same issue with entering a name. The apostrophe key doesn't work in the game either.
R'auvi 2015-04-20 2 points DOS version
Dragon riders have a ' after the first letter of their name like D'jeb D'anni
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DOS Version
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