Play Dragonriders of Pern Online

Dragonriders of Pern is one of those weird, ambitious MS-DOS games that somehow makes political negotiations as tense as dragon combat. You start by picking a name (gotta have that apostrophe—F’lar would be proud) and naming your dragon (always ends with "th," no exceptions). Then it’s off to schmooze with Lord Holders at feasts or hatchings, where saying the wrong thing can literally end in a duel. Mess up too many alliances, and suddenly you’re fighting Threadfall with half the continent pissed at you.

The Thread battles are frantic—you’re swooping around burning falling spores before they hit the ground, and it’s way harder than it sounds. The diplomacy side feels like herding cats, but in a good way. Some games let you brute-force your way through; here, being a hothead just means everyone stops inviting you to parties. It’s janky in that early ‘90s way, but if you love the books, there’s nothing else like it. Just don’t forget to name your dragon properly, or the purists will riot.

Each game uses different controls, most DOS games use the keyboard arrows. Some will use the mouse , "Alt" ,"Enter" and "Space bar".